Dude Looks Like a Lady

He's prettier than his sister.
"That lady has a really deep voice."
—Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw during a crossover appearence on Unskippable - Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Whether it is due to their gorgeous hair, delicate features, snazzy dressing, or fey nature, some boys get called "little lady" more often than they'd like. The opposite of Lady Looks Like a Dude, this trope involves male characters who are frequently mistaken for female (by other characters).

Not to be confused with:

Frequently results in an Unsettling Gender Reveal; the difference is how much another character has invested in the dude actually being a lady (The Crying Game versus any scene with Kazuki in GetBackers).

Named for the Aerosmith song, a Real Life example as it was allegedly written about Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil.

Compare Ambiguous Gender and Bifauxnen.

Examples of Dude Looks Like a Lady include:

Anime & Manga

  • Pictured above, Leonard Testarossa, Tessa's brother from Full Metal Panic!.
  • Kogure, from The Secret Devil-chan. And his sister/brother is a futa with really big breasts.
  • Ho and Yu Han Sung from Tower of God.
  • Alto Saotome from Macross Frontier. Well, it generally happened offscreen, but his fine features and long hair make such reports rather believable. The fact that he's a trained (and talented!) Kabuki actor, who frequently played female roles, doesn't help either. Frequently addressed as "Princess", at one point he is even offered female clothing by a salesman who mistakes him for a girl.
  • Samurai Deeper Kyo has Yukimura, a handsome bishonen who is sufficiently androgynous that he can easily pass for a woman in the right clothes, and has a FEMALE ninja as his body double. Not a macho-looking female ninja either.
  • Haku, of Naruto looks feminine to the point that the main character is left in shock when he learns that Haku is actually a boy.

Naruto: No way?! He's prettier than Sakura!

    • If it weren't for the fact that names ending in -maru indicate that they're male, Gaara's uncle Yashamaru would have most people fooled as well. In some language version of the manga, the producers mistake him for a woman.
      • Not to mention the unofficial english databook.
    • Deidara had people fooled as well until he took off his cloak. It didn't help that referred to Sasori as Sasori no Danna, Danna having multiple meanings, one of which is husband.
    • Filler villain Benten in the Shippuuden anime. This is to the point where Chūshin quips that whenever Benten opens his mouth, it looks and sounds strange due to his masculine voice and feminine appearance.
    • Subverted with Hiruko the main antagonist of 3rd Shippuden movie. He looked like a White-Haired Pretty Boy until the bandages covering his mouth fell away to reveal a grotesquely misshapen mouth and thin needle-like teeth..
    • Sasuke too. Upon seeing him as a baby Kushina thought he was a girl. He also looks similar to his Hot Mom.
      • Itachi even more so. He looks just like his Hot Mom and has really long eyelashes.
    • Naruto as well. In chapter 498 Kushina (Naruto's Hot Mom) tells Naruto that he ended up having a face similar to hers and Minato's hair.
  • Hotohori of Fushigi Yuugi is initially mistaken for a woman.
    • Likewise Nuriko, though the dress probably guided most assumptions. Even when Nuriko stops wearing dresses and wears more masculine clothing, this trope becomes more apparent for him, especially when he still wears his hair in a long braid.
  • Yu Kanda from D.Gray-man was mistaken for a girl by Lenalee the first time they met as children. Even now, main character Allen has been known to use 'girly face' as an insult for Kanda.
    • Oh please, like Allen's one to talk.
    • In chapter 210 there's a scene where a random guy in a bar hits on Kanda thinking he's a girl.
    • Also Jasdevi, whose gender had to be confirmed by the author.
  • Rune of Dragon Knights was used as a body double for a princess in the first volume. Later on he gets proposed to by a man who then pats down Rune's chest to confirm his claims of masculinity.
  • Several characters in Fruits Basket, mostly Ayame. The long white hair doesn't help.
    • This ambiguity of this trope got played around with. Kakeru started calling Yuki, who gets told he looks like a girl rather often, 'ranger pink'. He's androgynous enough that Kakeru tricked his girlfriend into believing he really was a girl who was crossdressing as a boy in a Crowning Moment of Funny.
  • Shingo in the King of Brutes storyline in Violence Jack. And, because this is Violence Jack, he is molested because of this. MANY. TIMES.
  • When Kazuki of the Strings in GetBackers assists a person in a hospital, not only does the head nurse assume he is a woman, she thinks he is a trainee, makes him wear a nurse's uniform, and takes his clothes.
    • Ren also mistakes him for a girl, and is in turn mistaken for a guy by Shido. Amon goes so far as to hit on him.
    • On many occasions, main characters have been peeping on what is supposedly a girl bathing, approached a "girl" from behind, or otherwise been completely blindsided when they see the face and realize that they've been attracted to Kazuki.
    • Major spoilers: the end of the manga reveals that the GB world is an AI simulation with Infinity Tower as its conduit, explaining the superpowers the characters have. In the "real world", Kazuki really is a female, and is married to Jubei, bearing his child.
  • Oddly enough, the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX dub makes several jokes about this in the case of Professor Chronos/Crowler:

