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Tsundere
alt title(s): Punchy Love; The Tsundere

She's sun and rain.
She's fire and ice.
A little crazy, but it's nice.
And when she gets mad,
you best leave her alone.
She'll rage just like a river,
then she'll beg you to forgive her.
She's every woman that I've ever known.
—Garth Brooks, She's Every Woman

A character (usually female) who runs 'hot and cold', flipping between◊ aggressive and confrontational (tsuntsun, meaning "aloof" or "cranky") and affectionate and sentimental (deredere, meaning "lovestruck"). The distinct moods usually aren't subtle, especially with the latter ranging from 'simple teasing' to 'lovestruck kindergartener who pushes you into the sandbox'. The reasons behind a Tsundere's behavior vary, but typically rise from the conflict between her feelings about the object of her affections and her reactions to having them. This can be as simple as embarrassment or frustration at being so attracted to that boy, particularly if he has certain personality quirks or behaviors that infuriate her.

There are two main types of Tsundere, depending on their default mood:

Type A (alias Type Tsun): These Tsunderes are tsuntsun (cranky) as their default mood. It takes something special to trigger their deredere side. The intensity of the tsuntsun can range from a "I must glare and fight my way through life" (Louise of Zero No Tsukaima) to a grumpy pessimist (Kagami of Lucky Star, possibly Rin of Yes Precure 5). It's not about intensity, it's just about what part of the tsundere personality is the public face and which one the hidden. If the Tsundere is The Rival, she is more likely to be Type A. When she does help him out, expect her to say something along the lines of "Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this for you." This is usually accompanied by ferocious blushing. While she usually cuts down on the beatings and insults and shows more signs of mushiness as the series progresses, she will not be fully converted to "dere" in contrast to the Defrosting Ice Queen (which, ironically, was the original definition of Tsundere).

Type B (alias Type Dere): These Tsunderes have deredere as their default mood. They are sweet, kind and generous, but just happen to have a hidden violent side as well. In this case, her temper is almost always triggered by someone else, usually the male Love Interest. Either they're a Takahashi Couple, or the guy is an idiot or an Accidental Pervert, or she just has no idea how to handle feelings of love and attraction and thus is sweet to everyone except the man she's interested in. Unwanted suiters such as Dogged Nice Guys might also trigger the tsuntsun. Very often the male Love Interest will be very frustrated as everybody else keeps telling him how sweet the Tsundere is and wonders how they can possibly be describing the same girl. Might lead to an Informed Attribute if we never actually see the sweet side as default, since the Tsundere and her irritant are always together on screen. Type B Tsunderes are often subject to Adaptation Decay, Character Exaggeration and Flanderization that turns them into a Type A.

Type B should not be confused with a Yandere. If a Type B Tsundere was really convinced that her Love Interest didn't want her, she would revert back to her deredere side and probably enter a I Want My Beloved To Be Happy phase. A Yandere would calmly tolerate a lot of the things that a Tsundere goes bonkers over, but if a Yandere decides that her Love Interest really doesn't want her, she's likely to snap and Murder The Hypotenuse.

A common way of showing a Tsundere has mellowed or has had her heart won over by the Love Interest is to have her shift from Type A to Type B.

Tsunderes have three different tactics to choose from. Most of them apply a combination of the below, but some tend to favor one over the other:

  1. The Cold Shoulder: In employing this tactic, the tsundere resolves to not give the man in question the time of day. If she does talk to him, responses will be monosyllabic. Pointedly ignoring him in conversation and disdainful looks round out the total freeze she will lay on the dude. Example of a tsundere who favors this tactic: Genshiken's Chika Ogiue.
  2. The Violent Approach: Things get physical, and not in the good way. The tsundere, in a bad mood by this point, will punctuate verbal abuse with plenty of good old fashioned violence. Kicks, punches, slaps, and other painful forms of beatdown will follow. Heaven help you if she's got a Paper Fan. Example of a tsundere who favors this tactic: Ranma 1/2's Akane Tendo.
  3. The Smirk: Not as common a tactic, but effective in its own right, is for the tsundere to constantly belittle the love interest with sarcasm and putdowns. Favorite expressions include "Baka!", and "Urusai!" ("Shut up!"). Tsunderes who know the guy's point of pride will not hesitate to insult him on that account, and when this tactic is employed nothing the guy can do will be good enough to impress her. Example of a tsundere who favors this tactic: Neon Genesis Evangelion's Asuka Langley Soryuu.
  4. All Of The Above: The tsundere's reactions will heavily depend on the situation she and the guy are placed in. Example of a tsundere who favors this tactic: Kimagure Orange Road's Madoka Ayukawa.

