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Akogare ("longing" or "yearning") is a Japanese term for pure affection between two young female characters. Occasionally, one side is denied and takes it badly. As a result, they'll hound an innocent or the hero until they need to be dealt with, or else insanity will just "happen" when they make their preferences more obvious. They might be redeemed in the end and sometimes even retain their romantic feelings, but it seems the overall message is that their unconventional love causes more trouble than it's worth, no matter how one may sympathize.
In anime this can be jarring, since fans perceive this as writers promoting a romantic outcome then trying to get out of it via this character. Sometimes the easy way out is simply to have the entire cast be female, or make this an overall character trait in a character who's already nuts. Other times it's simply rolled into the Yandere personality type, which can be serious or comedic. Interestingly, this character can still be extremely popular with fandom if they hit the right sympathy buttons, if only for the same reasons a BL-friendly White Haired Pretty Boy can be with fangirls.
The trope also turns up, in an almost identical form, in Western storytelling, especially films, where it has a long history. For years censorship and societal norms combined to mean that lesbian characters on screen were most likely to be psychotic and villainous. In this form of the trope, the death of a lover is a common trigger for the Psycho Lesbian character to go extravagantly insane. Hays Code era requirements that villainous and controversial characters be suitably punished meant that such characters would almost inevitably be toast before the credits rolled - and this convention has persisted long after the demise of the Code itself.
The problem with the Psycho Lesbian is that it carries an ugly history, long enough that fans will complain no matter whether it's an author's rant against homosexuality, a badly used gimmick or merely a coincidence. It also carries an uncomfortable conformist subtext: go straight or go crazy.
How to respond to the above; especially if it's a case of Derailing Love Interests? Simply turning against the character enforces the power the trope has and perpetuates the stereotype. Refuse to stop supporting the character and one will be accused of supporting the atrocities she commits in this trope's name.
The Psycho Lesbian will often be a villainess for a Hide Your Lesbians couple; two women who care for each other but don't actually say it outloud. On one hand, this makes sense; a sexually depraved villain who desires one of the main characters is common enough even in traditional heterosexual casts. On the other; if the Hide Your Lesbians is especially potent; this can give the message that "good" lesbians hide it to themselves.
May or may not be undead. See Depraved Homosexual for the male equivalent.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Pictured above: From Mahou Sensei Negima, we have secondary villain Tsukuyomi. She starts as a mere
Punch Clock Villain with shades of Psychopathic Manchild and a crush on her ex-sempai Setsuna Sakurazaki, but as time passes, she becomes really, *really*, creepily obsessed with Setsuna. And also seems to derive sexual pleasure from murder. And... well, just LOOK.
- In the previous chapter was a more, obvious example (where her left hand is halfway down the page doesn't help her case any either): here.
- More to the point, she's also probably the only villain in the series who's totally evil with no Anti Villain tendencies or Freudian Excuse for her actions, which just makes her even creepier than most other bad guys. This troper thinks this trope should be called "The Tsukuyomi".
- The series also uniquely avoids any Unfortunate Implications about homosexuality because her target Setsuna has been in the Transparent Closet all along, and is one of the most popular, competent and genuinely kind characters.
- Chloe from Noir, contrasted with Mireille's protective relationship with Kirika.
- Another interpretation views Mireille and Kirika's relationship as a more positive form of homoeroticism, thus as a pendant to Chloe's behaviour.
- Dark Action Girl Rimelda Jorg from Madlax. Again, contrast with Madlax's other potential love interest, Vanessa.
- The results of Mai-HiME's Wham Episode altered many characterizations, including the kind and serene Shizuru who went a bit nuts near the end. Fans argue whether this derailed her crush on Natsuki, although most related material for the series ignores the former. Shizuru's popularity among the fanbase helped boost her to major supporting character status alongside Natsuki in Mai-Otome.
- Mai-Otome itself had one in Tomoe. While most of the Coral Otomes loved Shizuru and looked up to her as a heroic figure, Tomoe was actually in love with her, and at one point attempted to kidnap and seduce her (in a decidedly creepy fashion). This, coupled with her mean-spirited attitude toward some of the other characters had turned fan support against her, though an attempt at a comedic makeover of her character in Zwei (similar to the one Shiho received in her transition from Mai-HiME) tried to soften the blow somewhat.
- Kaname and Momomi from Strawberry Panic, essentially fanservicey villains as per the skewed demographic of the show. They get redeemed later on, though.
- Rei Asaka/Hana no Saint-Just from Oniisama E.
