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Content Warning! Content Warnings: Mentions of explicit themes and depictions of suggestive images. |
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Spoilers Ahead! |
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"S Dere" (JP) is a term for 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. They will force their love interest to do humiliating intimate acts and playfully talk down to them while doing it because they enjoy the pleasure they get from having control over them and enjoy seeing their reactions. They are very perverted and will do intimate acts such as making their love interest lick their feet, using them as a chair, or stepping on them. However, they are still deeply in love with their love interest and greatly care for their well-being so this form of domination is simply how they show their love and affection. They also want to be loved back by their love interest so after becoming closer they will start to show a more cute and affectionate side. They will start going on cute dates with them, holding their hand in public, or showing their love by doing things such as cuddling them.
They are the counterpart and compatibility of M Dere.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
S Dere (Ｓデレ) is a combination of "S", an abbreviation of the word "sadisuto" (サディスト) meaning "a person who derives pleasure from humiliating others", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)".[3]
In Japan, mentions of the word "sadisuto" (サディスト) are almost always replaced with the letter "S", either for censorship reasons or to be more eye-catching.
Origin
The term S Dere originates from the 2008 eroge visual novel fittingly titled New Genre S Dere!! (JP). In this game, the main protagonist moves to a formerly all-girls boarding high school that recently became coed, however, he is the only boy at the school. The story follows his new school life of being surrounded by "a little bit sadistic" girls who all take turns humiliating and teasing him in different intimate BDSM scenarios. Despite the fact that they liked dominating the protagonist in these more intimate situations, they would also be very cute and affectionate with him in public. They cling to his arm as they're walking home together or start blushing when they went on dates.[2][4]
To differentiate themselves all 5 girls have slightly different sub-personalities:
- Mariarose Suzutaka - An arrogant ojou-sama S girl.
- Meguru Sobue - A cheerful misunderstood S girl.
- Ren Shinomiya - A cool martial arts oriented S girl.
- Riku Sena - A silent and expressionless data collection S girl.
- Yuzuha Satsuki - A friendly natural type S girl.
Alternate Spelling
The term was originally spelled in Japanese as "えすでれ" in hiragana, but was later changed to "Sデレ" which is the most common spelling.[2]
Alternate Name
S Dere is also sometimes unofficially known by the name "sadodere" (サドデレ).[5] While usage of this name is rare in Japan, it is the predominant name in the Western community. However, because of a misunderstanding of the Japanese definition the term largely has an extreme and negative connotation that does not reflect the true meaning.
History
Popularization of Nagatoro
Hayase Nagatoro claiming Naoto Hachiouji is her pet from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro san
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The term S Dere was later and most popularly used to describe the character Hayase Nagatoro from the 2017 romance manga series Please Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (JP). The manga had the tagline "The Story of the S Dere Girl" and it gained massive popularity inspiring a whole new wave of teasing-based romance manga.[6] The series was originally published in 2011 as a self-published web manga series titled Nagatoro san (JP) on Pixiv where Nagatoro was also referred to as an S dere girl, but it was not until the series was later rebooted in 2017 with a revamped story that it gained widespread popularity.[7]
Hayase Nagatoro was a girl who loved toying with and teasing her senpai Naoto Hachiouji (usually referred to as simply "Senpai") who she had a crush on. She would enjoy teasing him any chance she got and doings things such as rubbing sunscreen on him using her feet, making him put her stockings on, using him as a chair, promising him "rewards" if he painted her portrait well, and at one point even dubbed Senpai "her pet". Despite her teasing nature, she had a sweet and affectionate side that would express genuine loving feeling towards Senpai, such as getting concerned if he didn't show up to school, taking care of and nursing him back to health while he was sick, getting sad when he didn't pay attention to her, or apologizing right away whenever she accidentally went too far with her toying. She was also extremely protective of Senpai and would get angry whenever her friends tried messing with him too, something they immediately picked up on and realized that she had a crush on him.[8][9][1][10]
Throughout the series as Nagatoro became closer and closer to Senpai she started to gradually become more and more soft. She started expressing desires to go on cute dates together, to share ice cream, to hold hands, and she even started learning how to draw (Senpai's favorite pastime) so she could draw a portrait of Senpai to give to him as a gift, though she still had fun toying with him in-between these moments. She started to become more vulnerable around Senpai as she fell more in love with him, confiding in him about her insecurities, and even telling him her wish is for Senpai to give her a kiss if she won her upcoming Judo tournament. While Senpai stated that it was a little rough in the beginning, he grew to love spending time with her. After Senpai confessed that he was in love with Nagatoro and asked her to be his girlfriend, her behavior completely changed. She was so happy that he loved her back that she burst into tears and confessed that she loved him as well. From this moment on she adopted a purely deredere attitude towards Senpai. She would no longer toy with him and would be openly intimate with him, not caring if people saw them being affectionate together and telling all of her friends that they were dating. While at the start of the series she declared Senpai to be nothing more than her pet and showed affection by taking the more dominant role towards him, by the end of the series she declared that the two of them were lovers and showed affection by taking a more submissive role by cuddling with him, showing a huge progression in her character development.
