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Belligerent Sexual Tension / Anime & Manga

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  • Rumiko Takahashi uses this in much of her manga. It is so ubiquitous in her stories that the original name of the trope was 'Takahashi Couple':
    • Urusei Yatsura: Lum is devoted to her accidentally acquired fiancé, Ataru Moroboshi, but Ataru can't give up on his dream of having a harem full of beautiful women. Lum is repeatedly enraged by Ataru's refusing to give her any affection whilst showering unwanted attention on other women, responding with either wacky schemes to try and make Ataru be more faithful or admit he loves her or, when she's in a punishing mood, simply biting him or zapping him with lightningbolts. This just spurs on Ataru's resentment for her presence, and he becomes all the more stubborn about chasing other women... but, if his relationship with Lum is threatened, he will move heaven and earth to preserve it. It's repeatedly shown in stories like the Bureau of Destiny that Ataru does love Lum deep down, but he just can't bring himself to admit it because it means giving up on his perverted dreams.
    • Maison Ikkoku: Godai and Kyoko's tension stems from less slapstick and more realistic (Godai's terminal wishy-washiness rendering him unable to tell Kyoko how he feels for much of the manga and Kyoko's lingering feelings for her late husband). Unlike her other works to that point, Godai and Kyoko end up definitively together in the end; Happily Married with a daughter.
    • One of Takahashi's short stories, The Face Pack (from 1984note ) is about a school club dedicated to the art of disguise, and features as its main characters the club's president Soshiro and a girl named Meiko who is a member of the club. They have a Jerk with a Heart of Gold / Tsundere relationship dynamic that's similar to what Ranma and Akane would later be famous for. They both have crushes on each other, but are too shy to say so, and Meiko frequently gets annoyed at Soshiro's wacky antics. Said antics (which include riding around town on his bicycle while wearing a series of masks which he removes one by one, e.g. an Ultraman mask, a tanuki mask, a Dracula mask, the Mendō family's signature Hyottoko octopus mask, and several others) prompt her to punish him by various means, such as suddenly turning to face him while wearing a scary monster mask in order to give him a Jump Scare, as well as the typical Hyperspace Mallet. The club's founding president (who also happens to be Soshiro's father) is upset that the current members of the club don't obey the club's rules that he originally put in placenote , and so he engineers a series of events meant to punish the club members, which (whether intentionally or otherwise) ultimately lead to Soshiro and Meiko confessing their love for each other on the final page of the manga.
    • Ranma ½: Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo's first meeting goes horribly, with Akane first insulting Ranma for his Sex Shifter curse and then bludgeoning him unconscious with the dining room table when he mocks her figure in retaliation. Several chapters later, she's doing things like trying to fight off the school's best warrior to preserve Ranma's secret of being cursed, and piggybacking Ranma home after a stealthy Pressure Points attack leaves him temporarily incapable of walking. Throughout the canon, the two constantly bicker and argue, with Ranma teasing or flat-out mocking Akane and Akane responding by insulting and hitting Ranma. But they also get multiple moments where they save each other's lives, share subtle romantic moments, and are shown to be attracted to each other really... it's just neither is able to tell the other that they like them.
    • Inuyasha:
      • Inuyasha and Kagome have a rocky start because Kagome is the reincarnation of Inuyasha's old lover Kikyo, who he initially believes to have betrayed him. To protect Kagome, Kaede forces Inuyasha to wear a magical, non-removable necklace that painfully forces Inuyasha to the ground whenever Kagome says "Sit, boy!". The initial animosity dies down when Inuyasha comes to see Kagome as a different person from Kikyo, but Kagome continues to activate the necklace often out of annoyance at Inuyasha's brutish behavior. There's also their frequent arguments over their jealousy of their other suitors, including a resurrected Kikyo.
      • The Beta Couple Miroku and Sango. He's a Handsome Lech who asks every single attractive woman he meets to bear his child and she's an Action Girl who either slaps him or hits him with her Hiraikotsu whenever he gropes her or makes her jealous with his flirting. They fall in love and eventually become engaged, but Miroku doesn't stop hitting on other women, even right in front of Sango, causing him to invoke her wrath.
