Kuudere

“Kuudere” (JP), also known as “Cool-Dere” in Western media, is a term for a character who initially acts cold, expressionless, and indifferent to hide their loving feelings, but becomes cute, lovey-dovey, and deredere around their love interest after getting closer to them. Although it might not appear like it at first, they are hiding a deep inner love that will come out after becoming close to their love interest. They have a clear separation of their character. They don’t behave particularly notably when in a group, taking up a stiff cool appearance and a cold “don’t get involved with me” aura that creates a wall between themselves and other people. They are also harshly blunt and straightforward with their thoughts which often leads to them making sharp-tongued statements without considering other’s feelings.

However, they are also someone who desires love and when alone with their love interest they become so spoiled that their usual character falls apart. They usually have an unfriendly cool demeanor, but when they are alone with their love interest they become extremely clingy and have a more loving side than most. They will start behaving in cute ways, showing lots of emotions, blushing like crazy, and wanting their love interest to give them lots of affection. They are a character with a very drastic gap. After spending enough time with their love interest they will even feel comfortable showing this side of themselves in public, becoming a much more cheerful and emotional person overall.

Etymology
Meaning of the Term

Kuudere (クーデレ) is a combination of “kuuru” (クール), meaning “cool (calm, emotionally cold; coldhearted; unfeeling; indifferent; unfriendly; distant)”, and “deredere” (デレデレ), a mimetic word for “being lovestruck (overly affectionate, lovey-dovey, not hiding one’s romantic feelings)”.[8][9]

They are characters who have a cool personality (kuu) at first glance but start acting cute and affectionate (dere) after you get to know them.[10][6][11][12][13]

Origin

The concept of kuudere originates as far back as October 10, 2005, from the archetype known as sunao cool (素直クール), or honest cool in English. Sunao cool originated on the Japanese forum board 2channel in the thread titled “Sunao de COOL na Musume” (JP) as a term created as the opposite of tsundere. The first post in the thread referred to the term as “She expresses her dere in a straightforward and cool manner, and is somewhat of a natural”.[14][10] The opposite of “tsuntsun” is “honest” and the opposite of “deredere” is “cool”, or in other words, it’s a girl who is honest and cool. Rather than someone who let their emotions get the better of them and was dishonest with their feelings like a tsundere, a sunao cool is always cool and always honest with what they are feeling.[15][16]

Over time the concept grew and led to the creation of the term “kuudere”. Initially, it seems that this term was suggested as a shorter synonym for “sunao cool” since it sounded better and referred to a character who “dere’d in a cool manner”, being incredibly straightforward and unembarrassed by their romantic feelings.[17] However, controversy arose with many users questioning whether it was appropriate to use “-dere” in the name for a character type who is defined by remaining cool and having little emotion of “dere”.[15] Use of these terms as synonyms was short-lived as the majority of users in the forum thought that “kuudere” should instead refer to “cool tsundere”, where the “tsun” part was replaced with “cool” and the character became “dere” over time. By around mid-2006 the idea of “kuudere” referring to “cool tsundere” had been widely established and nowadays the term is used exclusively for this meaning with “kuudere” and “sunao cool” being considered distinctive archetypes with opposite meanings.[10][16]

While a kuudere character hides their feelings with “cool” and becomes “dere” over time, a sunao cool character is filled with “dere” from the very beginning but shows it in a “cool” manner. The difference between the two archetypes is that a sunao cool character does not change their attitude because of another person and is always cool with no gap in personality, whereas a kuudere character loses their cool attitude over time and becomes cute and lovey-dovey (dere) when around a certain person. For a kuudere character the “cool” attitude is simply a way to hide their love, which is why it’s sometimes described as “cool tsundere” when explaining the meaning, but over time they let go of their facade and become deredere.[4][18] In comparison, the “cool” attitude of a sunao cool character is simply how they are innately and although they appear cold they express their love openly and honestly from the very beginning.[19][20] When it comes to how they express their love, a kuudere character is usually cool but when the time comes to confess they will say “I love you” while being shy and blushing, while a sunao cool character is unembarrassed and will say “I love you” while keeping a cool unbothered expression.[15]

Alternate Spelling

Although kuudere is almost always written in Japanese with katakana as “クーデレ” it is occasionally written as クーでれ with the “dere” written in hiragana.[3]

Localization

The kuudere archetype has many possible Romanized spellings. They mostly differ in whether to use the direct Japanese spelling “kuuru” or the English spelling “cool”, and whether or not to add a hyphen between the “kuu” and “dere” to better show off it’s a two-sided personality.

The term is most commonly romanized directly as “kuudere” using the traditional Japanese method of romanized spelling. It can also be written as “kūdere”, “kúdere”, or “kudere” using the method since the long “u” sound can be romanized as “uu”, “ū”, or “ú”, and is sometimes ignored altogether and written as a single “u”.[4][21]

It is also sometimes alternatively romanized as “coo-dere”, using the English spelling of the word “cool” instead of the Japanese spelling “kuuru”.[6][22] In the subtitled/English dub version of episode 10 of the 2007 anime series Lucky☆Star (JP) by FUNimation, the term received an official localized English name for the first time as “cool-dere”.[5] It is also sometimes unofficially romanized as “coodere” without a hyphen.[23]

Another more uncommon spelling is “qudere”, though there is only one known series that used this romanization.[7]

Usage In 2006, the dictionary site Japanese Slang Dictionary stated: “It refers to a woman (character) who appears cool at first glance, but becomes amae and deredere when you get to know her.”[6]
The dictionary site Hatena stated: A variant of “tsundere” that means “a cool personality, but shows a cute side (dere) once you get to know them”.[10]
In 2016, the entertainment news site AppBank stated: “She usually has a cute cool demeanor, but when they are alone she becomes extremely clingy.”[24]
In 2021, the news site Yotsuba stated: “Although she acts cold and curt in front of everyone, when they’re alone she becomes deredere. A character who usually behaves coolly so that others don’t know about the person they love, but becomes a completely different person and clingy when they’re alone with the person they love is called a kuudere.”[11]

