Tsurime Eyes

A particular style of drawing eyes in Anime where the outer corners point upward, ending in a distinct point, used in contrast to the traditional Moe Moe soft drooping style, Tareme. Tsurime symbolizes strong will, arrogance, or pride in a character. Most noticeable in female designs (since it plays against the stereotype) and is commonly an attribute of Tsunderes, Kuuderes and particularly badass Action Girls.

Note that the "me" in "tsurime" actually means "eyes" in Japanese. We just enjoy being redundant.

For something vaguely similar in western media, see Clint Squint. See also Good Eyes, Evil Eyes.

Not to be confused with Tsundere, though tsunderes commonly sport tsurime.

Its opposite is Tareme Eyes.

Examples of Tsurime Eyes include:

This is an East Asian media only trope. Please do not put Western examples here.

Anime and Manga

• Pictured above: Ban Mido of GetBackers has narrow Tsurime behind his purple shades, which provides a sharp contrast to his partner Ginji's wide, cheerful Tareme and further emphasizes the differences between their personalities. When Ginji loses himself to his Super-Powered Evil Side, his eyes become noticeably Tsurime.
• A sort-of signature of anime series that have the veteran artist Atsuko Ishida in the staff. Especially if she's the main character designer. Examples include: The Brave Express Might Gaine, Magic Knight Rayearth, Private Eye Dol, Shamanic Princess, etc.
• Both Natsume and Sumire from Gakuen Alice have these
• Kagami Hiiragi, resident tsundere of Lucky Star. In fact, her magnificent tsurime is among her most recognizable features, making her impossible to mistake for her twin sister Tsukasa. And of course, her alternate-world Expy, Kyou Fujibayashi from Clannad.
• Ryoko Ookami from Ookami-san.
• In the second season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, tsundere-ish Cute Bruiser Vita and Lady of War Signum as well as the original Reinforce sport tsurime eyes. In the third season, Erio and Teana follow the case, while Subaru Nakajima combines this with Eyes of Gold when her Berserk Button is hit. Also, Tsundere-ish Agito, who gets paired up with Signum in the end.
• Rue in Princess Tutu, The Ojou and Dark Magical Girl.
• Let's not forget our reality warping God Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as most of the cast with the exception of Mikuru Asahina, Kyon's sister, and Emiri Kimidori.
• Nina Wong in Mai-Otome.
• Chikane Himemiya of Kannazuki no Miko, appropriately countered by Himeko's Tareme Eyes. In both cases the manga makes stronger (although less consistent) use.
• Male examples: Yamato, Iori, and Ken from Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02.
• And again with Ruki and Jianliang/Henry in Digimon Tamers.
• In Dragonball Z. Vegeta and his son, Trunks, sport these. If one of the Son males show this, it's sign that they've become truly pissed (Especially notable when they transform into Super Saiyans).
• Azumanga Daioh: Unsurprisingly Kagura, Unsurprisingly or not Sakaki, suprisingly not Yukari, Yomi or Tomo.
• Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler
• Mio from K-On! has them, despite being actually a rather shy character- although she also seems to be the one always cracking the whip about the need for practice. She also has shown a tsuntsun side. Tsundere type Dere?
  • Probably done as a subversion to the Tsurime stereotype. At first, Mio appears to be the mature adult of the group, fitting her tsurime eyes. Yet as the series goes on, it becomes abundantly clear that her traditionally lady-like appearance hides a very timid, sensitive soul.
  • When tareme Yui does an impression of Mio in the manga, she pushes her eyes to the tsurime position for one panel.
  • Normally tareme Sawako develops tsurime when she enters Catherine mode.
• Some characters in Axis Powers Hetalia, such as Poland, England, Egypt, and China.
• Olivia Milla Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed is a male example; just compare him to Al in this flashback scene.
• Though it's difficult to tell with her bangs in the way, Cornelia from Code Geass also has these.
• In Kanon, Emotionless Girl Mai is drawn in this style, while the other characters are drawn with Tareme Eyes.
