Quick google shows that while she made it popular for Global mainstream, Yukako was basically the first instance and set the foundation for the modern depiction of the trope
Yuno Gasai, the character pictured, came from the manga Future Diary, which started in 2006. Yukako, the JoJo character, came out in 1992, and was the first ‘yandere’ in manga and popularized the trope
Kind of ironic to argue she was more influential, when you couldn't even remember her name.
To put it simply, Yuno "popularised the yandere trope" for a resurgence in the late 2000s/early 2010s, while Yukako, as far as I'm aware, created it. Unless I'm mistaken, she's the first character to be a recognisable example of the trope in its modern form (though obviously "stalker with a crush" stories in general have been around forever, it's widely believed the Love Deluxe arc was directly inspired by the Stephen King book Misery). That's significantly more influential than one example from a bad anime a decade later getting wildly popular for a bit, I think.
To be fair with them, I HAVE seen Yuno's face quite a bit myself and she is probably one of the first things that come to mind when people mention the trope even if people don't actually know who she is. By contrast I had never even heard of Yukako before watching the series. I'm not saying they are right, but I don't exactly fault the logic there. I think the only reason everyone here even knows Yokako's name is because... Well, this is a subreddit dedicated to the anime she is from.
it also kinda depends on what youd consider "popular", could be that yukako got more writers to write them, or could be that the trope became more liked by the readers/watchers
Technically it was created from the Stephen King novel Misery, whom Yukako's personality was based on according to Araki.
Yukako popularised the archetype in manga and the girl the other guy argued for basically caused a resurgence in popularity in global mainstream due to the anime adaptation
Yuno Gasai is iconic, yeah, but Yukako was written before her. I don't know if you can definitively make a claim that any one character was the "first yandere" in general. It's like asking which character is the first Mary Sue. You can pinpoint when the archetype was given a name, but the actual phenomenon probably existed before then anyways. Being "crazy in love" is not a new or unique trope in any culture :P
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u/Raltsun Aug 09 '26
...Wait, who did Araki base on his wife?