Most Tsunderes deny their behavior, although a few glory in it. Type B Tsunderes in particular often aspire to become a Yamato Nadeshiko, perhaps following the example of an older sister. When she fails in these attempts (usually directed at her Love Interest) expect her to either release her tsuntsun half on a convenient target (often her Love Interest), or to show off her deredere by breaking down and crying, (often in the Love Interest's arms). The loss of her Love Interest is a common method for changing a Tsundere into a Yamato Nadeshiko. If her Tsundere personality re-emerges, it's probably a sign that she's learned to love again.

What makes a Tsundere attractive is her determined attitude to do everything well; even if it's a cover for deep-seated insecurities, it's better than her wangsting about them. Furthermore, she's much less likely to suffer from Chickification as her less-than-doting personality facet is her major appeal. For Type A, it's assumed that she only acts that way to hide her good heart or deal with romantic attraction. For Type B, her hidden tsuntsun side shows that she's more than just the sweet girl.

If a series doesn't have a explicitly romantic bent, a Tsundere can still come in the form of The Rival who acknowledges that the male lead is a Worthy Opponent but remembers just in time that she's supposed to dislike the competition. Even then, many fans will see a romantic attraction between her and her preferred target, especially if said target is The Ditz.

Whether Type A or Type B, Tsunderes differ from a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold in that Tsundere moods tend to switch in reaction to the actions of select people. A Jerk With A Heart Of Gold is jerkish in general regardless of whether the other person is mean or nice, and shows his Heart of Gold at the appropriate times regardless of how the other person is treating them.

Male Tsunderes are rare, as the main appeal of a cranky male character is usually his hidden heart of gold instead of his jerkishness, and hence he normally goes straight from "warm-hearted jerk" to "warm-hearted, all-around nice guy." Furthermore, a male exacting the typical tsundere behavior on a female in violation of Wouldnt Hit A Girl standards wouldn't sit as well with viewers, although some works get around this problem.

Compare with Well Excuse Me Princess. May overlap with Mood Swinger and evince Dont You Dare Pity Me and Fear Leads To Anger.

Female half of the Takahashi Couple, with the male half being a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold.

Also see Tsundere Sue for when a Mary Sue has elements of this.

Examples

Type A:

