Does the Tsundere personality exist in the real world?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by BaKaBaKaOtaKu

really???? hmmm...i'm just having a problem believing that. tell me about what she does that made you think she's an anime-like tsundere. I'll listen.

You know.. this thread isn't *that* long not to have read a page or two back or even the whole thread to follow the conversation ...

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...29#post3663029

She is almost a dead ringer personality-wise to the Lucky*Star Kagami type of tsundere. As you can see from the pics, she's also "loli-sized" (149cm, 43kg).

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Vexx

You know.. this thread isn't *that* long not to have read a page or two back or even the whole thread to follow the conversation ...

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...29#post3663029

She is almost a dead ringer personality-wise to the Lucky*Star Kagami type of tsundere. As you can see from the pics, she's also "loli-sized" (149cm, 43kg).

Seems more like Komori Kiri to me.

[Vexx]

Heh... I will admit that the pic is of her on her "couch of decompression" after she comes home from a day of NOT killing people who need it.

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

Originally Posted by Vexx

You know.. this thread isn't *that* long not to have read a page or two back or even the whole thread to follow the conversation ...

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...29#post3663029

She is almost a dead ringer personality-wise to the Lucky*Star Kagami type of tsundere. As you can see from the pics, she's also "loli-sized" (149cm, 43kg).

=D i didn't read earlier post so didn't see that. Hmmm..She's not an extreme tsundere I say. she's in the B or C type. anyway, your wife seems like a japanese. LOL. I have a wife too. Her name's Namie. NAMIE Amuro. LOL. JK. just dreaming..

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by BaKaBaKaOtaKu

=D i didn't read earlier post so didn't see that. Hmmm..She's not an extreme tsundere I say. she's in the B or C type. anyway, your wife seems like a japanese. LOL. I have a wife too. Her name's Namie. NAMIE Amuro. LOL. JK. just dreaming..

Well, no... An "extreme tsundere" is the cartoon hyperbolic version of what a real life tsundere would be. And yes, she's japanese. Walks around with a cloud of skulls, lightning bolts, and candy canes hovering over her head.

Seriously, much of my amusement with characters like Taiga (Toradora), Kagami (LuckyStar), Zakuro (Otome Youkai Zakuro), Motoko (Love Hina), and others comes from the "recognition shock" factor.

Including tsundere, all character archetypes are very simplified versions of real life personalities - its the nature of storytelling.

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Well, no... An "extreme tsundere" is the cartoon hyperbolic version of what a real life tsundere would be. And yes, she's japanese. Walks around with a cloud of skulls, lightning bolts, and candy canes hovering over her head.

Including tsundere, all character archetypes are very simplified versions of real life personalities - its the nature of storytelling.

hmm. How anime portrays these archtypes doesn't exist. that's how i see it.
0__0 not to sound anything rude, but she seems to be really eccentric?? eh?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by BaKaBaKaOtaKu

hmm. How anime portrays these archtypes doesn't exist. that's how i see it.
0__0 not to sound anything rude, but she seems to be really eccentric?? eh?

Its like saying someone you know is "perky" ... they're really a lot more complicated but if they were being represented in a cartoon or tv show --- their personality would be compressed to just "perky", a shorthand sketch of the person.

Yeah, I'd have to say she's somewhat eccentric (like I am).

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Its like saying someone you know is "perky" ... they're really a lot more complicated but if they were being represented in a cartoon or tv show --- their personality would be compressed to just "perky", a shorthand sketch of the person.

Yeah, I'd have to say she's somewhat eccentric (like I am).

they don't have two faces or more. human personalities are complex. sometimes you're like this and then the moment after that you're like that. And then suddenly you're a bit different again. you know what i mean? uggh. i can't explain.

LOL. what makes you eccentric then?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by BaKaBaKaOtaKu

they don't have two faces or more. human personalities are complex. sometimes you're like this and then the moment after that you're like that. And then suddenly you're a bit different again. you know what i mean? uggh. i can't explain.

You're sort of saying what I'm saying - real people are more complex. But they have *highlights* to their personality. A shorthand sketch of them would only include those highlights - that's what an anime, or a manga --- or a film, book, play does. It reduces a complex personality to its highlights so that the time to tell the story is manageable. Its up to you to fill in the details that makes them seem alive. A tsundere (crunchy outside, creamy inside ... or "shields up ---> "shields down") personality is a rough sketch of a real life personality.

