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Trigger Warning! Content Warnings: Mentions of extreme violence, kidnapping, murder, death, torture and brainwashing. |
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Spoilers Ahead! |
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"Dorodere" (JP) is a term for a character who acts cute and sweet on the outside as a disguise to hide their true intentions but is full of disturbed thoughts and feelings of hatred towards their love interest on the inside. They will act behind the scenes using their love interest for their own gain or even trying to crush their love interest. They can be said to have a confused "love-hate" relationship with their love interest. Once they inevitably realize they do actually love them, they will force them to be with them no matter if they want to or not. They want total ownership of their love interest and will manipulate them to make it happen.[1]
They will act behind the scenes, trying to crush the other party, sometimes including the love interest, who is likely to be an obstacle or distraction to the dorodere's objective. In front of others and even their considered enemies, the dorodere will act all lovey-dovey at first, hiding their true feelings of hatred.
Similar to an extreme version of yandere, once their true nature is revealed, they will force their love interest to fall in love with them and join them. They want the love interest to be loyal to them and do anything for them, even if it means dying for the dorodere. They want total ownership of their love interest and use them however they want. [2]
This dere type can be even more dangerous than yandere and yangire, as more extreme examples of dorodere characters can eventually act exactly or similar to them, but they will also act with malicious intentions towards their own love interest, making it the most dangerous dere type that could be created.
Meaning of the Name
The word is derived from the terms "dorodoro" (ドロドロ), meaning "muddled or confused", and "deredere" (デレデレ), meaning "to be lovestruck".
Origin
The origin of this dere type is Luca Trulyworth, from "Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica", because of how she surprised both the characters and the audience. This dere type was created after her in Japan to describe a character that at first seems sweet on the outside but inside they feel hatred and resentments, and will force the love interest to understand and follow their ways later on.
History
The first instance of dorodere was in the 2007 video game Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica. [3] In the beginning of the game, Luca is shown as a sweet and very kind girl who is in a loving relationship with the protagonist, Croix.
Later, when she discovers that her sister cannot be saved, she angrily reveals that the relationship she had with Croix and her friendly and sweet personality was a farce to everyone in her team, and that she was only using the protagonist to save her sister and didn't really feel anything for him at all.
Once her real inner feeling created by resentments of the past are revealed, she stops pretending to be the kind and cheerful girl everyone thought she was, and even ignores the protagonist, the one who was supposed to be her boyfriend, deciding to take things into her own hands and even sometimes antagonizing the protagonists whether intentionally or not. Her hatred for the world and people in it even manifests itself in monsters created from her own feelings that the heroes need to defeat.
As the plot progresses, now with her true feelings and objective exposed, she begins to realize that she actually loves Croix despite using him all this time, which makes her start to get destructive jealousy and possessiveness of Croix, wanting him for herself and wanting him to join her cause, with a new goal in mind that now includes Croix by her side whether he wants it or not.
While at first dorodere was just created as a variant of yandere that's more possessive and controlling of their love interest, that forces the love interest to fall in love with them and that takes down the competition behind the screen, this dere type has had different interpretations online and has grown to be more than just a yandere type.
The complex characterization and personality of Luca, the only character that was declared dorodere at first, has created different interpretations of what dorodere truly means in Japan.
Some depict dorodere as just someone who seems sweet but isn't deep down, not only with a love interest but with everyone else, like how it's revealed and shown with Luca. Some others think that it's just as the origin, an extreme example of yandere that's more possessive of the love interest, like how Luca does later in the game when she begins to really fall in love with the protagonist. Others interpret it as someone who fakes being in love with someone else but actually aren't. It can also be seen as a combination of all or several of these definitions.
The West also misinterpreted its meaning during translation, thinking that dorodere was a yandere variation for characters that have yandere thoughts but never act on them, and was quickly popularized widely with this incorrect definition online.
Personality
Dorodere characters, similar to yandere, appear to be sweet and lovable at first, but are actually really twisted or disturbed on the inside. Unlike most other dere types and similar to yandere, these will show their lovey-dovey side at first but later show their more aggressive side, rather than the other way around like most of these archetypes.
There are two types of dorodere, those who don't like or even hate the love interest, and those who feel a mix of hatred and love towards the love interest. A character can also show signs of both dorodere types, and while at first they can act "dere" despite hating the love interest, with time they can gain actual feelings of love that will confuse them as to whether they should still see the love interest as an enemy or follow their new feelings of love.
With the first type, the "doro" side is hidden by a false "dere", but is still there tainting the "dere" side from inside. In the second type, "doro" refers to the "dere" side being confusing and unclear because of the mix of oppossite feelings. In both it could be said that the "doro" in dorodere is corrupting the "dere" side with hatred.
In the first type, this lovable side of them is a facade. They will act kind and friendly to everyone, while bottling up their real feelings. They will act as if they are in love with someone despite not really liking them. Dorodere characters hide the loathing they feel towards others, sometimes including their own love interest, and will slowly or unexpectedly show their violent side and true colors to their love interests and people. They are very unpredictable and can strike at any moment.
