"Dere Type" (JP) is a term for a concept that describes how different types of characters behave towards their love interest and how they react differently before/after falling in love and becoming lovestruck (deredere).
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
These dere types are the result of a compound word of some variable adjective "__" and the word "deredere" (デレデレ).[2]
Origin
The concept of dere types originates from tsundere. The term "tsundere" was coined on August 29, 2002 for a character who's behavior differed drastically when it came to how they treated their love interest. They sometimes acted "tsuntsun" towards them and they sometimes acted "deredere" towards them. These two words were then conjoined to create a term that described someone who's behavior was both "tsun" and "dere"; they are tsun-dere.[3]
The rise in popularity of tsundere, resulted in a fad on Japanese social media where people would create many new combinations of what is known as "◯◯デレ", or "dere types" in the Western community.[2][1]
Naming Convention
These compounds always follow the format of "__dere", or "◯◯デレ" in Japanese. This takes the first two kana of the first adjective and conjoins it with the first two kana of "deredere" to create a compound.[2]
For example, a character who starts "kuuru" (クール) and then later becomes "deredere" (デレデレ), would be "kuu" (クー) + "dere" (デレ), or "kuudere" (クーデレ).[4]
History
Early Inspirations
Although tsundere is the archetype that started the fad of creating many new "dere types" and is widely considered to be the original dere type, it is actually 'not' the first time a compound was created with deredere to create an original meaning. This honor actually belongs to undere, which originates from the 1905 novel Memories of Soseki (JP) written by Kyoko Natsume, 97 years prior.[5]
Characteristics
Initial Behavior
When it comes to a character behaving deredere, it is a very common practice to add some sort of differing personality trait that conceals this more romantic and loving side of them. This involves creating a state "__" that is at first apparently unfavorable or unromantic to a love interest, but then becomes deredere due to the passage of time or the occurrence of some situation.[6][7]
Dere-kake
The point at which a character is in the transition period from going from their "__" state to their deredere state is known as "dere-kake" (デレかけ), which means "almost dere" or "becoming dere". This comes from an abbreviation of the phrase "deredere ni nari kake"(デレデレになりかけ) and is a combination of the word "deredere" (lovestruck) and the suffix "kake", meaning "to be partway" or "to begin but not complete". This refers to the point at which a character is showing brief glimpses of their deredere side but has not fully become it yet.[8]
For example, when a tsundere character gets lost in the moment and starts acting lovestruck (deredere), but then quickly catches themselves and insults their love interest to act like it never happened (tsuntsun). They are not fully deredere yet, but they are starting to become it.
Dere-ki
The point at which a character finally becomes deredere is known as "dere-ki" (デレ期), meaning "dere period".[9][10] It is also common to see other related phrases such as "tsun-ki" (ツン期), or "tsun period", to describe the starting state of a character.[11]
Categories of Dere Types
Dere types can be broken down into three main categories:
Gap Moe
This is the most common dere type and follows the original tsundere formula of starting at the opposite of "dere" and then becoming "dere" over time. These kinds of dere types rely on the concept of what is known as "gap moe", or the idea that moe (feelings of strong affection) can come as a result of a gap between two seemingly opposite personalities.
They are the result of a compound word of some variable adjective that hides their loving side "__" and the word "deredere" creating a gap in their personality. In these cases, the value of deredere is raised by the fact that the process of releasing the initial "__" state happens over time and opening the heart, and the fact that deredere is glimpsed for a moment in the usual "__" period. It is a case where if you are in love with the other person, you will inevitably become deredere.[6]
For example:
- Dandere: A character who starts off being silent and shy (danmari), but becomes deredere around their love interest.
- Kuudere: A character who starts off acting cold and unemotional (kuuru), but then becomes deredere around their love interest.
- Tsundere: A character that starts off acting cold, distant, and stuck-up (tsuntsun) towards their love interest, but eventually becomes deredere to them.