Anime
  • Haruhi Suzumiya herself doesn't fit this trope well, but that's up to your interpretation. She's mostly just a sociopathic Genki Girl. A slight tsundere side towards Kyon gradually builds up over time, to the point where even Itsuki is calling out Kyon for his Selective Obliviousness. Although many argue she has merely moved from being a Jerkass to being a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold
    • The Four Temperament Ensemble nails it for Haruhi.
    • Kyon has some tsundere tendencies towards Haruhi. Tsundere tactics 1 and 3 come into play often, and on at least one occasion he has almost resorted to violence. Some view the pair as an inverted Takahashi Couple.
      • Quite frankly, on the occasion you're referring to, just about anyone would have resorted to violence. Back then, Haruhi's Jerkass-ness went into overdrive so badly in that scene that she nearly crossed the Moral Event Horizon. Thank God (pun intended) she never was that bad later.
  • Bleach's primary female protagonist Rukia Kuchiki is a prime example (though the attraction is hinted at rather than implied) of a Type A Tsundere. Strange in that this involves two people (Renji and Ichigo). And don't get me started on Kaien...
  • Sohryu Asuka Langley of Neon Genesis Evangelion is another particularly extreme and famous example, as most Evangelion characters are for their particular role.
    • Doesn't Asuka lack the "deredere" part of being a tsundere?
      • She saves her deredere for Kaji, who she crushes on like there's no tomorrow. There's also the memorable scene where she flirted with Shinji to get a reaction out of him and kissed him once out of sheer boredom.
      • Asuka flirts at Shinji fairly frequently. Part of the tragedy of their relationship is that Shinji isn't a very open person (neither is Asuka but she tries harder), and can't believe in the possibility of Asuka being interested in him. So, she gets frustrated, and tsun is back in town. Shinji/Asuka is the mating dance of the hedgehogs.
      • Exactly. If you're looking for the "deredere" part, you might also find it in the extended version of Asuka's mind rape in the director's cut of episode 22', in which as images depicting Shinji flash up on screen, she cries "you won't even hold me!
    • Asuka does show her more gentle side in her relationship with the Class Rep, Hikari, even if Asuka doesn't think much of her taste in boyfriend.
    • In the manga, she acts like a Type B when adults are around, at least at first. Toji in particular is annoyed that the adults can't see past Asuka's fake sweet persona.
    • The class rep Hikari is a Type B tsundere, particularly towards Touji.
  • Akira Koizumi from Iketeru Futari is usually violently Tsundere towards her "boyfriend" Saji Keisuke. Since Saji is a completely over-the-top idiotic pervert this is initially understandable, but she softens up a lot as she comes to appreciate how much he loves her for who she really is, since she's actually quite a lonely girl. He's also aparently pretty good in bed.
  • Lina Inverse from The Slayers displays some Tsundere-ish traits. Most of the time, though, she is pure tsun-tsun, but does indeed have dere-dere moments in NEXT and Revolution
  • Rin Tousaka in Fate/stay night. She's heavily on the tsun side in "Fate", the canon storyline; it's in "Unlimited Blade Works", where she's the main love interest, that her dere side comes out (in the last scenario, "Heaven's Feel", she again plays Worthy Opponent-turns-The Lancer role). A perfect example (which made it into the anime) is the scene where she goes from trying to kill Shirou to tending his Rider-inflicted wounds in the space of a few minutes.
  • Konata in Lucky Star outright designates her friend Kagami as one, complete with the explanation that it's appropriate for girls with twin pigtails. This reference is probably due to the prevelance of tsunderes with pigtails at a time when the term started to come into general usage.
    • Kagami and Konata are a really good example of how a Tsundere doesn't have to be romantic, as their relationship has a sense of rivalry. Doesn't stop people from interpreting it all as Les Yay though.
      • Konata's actual Les Yay comments don't help much with that. (Not to mention Kagami's dream in the OVA). Although since Lucky Star is targeted at otakus, the Les Yay is probably an intentional invocation of the trope.
    • The Lucky Channel segment of Lucky Star even includes an extended rant over the term tsundere and how it has evolved over time, from a transitional personality process to someone who switches back and forth constantly.
      • Also, the main "joke" behind Lucky Channel is that the host constantly flips between saccharine sweet Moe Moe to jaded, cynical pro; although that's not so much to do with her personality being bipolar, and more to do with her being an "actor" who jumps from her "stage" personality to her "true" personality when provoked (and she's easily provoked).
  • Naru Narusegawa in Love Hina is famous for her "Naru punch".
  • Yoshino in Maria Sama Ga Miteru, especially whenever Rei teases her about being clingy.
  • Vita in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and Teana (towards Subaru) in the third season.
    • Also, Alisa from the first season.
  • Sawatari Makoto from Kanon is one of the rare female examples who eventually becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen. In the last few episodes where she appears, she doesn't say one mean word.
  • Voice actress Rie Kugimiya is becoming famous for these, originally with Shana in Shakugan No Shana, along with her more violent Expy Louise in Zero No Tsukaima. She also plays Nagi in Hayate The Combat Butler, who has the excuse that Hayate is her servant (it's okay if she's gushy about having a cute boy doting on her... but only in private).
  • Mika Seido in Geneshaft who throughout the series yells pretty much everyone at one time or another especially her captian Hiroto Amagiwa whom she hold personally responsible for the death of her friend punching him in the first episode only to be one who is always by his bed when he's greatly injured, although claiming it's a The Only One Allowed To Defeat You
  • Despite being male, Wolfram in Kyou Kara Maou qualifies, since he complains about Yuuri about as much as he's grouchily possessive of him and despite being quasi-'dominant' looks more girly than him. In one OVA episode, another character actually uses the word tsundere to describe him.
  • Takako from Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru, to the point that in the Bakers Dozen OVA, she plays the part of "Tsunderella".
  • Revy of Black Lagoon is a borderline psychotic version of this, and has tried to shoot Rock on two different occasions during the first season, with her "dere-dere" side surfacing during the "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arc from the second season (though there was that time she saved Rock at the end of the first season, something she swore she would never do).