- Ryofu Housen from Ikkitousen skirts this trope, though she can also be seen as a female Depraved Bisexual.
- Mylanda Arker Walder from Battle Athletes.
- Ran Asuka from Devilman Lady, who discovers and largely manipulates the lead character Jun Fudou, seems to be attracted to her, or at least her superpowers.
- Goldie Musou from Gunsmith Cats.
- Yoko from Hana no Asuka-gumi.
- Mika from Kyoshiro To Towa No Sora.
- Ophelia from Claymore.
- Nina Einstein of Code Geass, the cast's resident Meganekko and racist who instantly falls head over heels in love with Eupehemia after her life is saved by the princess, so much so that she masturbates to pictures of Euphie using the edge of a table. After Euphemia's death, the girl really becomes unhinged, enough to let Prince Schneizel recruit and manipulate her into becoming a part of a research project that creates a nuclear weapon to wipe the Japanese race from existence. She gets over her madness and her racism, though. Not that the Unpleasable Fanbase (or at least a part of it) acknowledges it. And not before having another Freak Out as she sees what her bomb can do...
- B-Ko Daitokuji from Project A Ko is a textbook example. While she is never explicitly called a lesbian, her affection for C-Ko clearly goes way beyond "pure affection," and sends her into increasingly over-the-top jealous rages against A-Ko, eventually involving military-grade weaponry and an invading alien armada (even though A-Ko and C-Ko's friendship is clearly only platonic, a point which is utterly lost on B-Ko.) For their part, A-Ko and C-Ko's relentless failure to acknowledge or even notice B-Ko's crush is probably a contributing factor in B-Ko's rage spiral. By the last two movies in the original setting, though, she could be called a "Psycho Bisexual", as she immediately "falls in love" with the same handsome biker that A-ko has her heart set on. Of course, that could just be her taking rivalry to the extreme, and/or reflect her intense envy of A-ko. Ironically, her dimensional counterpart in the "Vs." OA Vs is nothing like her, and is even on fairly good terms with her dimension's version of A-ko.
- Magic Knight Rayearth II has the delightfully bipolar (dementedly schizo might be a better descriptor) and certifiably psychotic Nova, whose switch every few moments from sweet and childish declarations of affection to a raving engine of powerful magical destruction can be a bit jarring. Although the circumstances of her consuming longing for Hikaru and the origin of both her and her madness are rather unique and in her own case most likely constitute use of this trope as a justified one.
- Asami Hoshino from Myself;Yourself, who was so in love with Shuri that she ended up causing the very object of her affection to leave. Though not before defending her from an Ax Crazy old lady.
- Shiori in Witch Blade, although her Phlebotinum Breakdown may have helped. Then again, she was a bit messed up to begin with.
- Chikane Himemiya in the Kannazuki No Miko manga. It later gets subverted when it's revealed to be an act to fool the Orochi so she can destroy his support from within and manipulate Himeko to kill her, so they can activate the sacificial ritual to save the world without removing her beloved Himeko from existence.
- Subverted to a point in Cynthia The Mission. Big Bad Cybele is a cruel, evil sociopath who will has a tendency for cutesyness and being generally cheery and nice when she's not killing. She's also a lesbian, but there's nothing psycho about it.
- Also a subversion from the same manga, Takaya Kanae is a sweet, kind, gentle schoolgirl who has kissed more then a few girls in her day. Not psycho at all by any means... until you get to her alternate personality, Shii, who is a psychotic, evil man who will do anything to protect the innocent Takaya, while leaving her mostly unaware of his protection.
- In Suzumiya Haruhi , fourth book, the Asakura Ryoko of the Alternate Universe seems to have somewhat Psycho Lesbian tendencies towards Yuki. Given to that she's a normal human, yet still ends up stabbing Kyon to protect Yuki.
- She even waits for her at the school at 4:00 AM!
- Kasumi Kisaragi, the vice-president in the 2006 version of Kujibiki Unbalance, especially in the manga adaptation, where she tries to kill Chihiro when a love potion causes her to be attracted to him.
- Rio in Gamerz Heaven ...she doesn't seem to have any sanity whatsoever when it comes to Kyouko.
- Yui from Fushigi Yuugi is speculated to be one of these for Miaka. "I couldn't find a place between you and Tamahome!", indeed!
- Played for laughs with Chizuru Honshou of Bleach. Two words: "Karakura Raizer!"
- Quite a few of the One Gender Race Arume from Blue Drop.
- Dark Action Girl Drei rapes Mio with a gun.
- Liang Qi in Canaan.