"I didn't know he was a doctor."
"I didn't know he was even a dude."

  • Tokiya Mikagami in Flame of Recca. A death glare awaits those who think he's actually a girl in disguise.
    • Even more explicit in the anime than in the manga. When a guy identifies the only teenage boy around as being Fuuko, an enraged Tokiya shouts, "You idiot! I bet you thought I was a girl!"
  • Akira Shiraishi in Ai Ore Love Me, the 'princess' of his all-boys school, and considered a girl even by his brothers. Also dating the 'prince' of an all-girls school, Mizuki Sakurazaka. This generally leads to people around them being shocked when they go out on a date and overhear Akira calling Mizuki his girlfriend or Mizuki mentioning Akira's her boyfriend.
  • Loran Cehack from Turn a Gundam is effeminate enough that, in masculine clothing, Guin Lineford called him "Laura" (also used by the Earth Militia and Dianna Counter when referring to him). He also crossdresses rather convincingly.
    • Lineford himself lampshades the name, saying it suits Loran better. It's turned into an important plot element as the enemy (and most of the militia) are convinced the "White Doll's" pilot is female.
    • Rumor has it that Loran's design was Tomino's Writer Revolt against the execs not letting him have a female main character.
  • In Red River Yuri mistakes Tito for her sister Eimi.
  • Husky the fishboy, from the manga +Anima, is so girly in appearance, even the reader isn't sure of his gender until he complains about being forced to dress like a girl. When he's introduced, he's a circus attraction... the Mermaid Princess. Characters frequently mistake him for a girl, and his friend Nana at one point becomes convinced that he's a girl in disquise due to his appearance and the fact that he's more girly than she is. Poor Husky is forced to prove his masculinity by getting naked and showing a horrified Nana his manly bits. As it turns out, the reason he doesn't care much for girls is because of how much he was teased for looking and acting like one as a boy.
    • A side character even falls in love with him after Husky saved him from drowning... poor guy thought he was, well, the mermaid princess.
    • A group of teenage boys invite him to come 'play with them', thinking he's a girl. One mentions 'she' is a bit young, but apparently the leader "likes [his girls] young". Even after Husky attacks them in rage they don't realize he's a boy.
  • Souji Okita in Peacemaker Kurogane looks eerily like a woman. Other Shinsengumi members lampshade it a few times by reproaching to him that he walks like a woman, acts like a child and is girlishly pretty that he resembles a young girl. That, and he almost never carries a sword around when he's off-duty.
    • Also, Suzu. Especially after he starts wearing makeup and revealing clothes in the sequel manga. Even the other characters in the series comment on how beautiful he is.
    • There's also Susumu. He often cross-dresses (quite convincingly) to gather information.
  • Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. In the last episode, some girls in a train station mistake him for Kuwabara's girlfriend (which seems strange, since he is quite tall, flat-chested and broad-shouldered).
    • This is even funnier in the manga, due to the fact that Kurama briefly starts to lose his temper. When Yusuke later asks him to help nab a monster at a girls' school, Kurama bitterly asks, "Should I wear a disguise, or shouldn't I bother?"
    • Even dubbing companies can get confused. Apparently in the version shown in the Philippines, they thought Kurama was a woman and dubbed all references to him accordingly. Then they saw the scene during the Dark Tornament arc where he takes his shirt off and promptly attempted a Retcon.
    • The Hungarian dub gives Kurama a deep but definitely female voice actor so it's possible the dubbing group fell victim to this trope.