Note: Like most dere types, kuudere was originally defined as a female character with these traits but has since also been used for male characters on occasion, though rare.[6]

Misuse

In the Western anime community, there is a huge misconception that “kuudere” refers to “any character who shows no emotions and never changes” and that “showing any emotions means you can’t be a kuudere”. However, this is not true, and kuudere has never been an archetype for emotionless characters. Sometime around 2017 it was spread that “coodere” was a term for a character who starts cool and then later becomes lovestruck (the correct definition), while “kuudere” is a term for a character who is devoid of showing emotion and never changes no matter what (an incorrect definition).[25] The commonly held belief is:[26]

It is not known why this split between “coodere” and “kuudere” happened, but both terms are nothing more than alternative ways to romanize “クーデレ” and both refer to the same archetype of a character who seems “cool” (kuuru) at first glance but then changes and becomes “lovestruck” (deredere) once you get to know them. This incorrect meaning can even be seen prevalently by looking at the differences between the English and Japanese Wikipedia articles for the term “kuudere”. While the Japanese Wikipedia article correctly states the meaning described in this article, the English Wikipedia article incorrectly states the definition is “a character who appears to not have emotions”, with no relation to being dere mentioned at all.[9][27] However, it makes no sense to include the suffix “-dere” in a character trope if the character exhibits no traits of it and it seems as though “coodere” was an attempt to bring back the correct meaning of kuudere to the Western community.

When looking at these definitions the “coodere (Western)” definition accurately describes kuudere while the “kuudere (Western)” definition better describes the predecessor archetype sunao kuuru, which is a Japanese term for a character who is always honest with their feelings and always cool in their attitude, never changing even after falling in love and expressing affection in a cool manner. Though even then it’s not quite the same because a sunao kuuru character is straightforward and honest with their feelings of love and the appeal comes from the gap in perception, from a character who seems like they don’t show emotions but is surprisingly forward at saying their emotions, even if they don’t always show it on their face.

History
Official Media

The archetype of kuudere is very popular in manga and anime and has been used in several series. The first currently known usage in official media comes from episode 10 of the 2007 anime series Lucky☆Star (JP) during the “Lucky Channel” segment at the end of the episode when the character Minoru Shiraishi briefly mentions “kuudere” while discussing the concept of tsundere.[28]

The most prominent example of the term being used officially is the 2020 romance manga series Yatara to Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku (JP) and the character Shirokane Koyuki. Koyuki was known around the school as the “Venomous Snow White” due to her sharp tongue, snow-white hair, and cool demeanor. This was until Naoya Sasahara saved her one day resulting in both of them falling in love with the other at first sight. Naoya soon learns that underneath her cool demeanor, Koyuki is nothing more than a weak girl armed with bravado and lies, and the two begin to communicate little by little to confirm that they like each other.[2][4][29][30]

Another prominent example is the character of Yui from the 2020 romance manga series Tonari no Kuuderella o Amayakashitara, Uchi no Aikagi o Watasu Koto ni Natta (JP). Yui is a transfer student from England who was given the nickname “Kuuderella” by her classmates because of her cold and expressionless persona. She has a stiff appearance and is harshly blunt and to the point showing her disinterest in her other classmates’ attempts to get close to her. That is for everyone except her next-door neighbor Katagiri Natsuomi. One day Katagiri overhears a girl singing and realizes it is his classmate Yui. After telling her she has a beautiful singing voice and learning that she is very naive despite living by herself, he decides to help her. Contrary to her icy personality at school, when she’s alone with Katagiri she is very emotional and expressive. She gets happy when he calls her cute, she blushes uncontrollably when she sees him without a shirt on, she becomes cheerful when he praises her, and she honestly expresses her thanks to him for helping her change. After spending a little time with Katagiri, Yui starts to make a change in her behavior at school which causes the rest of her classmates to wonder if something good happened to her. Rather than ignoring Katagiri, she tells him “good morning” and blushes while she smiles at him, and rather than pushing everyone else away completely she accepts her female classmates’ offers to eat lunch together, though she is still cold to the other boys. Little by little she starts to become more comfortable showing her emotions while in public as she grows closer to and falls more in love with Katagiri.[7]

The 2021 romance light novel series Bishoujo to Buraritabi (JP) follows a beautiful kuudere girl named Nanase Suzuho. Nanase is tired of life and is often seen these days healing herself through travel. Her classmate Takahashi Sho decides to go on a trip and when he arrives at the station platform, he notices her looking sad and invites her to go on the trip with him. Nanase is suspicious but she decides to join him anyway. At first, Nanase is cool and she feels a wall between her and the fatigue of everyday life, but her face begans to relax when she eats something delicious and enjoys the spectacular views from the train. She takes off her usual iron mask and begins to enjoy herself, relaxing in a foot bath and savoring the local cuisine. As she gets involved with the circumstances of the local people, she becomes more positive and says goodbye with gratitude to each other. Towards the end, Nanase’s loneliness becomes clear and she confides in Takahashi. Compared to her original cold and lifeless facade, she now acts more cute and happy as the two begin dating.[31][32]

Characteristics
Moe Factor

The moe appeal of kuudere lies in the cuteness that comes as a result of the large gap between their usual “cool” personality and when they become “dere”. The idea of a character who appears cold and expressionless at first glance but is actually cute and loving gives off strong amounts of adoration towards that character.[21] This is especially true for kuudere characters who simply have a hard time expressing their emotions. The moment when they finally realize their true feelings of affection can bring strong amounts of satisfaction to the audience like they watched them grow as a person and feel happy for them for finally making it to that point.[1][33][34]

Design

Kuudere characters are most often depicted as having white or silver hair, possibly as a reference to their “cold as snow” personality. They will typically wear lots of blue or purple since these colors tend to evoke vibes of calmness. Blue is also fairly common as a hair color as well.