    • This troper would describe Revy as someone who's both a Tsundere and a Yandere — when she's being angry and confrontational she's bad enough, but when she lapses into Whitman Fever during the Nazi arc, she's even worse.
  • Triela from Gunslinger Girl definitely has some Tsundere-ish traits... starting with the twin-tail hairstyle.
  • Mayo Mitama is described as a Tsundere by another character, but parodies the type by having a barely evident "dere" side, and a "tsun" side so outright psychopathic that no amount of "dere" could counterbalance it.
    • In episode 5 of the second season, the apologetic Ai Kaga briefly "becomes a tsundere character" for all the wrong reasons... Which prompts Itoshiki to wonder if a tsundere without the dere side is possible nowadays. Manga Fan Girl Harumi Fujiyoshi is quick to reply that it is, since the dere side can be "filled in by imagination". So true, indeed.
  • Kirai in Girls Bravo, who is also his childhood friend. Particularly weird as she may be partly the reason Yukinari is afraid of girls.
  • Kyou in Clannad. All around displayed as a spunky girl who goes into scary mode if you ever insult her, or maybe her twin sister Ryou, is known as violent, is not afraid to throw a dictionary to the head of anyone who pisses her off or endanger her pet boar (and also throw in a swift Dynamic Entry for good measure). But then, Episode 17 rolls in... she gets locked with the protagonist in a gym locker room and instantly goes deredere to the max. Fanservice~~
    • Speaking of the protagonist Tomoya, it's also arguable that's he's a tsundere as well, particularly regarding his relationship with Nagisa.
  • Mion Sonozaki from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is a closet tsundere over Keiichi. Closet because, whenever her "dere" side appears, she's usually impersonating her twin. Satoko also presents some tsundere-like characteristics.
    • This troper finds this less appropriate as far as Mion. She makes no effort to hide that she's fond of Keiichi in any way. She just hides the fact that she likes him more than a friend. Her confrontational personality usually only comes out in the 'club activities', more from wanting to win than to hide her feelings for K1.
  • Natsuki Kuga fits the description, displaying an abrasive exterior, but hiding a sensitive side that loves puppies and collecting lingerie.
    • Minor character Akira Okuzaki is also a textbook example, keeping up a rough facade but slowly opening up to her roommate, Mai's brother Takumi.
  • Kagero the Ninja-Girl of Ninja Scroll is a rare example of this trait played for tragedy, as she could not learn to express love and tenderness until it was too late.
  • Tohno Akiha in Tsukihime is this, but being the Ojou, the tsun-tsun side shows up far more often.
  • An early example would be Kasha Imhof (towards Cosmo Yuki) from Space Runaway Ideon, though she is definitely more on the tsun-tsun side throughout the series. The closest she comes to dere-dere is during the Kitty Kitten arc, but she finally acknowledges her feelings for Cosmo half-way through the Be Invoked movie.
  • Three of the four primary cast members of Code Geass qualify as Tsundere. It probably shouldn't come as any surprise that they make up the biggest Ship To Ship Combat groups in the show.
    • Lelouch, the protagonist, is a rare male Tsundere. Normally he's a snarky Magnificent Bastard who calls concepts such as "justice" and "honor" jokes and talks down of most people. Despite this, he goes out of his way to protect and look after those close to him, even his best friend-turned-rival and his equally Tsundere Mysterious Waif partner (see below).
    • C.C. is most definitely Tsundere for Lelouch, usually talking to him in a mocking tone of voice, calling him names like "brat" and "stupid virgin", but after a few incidents where he learns about her past, she warms up ever so slightly. Even when they're nice to one another, though, they tend to couch it in Tsundere actions, such as using insults as playful nicknames or, for a larger example, see the last half of Season 1 Episode 15.
    • Kallen is also Tsundere for Lelouch, but in a different way. She thinks Lelouch is an arrogant Jerkass, but adores his alter ego Zero as a brave freedom fighter. After learning his identity, it takes her a little while to get adjusted to the concept, but eventually she goes Dere for him in both identities.
  • Temari from Naruto. She's very aggressive (borders on Ax Crazy in her initial appearance) and is definitely troublesome, but she also possesses a softer, more gentle side, and even forms a sort-of relationship with her Chunin exam opponent, Shikamaru. And when they say she has a Paper Fan Of Doom, they aren't kidding. Also, Shikamaru's mother Yoshino is quite tsundere-ish, which just goes to show that Nara men have a thing for troublesome women.
    • Tsunade as well. Arguably, she had mellowed with age - then un-mellowed after becoming Hokage with the pressures of high office. Not to mention the pressures of dealling with Naruto every day.
    • Sakura used to be a HUGE Type A Tsundere over Sasuke AND Naruto (deredere towards the first, tsuntsun towards the latter) when younger. Though she has mellowed out a bit thanks to Character Development, she still keeps quite the flashy temper. Take in consideration that Tsunade is her mentor figure, too, so...
  • Aoba from CrossGame is a tough and somewhat tomboyish Tsundere, though more on the "tsun" side. Most of the plot focuses on her Defrosting Ice Queen process over more than six years.
  • Nagisa in the manga Yume de Aetara is Tsundere all the way, her tsun-tsun side suffered by her suitors (specially Masao Fuguno), with her dere-dere exposed with her first love (in the manga) or when Fuguno is genuinely honest with her.
  • ChiChi, Goku's Victorious Childhood Friend from Dragon Ball.
    • Also, Launch. This was due to a physical split personality disorder, where sneezing would cause her to shift personalities. Dere-dere side is sweet and has blue hair, tsuntsun side is a trigger-happy blonde (unless she's near to Tien, where she acts more deredere)
    • Also Videl at the end of Dragonball Z (She mellows out a little after getting the crap beat out of her), and, to a lesser extent, Android #18 after she marries Krillin.
  • Yoko Ritona from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fits this trope in the early episodes with her behavior towards Kamina—initially yelling at and chastising him, then softening towards him and kissing him. After his death, she largely outgrows this trope and becomes a full-fledged Cool Big Sis.