If one is being utterly rigid about it, then any written description of a real person is false because it "doesn't exist in the real world". If I call wife a "tsundere", it means that her usual personality is "rawr rawr growl" but she can also "dere dere" when its just me. Seriously, if you've watched LuckyStar's Kagami over the life of the series you've pretty much met my wife - school habits, sarcasm, flaming rawr, sweet when she doesn't think anyone is watching... even the ponytail or twintails. Her cousin is a friend of mine and he was astounded when we started dating because all he ever saw was her "tsun" mode (him: "Are you out of your mind?")

LOL. what makes you eccentric then?

I'm here on this forum, aren't I?

Frankly, I'm unusual by the standards of my age peers. Yeah, I fit in with "NASA people", "Internet tech ops", "medieval re-enactments (SCA)", "gamerz", and anime/manga folk - all considered eccentric by the mainstream. I'm a walking wiki of Monty Python, HHGTTG, and sci-fi movie quotes. My sons and I built a trebuchet on our property when they were teens. My office is full of anime figurines, manga, and anime amongst the programming, physics/math references, and engineering books. This is... unusual to say the least.
Frankly, I've always been way outside the "normal" spectrum and now even more so because its quite rare to find someone my age with that resume (even in the US).

My wife sounds more "normal" (pharmacist, knitter, etc) til you see what she knits. Among the usual blankets and stuff are baby hats that look like a large alien fish chomping on the baby's head; cthulhu plushies, "Whoville" baby hats, baby clothes with perky goth motifs, and recently she's been researching "Jane hats" (a hat worn by a character on the sci-fi series Firefly that his mother sent him). Her daily attire usually includes skull motifs, eyeball earrings, and other bits of gothy lolita she can get away with in the office.

[Morisato]

I've seen it in real-life TV dramas... but I don't think it's possible for this personality to exist in real life.

Generally it goes that the male and female are at odds to each other and they eventually fall in love. At that point, they should lose the tsuntsun part (for the most part...).

[Kaoru Chujo]

I think tsundere may be more an East Asian personality type. A Chinese relative of mine (who herself is both fey and tsundere) told her son that you know a girl likes you when she ignores you totally. He married a woman who is constantly sniping at him. They are deeply in love.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I think tsundere may be more an East Asian personality type. A Chinese relative of mine (who herself is both fey and tsundere) told her son that you know a girl likes you when she ignores you totally. He married a woman who is constantly sniping at him. They are deeply in love.

It was a popular type in 50s/60s American romantic comedies and in Jerry Lewis's classic "root of all harem comedies" The Ladies Man (which even included the "strange gothy girl" character) released in 1961.

However, I've rarely seen it implemented in film in any pure sense since the late 60s. And yeah, I'll admit I've hardly ever really seen a non-asian example of a 'real life' tsundere.

[HasuMasu]

^ I've seen a non-asian one before (okay, she was half-asian) and I have to admit it isn't the same, it's like the difference between Shana-like and Hitagi-like.

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I thought about starting a new thread... but this will suffice. I have a relationship with a real life small loli-ish tsundere. She's uttered every one of these lines to me, several too many times to count:

Nonetheless, we've been married now for, um... 32 years this summer, clouds of lightning and skulls and all.
(1. sticking her tongue out, 2. cursing at her laptop)

Granted, most of the forum is pretty young... but I'm interested in hearing from anyone who is also attached to such a person.

Did you bear children for this woman? Are your children tsundere as well?

Again, tsunderes in real life are fucking bitches. Unless they have a lot of dere or some other personality traits to positively balance it (since real people have more than 2D).

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Komari

Did you bear children for this woman? Are your children tsundere as well?

Again, tsunderes in real life are fucking bitches. Unless they have a lot of dere or some other personality traits to positively balance it (since real people have more than 2D).

I'm not sure how to respond to this one since:
1) I'm male. Females bear children. Why would my children be 'tsundere'? No sense being made.
2) Thanks for insulting my wife and calling her names? O.o'

Its called "tsundere" because there's "tsun" and there's "dere" ... you seem to be confusing it with "tsuntsun"?
Was your intent to piss me off?

[Hooves]

I assume Komari is taking the fact that your wife is a tsundere. That it will pass on to your kids as well? The question confuses me as well..

