Summary
- Tsunderes are a popular character archetype in anime, capturing the hearts of viewers with their hot and cold treatment.
- The best romance anime featuring tsunderes showcase their journey of warming up to a potential love interest, evoking compelling emotions.
- The contrasting sides of a tsundere's personality, such as sweetness and wrath, add depth and humor to romantic comedies like Maid Sama! and Toradora.
The tsundere is a popular character archetype in Japanese media, and the best romance anime featuring tsunderes reveal exactly why. The term tsundere is used to describe a character who starts out cold before eventually warming up to a potential love interest. A popular subject for romance anime, tsunderes are an essential part of anime history.
When done right, a tsundere never fails to win over the hearts of viewers, even if they don't win over the object of their affection. There's just something about the hot and cold treatment that works. The best tsundere anime show just how compelling a tsundere's journey can be.
10 ReLIFE (2016)
Animated By TMS Entertainment & Based on the Manga By Yayoiso
ReLIFE is a romantic drama, as well as one of the best supernatural slice-of-life series, set in a school where 27-year-old Arata Kaizaki has been forced into an experiment designed to make him to rethink the way he lives. It may not be obvious at first that one of the girls, sporty Rena Kariu, is a tsundere.
After initially seeming cold, judging Kaizaki harshly for having cigarettes in school, she lends him a pencil and eraser as a favor and it seems as though she may warm up. However, her strong feelings for a boy in the class send her down a dark path where she becomes moody and takes it out on others, such as her rival, Chizuru. Like many tsundere Rena's inability to express her true feelings is what causes her pain, and a reason viewers can't help but root for her along the way.
9 Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (2021)
Animated By Telecom Animation Film & Based on the Manga By Nanashi
With some anime, the title says it all. The titular Hayase Nagatoro, voiced by the multi-talented Sumire Uesaka, is a first-year high school student who enjoys nothing more than relentlessly teasing Naoto Hachiouji from the moment she encounters the awkward main character.
Through the chemistry they develop, or possibly due to a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, the two grow closer over time. Regardless of how much she teases the boy, it becomes obvious that Nagatoro has an affection for him that goes beyond simply enjoying his agony. Nagatoro is a strong recent addition to the romantic comedy genre for viewers who enjoy romance that arises from the most unlikely couples. Nagatoro is the quintessential tusndere, and shows why the archetype persists even to this day.
8 Fate/Stay Night (2014)
Animated By Studio Deen & Based on the Visual Novel By Type Moon
Although primarily a fantasy action anime in the very popular Fate series, Fate/Stay Night is distinct from other entries due to its romance subplot that runs throughout the show. Only in fantasy anime could a tsundere threaten to kill the boy she likes and it still remains unclear whether she actually means it or not.
Tohsaka Rin is the heir to a family of prestigious mages and takes her task of winning the Holy Grail War very seriously. Emiya Shirou only joins the war by accident. They are nevertheless thrown together by circumstances and, however much Rin threatens Shirou or literally tries to kill him, his commitment to his ideals and perseverance are powerful things. Fate/Stay Night is a strong option for fans who like their romance with a heavy dose of action, and the series was even adapted into one of the best anime movie series in recent years.
7 Nisekoi (2014)
Animated By Studio Shaft & Based on the Manga By Naoshi Komi
A classic odd-couple romance, Nisekoi follows the life of two high school students thrown together by circumstances and forced to pretend to be a couple whilst hating each other from their very first meeting. Chitoge Kirisaki is athletic, bad-tempered, and violent, often turning that violence on her counterpart, Raku Ichijou, who she views as a pushover. However, like all tsundere, Chitoge has a sweet side, going out of her way to secretly help when the chain belonging to Raku is broken and becoming very emotional when she loses her ribbon. Both sides are brought out in full force during the show as their false love develops into some very real feelings.