They can also be characters who have an obsessive grudge or feeling of ownership towards their love interest, which can make them even more dangerous than a yandere, due to them acting on their grudge instead of their lovey-dovey feelings. They are full of bitter feelings, like grieving, and can become all crazy so that they get what they want. They will only act "dere" to gain something from the love interest or as part of their plan. Some will see the love interest as a tool for them to use. They can even use their love interest and force their love interest to go to unimaginable lengths for them, even if it means dying for them.
They will simultaneously avoid doing heavily romantic things with the love interest by using excuses, but will try to still act like they are in love with them. Some also sneakily sabotage or even try to kill the love interest, making it seem like an accident or misfortune instead.
The second type will feel a combination of hatred and love towards their love interest. How these contradictory feeling affect the dorodere can vary, sometimes hatred gaining more power than love and vice versa, but due to the hatred side, these feeling tend to become dangerous to the love interest and people around them.
Despite their apparent true contempt towards their love interest at first, they will gradually realize that they are really falling in love with the love interest. This not only will confuse others, but the own dorodere themself, which can sometimes lead to more dangerous reactions towards the love interest if the dorodere decides to deal with such feeling during their plan or even get rid of such romantic feelings to not distract them of their main goal.
Differences From Other Archetypes
Unlike mayadere, instead of being redeemed after falling in love, they will do the opposite. When a dorodere's true intentions are revealed, they will try to convince their love interest to join them and force their beliefs and ways of thinking on their love interest. If their love interest refuses, it's common of the dorodere to go into a rage and force these notions onto them or even decide that their love interest is not worth it at all. A dorodere will then get rid of their love interest.
Despite its resemblance to yandere, dorodere focuses more on their feelings of hatred or ownership than love towards their own love interest, which will make it even dangerous towards their love interest, while a yandere is usually more dangerous towards the people around their love interest at first in favor of their feeling of love. That's why dorodere characters are really similar to yandere types like the "Manipulative Type", "Training Type", "Restraints Type" or "Domestic Violence Type", where the dangerous behavior is directed at their love interest instead of other people. Despite this, a yandere character will only harm their love interest in benefit of their romantic feelings, while a dorodere will harm their love interest when their feelings of hatred or ownership gain more strength than their feelings of love.
Sources with some extreme dorodere characters usually end in tragedy if the dorodere achieve what they wanted. They will only bring misfortune towards their love interest and those around them. All who opposed the dorodere in the past, possibly even love interest, will end up being killed or used by the dorodere, who will even make them believe that they are nothing without the dorodere.
Misinterpretation
- Main article: Unofficial:Doromuga
In the West, however, possibly due to a translation error or misinterpretation, dorodere initially gained popularity with a completely different meaning from the original meaning in Japanese.[citation needed]
While the meaning in Japanese shows that an extreme version of dorodere can be even more dangerous than yandere, the opposite has been believed for a long time in the West. It was thought that dorodere characters are a non-dangerous version of yandere, with disturbed thoughts but not acting on them, and that all dorodere characters are sweet, despite their abnormal behavior and thoughts. Even if more mild examples of Japanese dorodere characters are similar to this interpretation, it was believed that for a character to be considered dorodere they should never act on these thoughts and inside feelings.
It's possible that during the translation the part that describes dorodere as a "variation of yandere who keeps their muddy feelings inside" was interpreted literally. Even if this part is true, it wasn't considered that dorodere characters will actually act on these thoughts behind the scenes and, in time, even in front of their love interest once those feelings have been uncovered.
Characters with this Personality
See Dorodere/Anime Characters to see characters from anime media.
See Dorodere/Western Characters to see characters from western media.
Gallery
 Luca Trulyworth from Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica  Nana Hiiragi from Munou na Nana  Xellos from Slayers  Diodora Astaroth from High School D×D  Nagito Komaeda from Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen  Knives Millions from Trigun |
References
| Dere Types | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Standard |
Bakadere ♥ Biridere ♥ Bokodere ♥ Butsudere ♥ Darudere ♥ Deredere ♥ Dorodere ♥ Erodere ♥ Gandere ♥ Goudere ♥ Gundere ♥ Himedere ♥ Hinedere ♥ Kamidere ♥ Kichidere ♥ Kiredere ♥ Kiridere ♥ Kuudere ♥ M Dere ♥ Nyandere ♥ Onidere ♥ Ojoudere ♥ Rindere ♥ Roshidere ♥ S Dere ♥ Shindere ♥ Teredere ♥ Tsundere ♥ Undere ♥ Usodere ♥ Utsudere ♥ Uzadere ♥ Wandere ♥ Yandere ♥ Yoidere ♥ Zondere ♥ | |
| Variations |
Deretsun ♥ Tsun-Aho ♥ Tsundora ♥ Tsun-Pure ♥ Tsunshun ♥ Tsuntere ♥ | ||
| Western | Standard |
Bocchandere ♥ Byoukidere ♥ Dandere ♥ Kanedere ♥ Kekkondere ♥ Nemuidere ♥ Oujidere ♥ Smugdere ♥ Teasedere ♥ Thugdere ♥ | |
| Variations |
Ahodere (Western) ♥ Kidere ♥ Mayadere (Western) ♥ Megadere (Western) ♥ | ||
| Other | |||