Anime Primer 101: Yanderes, Crazy in Love

A waifu is usually a female character from animated media mostly Japanese anime. Waifus come in many different shapes and sizes. You might have heard that word thrown around in different situations. Maybe you’ve even uttered the word yourself. Today, we’re going to focus on one of the multiple types of waifus, the yandere. Editor’s note: If you’re particularly new to anime and you’re still fresh behind the ears with the jargon: understand that there is a level of hypersexualization of female characters present in this fandom. Also, there’s a number of many childlike female characters that are actually of age get placed in waifu status. Go figure. So this article isn’t as random as you might think. Back in May, we had a 2020 springtime anime roundup on Instagram Live. (Part Two here!) During the stream, more than one person wasn’t sure about what a yandere was and had to ask for clarification. So, we’ve decided to give a primer on what a yandere is to help educate the masses. The word yandere is a combination of yanderu, which means to be sick mentally, and deredere, which roughly means to show affection. You’ll notice that the terms tsundere, dandere, and kuudere all end with “dere” because these characters usually show love in some way. A yandere is one of the prime types of waifus in anime. It’s also important to note that while most of these archetypes are portrayed by female characters in manga and anime, male yanderes do exist and the general male equivalent of waifu…