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"Bokodere" (JP) is a term for a character who despite being in love and having deredere feelings for their love interest, reflexively punches them with their fists when they become embarrassed by their love interest's affection in order to hide their shyness. Despite being honest and gentle people at heart and normally having a cute deredere demeanor with a smiling face, they go into a type of "fight-or-flight" mode when flustered because of their shyness despite not really wanting to hurt their love interest. After some time as they get more used to being affectionate with their love interest they will feel less flustered by affection and will gain control over their violent impulses.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Bokodere (ボコデレ) is a combination of "bokoru" (ボコる), meaning "to beat up or severely hurt (assault someone by hitting, kicking, or punching them)", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)".[2][3]
Origin
The term was created on the Japanese internet to describe the character Mahiru Inami from the 2005 romance comedy manga series Working!!. The type was created in 2010 after the release of the anime adaptation due to Mahiru's flustered reactions and her habit of punching her love interest.[2][3][4]
Inami suffers from severe androphobia (fear of men), which was built up by her father during her childhood. Due to her fear, she often punches immediately and with massive strength any man that tries to interact with her. Despite her androphobia, she is aware that men are not necessarily to be feared and often struggles with her impulse to punch men she encounters. She feels especially bad when hurting her love interest Souta Takanashi after getting extremely flustered over something he says or does, but he helps her get over her androphobia as their relationship grows.
Although the term "bokodere" seemingly does not appear in the original manga series, they did later release official "bokodere" themed merchandise, including a bokodere Mahiru Inami collector's figurine.[1][5]
Personality
Deredere Side
Tomo Aizawa confessing her love to Junichirou Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!
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They behave similar to a normal deredere character who is affectionate and loving, until their love interest makes them blush which will make them respond instinctively by punching them to avoid the embarrassing situation.
Boko Side
Yor Forger getting flustered by Loid Forger's sudden confession and physical contact from SPY×FAMILY
Bokodere characters don't know how to handle their feelings of love and will use their fists (or even their feet), unconsciously so, to avoid dealing with the embarrassment of their feelings.
Differences From Other Archetypes
Bokodere is the most similar to tsungire—characters who get angry when people try to be affectionate with them—in that both types punch their love interest for trying to be deredere to them. The main difference comes from intent, namely that a tsungire character intends to punch their love interest out of anger or annoyance, while a bokodere character doesn't mean to and does it out of embarrassment and instinct, being more like a regular tsundere with the flustered reactions. Bokodere characters also lack the harsh dialogue and have unintentional reactions, while tsungire characters are very aware of their harsh treatment towards the love interest. Tsungire characters will purposely mistreat their love interest at first, while a bokodere character will only react like that once embarrassed as a knee-jerk reaction, trying to get away as fast as possible with the only resource they have, that being their fists.
Bokodere could be seen as a more extreme version of tsuntere—a shy tsundere—but the biggest difference is a bokodere character lashes out with their fists to hide their embarrassment, while a tsuntere character only lash out with their words.
It is also similar to deretsun in that both types appear cute and affectionate at first, but then suddenly act in a way that prevents their love interest from being affectionate with them.
It is similar to hajidere—characters who are very shy and blushing—but the biggest difference is that a hajidere character might try to hide from the love interest by covering their face or running away, while a bokodere character would also try to hide from the situation but in a more aggressive and harmful way by hitting or kicking their love interest out of a fight-or-flight instinct.
Biridere and gandere characters are also very similar to bokodere characters but with even more extreme reactions, using guns and electricity to hide their deredere side instead of their fists like a bokodere would do. It could be said that bokodere is a more realistic, weaponless/powerless form of these other two dere types.
Similar Archetypes
- Biridere: A term for a tsundere character who hides their deredere feelings towards their love interest by violently shocking them with electricity when they get embarrassed, but overtime grows to become cute, loving, and affectionate as they learn to be honest with their feelings.
