Overview
Yandere (ヤンデレ) a compound phrase combining "yanderu" (病んでる, to fall ill) and "dere dere" (でれでれ, being affectionate). These two words put together implied a person who is deeply possessive and obsessive with a certain person of romantic nature. The aforementioned obsession with another person usually leads to violent tendencies.
It became popular in the mid to late 2000s, mainly with infatuation in the male-oriented moe culture. It indicates a state of being devoid of rationality, consciences, and common sense due to the chronic dualistic feelings and conflicts toward the object of one's affection (often the protagonist), as well as an unsatisfied desire to possess the object of one's affection.
Simply explained, it means to be in a morbid state of mind as a result of an overly strong fondness for the other person, or to be in such a state of mind. This term is used to describe the meaning of the word.
In fact, there is a mental disorder that were a subject delusively believes that a person is deeply in love with them. It goes under the name of de Clérambault's Syndrome. Since the term arose spontaneously from the impressions of several creative works, it was generally interpreted as follows, although definitions varied from person to person.
- One's original personality is usually mild-mannered, reserved, or withdrawn, and is a bit of a communicator. Because of isolation, that person is not exposed to different opinions, and their thoughts become more acute.
- Because of one's personality, that person is not good at developing romantic relationships on their own. Therefore, that person desperately tries not to let go of the few opportunities they have.
- They begin to become romantically aware of others through trivial events in their daily lives. Once they become interested in a person, they are compelled to know everything about that person, and in the worst case, they may engage in stalking behavior such as taking pictures, eavesdropping, stealing, etc.
- If it is developing from the beginning, an imaginary love affair may have already begun in the brain before there is any direct contact.
- In an attempt to attract attention, they become target-limited, caring, and even overprotective. In particular, women tend to become a hopeless man maker machine and men become moral harassers.
- Once they start dating, they completely shift the axis of their lives to their romantic partner. At the same time, the partner also desires to have their life centered on that person, making a co-dependent relationship ideal.
- Because of the fragility of tier own relationships, they are anxious and extremely constrained. They take the stance of eliminating all sources of anxiety, especially contact with the opposite sex other than themself (or the same sex if they are homosexual) is a death sentence.
- As a rule, the anger is directed at a third party, not the other person. Rather, they may pretend to turn a blind eye to the other person's sins even if there was actually an affair. The difference between this and the so-called "choroin" is that even if they are satisfied with the situation on the surface, they unconsciously continue to develop a "sickness" within themselves.
- When they feel that their affections have been rejected, they become very pessimistic. Thereafter, there is a major division between more extensive means of expression and shifting the blame to a third party.
- When their growing "sickness" reaches a threshold, they go insane and, in extreme cases, commit violent acts against themselves and others. The thoughts that go through their minds at such times are a kind of desperation: "why don't we just destroy everything and create a world just for the two of us," or "when we die, our hearts will no longer be moved" .
- Except for a few exceptions who have the character and capacity to accept the above requirements, most of them have a dark ending, and even if they don't, the romance is rarely fulfilled in the way it is supposed to be.
As will be seen in the following pages, an yandere does not even try to communicate properly with their romantic partners, let alone with third parties. Their "love" begins with self-absorption based on self-righteousness and ends with self-fulfillment based on paranoia.
External Links
English
Japanese
ヤンデレとは [単語記事] - ニコニコ大百科 (NicoNico Encyclopedia)
