Optic Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 (edited) What's a tsundere you may ask? I think Wikipedia explains this best: Tsundere is a Japanese term for a character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing their warm side over time. The word is derived from the terms tsun tsun, meaning to turn away in disgust, and dere dere meaning to become 'lovey dovey'. I'm a sucker for tsundere characters. Who doesn't like to see a character change over time, often for the better? I found this VERY difficult to narrow down to just five and it is subject to change in future. Here are my top five favourites: 1. Noire Hyperdimension Neptunia Noire is on the right! Noire is extremely hard working, and is the ideal CPU, with her being in charge of Lastation. She makes every other CPU look lazy and sloppy. But she works so much, and is cold to everyone. It's not shown in the anime, but Noire was very hostile to Neptune in Re;birth 1 by trying to defeat her due to her memory loss at the start of the game. The biggest heart-warming interaction was when Neptune visited Lastation and won her over with pudding. OK, that probably sounds ridiculous if you haven't played the games. But you have to understand, these CPUs were fighting each other for many years in the Console War, and for Neptune to forget all of their past grievances just like that, it was awhh. Minor Re;birth 1 spoiler: Even when Neptune had the opportunity to regain her memory, she refused as she wanted to remain friends with all the CPUs and was worried that could change if she regained her memories. I really like Noire because of her interactions with Neptune. Neptune loves to keep trolling her, and poking fun at her. And Noire's hostile reaction is very amusing! But deep inside, Noire really cares and she gets lonely without Neptune and the other CPUs around her. In the anime, even when Neptune was feeling depressed, Noire showed her really warm and caring side by scolding her to snap out of it. And the two worked together nicely in their HDD forms. 2. Shana Shakugan no Shana Shana is the one with the katana and flames! Shana is the most angriest, badass, tsundere loli EVER. With the ability to draw upon the power of flame to fly and pounce around with a katana sword, she truly is a powerful character. But what is even more menacing is her personality. She is constantly telling Yuji to shut up. Shana also gives almost everyone in school angry glares, especially Yoshida in the first season. What I really liked about Shana is most interesting about Shana is she isn't a traditional human. She was raised a flame haze, in a distant world. So she became upset and awkward when it came to confronting her feelings, and even hostile at times. As expected, she slowly warmed up around Yuji and yes, things developed from there. ... even if it took three seasons. Ahem. 3. Asuka Langley Soryu Neon Genesis Evangelion / Rebuild of Evangelion Asuka is the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02! She is very, VERY aggressive towards Shinji, and is very proud and boastful of her Eva piloting abilities. It's hard for me to explain more than that without going into spoilers about her dark past which drove her to pilot Eva in the first place. But later on she does slowly warm up to Shinji, her other classmates and NERV. She does seem slightly softer though in the Rebuild of Evangelion. Her character could change radically depending on what happens in the final instalment, when it comes out. 4. Eclair Martinozzi Dog Days Eclair is the green one on the right! So when Eclair saw Shinku being summoned into their world as a hero, Eclair was hostile at the start. She muttered "Hero? We don't need a hero!" Ouch! Eclair definitely was cold, but only to Shinku. I love Eclair because I found her interactions with Shinku to be adorable. Both of them had awesome strength, and Eclair was in a prestigious knight position. Eclair reclutantly acknowledged Shinku's skills over time, even if she kept hitting him in rather painful ways for embarrassing her in unintended ways. *cough* wardrobe failure. And towards the end of the first season, Eclair's feelings towards Shinku were painfully obvious. 5. Rin Tohsaka Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works Rin Tohsaka is the third one on the right, in red! I have no knowledge of Rin Tohsaka other than from the two anime titles: Fate/stay night UBW and Fate/Zero. My understanding is this franchise is HUGE and clearly Rin has more depth and is portrayed differently in other titles in the franchise. Now with that in mind, I loved the way Rin Tohsaka was portrayed in UBW. She was very skilled, though pitied and looked down on Shiro due to how he got involved after summoning Saber. There were so many times where she was just plain cold towards him. But despite the life threatening odds amongst all the servants, Shiro overcame that and gained Rin's trust over time into a rather heart-warming way which I really loved. --- [FLOAT_RIGHT][/FLOAT_RIGHT]As mentioned above, my entries are subject to change later. So... Who are your top five favourite tsundere characters, and why? Edited February 18, 2016 by Guest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimmyKins83 Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 I'm much more of a yandere loving kinda girl, sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCynicalSnob Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 "liking tsunderes in the first place" why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Bunny of Doom Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Tsunderes are probably the 'dere' I like the least. Character-wise, they're very unrealistic (honestly, who behaves like that?) and a very simplified version of what could be a more complex and deep character (like all deres tbh). I understand people can sometimes act mean and take a while to warm up to others, but tsunderes get annoying most of the time. Punching/kicking/cursing people just because you don't want them to see your soft side (and then blushing and muttering 'b-baka') is not okay man. Still, a well-written tsundere might as well work.... but then could it still be called a tsundere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryuji Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 My Top 5 Favorite Tsunderes 5. Shana (Shakugan no Shana) 4. Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière (Familiar of Zero) 3. Eclair Martinozzi (Dog Days) 2. Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) 1. Taiga Aisaka (Toradora) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optic Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 (edited) "liking tsunderes in the first place" why? I have a feeling no matter what my answer is, it won't satisfy you. I just always look forward to seeing the character warm up. Normally at that point it's a pivotal plot climax change, or at least it means the character is on the way to achieving something for the greater good. Such as, embracing the MC or kicking ass (mecha girl tsunderes). Still, a well-written tsundere might as well work.... but then could it still be called a tsundere? The problem with these terms is there is no explicit standard. To answer your question, I think yes. Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion is a well written character in my opinion. Because she had very valid and strong reasons from her past r(looking at her point of view) to treat Shinji and others around her with such contempt. And then her personality changed, drastically! But I think you're going somewhere with this, if the character changes dramatically due to major plot events after that initial tsundere phase then I guess they're not really a tsundere anymore? Edited February 27, 2016 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimmyKins83 Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I would say that I agree with both of your choices Optic and Ryuji If I were to choose my own personal faves, these peeps would probably be it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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