Since then Nagatoro has become the face of S dere in Japan. The manga series was so popular it even inspired a line of "S Dere" perfume in Japan in 2023.[11]
Other Official Media
Although not having the same level of impact, it was used in the title of the 2014 manga series A Junior Girl Who Is S Dere Tries To Train Me (JP). The story is about a girl named Yuto who decides to "train" her kohai Shina Saeki to be submissive to her after learning he has a crush on her.[12]
It was also later used for the 2018 erotic light novel series Don't Manage ××, Arai-san: Let's Fall in Love with the Strongest S Dere Girl (JP), which was similarly about a guy falling in love with his senpai Arai Karuko who was dubbed "the strongest S Dere girl".[13]
Personality
S dere characters gain pleasure by playing toying with and teasing their love interest (S), but also have an overly affectionate cute side (deredere).
S Period
Raphiel Ainsworth Shiraha making Satania lick her feet for a snack from Gabriel DropOut
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An S dere character is a person who enjoys and takes pleasure from toying with and teasing their love interest. They will play with their love interest in a toying manner and sometimes humiliate them as well.[8][12][13][2]
S dere characters will force their love interest to do humiliating intimate acts, such as licking their feet, being stepped on, or being used as a chair. They will also talk down to their love interest while they're doing these humiliating acts, such as telling their love interest that they look pathetic getting excited from being stepped on. They enjoy dominating their love interest because they enjoy the pleasure they get from having total control over them. They are also quite perverted and enjoy doing these lewd acts with their love interest and can be seen getting visibly excited while doing them. They may even tease their love interest by promising them erotic "rewards" if they do good, only for it to just be another one of their teases. They may even go as far as to physically "punish" their love interest for "being naughty" by playfully spanking or being rough with them. Some S dere characters even want to treat their love interest like a pet.[8][12][2]
While some of this form of teasing may cause slight discomfort to their love interest (such as struggling to hold a chair position), it will never escalate to seriously harming or humiliating them because the S dere still loves and cares about them greatly. If an S dere notices they're starting to go too far with their teasing they will quickly take it back and apologize since they don't want to actually upset their love interest and just wanted to play with them a little bit.[8]
Additionally, S dere only act this way towards their love interest because they harbor deredere feelings for them. They enjoy seeing the reactions of their love interest and the feeling of being with the one they love and have no desire to mess with anyone else because they will not get the same satisfaction as this is their way of being intimate. However, because of their strong feelings an S dere will become very angered if 'other people' try to pick on or toy with their love interest. To them, their teasing is a form of affection that only they can do and they will become very protective if other people try to mess with their love interest. While they normally don't have any interest in acting sadistic towards other people, if they see someone picking on their love interest they will have no problem turning that side onto them to make it clear no one else is allowed to mess with them. This behavior is usually a clear sign to everyone else that the S dere is in love them.[8]
Almost Dere Period
Hayase Nagatoro offering Naoto Hachiouji a "reward" from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro san
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Despite their dominating nature, S dere characters still greatly care for their love interest and want to be loved by them, they just enjoy the pleasure that comes from having control over the one they love. This fact, however, is not always known by the love interest at the time, who may just think the S dere character dislikes them (even though it's the complete opposite and they're madly in love with them). This may be something the love interest notices when seeing that the S dere character doesn't mess with anyone else and over time they can start to realize it's because they only enjoy doing these things with them.[8]
Over time their teases will start to become more affectionate. At first they might offer their love interest a "reward" for doing good, such as the promise of getting to see their body, only to tease them for thinking they would actually get it, but every once in a while they will give their love interest a kiss or something heartwarmingly affectionate as a reward as a way of showing their true intentions and feelings. They may also reveal their more soft and loving feelings when thinking about their love interest while they aren't around or fantasize about being cuddled by them.[8]
Dere Period
Esdeath blushing and showing a cute side from Akame ga Kill!
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Eventually the S dere character will start to reveal a more softer and cuter side. One that wants to be cuddled, go on cute romantic dates, hold hands, and be made to feel loved by them. They will start blushing uncontrollably and wanting their love interest to pamper them with love and give them affection, taking a complete turn from their former behavior. They may also show a more caring side by taking care of their love interest should they ever become sick.[9][2]
After their romantic feelings become known, the teasing may become consensual on behalf of the love interest, as is the case with M dere characters (who sometimes didn't even realize they 'were' one until meeting an S dere character). S dere characters are the perfect match with M dere characters. While both love humiliation, S dere characters enjoy inflicting this "on" their love interest, while M dere characters enjoy when this is inflicted on themselves "by" their love interest. M dere is all about relinquishing control to their love interest, while S dere is all about taking control over their love interest. S dere characters who aren't in a relationship with an M dere character, however, will usually just drop the teasing entirely to become more loved by their love interest. They will start to soften over time completely becoming an affectionate and loving deredere person by the end.
