Yandere

"Yandere" is a term for a character who at first is very sweet, loving, innocent, and overly affectionate like a normal deredere, but over time begins exhibiting signs of being mentally sick as a result of having a too strong love. Their love, admiration, and devotion to their love interest is so strong that it causes them to gradually develop an unstable mental state. They are the kind of character who will act all deredere and lovey-dovey when their relationship with their romantic partner is going well, but when something triggers jealousy or possessiveness they act impulsively in a way that makes them seem mentally ill. Their love is expressed as an excessive obsession towards their love interest. They become so attached to their love interest that it's impossible to let go and they may begin doing immoral things such as stalking their love interest or even using violence as a last resort towards anyone who "threatens" their relationship. They entrust themselves to their love interest, trusting in their love interest's kindness. They probe the deepest recesses of their love interest's heart to more perfectly form their greatest self within their love interest.
For the second meaning of yandere for yankii characters who become lovestruck see Yandere (Yankii).
== Etymology ==
=== Meaning of the Term ===
Yandere (ヤンデレ) is a combination of "yanderu" (病んでる), meaning "mentally sick", and "deredere" (デレデレ), a mimetic word for "being lovestruck".
=== Origin ===
The origin of the term yandere is the character Kotonoha Katsura from the 2005 erotic visual novel School Days. The visual novel has grown infamy online due to its shocking turn of events, which lead to Kotonoha becoming known on the Japanese internet as the yandere queen. While Kotonoha starts as an intelligent, gentle, polite, well-educated, and reserved young lady, she starts to reveal a darker and more unstable side after falling in love with Makoto Itou and being emotionally toyed with by him. Whenever she starts to think that Makoto is leaving her, she quickly spirals into tremendous sorrow and desperation that drives her berserk. She falls into a destructive mental state where she will do absolutely anything to get him back, including killing those she believes are stealing Makoto away from her or having sexual relations with him to win him back despite being scared of being touched by the opposite gender caused by her reserved social life.
However, Kotonoha can also completely avoid ever acting crazy if she is treated kindly, not cheated on repeatedly, and toyed with emotionally by Makoto which is driven by player choice. This aspect is something that is often overlooked when people talk about yandere. This is not a state they start with, but a state they slowly become over time after being driven to insanity by their love.
=== Alternate Spelling ===
Yandere is most commonly spelled as "ヤンデレ", using entirely katakana. However, it is also sometimes spelled in Japanese as "病んデレ" using the kanji for "sickness" instead of katakana, but this is significantly less common.
It is also occasionally written as with "dere" written in hiragana instead of katakana.
=== Usage ===
*In 2007, the Ketai Watch moe character creation contest stated: "A yandere is a character in anime, games, etc., who acts all deredere as if they are mentally ill."
*In 2009, Japanese Dictionary stated: "A person with an unhealthy romantic obsession. It refers to a character who is initially sweet and loving, but becomes increasingly unstable or violent as their obsession with someone grows."
*In 2021, the romance advice site Zexy stated: "It is a situation when your feelings for the person you love become too great and your expressions of love get out of control."
*In 2023, the dating advice site GirlsWalker stated: "It means a mental state where one person's feelings for the person they love are so strong that it causes them to become "sick". The word is often used to describe girls who act all deredere when their relationship with their romantic partner is going well, but when something triggers jealousy or possessiveness they act impulsively and hurt the other person."
*In 2023, the dating advice site MyNavi stated: "This term refers to men and woman who are so in love with someone that their mental health becomes unstable."
*In 2024, the Yandere Cafe stated: "This term refers to a person who is so in love with their romantic partner that they become crazily in love and often commit violent acts."
Note: Yandere was originally defined as a "heroine" (female character) with these traits but it has since started being used for male characters as well on occasion, though it is much less common.
=== Misuse ===
As the term "yandere" grew in popularity so too did the misconceptions regarding what the archetype actually entailed. Because it is common for people to show others only the endings of yandere media, which are often very shocking and violent, it has lead to the false impression that the entire yandere genre is only about grotesque scenes, insanity, and bloodshed, when this is actually one of the least important aspects of what makes a yandere character. If you only look at those final scenes it tends to give the impression of being grotesque and aggressive, which makes yandere one of the most easily misunderstood archetypes.
