The Tsundere Tournament

Hear ye, hear ye! It's finally up after about a year of waiting. Voting endtime is... next Tuesday, May somethingth.

Without further adieu, here are the first two contenders!


The daughter of the late head of Waldstein Academy, an institution that studies the Occult. Because of her upbringing, she is an expert on the Occult, however she also absolutely hates it because of how her father’s obsession with it destroyed their relationship. She therefore wants to bring down her father’s Academy, though her priorities shift once she finds evidence that her father’s death may have been a case of murder. She eventually comes into contact with Fumiaki Uchida, an ESPer from the future who was (not entirely willingly) sent back in time to stop an Alien Invasion that devastated the earth in 2012. She initially dislikes Fumiaki because of the circumstances of how they met (he lost his clothes during the time travel), his relation to the Occult, and the cowardice he demonstrates, however she later agrees to help him stop the invasion and softens up considerably after finding that his abilities as a child ESPer essentially destroyed his childhood. Here’s Maya Kumashiro from Occult Academy.



Yes, this is the same person.



An exceptionally kind and caring girl who is also quite strong willed and liable to get her back up over certain issues. Her first meeting with her main love interest got off on the wrong foot after she got a wet shirt doing CPR on a drowned girl and he ended up staring more than he should have. She responded by doing things to get under his skin without making it clear to him why she was acting that way, thus giving him the impression she was ill tempered and leading to a relationship characterised by both parties regularly expressing low opinions of each other. This "verbal warfare" continued until he happened to tease her about something when she was already having a terrible day (due to, among other things, the stress of taking care of her extremely sickly younger brother) and she broke down in tears. The candid conversation that followed led to a mutual increase in the respect that both parties had for each other, although the teasing and less than flattering comments remained a staple of their relationship for quite some time afterwards. Her rocky relationship with her love interest is in stark contrast to her relationships with most of the rest of the cast. She is exceptionally nice to just about everyone else, including her often exasperating younger roommate (although she's not above a little big-sisterly teasing of said roommate). Here’s Mai-HiME’s Mai Tokiha.



Mai and Yuiichi having an argument.

Feel free to post videos or alternate pictures for characters you om nom nominated or just like. Now go and vote!

Two of my nominations up against each other right off the bat. Well, I suppose I should expect a bit of this when I nominated more than a quarter of the characters in the tournament.

Maya is a good example of a domineering tsundere and a bit more in line with what people tend to think of when they think of a tsundere character. Mai meanwhile is a good example of a tsundere who is genuinely nice and shows it. Both characters leave a big mark on the shows they're part of.

The fact that I'm already known as a Mai fanboy makes me a little hesitant to vote for her, but meh... she's one of my all time favorite anime characters, so she has my vote on this one.

I'll go with Maya

I just finished watching the first episode of Occult Academy and I must say, Maya's face when she meets Uchida is pure, hilarious win. I love her already and thus, she gets my vote.

Mai Tokiha

Maya Kumashiro from Occult Academy

Yay! Votes!

I'm going to go for Mai. She's just cool.

With that, it's a 3-3 tie. I might actually shorten the voting end date, since this is a pretty good, quick response so far.

Voting for Mai.

Huh. Surprising turnout! I guess then the new deadline for this voting session is Tuesday, May somethingorother.

Mai. Not to late am I?

Since you didn't change who won, then it counts, I guess.

On another note, I don't know if I'll be able to put up the next contenders today. I might have them up, it just depends on how much time I get. I'm surprisingly busy today.

I might recommend adding an end time to the date in the future... for instance if you know you'll always be updating in the evening then you can make the end time for a round at 6:00pm Pacific Standard or something.

The first matchup is done, with Mai Tokiha scoring a 5-3 win! Now, for the next contestants...


Eighteen year old Witch from Karlsland; a Flight Lieutenant formerly of
the Luftwaffe JG 52. Quiet, efficient, and private, Gertrud (known as
"Trude" to her friends) tends to support her comrades from the shadows.
Her naturally calm attitude grants her great battlefield stamina,
allowing her to rack up an impressive shot-down tally. A long-time
acquaintance of Minna and Erica, she is often seen supporting the former
in her leadership tasks and chastising the latter for her sloppiness.
She has a younger sister named Chris who was badly injured during the
invasion of her country and vaguely resembles Yoshika, and she often has
a complete change in personality whenever she is brought up. Her
magical power grants her the most physical strength of all the Witches
to the extent where she can lift a steel girder many times her size.
Gertrud Barkhorn.



