Over Here, Over Dere

Like many fans, one of my guilty pleasures when watching anime, reading manga, or playing video games is shipping. For those outside the know, “shipping,” drawn from the word “relationship,” is pairing certain characters together as a potential romantic couple. It’s fun to speculate who would go well with who. Will like pair with like, or will opposites attract? While many such ships get sunk by the author’s “canon,” it’s still an enjoyable pastime.

Of the fictional characters in the worlds of this genre, certain personality types rise to the forefront. Most of them involve the word dere (dare-ay), derived from the Japanese word deredere, which means “kind, lovable, or in love.”

Yes, there are hundreds of character qualities, and yes, the anime community has created a name for every single one of them, but we’re just going to focus on a handful today. These ones have their certain charms, sure, but not all of them appeal to me, and I’ll explain why. To help me illustrate, we’re going to enlist the aid of the Nakano sisters from The Quintessential Quintuplets.

1 - Ichika

Ichika is the eldest of the five and acts as the older sister to the rest of the cast. Having plenty of practice disguising herself as her sisters, she strives to become an actress in the future. There was even a point where she used her job earnings to support her siblings all on her own.

Her elder sister vibe earns her the moniker hiyakasudere: Loves to Tease. Sibling interactions are often filled with playful banter, and Ichika gives it out to everyone, including series protagonist, Fuutaro Uesugi. She uses it as a sign of affection, that she’s comfortable enough with someone that she can poke fun at them. For Fuutaro especially, her teasing becomes more flirtatious. Other famous characters that fit the hiyakasudere profile are Nagatoro from Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro and Hana Uzaki from Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out.

There was one point, however, where another famous personality type surfaced. While the sisters are vying for Fuutaro’s affections, Ichika disguised herself as one of her sisters, which isn’t anything new for the quintuplets. However, while pretending to be her sister, Ichika tried to convince Fuutaro to date her rather than the sister she was disguised as.

Based on her underhanded tactics and the way she was drawn in that moment, many fans claimed that she went borderline yandere: Scary Love or Sick Love. Characters of this archetype are devoted and attached to the objects of their affection. This devotion often escalates and intensifies into psychotic and violent tendencies. Some go so far as to make sure that their loved one has no option other than them. Prominent yandere characters include Yuno Gasai from Future Diary and Rolo Lamperouge from Code Geass.

I’d have some trouble getting along with a hiyakasudere. Words hold a lot more power than people realize. Constantly being around someone who makes fun of you or insults you, even in jest, can wear down one’s confidence and self-esteem. I constantly have to remind my students, “If the joke is made at someone else’s expense, it’s a bad joke.” That’s why I make puns all the time. They target the humor in language, not other people.

As for the yandere archetype, I can’t condone the psychotic nature of the personality, but I’ve got nothing against the devotion. You can be affectionate with the one you love, maybe even possessive (because yes, they’re your spouse), but there’s an obvious limit to that. Physical and psychological war crimes should be off limits.

I have seen some good versions of the yandere trope. One web comic circulated for a while, where a girl (the yandere) pulls every psychotic-anime-lover trick in the book, and the guy shuts her down in the most wholesome ways possible.
Her: “I’ll make it so you’ll only look at me!”
Him: “You’re the only girl I look at anyway, so we’re all good there!”
Her: (#O_0#)

Another example would be Hassan of the Serenity from the mobile game Fate/Grand Order. Serenity is a famous assassin who utilizes lethal poisons. Due to her upbringing and constant contact with poisons, people can die from simply touching her skin. While she may crave physical contact, she can never have it. Within the main story campaign, there comes a point where the player’s character accidentally comes in contact with her. However, due to certain poison-resistance spells being placed well beforehand, the player doesn’t die.

Realizing there’s a person she can touch without killing, Serenity becomes quite attached to the player. However, she never goes so far as to “eliminate the competition.” She’s devoted to the player, but not psychotically obsessive. There were some instances where the other yandere characters started making a fuss, and Serenity, both verbally and mentally, chose to keep well away from their antics, knowing it was going to bite them in the butt.

2 – Nino

Next on our list is Nino, the fashionable social butterfly of the sisters. While caring and considerate towards her sisters, she showed the most hostility toward Fuutaro when he first entered their lives. She tried multiple ways of expelling him from their home, despite her father hiring him to be their tutor, and often fought against his attempts to close the gap.

It took her the longest to warm up to Fuutaro, as well as the longest to develop feelings for him. Her curt attitude and blunt way of speaking puts her in a variation of the tsundere: Irritable Love or Grumpy Love. Tsunderes are generally identified by their unwillingness to admit their affection and roundabout way of showing it. When confronted about who they like, they’ll do all they can to deny it and hide their embarrassment.  However, part of their character growth is becoming more honest with their feelings. A couple of other notable tsunderes are Kaguya Shinomiya from Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z (that’s right, boys, Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, is a tsundere, and you know exactly why).

I say a variation of tsundere because, normally, they get so flustered that they can’t express themselves properly and often replace it with denial and rejection. However, Nino took a different approach. When she finally admitted to herself that she liked Fuutaro, she became the most upfront about it amongst her siblings. Would she still get flustered? Sure. However, she was honest about how she felt and made sure Fuutaro knew where she stood.

This honesty is why I think Nino is the kind of tsundere I can get along with in real life. Most tsunderes can be considered endearing because we, the audience, see both their public actions and their private thoughts. We know what they’re really thinking, which makes their flustered reactions cuter. However, I can’t read people’s minds in the real world. I tend to take people at their word. If someone tells me that they don’t like me in that way, I accept it and I move on. I am probably the worst person to do the “play hard to get” strategy on because if you tell me No, I will respect your answer and not bring it up again. If, however, the tsundere admits to me later that her feelings have changed, I will respond in kind.