A true yandere character at the start of the series is very kind, cheerful, loving, sweet, and affectionate, and not at all pretending, just as any other deredere character who's in love would behave. They are completely ordinary people, maybe even a bit shy and timid. But over the course of the story they start to face terrible situations and hardships, such as feelings of jealousy, loneliness, or insecurities about their relationship. They will start to struggle with their feelings and the reality in front of them, and as a result only their feelings of love become stronger causing them to become more and more distorted. They gradually start becoming mentally ill and acting eratic and crazy. By the end of the story the character has lost sight of reality so much that they often end up acting in a gruesome way creating what could only be referred to a "bloody ending". But what is important for the yandere genre is not the bloodshed itself, but rather the 'process' behind the final depiction of the character being driven to the brink and breaking down mentally, and the love, conflict, and possesiveness that are so strong they destroy the character. This slow and gradual process can create a lot of sympathy for the character that can make viewers feel sorry for the character and their gradual descent into insanity. Therefore, it does not necessarily have to be bizarre or aggressive and it does not necessarily have to end in knife attacks to be considered yandere. It can also be said that one truly won't understand the appeal of yandere by only watching the final part of the final episode. The appeal of yandere lies rather in the 'process' of becoming sick and the ending that takes place because of this backdrop.
It's for this reason that even if a character has an aggressive or pathological personality, if there are other reasons for this rather than their affection for their love interest (such as trauma, loss, bullying) then it is not considered under the meaning of the term "yandere". There are also those characters whose underlying personality is extremely dangerous to begin with, so being insane does not necessarily mean being a yandere. Because the above misuse has become so widespread, people have started calling characters "yandere" by imitating only the superficial insanity or using the term to refer to any mentally ill character who happens to show affection for another character.
=== Other Meanings ===
:Main article: Yandere (Yankii)
Although the term "yandere" is widely recognized to have the meaning of "yanderu" (sick) + "deredere", there are actually two entirely different dere types that share the name "yandere". This second meaning comes from the 2008-2015 romance comedy manga series Yandere Kanojo released through Square Enix and is instead a combination of "yankii" (delinquent) + "deredere". In this series, rather than being about a girl who is mentally sick it is about a girl who is a yankii delinquent leader who falls in love with guy and starts becoming deredere for him.
Although this second meaning is not well-known in the Western community, it is widely recognized in Japan that yandere has two meanings, with many people even only knowing about the yankii meaning due to the popularity and 8 year run of the Yandere Kanojo manga. While the yandere meaning of "sick dere" was created as far back as 2005 online, the "yankii dere" meaning was actually was used first in an official manga series premiering in 2008. The reason for the double use of the name was likely because the meaning of "sick dere" was still a very niche internet forum term at the time.
== History ==
=== Early Inspirations ===
Although the term "yandere" had not been created yet, the first yandere character in media is widely considered to be Yuna Sasai from the 2000 erotic visual novel Silver . The story follows Yuna Sasai and her younger sister Asana, who inherited a restaurant left behind after the death of their parents. As time passes, Yuna starts to become unhappy as a woman and with all things related to love which causes her to make a wish on a "Silver Thread" entrusted to her by her mother. This wish leads to her suddenly growing in admiration for a young man who comes to the store named Shiro Nabeshima, however, due to the negative power of the "Silver Thread" that can fulfill any wish, Yuna suddenly changes, and the relationship between the sisters heads towards an irreparable end.
=== Rise in Popularity ===
The concept of yandere would increase further following the release of the 2005 anime adaptation of SHUFFLE! with the character of Kaede Fuyou being considered one of the first mainstream yandere characters. Kaede would exhibit violent behavior whenever her childhood friend and love interest, Rin Tsuchimi, blew her off to hang out and get closer to another girl named Asa Shigure. After Asa and Rin returned from their first date, Kaede lost it, slamming Asa against a wall resulting in Asa suffering a heart attack and being hospitalized. Despite her romantic feelings for Rin, however, she considered herself unworthy to be loved by Rin or to stay by Rin's side forcing her to have to come to terms with her feelings.
=== Popularity of Yuno Gasai ===
The popularity of yandere would reach its peak the next year following the release of the 2006 manga series Future Diary and the character Yuno Gasai. Yuno became incredibly popular and even to this day is considered the face of the yandere archetype.
