Sensate Saturday: Dere

This week for Sensate Saturday I’m doing a quick primer on some stereo types people will find in Japanese romance, and to a lesser extent everywhere else! It’s all about Dere!

What is Dere?: It’s a Japanese onomatopoeia for lovestruck, dere dere.  There are four main types of “Dere”, Tsundere, Dandere, Kuudere, and Yandere.

Tsundere: Someone who runs hot and cold, or aloof but secretly in love. Some great examples of Tsundere characters are, Tohsaka Rin from Fate Stay/Night, Kirisaki Chitoge from Nisekoi and from Western Lit, Princess Ce’Nedra from the Belgariad and Mallorean series.  There’s also a variant where the person is generally sweet, but piss them off and they can become violently cold towards you. A good example of this is Stella Vermillion from Rakudai.

Dandere: Someone who is really shy and sweet, pretty much the exact opposite of Tsundere’s in outward appearance for the most part. Some great examples of Dandere characters are Hyuga Hinata from Naruto, Onodera Kosaki from Nisekoi, are some of the more recent outstanding notables, but there are plenty more.

Kuudere: Kuu, from the English word “Cool”, is someone who is cold and rather emotionless on the outside towards pretty much everyone, but that special someone can melt their heart in a quick second. Examples include Seishirou Tsugumi from Nisekoi, Meng Qing from Peerless Martial God, and Ayanami Rei from Evangelion.

Yandere: Probably the most disturbing personality type of the four, Yandere’s are typically crazy about someone. Literally. They don’t take rejection well at all and become incredibly violent. They might even go down the road “If I can’t have him/her, no one can”. Some notable and famous examples are Yuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki, Vander Decken IX from One Piece (What you expected this to be just a female only trope? Get real.), Harold and Nadine from Stephen King’s The Stand are some Western Literature examples as well.

That’s it for this week’s Sensate Saturday!

Light Novel Thursday: Zero no Tsukaima/The Familiar of Zero by Noboru Yamaguchi

This week I’m covering a series that isn’t terrible, neither is it great. It’s Zero no Tsukaima by Noboru Yamaguchi.

Plot Synopsis: Louise is a noble girl who is terrible at magic, as her attempts usually result in an explosion. She is nicknamed “Zero Louise” by her classmates, due to the inability to use any of the four magic elements. Early in the school year at the Tristain Academy of Magic, the second year students perform a special ritual where they summon their familiar, which serves as their eternal protector and partner, and is usually some sort of magical creature. But Louise summons Saito Hiraga, an ordinary teenage boy from Japan, leaving her totally humiliated.

Plot: Poor Saito’s life sucks, he gets summoned into a different world where all he gets to be is endlessly beaten by Louise. Louise herself just can’t spit out that she actually likes his company either. I’d like to say that this series ended on a positive note, but sadly Yamaguchi passed away without being able to finish this series. From what we know he left no notes on how it was supposed to end either.

Characters: Saito is a fairly interesting character, probably the most interesting out of all the characters, however Louise’s antics makes the series suffer.

Art: The artwork is good, nothing amazing though.

Overall: If you don’t mind a story that isn’t ever going to get finished then feel free to read this one.

For those who like: Fantasy, Magic, Tsundere female leads, Romance-Comedies.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or a story that won’t ever be finished.