Personality

Kuudere characters appear cold and expressionless at first glance (kuu) but become cute and loving around their love interest (deredere). The idea of a character that starts “colder than most” but is actually “more loving and affectionate than most” creates a very intense gap in their personality. They usually have a cute cool demeanor, but when they are alone with their love interest they become extremely clingy.[24][11]

Kuu Period

At first a kuudere character will always be seen keeping a “cool” attitude, remaining very calm, confident, expressionless, unenthusiastic, unfriendly, and showing great control to hide their feelings.[11][21] They always keep their emotions in check and have a rigid stance, appearing stiff and unyielding at all times.[19] This demeanor has often been referred to as an “iron mask”.[32]

They are characters who are often very strict and are focused more on their school work or career than romance.[3] It is also not uncommon for them to scold other people.[35]

They are characters who are not in the mood to deal with others and as such they don’t rely on others even if they are struggling with something.[7] They don’t talk much and take a cold uninterested and unapproachable attitude towards other people, most often speaking in a cool brusque tone.[21] However, they are also not shy about saying what is on their mind and are sometimes even a little too honest, speaking their opinions openly without much regard for other people’s feelings and often leaving people with hurt feelings. This comes out in the form of them making brutally blunt ice-cold comments when they don’t like someone or want to be left alone, which is why they are often described as “sharp-tongued” or given nicknames like the “Venomous Snow White” or the “Ice Princess” by other people around them to due a combination of their venomous attitude and cool beauty appearance.[2][4]

They are characters who purposefully create this cold “don’t get involved with me” persona as a wall to keep others from getting close to them or from discovering who they have a crush on.[7][32][36] Generally, this cold demeanor causes most other people to avoid being around them so they will typically be seen by themselves and not have many friends if any at all. This is a fairly big reason they tend to develop feelings for their love interest: they will be one of the only people trying to spend time with them and talking with them.[19]

Almost Dere Period

As they start to become closer to their love interest, they will start to change. Before they have become entirely lovestruck, they will often be seen blushing at their love interest while trying to keep their cool composure. Even if their mind tells them they want to stay calm, their body tends to react to their feelings on its own and they come to the surface anyway. They may start questioning their feelings and their love interest will be constantly on their mind. They may also do things like smiling at their love interest when no one is looking or coming up and silently holding their love interest’s hand when they are alone.[24] Often things they could previously do without so much as flinching, such as getting close to their love interest’s face, will suddenly cause them to become very embarrassed and start blushing uncontrollably. When they are first falling for their love interest they may even be able to keep themselves composed in public, but when they get home they start frantically blushing and going on about how they love them to themself.[2]

Many times they are not good at expressing their feelings and may become embarrassed by the thought of falling in love with someone, sometimes even directing their sharp tongue toward their love interest to hide their crush on them.[4][11]

Even though they act like they’re independent and don’t need other people’s help, most often the truth is that they are armed with nothing more than stubbornness and lies and are, in truth, very naive about the world.[4] They might struggle to do things alone because they don’t want to rely on others, which is something they will be thankful to their love interest for teaching them how to do. Over time they will learn to allow themselves to depend on another person for support and to rely on their love interest to help deal with their insecurities and emotional needs.[29][2][7]

From spending time alone with their love interest and becoming more comfortable showing their emotions they will begin to ease up their cold persona in public and learn to relax.[32] Their classmates might notice a sudden change in their behavior and wonder what happened to put them in a better mood. They may take little steps to start showing their expressive side in public, such as smiling at their love interest in class or trying to get closer to a few other students to make friends, even if they’re still cold to the rest of the class.[2][7]

Dere Period

While it might not appear like it, kuudere characters are people whose inner affection is hotter than others. They are hiding a deep inner love that will come out after becoming close to their love interest, at which point they will begin to show them their cute side. When they have finally come to terms with their feelings, they are someone who will honestly and straightforwardly confess that they have fallen in love. They will become transcendentally spoiled (amae) and want their love interest to give them lots of affection when they are alone together, becoming very clingy and acting very cute and passionate towards them.[24]

They are usually people who don’t want others to see them in this state, which may be a form of a defense mechanism. It’s for this reason they will only show this cute side of themselves when they are alone with their love interest. Their usual persona will fall apart and they will want to become intimate and be spoiled with affection by their love interest when nobody is looking.[24][11] They will feel more comfortable just being themselves and relaxing in the presence of their love interest, letting down their cold walls. They will become cheerful and expressive, and honestly confess to their love interest that they feel happy that they finally have someone they can depend on for emotional and physical support. They are usually very thankful to their love interest for showing them that there is more to life and helping them change to see that even someone like them can have fun and become loved. Things that they previously thought were pointless, like as romance and going on dates, suddenly means more to them than anything.[7][20]

After spending enough time with their love interest and growing as a person they will start to feel comfortable behaving this way even out in public and doing things like going on dates or being cute with their love interest even when other people are looking. They will become cheerful and get along with the rest of their classmates, showing a drastic and permanent change from their initial persona.[30]

Differences From Other Archetypes
Sunao Cool For more details see: Dandere vs Kuudere vs Sunao Cool

Although kuudere is a variation of sunao cool the two types are also quite different and are incompatible with referring to the same character. When a kuudere character falls in love their love interest will crack their cool exterior causing them to become cute and flustered, having a clearly distinct “cool” side and a clearly distinct “deredere” side. In comparison, a sunao cool character will continue to maintain their cool composure even after falling in love. This does not mean that a sunao cool character does not show emotion, but rather that they show emotion with the same cool demeanor as before. They will also say romantic or embarrassing things to their love interest without also becoming embarrassed themselves, in contrast to a kuudere character who will become incredibly flustered. A sunao cool character will never become embarrassed by their loving feelings, while a kuudere character might and may direct their sharp tongue towards their love interest to hide their embarrassment or act coldly to hide their crush.

