Two Critics Vs. The World

[Masterlist] | [About] | [Criteria] | [Request Rules] We're just two college students making a criticism blog for the thing we love most: male yanderes. This is purely opinion and what we say isn't fact. Please check our masterlist for yanderes we covered, check out our criteria page if you’re wondering how we conduct our reviews, and check our about page to learn more about our blog. We also set up a store and a buy us coffee page. [Kai's blog] and [Julie's blog]

[thatyanderecritic]

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[thatyanderecritic]

Hey, how you do? No ask for advice this time, just a question to ask. Do you know about the MCs that most either “sweet and naive” or “baddie”, well I wanna ask, have you guys ever seen MCs that are actually smart, commonly sensed, or morally evil?

Hey there Alex,

The short answer:

The long answer:

With the rise in popularity of manhwa (Korean comics) and manhua (Chinese comics), we're blessed with the opportunity of meeting far more diverse main characters. For a long time, manga has been the kingpin for fandom communities. It still is. But a majority of their female leads are passive doormats.

Korean and Chinese leads, there has been this push competence for their leads. The plots they have written heavily rely on their leads to have problem-solving skills and thanks to that, we see the characters grow to meet the demand of the plot. There are some incredibly strong female MCs in manhwa and manhua. But then like any industry, it's becoming oversaturated. People like smart girls! The thing is, we're getting to the point where low-quality stories are getting pumped out to chase a trend. We're getting "smart" MCs now. Stories that are warping and bending themselves backward to make the MC look better than what she actually is. Convoluted plot points and leaps of logic. It's more of a fault for an author trying to make a character smarter than them.

Morally evil MCs are a different subject. There are plenty of morally evil MCs but the issue is that the author refuses to acknowledge the MC as evil. It's all been "morally grey this" and "morally complex that". While a character can certainly be complex, it doesn't change the fact that the actions made are objectively evil in societal terms. A lot of authors miss the mark that a morally grey character has some good in them and it's not "UwU I had a hard life. Therefore I'm getting revenge now 0w0". It's a huge mess of wanting to make the cake and eat it too. Are there unashamedly evil MCs? Yeah! But there are a lot more evil MCs disguised as morally grey. If you count those, then we certainly got an expanded roaster!

Don't ask us for recommendations. Our memory is pretty shit these days since we mindlessly consume this stuff and it all blurs together.

[thatyanderecritic]

Oh I'm so glad someone else thinks so too. I hate it when I see straight up abusers labeled as yandere, there's no love, just straight up hate. Everyone forgets about the "dere". The fluffiness that's literally part of its name. I mean, no offense to those who like those types, you do that, but it feels like the true yandere term is gone a lot now :(( and I see more of that content than the other. I like yanderes because I like putting real love to crazy bc I've been through some shit, and seeing it just be the crazy is just depressing and triggering. Maybe they could label it differently. Like yangire. Same thing but blood and more violence, no dere.

(I mean, technically.... You're pretty right to call them yangires.)

[thatyanderecritic]

Can i ask is drake from the pebble and the penguin a yandere??

Hey there sinewyletter,

Unfortunately, there isn't much information on the movie online for us to make a quickie review. From the movie's synopsis, Drake doesn't really sound like a yandere. He sounds more like the asshole love interest to cockblock the male lead. Kind of like Gaston from Beauty and The Beast. "Getting the girl" for these kinds of archetypes is less for romance but for the sake of their masculine pride.

[thatyanderecritic]

Hey, uh, I was wondering. So let's say a yandere gets really angry and grabs his love interest's wrist so tight they leave a bruise, would that be counted as an abusive yandere? Like, they didn't mean to. I'm only just learning about non-murderous yandere's so I don't know much.

Hey there sabo!

To answer your question, it's totally fine. It's all a matter of intention. If he doesn't mean to, then he isn't an abusive yandere.

[thatyanderecritic]

I am sick and tired of sociopaths and psychopaths being termed as yandere now. I recall talking to you guys about the main character in You series not being yandere and eventually both of you agreed to it as well in your analysis. However, I feel like the term yandere has misused a lot with abusive jerks. I made a post on this in Reddit’s male yandere subreddit and even there the crowd is 50/50 on this. Some actually justify this as physical abuse being love as well. What’s your take on this?

Hey there hello-san

We totally hear you on this issue. Our opinion hasn't changed since the founding of our blog. We still believe that any abusers are not yanderes as they don't truly love their victims. They're usually narcissist, which explains most of their actions towards their victims. The victim is the prop in their life. If there was any love, it's as superficial as saying "I love this lamp".

