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I'm sorry I always hit him!
"Bokodere" (JP) is a term for a character who lashes out with their fists when they get embarrassed from their love interest in order to hide their shyness and feelings of love. They go into fight-or-flight mode when flustered 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 and will gain control over their aggressive impulses.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Bokodere (ボコデレ) is a combination of "bokoru" (ボコる), meaning "to beat up" or "assault someone by hitting, kicking, or punching them", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck".[2][3]
Origin
The origin of this dere type is Mahiru Inami from the 2005 manga series "Working!!". This dere type was created after her in Japan due to her reactions and habit of punching her love interest.[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" does not appear in the original manga series, they did release official "bokodere" themed merchandise, such as a bokodere Mahiru Inami collector's figurine.[1][5]
Personality
Bokodere characters don't know how to handle their embarrassment and will use their fists (or even their feet), sometimes unconsciously so, to avoid awkward and uncomfortable situations they think they are in.
They are similar to a combination of tsundere and hajidere. They usually behave completely normal until someone makes them blush, which will make them respond aggressively by punching that person to avoid the embarrassing situation. While a hajidere would try to hide from the love interest by hiding their face or running away, a bokodere would also try to hide but in a more aggressive and harmful way by hitting, kicking, and loudly telling the love interest to get away from them.
Differences From Other Archetypes
Bokodere is similar to the dere type tsundere, but the main difference is the usual lack of dialogue and the unintentional reactions of a bokodere, while tsundere characters are very aware of their harsh treatment towards the love interest. Tsundere characters will purposely treat badly their love interest at first, while a bokodere would 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 is an even more extreme version of tsuntere, or an embarrassed tsundere, but the biggest difference is bokodere lash out with their fists to hide their embarrassment, while tsuntere only lash out with their words.
Gandere and biridere characters are pretty similar to bokodere characters, but with more extreme reactions, using guns and electricity 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 Japanese Archetypes
- Hajidere: A term for a character who gets really nervous and embarrassed around their love interest.
- Thugdere: A term for a character who often mistreats, bullies and hits their love interest to hide their true feelings.
- Tsuntere: A term for a character who becomes bashful around their love interest and then acts verbally harshly towards them because of it.
List of Characters
See Bokodere/Japanese Characters to see characters from Japanese media.
See Bokodere/Non-Japanese Characters to see characters from non-Japanese media.
Gallery
 Mahiru Inami from Working!!  Tomo Aizawa with Junichirou Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!  Tomo Aizawa with Junichirou Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!  Yor Forger with Loid Forger from SPY×FAMILY  Steina from Yuusha, Yamemasu  Hayase Nagatoro from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro san |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 WORKING!! - Bokodere Set of 6. Hobby Stock (2012/02/09).
- ↑ What is Bokodere. Pixiv Enyclopedia (2015/06/08).
- ↑ What is Bokodere. Nico Nico Pedia (2010/04/28).
- ↑ The Much-Talked-About Bokodere Heroine. Livedoor (2010/08/07).
- ↑ The Innocent and Pretty Bokodere Girl "Mahiru Inami" Joins the "Kyarameni Series"!. Hobby Search (2012/02/09).
| v • eDere Types | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Standard |
Bakadere ♥ Biridere ♥ Bokodere ♥ Butsudere ♥ Dandere ♥ Darudere ♥ Deredere ♥ Dorodere ♥ Erodere ♥ Gandere ♥ Goudere ♥ Gundere ♥ Hajidere ♥ Himedere ♥ Hinedere ♥ Kamidere ♥ Kichidere ♥ Kiridere ♥ Kuudere ♥ M Dere ♥ Nyandere ♥ Onidere ♥ Rindere ♥ Roshidere ♥ S Dere ♥ Shindere ♥ Shundere ♥ Tsundere ♥ Tsuyodere ♥ Undere ♥ Usodere ♥ Utsudere ♥ Uzadere ♥ Wandere ♥ Yandere (Yanderu) ♥ Yandere (Yankii) ♥ Yoidere ♥ Zondere ♥ | |
| Variations |
Deretsun ♥ Tsun-Aho ♥ Tsun-Ama ♥ Tsunbaka ♥ Tsundora ♥ Tsunneko ♥ Tsun-Pure ♥ Tsunpuri ♥ Tsunshun ♥ Tsuntere ♥ | ||
| Western | Standard |
Bocchandere ♥ Byoukidere ♥ Kanedere ♥ Kekkondere ♥ Nemuidere ♥ Oujidere ♥ Oujodere ♥ Smugdere ♥ Teasedere ♥ Thugdere ♥ | |
| Variations |
Ahodere (Western) ♥ Kamidere (Western) ♥ Kidere ♥ Mayadere (Western) ♥ Megadere (Western) ♥ | ||
| Other | |||