A sunao cool character could be thought of as someone whose “cool” and “dere” sides occur simultaneously rather than having a distinct gap in personality. They also do not show nearly as much emotion or lack of control as a kuudere character does when being “dere”. It could be said that they act “deredere” in a cool way, by keeping a straight expression while showing their amae side and being affectionate with their love interest.

If they show their affection in a “cool” manner without embarrassment, they are sunao cool. If they show their affection in a normal deredere way (cute, emotional, lots of blushing) they are kuudere. A kuudere character has a very noticeable difference when switching between their two vastly different personalities, while a sunao cool character remains relatively the same when being “cool” or when being “dere”. In the image of Shizuka Mikazuki from Zom 100, you can clearly see her shoulders and face loosen up from the tense “cool” facade she was using to hide her feelings and then suddenly burst into uncontrollable blushing after being called cute by her love interest. If Shizuka Mikazuki were sunao cool instead of kuudere she either wouldn’t have gotten embarrassed, or would have at most gave her love interest a controlled calm smile.[37]

So “kuudere” could be understood by thinking “cool+tsundere character”, where they are sharp-tongued and hide their feelings by giving their love interest the cold shoulder but transition to dere over time, while “sunao cool” could be understood by thinking “cool+deredere character”, where they are sweet, openly honest with their feelings, and all lovey-dovey from the very beginning. Or in other words if sunao cool is “honest” cool then kuudere is “dishonest” cool.[36][18][4][11]

An easy to understand comparison can be seen by looking at the manga series Bleach. When comparing the Kuchiki siblings, the difference between sunao cool and kuudere can be easily seen. While at the start of the series both characters appear cold and expressionless, remain calm even in dangerous situations, speak in a monotone voice, don’t waste time on meaningless activities, keep their emotions locked away, keep others at a distance, act independent and self-reliant, and scold others in blunt ways (kuu), when Rukia is around her friends/love interest her personality completely changes and she starts acting cute, blushing, showing lots of emotions, being affectionate, letting others get close to her emotionally, and depending on others when she needs help (dere). In comparison, even though Byakuya has already been married to a woman he truly loves and also cares deeply for his wife’s younger sister Rukia, he still remains as stiff and stoic as ever. Even when honestly expressing his affection for his wife, he does it a calm way and at most will give her a calm smile to let her know he loves her. This does not mean that Byakuya never shows emotions, he just rarely does, and when he does he shows them in a calm and cool way meaning he will never start acting all cutesy and lovey-dovey. In other words, Byakuya is not kuudere and Rukia is.

Dandere For more details see: Dandere vs Kuudere vs Sunao Cool

Dandere is considered to be a closely related archetype or derivative of kuudere due to both types appearing as cool and expressionless on the surface.[20][38]

The biggest difference is simply that “kuudere” is actually more closely related to “tsundere” than it is to “dandere”. A kuudere character is typically presented as an “ice queen” type who is cool and confident so they are admired by others, but is also curt and builds a wall to keep others out. They have a strong tendency to be dishonest and purposefully hide their romantic feelings by acting calm or pretending they don’t have them. In comparison, a dandere character does not have any of these “tsundere” tendencies and they are just naturally more reserved and introverted. A kuudere character will generally have a cold and unapproachable aura around them to keep others away, while a dandere character will often have a gentle presence and just blend into the crowd. Kuudere characters are also very uninterested and uncaring of others at first and choose to keep others at a distance, while dandere characters might want to talk with others but they just can’t because they are not good at communicating.[39]

Another huge difference is in regards to the “silent” nature. While kuudere characters are generally more quiet than an average person, they don’t all necessarily fall close to being a silent type and it’s not uncommon for them to speak quite a lot while maintaining their expressionless demeanor. By comparison, dandere characters often don’t speak more than a few words at a time, if that, at least initially. Because the cold exterior of a kuudere character is a facade, they are generally far more bold than a dandere character who tends to be far more reserved. When spoken to, a kuudere character is more likely to make some blunt sharp-tongued comment and hurt the other person’s feelings because of their overly curt 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 character is not afraid to tell others off when they want to be left alone, while a dandere character doesn’t act coldly and is more likely to just stare at the person and let them do it. For example, if someone took a book away from a kuudere character that person would likely get their feelings hurt by their ruthless tongue, but a dandere character would likely just stare at them in silence.

Simply put, kuudere is a deliberate and forced attitude to keep a wall between themself and others, being far more similar to tsundere, while dandere is just introverted and reserved by nature. A kuudere character can easily become expressive if they choose to let down their guard and stop controlling their emotions to hide their feelings, while a dandere character might struggle with expressing themselves even in a place they feel comfortable because this is their true nature. So with all of this in mind, dandere could be described as a “silent and gentle” derivative of kuudere. It is also worth noting that neither archetype are for purely “emotionless characters”, which can be considered its own separate unrelated archetype, even if they may initially appear as such at first glance.

