- For the unrelated homonym meaning of "megadere" for female goddess characters who are initially cold, hostile, violent, and feared by others as an angel of death or goddess of destruction who become deredere see: Megadere.
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"Megadere (Western)" is a term for a deredere character who has a strong adoration for their love interest and will not be afraid to give them large displays of affection and tell them how much they love them. They see their love interest as absolute perfection and will spend their time admiring them. They act very cute and loving towards their love interest and will become noticeably happy whenever they are around them to the point they may even start blushing uncontrollably from how much they love them. They are someone who wants to let the whole world know they're in love and just how amazing their love interest is.
In Japan, this dere type is known with a completely different meaning. For the original Japanese meaning see: megadere.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Megadere (Western) is a combination of the English word "mega", meaning "very large", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)". It is used to refer to someone who has a very large deredere personality, or in other words someone who is 'very' lovestruck, which is often shown in the form of strong adoration and large displays of affection.[1]
Origin
It is not quite clear where the definition for this variation originates from, but it is a misunderstanding of the Japanese megadere. The Japanese megadere originates from the 2003 light novel series Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku o! (JP) to describe the character Ayako Takasu. Ayako was known as the "Goddess (Megami) of Destruction" and was feared by her other classmates. She was said to never smile and was very harsh towards other students until one day she fell in love with a new transfer named Mamoru Yoshimura. Whenever Ayako was around Mamoru she became very timid and loving, but when she was around anyone else she acted extremely harsh towards them. This Japanese version acts almost as an inverted tsundere, someone who is extremely "tsun" to everyone else but is "deredere" to their love interest.
This Western version of "megadere" likely originated from the false perception that the Japanese version of megadere was a combination of the word English word "mega", meaning "very large", as opposed to the correct etymology of "Megami", meaning "goddess". This likely led people to start using it for characters who had "very large" displays of love towards their love interest, completely leaving out the harsher aspects of the Japanese megadere.
Personality
Western megadere are characters who have a strong adoration for their love interest and will not be afraid to give them large displays of affection and tell them how much they love them. They act very cute and loving towards their love interest and will become noticeably happy whenever they are around them to the point they may even start blushing uncontrollably from how much they love them.
They will not be able to hide their affection for their love interest because just by seeing or thinking about them they will start to show their lovey-dovey side in an exaggerated way. In some cases during these moments, they may be visually depicted as having heart eyes or being surrounded by dreamy pink backgrounds to get the idea across.
They put their love interest on a pedestal and see them as absolute perfection. They will devote themselves to getting closer to their love interest and think that being in a relationship with them would be a dream come true. Because of this, their crush on someone will be extremely obvious to anyone who sees them.
They will do their best to get the attention of their love interest and get them to love them back. They will do all kinds of different things to show their affection towards their love interest, such as giving them extravagant presents, screaming they love them, dancing uncontrollably when they get complimented by them, telling everybody they meet how amazing their love interest is, and so on.
They may even sometimes just stop and stare at their love interest and admire them from afar, often followed by drooling or uncontrollably heavy breathing. It's like as if every time they see their love interest they are in complete awe that they're still as beautiful as the first time they saw them.
Similar Archetypes
- Deredere: A term for an overly affectionate character who is lovestruck and does not hide their romantic feelings towards their love interest. Megadere is a variation of deredere that has larger and more exaggerated displays of affection.
- Kekkondere: A term for a character who is so in love with their love interest that they want to get married to them right away. Many megadere also fall under this type, due to being so lovestruck that they want to immediately get married to their love interest.
- Sunao Heat: A term for a character who expresses their love and affection honestly and straightforwardly with an intense passion.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Marika Tachibana from Nisekoi  Yuki Kurihara from Momokuri  Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura  Usagi Tsukino from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon  Juvia Lockser with Gray Fullbuster from FAIRY TAIL .gif "Ayame Sarutobi from Gintama (3).gif (893 KB)") Ayame Sarutobi with Gintoki Sakata from Gintama |
References
- ↑ Megadere Characters Go Above & Beyond For Love. CBR (2024/01/29). Archived on 2025/05/04. “It's not 100% certain where the term "megadere" came from, though it's believed that it came from the Japanese word for "glasses" or simply the English term "mega." Megadere is one of the most straightforward dere types of them all, simply being an amped-up version of a deredere. Megadere characters simply do more of what a typical deredere would do, showing incredible enthusiasm for their possible or existing romance with the object of their affection. They always go the extra mile to please their lover, and they will admire their lover as a seemingly perfect being. This is the archetype that truly puts a lover on a pedestal and devotes their entire life to getting closer to them.”
| v • eWestern Archetypes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dere |
Ahodere ♡ Bocchandere ♡ Byoukidere ♡ Kamidere ♡ Kanedere ♡ Kidere ♡ Kekkondere ♡ Mayadere ♡ Megadere ♡ Nemuidere ♡ Nipadere ♡ Oujidere ♡ Oujodere ♡ Smugdere ♡ Teasedere ♡ Thugdere | |
| Other | ||