VS

Kallen Koziki/ Statfield leads the double life of a Japanese freedom
fighter hiding as a Britanian student using the guise of a weak
constitution to hide her true nature. She dislikes all Britanians yet
comes to care deeply for Zero the mysterious leader of the Black knights
who is a Britanian in disguise. She eventually is able to rectify her
conflicting views over of the course of their battle for freedom.



And another set this time!


Second Child and the pilot of Unit 02. She is of mixed German and
Japanese descent, but her nationality is German. Asuka is brash,
egotistical, and often verbally abusive (especially to Shinji), and has a
very high opinion of her appearance and her considerable skill as an
Eva pilot. She also has a fierce desire for independence. Her attitude,
however, is a front masking deep-seated insecurities stemming from her
traumatic childhood. Asuka is openly infatuated with Ryoji Kaji, but is
also attracted to Shinji; however, she cannot properly express her
affections, I bring you Asuka Langley Soryu of Evangelion



VS

A gun nut and an undercover CIA operative, she gets a job spying on
Eris, an alien catgirl that recently came to Earth. However, she soon
finds herself helping the catgirl, who has taken a liking to her friend
Kio. She has been a friend of Kio since they were both kids, and she
thinks that he never thought of her as a girl due to her tomboyishness.
While she helps out her new friend Aoi Futaba in getting Kio to like
her, she still has a crush on him, and often hits him or even shoots at
him when she's irritated. However, things are recently looking up for
her. Here's Minami Kinjou (aka CIA-tan) of Asobi ni iku yo!



Minami looking at Kio's porn.

A rare dere moment.


Voting will end on Tuesday, June somethingorother next week, at 10:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

My votes go to Kallen and Asuka.

My votes for Gertrud and Minami are on the table.

Gertrud and Asuka

Kallen and CIA-tan (Minami)

Gertrud and Asuka

I myself cast my votes for Gertud and Minami. Sorry, Asuka, but I haven't seen Rebuild 2.0 yet...

Five_X wrote:I myself cast my votes for Gertud and Minami. Sorry, Asuka, but I haven't seen Rebuild 2.0 yet...

one more for Barkhorn and CIA-tan.

Trude & Asuka for the win!

gotta go with Kallen and Asuka. What can I say I like the red heads. Just don't let them drive boats because they like to crash them. (My red headed coxswain steered the boat into a bridge in college in florida.)

Match One: Gertrude, although I don't remember either Strike Witches or Code Geass excessively well at the moment.

Match Two: Abstain. I'm only really familiar with Asuka from the Eva 2.0 movie. From what little I've seen of her she's extremely bitchy, which I generally don't consider a plus. However she's one of the most famous anime tsunderes ever and there's probably a good reason for that. Meanwhile I like Minami but she doesn't seem as memorable a character as some of my favorite tsunderes like FMP's Kaname Chidori, nor do I think she'll ever take the anime scene by storm the was Asuka did.

Gertrude and CIA-tan..

@Piero: personally, I found Asuka a bitch in the original as well, if one with a somewhat sympathetic backstory.

Wow, 11 votes! I'm really liking the voter turnout. It's certainly better than what Canadian elections get.

It is currently 8-3 in favour of Gertrude, and a 5-5 tie for Minami and Asuka.

Alrighty, the votes are in and it's a big 8-3 win for Gertrude, and since there was a 5-5 tie for Asuka and Minami, I shall do a ceremonial coin toss! This time I'll be flipping my Canadian silver dollar from 1975! Canoe is Minami, and Queen is Asuka!

...aaaaaand, Queen it is! Asuka moves on to the next round!

But now, here's the next dual set of contestants.

The mission primary of a socially inept teenage mercenary who was
assigned to protect her because of her status as one of the whispered.
While a kind and caring person at heart, she had adopted something of a
tough lady attitude due to her experiences in middle school (her mother
died of cancer and she was bullied to the point of wanting to commit
suicide because she didn’t fit in after several years overseas). She
seems to be determined to beat some sense into her protector –literally,
if need be. Here’s Full Metal Panic’s Kaname Chidori.



Same girl, less than four minutes later.