- Kosame in Girls Bravo. Her actions towards Kirie are played up as comedy, Rape As Comedy that is.
- There is also Hijiri the kids teacher who turns out to be working for the series Big Bad and after fighting Kirie develops a similar attitude towards her.
- Nami in Aki Sora. She starts out with a Matchmaker Crush involving her best friend Kana and her brother Sora, but after the date she set them up on went far beyond her expectations, she confronts Sora that evening, shoves him down, stops just shy of cutting off his penis with some scissors ("Hey... can I have this?"), rapes him while fantasizing that she has a penis and is having sex with Kana, and threatens afterward to cut his penis off for real if he ever tells anyone.
- Sousou from Koihime Musou is a borderline case. Sure, she gets presented relatively sympathetically as the series progresses, but not before forcing one of her subordinates into sex with her and trying to do the same with Kannu.
- The second season of Darker Than Black has Mina Hazuki, a.k.a. "Japanese Lesbian Catwoman." She's a Contractor who Does Not Like Men and shows absolutely no respect for the personal space of her female teammates, who she constantly hits on. The "psycho" comes from a combination of the usual Contractor Lack Of Empathy and a Stalker With A Crush attitude towards Kirihara.
- Actually, even though she's extremely forward at first, she takes being rejected by Kirihara fairly well, all things considered. It's after Youko is brutally murdered, seemingly by Hei, that things get dangerous.
Comic Books
- Darcy Parker in Strangers In Paradise operates a prostitution/spy ring and is the former lover of the protagonist, Katchoo. Darcy is prone to violent rages and is responsible for multiple murders and kidnappings.
- Purgatori, the lesbian vampire demon originally created by Brian Pulido as an antagonist for his main Stripperiffic heroine, Lady Death. She may actually be a Depraved Bisexual, having once been Satan's concubine, but all of the (semi-)consensual relationships we've seen have had her with women.
- The Daughters of the Amazon in Y: The Last Man are frequently branded psycho lesbians by other women (they're certainly psycho, and have little use for men). Subverted in that a) we never see any lesbian behaviour among the Amazons and b) discreet lesbianism (especially with male impersonators) quickly becomes the norm in a world deprived of men. One of the few openly lesbian characters simply describes the Amazons as "nutters who cut off their norks".
- Diane Di Massa's Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. The name says it all.
- Somewhat subverted in that the character is the Anti Hero.
Film
- The evil Queen Gedrin from Red Sonja seemed visibly attracted to the titular character, before said character disfigured her.
- Marie from High Tension.
- Eve Harrington from All About Eve. Not outright stated, but quite explicit for the era, including a one-scene Spear Carrier whose presence is all but impossible to explain any other way.
- Hedy Carlson from Single White Female.
- This isn't necessarily a case of wanting to be with her. It's more like wanting to BE her.
- The main characters from Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss.
- Roxy from Basic Instinct.
- Barbara from Notes On A Scandal.
- Andrea Glassen from Windows.
- In the Spanish horror film The Blood Spattered Bride, Lesbian Vampire Carmilla transfers her murderous hatred of men to the young newlywed woman she seduces, with violent results.
- Diane from Mulholland Drive is a lesbian, and definitely doesn't have both oars in the water. Interestingly, she's the main character.
- Serial killer Catherine in Black Widow (1987). Though she seduces, marries and murders wealthy men (ostensibly for their money, but long past the point where she would already be rich) there's a definite lesbian subtext with the female Justice agent pursuing her.
- Parodied in D.E.B.S. The villainess Lucy Diamond is more than willing to sink the entire continent of Australia in frustration over not being able to form an emotionally satisfying lesbian relationship. Fortunately she is redeemed by the love of an incredibly hot secret agent in a plaid skirt.
- The Maids is all about this. Well, it has just three main characters: two are psycho lesbian Meido sisters, and the third is their mistress who doesn't look very straight or very sane.
- Make a Wish. A group of lesbians go camping in the woods. Is the killer one of the male red herrings? Nope
- In Lost and Delirious, the main character learns that her boarding school roommates are in love. Of course, one girl's family pitches a fit, and of course she goes to sleep with the first guy she sees, and of COURSE the other girl goes completely insane, chasing eagles in the woods and of course she commits suicide at the end. It's even worse because the older teacher tries to save her by sharing her own forbidden love. The whole movie makes lesbianism seem shameful and secretive, and I hate it.
Literature
- Mrs. Danvers from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.
- Irene (and, to a lesser extent, Clare) from Nella Larsen's Passing are strongly implied to be this.