The yandere trope is... as how twitter would describe it: "problematic". There's a lot of grey when it comes to being a fan of the trope. But this issue is that the fans make the rules and as we all know, there are some bad apples that would romatize actual awful situations. I think this sort of "wide net" for what people call yanderes is simply because of supply and demand & aesthetic. At least for male yanderes, the community is always in desperate need for it. Cause there's plenty of female yanderes out there. On top of that, "if it looks like a yandere then it is a yandere". People just like the visuals of it and not so much as content and context.

In the end, it's tough but we can't do much. People have their own wants and desires with how a fandom grows. Certainly can't police them either. I know plenty of people think this blog was to police the community (the hate anons we got were quite vocal on it), just for making posts of our perspectives on a character. Julie and I are tired. We're much older now and got careers. Persuing our own creative outlits. In time, the same will be said for the fandom as new standards are cultured.

[thatyanderecritic]

are you okay with people like me who believes in the possibility of platonic yanderes following you?

Yeah, of course, it's fine for you to follow us if you believe in platonic yanderes. The same way as how someone who believes in sadistic yanderes can follow us.

Julie and I don't subscribe to this "strict follower rule" mentality that some fandom blogs do. It might seem that way because of the yandere standards our blog follows but we're chill in real life (we like to bring out our inner Gordon Ramsay for reviews). We only ever really get "sassy" when dealing with asks from people who are grumpy when we don't do the whole "the customer is always right" bs for reviews or whatever. At the end of the day, we're just some opinion blog and some people take this fandom stuff too damn seriously.

Rambling aside, if you believe in that but still enjoy our content then more power to you! The beauty of being human is the ability to have our own beliefs. That said, the only thing Julie and I won't tolerate on this blog (and in general) is homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, and (any form of) bigotry.

[thatyanderecritic]

Is Si yoon from dreaming freedom a yandere and how would you rate him on a yandere scale?

Honestly? I don't really know. There's no wiki source for me to look up on the series and the spoilers that I've read aren't exactly coherent. I'm also not interested in reading the series as it isn't really my cup of tea. I'm not a fan of drama stories, especially ones involved with bullying in Korea. It's far too melodramatic for me.

From what I saw, Siyoon could possibly be between a 1-3 out of 5 on the yandere scale. Again, I'm just saying possibly. I haven't read it and I'm probably not going to read it. The spoilers I've seen and the chapters I glossed through suggest some yandere elements from him. But I'm not positive. So take this with a grain of salt.

[thatyanderecritic]

Yandere with a fear of love?

I'm just going to combine these two questions together since we don't really have much to say about either of them.

For yanderes with a fear of love... IDK what you're asking. I'm sure there are some yanderes out there that fit that conflict but I can't think of any from the top of my head. If you're asking in a writing tip... IDK. It depends on the character, doesn't it? I think the main thing to focus on with that kind of internal conflict is the duality of desiring love while also fearing the pain love can afflict. Listen, dude. We're just here to give you the tools so you can write your stories. When Julie and I started our analysis, we didn't do it to do all the mental labor in writing people's stories. Writing is a matter of trial and error. You write and write and write until you create something you're happy with. No amount of advice can ever match the true experience of working on your own project.

As for the second question... sure. We agree.

[thatyanderecritic]

Is cutthroat from akudama drive a yandere?

Doubt it.

Based on what I read in the wiki about him and the series, Cutthroat and Swindler's relationship is the stereotypical one of a serial killer and his target. We have seen it time and time again in horror films of a killer hunting down a female protagonist. Based on what I've read of him in the wiki, I don't get any hint that Cutthroat likes Swindler romantically. He has a fixation on her to become his next murder victim. Just the fact that he has zero romantic interest in her, it puts him out of the running in being a yandere. He's more likely a yangire.

Edit: Came to my attention that the author of akudama drive pulled a JK Rowling and confirmed Cuttroat's romantic feelings for Swindler. From an outsider's perspective, maybe Cuttroat is a yandere but if he is, then I don't think he's a particularly well-written yandere (not saying that he isn't a well-written character. It's a distinct difference). We've said on the blog several times: If it's microscopic-level analysis is needed to figure out if he's a yandere, then he's probably not a yandere... or a well-thought-out one.

[thatyanderecritic]

Hey, it's me again, hoe are you hope your going well, I want to ask you a question about a yandere's sense of love, usually I seen some yanderes who hae a twisted and sometimes unhealthy view of love, I wonder, in your opinion, how should a yandere love their S/O?

Hey there Alex. I hope you don't mind me combining your two questions together. They seem to be the same question but worded differently.

