Tsundere/Video Games/Visual Novel

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Visual Novels were the first medium to popularize the term Tsundere. Figures that a bunch of Otaku would name something like this...

Usually tsuntsun ("Type A")

  • Reo Kawamura in Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo.
  • Tsugumi of Ever 17 is straddling the line between this and Kuudere and it's towards everyone except Coco. And Sara, but she ignores her anyway. Obviously, she mellows by the end. Type A, uses violence, (punches Takeshi at least once) cold shoulder (default. She doesn't answer meaningless questions in her own words) and also the smirk! Actually, she comes off as a bit of a Jerkass a lot of the time so they gave her a Morality Pet before letting her officially act dere towards Takeshi.
  • Touka in Sharin no Kuni due to Ririko polluting her brain as a child.
  • Riho towards Shinichi in Deardrops. In her route, it is revealed that she'd been impressed with how he managed to dedicate his life to music and play in a professional orchestra in Germany and was disappointed and angry at him for squandering that chance and returning to Japan.
  • Hiroki in Canvas 2 is constantly described as a 'contrarian.' On the heroine side of things, Tomoki really tries but is too easily distracted to keep it up.
  • Type Moon seems to have a thing for Type A:
    • Tohno Akiha in Tsukihime is this, but being the Ojou, she shows her tsun-tsun side far more often outside her own route and dips into outright Yandere in Kohaku's, thanks to a partial possession by an evil ghost and her own demon blood getting riled. Interestingly enough, Shiki himself is a pretty clear tsundere, but only for Arcueid. He even says himself that he's nice to everyone else.
    • White Len in Melty Blood for Shiki Nanaya, whom she summoned as a TATARI avatar, mirroring (black) Len's dere-ness for Shiki Tohno.
    • As pictured on the main page: Rin Tohsaka in Fate/stay night. She's heavily on the tsun side in "Fate"; it's in "Unlimited Blade Works", where she's the main love interest, that her dere side comes out (in the last scenario, "Heaven's Feel", she again plays Worthy Opponent-turns-The Lancer role (considering her servant). A perfect example (which made it into the anime) is the scene where she goes from trying to blast Shirou senseless to tending his Rider-inflicted wounds in the space of a few minutes.
      • In Heaven's Feel, she's still very Tsundere. The focus of it just shifts from Shirou to her sister, Sakura. In fact, in some ways, HF is where her Tsundere nature (and the reasons behind it) is most obvious (especially at the end).
      • To be honest, this is Rin's defining trait. In Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, this Rin is set an Alternate Universe and yet this trope applies rather hard to her there. In Fate Extra, the lady is not the same one we know of... and yet she is a Tsundere, through and through. If the name Rin Tohsaka is involved, the one big thing that gets carried over (outside of her appearance) is her Tsundere nature.
    • Waver Velvet continues the rather fine tradition.
    • Shiki Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai: is a hardcore Type Tsun, bordering the heroic sociopath zone, but softens considerably in Mikiya Kokutou's presence.
      • Shiki here is a rather interesting case, since she doesn't fit into any one type in the dere family having parts from them all (which mirrors the concept of her powers). Is a Type Tsun, she has hints of a Yandere (whom is both Possessive and Obsessive to a degree), Kuudere (mostly by Non-Verbal Cues and is a Cynic), and is very much the Dandere. That said... the dere is all the same, directed specifically at Mikiya Kokutou and no one else. Shiki Ryougi can and will fight to keep this status quo with Mikiya, and god help you if you are in the way.
      • Nasu himself has described her as tsungire.
    • Also from Kara no Kyoukai: is Azaka, Mikiya's sister, who is in love with him. Atypically, she acts almost entirely dere around him- Shiki is the one who gets to see both sides of her. Azaka likes and respects Shiki, but sees her as a rival for Mikiya's affections, which brings out her tsun qualities.
  • Kyou Fujibayashi in Clannad. Portrayed as a spunky girl who goes into scary mode if you ever insult her (or maybe her twin sister Ryou), is known to be violent and not afraid of throwing dictionaries at anyone who pisses her off or endangers her pet boar, and who is also fully capable of throwing in a swift Dynamic Entry for good measure. But then Episode 17 in the anime rolls in where she gets locked with the protagonist in a gym locker and instantly goes deredere to the max.
    • Though Kyou goes Tsun-Tsun at the slightest provocation, her natural behaviour does seem to be friendly and kind, and she is friendly towards Tomoya despite him being the object of her affections.
  • Sawatari Makoto from Kanon is one of the rare female examples who eventually becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen. In the last few episodes where she appears, she doesn't say one mean word. Knowing you're going to die will do that to you.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Though Mion's tsundere-ness is in debate (she may be a closet Type B because of her usual friendly personality), one of the TIPS from the VN pegs another Sonozaki as having the attitude of one: Oryou. Mion speculates this due to Oni-baba's decision to sell off land in an attempt to get new people to come to Hinamizawa and help erase the extreme prejudice against the Houjous, rather than work against it directly.
  • Jessica Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Shannon even lampshades it in the game.

Shannon:I believe you are what they call a "tsundora". I think this type of personality will be very popular in a few years' time...

