Oldtaku: Anime for Grownups

This is a term that’s almost as overused as moe. Basically it means a girl who acts all hostile (tsuntsun) towards the nebbish male lead, but since she’s secretly in love with him she can’t help but get all flustered and super-bashful-girly (deredere) in the right circumstances.

These have peaked in popularity, and there has been a huge amount of bitching about how the term has been cheapened, but Louise from Zero no Tsukaima and Taiga from Toradora are great examples.

Another sign that tsundere are played out is the recent growth of the related yandere character – who acts polite and girly, then goes totally insane and cuts you up with a meat cleaver (think Rena from Higurashi).