- Mary Whitaker from the Lord Peter Wimsey books.
- One of these features as a villainess in the Judge Dee novel The Chinese Maze Murders.
- Andrea from The Zone series of World War III novels by James Rouch, is certainly psychopathic (if not psychotic) and is widely assumed to be a lesbian by the other soldiers because of her contempt for men. Eventually however she forms a sexual relationship with Major Revell.
- Two notable examples from Sarah Waters:
- Diana Lethaby of Tipping The Velvet. A cruel, predatory dominatrix, physically abusive to her 'tart' Nan.
- I don't think she fits this trope. Much more of an example of Aristocrats Are Evil, contrasted with the virtuous socialist lesbians in the book.
- Ruth Vigers of Affinity. An Evil Mastermind con artist who gets her jollies preying on young girls while dressed as a male spirit. It's implied she's something of a control freak with her girlfriend, femme moll Selina.
- Contrast her with the protagonist of the book, whose lesbian impulses are tightly repressed, although this makes her pathetic rather than virtuous.
- The first book in The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Odd Girl Out, stars Laura, who transitions from a self-loathing neurotic mess into a full-blown Stalker With A Crush who manipulates the pseudo-butch Beth into continuing a borderline Masochism Tango romance.
- An implied undead example: the title character of J. S. Le Fanu's vampire novella Carmilla.
- Kathryn Hulme's The Nun's Story strongly implies that the Archangel Gabriel (an inmate in an insane asylum) is one of these, not least because her assault on Sister Luke appears to be attempted rape.
- Agatha Christie had one of these as the murderer in Nemesis. The lady couldn't accept her 'protege' leaving her for a man. Given that the man was no prize there have been those who suggest the same sex admirer was the better choice. It is this Troper's opinion that the fact the lady murdered her love proves otherwise.
Live Action TV
- Smallville: Tina Greer, Lana's only lesbian Stalker With A Crush Of The Week.
- Mickie James from WWE started out as Trish Stratus' psychotic lesbian stalker.
- It's interesting to note, that unlike many of the other examples, Mickie James was embraced by the fans. It helped that along with being a genuinely talented woman, she was funny in the role and likable.
- Jenny on The L Word - although given that nearly all the major characters on this show are lesbians, this is possibly coincidental and certainly has fewer homophobic implications than a Psycho Lesbian on a show full of sane heterosexuals.
- Willow in season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Willow's insanity is temporary, and the character is ultimately redeemed rather than slaughtered, making for a more benign than usual use of the trope. Willow's descent into gothy, ranting villainy is motivated by one of the Psycho Lesbian classics, her girlfriend Tara's death.
- In Babylon 5, after Ivanova spends the night with Talia, Talia turns out to be The Mole, and begins screaming evilly before being hauled off, her original, non-evil personality completely destroyed.
- It is worth noticing that this was going to be reversed if the actress playing Talia didn't quit. There's even a unused Chekhovs Gun in an earlier episode.
- Possible example: Admiral Cain from the new Battlestar Galactica. Cain is very much psychotic, and also lesbian; however, the two have very little to do with one another. The one exception being that Cain's harsh treatment of Gina (ordering/allowing some crew to gang rape her) may be linked to Gina's betrayal of their relationship. Another less glaring example, since their relationship, amazingly, is only about averagely dysfunctional by Galactica standards, especially given that Gina's a Number Six Cylon. The least dysfunctional Cylon-human couple on the show are Helo and Athena - and he's shot her in the chest. On two occasions.
- To be fair, she asked him to the second time around, as part of a plot to save their daughter.
- Good call on the psycho and lesbian bits having little to do with each other. The extended DVD version of Razor reveals that Cain is a psycho because of her abducted or Dead Little Sister.
- Mary, Toshiko Sato's girlfriend on Torchwood. Granted, she was psycho before she met Tosh.
- Several characters of Cutie Honey The Live. The title character, Honey, is lusted after by another female main character, Yuki. Yuki gets extremely jealous and posessive although they never develop a romance, her insanity builds up to the point where she becomes the main villain. Additionally, another main character, Miki, initially appears to be somewhat insane (introduced in a prison, then slaughters a bunch of men attacking the prisoners; proceding to become a hero until her death, only to be brought back to life, only to be merged (in the midst of a lot of lesbian subtext) with Honey to help her defeat the Psycho Lesbian villain Yuki. That's not all, however; Mayumi, a sadist teacher who likes to perform an ambiguous lesbian sex act involving raw eggs on her students, develops a passionate attraction towards Miki, whilst fighting the heroes throughout the series. In the end, in Miki's last moments, she finally shares a kiss with her.