How you want to approach a yandere's sense of love depends on the tone you want to set your story. Most yandere stories are, at its core, horror stories. So twisting and bastardizing the sense of "love" is one of the scariest things a storyteller can present to an audience. A lot of the time, the reason for the twisted love is pretty much explained simply due to the genre. The yandere is a villain and therefore, the twisted love is "evil".

These types of love are typically two-dimensional and one-note. It's not so much as characterizing the yandere but it's a tool to scare the audience. Yandere Simulator is a good example of this. Despite being the protagonist, it is undeniable that Ayano is a villain. She kills, tortures, and torments people to get close to her love interest. This game doesn't reward you for taking peaceful options or exploring a story. It rewards you for killing. Ayano is two-dimensional as a character. Yes, it is true that her backstory is intriguing, yandere dev, never does much for it. He's all about the fan service. Her backstory is just a lore justification for the events of the game. Why is Ayano like this? Because she's naturally born evil, duuuhhhhhh.

You don't need particularly complex or complicated characters for horror. Villains are simply villains. Only keep them nuanced enough to not outshine your hero. That said, for every other genre, it's important to have a nuanced message when it comes to love. It's fine to have a backstory similar to yandere stimulator, but you need to do something with it.

Love is complicated. With the yandere stimulator backstory, it enters the territory of mental illness. Personally, I suggest avoiding it if you can't make a decent dialogue about it. Writers already did plenty of damage to the mental illness community and people who have similar afflictions. It's a serious issue and mentally ill people don't need to be villainized anymore than they have.

I say the best yandere's sense of love, it's that they acknowledge that it's wrong and they're trying to fix themselves. To better themselves and their love interest.

I hope you understand what I'm saying. I still can't give you the "right" answer, since this is you character. You know your character the best. I can't tell you what is the right or wrong way in doing it. I recommend checking out our masterlist to see if we ever discussed your concerns before. Also, I have to remind you. Please read our post regarding questions like these.

[everykissbeginswithkai]

Commissions (Open)

(^My commission page^)

Commission Types Offered:

Interactive CYOAs

Short Stories

Yandere Reviews

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Haikus, Poems, and Quickie Reviews (found in Ko-fi commissions)

How to Commission:

Decide on what you like and privately message me over Tumblr DMs. Email and discord are available upon request for a different location to speak. Prices are listed on my commission page but the final price will be decided on once discussed with the customer about possible extra charges. Payment will be done via Ko-fi or Paypal invoice. Payment is asked for once the commission is complete.

The Socials:

Prices | Ko-fi | Patreon | Linktree

(More info below the cut)

Hey everyone, I revamped my commissions and pretty much got all the shiny things other creators use. Recently, I was laid off from my job... on New Year's Eve. Can you believe it? They even mentioned that they made the decision on Christmas but they were being nice to wait till the following week. What a bunch of...

Anyways, I'm not saying any of this to force someone to commission me. But I hope you guys are willing to at least reblog this so I can have a solid chance.

Donations are highly appreciated but not required. Thank you for reading.

[thatyanderecritic]

Hiya! Could we get more memes? Both of your humor are one of a kind.

Haha, I'm flattered that you liked our memes so much. We do still make them but unfortunately, they're nothing related to yanderes or the blog itself. But below the cut, I added some memes we made for the laughs over the years.

[thatyanderecritic]

Hey, I wanna ask, what make a good yanderebackstop? Without most of the trauma..?

Well, that depends on the character, doesn't it?

Instead of asking what makes for a good yandere backstory, ask yourself what makes for a good character's backstory. If you approach it as just an archetype, you'll never make a decent backstory. You're just forcing yourself to try to meet this fake standard you're setting yourself by already saying "Okay. This person is a yandere. What should a yandere's backstory be?" Make the character first then things would flow much more naturally. What is their motivation, what affected their view of the world, etc. You don't need to have all this traumatic backstory so long as you can reasonable explain their actions and mindset without the cop-out "They're crazy!!!"

I know this might not be the answer your looking for but this is a rather vague topic that highly depends on the character you're creating. This isn't so much a "yandere issue" but a much larger writing problem.

[everykissbeginswithkai]

So. I created a Male Yandere CYOA

After I created my Otome Isekai CYOA, I began work on creating a Male Yandere CYOA. It's finally completed! It's playable on PC and phone browsers.

It's a bit of a mash of character creation and husbando picker. I want to emphasize it isn't technically a game but there are multiple ends. Several you can buy with your remaining points and an ending if you go into debt. So be careful of your spending habits~

!WARNING! It takes about 1 to 5 minutes for the page to load depending on your browser speed!!!!!