  • Kagemiya Sen from the Kekkaishi manga can be easily mistaken for a female due to his face shape and hairstyle. This is also noted by the other characters in the manga itself, to Sen's displeasure.
  • Narutaru's Norio "Nori-rin" Koga has very feminine looks and is often mistaken for a girl.
  • Rei in Fist of the North Star actually takes advantage of this - he disguises himself under a sheet, leaving only his very feminine eyes showing, and then kills the bandits that try to take advantage of him.
  • Canute in Vinland Saga is initially mistaken for a girl once he removes the helm hiding his face, and though the confusion gets cleared up fairly quickly, Thorfinn continues to use the insulting nickname "Princess" for a bit, and Thorkell's men once make a crack that if Thorkell is the avatar of Thor, Canute must be the avatar of Freya.
  • Hibiki Tokai from Vandread was mistaken for a young girl once by another man.
  • Shuuichi Nitori from Wandering Son is a boy who is effeminate to the point that a hairband alone causes a door-to-door salesman to refer to him as "miss." Later on a friend of his Grandmother mistakes him for a girl, even when he's dressed as a boy. There's also Mako and Fumiya, who even when not crossdressing look rather feminine. Nitori is Transgender, albeit pre-transition and not full time due to his age and situation.
  • No, not Ranma. Konatsu the Kunoichi from Ranma ½, who doesn't just have the looks (as in, extremely Bishonen and even hides convenient bags of pepper on his chest) but also his attitude, as he was raised to think and behave like a woman. He managed to fool not just the Gender Bender (Ranma) and the Wholesome Crossdresser (Ukyou,) but also the lecherous ancient martial arts master who draws power from groping pretty women and is disgusted at even accidentally touching men (Happosai.)
    • To say nothing of Tsubasa Kurenai, a man who dressed as a woman who was in love with a woman who dressed as a man. If Tsubasa and Konatsu started dating, would they take turns wearing women's clothes?
  • Lin from Black Cat. The omake drawing in the volume he was introduced nearly puts him into Wholesome Crossdresser territory. His androgynous clothes don't hurt.
    • Shao-chan as well, who's caused a few Flame Wars between people arguing if whether he's a man or a woman.
    • Also, Creed. It's sometimes very hard to tell his gender.
  • Kazumi in Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas. That he looks like a girl is one of the things his little sister teases him about to no end. Still, he's generally a nice guy and even has a girl that has a crush on him.
  • Chiharu, one of the minor characters in They Are My Noble Masters. Besides being frequently ignored (even more than Yume, who's already barely noticed by the other characters), Ren has to have his gender confirmed the first time they meet.
  • Junior of ROD the TV is pretty enough that one of the Paper Sisters invites him to be their younger sister, so they can all play Little Women together. This... throws him somewhat.
  • Word of God says that Yumi Hotta of Hikaru no Go had to inform her western translators of their mistake when one of them printed a preview of the next issue referring to Sai as "she". It's obvious Sei is a man if you're familiar with Heian court dress, but to everyone else... Let's just put it this way: the style includes wearing lipstick.
  • Kurapika from Hunter X Hunter, especially in the anime since he is voiced by a girl despite being male. His gender actually remained ambiguous for quite a while, but weirdly nobody in the series seems to have trouble identifying his gender.
    • Lampshaded in the anime, where Leorio dismisses the idea of trying to get someone to guess his gender... only to realize that the androgynous-looking Kurapika is the perfect candidate. This seems to give Kurapika the creeps.
