Otaku~nya

I'll be the first to admit I used to dislike yaoi. Actually, I used to really hate it. It isn't that I discriminate gay people, or at least I 'hope I don't, I just wasn't comfortable watching yaoi/shounen ai. Don't worry, this isn't going to be an anti-yaoi post. On the contrary.

My prejudice against yaoi/shounen ai (from now on only reffered to as yaoi, since it takes me to long to keep writing both of them) started to fade away when I started watching anime that was yaoi-like. I started watching princess princess, which was about an all boys-school. To be honest, the whole boy liking boys dressed up as girls freaked me out a bit, but the intresting characters made me keep on watching, and I finished it pretty quick. And that was it, or so I thought.

After a while, I decided I needed to watch a real yaoi anime, for the simple fact that I hadn't. I started watching sukisho, and I enjoyed it, although I have only watched the first two episodes yet. But that still wasn't when I found out I really did like yaoi. I read a yaoi manga, also for the simple fact I hadn't yet read one. I read Wild Rock, a yaoi one-shot, with a very nice story-line and character development. I loved the manga, but still didn't consider myself a yaoi fan.

Then when did I start thinking of myself as a yaoi lover? It started when reading Hands off, a manga series which isn't yaoi. First off all, I love the serie. But secondly the main characters are all boys. So one is really hot, Tatsuki. One of the other main guys is Kotarou. Kotaro looks really girly and is Tatsuki's nephew. They have this love/hate relationship that is amazing and even though Kotarou had a girlfriend during the whole time I read the manga's I wished for them to become a couple. I knew they wouldn't but they would have been an amazing couple, they honestly would.

Since then, I kept liking yaoi couples. For example I love len Kagamine x Kaito. They are vocaloids but they look so good together. And of course Tamaki and Kyouya from Ouran High School Host club. They are really good together, even though I don't like Tamaki. I even make "Yaoi" couples in the crime series I usually watch. ( Flynn and Provenza from the closer <3) And now like watching pictures from emo guys kissing. It's all the power of yaoi!

Tsundere.For people who don't know this phenonmen (Be ashamed of yourself. What kind of otaku are you!?) a tsundere is most of the time a girl who acts all cool, and though, but is very kind on the inside. Tsundere is comes from the words "tsuntsun" and "deredere," meaning "aloof, pointed, morose" and "exhausted, lovestruck" respectively. A tsunderekko (tsundere girl) can express this in one of two ways:

1) She is initially combative/aloof/cold, either towards the protagonist or everybody, and through the course of the story opens up and becomes emotionally vulnerable and loving (basically a personality shift through time).

2) She is combative/aloof/cold on the outside, but secretly she feels very vulnerable and loving (basically she puts up a farce to hide the 'real her').

Escpecially the most recent anime show characters that are Tsundere, or Tsundere like. Many well-liked characters are tsundere's, like for example Kagami Hiiragi, from lucky star or shana from shakugan no shana. But why do we like this characters so much? What is it in these characters that make us relate to them.

I know why I like them. I relate to them myself. No matter what I feel, I keep it in, and get annoyed when people ask me about it, or make me blush. I am tsundere. That is one of the reasons I love tsundere characters. I feel like I'd act the same way, and I can relate to what they feel and do. But that is just why I like them. WHat made them become so popular?

I think Tsundere characters are so popular because they are cute. It is great to see the mean, strict girl go to a crying girl who is sad because she once again got angry at the guy she loved. Many people will relate to that, because a lot of girls and guys just the same, screw up when they talk to their love interest and regret that later. Tsundere characters posses this threat, but greatly enlarged. Anyone cna relate to their feelings of regret and this makes their characters a lot more enjoyable.

Another reason why tsundere's are liked is because they are the characters showing the most emotion. They are most of the time really irritated, anooyed and also violent, but when they have their deredere moments they are just as sweet as they are otherwise violent. By having more emotion the characters are more interesting. And when a character is more interesting they are most of the time also better liked. Complicated characters have more fans then shallow once.

Like many of the other typical anime stereo-types, tsundere are very popular.

I might actually talk about some other stereo-types, if people would like that, and maybe even some more about tsundere but for now, I have finished my talk