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Content Warning! Content Warnings: Mentions of sexually explicit themes and depictions of suggestive images. |
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"Tsundero" (JP) is a term for a tsundere character who is dishonest with their true feelings of love and acts cold towards their love interest by insisting they're nothing more than a "sex friend" to hide the fact that they actually have deredere feelings for them and desire to be romantic lovers. Despite their dishonest nature, they will continue having sex with their love interest insisting that they're only doing it because it "feels good" and no other reason, but will reject any romantic confessions. They are the kind of character who will have sex with their love interest until they become deredere for them and can no longer hide their true feelings, at which point they will devote themselves to their love interest entirely and start to have a more cute and romantic kind of love for them.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Tsundero (ツンデロ) is a combination of "tsuntsun" (ツンツン), a mimetic word for "sticking your nose up and turning away (to turn one's back on someone, to ignore someone, or to refuse to accept)", "dere" (デレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)", and "ero" (エロ), meaning "erotic (to arouse sexual desire or excitement in others)".[3]
Origin
Tsundero by Hiromitsu Takeda
The term comes from the 2006 erotic manga series Tsundero (JP) by Hiromitsu Takeda to describe the character Yuka Yoshii. The series had the slogan "The sex between the two will not end until she is dere!"[1][2]
Yuka was described as beautiful, sexy, talented—and very horny. While she is very popular around school, she is afraid to date regular boys for fear they'll be revolted by her perverted nature and won't want to do these more extreme erotic acts with her so she takes up a tsun attitude to hide it. She also doesn't want these guys telling others about her secret and ruining her image as the perfect girl who is admired by all, so the result is her being a virgin and never having a boyfriend. This was until she meets a boy named Kinoshita Takashi who is equally as perverted and accepts her. While her friends are put off by his pervy nature, she secretly likes him watching her so she decides to ask him to do sexual things with her. The two of them end up having sex together with Yuka shouting "I love you!" in the hert of the moment, but afterwards ended she became extremely embarrassed and told him to not get ahead of himself when he asked her to be his girlfriend, that he's just a sex friend and that she's only doing this because it feels good for her. Although she still rejects his romantic confession with a tsun attitude, she shyly tells him while cutely twirling her hair that if he does a good job she'll reconsider his feelings.[1]
When Yuka's friend teases her about becoming close to Takashi she becomes flustered and insists that he's just a sex friend and that she definitely doesn't like him like that. However, when she sees Takashi getting close to another girl she becomes jealous and runs away crying. When Takashi catches up with her, Yuka confesses that she is in love with him and that she's avoided having sex with him again because she knew if they did then she'd be unable to hide her feelings any longer. The two of them then have more romantic and loving sex together with both of them telling the other they love them.[1]
Personality
Tsundero characters act dishonest with their true romantic feelings and act cold towards their love interest (tsuntsun) by insisting they're nothing more than a "sex friend" (ero) to hide the fact that they're actually in love with them (deredere).[2]
Tsun Period
Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero
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Tsundero characters act just like a standard tsundere character. They cannot be honest with their feelings, are prone to becoming flustered anytime someone talks about the person they're in love with, and call their love interest a "dummy!" for getting too close with them.[2]
The main added traits is the insecurity regarding their sexual desires and the fear of being made fun of and rejected if their love interest is weirded out by them. This causes them to push others away and often leads to them never having a chance to live out their desires. Their type is someone who they think would be willing to accept them for who they are, which is why they go for someone seems as perverted as they are. Even though they have feelings for their love interest, they could never admit them to their friends for risk of exposing their true nature.[2]
Almost Dere Period
Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero
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As they start to become intimate with their love interest, they are prone to losing themselves to the pleasure and accidentally confessing their love interest to their love interest. However, once they regain their senses they will be sure to put their love interest back in their place and letting them know they're nothing more than a "sex friend". Though at the same time since they do genuinely love them, they might tell them they'll reconsider their feelings if they keep doing a good job pleasuring them.[2]
As they start to fall more and more in love with their love interest they may even start to avoid going all the way with them because they know if they have sex again they're not going to be able to hold back their feelings anymore.[2]
Although they like to act tough, they're actually a lot weaker than they let on. If they start to push their love interest away and see them talking to another girl they may start crying and let the fear of losing them drive them to properly confess their true feelings.[2]
Dere Period
Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero
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Although they may tell their love interest they're just "sex friends", the truth is that they actually desire to be true lovers in mutual love. They want to be told they're loved and they want to tell their love interest they love them back. They want to be cuddled and have a romantic love with them. They will even do cute things like shyly twirling their hair while thinking about their love interest.[2]
While in the past they may have fantasized about abnormal sexual desires, such as group sex, they will give all of that up to devote themselves entirely to their love interest. Though they may lovingly ask their love interest to make up for it in bed.[2]
Differences From Other Archetypes
Tsundero differs from a regular tsundere in that both the "tsun" and "dere" sides are filled with "ero". Whereas a normal tsundere character wouldn't even kiss their love interest, let alone fathom having sex with them, a tsundero will be erotic with their love interest while being tsun only about their romantic feelings.
Tsundero can be seen as a combination of tsundere and erodere since both types start lewd and erotic, but fall in genuine love through sexual acts and start to become more cute and romantic. However, the biggest difference is the inclusion of a cold and dishonest attitude that pushes their love interest away when they try to become an official couple, which is the entire goal of an erodere character. Additionally while an erodere character just tries way too hard to win their love interest over by being seductive towards them, tsundero characters are genuinely perverted the entire time. Likewise it can also be considered a tsundere variation of indere since both types have abnormal sexual desires for someone they have deredere feelings for.
It may seem similar to other types like sukebe (perverted characters) or yariman (promiscuous female characters), but tsundero only do these things for the person they like and not anyone else, so it is similar to erodere in that regard. They are also not at all open with these feelings and are actually ashamed of them until their love interest accepts them and even then they won't show this side to others in public like a sukebe character would. However, it is possible that they initially dream of becoming a yariman due to their perverted nature but they will give up that dream and devote themselves entirely to one person after falling in love.
Similar Archetypes
- Chindere: A term for a character who becomes deredere for their love interest's penis.
- Erodere: A term for 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.
- Indere: A term for a character who has abnormal sexual desires which they want to do with the person they have deredere feelings for.
- S Dere: A term for a character who gains pleasure by toying with and teasing their love interest, but also has a cuter and overly affectionate deredere side.
- Shojo Bitch: A term for a female character who looks or acts like they're highly promiscuous, but is actually pure, naive, and never been in a serious relationship with a man. Most Tsundero characters likely fall under this type since they act very perverted, but actually have no experience.
- Sukebe: A term for a character who is very lecherous and perverted.
- Tsundere: A term for 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. Tsundero is a variation of this type.
- Yariman: A term for a female character who sleeps with a large number of people.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero  Yuka Yoshii with Kinoshita Takashi from Tsundero  Yuka Yoshii with Kinoshita Takashi from Tsundero  Yuka Yoshii with Kinoshita Takashi from Tsundero  Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero  Yuka Yoshii from Tsundero |