Dandere

"Dandere" is a term for a character who is silent and expressionless most of the time, but will suddenly become cute, talkative, and deredere when they are alone with their love interest. They are very quiet and will usually keep to themselves and not go out of their way to talk with others. When others try to be talk to them first they will either respond very quietly or not respond at all. They are not great at expressing their emotions so they can come off as emotionless at times, however, when they are alone with their love interest they will suddenly start to become sweet and talkative. Being with their love interest will help pull this more loving and emotional side out of them and after this point they will start to show their cute and affectionate doting side towards their love interest.
== Etymology ==
=== Meaning of the Term ===
Dandere (ダンデレ) is a combination of "danmari" (ダンマリ), meaning "to remain silent (not speaking or making noise)", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck". The term "danmari" refers to someone who is uncommunicative and no matter what asked is asked to them will usually keep silent and not answer.
Official media has described dandere as a heroine type for "a girl who is usually silent and expressionless (a lack of facial expression or a person who does not show emotion through their facial expressions)". They are someone who does not convey their feelings through speech or facial expressions, but over time grows to show more expression through their love.
=== Origin ===
The exact origin of the term "dandere" is unclear but it appears to have originated in the Western anime community in April 2008, before then spreading to the Japanese community later that same year in October.
The first (and currently only) known use in an official media comes from the 2018 fantasy romance light novel Succubus☆Note! . The series was originally published as an amateur web novel but later received an official light novel, manga, and anime PV release. In the fourth volume of the web novel, the main characters from the series discuss the different dere types that each of them are, with the character Ritsuka Yukihira being labeled as a dandere by her friends. Ritsuka herself was described as "a quiet, good-student girl who is poor at expressing her emotions" in her official character bio.
The series also referred to dandere as "the last of the four great dere", referring to its status as one of the most popular dere types.
=== Other Meanings ===
Since the term "dandere" (ダンデレ) is not widely used in Japanese, many alternate meanings have also came into existence that have the same spelling.
The 2021 fantasy romance manga series Danjon ni Hisomu Yandere na Kanojo ni Ore wa Nando mo Korosareru is officially abbreviated as Dandere . This "dandere" is a combination of the word "danjon" (ダンジョン), meaning "dungeon", and "yandere" (ヤンデレ), meaning "a character whose love, admiration, and devotion is so strong that it is expressed as an excessive obsession". In this series, the main protagonist is stuck in a dungeon with a yandere character.
The all-female J-pop band Dancing Cinderella formed in 2021 is more commonly known by their abbreviated name Dandere .
== History ==
=== Japanese Usage ===
Usage of dandere later spread to the Japanese side of the internet with the earliest known usage being found on NicoNico in October 2008. When the entry for dandere was first posted it was mistakenly added as the combination of "dandii" (だんでぃ), meaning "dandy" or "a man unduly devoted to style, neatness, and fashion in dress and appearance", and "deredere" (デレデレ). However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of this definition actually being used and the correct definition was also added later that same day. However, that hasn't stopped it from showing up in Western articles as an alternate meaning, referring to a man who is normally cool but does something unexpectedly cute.
However, while the term "dandere" is extremely popular in the Western community and is considered one of the main dere types, it is very rare and is considered a minor dere type in Japan. It can occasionally be seen on Japanese social media, but the term has only been used once in official Japanese media and this was not until 10 years later in 2018. The term "ダンデレ" only has ~200 search results from Japanese websites on Google (with many of them being about "dandere" homonyms and not this dere type) while the English term "dandere" has over 2,500,000 search results. This can be further seen with Japanese websites citing English sources when researching what "ダンデレ" means.
== Personality ==
Dandere characters are silent and expressionless (dan) most of the time, but will suddenly become cute, talkative, and affectionate (deredere) when they are alone with their love interest.
=== Dan Period ===
Dandere characters appear silent and expressionless most of the time. They will usually not go out of their way to talk to anybody else so they are by themselves most of the time. Even if somebody else tries to talk to them first, they will either respond very quietly or possibly even not respond at all and just remain silent.
The reason that that dandere characters appear expressionless is because they are not good at expressing their emotions. So because of this they remain very quiet most of the time and can come across as emotionless. This is often because they are shy, but this is not necessarily always the case and they may have other reasons for behaving this way. They may have low confidence and not want to exert themselves, they may have autism and have difficulty showing their emotions, they may have taken a vow of silence, or they may simply just have a naturally quiet and reserved personality.
They may choose to focus on their studies since they aren't distracted talking with other people and can often be found reading books.
