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, expressionless, and remain calm in stressful situations. In contrast to

tsundere is a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with a personality who is initially very harsh before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time. The word is derived from the terms ('to turn away in d ...

and

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 (e. ...

characters, whose archetypes revolve around change in their behavior, kuudere characters often keep the same core traits throughout a narrative. Other kuudere characters traits include being aloof, level-headed, and serving as the voice of reason during conflict. The word is derived from the terms ('cool, calm') and ('to become affectionate'). The term refers to one of four popular Japanese character types, the others being

, and dandere.

Rei Ayanami is a fictional character from the anime ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', created by Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 00. At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behav ...

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

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 medium-size four-year university with two campuses: one at Itabashi in Tokyo and the other at Higashi Matsuyama in Saitama, Japan. The sports program is strong in rugby and distance running, with the Ekiden (駅伝えきでん relay road ...

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 simply 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 ...

Kyoko Kirigiri is a fictional 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 "Ultimate ???" of Hope's Peak Acade ...

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 other ...

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 course ...

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

Relation to tsundere

Examples in media

See also

References

Further reading