is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

term for a character who appears to not have emotions. They are often stoic and expressionless, and they remain calm in stressful situations. In contrast to and characters, whose archetypes revolve around change in their behavior, kuudere characters often keep the same core traits throughout a narrative. Other characters traits include being aloof, being level-headed, and serving as the voice of reason during conflict. The word is derived from the words and . The term refers to one of four popular Japanese character types, the others being

tsundere is a Culture of Japan, Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with an initially harsh personality who gradually reveals a warmer, friendlier side over time. The word is derived from the terms (adverb, 'mo ...

yandere The following is a glossary of terms that are specific to anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes graphic novels, drawings and related artwork. ''Note: Japanese words that are used in general ( ...

, and dandere.

Rei Ayanami is a fictional character from the ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' franchise created by Gainax. In the anime series of the same name, Rei is an introverted girl chosen as the enigmatic pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 00. At the begi ...

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko Production, and directed by Hideaki Anno. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from October 1995 to March 1 ...

is thought to have played a major role in the popularization of kuudere.

Relation to tsundere

In his 2008 paper on the tsundere character archetype, Professor Junichi Togashi of

Daito Bunka University is a private university with two campuses: one at Itabashi in Tokyo and the other at Higashi Matsuyama in Saitama, Japan. The university is known for its sports program, which is renowned in rugby and distance running, with the Ekiden team c ...

mentioned that tsundere characters who do not use standard tsundere expressions could be classified as kuudere. In the book "Basic Knowledge of Modern Terminology 2007", it is stated that sunao kuuru (素直クール) ('honest cool') can be thought of as the opposite of

. The term is used to refer to characters who casually mention strange topics in a calm and irreverent manner, causing embarrassment to the listener. This term has since been used to refer to both kuudere and tsundere characters.

Examples in media

from ''

'' * C.C. from ''

Code Geass , often referred to as ''Code Geass'', is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise. It was directed by Gorō Taniguchi and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by Clamp. Set in an ...

'' * Helena Cassadine from

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

* Rui Tachibana from

Domestic Girlfriend is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kei Sasuga. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from April 2014 to June 2020, with its chapters collected in 28 volumes. The manga was published digitally in Engl ...

* Minami Iwasaki from '' Lucky Star'' *

Yuki Nagato This is a list of the characters featured in the '' Haruhi Suzumiya'' franchise, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito, which contains a multitude of other secondary, and minor characters who are introduced throughout the cou ...

from ''

Haruhi Suzumiya is a Japanese light novel series written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito. It was first published in 2003 by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan with the novel ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', and has since been followed ...

'' * Kanade Tachibana from ''

Angel Beats! ''Angel Beats!'' is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anan ...

'' * Akame from ''

Akame ga Kill! is a Japanese manga series written by Takahiro and illustrated by Tetsuya Tashiro. It was serialized in Square Enix's '' Monthly Gangan Joker'' from March 2010 to December 2016, with its chapters collected in 15 volumes. The story focuse ...

'' * Takara Shiga from '' Takara's Treasure'' *

Kyoko Kirigiri is a fictional Character (arts), character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series ''Danganronpa''. She was introduced in the 2010 game ''Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc'' as a high school student and the "Ultimate ??? ...

from

Danganronpa is a Japanese video game franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft (formerly Spike). The series primarily surrounds various groups of apparent high-school students who are forced into murdering each oth ...

Relation to tsundere

Examples in media

See also

References

Further reading