A Guide to the Deres

This post is for the project “Guide to Anime” by nopy. I’ll be touching on the subject for the most popular archetypes: the deres.

Currently, there are a total of four of these dere archetypes, namely tsundere, yandere, dandere and kuudere. All these terms had already seen widespread use since 2007s and it is almost common knowledge to each and every otaku.

Deredere or dere in short means lovestruck. Deredere can also mean lovey dovey and various other similar synonyms. Since the meaning is so universal, it can easily be coined to other elements, thus the wide amount of dere archetypes. “Tsun” means aloof or irritable. “Yan” probably comes from the phrase yanderu (病んでる) which means sick or ill-tempered. “Dan” originated from the word danmari (だんまり) which means silence. As for “kuu”, I think that’s pretty obvious, just a wordplay from “cool”. Combining this with dere (lovestruck) and you should have easily guessed the meaning behind all four of these dere archetypes. I’ll still provide further details anyhow.

Tsundere
Tsundere is probably the most common dere out of all four. This archetype involves a girl with conflicting altitudes towards their love interest. She at first may treat you with angst and scorn but once you took the time and effort to be with her, her heart generally opened up. There are various reasons to explain a tsundere’s behavior, but the most common one would be that she had never experienced love before and didn’t know how to handle it, thus, because of embarrassment, she just relied on her violent side to cover up her embarrassment. They are also the most prone to blushing; their faces would easily turn deep scarlet red with just a bit of ‘touch-up’. Due to this, tsunderes can be contradicting at times and would always stutter. Here is one typical example, “I-It’s not like I l-l-l-l-like you or anything! Get it!?” Ahhhhhhhhhhh, so cuuutee~ *gets slapped by hordes of tsunderes*

Also, when Rie Kugimiya is involved in the anime, it’s a good chance there’s tsundere goodness in it. So keep your eyes peeled open if you’re looking for them.

Some examples of tsundere:
Tohsaka Rin
Asuka Langley
Taiga Aisaka
Shana

Kuudere
Next, is kuudere. As I had said, “kuu” is just a wordplay on “cool” or perhaps it’s how the Japanese pronounce the said English word. Since it is combined with both “kuu” (cool) and “dere” (lovestruck), the meaning should be pretty obvious. Kuudere usually applies to girl who are, well, cool, and eventually proceeds to more of the “dere” side whenever she is with the right person. Kuudere can be expressive, though barely. Basically, kuuderes are mostly cool and collected. Their direct interactions are another trait of this archetype.

Some examples of kuudere:
Fate Testarossa
C.C.
Riza Hawkeye
Saber
Kawasumi Mai

Dandere
Dandere is mostly being confused with kuudere since they are largely similar, especially in terms of personalities. Kuudere means a cool person who still socializes on acceptable levels. Dandere means a person who barely even opens her mouth, coming off as quiet or emotionless. However, when she is together with her more familiarized group of friends, she may opened up and even appear looking cute and sweet. She can really turned extraordinary cute if she stays with that perfect someone. If you had watched both the main series of Haruhi and the movie, try to compare Yuki Nagato on both occasions. Yuki is a very good example of this archetype, with the series showing more of her “dan” side and the movie showing her “dere” side.

Some examples of dandere:
Nagato Yuki
Ai Enma
Tachibana Kanade

Yandere
Last but not least, comes the most unique archetype out of all four deres, yandere. These types usually appear cute and sweet, not until you learned of their true nature. They have a hidden side, a psychotic side that is. One of yandere’s most common trait is obsession. Her obsession makes her lose her mentality and eventually she may even appear murderous. Once you got involved with these girls, you won’t even have the time to deal with your next-door stalker. Yandere gets jealous easily and she will literally kills everyone who might be getting too close to her lover.

Some examples of yandere:
Kotonoha Katsura
Ayase Aragaki
Kaede Fuyou

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Annnnnd, that’s about it. For those who are still pretty much newbie to the anime world, I hope my post managed to help out you all who are presumably still not knowledgeable with all these anime terms.

Meh, oh well, since I’m done with this post, it’s time to get myself some tsundere…..

Nuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrggggggghhh!!!

*Gets stabbed by hordes of yanderes for two-timing*

Tags: Archetypes, dandere, dere, Fate Testarossa, Gasai Yuno, kuudere, Shana, tsundere, yandere, Yuki

This entry was posted by Kai.

• January 2, 2012
• Anime, Carnival, Musings
• 37 Comments