Tsundere

While kuudere is a variation of a type created to be the complete opposite of tsundere, it can also be confused with it because of how both types of characters act cold towards their love interest to hide their feelings. Official media has even referred to kuudere as having a “sharp tongue and a tsuntsun attitude”.[4] The biggest difference is simply how they each go about doing this. A tsundere character is hot-headed and loses control of their feelings so they often verbally lash out to try to justify their reaction, the complete opposite of being “cool”. While a tsundere character will act embarrassed and desperately try to make excuses to hide the fact that they secretly want to be close with them, a kuudere character hides their feelings by creating a cool facade and remaining calm so nobody can tell who they have a crush on. Whether they act hot-headed or calmly is the key factor when determining the difference.[11] Another big difference is that tsundere characters typically only act coldly towards their love interest since this is a means to hide their crush on them, while kuudere characters are usually cold to towards everyone since they often want to be left alone and will not hesitate to make blunt sharp-tongued statements to get that point across.

This also extends to the sub-type tsundora, which can be seen as a mix of kuudere and tsundere. Similarly to a regular tsundere character a tsundora character is in denial of their own feelings and will act defiant towards their love interest, but rather than acting flustered and stuck-up in a manner where you can easily tell they don’t mean it they say it in a cold and emotionally dry bitter way like a kuudere character. The biggest difference is that a tsundora character does not have the same calm demeanor that a kuudere character does. Tsundora characters also don’t necessarily have a stiff appearance like a kuudere either. Tsundora characters also typically only act this way towards their love interest, while a kuudere acts this way to everyone aside from their love interest after they become close to them.

