Yandere Survival Guide
The word ''Yandere'' has no direct english counterpart, being linguistically based off the Japanese words ''Yanderu'' which is associated with mental illness; and ''Deredere'' which is associated with showing affection.
The word ''Yandere'' has no direct english counterpart, being linguistically based off the Japanese words ''Yanderu'' which is associated with mental illness; and ''Deredere'' which is associated with showing affection.
Most likely be directed towards a young male audience from their mid-teens to early twenties, or so I presume. You see I've always been fascinated with dissecting the trope and just why Yandere female fictional characters are so well loved with the young male demographic. I do believe that a Yandere would not translate well into Western comics or live action and that its popularity is on a fundamental level tied to the art design of anime and manga in general.
The art style is well known of its exaggerations of human features, most notably the facial kind that make manga and anime characters for the most time aesthetically pleasing to look at. The age of consent in Japan is 14 and despite this it is the specific art style of manga and anime that makes most viewers overlook or ignore this in favor of the cuteness factor that is produced in combination of the art style and the often high school aged characters - mostly so with female characters.
A Yandere possesses those visually pleasing aesthetics, while Western art and animation is either more simplified or grounded towards realism (and the fact that in the West the age of consent is mostly 16+); in either case it wouldn't be able to make the yandere attractive enough to initially make us overlook their mental instability. Because a real life Yandere would essentially be a dangerous, unhappy and self-destructive individual - indicating that anime and manga art offers viewers a leeway to escape from that harsh reality and fantasize about mental illness from a more 'affectionate' perspective.
I mean seriously, who in their right mind would be attracted to a raging lunatic, no matter how attractive? It doesn't happen in real life, but apparently its quite a norm in the anime community. And the answer might be a little neo-Freudian...
A young male might like the fantasy that an anime yandere female is unconditionally infatuated with them; she is a dangerous psychotic monster whom he can influence and control; she is willing to do anything for him, even murder and this level of near symbiotic devotion could attract him.
Alternatively the young male might just like the idea of being bossed around and controlled by a strong willed, psychotic but cute young female. I suppose he would be attracted to the power, confidence and cunning she must exude.
Or perhaps less disturbingly, maybe Yanderes are popular because we wish to be there for them, to mend their broken minds, to feel important and needed to someone so lost, and this makes us attracted to their unstable mental state (in-anime/manga only).
As aforementioned, no one would want a real life Yandere girlfriend because mental illness is a real and dangerous issue, but for a variety of reasons it works quite well within the fictional realm of anime and manga.
Why do you think Yanderes are so popular? And would you want a Yandere girlfriend?
Not only did I completely misread the post I replied to, I also failed to realize I was talking to the thread's OP.