    • Mao: Nanoka isn't as much of a Tsundere as most examples, but everything else fits with Mao being a clear Jerk with a Heart of Gold and the two of them having plenty of sexual tension.
  • The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You has this not between its resident Tsundere Karane and the protagonist Rentarou, as the premise of the manga is that Rentarou gets together with his absurdly-numbered girlfriends very very quickly, but rather between Karane and Hakari, the other original first soulmate. The two clash right from the beginning, and though their competition over Rentarou doesn't last, they remain perfectly content to snark at and tease one another whenever possible. But despite her constant bickering, it's also heavily implied they're secretly attracted to one another; on multiple occasions they end up kissing (which they always refuse to admit or talk about afterwards), and they have their fair share of Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments. Given that they both zing-ed with Rentarou at the exact same time, it's believed by many fans that they are each other's soulmates just as much as Rentarou's.
  • B Gata H Kei has Yamada and Kosuda. Notable in that the first plans to sleep with and then just dump the latter so she can then go on having 100 sex friends. The genuine feelings she develops for Kosuda lead to most of the belligerence in the tension, as she continues to stubbornly refuse to admit that she's falling for him and frequently reacts violently to his romantic gestures (or, just as often, to his failure to produce romantic gestures when she wants them). Her initial goal and most of the tension eventually fades near the end of the manga when she finally acknowledges her feelings and they enter a relatively normal relationship.
  • In Berserk, Guts is an ultra-manly, aloof and cocksure Byronic Hero who has been Raised by Dudes. Casca is the sole female in a group of mercenaries and a Tsundere Action Girl to boot. Not to mention that both enjoy fighting. Unsurprisingly, most of their interactions are emotional and physical clashes with underlying attraction until they finally admit they're in love.
  • Roger and Angel and Roger and Dorothy in The Big O. Of course, it's difficult to determine which is the Tsundere and which is the Jerk with a Heart of Gold, since all three characters are a bit of both...
  • Revy and Rock from Black Lagoon take this to new extremes, seeing as she's nearly blown his head off multiple times.
  • The Case Study of Vanitas has the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Vanitas claiming to be in love with the literally fiery Tsundere Jeanne. At first, Jeanne genuinely detests Vanitas because he loves to press her buttons, mainly through sexual coercion. However, Jeanne finds Vanitas' blood irresistibly delicious and every time she tries to drive him away, she becomes more attracted to him. Ironically, when Jeanne comes to accept her infatuation with Vanitas and decides to pursue him aggressively, it's Vanitas who gets flustered and freaked out as he doesn't know how to deal with her.
  • The step-sibling pair of Minami and Otome in Cherry Juice often switch between flirtatious and belligerent moments, the latter at times involving Otome walking in on Minami while she's in a compromising position, and getting a Megaton Punch for his efforts.
  • Chrono and Rosette from Chrono Crusade. Although Chrono isn't exactly a jerk, he does often run out of patience with Rosette's antics, which leads to him being often sarcastic toward her and calling her an idiot. Rosette, on the other hand, is a Tsundere through and through and often will behave violently toward him for doing that (or even sometimes when he's not). At one point he even ends up laying in a pool of his own blood! (But he has regenerative powers so it's always Played for Laughs.)
  • Code Geass: Lelouch and Kallen have this going on. She's a Tsundere who's having issues connecting the heroic Zero with his alter ego, the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Lelouch. She also has the distinction of being the only woman Lelouch has ever attempted to seduce, even if—or because—he was lacking any sense of self-restraint at the time. She does eventually resolve the two after hearing Nunnally reminisce over their early days and Lelouch fully committing himself to the cause, but sadly he's forced to Break Her Heart to Save Her when the Black Knights turn on him with her in the crossfire. Ouch.
  • Cop Craft has Tilarna and Kei Matoba. One of the leading characters is a Hot-Blooded, gung-ho Tsundere who embraces the Knight in Shining Armor trope (mixed with small hints of Blood Knight tendencies) while the other is a Seen It All cop who also doubles as a Knight in Sour Armor that regularly insults her. And they're partners. Naturally, this constantly leads to several instances where they butt heads with one another and several characters often remarking how the two of them behave like a couple, much to Tilarna's embarrassment and Kei's more tacit annoyance.
