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"Smugdere" is a term for a character who likes to tease their love interest by playfully smirking at them, but is also very cute, affectionate, and deredere towards them. They have a very sarcastic personality and like doing things to push their love interest's buttons. If they see their love interest doing something that gives them an opportunity to tease them, they will take it and make a playful joking remark towards them in an attempt to get a flustered reaction out of them. They are characterized by playfully flashing their trademark smirk/mischievous grin at their love interest to get a reaction out of them by showing how proud they are of their teasing. They may also smirk at their love interest before teasing them to let them know they're about to tease them again. However, despite their enjoyment of teasing their love interest, they also have a cuter and more affectionate side that is very lovey-dovey towards their love interest.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Smugdere comes from the English word "smug", meaning "to show excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one's romantic feelings)".
Origin
Shinoa Hiiragi from Owari no Seraph
Smugdere was created on the internet in the Western community in 2015 to describe the character Shinoa Hiiragi from the dark fantasy manga series Seraph of the End (JP) who enjoyed teasing her love interest Yuichiro Hyakuya.[1]
Shinoa has a sarcastic attitude and she loves teasing others. Her most notable personality trait is her tendency to smirk before teasing or performing her antics towards others, delighting in placing them in uncomfortable situations. One time when she noticed Yuichiro was looking for a project partner and was about to ask Yoichi to be his partner, she flashed a smirk at him and then ran over to ask Yoichi first. She also enjoys creating scenarios, such as saying Yuichiro was spying at naked girls when he was just staring into the city, or pointing out when his face is a mess.
While she can be proud and facetious, she also has a loving, joyful and cheery part of her. While she enjoys teasing Yuichiro she also develops romantic feelings for him as they spend time together. At first she feels unsure about her feelings and hides them behind her sarcastic attitude, but eventually her feelings grow to the point where she can no longer hide them.
Personality
Smugdere characters likes to tease their love interest by playfully smirking at them (smug), but are also very cute, affectionate, and lovey-dovey towards them (deredere).
Smug Period
Shinoa Hiiragi proudly smirking after teasing Yuichiro Hyakuya from Owari no Seraph
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Smugdere characters have a very sarcastic nature and enjoying playfully teasing their love interest by doing things to push their buttons. They are characterized by making their trademark smirk at their love interest to get a reaction out of them just before or after teasing them.
If they see their love interest doing something that gives them an opportunity to tease them, they will take it and make a playful joking remark towards them in an attempt to get a flustered reaction out of them. They are someone who is very proud of their teases so they make a smirking face to let their love interest know just how proud they are of their efforts. They make a mischievous smirk that says "yeah I just did that." However, they are more sarcastic and joking than feeling genuinely superior as they just like to push their love interest's buttons while showing how composed they are.
Shinoa Hiiragi from Owari no Seraph
They may also smirk at their love interest before teasing them to let them know they're about to tease them again, which their love interest will start to associate with being teased, which makes them a prime target for the smugdere character's antics.
Their teasing consists of doing things to push their love interest's buttons. If they notice their love interest doing something innocent, such as reading a book, they may smugly make comments about it being a dirty book to see their love interest panic. If they notice there is something on their love interest's face, such as if they accidentally spilled food on themself, so they may point it out while holding back their laugh.
Almost Dere Period
Shinoa Hiiragi starting to blush around Yuichiro Hyakuya from Owari no Seraph
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As they start to develop feelings for their love interest they can often be seen blushing around them, in a stark contrast to their usually composed and prideful demeanor. If they are unsure about their feelings they may even hide their feelings behind teasing their love interest.
Teasing is a playful way to build a closer bond with their love interest. As they start to fall more in love they may even start to take pride in their love interest's actions as well to tease their friends. When their love interest does something they are proud of they may make a smirking face that says "My love interest is better than you!" to tease one of their friends.
Dere Period
Shinoa Hiiragi confessing her love for Yuichiro Hyakuya from Owari no Seraph
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While smugdere characters like to joke around, they do still have a more serious loving side. Eventually their feelings will become strong enough to the point where they can no longer deny them and will start to show a more honest and affectionate deredere side. They will start behaving in cute ways and show a more lovey-dovey side with their love interest. They will immediately light up whenever their love interest is with them.
Differences From Other Archetypes
Smugdere is most similar to teasedere and could be seen as a variation of it. The main difference is simply that instead of being flirtatious teasing like teasedere, smugdere characters tease for the sake of pushing their love interest's buttons and getting a reaction out of them. Also unlike the other teasedere, smugdere characters often don't verbally tease their love interest and instead let their mischievous smirk do all of the talking for them. A smugdere is more sarcastic and mischievous, while a teasedere is more flirtatious and playful. A teasedere character also doesn't make smug faces towards their love interest like a smugdere character and instead usually cutely laugh at their love interest's flustered reaction from their flirting.
Smugdere is also very similar to a more mild S dere—characters who gain pleasure by toying with and teasing their love interest—since they both enjoy playing with the feelings of their love interest and teasing them, but the main difference is that the teasing is a lot less harsh and physical with smugdere. Smugdere 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 teasing manne by pushing their buttons. A smugdere character will also playfully smirk at their love interest's reaction while an S dere character will be visibly excited from pleasure. To put it simply, a smugdere character will make a playful remarks 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 characters are also far more lewd and perverted in their teasing.
Similar Archetypes
- S Dere: 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.
- Teasedere: A term for 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.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Yuu Akeuchi from Hoshikuzu Telepath  Yuu Akeuchi from Hoshikuzu Telepath  Mia Luna Tearmoon from Tearmoon Empire Story  Hayase Nagatoro from Ijiranaide, Nagatoro san  Nico Yazawa from Love Live! School idol project  Anya Forger from SPY×FAMILY |
References
- ↑ Thoughts on Smugdere. Reddit (2015/10/12). Archived on 2025/07/03. “It is smugdere, which stands for someone who acts smug, but has a loving side. A smugdere just likes to push people's buttons and while showing how composed they are. They are more just sarcastic and joking around than really feeling superior or entitled. I have only seen the term smugdere used to describe one character and that is Shinoa from Owari no Seraph.”
| v • eWestern Archetypes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dere |
Bocchandere ♡ Byoukidere ♡ Kanedere ♡ Kidere ♡ Kekkondere ♡ Mayadere ♡ Megadere ♡ Nemuidere ♡ Nipadere ♡ Oujidere ♡ Oujodere ♡ Smugdere ♡ Teasedere ♡ Thugdere | |
| Other | ||