Top 30 Anime Tsundere Characters
Watching the development of Tsundere characters really does feel a bit heart-warming. We may not be their biggest fans in the beginning, but their journey from being cold and hostile to warm and friendly definitely wins us over in the end.
Here are the 30 best Tsundere characters for you to watch:
1. Tohsaka Rin - Fate / Stay Night
Rin is a stand out student at the school of Shirou. She keeps to herself and hardly talks to other students. Rin works through her isolation and ends up forming a friendship with the summoned Archer, who helps her open up. Though it takes someone else to help her reach into her softer side, she does eventually find her way to being friendlier and more accepting of others,
2. Inuyasha – Inuyasha
Inuyasha is a hybrid between a human and a yokai. He first appears sealed to a tree in a feudal world. He convinces a young girl, Kagome Higurashi, who is being chased by a yokai, to free him so he can help her. At first he distrusts her, but soon helps her on her mission to find the shards of the Shikon Jewel that fractured in her. He at first is determined to become demon when finding the jewel, but he eventually develops strong bonds with Kagome, which lead to love, and the others around him. He is a great example of a Tsundere, as he goes from one extreme of wanting to become full demon, to being a loyal and loving companion and friend
3. Hitagi Senjougahara – Bakemonogatari
Hitagi considers herself a Tsundere. She keeps to herself, and has an incurable disease. In her first year of high school she comes across a mysterious crab that makes her weightless. She avoids contact with everyone else and even threatens those who know her secret.
4. Maki Nishikino - Love Live!
She has a hard time opening up to her friends and peers, and this is sometimes because they see her as childish. She is stubborn, so she puts up a fight instead of showing her true feelings to her friends.
5. Shana - Shakugan no Shana
Shana is initially concentrated solely on her role as a Flame Haze. She is highly intelligent but does not know how to act socially. Her powers in battle are incredible, but she cannot take this into social situations, and in one episode even asks how babies are made.
6. Alto Saotome – Macross F (Macross Frontier)
Alto is sometimes confused for a girl because of his long hair and fine features. Some call him Hime, which means princess. He is training as a pilot and is quite good at it. Despite his feminine looks, he is standoffish and aloof in his demeanour. Throughout the series he slowly develops emotional bonds with other characters, which ultimately ends up in a love triangle.
7. Eri Sawachika - School Rumble
Eri comes from lots of money and is quite spoiled. This affects the way she acts in social situations and feels entitled and acts snobby. She however yearns for a connection with her father and this longing for a connection ultimately takes her down a journey of rediscovery.
8. Aisaka Taiga - Toradora
Taiga is a beautiful girl and has her head screwed on straight, however she cannot stand being in the company of others. She has a short temper and lashes out at people easily; this and her short height gave her the nickname Palmtop Tiger. Her brutal honesty and stand-offish behavior take a seat when her and a classmate become friends to help each other seek out relationships.
9. Louise Valliere - The Familiar of Zero
Louise tries her best to act proper in her role as a noble, but her impatience and temperamental nature tend to get in the way. She develops a caring and selflessness that was not apparent in the beginning. She does have a crippling need to prove herself to others in order to gain love and affection. Through the desire to prove herself, she learns to let others in.
10. Kagura - Gintama
Kagura belongs to the Yato Clan. It is one of the bloodthirsty races and is the strongest as well. She although does not suit the look – she is small and cute. She can be detached from situations and does not show a care too often, but she does develop a relationship with Shinpachi and does care deeply for him.
11. Aoba Tsukishima – Cross Game
Aoba throws a mean fastball. She aspires to play official baseball but can’t because she is a girl. She comes across as jealous of her male counterparts, and this makes her mean and rude. She doesn’t show her skill to many people, as she doesn’t think they can handle it.