- "Daddy" from Prison Break: The Final Break.
- The Dresden Files a couple of times.
- Averted in Heroes The audience is led to believe that Gretchen Berg is perpetrating acts of violence against anyone who tries to get close to Claire, including her roommate Annie and members of a sorority. She also Facebook-stalks her. However, though she did have a crush on Claire, it is revealed that the acts of violence were in fact perpetrated by someone working for the main villain, Samuel.
- Lydia Hart on Hollyoaks. After being dumped by Sarah, she sent dead flowers to herself pretending they were from her ex-girlfriend Charlotte, making Sarah get back together with her out of pity. Not long after that she tried to murder her love rival Zoe during a skydiving holiday by sabotaging her parachute, but the parachutes were handed out in a random order and Sarah was killed instead.
- "Somebody's Watching," an early episode of Criminal Minds had Maggie Low as the unsub, a college friend and longtime stalker of Lila Archer. She confronts Lila and Spencer at gunpoint in the end, furious because Lila and Spencer are attracted to each other.
Theatre
- The Miracle Worker alludes to Psycho Lesbians existing in the asylum which Annie Sullivan grew up in: "The asylum? [...] There were [...] some of the kind that keep after other girls, especially the young ones."
Video Games
- Both averted and played straight in Knights of the Old Republic. A female character can romance Juhani but only if she plays through the light side storyline and solves her sub quest with the light side method. If a character (likely dark side) kills Juhani, Belaya, a female Jedi she has had a relationship with some months ago, goes to the dark side to take revenge for Juhani.
- A really good example of this is the antagonist Wendy from Rule Of Rose. It turns out that she was the mastermind behind all the tormenting and torture of Jennifer, including the execution of Brown, the loyal and loveable dog that Jennifer loved. All of this was apparently "punishment" for Jennifer "falling in love with Brown." Unfortunately, the last one was what brought Jennifer over the edge. Similar to the L Word example above though (only reversed), it’s hard to call foul when pretty much everyone in that orphanage was nuts.
- Hirasaka Hatsune from Atlach Nacha absorbs energy by having sexual intercourse with people or eating them. She prefers females for sex and males for eating. If you piss her off, she will tear you apart before devouring you...all with a smile, too.
- Claudia Wolf of Silent Hill 3, possibly. She seems to be obsessed with Heather in more ways than one.
- Amongst the Ax Crazy bosses of Dead Rising, Jo Slade stands as a prime source of Nightmare Fuel. A sadistic police officer who brutalizes young women, she was one of the creepiest enemies in the game.
- Played for Squick in Haunting Ground, the (technically) asexual Homunculus Daniella could qualify. Insanely jealous of Fiona's Azoth and her ability to bear children, she gropes her in her sleep before breaking a window with her own forehead to get a piece of glass sharp enough to dismember the girl. Despite both women being very beautiful, the scene qualifies as High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
- In Princess Maker 2, if your daughter loses her duels with any of the three bandits, they'll try raping her when she's unconscious and defeated, only to be driven away by your demon butler Cube. Yes, this also includes the female bandit, Bloodrose Vanesta.
Web Animation
- Yukari and Yuyuko from Touhou Project are like this in the 18+ version of the fan video Border Of Extacy. For general safe for work principles and even sanity, a link shall not be provided.
Webcomic
Western Animation
- Fans will have you believe that Shego and Azula fall into this category for the respective series.
- Of course in both cases it's only the lesbian part that's in doubt.
- And Shego's not really psycho either. Given her family and world, her snarky bitter self turning to villainy is pretty sane.
Music
Real Life
- Serial killer couple Cathy Brown and Gwen Graham.
- Likewise, real life multiple murderess Aileen Wuornos, to some extent.
- Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, the latter of whom is better known as Anne Perry. Thought it's worth mentioning that it's more likely the two were just in girl-love and very, very devoted, at least according to Juliet.
- Possibly, the one and only Lizzie Borden.
- Melinda Loveless, ringleader of the group of teenage girls that tortured and murdered 13-year-old Shanda Sharer, fits this trope. Loveless managed to convince the others to help her kidnap Sharer after discovering she was dating her ex-girlfriend. Read the story, and prepare to be sick to your stomach for the rest of the day.
- The Papin sisters: After being threatened by their employer, went into such a rage that neither the employer or her daughter were recognizable. And gouged out eyeballs, anyone? Guess what?
- http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/index2.html
- Valerie Solanas, the would-be murderer of Andy Warhol and feminist icon
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