In each of these examples, the character starts with a personality that is seemingly unfriendly or unromantic and then grows over time to become loving and affectionate. This differs from a standard deredere character whose feelings of love and affection are always on full display and is never hidden.
| Beginning | ♥ | Ending |
|---|---|---|
 |
→ | 
|
Gapless
This is the second most common type and follow the original deredere formula of being "dere" the entire time. These types don't rely on having a gap in personality and don't have two sides to their personality. Rather than starting at the opposite of "dere" and only becoming "dere" over time, they are "dere" from the very beginning and also "dere" at the very end.
In these cases, the variable adjective "__" simply describes how they are being deredere with both adjectives applying simultaneously to describe the character. These types of characters openly show off their affection and love, but in different ways.
For example:
- Megadere (Western): A character who expresses their deredere in a very large and over the top way. They are very affectionate and openly loving the entire time, in the same way a standard deredere is, but they show this loving side in a very fangirl type of way.
- Nyandere: A character who expresses their deredere by getting intimate with their interest in the same way a cat (nyan) does. They are very affectionate and openly loving the entire time, in the same way a standard deredere is, but they show this loving side in a cat-like (nyan) way by rubbing against their love interest or making them pet their head.
In each of these examples, the character is purely deredere the entire time with no change in personality at any point.
| Beginning | ♥ | Ending |
|---|---|---|
 |
→ |
|
Reverse Gap
The third type is one that goes in the opposite direction of the gap moe type and follows the original yandere formula of starting at "dere" and then becoming the opposite of "dere" over time. These types are similar to a mix of both the previous types in that they both have a gap in personality and are also "dere" from the very beginning. The difference is that rather than the gap going in a beautiful direction to create an effect of moe, it goes in the opposite direction. They are characters who start openly loving and "dere", but over time begin exhibiting a change in their behavior.
In these cases, the variable adjective "__" instead starts to influence their deredere state causing them to start behaving in a way that is the opposite of moe. They are still characterized by a change in personality over time, but it goes in the opposite direction of the gap moe types.
For example:
- Dorodere: A character who at first is very loving and deredere but over time starts to have muddy feelings (dorodoro) that causes them to develop a grudge or feelings of hatred towards their love interest.
- Yandere: A character whose deredere is so strong that it causes them to become mentally ill (yanderu). Instead of starting off mentally ill (yanderu) and then later becoming deredere, as is the case with the gap moe types, they are so deredere at the start that it over time causes them to become mentally ill (yanderu). With this type, the character continuously fluctuates between acting mentally unstable (yanderu) and deredere rather than having straightforward progress from one state to becoming deredere over time.
| Beginning | ♥ | Ending |
|---|---|---|
 |
→ | 
|
In each of these examples, the character starts with a loving and affectionate deredere personality and then over time develops a gap in personality that is unfriendly or unromantic. In some cases, this gap in personality can disappear and the character can go back to being purely deredere again like at the start, but these are more so exceptions than the rule as in other cases the gap can continue to become wider and wider.
