Ah yes, the crazy girl. Oftentimes referred to as a yandere, us anime fans are no stranger to some girl starting to have blank eyes and say things like “you know we’ll be together forever, right?”. I was recently reminded of this archetype somewhat as Hayase, a major villain so far in To Your Eternity went *SPOILERS FOR THIS ANIME and god damn it’s a good one so if you need to just skip to the next paragraph* full batshit crazy mode and professed her love for the main character after killing previous girls that interacted with him. She promises though if our MC will just give her a few nights she’ll teach him what true love is. And I hate to fucking admit it...but my smaller brain took control for a bit and I thought “My boy, give her a few nights to see if the fucking makes up for your dead friends my guy. Then decide on what to do with her.” Which obviously is the dumbest choice possible but also the hottest one.
So what’s the appeal of these crazy girls to the average sane man? In my experience “crazy” can cover a wide variety of character traits and actions. Extreme violence, being argumentative, irrational loyalty, denying reality, and similar things all exhibit traits that could be easily labeled as crazy in anime. I think being argumentative and blaming another character in ways that don’t make sense is actually one of the most hated. People will watch an anime girl kill innocents or have delusions all day, but as soon as she starts trying to have arguments that don’t make sense and blaming other characters for her mistakes, she’ll find herself hated by the fanbase in a heartbeat. Alternatively, one seems to be more favored than the others and to me that’s irrational loyalty. Such as a girl killing a dude’s friends because they’re taking up too much time with him, or thinking a dude is kind of a god and wanting to be with him forever and ever regardless of what he does, or she does to him. While this shit would NEVER fly in real life in most situations and isn’t healthy, I think it’s one of the more appealing crazy aspects, in a deranged way. Let me explain.
Must...resist...bad...choices...
Dudes don’t really talk about feelings much, but just about everybody hates the feeling of being betrayed. Additionally, feeling unloved and unappreciated aren’t great either. Throw in the fact that a lot of us anime watchers aren’t exactly the cool kid on campus, and you have a perfect recipe for the irrationally loyal type of anime girl to hold mass appeal. I mean when I think of yandere I immediately go to Yuno Gasai even though I never finished watching Mirai Nikki. Her popularity is simply immense… and looking at the data… what’s this? She loves the MC to an insane degree and is willing to fight and kill for him over and over again. Right into the irrational loyalty category. At the end of the day it’s hard to to resist someone who’s willing to love you, fuck you, hell almost serve you everyday with no risk of them ever falling out of love or betraying you due to their obsession. The drawback is that they typically don’t want the MC to have many or any other relationships, even familial and friendly ones. For most of us this is the dealbreaker. If I was presented with an anime girl like this I’d still have to say no because I can’t give up my parents and close homies. Damn would it be tempting though.
Is Yuno the most popular yandere?
This is merely what I find attractive about crazy girls in anime though. Maybe you guys noticed other patterns that have some advantages and would be hard to say no to. At least in the world of the hypothetical that is. I think it’d be easier to say no in real life after witnessing the “crazy” behavior firsthand. What’s the appeal of crazy girls? Do you know a crazy girl in anime that you would date despite the drawbacks? Stay safe, stay sane, and leave a comment below!