VS

Half-human and half-kitsune, she doesn't like humans in general and
Westernization in particular, but there are always exceptions to be
made, especially in the case of a handsome Army Lieutenant. Here's the
title character of Otome Yōkai Zakuro:





Match 2:

A half-English, half-Japanese girl from a wealthy family. She is lonely
but also proud, and hides her insecurities behind a polite and graceful
façade. Being both beautiful and talented, she is considered something
of an idol at school and has received quite a number of confessions,
most of which she has rejected. However, she was struck by the
sincerity of one particular confession she got from a notorious
delinquent named Harima Kenji, the problem with that being that the
confession was actually meant for her friend Tenma and was given to her
by accident. This was not cleared up, and as such she took an interest
in Harima despite having a low opinion of him due to several incidents,
including the time they were on a group outing together and she
accidentally walked in on him while he was exercising in the buff. It
should be noted that she acts tsundere towards her friends as well as
Harima. Her best friend is her classmate Mikoto Suou, a very forthright
girl who was able to see through this girl’s façade. Since she found
the act annoying, Mikoto needled this girl until she got angry enough to
drop the act and lash out, after which the two ended up becoming close
friends in spite of their vastly different personalities. Here’s School
Rumble’s Eri Sawachika.




VS

A middle school student at Tokiwadai Academy who is ranked as one of
only seven Level 5 Espers in Academy City. She has the power to
manipulate electricity and is often referred to as “Tokiwadai’s Railgun”
due to her ability to use her power to accelerate metal objects to high
velocity. She is also referred to as “onee-sama” by her lesbian stalker
younger roommate Kuroko, (who perverted behaviour regularly pisses her
off but with whom she forms a very effective team in trouble spots) and
“Biri Biri” (a reference to the sound of crackling of electricity) by
Touma, a teenage boy she initially takes an interest in because of his
ability to block her attacks. She initially wanted to find a way to
beat him, but ended up taking a (somewhat) friendlier interest in him
after he helped her out in a critical situation. While people who don’t
know her often imagine her as being very ladylike, she is actually
rather tomboyish (Kuroko regularly criticizes her for wearing shorts
under her skirt) and has a secret love for childishly cute things which
she tries to hide. She has a particular liking for a certain frog
mascot character. Here’s Mikoto Misaka from Toaru Majutsu no Index and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.



Mikoto and Touma.

Kaname and Mikoto

Zakuro and Misaka.

Match one: Abstain

Match two: "Misaka Misaka!" votes theprodigalson with an enthusiastic shout.

abstain and Eri the Sandwichika.

I only know Eri, so I vote for her.

I vote Kaname and that genderflipped schoolgirl version of Hei from Darker Than Black... now that's just a silly description. Schoolgirl Storm maybe? I dunno.

By the way, the voting deadline is 12:00 noon on Saturday.

Match One: Kaname Chidori, definitely.

Match Two: This one is much more of a toss up. I think I'm going to go with Mikoto although it's been quite a long time since I've given Eri's show a proper rewatch.

Edit: Throwing this in. Didn't find it until today.



There's also this haircut scene which shows her dere side along with the tsun side, but it's kind of long.

Zakuro and Eri.

Might try and do up a more detailed profile for Zakuro if she advances.

Eri and ZA! KU! RO! Da ZEEEE!

Alrighty, it's now 3-3 in Kaname and Zakuro's match, and 5-4 for Misaka in the other. I'm rather surprised at the flow of this vote; it looks like things are certainly going to get interesting.

Well, the allotted time for voting is over, so the winners are Misaka in match 2, and match 1 has a tie! Again! Coin flipping time...

On this 50 pence coin, Zakuro is the Queen, and Kaname is Athena.

Queen it is, meaning Zakuro advances! Sorry, Piero!

With that all over, we've got our next four!

Match 1:

One of six people trapped in an underwater themepark that’s set to
collapse due to water pressure in 119 hours, this bitter and cynical 23
year old woman seem to have varying degrees of dislike for everyone
except her pet hamster and the token loli. She seems to have a special
dislike for 20 year old, happy go lucky collage student Takashi, whom
she likes to manipulate into carrying heavy things for her by flirting.
He’s also her person of choice to take with her when she goes around
doing things that can be described as “tempting Death to take her” –
seems she might have a death wish of some sort. But then Takashi helps
rescue her pet hamster Chami, and she begins to find his friendly manner
endearing… what’s a tsundere to do? Pin him to a seat in an enclosed
space and act threatening? Try and shatter his positive view of the
world by revealing a tragic backstory? Cry happy tears when he teases
her after coming to her rescue? How about a mix of all three? Here’s
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity’s Tsugumi Komachi.



VS

This academic achieving high school and prep school student is kind and
considerate towards the other girls living at the Hinata Inn. But
towards male lead and new inn manager Keitaro Urashima, he's a big thorn
in her side whose clutzy behavior she commonly mistakes for lechery
which earns him a punch or kick with enough power to literally knock him
out of the inn. This girl does get jealous if Keitaro is in any
situation where it appears he is getting close to another girl while
denying any attraction to him and may be the lost girl that Keitaro made
his promise with to get to Tokyo University 15 years earlier. Here's
Love Hina's Naru Narusegawa.





