Font: http://behind-the.nihonreview.com/20101105/my-mom-is-a-tsundere-part-2
In continuation from earlier, we now have the tools to take a look at how tsundere have become, perhaps, one of the leading icons in the moe boom in recent years. First, let us take a brief look at a possible development of the modern tsundere.
The Chicken and the Egg
Looking back on manga pre-Evangelion, a few girls in particular spring to mind when we’re talking about tsundere. The first is Lum Invader from Takahashi Rumiko’s popular work Urusei Yatsura. First published in Weekly Shounen Sunday in 1978 right before the culmination of the Japanese economic miracle during the ‘80s, Urusei Yatsura is perhaps indicative of the romantic comedy largely popular in mainstream manga during a time where every Japanese person felt they were working towards a common goal. The anime debuted in 1981 and ran until 1986, making its run simultaneous with the manga publication.
It might be quite tempting to label Lum as a tsundere, but I think we should take a step back and look deeper at her personality. In my humble opinion, you can simply label her dere; her affection for Ataru remains constant since the beginning of the series. The times she does tsun (every episode/chapter) usually is out of jealousy or anger over Ataru’s unfaithful attempts at hitting on other women. Does this constitute an example of tsundere? The way I see it, Lum is quite honest about how she feels toward Ataru. Of course, she does develop over the course of the series, but nothing in particular hints that she has a certain unwillingness to be honest with her feelings, and you could easily argue that most of her actions are more fairly justified as to their cause. In the end, you can see the development in her character as part of the mutual growth in both Lum and Ataru’s understanding and affection towards each other.
Similarly, Ayukawa Madoka of Kimagure Orange Road (manga 1984; anime 1987) fame is another early candidate for the first tsundere. She straddles the line between sweet, beautiful girl and badass juvenile delinquent: from the get go we realize that Madoka is a complex character that has multiple sides to her. Of course, despite her affections toward the main character, she has difficulties expressing them. While certainly possessing moments of both dere and tsun, it’s easy to see that later on it’s not really a part of her personality. She becomes far gentler on verage, settling down somewhere in the middle between her two polar extremes, but continues to maintain that aloof feel. But that isolated sense of beauty she possesses truly reflects, not so much the concept of tsundere, but eponymous personality trait of being kimagure (whimsical).
Both of these characters may, perhaps, be to readers predictable in their behavior in the same way that tsundere are. Still, I think a key point to keep in mind is that both these characters have an arguably firmer basis in real-world reactions. That is, they have proper reasons for their tsun (i.e. Ataru cheats on Lum or Kyousuke does something dumb to embarrass Madoka); it’s not so much built into their characters to simply tsun because of their inability to be honest with themselves (although that may be part of the problem).
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