  • Kyouyama Anna from Shaman King serves as a good example of Tsundere, though more of the tsuntsun than the deredere. In the flashback chapters when we witness Yoh and Anna's first meeting, young Anna is very cold to Yoh, saying he's lame and that she cannot believe he's her future husband. It is later revealed that Anna is being followed by an oni of her own creation, who attacks anyone who tries to get close to her, which is part -but not all- the reason why she pushes Yoh away. When Yoh promises to become the Shaman King for her, Anna begins to warms up to him. However, she never lets herself go very much into deredere, maintaining that tsuntsun with Yoh by forcing him through incredibly difficult training and often refusing to help him out of near-death situations. However, her affections for him are seen now and again, and it's easy to see in those moments how much Yoh means to her. Like when she briefly broke down crying when Yoh was possessed by Tokagerou to save Ryu, her reaction to Yoh's Evil Twin Hao trying an I Have You Now My Pretty on her, or her serious Heroic BSOD when Yoh almost dies at the hands of Hao.
  • Cleao Everlasting from Mahoutsushi Orphen, starting out extremely tsun-tsun and childish but showing quite the strength and gentleness when she reaches her peaks of dere-dere, specially towards the end of the first series and the second half of the Revenge series, when she takes the Licorice under her wing.
    • In the Revenge series, Eris also fits in the Tsundere archetype, going all googly-eyed for her best friend Majik and yet acting very snarky and tsuntsun towards her Bunny Ears Lawyer instructor Hartia, specially when they go in their... very "special" exploits as super heroes (sorta).
  • Trinity Blood's Astharoshe "Asta" Asran. Her relationship with Abel Nightroad, though not romantic (at least, not in canon), has strong elements of this. At first she violently threatens him (and does so again each time they meet), but comes to see him as one of her closest comrades. And that word is extremely meaningful to Asta.
  • Satomi Ozawa from Naru Taru is a quite dark version of this; apart from being one of the main villains, her relationship with her (ex-)boyfriend Bungo Takano is more screwed up than usual. In the manga, she only softens up to him again after a rather severe case of Break The Haughty.
    • The same series also has a possible male example in Norio Koga, the resident gay character. He's usually a very grouchy guy who likes to tell Takeo Tsurumaru that he hates him (though to be fair, Takeo can be quite an ass) but secretly has romantic feelings for the guy that go as far as wanting to have his baby. His deredere side doesn't show much, and when it does, it's fairly downplayed.
  • In the Seigaku team, one of the regulars can be seen as a male Tsundere: Kaoru Kaidoh. He is very antisocial and skittish, yet also is incredibly naïve when it comes to relationships (and blushes often about that) and adores animals. If you want to add romance of the Ho Yay kind, his relationships with either of his doubles partners (Momoshiro and Inui, more tsun-tsun towards the first and slightly more dere-dere towards the latter) can (arguably) count. If you want het, remember him being VERY dere-dere towards the girls of the dating sim games.
  • Ryoumou Shimei from Ikki Tousen starts as an Heroic Sociopath with Yandere traits, but slowly mellows out as she befriends main character Sonsaku Hakufu and gets into a Slap Slap Kiss dynamics (only darker) with the local Handsome Lech, Sunpo Saji.
  • After being more or less defrosted, Tieria Erde from Gundam 00 can be arguably counted as a Type A male Tsundere. The PS2 game even features some dialogues where he looks borderline embarrassed to ask his friend Lockon to join him for lunch after a battle.
  • From Hana Yori Dango. Tsukushi... Just Tsukushi.
  • May Wong from Kaleido Star mixes this with Spoiled Brat and some traits of The Ace, making her dangerously close to a Tsundere Sue. Mid-way through the second season, though, she's brutally Brought Down To Normal, gradually learning to embrace her deredere side.
  • Maam and to a lesser extent Leona from Dragon Quest: Dai's Great Adventure.
  • Male example: Tsuyukusa from Amatsuki is pretty much the epitome of a tsundere; he becomes easily flustered when either Heihachi or Toki is involved, and has used pretty much every stock tsundere expression in the book at least once. The series also has several other examples of tsundere in its cast, the most notable being Kuchiha and Tsuruume.
  • England from Axis Powers Hetalia is this, especially when around America.
  • Casca of Berserk is a type A tsundere. At the beginning of the series, she wants nothing to do with Guts, won't even give him the time of day, and doesn't understand what the hell Griffith, who she has something of a thing for, sees in him. She's not too shy about the hostility either, even punching Guts at one point. The deredere comes later on in the saga as the two of them learn more about each other's pasts and they get a bit closer, eventually becoming lovers about the time that Griffith gets himself captured and put to the torture. And then the Eclipse goes down.
  • One extremely tragic Type A Tsundere is Lady Of War Oscar from Rose Of Versailles.
  • Yui Kotegawa of To Love Ru spends much of her time scolding the other cast members for their (mostly unintentional) indecent behavior, but as the series goes on she finds herself in love with Rito.
  • From Watashitachi no Tamura-kun: Hiroka Souma
  • Temari of ''Naruto' is a Type A, preferring to completely crush her foes in combat during the Chuunin exams (possibly as a result of having a demon-possessed sociopath for a little brother). Then she is set against Shikamaru, whose mother is described this way. They have an "understanding" after the timeskip.
  • In Hidamari Sketch, Natsume, Sae's Unknown Rival, keeps going up to Sae as if trying to pick a fight, then runs off flustered for some reason. Her actions are enough to put identify her as a Schoolgirl Lesbian. Sae's failure to mention her sisterly feelings feelings for Chika and (probably romantic) affection for Hiro also often make her fit this trope.
  • Aisaka Taiga of Toradora! is a type A tsundere who seems to use all three tactics but especially favors switching between the first two.
  • Tachibana from Otomen identifies (male) Tonomine as a tsundere/oresama (portmanteau: tsunsama) type (and Tachibana knows his stuff, being himself a mangaka).
  • Dojo from Toshokan Sensou (Library War) is a textbook example of a Type A male Tsundere, utilizing mostly tactics 2 and 3. He's gruff and businesslike towards everyone, but he takes it to an extreme when he's around Kasahara. At the beginning of the series she complains that he works her hardest during training. He protects her because he secretly does care, but then he brushes it off as just part of his job and often shouts at her. Their flirting begins as awkward shouting matches and snide comments, but towards the end of the series Dojo makes some sweet gestures that he then ruins like trying to comfort Kasahara by patting her on the head, and then getting angry because he can't reach and demanding to know why she is wearing high heels. Total mood killer.