12. Asuka Langley – Neon Genesis Evangelion
Asuka comes from multiple backgrounds, she is one quarter Japanese, hence her name, but is European which is why she looks the way she does. She lives in Germany and German is her native language. Asuka is a child prodigy, at the age of 14, and already has a university degree. She trained hard to become a pilot for the Evangelion and is proud of herself. She is a very proud and strong character, and definitely comes across this way to others. Deep down she is actually vulnerable and insecure, but can also be violent and intrudes other people’s personal space. She battles to accept her own failure, and does not like asking for help.
13. Kagami Hiiragi - Lucky Star
Kagami has a pretty average physique. She has light purple has which is tied into pigtails with ribbon. She has beautiful violet eyes that are quite piercing. Kagami, despite her appearance, is shy and unsocial. She is lonely because she has nobody to share her interests with.
14. Haruhi Suzumiya – Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
Kyon had given up his belief of the supernatural, until he meets Haruhi Suzumiya, who is still very much interested in aliens, time travel and other things. He encourages her to open the SOS Brigade. Outside of this, he does tend to keep to himself and has friends who seem to feel the same.
15. Chika Ogiue – Genshiken OVA
Ogiue comes from the Tohoku region of Japan, and is not proud of it. She tries to hide her accent but it does slip through when she is under pressure. She loathes herself and is blunt about it, and blunt to others. She is an aspiring artist, but needs to overcome her own demons before progressing any further.
16. Naru Narusegawa – Love Hina
Naru has an incredibly fiery temper and tends to get physical and violent really quickly. She is smart and studies hard, which earned her a place in Tokyo University. She becomes very short-sighted and wears thick glasses, which does not help her attitude.
17. Mikoto Misaka - A Certain Magical Index
Mikoto is one of the most powerful psychic users in the Academy City, and the world as a whole. Although she attends a school for the elite and rich psychics and as seen as a proper lady, she is very short-tempered, full of pride and displays an improper attitude towards most things in life. Despite this, she has a strong moral sense and always wants justice to be done.
18. Chitoge Kirisaki – Nisekoi (Nisekoi: False Love)
Chitoge has always had a hard time making friends, as people were always scared of her gangster family. She even tried keeping notebooks full of information of classmates, in order to win them over as friends. She is incredibly smart and can speak both English and Japanese, but despite her wisdom she is bad tempered and quick to jump down anyone’s throat if they bother her. As the series continues she does show her friendly and talkative side to those close to her.
19. Vegeta – Dragonball Z
Vegeta starts out in Dragonball Z as a villain, who is arrogant, self-entitled and merciless in his role as the prince of Saiyans. He has a superiority complex and thinks he is better than most. His ruthless killer attitude and cold-bloodedness slowly disappears throughout the show and he starts showing compassion and caring for those around him. He is a true character development that shows Tsundere.
20. Yui Kotegawa - To Love-Ru
Yui is conservative and sometimes keeps to herself, though she does rule the school with an iron fist. She keeps a strict rule and doesn’t take lightly to those who break that rule. She soon finds herself at odds with Lala who is free spirited, but this helps Yui loosen up a bit and make friends with those who want a more peaceful environment.
21. Kallen Stadtfeld – Code Geas: Hangyaku no Lelouch (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion)
Kallen comes across as meek and frail. This hides her role as a member of a guerrilla resistance group, who fight against Britannia. She starts off by being a follower of the rules; she obeys every single formality and runs her life by that ideal. However she changes into a young girl who is strong-willed and forceful, fighting what she believes in – no way frail and meek anymore.
22. Kirino Kousaka – My Little Sister Can’t Be Cute
Mature for her young 14 years, Kirino has a complex about being the younger sister. She owns many adult type games, and focusses on the older brother and younger sister characters. She is a model, but does it just to earn money for her games. She is a keen student and is very athletic as well. Her perfectionist and overachiever attitude hinders her when she isn’t doing so well, and this frustrates her more. She does however have a more passive side and she tries her best to open up towards others, especially her brother, who she learns to show gratitude for after a while.