List of Dere Types
- 🚧 Work-in-Progress 🚧
Japanese
| Image | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Bakadere | A character who lacks good judgement and usually acts in a foolish manner, but sometimes acts cute, lovey-dovey, and deredere to their love interest. |
 |
Biridere | 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. |
 |
Bokodere | 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. |
 |
Butsudere | A character who is peacefully in love and deredere towards their love interest. |
 |
Dandere | A character who is silent and expressionless most of the time, but will suddenly become cute, talkative, and deredere when they are alone with their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Darudere | |
 |
Deredere | A character who is lovestruck and does not hide their romantic feelings towards their love interest. |
 |
Dorodere | A character who at first seems to be a cute, lovey-dovey, doting, and overly friendly deredere character, before it is revealed that this is nothing more than a disguise to hide their true intentions which is full of disturbed thoughts and feelings of hatred towards their love interest. |
 |
Erodere | A character who acts very erotic at first and tries to seduce their love interest by causing sexual arousal in them, but after falling in love starts to have a more pure, innocent, and romantic deredere love. |
 |
Gandere | A character who hides their feelings for their love interest by shooting guns, however grows deredere and loving to them. |
 |
Goudere | |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Gundere | |
 |
Hajidere | 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. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Himedere | A female character of nobility who starts out wanting their love interest to constantly give them lots of attention and affection, but adopts a deredere attitude and starts fawning over their love interest and doing loving things to make them also feel taken care of. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Hinedere | A character who has a nihilistic world view and at first appears to have a very negative, apathethic, and cynical personality, but is actually very cute, affectionate, and deredere. |
 |
Kamidere | A deity character who at first is arrogant, self-centered, and looks down on their love interest, but eventually develops a pure and sweet deredere love. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Kichidere | A character who has gone insane and usually acts like a crazy lunatic, but whose romantic feelings toward their love interest are surprisingly cute and deredere. |
 |
Kiridere | A character who usually has a dignified, crisp, and sharp serious side in public, but suddenly becomes deredere and shows a more emotional and overly affectionate side when they are alone with their love interest |
 |
Kuudere | A character who appears expressionless and unapproachable at first glance, but becomes cute, loving, and deredere around their love interest. |
 |
M Dere | A character who is deredere to their love interest and likes being humiliated and toyed with by them. |
 |
Nyandere | A nekomimi character who expresses their love for their love interest by getting intimate with them in the same way a cat does. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Ojoudere | An ojou-sama character who starts out spoiled and naive but eventually becomes cute, selfless, and deredere for their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Onidere | A character with monstrous strength who puts on an act and pretends to hate and be cruel to their love interest around other people to maintain a reputation of being feared, but will be extremely cute, lovey-dovey, and deredere to them when others are not looking. |
 |
Rindere | A mature and dignified female character who normally has a cool reserved exterior, but becomes cute, loving, and deredere after getting closer to their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Roshidere | A character who only acts deredere towards their love interest when they are speaking Russian in order to hide their true feelings of affection. |
 |
S Dere | A character who gains pleasure by toying with and teasing their love interest, but over time starts to show a cuter and more overly affectionate deredere side. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Sashidere | A character who enjoys stabbing their love interest with a knife, but is also cute, affectionate, lovey-dovey, and deredere with them. |
 |
Shindere | A character that has died but comes back as either a ghost or immortal being that revives upon death, finds a love interest and becomes deredere upon coming back to life. |
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Shundere | A character who gets sad when their love interest doesn't pay attention to them, but is deredere when they do. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Sunao Cool | A character who expresses their love and affection honestly and straightforwardly, but is always cool in their behavior because of their calm and expressionless personality. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Sunao Heat | A character who expresses their love and affection honestly and straightforwardly with an intense passion. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Sunao Surreal | A character who expresses their love and affection honestly and straightforwardly, but is seen as surreal because of their eccentric and slightly strange behavior. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Tsundere | A character who has loving deredere feelings for their love interest but is unable to be honest with them so they end up acting distant, standoffish, and stuck-up to conceal them, but overtime grows to become cute, loving, and affectionate as they learn to be honest with their feelings. |
 |
Tsuyodere | A female otoko masari character who is normally very strong-willed, tough, and masculine, but becomes cute, delicate, and girly when they are deredere for their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Undere | A character who says "yeah" or "I agree" to almost everything their love interest says so they don't upset them and can stay being deredere with them. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Usodere | |
 |
Utsudere | A character who is normally depressed and gloomy all the time but becomes cheerful, loving, and deredere when around their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Uzadere | |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Wandere | |
 |
Yandere (Yanderu) |
A character who at first is very sweet, loving, innocent, and overly affectionate like a normal deredere character, but over time begins exhibiting signs of being mentally sick as a result of having a too strong love. |
 |
Yandere (Yankii) |
A character who at first is a trashy, gaudy, loudmouth yankii delinquent who regularly get into fights and seem like they'd have no interest in having a cute romantic relationship, but eventually falls in love and becomes deredere to their love interest. |
 |
Yoidere | |
 |
Zondere | A zombie character who is deredere. |
Western
While dere types originate in Japan, they have also become popular in the Western community which resulted in the creation of several new types.