Comic Books
  • 99% of Calvin's interactions with the neighbourhood girl Susie Derkins are about him annoying her (and occasionally her violent retaliations, see Type B). Word Of God says it's his way of dealing with his crush on her.
    • The remaining 1% consists of the school baseball arc, during which they were just fine.

Film

Literature
  • Ce'Nedra from the Belgariad is apparently generally regarded, at least by Japanese readers, as one of the clearest Western examples of the trope.
  • Aravis Tharkeena from The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy. Her Tsundere-ness is lampshaded at the end of the book, when it's mentioned that she and Shasta aka Prince Cor got married because they were so used to their Slap Slap Kiss dynamics, they wanted to be comfier while fighting and then making out.

Live Action TV
  • Miss Piggy from The Muppets exemplifies this trope. In Muppet Babies, she's basically Asuka Soryuu in pink and lace.
  • Mindy of Drake And Josh in her second appearance only. The animosity she had towards Josh in her first appearance had more of a Magnificent Bastard vibe then Tsundere, but her second appearance they realized they were evoking Slap Slap Kiss. After that she was a rather loving girlfriend.
  • Murphy Brown seems like the clearest example of all to this troper, and is quite surprised that she wasn't in here already. Murphy is, of course, usually incredibly cranky and prone to violence, but exhibits some tsundere tendencies with all three of her main love interests:
    • With Jake Lowenstein, she insists that she "becomes a different person" when she's with him, and they fight almost constantly.
    • Both she and FYI's sworn enemy Jerry Gold quickly made it apparent that they loathed one another. Eventually (and to their initial horror), they realized that they did indeed have feelings for each other. (Jerry could also be considered one of the rare examples of a male tsundere.)
    • When she first meets Peter Hunt, she actually goes so far as to punch him in the face seconds before show time. They bicker, call each other names and play pranks on each other until a later episode in which Corky suggests that Murphy has some interest in him. She's absolutely appalled at the thought, but a few episodes and one more fight later, they're both making out in her office.
  • Major Margaret Houlihan of M*A*S*H. Definately favored the violent side, eseically towards Hawkeye, but showed a softer side with Frank, Donald, and ocassionally Col. Potter and Winchester.
  • Jessica Devlin of Shark liked to combine the cold shoulder with the smirk, especially in her dealings with longtime rival Sebastian Stark.

Theatre
  • Kate from Shakespeare's play The Taming Of The Shrew may count if you're one of those people who insist on believing that Shakespeare did everything first, although she was more of the Defrosting Ice Queen.
    • Some more modern interpretations of the play never have her lose her edge. However, Lilli Venessi, who plays Kate in the play-within-a-play in Kiss Me Kate definitely exhibits tsundere traits. Same goes to Catalina (played by Claudia Di Girolamo)from "La Fiera", a Chilean Telenovela also based in the play, though she's older than the standard.
  • Shakespeare has some more straightforward examples of a Tsundere than Katherine — Hermia, for example, who gets very fiery when roused, and Katherine Percy and Hotspur of Henry IV, who are a Tsundere married couple. He constantly insults and belittles her while she threatens him with violence. And they are adorable.