While around her love interest Yukiteru Amano, Yuno is sweet, feminine, and even sometimes shy, however, this is masking a much darker and mentally unstable personality. Her mental health issues stem from abuse inflicted by her mother and the absence of her father, which finally ended with their deaths two years prior. She later became quite lonely and sorrowful and even developed a morbid habit of talking to her parents' dead bodies, telling them about her day and claiming she would bring Yukiteru to meet them. She wanted them to be a happy family, but because of their neglectful behavior and their deaths, she felt like her life had no purpose.
When Yukiteru told her they would get married when they grew up, he unwittingly became a pillar of support that gave her much-needed stability. Her obsession with Yukiteru would then grow to escalating proportions to the point where she was willing to harm those who she believed would take Yukiteru away from her, be they friends, rivals, or relatives, even being prepared to resort to violence if Yukiteru's mother ever opposed her. At one point she even kidnapped Yukiteru and held him hostage because she was so terrified someone else would take him away from her. Despite her insanity, however, Yuno has shown some reservedness to killing, such as letting a girl go after Yukiteru calls Yuno his girlfriend, when she intended to slit her throat, suggesting that she doesn't actually enjoy killing; she merely does it because she sees no other option. Yuno is deeply insecure and feels her life would not be worth living if she could not be the center of Yukiteru's world. Her crippling fear of losing him is notably the only thing that can cause her usually disturbing composure to crack.
== Characteristics ==
=== Changes in Behavior ===
The mental state of a yandere character is a very fragile thing. They could easily lean into becoming more sick or more deredere depending on how they're treated. They are the kind of character who will act all cute and lovey-dovey (deredere) when their relationship with their romantic partner is going well, but when something triggers jealousy or possessiveness they act impulsively in a way that makes them seem mentally ill (yan).
A yandere character whose love interest loves them back, whose reassured of their insecurities, and is taken care of is likely to be more on the sweet loving side and may even overcome their mental health issues altogether. In comparison, a yandere who gets cheated on by their love interest or is otherwise treated poorly is more likely to become extremely sick and act in crazy ways.
=== Development to Yandere ===
Yandere is unique when compared to most dere types in that it does not start as "__" (an unromantic state) and then becomes "dere" over time resulting in the more traditional tsundere formula: "sick at the start" and "dere at the end". Rather a yandere is already deredere from the very start. They are openly affectionate, romantic, and legitimately kind, loving, innocent, and sweet just like a regular deredere character is, however, over time they begin exhibiting signs of extreme jealousy, outbursts of rage, or strong feelings of possession. They are a character who is so deredere (lovestruck) that it causes them to become mentally sick (yan) and to express their love in unhealthy ways. It is a sickness born from too much love.
The point of yandere is that they aren't a yandere from the beginning and that they don't realize they are sick. When a boy they like is talking to another girl, they feel a little jealousy. It's rare to start getting sick just because of that event, but they'll gradually become a yandere over time. The more they think about the person they like, the more they "like" them, and their desire to monopolize becomes very strong. The reason for this is that they always think that they are the same because they are always delusional about becoming a lover or being married. "But he's mine..." and out of love, their possessiveness becomes very strong. Many people have the image that yandere are scary, but there are also many cases where they realize the magnitude of the love and become obsessed, thinking, "I can't believe she cares about me that much!" It's important for a yandere girl to love as much as she can!
Their love is expressed as an excessive obsession towards their love interest. They become so attached to their love interest that it's impossible to let go and they may even use violence as a last resort towards anyone who "threatens" their relationship. They are not characters who 'want' to do this crazy actions or to commit violent acts, but they be become so scared of losing their love interest that they act out of impulse.
A yandere may have some pre-existing feelings, such as loneliness or loss, that explain why they hold on so tightly to the first person to make them love again. Those feelings they had prior to falling in love are then made even worse by their strong feelings towards their love interest and they develop a strong desire to never go back to that feeling that way so it causes them to become scared of anything that threatens to disrupt their happiness. In many cases though they were simply a perfectly normal healthy person prior to falling in love. Their may not have been any warning signs that their love will develop into an unhealthy obsession, but overtime their love starts to become too strong and it causes a change in the character. Whatever the case may be, the main action that causes a yandere character to develop an unstable mental state and change from "dere" (lovestruck and overly affectionate) to "yan" (mentally sick) is their excessive love. They are a mentally sick character who harbors deredere feelings towards their love interest and they will do anything it takes to be with them.