• Inuyasha and most of the cast, especially when they have determined looks. The only exception I can think of is the main female protagonist Kagome.
• Most of the women who could be counted as adults in Umineko no Naku Koro ni seem to have gotten this treatment.
• Tsurime are a hallmark of many of CLAMP's character designs, especially in Magic Knight Rayearth (double time since the character designer was the aforementioned Atsuko Ishida) and some of their other older works.
• Silica of Kirby of the Stars.
• Rei Hino/Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! one of the ways you can tell Yami Yugi has taken control is that Yugi's eyes go from Tareme to Tsurime. Ditto Bakura and his dark counterpart. Kaiba is the only modern teenaged character who always has this going on.
• Tsunayoshi shares Yugi's above noted trait when he goes into Hyper Deathperation mode.
• Setsuna of Mahou Sensei Negima, who is fittingly an Action Girl obsessed with maintaining her abilities as a swordswoman. Notably, when she starts letting her emotions out, they become noticeably rounder.
  • They also fluctuate with emotion: Notice that when she's in battle mode in the middle panel here her eyes are highly tsurime, then in the lower right panel, when she realizes there's no threat, they go tareme. Her normal mode is in between.
  • Evangeline is also like this. Yue is also like this after she Took a Level In Badass.
  • Also, this is pretty much the only physical attribute that distinguishes Zazie (who has Tareme Eyes) and her sister (who has these).
  • Whenever Negi gets pissed or enters Dark Mode, they turn like this coupled with one hell of a really nasty glare.....it's best if you haul your ass out of the place when that happens.
• Ryouko Kurosaki in Kemeko Deluxe, a Lady of War and a Biker Babe.
• Nagi of Kannagi.
• Azuma Hazuki of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito. Partly subverted in that there are times when her eyes don't look like this...usually when she's fantasizing about Hatsumi or otherwise delirious with love and/or lust.
• Eleanor Campbell from Victorian Romance Emma, who has rather the same personality as Mio.
• Shana. Naturally, since she's the quintessential Tsundere.
• Hideko Hasuki, Yurika's maid from Chocotto Sister, has them.
• Iroha in Sumomomo Momomo. Her tsurime distinguishes her as the most Badass of the series' Action Girls.
• In Utawarerumono, male characters, like Dorihouri, are drawn this way. Females, even Cute Bruisers like his sister Karura are drawn with Tareme Eyes. The effect is an interesting combination of Moe and Badass.
• Hinata from Kanamemo has these for some reason.
• Yakumo, Eri and Itoko from School Rumble. Yakumo, however, does not have the behavior expected of someone with tsurime eyes, being essentially a Yamato Nadeshiko
• Tachibana from Mahoraba
• The title character of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei has these kinda eyes, possibly to indicate his jaded, stern cynicism.
  • Mayo Mitama also has these, because she's a sadist with the Face of a Thug... But she always gets away with what she does because no-one wants to be accused of judging her for her appearance.
  • Miko Nedu, a girl who uses pyramid marketing to scam people, has Tsurime, too. In contrast, her partner-in-crime, Shouko Maruuchi, has Tareme Eyes. This is possibly because Miko sells serious overpriced wares, making her appear greedy, while Shouko sells underpriced wares, making her appear more generous... However, it's still a scam, and they will, without fail, trick their costumers into buying Miko's wares, too.
• Pandora Hearts has a lot of characters with these eyes, but Alice and Elliot are notable for being Tsunderes with these kinds of eyes..
• Yuuki from Game X Rush, particularly noticeable in his childhood.
• Ruby, Green (the boy), and Platinum Berlitz from Pokémon Special.
  • In the anime, Jessie and James and their rivals, Butch and Cassidy.
• Urd is Ah! My Goddess is depicted this way, as opposed to the Tareme Eyes design of her rather more innocent sisters. Episode 13 includes a humorous sight gag where she temporarily gets big Moe eyes while imitating Skuld.