Video Games
  • Leon Magnus in Tales of Destiny. Although in the original game, he was a complete jerk who never accepted his former companions as friends, the Remake rectified his personality. Although initially mistrusting and openly stating that he dislikes Stahn Aileron, he eventually caves into his persistent attempts to befriend him and agrees to fight alongside him as a companion. Of course, he then makes a Heroic Sacrifice moments after agreeing to accompany the hero once more, and he STILL states that he dislikes him, and that he never accepted that he was a friend. Doesn't help that he looks... rather girly despite his masculine voice and fights like a Lady Of War.
    • A more straight out example would be Rutee (Wow, she and Leon must've been real Tsundere siblings), who continuallys bicker with Stahn, but still ends up as his wife in the sequel. And in the said sequel, there's Nanaly Fletch, who constantly delivers Loni a backbone crusher if he pisses her off, especially about her tomboy nature, but in another second, she gets... a bit gushy on him. She even cried on his shoulder once.
    • This is par for the course in the Tales Series, really. You've got both Tear and Natalia in Tales of the Abyss, Farah in Tales of Eternia, Sheena in Tales of Symphonia, Chloe in Tales of Legendia, Iria in Tales of Innocence...
      • Tales Of Phantasia is a subversion of this trend only in that the tsundere did not get paired up with the lead. There was an awkward love triangle for a while, but it was mercifully dropped the moment said tsundere Arche met Chester.
      • Oh, and Rita Mordio. Oh, God, Rita Mordio
  • The lead designer of The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess has openly admitted in an interview that Midna was designed with the Tsundere concept in mind.
    • Tetra from Zelda: The Wind Waker would arguably qualify too.
  • Franziska von Karma in the Ace Attorney series, a young woman with an absolutely vile temper, a tendency to Whip It Good at the slightest provocation, and a fixation on perfection, but a terrific soft spot for the painfully codependent Adrian Andrews, who she eventually helps train into being able to stand on her own two feet. She finally cracks at the end of Justice For All and bursts into tears at a display of affection from Miles Edgeworth, her unrelated and older 'little brother'. By Trials and Tribulations she's acting hostile more out of habit than anything else, and shows a soft side around children, being genuinely heartbroken when little Pearl Fey yells at her. Phoenix even thinks to himself that her outright hostility is what makes her "cute."
    • He also notes that it may be a reaction to the severe fever from which he's suffering. However, since this troper found the "cute" remark funny enough to make him chortle, he thinks it was more than the fever talking.
  • Lili from Psychonauts. She spends roughly the first half of the game belittling Raz in various ways, but is much sweeter to him in the second half—she's still feisty, though. To be fair, though, she is ten. Cooties might have something to do with it.
  • Serra the Cleric from Fire Emblem 7 is very mych a Type A Tsundere in her supports with Erk and Matthew, though more pronunciated since she also exhibits Rich Bitch traits despite not being one ( She's actually a Stepford Smiler orphan who created the Rich Bitch persona to cope with her Parental Abandonment issues ) and acting more dere-dere towards Oswin, whose approval she seems to crave for (And dude, does she have an Heroic BSOD when she thinks he hates her).
    • Farina, the tomboyish and money-grubbing Pegasus Knight, also counts as a Type A Tsundere since she's got the Slap Slap Kiss with two males, Hector and Dart the Pirate.
    • The Dragon Lord Vaida can be seen as an older, more scarred Tsundere in her supports with her ex-Lancer Heath and her confident Harken.
    • The Ninth game set this up as well in the Cat Girl Lethe and her various interactions with people (especially Ike, the leading male of this story). A lot more with the violent aspects than the nice aspects (to show how feral and feline she is). However, the Tenth game shattered all thoughts of her ending up with anyone.
    • And in the Fourth one, there's one Type A Tsundere: Tiltyu the thunder mage. Sure, she acts really cheerful, pushy, spunky, rebellious, and even speaks TOO casually for a Princess, especially when her predestined is the rather timid Azel, she looks just about ready to be REALLY pushy on him. But in truth, beneath that, she shows great insecurity and loneliness, when you do actually get her to a love-improving conversation with Azel, you get to see that despite her outlook, she is really scared that nobody will trust her by being 'an enemy's daughter'. Then you see how scared she is when facing her father (justified, though, her father has a Holy Weapon that can possibly kill her in one hit). And then there's all those misfortunes she suffered right after.
    • The more straight out Tsundere in the fourth game would be Princess Ayra of Isaac. Sure, she can be one hell of a scary Action Girl, killing men with ease using the Ryuuseiken and bring a sort of Auntie Bear to little Shanan. But then, she can get a bit gushy when she's paired with Holyn... or have a Slap Slap Kiss romance with Lex. If you really want gushy, though, try pairing her with Arden...
  • Boys Love example: Souichi from The Tyrant Falls In Love is antisocial and ill-tempered to pretty much everyone, but doles out most of his punches, kicks, and verbal abuse to Morinaga. Except for when he accidentally lets slip signs that he cares for Morinaga more than he'd like to admit, upon which he's reduced to furious blushing and stammered-out denials. It certainly doesn't help that Souichi's supposed to be a homophobe, which severely hinders him from accepting the idea of him being in love with another man, much less being affectionate towards one.
  • Laharl from Disgaea is a near-textbook case, with the exception being that he's male.
  • Sue Sakamoto from Cave Story is a Distressed Damsel Type A Tsundere. She'll bluster and threaten right up until she's captured (and after!), then yell at you for saving her. She warms up to you as time goes by, though, probably since you end up saving her no less than three times.