(Links below cut)

Original Link:

Plain Text (for those who have trouble reading the corrupted text):

Image Album of images I used:

imgur.com

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

[thatyanderecritic]

Just a shameless reblog of my male yandere CYOA. The main post I wrote above explains it.

[thatyanderecritic]

Can you do a review on a manga call " maou sama to kekkonshitai " that boy is very clingy and creepy ( English is not my language)

Title: Maou-sama to Kekkonshitai

Media: Manga. Written by Tanuma Ikuechi

Yandere(s): Haru

Yandere Scale: 1/5

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

Hey there! Kai here to write this review. It’s been a while since we last did a proper review, huh? I thought to go all out since it’s been a while since we last got an inbox question as well. That said, let’s hope right into the review.

Before answering the question “Is he a yandere?” I think it’s important to discuss the genre of the manga. Maou-sama to Kekkonshitai (shortening it to Maou-sama) is a lighthearted romance-comedy story. Saying this, it doesn’t make the manga bad but it largely undercuts the evaluation of Haru’s character as he’s just a caricature for the sake of comedy. In fact, I would say that all the characters in this manga are simply caricatures of what a character should actually be. All for the sake of making a 4koma-style manga. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing since we saw plenty of examples of yandere rom-coms such as Akkun to Kanojo. But because we do have plenty of examples of yandere rom-coms, there is a stark difference between Maou-sama and other stories.

The best comic I can compare this to is Inu x Boku SS. Inu x Boku SS and Mau-sama both share the same premise of a loli master and her obsessive servant. Both stories has supernatural elements, share a 4koma style humor, and they both try to have a semi-serious story about their relationship. But when comparing the two, Maou-sama is simply inferior to Inu X Boku SS as Boku managed to tell a compelling story with somewhat grounded characters while also giving a reasonable excuse for why the main couple had a substantial “will they, won’t they” tension. Sure, you can say Inu X Boku SS had a long serialization to have that room for growth but Maou-sama isn’t a short one-shot. It’s an 18-chapter series with each chapter containing about 23 pages. I read it in its entirety. It wasn’t a short read and I often felt that it was simply too long. Too long for telling so little.

Comparing Haru to more famous yandere rom-com leads such as Akkun or Soushi, Haru is so… astonishingly ordinary. Don’t get me wrong. Haru is a clingy guy but he isn’t remotely creepy. As we called out other male leads for just having “shoujo bullshit”, Haru falls in line for a rather typical “rom-com nonsense”. Don’t forget the fact that this is a shounen manga as well. The author spends way more time in the female lead’s perspective and moments in the manga are used to show how kawaii the female lead is. But let’s talk comparisons because other yandere rom-com leads had their yandere actions shown but Haru doesn’t do anything. At all. He’s all talk. Because of that, I almost labelled him as a 0/5 but sometimes he just says buck wild things. We’ll have long gaps of typical rom-com nonsense then suddenly Haru would say “I want to lick your toes!” then go back to normal. It’s the type of banter Julie and my other friend would have where we go “Oh my god, your so pretty. I would snap my neck in half to smell your breath” or some other nonsense. It’s just so…. You know “Rawr I’m so rand0m”.

Haru is clingy, I won’t deny that. But he’s like a kid… in fact he is a kid. The manga isn’t shy in stating that he just started going through puberty. Puberty! At the end of the manga, he and the ancient demon lord loli gets married! The lowest he could be is 14 but he looks to be 16 at best! Writing about this now, his actions make a lot more sense as a teen with a lot of hormones running through him… hell, the main thing about his character is that he thinks “dirty thoughts” about the loli. And a lot of his more outrageous actions have always been something the loli demon just enabled as they were just things a child would do but now it's considered as romantic since he's a little grown-up. Haru is like... most shounen male leads who have that sense of desperation to be in a relationship with a woman. You guys know what I mean right?

Haru is above average but he can hardly be called a true yandere because he’s all talk but no bite. I’m taking off points because of the humor undercutting Haru’s character, his lack of creepy actions, rom-com nonsense/shounen male desperation, and for leaving so much room for speculation. I recommend reading Inu x Boku SS or Akku to Kanojo if you’re looking for a yandere rom-com fix. The yandere’s there are shown in actually doing something yandere-like with much more thought. Maou-sama is an incredibly slow manga with more fanservice aimed for male audiences than female audiences. Haru is a so-so character for those looking for a quick yandere high.

Yandere scale: 1/5

Overall score: 4/10

*edit* Julie:............Kai I would snap your neck to smell your breathe.

[thatyanderecritic]

Future manga review in the works!