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Sorry this is so late, but better late than later, right.....? (x2.... I posted this message last week too.)
This is a weekly series posted every Tuesday (sorta) to discuss the terms anime fans use today.
Today we have 'The Dere Episode'!
Tsundere
Taken from TV Tropes
The term was originally used to describe characters who began with a harsh outgoing personality, but slowly revealed a soft and vulnerable interior over time. Over the years the character archetype has become flanderized, and is now generically associated with a character who flips between the two emotional states at the slightest provocation, and usually at a specific person rather than a general sociability problem.
Example: Asuka Langley Soryu from Evangelion
Kuudere
Taken from TV Tropes
The term was originally used to describe characters who began with a harsh outgoing personality, but slowly revealed a soft and vulnerable interior over time. Over the years the character archetype has become flanderized, and is now generically associated with a character who flips between the two emotional states at the slightest provocation, and usually at a specific person rather than a general sociability problem. [..] Cold on the outside... sweet on the inside.
Example: Rei Ayanami from Evangelion
Yandere
Taken from TV Tropes
The word "yandere", a term that blossomed in moe fandom, refers to a character who is crazy about someone else...often literally and violently. [...] The character almost always appears perfectly cute and harmless on the surface... but underneath they may be obsessive, controlling, and sometimes just plain insane. Woe to anyone who happens to be the object of their often genuine affection. Even more pity should be saved for anyone who gets in the way — the psycho-obsessive is amazingly unwilling to put up with any rivals (but the rivals had it coming).
Example: Yuuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki.
Questions
Please note, you can use any type of 'dere' if you know them, but for simplicity's sake I only included the most popular 3.
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Are these descriptors/character tropes overused?
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Do they stick characters into a 'box' of non-unique traits or do they provide a good initial framework?
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Do these/ Can these character tropes apply to people in real life?
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Which of these tropes do you like, which do you dislike, and why?
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[–] TacoScrambler 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
I'd say dere characters fall under the same blanket a lot of anime tropes do. Only as good as the writing and execution. There's nothing inherently wrong with a character who is tsundere or kuudere, it only becomes an issue when it is their only defining personality trait. Your examples from Evangelion are fine because they are relevant to the characters themselves, with actual inner turmoil and plot reasons as to why they would behave this way.
It's only really annoying when it's clearly "the tsundere girl" for the purposes of appealing to otaku. A lot of poorly written harems get this way and a lot of decent shows can forget to expand on a character. That said I'm also growing thin on parody tsundere characters. Grisaia was fine with Michiru using a guideline to try to be tsundere, but other anime that try this end up just making it even more shallow than the actual tsundere.
Kuudere is probably a lot more acceptable because it's less grating and usually has a lot of ways to handle it. There is so much variety from the typical "Rei clone" characters to "uncaring but super dere sometimes" to "depressed girl working out her emotions".
Yandere I'm mixed on. I haven't seen a lot of examples of it being done differently. It seems most of the time they fall into the exact same personality, unless it's only slightly Yandere like for example Ayase from OreImo, which was also slightly parody. Those are more appealing, where they seem like they can snap but it only seems like a fun fan theory that they will.
Overall most character driven shows I enjoy end up having characters that could only vaguely be labeled with an easy trope, so maybe it's more subconsciously grating than I believe.