    • Neferpitou is extremely feminine looking as well.
    • Killua too. In the 2011 anime. Madhouse's design for him looks more feminine than Togashi's or Nippon Animation's.
  • In Inoue Kazurou's short story Aoi Destruction, the titular father of the main character is a 38 years old man, yet looks like a little girl.
  • Gren from Cowboy Bebop. The second he speaks, it's obvious he's a man, but he looks very feminine and due to an experimental and highly addictive drug, he has boobs. Big ones.
  • Pokémon Special: Bugsy. Gold got a Bridget dropped on him real quick, though he still looks quite girlish in the games.
    • Likewise in Pokémon Golden Boys.
    • Silver fits, to the point where one translation thought he was a girl for a majority of the run. Oddly he doesn't get mistaken for a girl, probably because how masculine he acts and probably sounds.
  • Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist, who is male in the first anime series being Hohenhemin and Dante's son, but can shapeshift into a woman if he wishes. In the official character book for the manga, the section under Envy is described as "Of uncertain gender." He even had a female voice actor in the original Japanese, English, and Hungarian dubs, and this appearance is played for laughs in the Chibi Party OVA.
  • Ranewater Calder from Zombie Powder. It didn't help that he's the leader of a gang called the "Ash Daughter Gang"...
  • Johann from Monster is extremely effeminate. In fact just putting on a dress and a wig made him identical to his beautiful sister.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler's Hayate Ayasaki has a face girly enough that both Nagi and Maria are occasionally compelled to make him play dress-up for them. The result of those projects sends the Moe factor of the show through the roof.
  • Huey Laforet from Baccano!!. One character (Tick's younger brother) had to guess at his gender based on his voice—and even then he wasn't really sure. Firo also skirts the trope a bit. Nobody's ever mistaken him for a woman, but cops and FBI members have a habit of taking jabs at his appearance, like insinuating that he only got promoted to Capo because he was pretty enough to sleep his way up the ranks.
  • Tooru and Yuujirou in Princess Princess frequently get asked out by other guys (when not in their princess garb). The aforementioned two have also stated that when Mikoto is standing next to his girlfriend, they look like two beautiful girls instead of a guy and his girlfriend.
  • Aleister Crowley from A Certain Magical Index. It doesn't help with the Rapunzel Hair and that the production art gives him a bustline. A rather impressive one at that.
  • Hansel and/or Gretel, Black Lagoon's psychopathic child-assassins. The only difference between the two is a dress and a wig, which they routinely switch, so both/either/neither of them could be a girl... or boy.
    • In the omake episode Boys and Girls (in which everyone is genderswapped to their oposite genders), Revy (who gender-swapped to male) looks much like his original female version, such as the clothes & hairstyle, which causes Rock (who gender-swaped to female and has gone insane because everyone is gender-swapped) to believe that Revy is still a woman, but Revy admits to her that he is a guy and proves it by taking of his shorts and showing Rock his genitalia.
  • Gourry from Slayers, simply for the the cross dressing disguise... that actually WORKED.
  • Andromeda Shun from Saint Seiya gets this a lot. His own older brother fell in love with a girl who was identical to Shun, "except for her gender and the color of her hair." It doesn't help that his (pink) armor, at least in the first story arc, appears to have breasts, or that one of the reasons why Esmeralda became Ikki's Morality Pet was because she looked exactly like a blonde Shun. Ikki himself told that to her face!