Similar Archetypes Cool Beauty: A term for a beautiful female character who has a calm, dignified, elegant, and confident aura. It does not simply mean a beautiful woman, but also a woman who is independent and has her own strong opinions.
Dandere: 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.
Kidere: A term for a kuudere character who possess ice powers. This is an unofficial Western variation of kuudere.
Rindere: A term for a mature and dignified female character who normally has a cool reserved exterior, but becomes cute, loving, and deredere after getting closer to their love interest.
Sunao Cool: A term for a character who expresses their love and affection honestly and straightforwardly, but is always cool in their behavior because of their calm and expressionless personality.
Tsundora: A term for a tsundere character who acts so dry and emotionless when being distant that they make it seem like they are serious, showing a complete rejection of their own feelings. List of Characters
Gallery
References ↑ 1.0 1.1 Heroine Charm Survey: Kuudere & Tsundere Heroine. V-Storage (2023/09/13). Archived on 2025/06/29. “The biggest charm of both kuudere and tsundere is the gap moe! The charm that kuudere and tsundere have in common is the cuteness that comes from the gap between their usual personality and when they become dere! Kuudere Sophie is usually expressionless and doesn’t say much, but when it comes to Blade, she stares intently at him and smiles, showing her cool dere. It’s devastatingly powerful.”
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Yatara to Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku. SB Creative (2020/07/13). Archived on 2024/12/08. “Shirogane Koyuki is a beautiful girl with a sharp tongue and is known as the “Venomous Snow White.” When Sasahara Naoya saves her from a man trying to hit on her, he learns that she is nothing more than a weak girl, armed with stubbornness and lies. Koyuki falls in love at first sight with Naoya, who saves her dashingly, and Naoya falls in love at first sight with Koyuki’s endearing attitude.”
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dere Suku. Milk Pai (2010/08/27). Archived on 2024/12/04. “Suzuka: A kuudere female teacher. The protagonist’s class teacher and club advisor. She is a very strict person who is more focused on work than romance, a career woman. Naturally, she doesn’t get along with the protagonist, but at heart she cares about her students and is one of the few people who is genuinely concerned about the protagonist’s future.”
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Yatara to Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku. Square Enix (2022/01/07). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Her sharp tongue and tsuntsun attitude are all just the flip side of her love. A sweet love comedy with a 120% sweet beautiful girl hiding her embarrassment!! Sasahara Naoya is a high school student with excellent mind-reading skills. One day, he meets Shirogane Koyuki after saving her from a flirting man. Although she is a beautiful girl, she is famous for her sharp tongue and is even called the “Venomous Snow White”. However, in reality, she is an extremely “kuudere girl” armed with stubbornness and lies…!? Naoya falls in love at first sight with her cuteness, and Koyuki, who cannot be honest with herself, weaves together a sweet love battle with “zero misunderstandings” – the curtains are now open!!”
↑ 5.0 5.1 Lucky☆Star – Episode 10. FUNimation (2007/06/10). Archived on 2025/06/28. “Perhaps “cool-dere””
↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Coo-dere. Japanese Slang Dictionary (2006). Archived on 2024/12/25. “Coo-dere is a compound word made up of the words “cool” and “deredere,” and refers to a woman (character) who appears cool at first glance, but becomes clingy and deredere when you get to know her.”
↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Tonari no Kuuderella o Amayakashitara, Uchi no Aikagi o Wtasu Koto ni Natta. KADOKAWA (2020/12/10). Archived on 2024/12/08. “A beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes moves into the room next to Katagiri Natsuomi, a high school student who is in his second year living alone. The girl, Yui, seems to be a real aristocrat, and her nickname “Kuuderella” was given to her due to her cold reactions at school. Yui doesn’t rely on others, but when Natsuomi finds out that she is actually quite naive, he decides to help her.”
↑ Kuudere. Numan (2024/04/19). Archived on 2025/04/25. “Kuudere is a combination of two different attributes:クール “Cool” refers to a calm, cold, and reserved character who rarely displays emotions. Cool characters often hide their feelings and even appear indifferent to others.デレデレ “Deredere” is a word used to describe romantic feelings. It refers to the kindness and warmth shown when a character shows affection or pampering toward a romantic interest.In other words, a “kuudere” is generally a character who is cool and calm and rarely displays their personality or emotions, but then suddenly becomes affectionate and pampering toward a romantic interest. On the cool side, they often show little emotion or remain calm and expressionless. This makes it difficult for other characters to understand their true feelings. They often have inner conflict, fluctuating between emotion and calm. This conflict is often used as a means to demonstrate the depth of the story and the character’s growth.Using “Kuudere” Friend A: “A new character appeared in a recent anime. She was cold at first, but recently she’s become a bit of a doting girl.” Friend B: “Yeah, that’s a kuudere type.””
↑ 9.0 9.1 Kuudere. Wikipedia JP (2006/09/27). Archived on 2025/04/09. “Kuudere (クーデレ) is a coined word made from the abbreviation of “kuuru” and “deredere”. This term refers to a type of person who appears cool and unapproachable at first glance, but as they get to know you they take on a loving attitude, or what is known as a “deredere attitude.””
↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 What is Kuudere. Hatena. Archived on 2025/02/27. “A variant of “tsundere” that means “a cool personality, but shows a cute side (dere) once you get to know them”. It is often thought of as a kind of abbreviation of “sunao cool,” but it is something completely different. It originated in a thread called “An honest and cool girl” on the “News Flash (VIP)” board of the “2channel” message board. Did awareness of the term increase when kuudere was introduced instead of sunao cool on the NHK radio program “Today is All About Anime Songs,” broadcast on 2006-05-03?”
↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 What Does Kuudere Mean?. Yotsuba (2021/02/23). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Although she acts cold and curt in front of everyone, when they’re alone she becomes a deredere kuudere. A character who usually behaves coolly so that others don’t know about the person they love, but becomes a completely different person and clingy when they’re alone with the person they love is called a “kuudere.” It’s an abbreviation of “kuuru” and “dereru”. “Kuudere” and “Tsundere” are similar types, right? Many people probably think, “If kuudere and tsundere both can’t be honest, then surely they have the same meaning?” But the big difference is whether they adopt a calm or cold attitude. If you think about it this way, it’s easy to understand the difference in how to use kuudere and tsundere.”
↑ The meaning and usage of “Tsundere” – a comparison of romance terms. Nohito Sagashi (2016/03/19). Archived on 2025/11/09. “They seem calm, but they’re not? “Kuudere”. Usually calm and quiet with a relatively unchanging expression, but they can suddenly reveal a passionate side. The term originates from “cool (kuuru) but actually deredere.” [Characteristics] They say bold things without hesitation, while maintaining a cool expression. They generally don’t smile or show any other softer expressions, so when they do their smiles have a huge impact. [Sample Quotes] “…Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” “Are you scared? I’m not scared because you’re here.” “If anything has changed, it’s your fault. You have to take responsibility. …Hehe, I’m just kidding.””
