Each person has a unique personality. Similarly, anime characters do too! Moreover, characters with the same personalities are categorized into various dere types. Such categories include Tsundere, shundere, darudere, dandere, and many more. Today we will look into the meaning of the Mayadere type. If you are an otaku, I’m pretty sure you have heard of the term before. However, even if you haven’t, don’t worry! I have prepared a list of all the famous personalities who belong in this category. You might even find some of your favorites on the list! Without any further delay, let us get into the details of the archetype.
Meaning Of Mayadere
It is believed that the word is formed by the combination of two words- Maya and DereDere. Maya might come from Mayakashi/Mayakasu, which roughly means ‘to deceive’ or ‘cheat.’ It might also mean fake or deception. The other half of the term, DereDere, means lovey-dovey.
Mayadere refers to characters who are usually the antagonist of the story. They are initially vicious, harsh, and cruel. However, after falling in love with the hero or someone from the hero’s team, they learn to love and care. It doesn’t always have to be love. Sometimes it might be platonic as well. Although this doesn’t mean they turn completely good. They might fight alongside the heroes to defeat a common enemy or some circumstance that has forced them to come together. However, that does not guarantee that they will remain in the hero’s team.
They might just go back to their evil ways since they are the villains, after all. Usually, if the mayadere character joins the hero’s side, another villain appears. Some characters join the hero’s side for good. However, some go back to being a villain but help the hero’s if need be.
Mayadere sometimes might behave like tsundere characters by saying rude things that they most probably don’t mean. They might say things like, “you should be grateful that I’m assisting you,” or “I am only helping you because it benefits me” After joining the hero’s team, they might become caring, loving and more expressive than they originally were.
Famous Mayadere Characters
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generation – Orochimaru
- Otome Game no Hametsu Flag – Sirius Dieke / Raphael Walt
- Owari no Seraph – Ferid Bathory
- Parasyte: The Maxim – Ryouko Tamiya / Reiko Tamura
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generation – Sumire Kakei
- Fresh Pretty Cure! – Setsuna Higashi/Eas
- Go Princess Precure – Akagi Towa
- Hugtto! PreCure – Ruru Amour
- Monster Musume no Iru Nichijo – Rachnera Arachnera
- Nanatsu no Taizai – Jericho
- Date A Live – Kurumi Tokisaki
- Naruto – Temari
- One Piece -Baby 5
- Nisekoi – Seishirō Tsugumi
- Suite PreCure – Siren / Ellen Kurokawa
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Viral
- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica – Kyoko Sakura
- MÄR – Some Chess Pieces
- Dakara Boku wa, Ecchi ga Dekinai – Iria Fukumune
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch – Sara
- Mirai Nikki – Minene Uryu
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Louise Halevy
- Testament of Sister New Devil – Kurumi Nonaka
- Your Turn To Die – Alice Yabusame
- Yu Yu Hakusho – Hiei
- Kampfer – Shizuku Sango
- Kendall the Criminal – Kendall Humphries
- To LOVE-Ru / Love-Ru Darkness – Konjiki no Yami
- Kore wa zombie desu ka? – Sarasvasti
- Digimon – Gatomon
Conclusion
I think the idea of this deretype is to make you hate the character first but then focus on how the person develops so you slowly become attached to them. It might be the type of feeling you got when they revealed the truth about Itachi in Naruto. They intentionally made us hate the character at first, then revealed the big secret which made us cry. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Itachi is a Mayadere character. His story is completely different. All I’m saying is the feeling is the same. Moreover, watching the character growth of a Mayadere character is delightful!
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