Whichever side happens, whether they drop the S traits entirely or not, the S dere character will still show a softer and cuter side. While they usually like to be the one taking control and dominating their love interest, they still desire to be cuddled and pampered by them too. They want to go on cute dates with their love interest and act clingy towards them in public just like a deredere character would and can even be seen blushing from how much they love them. Generally those who keep their S traits even after becoming dere will act more dominating (S) in more 'intimate private moments' when they're alone with their love interest and act more cutesy and overly affectionate (dere) when they're together in public.[9][2]
Differences From Other Archetypes
S Dere is somewhat similar to teasedere—characters a who flirt with their love interest in a non-serious way to playfully tease them and get a flustered reaction out of them—but the main difference is that the teasing is a lot less harsh and physical with teasedere. Teasedere characters don't like toying with their love interest physically by dominating them or forcing them to do humiliating things, they just want to make their love interest flustered which they do in a flirty and teasing manner. A teasedere character will also playfully laugh at their love interest's reaction while an S dere character will be visibly excited from pleasure. To put it simply, a teasedere character will make a suggestive remark and then play it off as a joke to laugh at their love interest's cute flustered reaction, while an S dere will make a suggestive remark and then become excited by actually making their love interest do it.
S dere is also very similar to erodere—characters who act erotic at first but after falling in love start to have a more pure, innocent and romantic love—since they both are quite perverted and lewd at first but also have a more cute and innocent deredere side. The main difference is that erodere characters try to seduce their love interest at first, while S dere only do it to toy with them. Erodere characters also don't have to do erotic things in a more dominating fashion like an S dere character does.
While an S dere might seem similar to a verbal-only thugdere—characters who often mistreat their love interest by harming them physically and emotionally to hide their true feelings of affection—, the difference is an S dere doesn't do these things to hide their feelings (and it's usually rather obvious they have these feelings) and they won't physically abuse their love interest, rather then do it simply because they enjoy teasing their love interest. A thugdere will also just yell straight insults or verbal abuse and won't try to playfully do it like an S dere, and they may even resort to violence while an S dere will never.
Similar Archetypes
- Do-S: A term for a character who is extremely sadistic.
- Erodere: A term for a character who will act erotic at first, often in the form of teasing, but will become extremely embarrassed after experiencing true affection.
- M Dere: A term for a character who likes being humiliated by their love interest.
- Teasedere: A term for 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.
- Tennen S: A term for a character who unintentionally inflicts sadistic acts on others with no ill intentions.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Hayase Nagatoro with Naoto Hachiouji from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro san  Rachnera Arachnera with Kimihito Kurusu from Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou  Raphiel Ainsworth Shiraha from Gabriel DropOut  Yuzuha Satsuki from Shin Genre S Dere  Denier from Isekai Slow Life  Utena Hiiragi from I admire magical girls, and... |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 What Is the True Intention of the Senpai Who Is Loved By the "S Dere" Gyaru?. Kodansha (2018/06/07).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Shin Genre S Dere Official Home Page. Kur-Mar-Ter (2008/09/26).
- ↑ Sumire Uesaka Becomes an "S Dere" Girl. The TV (2023/01/27).
- ↑ Shin Genre S Dere!!. Visual Novel Database (2008/09/26).
- ↑ What is Sadodere. Nico Nico Pedia (2009/02/10).
- ↑ Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro: 2nd Attack "The Story of the S Dere Girl". Mixa Animation (2023/01/14).
- ↑ Nagatoro san. Pixiv (2011/08/15).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 I Want To Be Teased By Miss Nagatoro!! "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" Heart-Throbbing Teasing Selection. Shonen Magazine (2021/04/18).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 We Have Collected Miss Nagatoro's Precious Dere Scenes. Shonen Magazine (2021/04/25).
- ↑ "S Dere Girl" Nagatoro san. Animate Times (2020/06/20).
- ↑ Which Do You Prefer, S or Dere? Two Perfumes Inspired by Miss Nagatoro. Animage Plus (2023/01/16).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 A Junior Girl Who Is S Dere Tries To Train Me. Yondemill (2014/01/24).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Let's Fall in Love with the Strongest S Dere Girl. Toranoana JP (2018/06/20).
| v • eDere Types | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||
| Japanese | Standard |
Bakadere ♡ Biridere ♡ Bokodere ♡ Butsudere ♡ Chindere ♡ Dandere ♡ Darudere ♡ Deredere ♡ Dorodere ♡ Erodere ♡ Gandere ♡ Gesudere ♡ Goudere ♡ Gundere ♡ Gurodere ♡ Hajidere ♡ Himedere ♡ Hinedere ♡ Kamidere ♡ Kichidere ♡ Kiredere ♡ Kiridere ♡ Kuudere ♡ Kuzudere ♡ M Dere ♡ Megadere ♡ 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 ♡ Tsundero ♡ Tsundora ♡ Tsungire ♡ 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 | |||