↑ The meaning and usage of “Tsundere” – a comparison of romance terms. Nohito Sagashi (2025). Archived on 2025/11/09. “Kuudere are those who don’t show their emotions much and maintain a cool demeanor, but deep down they have strong feelings. Expressionless, cool. Actually, I like you, I’m embarrassed. She appears expressionless but actually has strong feelings for him.”
↑ Sunao de COOL na Musume (素直でCOOLな娘). 5Channel (2005/10/10). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Somewhere a genius came up with a new term to counter tsundere: sunao cool. Tsundere is about words, while sunao cool is about situations. She expresses her dere in a straightforward and cool manner, and is somewhat of a natural. Honest cool moe. Honest and cool, isn’t that Rei Ayanami?”
↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 What is Sunao Cool. Pixiv Encyclopedia (2011/04/29). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Sunao Cool is a type of moe attribute that is positioned as the polar opposite of tsundere. If tsundere is an abbreviation of tsuntsunderedere, then the opposite is true: tsuntsun → honest, deredere → cool = honest cool. Sunao Cool and Kuudere: Originally, Kuudere was the name for Sunao Cool on the VIP board of 2ch, and there was a movement to rename it to Kuudere because it sounded better, but as mentioned above, it developed into a controversy over whether it was appropriate to include “Dere” in the name for a character who has the character trait of having little emotion of dere. The controversy then turned to whether the name “dere” should be included in the character’s name, even though it is a character characteristic with little emotion. Now it is generally believed that “Sunao Cool” and “Kuudere” are different except for the common feature of being cool, so it is inappropriate to refer to Sunao Cool characters as Kuudere, and vice versa. If you compare it to how they express their love: Kuudere is usually cool, but when the time comes they blush and say “I like you” with a shy look. Sunao Cool is the usual “I like you” and acts like “Is there a problem?” It’s good to remember it like this.”
↑ 16.0 16.1 What is Sunao Cool. Nico Nico Pedia (2009/01/14). Archived on 2025/07/04. “”Sunao Cool” is an adjective used to describe a character who expresses their thoughts honestly, but is perceived as cool because of the way they speak and act. Sunao Cool was created on Futaba☆Channel as the opposite concept of Tsundere, but as it spread the VIP board of 2Channel suggested using the name Kuudere. However, later, as a sign of respect for its origin, Sunao Cool was made the official name, and Kuudere was made a dialect word within 2Channel. Incidentally, Sunao Cool is now standardized on 2Channel as well. Kuudere later spread independently by being used as a derivative of Tsundere, which is different from Sunao Cool, but for this reason the two are often confused. To put it simply, the difference between the two is that Kuudere (and each derivative of Tsundere) is an attribute that is attracted to the gap in state, while Sunao Cool is an attribute that is attracted to the gap in perception. At first glance, you can’t tell what she’s feeling, but she expresses her love openly and honestly. And while he’s at the mercy of it, her sincere feelings are touching. Therein lies the supreme moe of Sunao Cool.”
↑ Kuudere Guidelines. 5Channel (2005/10/11). Archived on 2025/07/04. “A conversation between a man and a woman in town. Kuudere: “I like you. Please go out with me.” Man: “Hey, you, in a place like this, lol.” The man seemed more flustered than the woman who confessed. Kuudere: “I want your answer.” Man: “…I… I like you too.” When the woman heard the man’s answer, she didn’t change her expression and started walking, pulling the man’s arm. Kuudere: “Okay, I get it. Let’s go.” Man: “Hey, where are we going?” Kuudere: “That’s obvious.” The woman stopped, turned to face the man, looked him in the eye, and said without hesitation: Kuudere: “The hotel.” Then the man was pulled by the woman and disappeared into the hotel district.”
↑ 18.0 18.1 How did “Kuudere” Stop Being Sunao Cool and Become a Normal Dere?. Hatena (2021/12/26). Archived on 2025/01/06. “It is no exaggeration to say that the greatest invention in the otaku industry in the 2000s was “tsundere”. This is because it did not simply give a name to a character attribute, but created a boom in various tsundere-derived moe attributes, so-called “new genres”. “New genres” are those that create new moe attributes that did not exist before and turn them into short SS stories. Basically, there were many “○○dere”, which was a play on “tsundere”. And the original of this “new genre” was, without a doubt, “Sunao Cool”. Sunao Cool was not derived from any existing character, but was a moe attribute created from the idea of “tsun → sunao” and “dere → cool” when trying to think of an antonym for “tsundere”. In other words, if tsundere is “being embarrassed to express affection and unable to be honest”, then being sunao cool is “expressing affection honestly and without embarrassment.”The VIP board’s “Sunao Cool” thread was still going strong in 2005, but it eventually lost steam, and after the thread was dropped midway through around August 2006, no new threads were created. Also, around that time, the term “kuudere” was hardly used within the thread. The VIP board’s “sunao cool” thread was moving too fast, so let’s look at the “kuudere” thread on the Ga board. Kuudere guidelines: This thread was created the day after “kuudere” was born. At first, of course, it was based on the theory that “kuudere = sunao cool”, but it soon became deserted. Then, from mid-2006, posts that were closer to the theory that “kuudere = cool tsundere” began to appear. At this point, the theory that “kuudere = cool tsundere” has been confirmed. It seems that around 2010 the theory that “kuudere = cool tsundere” was already pretty dominant. That’s what kuudere is all about. It’s like replacing tsun with cool. Sunao cool is always full of dere, but cool.”
↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 What is Kuudere. Pixiv Encyclopedia (2010/07/11). Archived on 2025/07/04. “A person who is usually cool, doesn’t say much, doesn’t show their emotions, and isn’t good at expressing their feelings, but when they become close to a particular person they like, they become clingy and deredere, showing a cute side, and their love is stronger than most. Compared to tsundere, they are often cold to people they don’t like and are quite strict. Although they are often confused with the “sunao cool” type, which has many similarities, they are not the same thing. The “sunal cool” type always has a cool image, but they are consistently honest in their words and actions, without any deredere changes, which creates a gap between their perception from the outside and the reality.”
↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 What is Kuudere. Nico Nico Pedia (2009/01/17). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Kuudere is an abbreviation of “cool + deredere’. This is basically an attribute that is based on the gap between the coldness of the cool state and the dere state. So, like tsundere, they act cool and uninterested around people other than the person they like, but become deredere with a specific person. They have feelings for a specific person, but when they are in front of that person, they intentionally act cold. At first, they have a cool and uptight image, but as time goes on, they open up and become deredere.”
↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Ku-dere Diagnosis: Maybe being too popular is because you’re a ku-dere?. Himatsubushi Shindan-Test (2024/05/19). Archived on 2025/04/25. “Kuudere is a personality type that combines “cool” and “deredere.” Kuudere people are usually expressionless and don’t show their emotions, and have a brusque, cool attitude. However, they are characterized by showing a gentle moving expression and a doting deredere attitude towards people they like. There is no end to people who fall for this gap.”