6 Maid Sama!
Animated By J.C. Staff & Based on the Manga By Hiro Fujiwara
Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president at a predominantly male school. It isn't long before she develops a reputation as a fierce disciplinarian, as she fights to keep the boys in line, gaining the nickname "demon president." As one of the other students discovers, there is more to Ayuzawa than this, though. Much to her embarrassment, the council president secretly works as a maid at a maid cafe, where she has to act cutesy for the customers. Making fun of her for it, as Takumi Usui does, brings out the full force of her wrath. Maid Sama! is a show that uses the contrast of the two different sides of the tsundere, Ayuzawa, to hilarious effect.
5 Love, Chuunibyo & Other Delusions! (2012)
Animated By Kyoto Animation & Based on the Light Novel By Torako & Nozomi Ōsaka
Love, Chuunibyo & Other Delusions follows the members of the Far East Magical Napping Society, a school club formed to accommodate a young woman named Rikka and her Eighth-Grader Syndrome fantasies. Whilst Rikka is currently in her full "chuunibyo" phase, some of the other characters are well past theirs and don't look back on those times with fondness.
Chuunibyo is a Japanese term meaning Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome and is used to describe people who believe they are special in a juvenile way.
As a result, reminding Shinka Nibutani of her old chuunibyo ways is not a good idea for others, usually bringing out her very real violence. While definitely not the central focus of the show, the tsundere is a fun addition to a show that definitely errs more on the comedy side of romantic comedy.
4 Toradora (2008)
Animated By J.C. Staff & Based on the Light Novel By Yuyuko Takemiya
Centered on two characters who are polar opposites, Toradora features one of the most iconic tsundere in anime in the form of Taiga Aisaka. In contrast to Ryuuji Takasu, a boy with an intimidating face but a reserved personality, Aisaka is small and sweet-looking with a fierce temper.
Even worse for Takasu, she is a fan of mixed martial arts and carries a wooden katana with her, which she'll more than happily demonstrate her deftness with when the situation requires. The show follows the odd couple as they discover each other's sweet side and their surprising chemistry is what has made the show such a highly-rated romantic comedy.
3 Your Lie In April (2014)
Animated By A-1 Pictures & Based on the Manga By Naoshi Arakawa
She may not be the main love interest of the emotional classical music-themed anime, but Tsubaki Sawabe is nevertheless one of the most memorable tsundere characters in an amazing romantic drama.
Tsubaki is fit and loves baseball, completely unlike Kousei Arima, the former concert piano prodigy whom she has feelings for. While Kousei falls for a beautiful violinist who helps inspire him to perform on the piano again, Tsubaki continues to wonder how she can get the attention of someone with such different interests to her own, beyond hitting baseballs through the music room window. Tsubaki's tender character is a part of what makes the show beautiful, despite her limited screen time.
2 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War (2019)
Animated By A-1 Pictures & Based on the Manga By Aka Akasaka
Kaguya-sama is a romantic comedy with not one, but two tsundere at the heart of it, waging a Death Note-style war of the minds over who will confess their feelings towards the other first. Student council president, Miyuki Shirogane, and vice-president, Shinomiya Kaguya, work even harder than most to make sure they don't get embarrassed.
Fans of Kaguya-Sama should read or watch series creator Aka Akasaka's other well-known series, Oshi No Ko, where Kaguya even cameos!
Their game has the highest of stakes, as both have reputations to uphold in the school and neither of them is willing to give up easily. In the end, the two can't help but show how much they care for the other through just how hard they work to convince the world that they don't. This dynamic sets the show apart from other romance anime and helps make it a particularly memorable addition to the genre.
1 Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun (2014)
Animated By Doga Kobo & Based on the Manga By Izumi Tsubaki
Centered on the oblivious Umetarou Nozaki and his relationship with the always unfortunate Chiyo Sakura, who has a crush on him, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun turns out to be a delightful ensemble romantic comedy with a cast of unforgettable characters.
One of these is a boy at their school, Mikoto Mikoshiba, who is an unlikely tsundere. Whilst outwardly flirting with girls, confidently employing cheesy lines and trademark winks that can't help but charm, he is secretly timid, shy and becomes extremely embarrassed at his own confident behavior afterward. His personality even inspires the tsundere main character of the Shoujo manga that Nozaki writes. Mikoto is a popular if unconventional tsundere character and one of the reasons Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun is one of the funniest romantic comedies around.