Weekly moe: Tsundere

January 5, 2008

First tsun tsun and then dere dere, combined it becomes tsundere. This is the first weekly moe of 2008!

Tsundere has been part of anime culture since basically forever but it became really popular during 2006/2007 with Haruhi and other series like that.
Tsundere can easily be explained using the image above, but lets take a look what wikipedia defines it as:

Tsundere is the antonym of yandere where a person is initially loving, then combative, often brutally so. The definition of the term has evolved to apply to not only characters who change from harsh to gentle but who are cold on the outside and kind internally. Tsundere is a combination of the two words tsuntsun (ツンツン?), and deredere (デレデレ?). Tsuntsun is defined as “aloof, morose, pointed”, and deredere is defined as “exhausted, lovestruck”.[1] Tsunderekko (ツンデレっ娘?) is a related noun, referring to a girl with a tsundere personality. While the term is most often applied to women, it is gender-neutral and can be applied to men as well. While tsunderekko are not exclusive to Japanese entertainment, the term tsundere came about as a result of the need to describe the many tsunderekko found in games and harem anime. Like nekomimi, tsundere is considered a moe-inspiring character trait.

It’s indeed moe-inspiring, since the loving personality of tsundere-girls often is as extreme as the hating and agressive personality. It’s basically teasing someone you really like; a very childish trait. This used often for characters that are naive or have a hard time to express themselves, since they just can’t take what they want, so to speak.

Tsundere will probably be a popular trait forever, since it makes the characters depend on each other. Character development will therefor depend on how both characters respond towards each other, and it’s quite easy to write stories using this. I myself don’t really understand how so many can love this moe, but I agree that it’s cute!☆