Esmeralda: Ah, Ikki. Sorry... did you think I was your little brother again?
Ikki: ... Yes. You two look identical! The only differences are your hair and eye colors.

    • Also, Misty of Lacerta and Aphrodite of Pisces. They have feminine names, wear lipstick and show more concern for beauty than anything else! Oh, an Aphrodite fights with roses! These three characters have shower/bath scenes in the anime for no better reason than to say, "See? See? He IS a guy!" and yet in the French dub of the series, Misty and Aphrodite are STILL voiced by women, though Shun is not... except in the first few episodes.
  • The Five Star Stories' Amaterasu dis Grand Grees Eydas IV and his sort-of honorary nephew Maximum HOLTFORS Ballanche Kaien, Duke of Fates. The guys could win any androgyny contest just by showing up, and surprising unsuspecting males is a Running Gag for Amaterasu when he goes to fool around incognito. Hell, there was a moment when Amaterasu was impersonated by a full-on woman, and nobody noticed.
  • After Art Evolution, Katekyo Hitman Reborn has suddenly started getting a bunch of them, including the protagonist. Chief offenders include Kikyo and Daisy of the Real Furneral Wreathes. Only in the latest chapter has the translator been certain that Kikyo is male and no one can be certain if Daisy is this or a Bifauxnen.
  • D'Eon from Le Chevalier d'Eon can easily pass for his sister by putting on a dress. It doesn't help that he gets noticeably more feminine as the series goes on.
  • Hideyoshi from Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. He has to keep reminding Akihisa (and everyone else) that he's actually a guy, and is at one point mistaken for his twin sister. This has gotten to the point that a) Hideyoshi being a third gender is a running gag, and b) Hideyoshi gets most of the Fan Service of the series...in what would be extremely potent female fanservice moments, if not for Hideyoshi being, er, not female. Stupid Sexy Flanders ensues.
  • MiXiM has Sanguubashi Takezou, who,in the most extreme case of Hollywood Nerd ever,looks like a cross between Alita and Gackt. Male. Honest.
  • Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion is essentially a Gender Flip of Nadia (see here for notes from Sadamoto himself). He was described by Sadamoto as looking like "a boyish young girl" (more evidence here), and was made as such to distinguish him from the mecha heroes at that time. Shinji's feminine facial features are brought up by Misato in the first episode, and during the eighth and ninth episodes he's made to look like a girl from nothing more than a wardrobe change.
    • One of the official games that had its scripts designed from interviews with Anno also had Fuyutsuki say that Shinji looked just like Yui and then crossdress Shinji for the role all while saying how beautiful "she" looks; Fuyutsuki's actions soon become overtly sexual.
    • Shinji and Kaworu also make rather pretty girls with little more than a hair and eyelash change (and breasts) in the GenderFlip version of episode 24, longer haired Shinjiko ends up looking like a young version of Yui.
    • The issue is not helped by Maya, who is essentially Shinji in a female officers uniform. And female, obviously.
  • Mumu Momoyama from Choco Mimi gets mistaken for female by both Choco and Mikachin when they meet him. He does occasionally wear skirts, and once dressed as a maid to advertise the class cafe, but he doesn't like being mistaken for a girl. Mikachin does assume he's a Sweet Polly Oliver once though.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 has Tieria Erde and his Evil Twin Regene Regetta. Memetic Mutation says "He probably dresses like that to get men to buy him drinks, and then he thanks them in his really deep voice and they feel hella awkward." The worst part is that Tieria makes a very, very convincing woman in Season 2 when he puts on a gown, false breasts and a vocoder. No wonder Tieria got a helluva lot of Gender Bender Rule 34...
    • This gets really weird in the English dub, where apparently the casters didn't get the memo that Regene Regetta was a guy, and gave him a very obviously female voice actress. The end result is an androgynous person with a female voice whom everyone refers to as male. The Japanese VA also sounds very feminine, even more so than the English VA!