Webcomics
  • Fio from Circumstances of the Revenant Braves is a soft example of Type A.
  • Faye in Questionable Content.
    • She's also a bit of a subversion, as she's aware she has "issues" and is currently seeking professional help for them. (Even if she agreed to seek that help in order to avoid the other elephant in the room (Marten's feelings towards her))

Western Animation
  • Helga Pataki in Hey Arnold goes all dere-dere on Arnold in private and even has a shrine devoted to him, yet she can only act tsun-tsun and bullying to him in public.
  • Linka from Captain Planet. No, she doesn't like Wheeler that way or so she says, but she's been close to kiss him several times and is his Clingy Jealous Girl, so...
  • Cindy Vortex from The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron. She's far more "Tsun" than "dere," but there are a few times she lets her true feelings for Jimmy slip through.

Music
  • The Gomez song "Girlshapedlovedrug" (lyrics) seems to be a love song to a tsundere.

Real Life
  • There are some things that man was never meant to know.
  • Recently, Tsundere Cafes have been opening in the Otakuland of Akihabara. Similar to Meido Cafes, the waitresses there are young attractive women, each acting tsundere-ish towards their patrons: very rude and impatient at the beginning ("Here, sit." "Am I supposed to wait for you, or what?" "Have you decided on your order yet?!") but getting increasingly more apologetic and dere when they are about to leave ("I'm sorry I said all those things to you... you will come again, won't you?.."). Witness reports say that this change is irresistible. The waitresses apparently enjoy their jobs immensely, too, but, heck, getting paid for being rude to customers? A dream job.
    • This is sort of the gimmick of the American restaurant Ed Debevicks where both male and female waitstaff are deliberately rude to customers.
    • Dick's Last Resort in San Diego does the same thing, among other things hanging the ties of patrons on the walls is part of the schtick and it's a highly recommended spot to go to not just for the food.

Type B:

Anime
  • Keiko Yukimura
  • Akane Tendo, and to some degree also Ukyou Kuonji in Ranma 1/2.
    Kasumi: "She's really a very sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac."
    • However, Ukyou can be argued as a minor Yandere after her initial introduction — being publically friendly and affectionate, but violent and sometimes disturbingly underhanded when things don't go her way.
      • Ukyou seems to act most like a Tsundere around Ryouga, which is probably why that pairing is so popular in fanfiction. It's also often Lampshaded with Akane and Ranma commenting on how the new bickering couple is "just like we were".
    • Akane is suject to a lot of debate with Fanfiction commonly depicting her as Type A. Many feel Akane was a Type B in the beginning, but as time went on she begin to act more like a Type A. Either because Ranma's constant verbal abuse put her in a permanently irritated state, or possibly because writing her as Type A became easier once the focus shifted from martial arts wackiness to the romance. Still others argue for Adaptation Decay from the manga as the cause for her shift. However, from Kasumi's description of Akane it's pretty obvious that Akane was intended as a Type B.
  • Another Takahashi example: both Lum and Shinobu Miyake from Urusei Yatsura. Yeah, try managing an Unwanted Harem with two Tsunderes as the main contenders. Of course, Ataru wants the harem, so he deserves what he gets.
  • Yet another Tsundere by Rumiko Takakashi (wow, she seems to really love the trope) is Kagome Higurashi from Inu Yasha. Note that she warmed up to Inuyasha faster than the other Takahashi Tsunderes towards their love intrests, though. Kagome's friend Sango might have two or three traits of Tsundere-ness as well, though when not provoked (principally by her love intrest, Handsome Lech Miroku), she's more of a Yamato Nadeshiko.
  • Kyoko Otonashi from Maison Ikkoku expresses Tsundere qualities as a subversion of the Yamato Nadeshiko personality: basically, her outwardly perfect Japanese housewife persona hides her childish, almost bipolar bouts of tsundere-ness.
    • All of Takahashi's female leads appear to be Tsunderes. Perhaps this is why Takahashi Couples never seem to get together.
    • Kyoko is interesting in that when we meet her parents, we discover that her mother is a Tsundere and in flashbacks, that Kyoko was even more openly a Tsundere in her youth. (Interacting with her parents seems to bring this out in her). It's as if Kyoko is the mascot for teenage Tsunderes who manage to grow-up and become the Yamato Nadeshiko that most of them want to be. However, her old Tsun Dere behavior is still there, ready to breakout if she relives old childhood experiences.
      • Notable in that she is a widow, and in Fan Fiction the lost of her Love Interest is a common method for changing a Tsun Dere into a Yamato Nadeshiko. If her Tsundere personality re-emerges, it's probably a sign that she's learned to love again.
  • Another possible "matured" Tsundere is Princess Ayeka of Tenchi Muyo fame. She attempts to put on a Yamato Nadeshiko personality, but is certainly suppressing violent tendencies (even in the OVA, where she has a much sweeter personality). The trigger for her adoption of the Yamato Nadeshiko personality? The loss of her