=== Developement to Deredere ===
While the too strong feelings of a yandere drive them to express their love in an out of control way, it is also possible for them to go back to being deredere again depending on how the character is treated. Just like a character who is deredere can become a yandere if their love is too great, it is also possible for a yandere to become a deredere again. Yandere is not a bad thing, but if they have a strong dependency on their lover it can be painful for them. If they realize they are struggling and want have an easier life there are ways they can improve their mental attitude.
*They will start to try to act for someone other than their lover. When someone has a strong yandere tendency, they are extremely unconfident, so they tend to try to get their love interest's attention by being excessively devoted to them. They can improve if they try doing something for people outside of love, such as friends or work relationships. They may start with small things like "give a heartfelt greeting" or "try to keep a smile". When they are more appreciated by those around them, they can reaffirm that they can be useful to others without overdoing it and they will not gain affection by serving others.
* They will start to open up to friends they trust. People who cling excessively to their lover often have no one to feel safe with other than their lover. Opening up to friends and other people they trust and trying to create more places where they feel safe and can be themself will help them realize they don't need their lover to feel safe.
*They will take a look at a happy couple. It is also common for people who are prone to yandere feelings to know only love affairs that are overly dependent on the other person. Instead they can start to observe how happy couples communicate and learn to immitate their behavior and learn more healthy ways of showing love and affection.
== Personality ==
=== General Behavior ===
Love is a powerful force, both in fiction and reality. Yandere characters are created with this notion in mind to show how far the power of love can go and how it can this affect a character's mental state. A yandere is conceived to bring love to its maximal and utmost potential, which results on driving the yandere character to act in ways that are seen as mentally unstable and unorthodox. This is caused due to the great amount of candid love they feel towards someone that goes beyond what is seen as normal in society. The strong emotions a yandere feels and their strange behavior will usually just be added the right amount to provide some drama to the narrative or to show to the audience how far love can go and how in love is the yandere to reach such lengths.
=== Love ===
Yandere characters take what one would call love to an extreme in an attempt at building a stronger, closer, and permanent bond with their love interest.
But yandere isn't all bad. People with a yandere temperament are pure in their love for the other person. They want to know everything about the person they love and feel a strong desire to help them. For a yandere the person they love is the top priority and they will act for the sake of their love interest.
Fearing not caring enough for their love interest, yandere characters will never entertain cheating, or divorce, and will not take an interest in explicit materials. Their love interest, if not already perfect for them, can be perfected through their complementary love. A yandere character needs no romantic beach, nor music. Their love interest is romance itself, and the love interest's voice is music to their ears. They don't need a sports car or large house. Their love interest's smile takes them to the moon, and their love interest's heart is their home. It pleases yandere characters to chose a variety of methods to cause their relationships with their love interests to excel. These methods intertwine with, and build off of, each other, ensuring the success of their relationship, and subsequent marriage.
=== Depiction ===
Yandere characters are sometimes depicted with a favorite weapon, such as an axe or knife. They may also be depicted without their pupils or eye highlights drawn, or single color eyes, and possibly swirling lines in them when they are going "crazy" for their love interest. They may also have hearts or stars in their eyes, like megadere (Western) characters, when they are focused on their love interest. This is because, yandere characters are an even more extreme form of megadere (Western) that have simply gone a little too far over the edge. While they both have excessive love, a megadere displays it in a far more healthy way while the excessive love of a yandere drives them to develop an unstable mental state. Yandere characters also tend to quickly choose. Most yandere characters in anime are female, although there are some males.
Despite their seemingly insane personality they are not characters who like to, or even want to, commit violent acts. They are simply characters who are deeply insecure and prone to negative thoughts so feel they have no other choice so they act entirely on impulse. At the same time they are characters that can be stopped and brought back to their senses by their love for their romantic partner. If their love interest were to ensure them or say they love the yandere it can make them snap back to their senses and switch back to "dere" mode, dropping their weapon in the process even when they completely intent on using it just moments prior. They may also stop themselves from committing violent acts because they don't want their love interest to dislike them for it.
