GS: The Deconstruction of Moe Subculture – EXTRA STAGE: Kuudere

Yuki Nagato

The Kuudere personality archetype isn’t necessarily new, but its categorization and increasing popularity in otaku culture certainly is. To conceptualize it, the Kuudere is… snow. Outwardly cold, even viciously so sometimes, and like the Tsundere, difficult to approach. But snow is also, paradoxically, an insulator, trapping heat deep within its lifeless, passionless bosom, protecting the seeds of spring from the harsh winds of winter.

(I’ll eventually have a general link to all the damned articles – once I get my friend to help set up the server – but, for now, the rest of the series: parts one, two, three, four, five and six.)

The most interesting thing about the Kuudere? Unlike Yandere and Tsundere, there is very little gender bias for this particular archetype. It is one of the few examples of moe that can apply to any genre, and elicit a response from any gender. It may arguably be a universal overlap of appeal amongst all forms of fandom – representative of something intrinsic in how both Eastern and Western culture approaches… love? Affection? Romance? I’m getting into nebulous territory here, but I think I’m getting my point across: Kuudere points to a fundamental aspect of attraction in general.

Audrey Hepburn

The earliest example of Kuudere that I can think of is actually way, way beyond the time of anime as we know it. Audrey Hepburn, actually, is the first face to come to mind in relation to this personality trait. To quote A. H. Weiler’s review of Roman Holiday (and lifting directly from Wikipedia while I’m at it), “…Audrey Hepburn… is a slender, elfin, and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love.”

Working off of the late and great Hepburn’s famous personality, Kuudere’s charming qualities are intrinsically tied into yet another dichotomy, much like its Tsun- and Yan- relatives, this time not in the form of violent-gentle, but regal-innocent, or cold-warm. As “Kuu” is a direct derivative of the English word “cool,” we can see how Hepburn not only served as a prototype, but just about defined every aspect of its conceptualization: a kuudere character is aloof and regal when “cool,” offering a queenly facade of perfection and crystalline beauty. Look, but don’t touch; admire, but don’t approach. The “dere” trait would be the face behind the mask – an expression of unprotected innocence, of the sort of emotional vulnerability that I’ve asserted as central to the definition of what is and isn’t moe. It is, perhaps, a greater paradox of behavior than tsundere, of which is defined mainly by varying scales of heat and passion, but is still ultimately two variants of the same general personality set, whereas Kuudere expresses an outright polarity.

Saber

Much like with Hepburn’s romantic history, the kuudere elicits a particularly strong possessive response from its admirers, tantalizing them with but the faintest hints of affection amidst a snowstorm of mystery and distance, driving them on to try and claim it. For whatever reason, however, kuudere relationships are not a guarantee in even the idealistic world of fantasy – whatever caused them to uphold that cold mask in the first place lingers, even if you’ve managed to sneak a glimpse behind the facade. Kuudere characters, in fact, often have a higher rate of change towards the first qualifier, rather than dere, amongst its peers – tsundere characters often win out in relationships, and even yandere characters eventually lean back towards sanity, dropping the yan-. But whatever context caused the snow to fall in the first place may linger yet, and stifle the hopes of a warm spring.

Hotohori

Notably, the most numerous kuudere characters are actually… male. Shoujo series are pretty much rife with the outwardly cold but kindhearted prince archetype, giving further warrant to my assertion as to the gender-free nature of this particular form of moe. The reason why we’re attracted to a kuudere girl is the same reason why anybody, boy or girl, are attracted to elegance and class; the reason why admiration turns to longing is the same reason why anybody would want to protect anybody else once they’ve been allowed to see vulnerability.

To embrace somebody else’s vulnerability is, simply, to allow yourself to drop your own safeguards and armor – accepting somebody else’s trust is to trust them with your own weaknesses. But, as anybody who’s ever made a snow cave before, it’s a hell of a lot warmer with two than one.

Snow cave... right?

~ by Gonzo Mehum on April 4, 2009.