| Image | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Bocchandere | A young male character who is the son of a wealthy and high-class family who at first is very spoiled and entitled, before eventually becoming cute, loving, and deredere for their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Byoukidere | A character who is kind, affectionate, gentle, and deredere at heart but suffers from a serious illness. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Kanedere | |
 |
Kekkondere | A deredere character who wants to get married to their love interest right away. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Nemuidere | A character who spends much of their time sleeping, but is very cute, loving, and deredere towards their love interest when they are awake. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Oujidere | A male prince character who at first is very selfish and wants to be treated like royalty by their love interest, but after truly falling in love and becoming deredere acts like a selfless and gentlemanly true prince who pampers their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Oujodere | A female character who has a strict dignified exterior and behaves with perfect ladylike manners like a true princess in public but turns cute, affectionate, and deredere when alone with their love interest. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Smugdere | A character who likes to tease their love interest by playfully making a smug face at them, but is also very cute, loving, and deredere towards them. |
 |
Teasedere | A character who flirts with their love interest in a non-serious way to playfully tease them and get a flustered reaction out of them at first, but eventually adopts a more serious deredere side that is more open and honest with their true feelings. |
| [[File:|center|200px]] | Thugdere |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dere Suku. Milk Pai (2010/08/27).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 What is a Girl's "◯◯dere"?. AppBank (2016/07/06).
- ↑ What is Tsundere. Nico Nico Pedia (2008/05/14).
- ↑ Kuudere. Japanese Slang Dictionary (2006).
- ↑ The Original "Tsundere"?! 100 Years Ago, A Conversation Between Natsume Soseki And Terada Torahiko Called "Undere". Hoshi Biyori (2013/01/14).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 What is Dere. Nico Nico Pedia (2008/05/22).
- ↑ What does Yandere, Kuudere, Tsundere, and Kiridere mean? 〇〇dere Surge!. Yotsuba (2021/02/23).
- ↑ Dere-kake. Japanese Slang Dictionary (2005/08/26). “Dere-kake is an abbreviation of "almost becoming deredere" and "almost entering a dere state," and refers to the moment when a tsundere character is almost becoming deredere before completely transforming into dere.”
- ↑ What is Dereki. Pixiv Encyclopedia (2011/04/06).
- ↑ My Dere Period. Rakuten Books (2021/01/09).
- ↑ The Tsundere Princess Who Has Passed Her Tsun Period Turns Red Today. Dengeki Online (2020/05/13).
| v • eDere Types | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview |
Dere Types | ||
| Japanese | Standard |
Bakadere ♡ Biridere ♡ Bokodere ♡ Butsudere ♡ Dandere ♡ Darudere ♡ Deredere ♡ Dorodere ♡ Erodere ♡ Gandere ♡ Goudere ♡ Gundere ♡ Hajidere ♡ Himedere ♡ Hinedere ♡ Kamidere ♡ Kichidere ♡ Kiridere ♡ Kuudere ♡ Kuzudere ♡ M Dere ♡ Nyandere ♡ Ojoudere ♡ Onidere ♡ Osadere ♡ Rindere ♡ Roshidere ♡ S Dere ♡ Sashidere ♡ Shindere ♡ Shundere ♡ Sunao Cool ♡ Sunao Heat ♡ Sunao Surreal ♡ 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 | ||
| Related | |||
| Western | Standard |
Bocchandere ♡ Byoukidere ♡ Kanedere ♡ Kekkondere ♡ Nemuidere ♡ Oujidere ♡ Oujodere ♡ Smugdere ♡ Teasedere ♡ Thugdere | |
| Variations |
Ahodere (Western) ♡ Kamidere (Western) ♡ Kidere ♡ Mayadere (Western) ♡ Megadere (Western) | ||
| Other | |||