=== Dere-kake Period ===
After they become close to their love interest they will start to open up and become more sweet and talkative when it's just the two of them alone together. Most often the only person they feel truly comfortable talking with is their love interest because they feel close to them, even if they still don't reveal their intimate feelings for them. They will generally talk in a very quiet and soft-spoken manner. They may also just remain completely silent and just carefully listen to their love interest talk at first, but as the two continue to become closer they will talk more and they will start putting more emotion into their words and facial expressions.
However, they may even not respond to their love interest if they try talking to them in public at first, but they will make an effort to at least say "hi" and over time the small talk in public will increase. This can lead to a huge amount of satisfaction when the dandere finally starts to show more emotion, which can also make their love interest very happy.
=== Dere Period ===
After enough time of being around their love interest, they will learn to express their emotions and become a lot more talkative and affectionate even in public. They will also usually have a lot more friends that they never would have been able to make had they not met their love interest who changed them for the better.
Eventually they will work up the courage to confess their love, which leads to a huge amount of satisfaction towards the character. Following this point they will start to show their affectionate and lovey-dovey deredere side and be more intimate and emotional with their love interest.
== Differences From Other Archetypes ==
Dandere is considered to be a closely related archetype or variation of kuudere due to both types appearing as quiet and expressionless on the surface, however, the main difference mostly comes down to their 'reason' for acting that way and how they treat others. Kuudere characters are quiet and expressionless by choice because they are very cool and confident and intentionally keep their emotions in check, whereas dandere characters are quiet and expressionless because they are simply not good at showing their emotions in the first place. Kuudere characters are also very uninterested and uncaring of others at first and choose to keep others at a distance, while dandere characters typically want to talk with others but they just can't because they are not good at communicating. When spoken to, a kuudere character is likely to make some blunt sharp-tongued comment and hurt the other person's feelings because of their overly honest nature, while a dandere character would either just not respond at all and remain in complete silence or very quietly and softly reply. A kuudere is not afraid to tell others when they want to be left alone, while a dandere does not have the confidence to do so nor do they want to be cold to others. Another key difference is that even if both types are expressionless, a kuudere character will have a cold and unapproachable aura around them to keep others away, while a dandere character will have almost no presence and just blend into the crowd. Simply put, kuudere is a deliberate and forced attitude to keep a wall between themself and others, while dandere is just genuinely how the character is. A kuudere character can easily become expressive if they chose to let down their guard, while a dandere might struggle with expressing themselves even in a place they feel comfortable. So with all of this in mind, dandere could be described as a "silent and friendly" version of kuudere. It is also worth noting that neither archetype are for "emotionless characters", which can be considered its own separate unrelated archetype.
Hajidere characters can also be seen as similar to dandere characters since they also struggle with communicating, but they are far more shy and introverted. The biggest difference is how they appear on the outside. A dandere character will be silent and expressionless, not responding most of the time when people talk to them or showing their emotions which is why they are often confused for kuudere characters, whereas in comparison hajidere characters can be seen visibly blushing from their embarrassment and becoming nervous. When they are not feeling shy, a hajidere character generally has a positive and happy look on their face in comparison to the stoic nature of a dandere character. A hajidere character is likely to stutter when talking to others, while a dandere character would either not speak at all or speak quietly. A dandere character also generally has no issue speaking to their love interest when they're alone together, while a hajidere might faint from embarrassment.
== Similar Japanese Archetypes ==
* Kuudere: A term for a character who appears expressionless and unapproachable at first glance, but becomes cute, loving, and deredere around their love interest.
* Hajidere: A term for a character who is normally very shy and too embarrassed to talk to their love interest, but eventually becomes deredere for them. 
* Meganekko: A term for a cute and sweet female character who wears glasses.
== List of Characters ==
See Dandere/Japanese Characters to see characters from Japanese media.
See Dandere/Non-Japanese Characters to see characters from non-Japanese media.
== Gallery ==
Dandere Gallery.png|link=Dandere/Gallery
Misha Necron from The Misfit of Demon King Academy dan 1.jpg|Misha Necron from The Misfit of Demon King Academy
Mashiro Shiina from The Pet Girl of Sakurasou dan 5.jpg|Mashiro Shiina from Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Shouko Komi from Komi Can't Communicate 1.jpg|Shouko Komi from Komi-san wa, Komyushou desu.
Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya dan 11.jpg|Yuki Nagato with Haruhi Suzumiya and Mikuru Asahina from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
Akira Oono from Hi Score Girl dan 2.png|Akira Oono from Hi Score Girl
Miku Nakano from The Quintessential Quintuplets dan 8.jpg|Miku Nakano from 5-Toubun no Hana tome
== References ==
Category:Western Archetypes
Category:Distant
Category:Shy
Category:Kind