=== Shock Tropes ===
Although yandere characters don't ever intend to hurt their love interest (or truthfully anybody) if their love interest were to do something drastic, such as cheating on them, it is possible that a yandere will be driven further into insanity and can end up doing something they regret in the spur of the moment. These scenes typically come at the end of visual novels routes in the so-called "BAD ENDING".
== Sub-Types ==
Yandere can be broken down into several different sub-types based on their behavior and state of mind.
=== Delusional ===
"Delusional-Type Yandere" are the type who cannot accept the current reality and create a delusional fantasy in their head.
They will try to forget the unsatisfactory or cruel reality to what they want to believe in terms of their real relationship, as well as the feelings and state of their love interest. Unable to accept the rejection, absence or death of a love interest, they will deny it completely, which leads to the delusional yandere to rebuilding a new perfect reality in their head, sometimes even thinking that they can achieve something impossible to fix this, trying to replicate or obtain this ideal life of theirs.
They can also get lost in their own mind and fictional world. The love trope usually knows at first that this world they created is not actually real, but they prefer experiencing this with their perfect version of love interest than the actual imperfect reality.
=== Dependent ===
"Dependent-Type Yandere" are the type who depend on their love interest for nearly everything.
Wishing for their love interest to be able to know that they make a difference in the lives of their dependence yandere partner/spouse, they seek to be vulnerable around their love interest by depending on them. This can range from stupidly simple things, like constantly dropping or forgetting something, behaving like an idiot—oftentimes subconsciously so, to claiming that they'd die without their love interest.
Choosing to lack the words "self protection" in their vocabulary and their hearts, they fail to have a backup plan if their love interest fails them for whatever reason. They can, and often do, have a traumatic experience if their love interest is harsh or very unfeeling towards them.
Although they are seen by many as being "on the edge of a cliff," they just want to give their love interest opportunities to devote themselves with the expectation of having their hopes and dreams of wedded bliss fulfilled.
=== Harmless ===
"Harmless-Type Yandere" are the type who do not behave negatively towards others. However, a major characteristic of them is that they tend to be emotionally unstable due to the strength of their love. Basically, they do not cause problematic behaviors that are likely to bother their love interest. They won't over-monopolize them or exclude others from their life. However, it is easy for them to accumulate jealousy and dissatisfaction with their love interest and the mind tends to be unstable. They are not good at communicating their jealousy and anxiety to others, so even if they do not cause any particular problematic behavior they are likely to suffer quite a bit in their hearts.
Seeking to bring joy and fulfillment to the lives of their love interests, they take care of all of their love interest's needs and see to the perfection of their education, emotions, and soul with the greatest care. They will value more the likes and needs of the love interest than their own. They can even change their ways, tastes and life plans to that of the love interest to bring them happiness and understand them better instead. They aim to turn into the idealized most perfect individual to be beside the love interest in life, be it as a romantic partner or as another person of great significance in the life of the love interest, and do everything in their power to achieve this and no matter how they are treated in return.
However, yandere tend to lose sight of their surroundings when they fall in love. They will forget about their own hobbies and will instead partake in activities the love interest is interested in to feel and appreciate the same joy this action brings to the love interest. They will try to learn how to do everything the love interest likes or needs in their life, like in cooking. They might even change their own way of doing things, their speech, their physical appearance and personality to what the love interest prefers, because they don't mind changing just for them.
Although they are still very much harmless, they can still get ignored and rejected. They tend to gain sympathy from the audience by how much they put into the life of their love interest vs. how much they receive in return. Oftentimes depicted as having their kindnesses and devotion being taken advantage of, they really just need their love interest to look out for their best interests in order to form a great relationship. At the same time it is also possible that a harmless yandere may accumulate frustration because their desires for their love interest are not satisfied and as a result their emotions may explode and they may take unexpected actions. There is a possibility that their emotions will explode and they will become like a violent or monopolistic yandere. They will accumulate negative emotions until they explode.