I was once told by someone that I was a tsundere, and I took offense to that because while I do get flustered around people I like, I am honest about my feelings. Back in college, I was crushing on one of my neighbors. I’d make small gestures here and there (invite her for hangouts, offer my coat on cold nights, etc.). Eventually, she pulled me aside and asked straight out, “Tim, I’ve noticed what you’ve been doing. Do you like me?” A proper anime tsundere would’ve denied it on the spot and made up some excuse for their actions. I, on the other hand, admitted that I did. I was red in the face and terrified, but I still said Yes. She let me down gently because she had eyes on someone else, but we’re still friends to this day, and I think that honesty helped with it. After watching The Quintessential Quintuplets, I suppose I now fall under the same tsundere category as Nino (doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, though).

3 – Miku

Miku was the character that I, as a casual shipper, rooted for in this series. Maybe I resonated with her because we’re both the middle-most sibling? The jury’s still out on that one. Miku is a history buff with a calm and quiet demeanor. She was the first sister we saw develop feelings for Fuutaro, and her sweet and subtle advances made her a fan favorite.

Her stoic nature categorizes her as either a kuudere: Cool Love, or a dandere: Silent Love. These two personality types are nearly indistinguishable. Both exhibit quiet personalities and rarely show outward emotion. The key difference is their level of self-confidence. According to fandom.com, a kuudere is fine being alone and isn’t too concerned when it comes to relationship status. On the other hand, a dandere is sensitive to criticism and can often fall victim to feelings of inferiority. Other characters who fit these descriptions are Hinata Hyuga from Naruto and Kanade Tachibana from Angel Beats.

Miku certainly contains aspects of both archetypes. If anything, she starts off as a kuudere and eventually evolves into a dandere as her feelings for Fuutaro develop. Instead of passively waiting for him to come to her, she draws up her courage to improve herself and stand out amongst her sisters. There were a couple of points where she reacts to her sisters’ actions with yandere comments, but unlike Ichika, these moments were portrayed in a comedic sense rather than part of the core narrative.

Looking back on this series, I realize that Miku and I are bona fide introverts. Both of us are fine with our quiet time, and neither of us are very good at starting the conversation. However, once someone brings up that one thing we’re interested in, there are no dams that can contain the flood of words gushing from our lungs. In light of this, I find Miku’s determination for self-improvement inspiring. There was nothing wrong with being the cool, silent type, but stepping out of her comfort zone to appeal to the one she loves is admirable.

4 – Yotsuba

Yotsuba is the most rambunctious of the quintuplets. She has tons of energy, loves to help people, and has trouble refusing requests when she’s so relied upon. Unlike the other Nakano sisters, Yotsuba welcomed Fuutaro into their circle from the start and worked hard for all of them to get along.

Also unlike her sisters, Yotsuba’s anime personality type is the only one that does not contain the word dere in it. Yotsuba is what many in the anime community call a genki: Energetic or Enthusiastic. If Miku is the quiet introvert, Yotsuba is the bubbly extrovert. Genki characters are either the life of the party, or at least the ones who start it. They’re expressive and passionate. Being around their friends and keeping the good vibes going are how they roll. Other characters who would gel with her would be Winry Rockbell from Full Metal Alchemist and Amber from Genshin Impact.

The danger genki characters face is going too far, being too energetic. Take Asta from Black Clover, for example. He gives one hundred percent in everything he does. He’s passionate, and his positive energy is infectious. However, he has another prominent adjective: LOUD. Asta is constantly shouting throughout the series. Things go bad? He lets out a booming battle cry. Things go well? He cheers in celebration. Every moment in between? Volume is still cranked to eleven. Thankfully, Yotsuba’s antics never reach this level.

A lot of people might think that an introvert like me would not be able to get along with an extrovert like Yotsuba, but I disagree. People joke around all the time about how extroverts “adopt” introverts, and that’s how they become friends. Would I be a little shaken by all the sudden attention? Possibly. If anything, I’d be flattered that someone is going out of their way to engage with me. Like I said before, I have trouble starting the conversation. An unfortunate case of best-friend-moved-away-in-middle-school kind of hampered my conversation skills. If you take the time to talk to me and figure out what my interests are, we’ll get along exceedingly well.

5 – Itsuki

Finally, we have Itsuki, the youngest of the quintuplets. Itsuki had the narrative advantage in this romcom because she was the first heroine introduced in the series. While resistant to Fuutaro’s tutoring aid like her sisters (sans-Yotsuba), she eventually warmed up to him and bonded with his little sister, Raiha. Serious, earnest, and a bit of a glutton, she idolizes her late mother and models herself after her.

When it comes to typecasting, Itsuki is the hardest one to pin down. She shares more than just physical features with her sisters. She embodies parts of their personalities, too.

Like Ichika, she exchanges verbal jabs and playful banter with Fuutaro.

Like Nino, she gets flustered and fights with the idea that she’s fallen in love.

Like Miku, she’s straightforward and opens up to the people she’s comfortable with.

Like Yotsuba, she’s good with kids like Raiha and gets competitive from time to time (at least when it comes to food).

Perhaps it’s these shared qualities that make her unique amongst the quintuplets. Her character is multi-faceted and developed. While most of the fanbase would tag her as a tsundere, there’s much more to her. If I had to give her a personality type, I’d have to go with the one toted by characters like Shoko Komi from Komi-san Can’t Communicate and Nagisa Furukawa from Clannad. Coming full circle, Itsuki is a deredere: simply “someone in love.”

Of course, the personality types listed here are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are many more dere types and characters out there, and more and more are added with every passing season. We’ve got plenty of stories to choose from, so I must ask: Which ship do you plan to sail?