• Sae from Hidamari Sketch has them, however the Puni Plush art style makes it less conspicuous.
• In Afghanis-tan, Meriken has some pretty impressive ones.
• Train Heartnet from Black Cat, mainly to go with his cat-like look.
• In The World God Only Knows, several characters, including protagonist Keima (which carried over to his new body during his Freaky Friday Flip), but most obviously with Goddess Possessed childhood friend Tenri, with whom it's the most obvious way to tell which entity, Tenri (Tareme Eyes) or Diana (Tsurime), is in charge.
• Reika from Goshuushou Sama Ninomiya Kun.
• Aoi from Working.
• Sasamoto-sensei from GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class.
• Kiseki and Dia from Shugo Chara
• Aya/Ran Fujimiya from Weiss Kreuz.
• In the Baccano Light Novels, Luck Gandor is frequently described as "fox-eyed," which in the anime adaptation results in this kind of appearance.
• Mamiina from Simoun is drawn this way to indicate her strong will and mean streak.
• Anti-spiral Nia from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann changes from Tareme to Tsurime with the corresponding personality shift.
  • Simon also changes from Tareme to Tsurime post-Time Skip. At first, it's subtle, but they turn outright visible in the Final Battle. Respectively, he has quite possibly the strongest will of any of the characters.
• Narumi Ayumu in Spiral, most noticeable in the manga. Interestingly, though he acts pretty cocky and arrogant, his weak will is an issue for him and part of his character development.
• Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin when he's serious and especially when he's in Battousai mode, other characters also notice this change. [1]
• Akira from Hikaru no Go. His tsurime eyes are a clue that he is much more self-willed and aggressive than he seems. The eyes also highlight the contrast between him and his rival Hikaru, who has Tareme Eyes.
• Rika, Yura's perky and slutty younger sister, in Futari Ecchi, which is in contrast with Yura's (and their mother's) Tareme Eyes.
• Miki from Future GPX Cyber Formula, in contrast to Asuka's Tareme Eyes.
• Haru Miura from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
• In Noir Kirika's eye shape is normally standard, but her eyes go distinctly tsurime when she embraces her dark side.
• A majority of Wandering Son characters have Tareme Eyes, however Anna has Tsurime.
• Inner Moka from Rosario to Vampire sports these, as opposed to Outer Moka.
• Natsuki from Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri when in her transformed 'adult' form. Her normal child form less so.
• Barnaby from Tiger and Bunny. Tomboyish Pao-Lin and Agnes also sport tsurime. Oddly enough, these three are Green Eyed — Barnaby has emerald-green eyes, Pao-Lin's are a dark shade of lemon-green, and Agnes's are olive-green.
• Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran: Ran usually sports these. On the other hand, so did an Evil Matriarch.
• Kyouko from Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the one person who actually has some shape to her eyes in a series otherwise full of people with Tareme Eyes.
• Windaria Veronica's and Selenia's are noticiably sharper and up pointed than Marie's.
• Seraphim from Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?.

Video Games

• The Luminous Arc series features various characters with these, most noticably Fatima.
• One of the new characters introduced in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Athena, has these.
• Adults (meaning those in their thirties or older) in Yggdra Union have eyes drawn like this. Also Gulcasa.
• Captain Varrot of Valkyria Chronicles is animated like this and quite a few of the recruits, too.
• Laharl's eyes from Disgaea are drawn like this, and he is indeed a Tsundere.
  • As are Mao's, Valvatorez's, and Rozalin's. The fact that most of them are royal Tsunderes is probably not inconsequential.

Webcomics

• In Sinfest, both devil girls are initially drawn with Tsurime. One of them changes into Tareme, precisely when her character changes into a softer one.

Real Life

• Eyes that are almond shaped are referred to as "Phoenix Eyes" in China. Essentially, the "highest" part of the eye is the outer corner and the "lowest" part is the tear duct.