  • A Cruel God Reigns: Jeremy and Ian, for most of the series. Pretty early on Jeremy fantasizes about tasting Ian's blood in a kiss, but that may be a result of his Rape as Backstory and Being Tortured Makes You Evil. However, it also appears to happen with Ambiguously Bi Ian and his obsession over Jeremy's eyebrows and his step-brother's strange behaviors.
  • Aoba and Kō in Cross Game. Aoba spends the whole series fighting with him in an attempt to show everyone that she hates him as much as she says she does. No one seems to buy it though. In the end, she tells him that she's always hated him when, in reality, it sounds more like an "I love you".
  • Riku (Tsundere) and Dark Mousy (Jerk with a Heart of Gold) via the Forceful Kiss Dark gives Riku in D.N.Angel and how they always argue and sometimes get along and Dark is hinted to like Riku.
  • Dancougar: Sara is a Tsundere who's stuck in Tsun mode because her ex-boyfriend Shapiro pulled a Face–Heel Turn; and Shinobu acts like a macho jerk to try and get her attention. These issues begin to resolve once Shapiro dies at the end of the TV series, and in the sequel OAV they finally start to move toward Official Couple status.
  • Quarterback Hiruma Youichi and Manager Mamori Anezaki from Eyeshield 21 are hinted to be like this; by the end of the series a lot of their scenes together are more of the Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other kind though.
  • Expecting to Fall into Ruin, I Aim to Become a Blacksmith: Kururi’s interactions with the Tsundere Defrosting Ice Queen Eliza mostly consist of arguing at first, with some arguments Kururi wins being Break the Haughty moments for her. That is until he practices Voluntary Shapeshifting and overhears Eliza's Caged Bird Metaphor about all the expectations and loneliness forced on her. This prompts a letter exchange where he tells her one of his own secrets, and thus Kururi and Eliza start dating as the series' Official Couple.
  • Fairy Tail:
    • Gajeel and Levy. They have a very rocky start because Gajeel beat Levy half to death back when they were in rival guilds. Later on, they become close as Gajeel does his best to redeem himself and Levy falls for his better side, but she still gets annoyed with him when he fails to notice her feelings. By the end of the first series, they're the only confirmed Official Couple in the main cast.
    • Elfman and Evergreen. They clearly have a thing for each other, but spend too much time arguing to even admit it.
  • The Familiar of Zero:
  • Food Wars!: The relationship between Soma Yukihira and Erina Nakiri pretty much develops this way. In the beginning, Erina is put off by Soma's irreverent attitude and does everything she can to get him expelled from the academy (she even tried to deny him entrance just because he was, in her eyes, a mediocre chef just for coming from a working-class diner). Her opinion of him gradually shifts when she sees how hard he works to overcome every challenge, culminating in her learning that he's the son of Joichiro Saiba, the only chef she's ever admired. Even after they become friends they still love to bicker with one another, and the two share some moments that can be construed as romantic. While the attraction is slightly ambiguous on Soma's side, at one point Erina describes her ideal man and Megumi takes notice that her description happens to match Soma, and the final arc reveals that Erina's own parents met in a very similar way as she and Soma did. The series doesn't have a definite resolution, but the final chapter does imply the two have developed feelings for each other.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist has Edward as the Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Winry as his Tsundere. Winry nearly splits Edward's head open with a wrench whenever he damages the Automail arm she made for him, yet he thinks she's cute and Winry admits to herself that she loves Edward.
  • Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic!. Although Sousuke isn't really a jerk (quite the contrary, he's usually polite and respectful), he's so incredibly oblivious to and insensitive of Kaname's feelings that the end result is much the same, particularly as it's normally compounded by his lack of civilian social skills, his overprotectiveness towards Kaname and the Fish out of Water tendencies which lead him to try to solve most problems with firearms and explosives.
  • Genesis of Aquarion: Jerk with a Heart of Gold Wild Child Apollo and Tsundere Princess Silvia. Silvia doesn't want to believe Apollo could be the reincarnation of her past life lover, creating friction between them. Despite their resistance, the nostalgic feeling they get around each other sparks an attraction between them.
