Tsundere Evangelion: The Catharsis of Emotional Intelligence
This is emotional intelligence.
The notion of emotional intelligence is pretty much the foundation to understanding adolescent constructions of emotional complexes in the post-Evangelion generation of anime stories. How does it fit in? In a very broad stroke, we can summarize the setup of these stories in the following:
A (teenage) protagonist is (a) performing according to (b) societal expectations, and is then (c) challenged by some extraordinary situation or task that forces a certain level of (d) introspection.
I highlighted four elements–these four elements are also frequently the narrative focus to these stories. By this I mean the plot or the show itself spend time on elaborating these aspects of the story. It can be a part of a convenient plot device, a part of the setting, or even just something that’s amusing to show to the audience (eg., Aria the Origination ep4). Before I begin, I should also disclaim this is but one of several parallel/intersecting frameworks to discuss the concept, nor is this particular framework complete. Let’s look deeper.
(a) Performance generally refers to a notion of identity based on occupation. A guy who makes bread for a living is a baker, for example. I have a friend who gets hung up by it that he had a hard time making small talk when it comes to his family members’ vague occupations. Naturally he got happier as his family members found more traditional jobs that could be labeled with one or two words (teacher, freelance illustrator, etc). Maybe it’s particularly acute for Japanese societies, but people find comfort when they can describe people’s occupations with easily-identified labels. It’s more than just a group mentality thing at work, but a “fitting in” theme that reacts with a purity of one’s life calling, to make beautiful youth dramas in popular media. I suppose this is why we have terms like freeters or NEET nowadays. Nadesico’s Akito is one of the most obvious example where the man is really just a cook. Some other notable examples include Idolm@ster Xenoglossia and RahXehpon.
(b) Societal expectation at first seem to be a similar idea with performance and identity, but it’s dressed up in an anime story. In some ways it can be a point of mockery in that, for example, people expect the male protagonist in a shounen giant robot anime to pilot the said giant robot and fight or whatever. But do people ever realize how unrealistic such thing is? I think overall, Neo Ranga is one of the best anime out there that explores this issue. There are some other good choices such as Dai Guard or even MS Gundam: 8th MS Team. The josei genre also has a slew of stories that explore this in depth. Or maybe it’s just a Ai Yazawa thing. But I guess Moyoco Anno, too, come to think of something that relates to Evangelion (lol).
(c) Adolescence is characterized by internal change and external change. It is one thing to do it Stellvia style, where mankind bands together to fight against mass extinction. It is another to deal with the fact that you, Shinji Ikari, is the chosen one and there can be no other. The relationships you had when you were younger are no longer the same ones you have now. Society expects differently from you as well.
(d) Introspection is a common device used all across literature around the world and throughout time. I do think that healthy people do introspect every now and then, too. Does the higher frequency of introspection reflect the nature of those whose life’s work in a business driven by high level of passion and low amount of reward? Perhaps.
A half-decent dramatization of introspection in anime tends to contain one or more of the following: Dealing with terror and fear, the desire of wanting to be loved, handling negative emotions, suppression and denial of emotions, walking in loneliness, and self realization. In a more practical sense, introspection is one way to confront and control our feelings. “Running away,” as it is often said, usually (if not always?) implies a refusal to introspect. Now of course the act itself can be hidden from view in anime, as it often does. It’s just a mental process after all.
I’m sure it’s just a stereotype, but East Asians are classically horrible at teaching their kids about emotional intelligence. Of course at the same time this is a concept that most people end up learning somehow, on their own. All over the world.
The curious question becomes one that is rooted and mixed between ignorance and desires. Suppose your purpose in life at the time is to exist peacefully in a state of low emotional and physical discomfort. Circumstance, as always, adds either or both types of discomfort to no fault (perhaps) of your own. If the most logical resolution to a state of lower discomfort involves an act that increases discomfort for a short time, what would you do? More importantly, if due to ignorance or inexperience, you don’t know about this shortest path, nor do you know the path will lead to lower level of discomfort overall despite the increase in the short time, what will happen?
Perhaps it’s time to talk about the tsundere. In a nutshell, the above concepts are summarized within the personality archetype, in such a way to express a moe appeal in addition to making it simple to empathize and understand. I believe this is one reason why it is a popular and commonly used concept.
So your argument is that tsundere’s appeal is that it somehow suggests that she will help teach a higher level of emotional intelligence? I feel like I got lost somewhere about 2/3 the way in and I’m not sure what exactly the point is you’re trying to make.
no, i guess i didn’t state the important bit of the argument (ie. the conclusion).
basically seeing a tsundere is seeing the above argument unfold.
In the case of post-Evangelion stories, your use of emotional intelligence is just a fancy way of saying that adults should have no problem understanding anime that were made for teenagers. I still don’t know what you want to say by using tsundere. Also, I get the feeling we should rather be asking what inspired this marvelous piece of non-sensical dribble.
I am not talking about the audience; I’m talking about the framework. There’s nothing that I wrote which imply the viewers’ enjoyment may or may not derive from understanding the framework that I propose. In fact I think good anime will lend itself to be interpreted by multiple frameworks when it comes to deconstructing the emotional conflicts embodied by the stories and characters.
Well, besides that a tsundere is easy to sympathize with.
Also, I’m pretty sure many of the anime I cited are made for adults.
I don’t know what that Mao pic is doing with this post, but it is hot.
I’d take the opposite tack, honestly. The reason that the tsundere stereotype is appealing is that it squares the otaku’s experience with girls (i.e. they don’t like him) with the possibility that he could still be liked… that the girls he’s known didn’t all dislike him, but that at least some of them might have liked him but were too embarrassed/shy/tsuntsun to admit it.
One of the keys of the tsundere in anime is that they’re attracted to the viewer-analogues. Tsundere characters are never attracted to the strong, witty, good-looking secondary characters for their external worth; they’re attracted to the viewer-analogue main character because “he’s a nice guy” and for not a lot of reason past that. The key is that the viewer-analogue is liked for traits that the viewer imagines that he possesses, or at least could possess; “I’m nice to girls, that could be me there!”
Actually, that’s an interesting question, now that I come to think of it. Are there any cases of tsundere characters not attracted to the main character?
Well, I’m wary of reasons grounded in the audience’s presupposed disposition. Because invariably some happily married old guy will come up and say “LOUISE IS MY WAIFU” or some such. Not that to say you are wrong (I also think that connecting with the audience via self-identification always scores well), but there may be (well, we can be sure there is more than one, at any rate) some intrinsic reasons why some tsundere are likable by people generally.
Actually, now that I thought about it, you might be confusing the harem nature of shows that invariably features 1+ tsundere (they tend to have 1 of everything, after all) with the character archetype itself.
To answer your question, I think Hatsukoi Limited’s Kusuda/Kei pair might give you more insight, as it is an isolated example that contains the stereotypical dynamic in a purer form, not tempered by notions of what harems are.
Another possible example is Aiko from True Tears, or Asuka from Kimikiss.
A nice essay, but it’s probably best you left off the conclusion? I’m afraid I agree with Avatar — the tsundere is the flip side of the childhood friend (and is often embodied in the same person). It’s not presuppositions about the audience’s disposition so much as presuppositions about the marketing team’s presuppositions.
Well you’re close–the author/writer’s presuppositions are more or less in line with the marketing team’s presuppositions. And it’s not a joke if you think about it…or just read Nisioisin…
You know, I wrote this piece because I feel the whole cookie-cutterness of it all.