=== Possessive ===
"Possessive-Type Yandere" are the type who are very possessive and have a strong desire to have their love interest exclusively for themself. They want to monopolize their love interest's attention and not let anybody else have it. This could also be referred to as the "monopoly" or "exclusive" type.
Believing that there's nothing their love interest wants in the world more than them, they give their love interest constant and unending attention.
Believing that it's not enough to just have a love interest, they focus on being with them at every possible movement and maximizing the amount of time they can spend together, even reducing the time the love interest has with other people so they can spend that time with them instead.
=== Stalker ===
"Stalker-Type Yandere" are the type who wish to know everything possible about their love interest and will pursue learning what they like, where they go, what they do, and who they associate with.
If they are in the same location, they will secretly observe the love interest from afar. They will prefer to look at their love interest and take more attention to what the love interest is doing than anything else in the room, listening closely to what the love interest is saying to other people and what others answer in return.
If they actively seek the love interest, stalking will give them the thrill of being near their love interest all the time and of knowing if their love interest is being honest with them or if they are okay.
In knowing all that their love interest likes, they can better align their likes with that of their love interest. In knowing where their love interest goes, they can surprise their love interest, they can locate destinations for dating and other activities nearby, etc. In knowing what they do, a stalker yandere can chose activities that they and their love interest would like and be able to do together. In knowing who they associate with, a stalker yandere will know who's important to their love interest in their lives and who the stalker yandere's competition is.
If they can't be present themselves, they can ask someone else to take track of their love interest or use cameras and hidden microphones so they can keep the love interest observed 24/7. This way they can be notified if something bad occurs to the love interest or a danger appears to their relationship at any moment.
Although they are seen by many as creepy, baring that they have other problems, they just want to be in as glorious a relationship as possible. Given the choice between stalking and their love interest sharing more, they'll chose sharing as it's more personal than watching from a few meters away.
=== Worship ===
"Worship-Type Yandere" are the type who idolize and worship their love interest.
Having an aggrandized opinion of their love interest, these yandere characters see themselves as insignificant compared to their love interest. They may even compare themselves to inanimate objects, such as tools for their love interests use.
They may allow their love interest to marry someone else, for they see themselves as unworthy of their love interest's attentions and affections. They react negatively, perhaps even aggressively so, to those who do not respect their love interests greatness.
Although they are seen by many as slaves to their love interest, they really just feel they are not enough for their love interest. They take the natural tendency to think well about one's love interest to an extreme. If their love interest works to lift their self-confidence from the ground and marry them, they can grow to believe that they really are good enough for their love interest.
== Differences From Other Archetypes ==
The yandere archetype is often confused with/for several other archetypes that are also based on mental illnesses.
=== Kichidere ===
Characters who are already insane prior to finding love do not fall under the definition of "yandere" because they did not become "yan" as a result of having too much "dere". These types of characters would instead fall under the archetype of kichidere if they develop a cute and fawning deredere side 'after' developing an unstable mental state. A kichidere goes crazy from things such as psychological trauma and not because of too much love like a yandere does, so in that sense the two types act as inverted developments of each other. A yandere is "deredere at the start" and "mentally sick by the end", while a kichidere is "mentally sick at the start" and "deredere by the end".
=== Menhera ===
Yandere is very often confused with menhera. While yandere and menhera do have many aspects in common, they are also quite different.
When looking at the things they have in common:
*They both are not good at controlling their emotions and tend to get out of control. They get angry or cry over small things. The slightest thing or the casual words and actions of their love interest can quickly make them feel sad or moody.
*They often have a lack of self-confidence. Since the thought of "I don't ___ myself" is at the root, they tend to have a strong sense of inferiority with negative thinking.
*They have a tendency to think only of themself. There are times where they ignore other people's opinions and try to push their own opinions, or think that they are absolutely right.
*Romance and interpersonal relationships are easily strained. They are restrained, dependent, and emotionally unstable, so they often have a hard time with those around them. It's easy for relationships with both lovers and friends to go wrong or get strained.
*They are prone to dependency. When being lonely, it is easy to depend on lovers, friends, or family.
When taking a look at the differences between yandere and menhera, the characteristics of each are listed below:
;Characteristics of Yandere:
*Their love interest is the top priority.
*They have a strong desire to help their love interest.
*They want to know everything about their love interest.
*When they feel upset they tend to be aggressive towards others.