  • In The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Makoto and her best friend Chiaki get into friendly squabbles constantly. Makoto thought it was a Like Brother and Sister kind of relationship until Chiaki asks her to go out with him... Only for Makoto to freak out, turn back time, and start avoiding him. She does eventually realize she likes him back in the same way, but it's too late because Chiaki needs to go back to the future, even though he promises to wait for her.
  • GTO: The Early Years: Eikichi and his Unlucky Childhood Friend Shinomi. First, it seems like he only sees her as Like Brother and Sister, then he gets desperate to lose his virginity and tries to do it with her, but his case of Open Mouth, Insert Foot and inability to act mature about sex make her refuse (and often results in Pervert Revenge Mode), then she wants him again once he's found someone else... This keeps going back and forth.
  • Gundam:
    • Mobile Fighter G Gundam has Domon Kasshu as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who later evolves into a Tsundere. His partner Rain Mikamura is a Tsundere, being the perfect lady unless she's dealing with him.
    • Kamille Bidan and Fa Yuiri from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. To the point that the Argama's crew calls their constant bickering their "hobby". They also mention it when Kamille kisses Fa after a rather tiring battle and tells her that they should reconsider their mutual interaction since he's getting tired of the fighting.
  • Surprisingly, Laura Haruna's very Happily Married parents from Hamtaro started their relationship this way, with the dad as a snippy Jerk with a Heart of Gold and the mom as a textbook Tsundere. They got over themselves by the time they got married and Laura was born, though.
  • Kyon and Haruhi in Haruhi Suzumiya. They're an inverted couple, in that Kyon is closer to a male Tsundere, while Haruhi is the Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Now, if only Haruhi would lose the strong belief that love is for lunatics *coughTheseuscough* and Kyon to stop proclaiming his crush on Mikuru(which becomes more of a Running Gag as the series progresses) and admit that he wants Haruhi, after the tons of evidence he drops in his monologue.
  • Kido and Kano in Kagerou Project. Although Kano LOVES flirting and annoying the heck out of Kido, which usually results in the latter beating him up painfully and Kido calling Kano "stupid", "baka", "idiot", etc, they love each other deeply and care a lot for each other. Like when Kano was shot by Kuroha, Kido was the first to rush to his side crying and cradling him in her arms. Kano was also the one who helped Kido through the times when she couldn't control her powers.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has a cast of characters that can be aptly summed up as "Oops, All Tsunderes", but the story actually tries to avoid this with the main couple, Kaguya and Shirogane (there's tons of sexual tension, but it's only when they have actual reasons to be mad at each other does it ever become belligerent). As for the secondary leads, Ishigami and Iino, the belligerent sexual tension is so apparent, that Iino's childhood friend even brings up this very concept to show how ridiculous all this fighting is. And in chapter 228, Fujiwara points out the incident should only lead to a fight for an already dating couple.
    • This series also deconstructed this trope by addressing the consequences of this kind of romantic banter. Iino doesn't come to realize her feelings for Ishigami until after he falls in love with a different girl. Even after he gets friendzoned, Ishigami still doesn't see himself getting with Iino because he still believes she hates him. It became apparent to Iino that if she wants to be in a relationship with Ishigami, she'll have to mend her friendship with him first.
    • There's some Reconstruction, however: their constant fighting is a huge improvement in their relationship compared to the time they didn't speak to each other.
  • Tomoe and Nanami from Kamisama Kiss. Tomoe is a definite Jerk with a Heart of Gold while Nanami is very deredere. It is obvious to several other characters in the series that they like each other and Nanami doesn't bother to hide the fact she has feelings for Tomoe, but Tomoe has some real problems admitting his feelings about Nanami.
  • The second cousins/not-lovers Ayano and Kazuma from Kaze no Stigma. She's a full-blown Tsundere and he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who loves to tease her.
  • Lovely★Complex has Atsushi Otani and Risa Koizumi starting out very much like this, although it's somewhat unusual in that it's entirely viewed from the Tsundere's perspective. Also, their feelings for each other develop at a more or less realistic pace.
  • Alto Saotome and Sheryl Nome in Macross Frontier, a rather interesting case in that they both alternate as to who's the Tsundere and who's the Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • Magic Kaito has Kaito as the Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Aoko as the Tsundere—to the point where fanart of Kaito drawn as Ranma and Aoko drawn as Akane has become fairly popular.
