Favorite (Unannoying) Tsundere

Personally, I had always hated Tsunderes as a whole, and after hanging around the forums a while, it seems that Tsunderes do have a somewhat sizeable Hatedom. Anyway, whether you hate them or not, who are your favorite Tsundere characters, and why?

Really the only one I can think of instantly is Asuna. Also I really do like Anna as well.

edited 5th Oct '10 6:45:26 PM by dmysta3000

I never really liked tsunderes, either. >_> Too grumbly and mood-swinging. Although I think Faye Valentine and Fakir are good, likable-ish tsunderes/oranyans.

edited 5th Oct '10 6:43:32 PM by NatTheWriter

Its hard to find un unannoying Tsundere, like Akane or Naru or any Rie Kugimiya Tsundere (Louise in particular). But Post Time Skip Sakura, and Asuna are okay.

edited 5th Oct '10 6:47:15 PM by Demongodofchaos2

My favorite is Ryougi Shiki from Kara No Kyoukai, although she's really more of a Tsungire Yandere. Akiyuki's mom from Xamd Lost Memories is also interesting as a Tsundere who's a full-grown woman, wife, and mother.

I don't really like Tsundere's when they are shown as abusive and hateful people. But when they aren't its somewhat better.

Tsundullahan

Asuna is a pretty good one (the candy chapter and the Negi date chapters most of all)

But I think my current fav Tsundere is Ryoko Ookami because everything makes sense with the reason why she is like that.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:04:37 PM by Raso

Yamada, because her personality isn't designed around being a tsundere. Instead, her tsundere-ness comes naturally from her prideful and/or scatterbrained personality. Also interesting because she's the viewpoint character, so it brings an entirely different spin to the tsundere idea. Oh, and also because the tsundereness isn't even the main focus of her personality, which is really more of a Cloudcuckoolander Genki Girl Lovable Sex Maniac.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:20:21 PM by Sporkaganza

Feel free to skip down to my list of the three most interesting Tsundere characters (Akane Tendo isn't on it).

I actually find Akane Tendo to be an interesting and complex character. Her mixed feelings for Ranma are actually quite easy to understood once you think about it from her viewpoint.

Akane is from a family of three daughters. Each daughter had developed a specific role in the family. Kasumi was the dutiful daughter, mother figure, and the inheritor of all the feminine virtues. Nabiki became the cynical money grubber. Akane failed at the traditional feminine path, however, she was a dutiful daughter who had a position of respect and honor in the family as the supposed heir to the family school of martial arts.

Akane always supposed that one day she would take over the dojo for her father. She trained hard and became the most powerful martial artist in the area. Even possibly surpassing her father. Imagine how it would feel to one day suddenly discover that your father had never intended for you to inherit, but instead planned to give the family dojo to the son of a friend who you have never met. Oh, and you're expected to marry him.

Plus he is so far above you in martial skill that you can't even hit him and he just plays with you during sparring. And he has a dozen or so additional fiances, girlfriends (self-proclaimed), and rivals who all show up soon after, quickly demoting you to the lower end of the power scale. Lets be fair. That would suck. Hardcore.

Ranma basically came in, and without even wanting to, stole Akane's entire identity and life role. To make it worse, when Akane attempts to dutifully fulfill (poorly since she's not good at it) this new unwanted role as wife and homemaker, Ranma mocks her and rejects her.

Understand, I get where Ranma is coming from too, but truthfully you can't blame Akane for harboring some resentment towards Ranma for the mess he's made of her plans for life.

On the other hand, Ranma is also basically Akane's dream guy. A powerful martial artist who protects her, but doesn't treat her as a prize to be won, and doesn't try to force himself on her. He's also a badly abused boy who's been deprived of his mother, and has little or no friends (the few friends he does have are trying to kill him, marry him, or otherwise control him). This combination of The Woobie and The Hero is almost always a big attraction to women.

In fact the usual response to such a lead male is for the lead female to make all sorts of excuses for the jerkass behavior by the lead, while she tries to heal his broken heart. I found Akane's tsundere routine to be much more interesting.

That said I think the most interesting tsundere I've seen are:

Aoba Tsukishima A girl made tsundere towards her Love Interest because of the competition over her sister. Mainly in that she resents him for stealing her sister's love and attention away. This combined with guilt at not wanting to steal her sister's Love Interest and you have a very reasonable explanation as to why she's a tsundere, despite him becoming what she describes in her childhood as her dream guy. Aoba has a strong sense of responsibility for her decisions, and doesn't waste a lot of time complaining about life not being fair, which is rare among tsundere. (And she reminds me of my sister, so I have a soft spot for her).

Kyoto Onotashi Apparently a tsundere as she was growing up (probably because of the example of her mother), but turned into a Yamato Nadeshiko by the death of her husband. The tsundere comes back out when she attracts the interest of the lovable loser Godai who then spends the rest of the anime going through the character development needed to become worthy of her. I find her interesting as a case of a very strong woman who is trying very hard to be traditional in a culture that is not as accepting of pushy women. That tension is very subtle but present through most of the show. She comes across as having a quiet strength of character and purpose that quietly and firmly resists attempts to make her bend- to either her parents or to her various love interests. However, this has the possibility to burst into rage when (from her viewpoint) she is betrayed just as she starts to become comfortable with and trusting of the main love interest. She comes across as very real (and very much like my first serious girlfriend).

