Yandere is one of the most recognizable anime character types, following after tsundere and deredere. Yandere characters appear sweet and conscientious, but they give in to aggression easily, especially when it comes to their crush. Girl yandere tend to blush all the time and are easily flustered. They can switch from a moony shrinking violet to a jealous rage-beast in the blink of an eye.
Yandere girls tend to be used for comic relief in many anime, but the boy yandere shouldn’t be discounted. The reigning character trait of a yandere is their propensity for infatuation and obsessive love. Boy yandere tend to be characterized as more manipulative. Their crushes are so intense that it could be argued that their kind of love isn’t really even love.
Updated by Vera W. on June 8th, 2023: Yandere romances are walking, talking disasters as they fall in love, or more accurately, fall into terrible infatuation with each other. Some yandere couples take turns losing control over themselves with each other, while some other relationships are one-sided with one yandere character plaguing the other. Yandere is still a popular enough trope, so this list has been updated to reflect even more wild yandere romances.
15 Shiki & Ritsuka (Dance With Devils)
Dance with Devils is marketed as a romance but Shiki’s relationship with Ristuka is incredibly twisted and one-sided as ultimately, Ritsuka falls for someone else. Shiki goes far beyond the snide love interest. He is such a broken devil that he delights in destroying things that Ritsuka loves.
As is typical for a yandere, Shiki lashes out often and violently. He does have a soft spot for Ritsuka; sometimes he’ll even protect her instead of victimizing her. His feelings for her are not nearly enough to make him a kind, whole person, though.
14 Queen Jokaku & Keiki (The Twelve Kingdoms)
Queen Jokaku is a tragic part of The Twelve Kingdom’s backstory. She was a previous, failed ruler of Kei. Though she was beautiful and had a naturally likable disposition, love and the throne turned her fate into something terrible. Her love for Keiki twisted in on itself, and she became a creature ruled by jealousy.
Jokaku’s yandere envy proved to be her undoing. Rather than working with other women, she viewed them as her enemies and isolated herself in the court. Her story is a very sad one, even though her love for Keiki was real.
13 Kikyo & Inuyasha (InuYasha)
After her unholy resurrection, Kikyo may be the most infuriating part of Inuyasha, perhaps aside from the central villain himself, Naraku. Her lack of soul takes away any part of her humanity or conscience; she covets Inuyasha and cannot let him go and yet wants to kill him.
All Kikyo has left of her former self are the basest parts of her emotions: her wrath and her pain. She wants Inuyasha so much that she would destroy his life and try to drag him with her down into the underworld. Kikyo does eventually come back to herself in her final moments, sharing one last kiss with Inuyasha.
12 Griffith & Guts (Berserk)
The relationship between Guts and Griffith in Berserk is as complex as it is harrowing. Some fans like to interpret a romantic subtext between Griffith and Guts, and Griffith seems completely unable to have a healthy love for anything or anyone.
Griffith is not one given to sacrifice unless it’s for his own dream, but he makes rare sacrifices for Guts’ sake. His love for Guts pre-Eclipse is so powerful that it borders on obsessiveness and then turns into something warped by bitterness. They have one of the most complex and fraught relationships in all anime.
11 Haru & Shizuku (My Little Monster)
Haru terrorizes poor Shizuku from the very beginning of My Little Monster. Haru has a reputation for flying off the handle and makes a reprehensible threat to her when they first meet. As Haru starts to fall for Shizuku, he becomes very clingy—even jealous.
Haru hates it when Shizuku’s around other boys and would prefer she stayed away from them. His jealous bouts embarrass her and are rather controlling. Though Haru loves Shizuku, there’s no getting past his gross red flags.
10 Lucy & Kouta (Elfen Lied)
The Lucy personality aspect of Kaede in Eflen Lied is a pitiable character. She’s born of immense trauma and abuse, and it greatly warps her sense of the world. She has sparse experience with the kindness of others.
Lucy attached herself to Kouta, who she’s known since childhood, but her love is a distorted one built on obsession. Lucy is manipulative, violent, and compulsive, and though she and Kouta both have love for each other, she’s not equipped for a relationship.
9 Yona & Soo-Won (Yona Of The Dawn)
Soo-Won is clueless about romance, but he does show a sustained affection for Yona—until he tries to kill her in the first episode of Yona of the Dawn. Naive and love-struck Yona is completely blindsided by his betrayal and still holds on to the hair ornament he gave her before he ruined her life and expelled her from her throne.
