ダンデレ[dandere]

April 15, 2008 at 6:21 am (doujin(同人), otaku word)

 This -dere thing never ends…What is coming this time??

 Umm, I don’t think this is very different from クーデレ[coo-dere]. To get to the point, ダンデレ is an abbreviation of だんまりデレデレ[danmari deredere]. だんまり[danmari] means to be calm or to shut one’s mouth up all the time. And デレデレ means, you know, such a sweet attitude. She doesn’t speak at all mostly, but when there’s no one else but you two, she would be sweet to you. In other words, she would be in deredere-mode. I am not sure why this term had to be born. Now that there’s this term, it has to be different from クーデレ…What’s that?

 Coo-dere girls have to be cool. Does カッコいい[kakkoii] come first when you hear “cool” in English? At any rate, I assume she has to show her something special side, far from other common girls. Look at Kawasumi Mai in Kanon. She is actually a demon slayer, so she can fight with a sword. Next look at Ayanami Rei, she can pilot the first Eva, in other words, Chosen One. Nagato Yuki in The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi is actually an alien, and she can protect Kyon.

 However, だんまり[danmari] doesn’t sound so cool if you ask me. She just shuts her mouth and show her dere-side when she is near you. Maybe ダンデレ is much easier to become than クーデレ if you want to turn someone you like on. Having said that, those mentioned girls could count as a ダンデレ because they don’t speak at all.

 Umm, I can’t think of a good example. Such a common girl without any special skills doesn’t speak at ll…Ah, what if she is too shy to speak to him in front of everybody else? And what if she starts to show dere-side when she is near you? In that case, I can think of Kiyoura Setsuna in School Days. Yeah! She is not so special, but doesn’t speak at all…and she even kisses Makoto while he is sleeping. Okay, she is labelled as a ダンデレ.