23. Germany – Hetalia Axis Powers
Germany is tall and manly. He is always harassed by Italy, although he does consider him his best friend. He has a serious personality and tends to be quite pessimistic, he is an overbearing neat freak and abides by rules, and really hates making mistakes, and is intolerant of others making mistakes as well. He has a love for reading, saving money, baking and recycling – giving a peek into his more sensitive side. His hard attitude and by the book persona make way for his underlying respect for Grandpa Rome and his love for touring Italy and all of its beautiful history.
24. Nagi Sanzenin - Hayate the Combat Butler
Nagi is from a family so rich that rich isn’t even an adequate word to use. She is very short-tempered, incredibly spoiled and is anti-social. Her upbringing in an opulent family has ruined her better personality traits and given her a superiority complex. She doesn’t like showing affection or care, but she does care for her family and friends deep down. She is incredibly intelligent and even skips three grades at school, but this doesn’t stop her from being withdrawn. She has to spend most of her time at home, as because of her status it is dangerous for her to leave the house.
25. Kyo Sohma – Fruits Basket
Cursed by the spirit of the cat zodiac, Kyo Shoma turns into an orange cat when hugged by a member of the opposite sex, or when under great pressure or stress. The cat is not an animal in the Chinese zodiac, but it is said that it used to be before the rat tricked it and took its place. For this reason, Kyo and Yuki, who is the rat, do not find friendship in each other. Kyo is short tempered and impulsive, not to mention rude as well. However he does have a soft side that he tried to hide away from people. His softer side tends to embarrass him, and he becomes incredibly overprotective quickly. He slowly develops a way to show his feeling, especially to Tohru, who genuinely cares about him.
26. Chiaki Shinichi – Nodame Cantabile
Chiaki is an incredibly accomplished pianist and violist, and is a perfectionist who is very critical of himself, as well as others. His family is well off and are considered distinguished. This is why he pushes himself so hard, to keep up with their expectations. He has a fear of flying and the sea, so has a hard time expanding his experience. He has distaste for his new neighbour, Nodame, as he looks down on her, but soon becomes empathetic towards her, especially after finding out she has great piano skills. His fear of abandonment hinders him from finding love and happiness, and this can also make him seem insensitive, but Nodame’s companionship and love help him slowly overcome this.
27. Sena Kashiwazaki – Haganai
Wealthy and the daughter of an esteemed head teacher, she has a distaste for anything ordinary. She is successful in her academics and is very attractive as well, but this causes her to be arrogant and disliked by other girls in her class. She treats her male classmates as servants and does not consider them to be equal to her. She does have a longing for being accepted in a group, and is secretly happy when she receives a nickname from Yozora, as it is the first nickname she has ever received, even though it is a fairly rude nickname. She needs to overcome her superiority complex to be accepted by those around her.
28. Tsugumi Aoba - Kannagi
She has a strong crush on her childhood friend, but despite being close to him, she is wary to admit it. She is incredibly jealous when he moves in with another girl, and even goes as far to make a story up about being his half-sister. She is jealous and cunning, but also socially inept at dealing with normal relationships and situations.
29. Kaname Chidori – Full Metal Panic
Kaname comes across as a normal sixteen year old school girl, but is far from it. After the discovery of her whispered abilities, terrorist organizations seek her out. She is then assigned Sousuke from Mithril to protect her. He repeatedly uses his intuition to save her life, but she finds him and his intuitions irritating in high school life. She desperately needs the extra help to survive the constant threat of the terrorist organizations, but she needs to trust and listen to her assigned protector.
30. Makise Kurisu – Steins;Gate
Kurisu is wise beyond her years; she even skipped a grade and is a member of the Victor Qondria University’s Brain Research Program. Others her age are envious of her, and because of this she has had to gain a strong personality. She always has a stern expression and does not show any weakness. She likes poking her nose into different things because of her curious nature. Her hard nature and strong personality develop through the series as she grows and matures, coming into her own.
Some Tsundere characters are clearer than others, and some take longer to develop into the role. However the transition is a great one to watch and they often turn into being the favorite characters in a series.
