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I don't know why she always gets all shy and embarrassed every time I even like... look at her. It's kinda weird...
"Donkan" (JP) is a term for a character who is extremely oblivious to other people's feelings. They are not good at sensing other people's feelings or intentions and are completely dense when it comes to realizing someone is in love with them.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Donkan (鈍感) is a Japanese word that means "dense (slow to understand)" or "insensitive (to perceiving other people's feelings)". This comes from a combination of "don" (鈍), meaning "slow", and "kan" (感), meaning "feeling or emotion".
It refers to a person who is slow to understand the feelings and emotions of others, such as failing to notice when someone is flirting with them, being oblivious to social cues, or not picking up on the intentions behind someone's words.[1]
Localization
Since at least 2020, this archetype has also sometimes been unofficially referred to as "ahodere (foolish+lovestruck)" in the Western community.[2][3][4][5]
This name seems to originate from a misunderstanding of the Japanese term "ahodere", likely a result of the term "aho" referring to "a lack of common sense" leading Western to think it was a type about lacking common sense about love. The dere type most commonly known in the Western community as "bakadere" is also interchangeably called "ahodere" in Japan. However, in the Western community they were considered two separate dere types. The use of two separate spellings for the Japanese version likely lead Western fans to think they were two different types, when in fact they were not. The Western definition could be described as a fool at love, while the Japanese definition is a fool in love.
History
Romance Media
Yuki Narito (left) with Yui Takatsuki (right) from Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer!
The donkan character type is very common for main protagonists in romance series to have, often as a plot device for the love interest to have to overcome.[6]
Another common use of this archetype is to have a popular girl who infatuates every boy she meets run into a donkan character who is completely immune to her charm. In this scenario, the popular beautiful girl will often get annoyed and try everything in her power to make that person fall for her, a complete role-reversal as she is now the one on the chase. A popular example of this is the 2020 romance manga series Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer! (JP) which follows Yui Takatsuki, the prettiest girl in school who is rumored to have a reputation of stringing guys along only to reject them when they finally dared to confess their feelings for her, which earned her the unsavory nickname: "The Seatmate Killer." When the class switches seats and Yuki Narito sits next to her, everybody starts thinking that it's only a matter of time before he falls for her too, but as it turns out they underestimated just how clueless he was as he doesn't so much as even flinch. Frustrated by this, Yui decides to make it her mission to make Yuki fall in love with her but in doing so it seems that Yui herself is the one that is starting to fall in love![7][8][9]
Other Uses
This archetype was also used as the basis for the Pokémon ability of the same name (referred to in English as "Oblivious"), which prevents a pokémon from becoming infatuated or falling for the ability "attract" because they are oblivious to the fact the other pokémon is even trying to charm them in the first place.[10]
Personality
Donkan are characters who are oblivious to other's feelings of love, as well as their own feelings of love. For them it is difficult to perceive favor from other people's romantic feelings. Regardless of how many hints they receive, or how obvious it is that someone is in love with them, they are simply unable to understand how their love interest feels until they outright say "I love you". And even then sometimes they "still" won't understand how they feel or take it as just friends loving each other as friends.
A donkan character is not good at reading the atmosphere and has a lack of attentiveness.[11][12][13]
They will usually have their obliviousness greatly exaggerated, usually used for comedic value. Often the case is that every other character in the show can see how blatantly in love the love interest is, yet they are still completely clueless even though they're experiencing the affection firsthand. Because of how oblivious these types of characters can be, they may do or say typically romantic things with their love interest without realizing the implications. They will act confused when their love interest acts embarrassed. For example, patting the head of the love interest because they are just trying to confort them and not realizing that they will take it in a romantic way or start blushing.
Some may not even realize they are in love themselves. These characters may mistake signs of being in love as something else, such as their cheeks turning red as being a cold.
In some cases they may eventually realize the feelings of the other person after they keep trying hard enough and can start a relationship with that person. However, in other times they simply never realize and continue being oblivious to their feelings.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Goku with Chi Chi from Dragon Ball  Maika Sakuranomiya with Dino from Blend S  Sakura Kinomoto with Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura  Tanaka with Ueno from Ueno-san wa Bukiyou  Chinatsu Yoshikawa with Kyouko Toshinou from Yuru Yuri  Arata Hinohara with Kotoha from Arata Kangatari |
References
- ↑ What is Donkan. Pixiv Encyclopedia (2013/08/26). “When it comes to romantic feelings, it's difficult to sense other people's affections.”
- ↑ The Essentials of an Ahodere Anime Character. CBR (2022/11/25).
- ↑ Best Male Ahodere Characters In Anime. CBR (2022/12/18).
- ↑ Best Ahodere Anime Characters. CBR (2023/12/27).
- ↑ 40 Anime "Dere" Character Types That You Have Never Heard Of. Recommend Me Anime (2020/11/09).
- ↑ Donkan Protagonist. Visual Novel Database (2009/05/01). “This type of a protagonist is totally immune to romantic advances. He/she can't read the atmosphere at all. This protagonist may be a genius but still can't understand the feelings of anyone towards him/her until a clear confession is made. Even then he/she needs to ask for a confirmation about it and think for a while to understand what that means. The people who are in love with this protagonist can do everything to make him/her understand.”
- ↑ The Donkan Protagonist Turns the Table on the "Next-Seat Killer" Bishoujo Girl?. Natalie (2020/09/30).
- ↑ My Seatmate Tries to Make Me Fall in Love with Her by Teasing Me Repeatedly, but Somehow She Was the One Who Fell. Futabanet (2021/06/30).
- ↑ Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer! Volume 1. Tentai Books (2021/10/31).
- ↑ Donkan (ability). Bulbapedia (2005/03/28).
- ↑ 6 Characteristics of a "Donkan Woman". MYNavi (2021/09/17).
- ↑ What are the characteristics of people who are insensitive to love?. Omiai (2023/02/28).
- ↑ 10 Characteristics of Donkan People. Smartlog (2024/05/08).