Who's your Waifu?

It’s hard keeping track of every single lady in every single Nutaku game, isn’t it? There are hundreds of games on our site, which means there are literally thousands of different girls for you to choose from! But for some people, that much variety can be a little scary, and it always helps to have a handy way of knowing what kind of girls you’re working with. 

Leave it to anime nerds, then, to lend you a helping hand. In otaku slang, there are a ton of catch-all descriptors to help you navigate the alluring world of big-chested, bigger-eyed anime girls. Whether you’re a seasoned otaku or fujoshi looking for characters that remind you of your mainstream faves, or a total noob trying to figure out their favorite flavor of anime honey, we’re here to pull back the curtain on some garden variety waifu material to help you find your next fave!

Tsundere

“I-It’s not because I like you or anything, you idiot!”

If an anime lass says something along these lines, newsflash: you’re dealing with a tsundere. Tsundere represent the kind of girl that’s mean to you because she secretly likes you, but is too embarrassed (or proud) to actually admit it. Through teasing, poking, and prodding, a tsundere character is typically obtuse to a fault, but usually in a way that’s endearing to an audience.

Tsundere aren’t bullies, per se, so much as they are a tad harsh and bad at communicating.  They want to be liked, and even loved, but they’re just downright awful at expressing it. Sometimes this is because of personal baggage, and sometimes it’s just because they’re stubborn. In any case, a tsundere is easy to love, but hard to get close to – and that’s why so many people adore them!

The well-endowed, sword-wielding Giselle from Project QT is a great example of the classic tsundere. She’s a bit stubborn and standoffish at first, and fiercely proud of her swordsmanship. But once you train her up a little bit, you’ll quickly see that stubbornness and pride give way to some hardcore freakiness! That’s classic tsundere for: mean in the streets, wild in the sheets! But… it’s not like she likes you or anything!

Kuudere

Talk about being cool as a cucumber – or is that “kuu” as a cucumber?

Kuudere are cold and stoic to a fault, which gives the impression that they’re not into love or romance… or much of anything, really! But underneath the surface is a sweet, caring, and gentle person who’s the first to offer a helping hand, or fawn over a small animal. Just because kuudere seem aloof and cold doesn’t mean they don’t like somebody – they just show less outward affection than some.

But this is precisely what makes them such memorable characters! There’s something appealing about a calm, collected lady who doesn’t drop her guard and is very selective about who she gets close to. If anything, kuudere are a great reminder to respect boundaries and not make quick assumptions about people. That “cold, icy” person you’re afraid of isn’t going to ever going to “soften up” for you, so it’s to just respect that they’re like that. In other words, if a kuudere wants to get close to you, you’ll know… eventually.

Project QT has a great kuudere waifu in Jodie, whose blue hair is almost as icy as her personality. But that doesn’t mean she’s mean - quite the opposite! Once that cold facade melts away by working together with a team, she’ll warm right up to you in ways you probably don’t expect. Sure, she’s still a stoic, serious girl, but she’ll let you see a side of her she doesn’t show everyone - which is what makes her so special!

Plus… doesn’t she look a little familiar? 

Moekko

Moekko characters are, essentially… uh, not all there. They’re loud, clumsy, emotional, and tend to make big, rash decisions the drop of a hat. But while this sounds like a literal nightmare IRL, moekko types in anime tend to be presented as the platonic ideal of “cute.” You get the impression that they’d probably go play in traffic if you didn’t tell them not to, and that’s intended to be the fantasy here: protecting a naïve and clumsy cartoon girl from danger.

Moekko characters had a massive boom in popularity in the early 2000’s, thanks in part to a huge explosion of moe anime. These types of characters, a direct contrast to popular anime girls in prior decades, ushered in a whole decade of cookie cutter slice-of-life anime explicitly made to sell toys of these grown types.  

While Crush Crush’s Wendy isn’t exactly that stupid, she’s definitely a classic and extra thicc example of a moekko. She’s loud, rash, and really doesn’t seem to understand that much about the world. But her extremely wholesome love of food is so cute that you can’t help but fall for her - occasional temper tantrum notwithstanding!

Dandere

Taking the childlike behavior of moekko and adding in a pinch of kuudere, dandere are shy girls that are too embarrassed to share their real feelings. If you tell a dandere that you think their hair looks nice, or that you like their shoes, odds are they’ll react by blushing and fumbling their words to thank you. They’ll also probably insult themselves in the process, which puts you in the position of being sweet and building up their self-confidence.

That’s the appeal of a dandere: helping them learn to appreciate themselves. These are women who tend to devalue their own accomplishments, or discount their own beauty, so it’s up to you to help them learn to love themselves! It’s like that One Direction song, but less creepy and manipulative.

Crush Crush takes the cake with this one again, offering players the most platonic ideal of a dandere with Peanut. Peanut is about as cute as her name, and much like an actual peanut, has a bit of shell protecting her. But with a little care and patience, her shy personality will eventually give way to one that’s as passionate and kinky as it is generous and sweet. That’s what makes a dandere so gosh darn lovable: their kindness, and how much love they’re willing to give if you put the same effort in!

Meganekko

Prefer your anime girls to be down, dirty, and nerdy? Then you might want to check out a meganekko from the hentai library! Meganekko refers to nerdy girls with big glasses and massive brains - among other things. 

But a meganekko type goes way beyond just the glasses. A tsundere could put on some Coke bottle lenses and pick up a book, but that just wouldn’t be the purest embodiment of this trope. Meganekko characters either tend to be confident uber geniuses, shy bookworms, or some sweet spot in between. Their cuteness is based on how intelligent they are, and how they could probably think circles around you in their sleep. Whether they’re skittish and buried in books, or too fiercely devoted to research to have time for love, the appeal of a meganekko is in their “galaxy brain” intelligence and dedication to learning. And who knows - maybe they’re into learning something you just can’t find in books, if you give them enough time!

Latoli from Lust Academy is a pretty fantastic example of that more serious, more dedicated type of meganekko. She definitely has a sultry, MILF-like quality about her, but her passion is clearly her research in the magical medical sciences. Plus, her sleek, stylish frames? Impeccable, really.

So - did you spot your waifu here? Because of its rich and pedigreed history as a pop culture force, the otaku community has dozens upon dozens of different types of anime girl they want to lust (and buy merch!) over. That’s the fun of anime girls, especially ones meant to cater to a hardcore fan audience: they’re like real personality traits exaggerated to comical proportions. Human beings are complicated and fickle creatures, and it’s beyond disingenuous to ever reduce someone to a catch-all term. But anime characters are fantasies - cartoonish versions of comforting tropes that fascinate us and turn us on.

Got a favorite waifu you want to share? Want to learn more about the wild world of anime girl tropes? Let us know!