Thankfully, it’s pretty obvious from the beginning that Yona and Hak are the endgame romantic pairing. Soo-Won is a tortured, uncertain person, and he doesn’t bring out a good side in Yona.
8 Kotonoha & Makoto (School Days)
At first, Kotonoha seems shy and quiet by default in School Days. It isn’t until she starts to really care for someone new that her more obsessive and explosive side comes out.
Kotonoha acts toward Makoto like a jealous dragon guarding its hoard, and she won’t hesitate to spit fire if she feels pushed aside or threatened when it comes to that relationship. Kotonoha slips into denial when Makoto expresses his feelings if they don’t align with what she wants out of him.
7 General Esdeath & Tatsumi (Akame Ga Kill!)
General Esdeath sets her sights on Tatsumi after she sees him smile in Akame Ga Kill!. She doesn’t truly care for him based on who he is as a person. Rather, she covets him for what he symbolizes to her.
Esdeath is cold-blooded and violent at the best of times, but the strength of her infatuation with Tatsumi often only makes those tendencies worse. She spurns any possibility of a romance with anyone else without a second thought, all for her one-sided love for Tatsumi.
6 Yukako & Koichi (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
Yukako is as beautiful as she is troubled in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. “Bizarre” is in the name, after all, and her successful relationship with Koichi upholds the show’s reputation. Yukako and Koichi’s relationship begins with a casual kidnapping, as Yukako’s every thought is bent on having Koichi for her own.
Yukako doesn’t always lead with aggression, though. There are times when she’s pretty demure. Those times don’t last long, as she has some wicked mood swings. Eventually, Yukako gets better and gets into a relationship with Koichi.
5 Yuki & Zero (Vampire Knight)
Zero straddles the line between tsundere and yandere in Vampire Knight, and it results in a rather distasteful personality. He wants Yuki, but he also has no problem being incredibly rude to her. When others give her problems, Zero flies off the handle to defend her.
When Yuki starts to form a connection with Kaname, the worst side of Zero starts to come out. He gets jealous and belligerent about the two growing closer, even though he doesn’t treat Yuki very well himself. His personality and values aren’t all bad, but his relationship with Yuki is awful.
4 Sakura & Sasuke (Naruto)
So many Naruto fans don’t like Sakura and Sasuke as a pairing, citing that a relationship built on fangirling is creepy and childish. Sakura gets extremely petulant about gaining Sasuke’s attention and seems to fall for him without even knowing who he is.
Sakura’s love for Sasuke and efforts to vie for his attention have left worthy friendships broken by the wayside. Sakura does grow up a bit more as the two age, but the foundation of her feelings for Sasuke are about as yandere as it gets.
3 Friagne & His Doll (Shakugan No Shana)
In Shakugan no Shana, Friagne is head over heels in love with his doll, and it is incredibly creepy. His personality vacillates between calm contemplation and berserker rage. Though unpredictable, he’s by no means naive or unintelligent as some yandere can be.
Friagne weighs his actions and crafts detailed plans. Friagne’s doll, Marianne, serves as his main character’s motivation. The sentient doll and the collector both love each other in a very yandere/yandere fashion. Marianne is utterly devoted to her master, and Friagne wants to find a body for her.
2 Ren & 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira Sohma (Fruits Basket)
Ren’s chief personality traits in Fruits Basket are her obsessive tendencies, manipulation tactics, and her horrendous temper. She’s only ever loved one person, 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira Sohma, who she worked for as a maid when they first met.
Ren saw through to 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira‘s deep sadness, and that is what initially endeared her to him. Ren is so desperate to maintain 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira‘s affections that when she discovers that they are having a daughter together, she insists on raising her as a male so there would be only one female whom 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira loves. She’s one of the most reprehensible villains in Fruits Basket.
1 Kyouya & Erika (Wolf Girl And Black Prince)
Kyouya of Wolf Girl and Black Prince has an extreme yandere personality, and naive Erika pays the price for it. He is cruel to Erika and then extremely jealous of her attentions, describing her as “his.” Though Kyouya abuses her, Erika will also grow incensed—even aggressive—if someone insults Kyouya in front of her.
Though Erika cares for Kyouya despite his rancid personality, even she will get fed up with his awful behavior and give him the cold shoulder, but it’s really not enough. Their relationship overall is incredibly manipulative, isolating, and dishonest.