    • In the later episodes, Battler and Beato are tsundere for each other, as part of their ongoing Mind Game Ship.
      • And, of course, there is the episode where Beato suddenly goes completely deredere to outmaneuver Battler. When she triumphantly reveals her plan, she explicitly refers to this trope.
    • Satan from the Stakes of Purgatory is described by her sisters as "a tsundere, but without the dere"
  • Mizuha in G Senjou no Maou, though you might not realize it at first because of Kyousuke's limited interaction with her until you actually reach the point you can choose to start her story. She actually does a pretty decent job of making it look like she hates him in the events leading up to said point, but once you get Kyousuke close to her you'll find she's a tad spoiled with a tendency to cry when plans to admit her long standing feelings don't work out.
  • Rance exhibits this this trait a lot, especially to Sill.
    • Ran Nanjou is a somewhat milder example although a bit Harsher in Hindsight, since Rance did coax sex out of her as a reward for sparing his resources to find (and later heal) Souun.
  • A typical Type-A Tsundere named Saki in the eroge Snow Sakura, with Megaton Punch and Kick.
  • Shizune Hakamichi from Katawa Shoujo is a bit of a subversion. She appears to be this at first, though if you go down her path one sees that she isn't that combative in her personality to really qualify. Doesn't stop the fandom from portraying her as such however.
  • Mihail Rampert has shades of this. He dislikes Georik's more questionable actions, and clearly wants to beat his ass at fencing, but he's got a lot more deredere than usual for his archetype. Oddly, he only goes fullblown tsuntsun right before his Optional Sexual Encounter... which is justified since he's about to pull a Last Stand.
  • Naomi Nakashima of Corpse Party is a Type A who enjoys ribbing her childhood friend. However, instead of presenting this as her Charm Point, it is deconstructed as her tendency to take her stress out on those around her (even when she knows it won't help) drives her best friend Seiko away, which gets her killed. Naomi... doesn't take it well.
  • Angel Starr from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney goes from angelic to demonic and back again frequently in the course of the case she appears in.
    • Franziska von Karma is a young woman with an absolutely vile temper, a tendency to Whip It Good at the slightest provocation, and a fixation on perfection, but a terrific soft spot for the painfully codependent Adrian Andrews, who she eventually helps train into being able to stand on her own two feet. She finally cracks at the end of Justice For All and bursts into tears at a display of affection from Miles Edgeworth, her unrelated and older 'little brother'. By Trials and Tribulations she's acting hostile more out of habit than anything else, and shows a soft side around children, being genuinely heartbroken when little Pearl Fey yells at her and calls her out. Phoenix even thinks to himself that her outright hostility is what makes her "cute."
      • Granted, he also notes that he might be thinking that due to having a fever of 102.2, but that doesn't change the fact that the thought is true; that is one of Franziska's charms.
    • Franziska also follows Phoenix for the investigation and gets pissed at Godot when he refuses to help Nick with evidence.
    • Ema Skye in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney qualifies as a tsundere. She's nearly always in a foul mood, said mood gauged through her incessant munching on snackoos, and the harder she chews the more angry she is until she'll outright throw snacks at you. Offer to help her do something scientific, however, and her sweet side shows up.
    • Yumihiko Ichiyanagi in Ace Attorney Investigations is this combined with Small Name, Big Ego. He's prone to being a dick and giving tactless statements whenever he's around Edgeworth. Of course, his tsundere nature actually works against him most of the time as the people around him deem him an idiot and often tell him to shut up. And as the game goes on, his tsundere nature is shattered because of his father. Of course, after Edgeworth gets Yumihiko out of his Heroic BSOD, he starts acting deredere toward Edgeworth after that.
  • Gen-san is the only real tsundere in Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!, as lampshaded by others in the family. He manages to invoke I Was Just Passing Through pretty much every time he "happens" to lend a hand. The only girl on the heroine side who comes even remotely close is Chris, and even she starts dere-ing it up rather quickly. This may, however, change in the sequel, with the advent of Fushikawa's storyline.

Usually deredere ("Type B")

  • Clover from Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a non-romantic version. She's normally very friendly and sweet until someone tries her patience, then she very quickly turns rude and condescending.
  • Shiki Tohno of Tsukihime - an unusual example in that he's a male and the games' protagonist. In most of the routes he's a classic example of Nice Guy—cordial and well-mannered towards his love interest and just about anyone he meets - except for the closest-to-canon Arcueid route. There, he spends a large amount of time with Arcueid verbally insulting her, bringing up the fact that she's a vampire and not human, and complaining that he doesn't understand how her brain works. Arcueid being Arcueid, she doesn't mind.

Shiki: I'm basically nice to everyone. Well, recently there's been an exception to that.
Arcueid: Ahaha, that's me!

    • He acts like this towards his friend Arihiko as well—not in a romantic sense, despite their occasional moments of slight Ho Yay—he says that he has "loads of sympathy for anyone but him" and generally they spend most of their time together not getting along and very badly so, but they're quite obviously very close and good friends in spite of that.
  • Marie Miwa from Ace Attorney Investigations 2. A prison warden who makes a habit of hugging everyone she meets, and treats the inmates as one big happy family. An animal lover who strongly believes 'animal therapy' will lead prisoners to reform. She is, however, a lot more dedicated to her job that one might think, and is pretty harsh with the guards when she finds out one of the inmates has escaped. This especially shows when Edgeworth finally confronts her at the end of the case. Unlike most other killers in the series (especially the one from the previous case) she doesn't make much of an effort to argue back... until Edgeworth REALLY pushes her, and then she proceeds to turn his entire argument on its head with one sentence.

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