MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE~! Has anyone guessed Borderline Hikikomori’s ’12 Day of Christmas’ theme/pattern yet? You only have 1 more day to guess~! We’ll announce it, reveal who guessed it right, and sing the whole 12DoC song tomorrow. Oh, and I’ll show of what I got for Christmas while I’m at it. ;P
Anyway, onto the final day’s madness~!
CJ
~ * ~
They look so innocent on the surface; you could entrust your life to them. And normally they do just fine … until you cross them, that is. Then all bets are off, and you should probably start running. All those “beware the quiet types” warnings start echoing in your mind, and you realize how right they are. Here on Christmas Day even, you can’t let your guard down.
Why has yandere become so popular recently? I thought Japanese men liked the submissive moe that can be dominated or molded to their every whim. Or is that particular cycle of male desire shifting over to more masochistic realms, where you can get to know a sweet girl on the street but only wish for dark, painful, and paranoid moments afterwards? I just find yanderekkos a mere change of pace — something interesting to watch to complement the ever-increasing tsunderekkos, meganekkos, and dojikkos. They’re cute girls who can bring the suspense and shock back into anime, so I guess they would be very important every once in a while when one becomes a little too secure in his harem world.
Guess I’ll start with the new default yanderekko as of this year. Katsura Kotonoha from School Days should be pitied by everybody, especially at the beginning of her story (you know, when it was still realistic). She innocently went to school by train every day, but this guy she notices daily finally asks her out. And there’s a lot of shyness, but she’s learning how to open up. But the guy doesn’t give her a fair chance, and all she has left is confusion. It took her a lot of effort to commit to somebody; now he isn’t around? And that’s when the problems start — when she isn’t able to let go. And perhaps it paid off for a brief moment at the very end, but things still crash hard. And, now delirious of reality, she pulls out that blade…
Commonly known as the White Devil, perhaps Takamachi Nanoha isn’t -really- a yandere, but she definitely has her pissed!off moments. Most memorable is episode 8 from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, where she disciplines an out-of-line Teana with the trainee’s own special attack. This leaves her would-be-lesbian comrade in a rage, but nothing else really develops .. and they’re all friends again by ep 10. Some of Nanoha’s finer moments came from A’s though. She was one tough nine-year-old.
One doesn’t need to go on a murderous rampage to be yandere. Sometimes protecting your loved one to the death is good enough motivation. Morimiya Aono from sola goes into yandere mode a few times — the change in facial expression an obvious visual clue as to when this mysterious transition occurs. Aono is calm and peaceful on the surface to Yorito and also Koyori .. but the sight of Matsuri fills her with utmost rage. And she’s a darn good fighter, too, with paper daggers and whatnot.
Bamboo Blade‘s Miya Miya took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting a yandere out of this show from its initial episodes. You’d think Tama-chan would be the only star, but instead all five of the main girls have some quirks to them: Miyazaki Miyako being the beautiful one with an awkwardly shaped boyfriend and a so-very-dark half. Her yandere-ism is mostly for humor, though, as I haven’t witnessed any true act of violence from her yet. Her enraged Kendo skills have scared many, though.
Shion may be the most yandere girl out of the Higurashi group, but I always think of Ryuuguu Rena instead. Perhaps it’s the giant cleaver .. or hat cute dress and hat, that make her a much more iconic character in the series. Rena likely has the largest operating range on the mental health scale, with one extremity being her “Omochikaeri!” mode and the other being her cleaving mode. Yes, her rage is mostly attributed to a particular contagious disease, but she executes that rage just so well. That weapon of hers is normally rather heavy and slow to swing, but she has it mastered.
~Crisu
See also here and here for extra information on this strage, violent new trend of anime girls.
…other 12 Days bloggers in the ABC…
Anime Diet — Cruel Angel Theses — Daijoubu
End of the World — Moogy’s Anime Blog — Nigorimasen
Osiris Anime — Otakuism — Scrumptious
a stone and a small ripple — What is eternity doing tonight?
I think Yandere’s are still a rare but growing breed. My favourite is easily Miya-Miya XD
Merry Christmas :D
Unforuntately a lot of girls are misattributed to Yanderes. Only girls who are romantically affected by someone they love and changed from someone who’s sweet and loving into someone with much darker thoughts and feelings is a real yandere. A lot of girls just randomly turn violent or evil and these are really yangire.
“Unforuntately a lot of girls are misattributed to Yanderes.”
Correct.
“Only girls who are romantically affected by someone they love and changed from someone who’s sweet and loving into someone with much darker thoughts and feelings is a real yandere.”
Isn’t this just Tsundere under a different form? Though maybe it’s Tsundere if the object of love is attacked, it’s another matter if he/she attacked another person blindly for love (like Aya’s schoolmate in “Ayashi no Ceres”, who was seduced by her teacher).
True Yandere (but still moderate in form) I think is more of Card Captor Sakura’s Tomoyo or Sonic the Hedgehog’s Amy.
Classic examples would be: “The Little Mermaid”, plus “Romeo and Juliet”. Yes, there are knives in them.
“A lot of girls just randomly turn violent or evil and these are really yangire.”
No complain here under that definition.