Anime @ Work : Anime scriptwriter Yamanobe Kazuki's Anime and Historical Drama Update - No.11

This time I'd like to talk about the term yandere. Yandere is a combination of yamu, or yande iru, meaning sick or troubled, and dere, to be love-struck. It is a term for a character, generally female, in a work of animation or a game. It usually indicates a character who likes someone of the opposite sex, but in the course of the story becomes emotionally unstable (yande) or psychopathic, and does harm to this person on whom she has become focused or obsessed. What is important to the viewer is not the outward appearance of a character who has been injured or wrapped up in bandages, but rather the process which leads to the illness. At present, the yandere character is attracting attention among Japanese fans.

Several years ago, the keyword tsundere appeared in much the same way. This term indicates a character with an insolent attitude who suddenly becomes gentle because of a particular circumstance. There is frequently quite a strong tendency for Japanese fans to categorize characters with key words in this way, particularly female characters. Since there are so many more works and characters compared to the West, fans and producers are constantly analyzing these in order to understand the preference trends.

However, a commonality in the classification terminology is the ending dere, which is the commonly used term for a character who suddenly changes in front of someone of the opposite sex and starts acting affectionate. I believe this means that Japanese fans have a deep-seated desire to see the opposite sex character change and become affectionate. This is why only the dere ending remains constant.

If foreign creators could fully understand dere, they could probably break into the Japanese market. Then words ending in -dere, such as tsundere and yandere, would continue to be born in Japan.


Profile of Yamanobe Kazuki
Scriptwriter
Member of the Writer's Guild of Japan
Representative Director of the scenario production company, Edgeworks

Official site of Edgeworks http://www.edge-works.co.jp