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16Sep/0721

Louise Françoise le Blanc – My favourite Kugimiya Rie tsundere

[kugimiya_tsundere.jpg - image removed due to hotlinking by toozone forum]

It's hard not to make comparisons of Kugimiya Rie's recent tsundere roles given how popular they are. Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku) and Louise (Zero no Tsukaima) have plunged the once united Kugimiya kingdom into civil war as factions sought to crown their choice bishoujo as tsundere-queen. As for this tanuki, he'd fighting under Tristani banners to the sovereign will of her royal Highness, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière.

One of the key ingredients for enjoying any harem series has to be a good basis of attraction. There must be sufficient grounds for a haremette to fall head over heels with the lead since lesser or poorly conceived reasons would reflect badly on the haremette's taste or worse intellect. Contempt for the haremettes is hardly an optimistic starting point for liking any series. Likewise, to enjoy a good tsundere, the bishoujo should possess credible basis/backstory for such inconsistent behaviour. Yes, we are speaking of a good basis for tsundere. This is an aspect where (in my opinion) Louise is superior to Shana or Nagi.

Sanzenin Nagi

Nagi's basis of tsundere is the shallowest of the 3 in my personal view. The defining trait of tsundere is dishonesty in spite of good/loving intentions and the reason for Nagi's tsundere behaviour seem to stem solely from her emotional immaturity. Granted, she's only 13 and struggling to cope with her newfound feelings of love but that is the same very premise used easily on 20 other generic tsunderes in anime. Being twin-tailed and blond only deepened the stereotype.

Shana

Shana exhibits similar poor emotional maturity as Nagi does but the circumstances for her tsundere behaviour is much better justified. Raised by a talking broach and an equally tsundere maid who saw no need to instruct her anything out of Flame Haze trades, Shana grow up an emotional cripple who invested what little is left of her neutered love into melon bread. So when Yuuji unlocked her shoujo heart, a flood of unknown but powerful emotions are unleashed, challenging with her breeding as a cold/unfeelingly hunter. Her tsundere behaviour is thus an outward manifestation of this struggle as she sought to come to terms with her feelings for Yuuji.

Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière

Unlike Nagi and Shana whose tsundere will wane once their emotional maturity catches up, Louise has less portions of emotional immaturity in her brand of tsundereness making her a truer tsundere who is likely to carry this moe-trait longer. The main component of Louise's tsundere comes from her noble pride and is exacerbated by her failure as a mage. Instilled with a pride she cannot live up to because of her inept magic, she's left only with her noble status to sustain that pride, which she upholds fiercely through a code of conduct resulting often in tsundere expression. The tsundere trait is further amplified as she struggles to reconcile her nobility with her love for a commoner-familiar. So while Nagi and Shana's tsundere is shaped by emotional immaturity and upbringing, Louise has not only both but the active and present influence of societal demands as a noble, clashing with her inner deredere to distill that unique Louise-flavoured tsundereness. This added dimension elevates her tsundere pedigree to a level where Shana and Nagi surely cannot hope to attain.

.....or maybe I just like pink hair.

Related posts:

  1. My favourite class of tsundere – Tsundere ojousama
  2. The unsustainable charm of being tsundere
  3. Louise, from Zero to hero

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Filed under: Hayate no Gotoku, Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima Leave a comment
Comments (21) Trackbacks (2)
  2. Stripey
    September 17th, 2007 - 08:59

    Haha! The truth is I’m tsundere for my arguments too! XD

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  3. Xellos-_^
    September 17th, 2007 - 09:15

    Your post is just in time.

    Shana win her match yesterday in Saimoe and is expected to win the A1 block and Nagi is also expected to win her block in A2. So this years saimoe is setting a match between Shana and Nagi for a spot on the Final 8 of Saimoe 2007.

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  4. suguru
    September 17th, 2007 - 17:01

    Personally, I’d pick Shana over Louise, although I may be biased by the fact I’m in the middle of re-watching season one so I’m ready for this fall. The fact Shana has any emotions at all after being raised by the Yuki-like Wilhelmina and a walking skeleton is amazing, but for me the flaming hair plus badass sword > pink hair plus wand, although not by much. Urusai^3 also cracks me up every time, although I might just be easily amused.

