Imagine a person who is so in love with you that they can manipulate, bruise, and even kill people… for you. But they weren’t psychopaths since the start – it’s their love for you that makes them controlling, obsessive, and batshit crazy. If this happens in real life, that person will have cuffs slapped on their wrist the moment they act dangerous. But when it happens in books? Well, that’s called Yandere romance.
This romance is one of the many Dere types, a Japanese concept that describes different character archetypes of people acting around their love interest. As readers have started preferring dark romance over fluffy stories, it’s easy to spot yandere elements in protagonists.
What Is the Yandere Archetype?
Yandere is a combination of words, yanderu and deredere, meaning ‘mentally ill’ and ‘lovestruck’ respectively. The concept came to life in 2005 through School Days, an erotic visual novel game. One of the main characters, Kotonoha, was presented as a smart, but shy and gentle girl. However, her personality takes a 180-degree turn when she falls in love with the hero, Makoto. Her turning berserk to win his love got her the crown of yandere queen.
Yandere originally referred primarily to female characters but has now started including heroes as well, though sparsely.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the personality traits of yandere. A character is not necessarily yandere if they already have a pathological personality of dangerous tendencies right from the start. In fact, yandere are those characters who change for the worse because of their love.
It mostly pans out like this – a person starts off as kind, cheerful and even timid to their crush. However, as they gradually fall in love, their jealousy, insecurities, and loneliness rear up their ugly heads. Instead of dealing with them rationally, they let these feelings distort their view of reality. The yandere character goes to any lengths to protect their love. This could include stalking and kidnapping their love, threatening the partner’s friends and family, and even killing the supposed rivals.
These actions don’t stem from malicious intent, but from the desperation of holding onto the person yandere character loves. It’s a mental sickness they get because they’ve too much love for their object of affection.
Why Is the Yandere Trope So Popular in Romance?
Ask any manga and anime fans and they will tell you how good yandere romance is. However, when you look at the concept, it seems unnerving, because who would want a psychotic lover in real life? A yandere for a partner would just make someone stay with them out of fear, more than anything else. So why is the idea of yandere so popular?
The most obvious reason lies in the archetype’s unique structure itself. The idea of someone loving you so much that it drives them insane shows that you’re truly loved. While the manipulative and sometimes, gory actions that follow might be a scooch off-putting. But those become easy to ignore when the yandere showers you with love no one would ever experience. Bonus points if the character had a rough life, with no one to love them, like Happy Sugar Life’s Satou.
Another reason people love yandere romance is escapism. While it is applicable to all fiction genres, this archetype takes it one level above. Through the love interest, you get to fulfil the fantasy of unconditional love and what total dedication looks like. Whereas the yandere lets you explore intense feelings of jealousy and possessiveness without any consequences. The suspense, danger, and actual violence that follows this adds a thrilling layer to the already unpredictable romance.
Moreover, if you think about it, yandere has some elements of the makeover trope – but personality-wise. As yandere is not someone who is psychotic since the start, readers see their transformation in real-time. The author lays down unbelievable yet logical reasons why the character couldn’t handle their feelings. This progressive downfall to insanity feels oddly vulnerable, and consequently, makes it really easy to sympathise with them.
A prime example is Yuno Gasai from the series Future Diary. She grew up in an extremely abusive home, with no one but Yukiteru as her friend. A joke about her becoming his wife made Yuno latch on to Yukiteru. Or more accurately, the love, safety and stability he represented. In Yuno’s eyes, the only way to gain his attention, to win his love is… to stalk him. And thus, her descent into adopting yandere personality begins.
Lastly, people have started leaning more towards reading dark romances, filled with grey characters, trigger warnings, and toxic relationships. Well, yandere characters can fit in such stories like puzzle pieces, as they provide tons of tension and excitement. Moreover, even with their craziness, they’re always presented in a positive light, i.e. they’re protagonists. If yandere are seen how they would be perceived in real life – basically, putting them in the villain’s place – readers will hate on them right away. They offer the perfect balance of love and dark bloodlust – making them an enjoyable read.
Types of Yandere Characters
Even if yanderes have defining characteristics – jealousy, possessiveness, and calculating – but they express their love in different ways. Their way of showing love to their object of affection divides them into different types, namely:
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Submissive
For submissive yandere, their love can do no wrong. So, they devote themselves completely to their love, doing everything they tell without batting an eye. If that means making someone’s blood flow… well, they have rose-coloured glasses on for a reason.
Take Misa Amane from Death Note as an example. She idolises Light, has complete faith in his actions, and is willing to sacrifice even herself for him. However, when Light hints that he’ll date other girls, her yandere side comes out as she promises she’ll kill them all.
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Isolating
The isolating type creates situations where their love interest will have to be around them, even relying on them. This way, the yandere ensures that they’re cut off from their loved ones who could divert their attention away. The dynamics here almost function like Stockholm syndrome, but no one is kidnapped… yet.
Yukako Yamagishi from Part 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is obsessively and violently in love with Koichi Hirose. To make him focus only on her and reciprocate her feelings, she kidnaps him and tries to mould him into the perfect boyfriend. While they sort their stuff out, she frequently uses her lethal power on anyone who threatens her relationship with Koichi.
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Eliminating
This classic yandere type will harm – and even kill – people if they so much as get close to their love interest. They practically ‘eliminate’ all the competition to keep their relationship with their object of affection ‘safe’ and intact. The eliminating yandere have inadvertently become the face of this archetype – cute smile on a bloodied face and a knife in their hands.
In Higurashi When They Cry, Shion Sonozaki had a single-minded affection for Satoshi. However, when he’s demoned away, she goes berserk. She blames Satoko, his brother for his disappearance and even attacks her twin sister under the belief that she made Satoshi demon away. Moreover, she starts murdering people who she suspects to be responsible for his disappearance.
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Delusional
While the other yanderes could know their love interest might not love them back, this type believes otherwise. Delusional yandere will twist their words and actions to make it seem like their feelings are reciprocated. This could lead to their beloved loving them back out of fear or helplessness.
For instance, when Heroine loses all her memories in Amnesia, Toma pretends to be her boyfriend because he loves her. When she expresses how Ukyo frightened her, Toma decides to make her stay with him. And so, he laces her food with sleeping drugs and cages her. This way, he can keep her ‘safe’ while also making her ‘realise’ that she loves him back.
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Manipulative
Manipulative yanderes are the sneakiest ones, using mind games, emotional blackmail and other psychological tactics to achieve their goal – their love interest. With them, the violence takes sort of a backseat while manipulation colours their every word and action.
An apt example of manipulative yandere is Bell from Sweetest Monster. She stalks her love interest to understand his personality, family life, and his daily routine before she approaches him. Through her undivided attention and subtle seduction, she manages to pose herself as an exciting change to his mundane life. However, as he falls for Bell, she shows her true colours, threatening to destroy him if he leaves her.
Final Words
Known for their devotion and destruction, yanderes are some of the most complex characters you’d find in romance. In fact, they symbolize the beauty and horror of when love is taken to the extremes. They constantly challenge the boundaries of love and obsession, displaying how easy it is to cross the lines people in love are afraid to step out of. While yanderes are not everyone’s cup of tea, one can’t deny the lasting impression their unsettling personality leaves on readers’ minds.