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'm not sure how to respond to this one since:
1) I'm male. Females bear children. Why would my children be 'tsundere'? No sense being made.
2) Thanks for insulting my wife and calling her names? O.o'

Its called "tsundere" because there's "tsun" and there's "dere" ... you seem to be confusing it with "tsuntsun"?
Was your intent to piss me off?

I didn't mean to insult her, I was talking in general, mainly about the "tsundere" people I know. Sorry for that.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Komari

I didn't mean to insult her, I was talking in general, mainly about the "tsundere" people I know. Sorry for that.

Understood. That's why I was tentative, because the post was confusing enough that I thought it might have just been a grammar/composition ambiguity. The "f'ing bitches" you refer to in real life, I probably wouldn't characterize as 'tsundere'.

They *wouldn't* have any redeeming features or soft-sides. They'd be, at best, tsun-tsun but I'd class them as characters for which there aren't any ready names - tsundere are classically 'tsun' in reaction to emotions they're trying to deny or when they're feeling righteous about some possible 'wrong" (e.g. "I wasn't doing this to be nice!" or "How dare you see me naked!").

To me, at least, tsundere are "crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside" -- the fact they have redeeming 'secret sides' is what makes them interesting.

[NoemiChan]

I can't say if they do really exist, we might misunderstood a person for being a tsundere because she acts negative about us then acts good in some instances.

They might not be in a good mood when you bumped unto them or they just hate you.

I got a staff mate who acts like a tsudere...... nah, she just probably hates me, but who cares, I don't hate her. It's her problem, wuhuhu!

[Yolks]

I personally think tsunderes do exist out in ye yonder. I think the anime portrayal does sometime simplify it to an extent, but I think often times anime does misconstrue certain tsundere tendencies and ends up creating characters which seem unrealistic.

The amount of anime I have seen is relatively limited compared to a lot of the members on this forum so I might sound presumptuous. I think a lot of popular derisive tsunderes which tend to be "bitchy" have tsun and dere qualities but not tsundere qualities. Usually you end up with a schizophrenic bipolar character with a split personality on the side. The qualities are split like water and oil. And I think a lot of people that hate on those tsun/deres do so because of the fact that the characters seem two-faced rather than multi-faceted. And it is kind of annoying plot-wise, as often any progress with a tsun/dere in a relationship is reset if you get to the tsun side or it becomes easy cheese if you are on the dere side. So more or less you end up with having to deal with two different characters who can switch places on the fly. The only example I can think of at the moment would be Louise from The Familiar of Zero. In real life this would be completely unrealistic or at least suicidal if you had to deal with someone like that.

But! I do think tsunderes exist. I've met a few myself. They tend to abuse you just for kicks. The ones that like you though tend to be tsun because of an unwillingness to confront either their feelings or your own. Sometimes its out of shyness or in the case of Vexx's wife, a rough persona. Maintaining image seems to be important for a lot of tsunderes and a real life example would be guys that have a stoic, macho front. They never exactly want to express feeling and cover such feelings up with nonchalance. And tsunderes for girls might stem from vulnerability when it comes to trying to open up. So essentially the same aspect for girls and guys. Thing about these kinds of tsunderes is that most of the time they are tsun they also are dere. A lot of their rough actions have an underlying soft side. Vexx's wife would be a really good example of this.

In anime I think Taiga from Toradora is a good example of a realistic tsundere. Her tsun qualities stem from complexes/insecurites and although she is dere to Ryuji, she still maintains that spunk from her tsun side even to the very last episode. She never leaves being tsun for dere, because for her they are one in the same. Personally I guess I have a thing for tsunderes as characters, they just seem so fun and they always add a comic dimension to a lot of characters. I've liked Eri from School Rumble and Haruhi from the Suzumiya series. Those tend to be mainly for the comical aspect, but nonetheless likable for me at least. But if you want the BEST example of a tsundere that I've seen, in both realism and likability it would have to be Makise Kurisu from Steins;Gate. For those that feel that tsunderes don't exist, after seeing Kurisu you might be more inclined to find that there are people like that. She is probably my favorite tsundere. Her tsun side is comical yet stems from a realistic cause, and her dere side just makes her tsun side seem all the more endearing. And anyone who has watched Hey Arnold!, Helga is the western equivalent to the tsundere.