Match 2:

From Lucky Star: Kagami is the older fraternal twin sister of Tsukasa
Hiiragi. In school, her grades are excellent, as she studies very hard,
and she was elected class president in her first year. She is in a
different class than Konata Izumi and Tsukasa, but she frequently comes
to their class during lunch time to eat with them. Additionally, Kagami
chose the humanities stream in her second year, so that she could be
with her friends, but she was the only one separated into a different
classroom; the same occurred in her third year. Kagami, occasionally
referred to as "Kagamin" by Konata, is a bit egotistical, and not as
good a cook as Tsukasa. Konata loves to irritate her, and their
arguments act as one of the main factors of comic relief throughout the
series. Kagami is usually annoyed by Konata's constant references to her
otaku interests, but usually has an idea on what she is saying.



VS

An extremely intense personality, this girl lost all but 5kg of her
weight to an a supernatural encounter, and used some rather aggressive
negotiating tactics to silence those who learned her secret, often
involving the use of staplers and other sharp objects. She did,
however, warm up considerably to Koyomi Araragi after he helped her
regain her weight. Unlike most tsunderes, she isn’t the slightest bit
embarrassed about liking Koyomi or the fact he’s seen her nude – a
scenario she engineered. However, she does take a very domineering,
occassionally sadistic approach to their relationship. And hey, if
using the phrases “The only things I can give you, Araragi-kun, are
things like these. This is everything. Well, technically, I also have
my insults and verbal assaults.” and “Right now, I’m afraid of losing
you” in the same conversation don’t qualify a girl as a tsundere, what
does? Here’s Bakemonogatari’s Hitagi Senjougahara.



Voting ends Monday at 10:00 PM Pacific Standard Time!

Naru Narusegawa and Hitagi Senjougahara

Abstain and Senjougahara because if I don't vote for her, she will staple the inside of my mouth.

I'm voting Tsugumi and Kagami. Tsugumi is just too awesome not to vote for, and Naru is a really terrible example of a tsundere. Probably one of the first that really started getting it wrong.

Naru and Kagamin

I, too, shall vote for Naru and Kagamin

Naru and Hitagi

Abstain due to unfamiliarity

and

Hitagi Senjougahara. With a name like "Tsundere-chan", how can she not be the obvious choice.

Ack, lame Naru is pulling up in the runnings! Why!? It's like saying the Monkees are better than the Beatles!

Five_X wrote:Ack, lame Naru is pulling up in the runnings! Why!? It's like saying the Monkees are better than the Beatles!

I've never seen/played Ever 17 and while Nana is far more tsun than she is dere, she is still a tsundere and I know her character quite well having read all the Love Hina manga/novels and seen all the anime.

Match One: Naru. Sorry to the Tsugumi fans but frankly I didn't feel that the dere side she showed was adequate pay off for putting up with her extreme tsun side for most of the game.

Match Two: Hitagi's a bit extreme but she seems more memorable to me then the Lucky Star girl. Granted I didn't exactly watch much of Lucky Star...

A bit of pro-Tsugumi campaigning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgz6PnX8Li0

Isn't she crazy awesome? I love Tsugumi because she's a fantastic at verbal sparring (shortly after the scene in that clip, there's a bit where she tries to bait Takashi by telling him about Archimedes Principle then explaining she "needed" him because she needed more weight in the elevator). Plus, the her journey from someone who is mistrusting and "broken" due to past mistreatment (she doesn't mind kids because they won't screw her over...) to being in madly in love with someone so different from her is very... intriguing and cutely satisfying. Overall she's a very dynamic character, she even ends up going "mama bear" for one of the younger survivors in one route:
http://tinypic.com/r/j8z4at/7

Piero wrote:Match One: Naru. Sorry to the Tsugumi fans but frankly I didn't feel that the dere side she showed was adequate pay off for putting up with her extreme tsun side for most of the game.

...Her crying happy tears and acting all lovey-dovey with Takashi wasn't dere enough for you?

As for her "extreme" tsun side, remember that she doesn't really like other adults - she essentially trying to say "f*** off".

Anyway... Tsunderegumi and Hitagi FTW.

Alas, the sheer genius of Ever17 may never be recognized in our lifetimes.

Never played it, unfortunately (from what I've heard from everyone, it sounds like it would be great). But how do you figure that Naru doesn't do Tsundere properly?