Tsundere

From WeeabooDB

This image details the progression from one end of the spectrum to the other

Tsundere (pronounced tsoo-n-dā-rā) is a moe archetype that is made up of two distinct, but related, parts. The word itself is derived from the terms "tsuntsun" meaning agitated or angry, and "deredere" meaning placated, tame, and subdued. Tsundere is typically used as a 'chink in the armor' of stronger characters who would normally be too preoccupied being useful or awesome to bother with mushy bullshit like swooning over the mostly-worthless male protagonist.

Detailed Explanation

Tsundere describes the progression of a character from masking their feelings (typically of love, for the protagonist) with anger or annoyance and then gradually moving towards a more accepting, honest, sometimes submissive role. The trademark of the tsundere is the complete and utter inability to voice their true feelings on anything, and when pressed on the subject they become embarrased and/or very angry. It's worth noting that sometimes the character in question may not even know they are in love at all, which further complicates things but adds like a billion moe points for naivety.

Some forms of tsundere take on a more gradual progression from tsun to dere, but the most popular form is where the tsunderekko (the tsundere character) in question wildly fluctuates from one end of the spectrum to the other. This will always be completely jarring and make it feel as if no actual character progression is being made at all and is most often employed when this is precisely the point. If you're writing a quick cash-in moe fanservice show you sure as hell don't want things like character progression getting in the way of you milking your franchise.

It's worth noting that this whole tsundere thing isn't limited strictly to female characters, it is just as common amongst the males as well. A good example being Kyon from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, who is in complete denial of his feelings for Haruhi and becomes agitated whenever the topic is brought up by his flamboyant friend, Koizumi. The main thing to remember here is that the principle of tsundere is denial. When a character denies having feelings for another character in spite of mountains of evidence to the contrary, one may consider them tsundere.

Symptoms

"I-I'm only giving you chocolate because I had some left over! I-It's n-not like I made it for you or anything!"

There are several types of tsundere to be found in anime/manga all with varying degrees of both "tsun" and "dere" portions of the equation. There are quite a few tells, though. One such example is if the character in question is able to call upon superhuman strength to send the protagonist into orbit whenever she is placed in a compromising situation. Some other blatant tells are lines such as "I- It's not like I did it for y-you or anything!" or "I only did it because ____ asked me to, don't get any wrong ideas!".

Some other rules:

• As the use of the word "baka" (and its variants) increases, so too does the probability of the character being tsundere.
• Typically the only characters that ever get too flustered to talk are tsundere.
• Believe it or not, clothing can also be a tell, as recently almost all tsundere characters seem to wear thigh-highs.
• Violence in general. The tsundere is often the most violent character in the show by leaps and bounds.

The "Reset"

The most dreaded aspect of tsundere as it appears in anime/manga is the reset. Writers often use it as an easy-out, a way to maintain the status quo even in the face of seemingly major character progression. Take for example Louise from Zero's Familiar. Saito quite literally holds off an army numbering in the tens of thousands, by himself, so that she and everyone else could escape to safety. One would think that maybe, just maybe, a girl might put out at that point, but no. She finds out that he was saved by a particularly well-endowed elf after being quite nearly killed for her sake, and not 3 seconds later she's back to calling him a "STUPID DOG!" and beating him with a horse whip.

I'm not bitter.

Examples

• Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
• Any character voiced by Rie Kugimiya (Louise, Shana, Taiga, etc.)
• Kyou from Clannad
• To some extent, Kagami from Lucky Star, though the show features no romantic subplots at all.
• From Fate/Stay Night, Rin Tohsaka, the best tsundere.

--Shere 22:15, 8 July 2009 (UTC)