;Characteristics of Menhera:
*They put themself first.
*They have a strong desire to be cared for by others.
*They want people to understand them.
*When they feel upset, they tend to hurt themself and withdraw.
In contrast to the yandere who acts for the sake of their love interest, the menhera acts selfishly to satisfy their own desires. The crucial difference between yandere and menhera is that "yandere" is targeted at others, while "menhera" is targeted at one's self.
=== Yangire ===
Those characters who snap for reasons other than too much love are instead what is referred to as yangire. The archetype of yangire was not created in Japan, but rather in the Western community to preserve the original meaning of yandere and later spread in usage to Japan.
A yangire is character with yandere traits, but whose mentally unstable (yan) state did not come as a result of too strong love. Similarly to a yandere, at first they are a very kind, sweet, loving, and innocent person, but then one day suddenly snap and start to become mentally unstable (yan) as a result of jealousy, loss, trauma, irritation, or something similar. This behavior is far different from that of a yandere in regard to the reason that sparked the change in the character. A yandere becomes mentally sick (yan) as a result of having a too strong for their love interest (dere) and their reasons for doing anything are motivated by their love. Whereas a yangire is a lot more dangerous because their sickness (yan) is not connected to feelings of love or attraction and they are driven entirely by selfish desires.
If a yangire character were to find love after snapping they would not care about their "love" interest's well-being because they care only about what they want, in comparison to a yandere who does everything for their love interest because they're more important than even themselves. While a yandere starts as innocent and romantic, a yangire no longer has any such attachments to that and rarely acts out of any true sense of love. A yangire is driven by the self-satisfaction of a madman.
== Similar Japanese Archetypes ==
* Byoukidere: A term for a character who is kind, affectionate, gentle, and deredere at heart but suffers from a serious illness. Unlike a yandere which suffer from a mental illness, this refers to a physical illness.
* Kichidere: A term for a character who has gone insane and acts like a crazy lunatic, but whose romantic feelings toward their love interest are surprisingly normal and deredere. This archetype is very similar to yandere since both types are mentally ill characters who harbor deredere feelings for their love interest, but they are not the same. The main difference is that a yandere is a completely normal sane person at first who is sweet and affection but will turn crazy after falling in love because their love is too strong and slowly eats away at their sanity. This is contrast to a kichidere who will be crazy from the beginning as a result of chilhood trauma but will develop a surprisingly normal affectionate side after falling in love, basically acting as an inverse of yandere. A yandere is "dere at the start" and "mentally ill by the end", while a kichidere is "mentally ill at the start" and "dere by the end (at least for their love interest)". Kichidere act surprisingly normal in their romantic relationship, unlike a yandere who is obsessive towards their love interest. A kichidere is also more likely to suffer from more serious mental illnesses such as being suicidal, which is unlikely to exist for a yandere character unless something were to happen to their love interest.
* Yangire: A term for a character with yandere traits, but whose motivations are not driven by love. At first they are a very kind, sweet, and innocent person, but then suddenly snap and start to become mentally unstable as a result of jealousy, loss, irritation, or something similar. This behavior is different from that of a yandere in regard to the reason that sparked the change in the character. A yandere becomes mentally sick as a result of having a too strong for their love interest and their reasons for doing anything are motivated by their love, whereas a yangire is is a lot more dangerous because their sickness is not connected to feelings of love or attraction.
== List of Characters ==
See Yandere/Japanese Characters to see characters from Japanese media.
See Yandere/Non-Japanese Characters to see characters from non-Japanese media.
== Gallery ==
Yandere Gallery.png|link= Yandere/Gallery
Satou Matsuzaka Stare.jpg|Satou Matsuzaka from Happy Sugar Life
Akane Hiyama from Renai Boukun.gif|Akane Hiyama from Renai Boukun
Ako Tamaki from Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta.gif|Ako Tamaki from Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?
Ayase Aragaki from Oreimo.gif|Ayase Aragaki from Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
Eiko Houzuki kurodere from Dark Gathering 4.jpg|Eiko Houzuki from Dark Gathering
Sakuna Memoir from The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess yan 1.png|Sakuna Memoir from Hikikomari the Vampire Countess no Monmon
== References ==
Category:Violent