↑ Coo-dere. WordPress (2007/10/01). Archived on 2025/06/30. “What if she is so cool rather than cold? And what if such an emotionless girl fawns upon you when she bursts into tears? Yes, she would be a type of coo-dere.”
↑ Trait: Kuudere. Visual Novel Database (2011/03/31). Archived on 2025/07/04. “A kuudere starts cold, distant, uninterested and doesn’t pay any attention to potential love interests, but eventually turns lovestruck. Aliases: Coodere”
↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 What is a Girl’s “◯◯dere”?. AppBank (2016/07/06). Archived on 2025/07/03. “She usually has a cute cool demeanor, but when they are alone she becomes extremely clingy. The point of a kuudere is that she “has a clear separation of her character”. Kuudere don’t behave particularly specially when in a group. However, when alone with you, they will come over and say “XX-kun♪” or hold your hand silently, becoming so spoiled that their usual character falls apart. This is a girl with a very drastic gap. The reason they become “dere” when alone with you may be a form of self-defense, not wanting others to see them like that.”
↑ All the Deres and Their Meaning – Coodere. Wattpad (2017). Archived on 2025/07/04. “Well, it’s similar to kuudere but still different in terms. Coodere girls are girls who are just cool and laid back but then will burst into tears at any moment. It may seem like they don’t care but they actually do. This character starts uninterested but turns lovestruck later. A coodere starts cold, distant, uninterested, and doesn’t pay any attention to potential love interests, but eventually turns lovestruck.”
↑ What’s the difference between Coodere and Kuudere in Anime?. Quora (2017). Archived on 2025/07/04.
↑ Kuudere. Wikipedia EN (2023/02/03). Archived on 2025/06/27. “Kuudere (クーデレ) is a Japanese term for a character who appears to not have emotions. In contrast to tsundere and yandere characters, whose archetypes revolve around the change in their behavior, kuudere characters keep the same core traits throughout a narrative.”
↑ Lucky Channel Ep 10 – Tsundere. Lucky☆Star (2007/06/10). Archived on 2025/03/08.
↑ 29.0 29.1 Yatara to Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku (Volume 2). Amazon (2020/11/11). Archived on 2025/07/04. “After confirming their feelings for each other, Naoya confesses his feelings to Koyuki but she puts her answer on hold until she can express her true feelings. As Koyuki continues to interact with Naoya, she gradually softens her ways of interacting with people other than Naoya.”
↑ 30.0 30.1 Yatara to Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku (Volume 6). Amazon (2022/06/13). Archived on 2025/07/04. “A full season has passed since Koyuki and Naoya first met, and the spring of their third year has arrived. Now officially engaged, the two are treated as the school’s official lovers and spend busy but fun days cheering on their classmates’ love affairs and being interviewed by the newspaper club, making their nickname “Venomous Snow White” seem nostalgic. As the two slowly grow closer, their lives continue, heading towards a future that is guaranteed to have a happy ending.”
↑ Bishoujo to Buraritabi. Fantasia Bunko (2021/12/01). Archived on 2025/02/22. “Eat, talk, and fall in love with a cute girl! I want to escape from my busy daily life and travel! What if I could make that wish come true with the most beautiful girl in my grade? Takahashi Sho, a high school student living in Tokyo, is fed up with his cramped daily life and decides to go on a trip. When he arrives at the station platform, he sees his classmate Nanase Suzuho. Seeing her look depressed, Sho invites her to “go on a trip with me!” At first, Nanase is suspicious, but she takes off her usual iron mask and begins to enjoy herself, relaxing in a foot bath and savoring the local cuisine.“I-I’m not having any fun!”“I guess I just liked the sunset.”“Thank you for taking me on a trip!”A 120% liberating travel romantic comedy with a troubled and beautiful kuudere girl!”
↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 Bishoujo to Buraritabi. KADOKAWA (2021/12/18). Archived on 2024/12/08. “Takahashi Sho, a high school student living in Tokyo, is fed up with his cramped daily life and decides to go on a trip. When he arrives at the station platform, he sees his classmate Nanase Suzuho. Seeing her look sad, Sho invites her to “go on a trip with me!” At first, Nanase is suspicious, but she takes off her usual iron mask and begins to enjoy herself, relaxing in a foot bath and savoring the local cuisine. A 120% liberating travel romantic comedy with a troubled and beautiful kuudere girl!”
↑ Cool na Doukyuusei no 10 Nengo …. Kadokawa (2024/09/20). Archived on 2025/07/31. “She was a cool, solitary bishoujo in her school days. But look 10 years later… and you’ll find she’s married to me and spending every day in a lovey-dovey relationship with me!? A collection of two panels that will have you grinning from ear to ear as she shows us the gap moe between her cool personality and her increasingly dere side!”
↑ Cool na Doukyuusei no 10 Nengo …. Kadokawa (2024/08/20). Archived on 2025/07/30. “She loves me and is always so affectionate and lovey-dovey with me. But back in the day… “Why are you sitting next to me… it’s depressing. Don’t talk to me.” – Kuuru Himuro. When I first met her in high school, she was a cool, honor student bishoujo who kept everyone away. But now… “Hey, hey. Can we… snuggle up like this today?” – Kuuru Sakuragi. Ten years later. I’m married to Susumu Sakuragi, and I’ve become a cute girl who wants to cuddle every day!? At school, on dates… every time I approach her proactively, her cold heart melts. Even though there are gaps between the daily lives of his girlfriend from both eras, there are always cute things about them! The hugely popular romantic comedy born on social media is now available in its entirety!”
↑ Succubus☆Note! Volume 4: Oara Cave ~ The Night Before Infiltration. Kakuyomu (2018/02/26). Archived on 2025/06/30. “”The overall balance of her chest, waist, legs… her proportions are definitely top notch!” Like a painter, she frames her beautiful, well-proportioned body with the index fingers and thumbs of both hands. “But! The deciding factor is that kuudere personality. When a cool beauty like that scolds me, I get goosebumps and it becomes addictive.” Is this guy actually a masochist?”
↑ 36.0 36.1 List of Character Types and Classifications. Monogatari Movie (2021/06/29). Archived on 2023/06/04. “Kuudere: A tsundere with the “tsun” part turned cool. Usually, they treat others the same as they do, and don’t let people know who they like.”
↑ What is the difference between kuudere and sunao cool. Yahoo Japan (2012/06/01). Archived on 2023/08/14. “Sunao cool was conceived as the exact opposite attribute of tsundere, which is “a character who always expresses his feelings of liking the other person in a cool and dignified manner.” They don’t care about what people think, and don’t know know what their embarrassed about. Rather, it makes those around them feel surprised and embarrassed. Cool and Deredere live together without contradiction, and there are no two sides to it. Contrary to the fact that tsundere fascinates the duality of tsuntsun and deredere, sunao cool is something that makes you feel moe at the abnormality of the character who has no two sides of the same coin. Kuudere’s representative characters are Saber from Fate and Yukihime Kuroyuki from Accel World. Sunao cool is Tomoyo from Clannad After Tomoyo. It is often misunderstood, but Rei Ayanami and Yuki Nagato are not kuudere. Rather, if you are “deredere” like Ayanami in the new movie version, you will be close to sunao cool.”
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↑ Kuudere vs Dandere: What’s The Difference?. The Anime Man (2015/12/03).