The easiest place to look is wherever you think you could find a real princess. That’s right. A good number of himederes are actually princesses. That personality has to come from somewhere, right? It might be more accurate to say that a lot of himederes are former princesses and have lost some of their status. After all, what are they doing mingling with the commoners anyway? Even if she’s lost their status, she hasn’t lost her pride. She’ll keep up the strong and sophisticated act to keep you at arm’s distance so that, hopefully, you won’t learn about her dethroning. Once you do though, be ready for a wonderful change in personality!

Ange, or formerly Angelize Ikaruga Misurugi, first princess of the Misurugi Empire, is a definitive himedere princess in the ecchi, action, mecha, fantasy genre mish-mash Cross Ange. After being stripped of her royal status and dignity for lacking the ability to control magical technology, Ange is forced to join a mecha military army of rough and tumble girls who fight dragons. Ange takes on a cold demeanor to protect herself both physically and mentally. She throws away her royal name, but her royal upbringing comes out in the way she speaks and carries herself. In true himedere fashion, Ange warms up to the sweetest guy on the planet, while simultaneously royally denying the biggest piece of garbage in the multi-universe, and we love her for it. You go girl!

Himedere became even more popular in 2015, with two new anime princesses: the hot-blooded Stella Vermillion in Chivalry of a Failed Knight and cool-headed Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld in The Asterik War. Both are talented princess from their respective countries trying to make a name for themselves on a big stage of duel fights. These two himes are initially extremely combative to their male protagonists. Stella orders Ikki to stop breathing, while Julis is ready to give a full beat down to Ayato, a newbie at the school. Stella might be a little faster to the punch line than Julis, but both girls find themselves warming up to their dueling partners as the major romances in both series. At any rate, himederes with real hime credentials won’t be leaving the ecchi or harem genres any time soon.

Does a himedere have to be princess? No, sometimes a himedere is a more of a societal princess, an elite or socially well-off person. This includes Sanzenin Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler (2007), who is a snobby tsundere but secretly has feelings for her butler. You could even include our favorite tsundere gangster princess Kirisaki Chitoge from Nisekoi (2014). Much like the real princess type of himedere, the social princess type can also be former elites, such as Aoyama Mio in The World Only God Knows (2010), who keeps up the elite daughter act even after she lost it all. These types of himederes aren’t hard to find, usually with a servant in tow, but some himederes are straight-up pretending, as we’ll soon see below.

Azuki Azusa, from the harem comedy The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat, was bullied at her previous school. She decides to pretend to be an elite, taking on several part-time jobs to fund her rich girl act. Her social princess façade is broken, and she develops feelings for our main man Yoto, but we can easily see why people would mistake her for an elite princess. Beyond having popular girl looks and the style to match, Azuki is sure to be disappointed in your commoner’s date. Still, as a tried and true himedere, she’ll over look your minion status once she gets a good look at your beautiful personality.

As such, some himederes have little reason for their hime act, and they simply have princess syndrome. They demand the best in everything, are egotistical, and can be quite narcissistic. They act like God’s gift to the world, or at least God’s gift to you. Still, you can’t hate them, because they’re so darn cute! This princess-y attitude is well described in the song “World is Mine” by Hatsune Miku, a virtual singer, or vocaloid. In the song, Miku-tan proclaims that she is the number one princess in the world. If you want to know exactly what modern himederes want, this song would be a good place to start your research.

Just as there are tsundere guys, there can be guys with a little himedere in them, or should we say a little oujidere in them? “Ouji” is Japanese for “prince,” and just like himedere, it describes a princely tsundere, or more commonly, a princely kuudere. They’re arrogant and annoying, but a true prince charming is lurking behind those haughty sneers and holier-than-thou glares. Be it true royalty like Prince Raj from Snow White with the Red Hair (2015), or the social elite like Ootori Kyoya from Ouran High School Host Club (2006), these turn-around guys could be princes that dreams are made of. Sometimes they are just mean bad boys, like Sata Kyouya from Wolf Girl and Black Prince (2014), but there’s a good reason why these guys get the girl in the end. Eventually, we see they have hearts of gold.

Oujideres aren’t exclusively for shoujo romances, mind you. Be it “King of the Court” Kageyama Tobio in the on-going Haikyuu!! (2014) or Mr. Emperor’s Eye Akashi Seijuro from Kuroko no Basket, oujideres are popping up everywhere and learning to bare their souls to everyone they care for. Kageyama learns that his superior skill doesn’t make him above the team and soon becomes the setter of Karasuno’s dreams.

For Akashi, though, this guy is the final boss super villain of Kuruko no Basket. A social elite with obsessive perfectionism, he ruled the Generation of Miracles, and now he rules the best high school team in the country, Rakuzan. Like any ruling emperor, Akashi is always making people kneel before him and using his less talented teammates as pawns. Akashi totally deserves his royal moniker and perpetual captain status, but he’s not exactly Mr. Nice Guy. Akashi refuses to change his haughty ways. It isn’t until Kuroko and Seirin High School show him a thing or two that he realizes the madness brewing inside him. He reverts to the sweet, caring, and still extremely competent young leader we always knew he could be.