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For some reason, whenever people are around, I have to do that kinda stuff to Todashi... Even though it's a deception it's a little...
Onidere (JP) is a term for a character 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, affectionate, and deredere to them when others are not looking. They will hide their love life and relationship from everyone else at first because they are embarrassed and fear it will make them look "weak", despite their monstrous and superhuman oni-like strength capable of defeating anybody in a fight or easily smashing concrete walls. However, they do still genuinely love and care about their love interest more than anyone else and would never intentionally seriously harm them since they only want to make it 'look' like they're hurting their love interest. After enough time with their love interest they will even come to express their feelings and more loving cute side in public.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Onidere (オニデレ) is a combination of "oni" (オニ), meaning "ogre", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck".
In Japanese folklore, an oni is an evil supernatural creature who is said to live deep within the mountains or caves. They are portrayed as a type of Japanese ogre, who are of gigantic proportions and possess monstrous strength and a fearful appearance. Because of this, the word "oni", much like the English word "ogre", can be used as a metaphor to describe "a cruel or terrifying person".
The term is a reference to the street name "Oni Head" given to the character Saya Ikushima, who possesses oni-like traits.
Origin
The name for the archetype comes from the 2008 romantic comedy manga series OniDere (JP) by Crystal na Yousuke.[1][2] In this series, Saya Ikushima is in a secret love relationship with Tadashi Imamoto despite being known as one of the biggest delinquents of the school. She even possesses superhuman strength and two oni-like horns, which granted her the street name of "Oni Head" by others.
Due to her position and reputation, every time they are outside and someone sees them she pretends to treat her love interest with disgust or act like she was just bullying him. Despite loving him she becomes embarrassed by being seen being intimate with someone so she hides their relationship from everyone else to keep her gang under the impression that she is the strongest and biggest man-hater of them all. She even states that if their secret love is found out, she will kill him and then herself. Despite this fact, she would never actually do it and when her secret is found out she just forces that person to keep their secret too instead of harming anyone. She also only "pretends" to be cruel to him and never actually tries to seriously hurt him, only to make it look like she is (though he does still get hurt to some degree).
She is madly in love with Tadashi, so much so that even merely looking at him has been known to make her faint in happiness. Whenever Saya is alone with Tadashi she acts really affectionate and cute with him. She even sometimes wears a disguise so she can be intimate with him in public. She usually asks to be punished in return for harming him earlier when trying to keep up her image and apologizes so hard she causes richter 3 earthquakes by slamming her head into the ground. She loves him a lot despite how she treats him in front of others and only treats him badly due to a combination of her "oni" reputation and hiding her more loving side from other people. Saya has been described by her gang members as being "more manly than an oni", but Tadashi has stated that when it's just the two of them she's the cutest and girliest person he knows.
She eventually realizes her feelings for him are too strong and decides to make their relationship public.[3][4]
Characteristics
In official media, onidere are presented as humans who just have traits that resemble an oni. They have been described as humans that are "more manly than an oni". Despite being human, however, they possess monstrous superhuman strength and are capable of feats of strength such as punching through buildings, causing small Earthquakes by headbutting the ground, or easily lifting up people and throwing them over buildings like a ball. They might even do cute things like casually carving their love interests name with a heart into a concrete wall using their fingernail.
Onidere will rarely be seen losing a fight due to their immense power, with one main exception... they might faint from happiness if their love interest calls them cute.
Personality
Onidere are characters who act cruel and will pretend to hate and treat their love interest badly around other people to maintain a reputation of being feared (oni), but will be extremely cute and affectionate to them when others are not looking (deredere).[1]
Oni Side
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Saya Ikushima in public from OniDere
Onidere possess several oni-like traits, such as being fierce, powerful, relentless, and unforgiving. They are characters who are widely feared by others due to their reputation for being cruel and unbeatable since they are often yankii delinquents.[1]
Due to their reputation, onidere will hide or deny their feelings of love as they think they have a reputation to uphold and that someone in their position should not love. They feel embarrassed by being seen in public with their love interest and think it makes them look weak and will pretend to hate romance, despite secretly being completely head over heels for their love interest.[1]
When they are in public they will act like they're being cruel and rude to their love interest to pretend like they don't know them, let alone secretly have feelings for them. They will be acting affectionate with their love interest one moment and then the second someone walks by they will pretend like they were just about to throw their love interest for target practice to explain why they were just hugging this random person that they definitely aren't in love with.[1]
At the same time, they will never let another person lay a hand on their love interest. If someone tries to threaten their love interest, the onidere might pretend like 'they' are going to "take care of them in private", when in reality they just wanted to get their love interest out of harm's way while also maintaining their deception. However, if someone physically lays a land on their love interest they might get so angry they punch that person through multiple brick walls.[1]
If their secret ever gets found out they will usually threaten the person who saw to keep it a secret also. They may even threaten to kill them, but they're all talk and won't actually follow through with their threats since it's not who they actually are.[1]
Difference in Demeanor
The difference in demeanor when Saya Ikushima threatens a random person (top) versus her lover (bottom) from OniDere
Onidere have two distinct "oni" personalities:[1]
- Their "Real" Oni Side: This is the side that they show when they aren't around their love interest, or when someone puts their love interest in harms way. They will not hold back and will be ruthless, often cursing them out.
- Their "Pretend" Oni Side: This is the side they show when they are "being cruel" to their love interest in public as a guise to hide their true feelings. They will hold back as much as they can and only try to make it look like to others that they're being their normal cruel self.
Although they act "the same" in both instances, the difference is very apparent which might confuse onlookers. Because they are madly in love with them, they can't unleash their true "oni" self on their love interest.
Dere Side
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Saya Ikushima in private from OniDere
However, behind the scenes when no one is looking they will show their loving and intimate deredere side to their love interest. In a stark contrast to their cruel persona in public, they will act very cutely when no one else can see them. They may even act very shy when they are alone and embarrassingly ask to hold their love interest's hand, or for them to hug them or call them cute pet names like "honey" or "darling", or to kiss.[1]
Because they have a strong desire to be intimate with their love interest in public but they don't want anyone to know about it, they may even wear a disguise when going on dates.[1]
They also feel bad about having to treat them so poorly in public to maintain their reputation and try to make up for it by being extra affectionate when they're alone. They may even harm themselves in return as atonement, such as slamming their head through a concrete wall to apologize.[1]
Onidere do genuinely care for their love interest, but they feel that maintaining their feared reputation is even more important. They do not want to be seen as "weak" for letting someone get intimate with them (even though they're powerful enough to easily stop anyone who dares to mock them). With enough time, however, they will eventually realize that being with the person they love is more important than their reputation and will start to act more loving toward them in public.[1]
Similar Japanese Archetypes
- Monster Musume: A term for beautiful female characters who share traits with a monster, which is often an oni.
- Sukeban: A term for a female character who is part of a female-only juvenile delinquent girl gang.
- Tsun-aho A term for a character who tries so hard to look uninterested in their love interest that they just end up making themselves look like a complete fool. Some onidere may try to make up outlandish excuses to try to cover up why they were just being affectionate with someone to maintain their reputation.
- Yankii: A term for a character who is a juvenile delinquent.
List of Characters
See Onidere/Japanese Characters to see characters from Japanese media.
See Onidere/Non-Japanese Characters to see characters from non-Japanese media.
Gallery
 Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell from Gabriel DropOut  Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell from Gabriel DropOut  Aroma Kurosu from PriPara  Aroma Kurosu from PriPara  Gaaruru from Pripara |
References
| 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 | |||