|
Spoilers Ahead! |
|
|
"Utsudere" (JP) is a term for a character who is normally depressed and gloomy all the time but becomes cheerful, loving, and deredere around their love interest. They are normally depressed and have their heart closed off from others. They can often be seen crying by themselves or being all alone. However, after finding someone they can open up to they will start to develop romantic feelings for them and open their heart. When they are around the person they love they will become happy and start acting all lovey-dovey and overly affectionate towards them. They are someone who depends on their love interest to put a smile on their face. With enough time after meeting their love interest, they will even gradually begin to become happier as a whole to help them move on from their prolonged sadness.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Utsudere (鬱デレ) is a combination of "utsu" (鬱), meaning "depression, gloom or melancholy", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)".[2][3]
Origin
Utsudere to Purin no Ginen by Kingdom Come!!
The exact origin is not currently known, but uses of it can be seen as far back as early 2007.[2]
The first use in an official media was in the 2009 romance manga series Utsudere to Purin no Ginen (JP) by Kingdom Come. The series was described as "A school love story featuring a girl who is always gloomy yet becomes modest and loving before the boy she loves." The term was used to describe the character Utsuho Shiihara. Utsuho was a girl who up until now has lived a lonely life with a depressed heart. She doesn't open up her feelings to anyone and can often be seen crying by herself as a result of her depression. However, that all changes when she finally finds someone she can open up to and they become romantically involved. When Utsuho is in front of the person she loves, she becomes deredere and acts all happy and cute. As the environment around her changes, slowly the dark shadow over her heart is lifted.[1][4]
Localization
While the preferred English localization is "utsudere" it is also sometimes romanized as "utudere".[2] The reason for this is that the Japanese kana "ツ" is written as "tu" when using the traditional Japanese method of romanization, but written as "tsu" when using the American Hepburn method of romanization. In both cases, the pronunciation is still "tsu" which is why it's written as such in English, but in Japanese the "s" sound is simply implied.
Personality
Utsudere are characters who are normally depressed and gloomy all the time (utsu) but become cheerful and loving (deredere) when around their love interest.[1]
Utsu Period
Haruka Kotoura's normal personality from Kotoura-san
|
|
Utsudere are characters who are depressed and appear gloomy all the time. They will often have a very negative personality and be very pessimistic about their outlook on life. They tend to keep to themselves and will ignore or avoid most other people because of their apprehensive mindset. They can often be found crying while alone.
Utsudere characters have usually experienced a traumatic event or series of events that caused their depression. This could be from several different reasons, such as being part of a devastating accident, having a chronic illness, having a loved one die, or it could even just be lots of smaller factors such as not having any friends, being bullied at school, not getting a job they wanted, being overwhelmed by responsibilities, etc., that have caused their life to not go the way they wanted it to. It is for this reason that utsudere characters likely had another, happier personality before the events that caused their prolonged sadness, which is something their love interest will start to pull out of them.
Dere Period
Haruka Kotoura's personality around Yoshihisa Manabe from Kotoura-san
|
|
Contrary to their normal gloomy state, when they are with their love interest they become cheerful, cute, loving, and affectionate. Their love interest is their beacon of light in all of the darkness and is often the only thing they find joy in. They will depend on their love interest to put a smile on their face and motivate them to improve their life.
Their love interest will help them start to open up and feel happy again. Talking about their life experiences with their love interest can help them accept and deal with the past. Spending time with their love interest will raise their spirits and they will start to act more and more cheerful and loving over time, even when their love interest is not around. They will begin making new friends and finding joy in life as a whole.
With enough time after meeting their love interest, they will become a happy person again and be able to move on from their prolonged sadness.
Differences From Other Archetypes
In the Western community, this dere type is often mixed with and confused with shundere. It was thought that a "shundere" was simply an utsudere who didn't have a reason for being sad, however, this is incorrect. The difference between these two types is that utsudere have a prolonged sadness while shundere get temporarily sad because their love interest doesn't pay attention to them. In this regard, it's a lot more of a harmless and cute type of sadness in comparison to the more tragic depression of an utsudere.
Similar Archetypes
- Hikikomori: A term for characters who shut themselves away from the outside world by staying at home.
- Hinedere: A term for a character who has a nihilistic world view and at first appears to have a very negative, apathetic, and cynical personality, but is actually very cute, affectionate, and deredere.
- Menhera: A term for a character who is emotionally unstable and in poor mental health.
- Shundere: A term for a character who gets sad when their love interest doesn't pay attention to them but is deredere when they do.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Mei Misaki from Another  Haruka Kotoura from Kotoura-san .gif "Violet Evergarden from Violet Evergarden (1).gif (2.99 MB)") Violet Evergarden from Violet Evergarden  Tomoko Kuroki from Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!  Laymia from Beelzebub  Aya Asagiri from Mahou Shoujo Site |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Utsudere to Purin no Ginen. DL Site (2009/08/04). Archived on 2025/07/28. “Utsuho Shiihara, who has lived a lonely life with a depressed heart, finally finds someone she can open up to and they become romantically involved. As the environment around her changes, what is the dark shadow that hangs over her heart? A school romantic comedy about a heroine who is usually depressed but becomes deredere in front of the person she loves. A new genre.”
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Summary of the New Genre "Utsudere". @Wik! (2007/02/14). Archived on 2025/07/28. “Depressed but dere? Utsudere is a new genre that's hard to create at first glance. And she likes pudding.”
- ↑ What is Utsudere. Nico Nico Pedia (2010/09/07). Archived on 2025/07/28. “Utsudere is one of the moe attributes. They are usually depressed and do not open their heart to others, but becomes dere in front of someone they have a particular crush on. The difference between this and yandere is that the character has mental health issues from the start, and it seems that there are cases where a character can transition from utsudere to yandere.”
- ↑ Utsudere to Purin no Ginen. Suruga-ya (2009/08/23). Archived on 2025/07/28.