Felli Loss Despite having a lot of the typical trappings of a tsundere she just comes off a bit different- as one review put it best (paraphrasing): 'Other such heroines are crafted from pure tsundere at their core. Felli Loss is a quiet reserved girl who has been turned tsundere by the perfect combination of circumstances, emotions, and Love Interest.' Basically she's not tsundere because she's pigheaded or violent by nature. She's tsundere because she's confused, lonely, and passive aggressive- who then fell hard for a man because his situation is similar to hers and so he can understand her instead of judging her like most people do. Yet all the role models she has for romantic pursuit are completely at odds with her public persona that she's created to protect herself emotionally. It's left her very confused as to what she should do. I can't really explain why, but for some reason Felli really struck a cord with me. Interestingly enough unlike Kyoko and Aoba where I identified with the male characters and their relation with the tsundere, with Felli I identify with her almost as much as the love interest.

Honorable mention should probably go to Rosette Christopher, who interests me because her Hot-Blooded Tsundere nature is essentially treated as a heroic flaw. (Very much in the Greek classical sense), and it inevitably leads her to tragedy.

edited 5th Oct '10 8:19:46 PM by Sackett

I'll back Asuna up, but I'll also put in a vote for Chisame, who shares a lot, but not all, of the basic Tsundere traits.

Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic as well. Her Tsun moments are usually well justified, and I like her dynamic personality.

The other one I can add is Ryoko from Martian Successor Nadesico. Other than Ruri, my favorite of Akito's haremettes.

Edit: not a classic romance Tsundere, but Kagamin from Lucky Star also deserves a mention.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:54:05 PM by OverMaster?!

^Oh yeah I like Ryoko too. I think Ryoko/Akito is probably the Fan-Preferred Couple. It's my preferred couple anyway.

edited 5th Oct '10 8:03:38 PM by Sporkaganza

well looking at the author's comments on her back cover image (book 12 during the turny) Chisame was made to be Tsundere.

"Chise is actually one character to whom I feel a connection on a personal level (heh-mostly 'cause we share the same hobbies..) She may seem similar to Narusegawa... but she isn't. Her eyes are definitely more upward-slanting.

... does she have a thing for negi? At this point I am unsure, and yet, initially-standofish-then-all-too-docile "tsundere"-type that she is, I can't help but fear for her future. (^^;)

Chiu! Don't let'em grind ya down y' hear?! *with a hand drawn pic of Chamo waving flags after it.*

edited 5th Oct '10 8:16:09 PM by Raso

Chika Ogiue for actually having some backstory and not being in-your-face about it.

I tend to like Tsundere characters.

One of the best for me is Anna from Shaman King.

I'm generally been okay with most low-key, nonphysical Tsunderes, provided their snark isn't just the constant repetition of "Baka!" and other such brainless insults (which is why I like Rin: she can come up with some great stuff in that VN, even through the language barrier).

As for physical Tsundere's, the only one I've really liked is Celty, for three reasons:

1. None of what she does is exceptionally violent — it's roughhousing and occasionally restraining Shinra via Dark Is Edgy powers.

2. Shinra likes it. This isn't "He was asking for it" — he actively provokes her, wears a big dopey smile while she's roughhousing him, and complains when she doesn't. To quote Walker: "She tops physically, he tops mentally."

3. It's simply a small factor of her personality rather than her main schtick. She's not just a Tsundere. She's a compassionate, straightforward, and slightly neurotic Agent Mulder who's also a Tsundere.

edited 6th Oct '10 10:06:28 AM by Sparkysharps

I actually find Akane Tendo to be an interesting and complex character.

When you're talking about Canon Akane and not Fanon Flanderized Akane yes. Most people have the second in their heads.

Rin Kokonoe from Kodomo No Jikan is pretty much a tsundere. She avoids being an annoying tsundere largely by being less of a typical tsundere than another main character (that is, Kuro Kagami).

Spark basically said what I was to lazy to, thanks bro.

Yeah, same here. I agree with Spark on why Celty is a good tsundere.

But to be honest I don't really think of her as a tsundere, since she's really many-faceted. I think of her more as a true bro. Because she is one, to Shizuo anyway.

The "tsundere" characters that I enjoy are all pretty much not what your stereotypical/typical image of a tsundere would be like. Kind of like Tsundere Plus?

Anna from Shaman King is definitely one of my favorite female characters of all time, period.

Asuna, not so much (since she's pretty much very obviously identifiable as a tsundere - I mean, I like her, but not especially so), but I do like Chisame a lot. Does Evangeline count as a tsundere? Because I adore her.

And Celty, definitely.

Also, is this just me, or are male tsunderes much more bearable than their female counterparts? (Unless they're of the uke archetype, I guess.)

^ Well, male Tsunderes are almost never physical ones (because, while the world hasn't seem to have caught on that female on male violence isn't good, they have realized the inverse), so they never make much of a blip on my annoyance radar.

Eva is many many things but I am not sure if she is tsundere... Well now that I think about it she does fit the bare-bones of the description cold-cynical adult but there are hints that she wants to be a normal person. It comes across better in the official translations since they translate the books she is seen reading. (mostly books aimed at kids)

Not to her "love interest" Negi though although Nagi may be a different story but we only got to see that relationship though a dream that contradicts reality but the end of the tournament there are signs with the whole head pat thing [1].

edited 5th Oct '10 11:09:05 PM by Raso

^ She'd probably count as a Kuudere. Not ever having read Negima, I wouldn't know for sure

Chisame, Tohsaka and Tsugumi would probably be the characters I like most for being tsunderes. There are numerous tsunderes that I like, but for other reasons. Like Kyon, Keima or Ryougi Shiki.