  • Ayuzawa Misaki and Usui Takumi in Maid-Sama! are a much milder example than most of the others listed, having progressed to being very nearly a confirmed couple in no more than about forty manga chapters, but they still deserve a mention for continuing to follow the general pattern. Even after kissing several times and going on a couple of actual dates, Misaki is still very Tsundere where Usui is concerned, and Usui still claims that he doesn't date because it's too much trouble.
  • The Rurouni Kenshin prequel To Rule Flame, surprisingly, plays this almost completely straight with none other than Makoto Shishio and Yumi Komagata . She is a very sharp-tongued beauty and the most expensive High-Class Call Girl in Yoshiwara, then Tokyo/Edo's most famous Red Light District, whereas he is among the very few men who not only don't flinch at her acerbic words but can verbally give as good as he gets. Their dynamics change into the Mad Love the reader/viewer knows once Yumi's sister-like friends become her Cynicism Catalysts and she decides to offer herself to Shishio as his mistress in exchange for him and the Juppongatana executing the ones to blame.
  • Usagi, the bubbly and easily-angered heroine of Sailor Moon loves Mamoru, the cool and snarky hero. In a twist, they're reincarnated, destined lovers and the tension between them dies almost completely after the first arc's reveal.
  • In The Wallflower, Sunako and Kyohei can't seem to ever stop fighting and both are in complete denial about their feelings for each other, much to the endless frustration of other characters and the audience. Whenever it looks like they might make progress, Sunako either nearly dies from a nosebleed or immediately reverts back to the status quo.
  • While Riku is a Nice Guy, his girlfriend in Wandering Son is a Jerkass Tsundere. Their early days were full of Slap-Slap-Kiss.
  • We Were There: Nanami and Yano. Nanami frequently says "Shine, baka!" ("Die, you idiot!") to Yano, whom she loves, before the two of them start dating.
  • Wedding Peach: Momoko and Yousuke can barely manage a conversation without one grinding the other's gears (usually Yousuke pissing Momoko off) followed by both parties casting longing gazes and wistful sighs as soon as the other has left.
  • Whisper of the Heart: The main couple Shizuku and Seiji, with Shizuku being the Tsundere (dere dere) and Seiji being the Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • In Yona of the Dawn, Yona and Hak start off like this, though the dynamic fades in time. Hak is less a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and more The Gadfly, constantly taking pride in successfully teasing Yona. She is definitely a Tsundere, with her consistent insistence that he isn't cute or charming at all. That said, the bickering is clearly a game between the two, and their genuine affection for one another is very apparent from the start—especially on Hak's end.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Jonouchi and Mai alternate between positions. Mai begins as arrogant and condescending towards Jonouchi, but her mind begins to change after he beats her in a duel. However, being tsundere, she never admits to having any feelings for him. Jonouchi himself often tries to pick fights with her but will fight tooth and nail to save her.
  • YuruYuri has Sakurako Omura and Himawari Furutani, who are both girls who are always at each other's throats about pretty much everything. Despite this, it's obvious that they're hiding romantic feelings for each other.
  • YuYu Hakusho:
    • Keiko Yukimura and Yusuke Urameshi in that Yusuke is definitely a Jerk with a Heart of Gold while Keiko is working to keep him on the straight and narrow. They obviously love each other (and everyone knows it) but Yusuke's jerkitude tends to keep them apart until the end. It's downplayed in that Yusuke realizes early on that he loves Keiko, and there's never really any silliness with love rivals and whatnot. His new problem is keeping her out of the inherent perils of his new job (you see, probably the biggest thing that kept them apart until the end was that Yusuke didn't want to leave unfinished business—he eventually came back just in time after he tied up his loose ends).
    • Hiei and Mukuro may also fit this trope, with The Masochism Tango that doesn't seem to dampen Hiei's interest (even Kurama notes it). Not quite the same since she's only introduced in the last arc, and their hinted attraction is too early to be a Will They or Won't They?. Hiei and Mukuro are pretty much canon. They respect each other, like each other, and he brings her her evil and abusive father trapped in a healing plant that Kurama especially got for such a purpose to torture for eternity as a present. Practically romantic for Hiei—or, for that matter, for Mukuro; just keep in mind neither are exactly normal—this is likely the best way each can convey their feelings.

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