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  5. maglor
    September 17th, 2007 - 17:26

    My question would be who is superior, Chigusa ( Shana ), Maria ( Hayate ), or Louise’s sister?

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  6. sixten
    September 17th, 2007 - 20:42

    Since we’re on the subject of Rie Kugimiya, what about Ringo Kinoshita from Fairy Musketeers? But my vote ultimately goes to Koboshi Uematsu from Pita-Ten.

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  7. crimson
    September 17th, 2007 - 22:58

    imo, the value chain in mathematical connotation is: shanna > louise (season 1) > nagi

    But, I gotta say they are all entertaining for me in their own settings. The one ranked 1st (from left) have a higher emotional value for me.

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  8. abao
    September 18th, 2007 - 00:17

    @stripey
    where did you find that picture? moe danbooru was down so no chance to check out that place.

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  9. Stripey
    September 18th, 2007 - 09:07

    Xellos-_^: Heh, haven’t been quite following saimoe. Erm.. is Louise still in? XD

    suguru: I’m pretty psyched up for Shana II myself. Hoping to see her level up more since she’s pretty weak for once an Legendary FlameHaze.

    maglor: Ah from the Onee-sect. :) I direct you to the resident Onee-fetishist Zyl for answers XD

    sixten: Oops haven’t seen either of those shows although I’ve heard enough about Pita Ten to warrant a peek :)

    crimson: Hehe, I’d say how similar they are despite their different settings which is both good and bad. Good because all 3 were privileged to be brought to life by the very talented Kugimiya san and bad because bloggers like myself will have posts to compare them XD

    abao: It was one of the many pictures in a MEGAMI scans torrent :)

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  10. Xellos-_^
    September 18th, 2007 - 09:35

    Stripey, Louise is going to face off against Mai (Kanon) for H-2 but will probably be stomp by the winner of H1. H-1 is Feito-chan vs Gin-sama. A moe battle of epic proportions.

    btw are you sure you are not picking lousie because of some hidden whip and leather fetish. ^_^

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  11. Stripey
    September 18th, 2007 - 10:40

    Ah Louise stands no chance against Feito chan or Gin sama indeed. In fact, even how ZnT2′s showing is, I’m not sure if she’d beat Mai either XD

    Heh, nah… not into SM. I’d have to admit though that besides pink hair, zettai ryouiki and her fairy inn get-up did fuel that love :)

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  12. maglor
    September 18th, 2007 - 23:01

    All three are faring very well in Korean Moe Tournament. Please check it out. In fact, Shana is up against Saginomiya Isumi(from Hayate) right now, and will need your vote!

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  14. Stripey
    September 19th, 2007 - 07:07

    Even if Isumi’s popularity has leveled up in HnG 24 and 25, I doubt it’d be enough to beat many people’s favourite tsundere – Shana.

    Anyhow thanks for the links :)

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  15. abao
    September 19th, 2007 - 07:09

    thanks stripey. will do a search ^_^

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  16. 0rion
    September 21st, 2007 - 19:24

    Great image.

    Kugumiya Rie’s work makes pretty much any role fun, but I gotta say I’m solidly in the Shana camp.

    And anyway, according to Shiraishi Minoru, “growing out” of the tsundere stage is the natural progression. ;)

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  17. Stripey
    September 25th, 2007 - 19:50

    Indeed. I especially love Kugimiya Rie’s tsundere embarrassed stutter. She does it soooo well :)

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  18. sakura
    January 13th, 2009 - 15:18

    otra muy wena es taiga de toradora……..

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  19. xophien
    March 1st, 2009 - 10:41

    you forgot aisaka taiga too

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  20. Stripey
    March 4th, 2009 - 09:21

    I would have included her only that this entry was written in 2007. :) Maybe an entry to update Kugimiya san’s loli-tsundere roles would be in order.

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  21. sean
    July 17th, 2009 - 07:03

    i think al three are great just how they are make ech one of them awnsome
    if i had to big one of them i would likely take shana just becouse i like here XD

    ( REPLY )

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