- Gandere: A term for a tsundere character who hides their feelings of love towards their love interest by shooting guns at them when they get embarrassed, but overtime grows to become loving and deredere as they learn to be honest with their feelings.
- Hajidere: A term for a character who is normally very shy and blushes from embarrassement whenever they are near their love interest, but eventually overcomes their shyness and becomes deredere for them.
- Kamidere (Bite): A term for a character who can't be honest with their romantic feelings so they bite their love interest to hide their embarrassment, but eventually learn to show a more honest and affectionate deredere side.
- Tsungire: A term for a character who is quick to get angry and push others away when they try to be affectionate with them.
- Tsuntere: A term for a tsundere character who acts dishonest with their feelings because they become shy and embarrassed around their love interest.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Mahiru Inami from Working!!  Yor Forger with Loid Forger and Yuri Briar from SPY×FAMILY  Yor Forger from SPY×FAMILY  Tomo Aizawa with Junichirou Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!  Tomo Aizawa with Junichirou Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!  Noelle Silva with Asta from Black Clover |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 WORKING!! - Bokodere Set of 6. Hobby Stock (2012/02/09). Archived on 2025/07/03. “Due to popular demand there's an additional item on the menu, the cute Bokodere Inami is now available! The pure-hearted and lovely Bokodere girl, Mahiru Inami, is now available as an expressive mini figure, standing approximately 64″ tall. The height difference is also taken into account, so you can double the cuteness and fun by displaying her together with the "Taneshima Popura Legion Series" or the "Yamada Aoi Daisakusen"! The "Bokodere specifications" are cute both when displayed together with the "Tanejima Popura Gundan" series and individually. A special set of six Bokodere adorable Mahiru Inami figures, each with a variety of facial expressions and poses that bring out the pure cuteness of Mahiru Inami!”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bokodere. AtWiki (2010/07/03). Archived on 2025/07/03. “This refers to the heroine of "WORKING!!", Inami Mahiru. Inami Mahiru is afraid of men and hits them reflexively, but she falls in love with the main character Takanashi Souta (male) after something happens to him. Even after she falls in love, her habit of hitting continues (she sometimes hits to hide her embarrassment), so this word was born by combining "bokoru" and "dere", like a derivative of tsundere or yandere. At first, the two of them are in a bad mood, and there are many scenes where Souta is beaten unreasonably, so Mahiru's popularity, which was low at first, seems to have risen sharply after she fell in love with Souta. Takanashi has become a victim... a victim of Inami-chan's rising popularity... But Takanashi also became more popular after he transformed into Takanashi and showed a more manly side.”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 What is Bokodere. Pixiv Enyclopedia (2015/06/08). Archived on 2025/07/03. “This is for Mahiru Inami, a character from the four-panel comic "WORKING!!" by Karino Takatsu. Bokodere is a character who punches their partner as an expression of dere. Bokodere's personality: 1. Shy, but gentle and honest at heart. 2. Habitually hits the opposite sex, and by extension reflexively hits their fist at the opposite sex they are in love with. 3. Even if they're dere, they'll hit them in the end.”
- ↑ What is Bokodere. Nico Nico Pedia (2010/04/28). Archived on 2025/07/03. “This phrase was created specifically for Inami Mahiru.”
- ↑ The Innocent and Pretty Bokodere Girl "Mahiru Inami" Joins the "Kyarameni Series"!. Hobby Search (2012/02/09). Archived on 2025/07/03. “Mahiru's features, such as her short cut with long hair, slender body, and panda hairpin, have been exquisitely reproduced with a sense of deformation! The charm of the "Charamayi Series" is that you can enjoy a rich variety of facial expressions! This time, you can enjoy six different expressions. First of all, here is the "deredere" face of a maiden in love! Her happy aura is overflowing! The "smiling face" has an adorable, relaxed atmosphere! Usually, she is very calm like this. But... Mahiru has an extreme phobia of men! She has a violent constitution that reflexively punches any man who comes near her! The "tempestuous face" that shows how panicked she is is extremely telling, nice!”