Definition: What is tsundere?

Posted by Neko Kyou in Defining on August 8th, 2007

Shakugan no Shana - Tsundere You might have caught this word in forums, blogs or even hear people talking about tsundere’s and probably wondered what it actually means. Tsundere is a pretty common term used in the anime community but there are still many who don’t know what is actually means.

Tsundere is actually a term derived by fans to classify a type of anime character that is becoming more common, usually a female lead. It is the combination of two words – tsuntsun and deredere.

Tsuntsun

Tsuntsun refers to being egoistic, hostile, tough. A tsuntsun would be one who always seems moody or angry and never shows any sign of hesitation or weakness. An example of a tsuntsun character is anime is Suzumiya Haruhi.

Suzumiya Haruhi - A tsuntsun character

It’s debatable whether Suzumiya Haruhi is a tsundere, but from my point of view, she’s more a tsuntsun type character

Deredere

Deredere is the opposite of tsuntsun. A deredere character is often uncertain and needs a push to get going. Nerine from Shuffle! and Mikuru from Suzumiya Haruhi can be considered as deredere characters.

Kinomoto Sakura - deredere

Come to think of it, Sakura is also a deredere type character…

Tsundere

Now we have tsundere, the combination of both tsuntsun and deredere traits. A tsundere is a person who starts off with a tsuntsun type personality but ends up with a deredere personality. They are the serious, highly ambitious and confident type but slowly develops or shows signs of deredere, usually developing feelings for another character and dropping the tough front.

Tsundere’s are usually female lead characters, but the term itself is not gender specific. Some of the more popular tsundere characters includes –

Hiiragi Kagami (Lucky Star)
Narusegawa Naru (Love Hina)
Shana (Shakugan no Shana)
Tohsaka Rin (Fate/Stay Night)
Tendo Akane (Ranma 1/2)

Cardcaptor Sakura - Li Syaoran - tsundere

Yes, Li Syaoran (in Cardcaptor Sakura version) is a tsundere!

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24 Comments to “Definition: What is tsundere?”

Akemi | February 25th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Woohoo!!! Now I really understand what a Tsundere is thanks to your article!! x3
Kagami176 | March 16th, 2009 at 11:23 pm

OMG!! thank you! i never knew wat Tsundere was until now!!! YAY!!!!
Aoihi | September 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

… Someone called me a Tsundere… And I had no idea what it meant…

I do not see myself as one at all… >:[
TressaKim | November 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

gaah! thanks for teh lovely infos!!!
now, i understand what it means~~
tsundere is quite famous in DeviantArt~~
HeidaKuro | December 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

LOVES TSUNDERE VERY MUCH!!!
crow | April 6th, 2010 at 11:21 am

Tsundere: Aisaka Taiga
Yuki | August 19th, 2010 at 9:28 am

Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière is my favorite Tsundere.
NataileeTakahashi | December 29th, 2010 at 3:23 am

Taiga!
Joe88 | January 2nd, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Tsundere is actually a term derived by fans to classify a type of anime character that is becoming more common, usually a female lead. It is the combination of two words
Moonwolves | February 10th, 2011 at 7:59 am

i got called a tsundere….
RosaRose | April 10th, 2011 at 8:14 am

Thanks so much o 3o
newcomer676 | June 26th, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Shana!!!!
Definitely for me
Alice | August 26th, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Ahhhhh thanks so much. I’ve seen that word so many times and always think “WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN????”. nd now I know, thanks again.
Mo | December 18th, 2011 at 4:46 am

we just got ourselves a new tsundere: Kyuubi from Naruto
Neko Kyou | December 18th, 2011 at 8:42 am

@Mo, that is actually so true… lol!
X | March 27th, 2012 at 11:53 am

This is awesome, i always wondered what a tsundere meant. THX SO MUCH!!!!!
Hina Ayasaki | May 15th, 2012 at 1:41 pm

My friend called me a Tsundere O^O
nightryder | May 31st, 2012 at 11:50 am

now i know what tsundere means, thanks to this article…i understand it now
nightryder79 | June 1st, 2012 at 2:53 am

my friend also called me a tsundere, at first i didn’t know what he was talking about until i actually looked up the word, and now i understand, and maybe even agree
La Maiden | August 28th, 2013 at 7:55 am

Whoa. My boyfriend classified me as tsundere.
DereProject | January 4th, 2015 at 2:28 am

Hi! Your article is pretty good, and who doesn’t like tsunderes n____n I think most people who know about tsundere don’t actually know about the roots of the word, or moe in general though. Also, it’s interesting to note that there are diff types of tsundere (traditional tsundere vs neo-tsunderes). I actually wrote a blog post about that if you’re interested 😛

http://deredeck.com/blog/discussion/tsundere-vs-neo-tsundere-which-is-the-real-tsunderekko/