  • Black Bird has Kyo, whom Misao mistakes for a pretty girl upon seeing him as an adult.
  • Ciel from Black Butler. Joker even had to ask if he was a boy to make sure.
    • And Grell in Shinigami form.
    • Finny, the gardener, has a slim figure, long eyelashes, and hair clips to keep his bangs out of his face.
    • Alois in the second season. Many people thought he was a 'female' master at first and many people started making theories about him being a 'trap' or dressing like a male until the first episode aired.
    • Maurice Cole is introduced in chapter 69.
  • Griffith from Berserk.
  • Souma, Masataka, and specially Youya... aka Sakurako from Sakura Gari.
  • Miller from Kaguyahime much to his dismay.
  • Kenshin of Rurouni Kenshin, who was based on a real historical figure who used his feminine appearance to his advantage, getting up close to his targets so he could assassinate them and hiding out in brothels after a kill.
  • Joey from Heroman. It's a running gag between me and my friends to spontaneously shot "THAT'S A GUY?!" while watching.
  • Hinata (Hina) Omori of Desire Climax looks just like his beautiful twin sister Mio Omori.
  • A few characters in Code Geass, namely Lelouch (in one picture drama he's made to look prettier than the girls simply by putting on an Elegant Gothic Lolita dress), V.V., Rolo, Clovis, and Kanon.
  • Frequently done in Kaori Yuki manga, not just in terms of art, but as part of the storyline.
    • In Count Cain, the only thing Cain needs to do to convincingly crossdress is to wear a wig. He managed to fool a man into thinking he is high class call girl once, even though the man was literally inches away from his face.
    • In Angel Sanctuary, the only thing Rosiel needed to do to fool mooks into thinking he was a woman was to talk in falsetto.
    • Lucille, the vocalist in the manga Grand Guignol Orchestra, is often mistaken for a woman.
  • A lot of guys from Saiunkoku Monogatari but especially Sa Sakujun with his long pink hair.
    • In the manga, Ko Kijin wins a men-in-drag contest basically by showing up.
  • Wolfram, Saralegui, and Gunter from Kyou Kara Maou.
  • Hamaji from H2O: Footprints in the Sand.
  • Yukinari from Girls Bravo. In Season 2, Episode 6 he was made to look like a girl with a wig, a girl's outfit, and fake breasts. His disguise was so convincing that even the entire audience and Fukuyama (who hates guys) thought he was a pretty girl. And Fukuyama didn't realize Yukinari was actually a boy until after he grabbed his crotch.
  • Historical figure, Nasu no Yoichi, from Drifters is presented this way.
  • Sunao, Ran, and Nanami from Sukisho. Also, Hiromu.
  • Won Fong-Fong from Rosario+ Vampire. Also, Tsukune after Art Evolution.
  • Nakameguro from Student Council's Discretion. It's enough to instill some Stupid Sexy Flanders moments in Ken in episode 12.
  • Ayase Yukiya and Kaoruko Someya from Okane ga Nai.
  • Shindou Shuichi and Seguchi Tohma from Gravitation.
  • Schrödinger of Hellsing.
  • Just about every guy in 07-Ghost.
  • Wapourif from Simoun. The people of his world are female until they turn 17, at which point they choose their adult gender, but the change isn't immediate. Wapourif hasn't been a man long enough for his big breasts to flatten out, and still wears his hair long. One could easily be forgiven for thinking he was a Wrench Wench.
  • In Natsume Yuujinchou, Natsume Takashi's most defining physical characteristic is his uncanny physical resemblance to his grandmother at that age. While humans don't tend to mistake him for the opposite gender (except for that one time where he was possessed by a female Ayakashi and started giving his male friends thoughts), Youkai seem to do it all the time, and according to Madara, Youkai do not make a distinction between genders.
  • Hiroshi Kuzumi of Ookamikakushi.
  • Nakahito of Steel Angel Kurumi.
  • Amatsuki: Ginshu (who actually has No Biological Sex, but used to be a guy) and Ainezu (who is so feminine he fooled the translators into thinking he was a woman for ages).
  • Nanase from Honey Hunt.
  • Pre-Gender Bender Hazumu of Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. Yasuna, who Does Not Like Men, accidentally mistook him for a girl when he was still a "he".
  • Maki in Darker than Black. Of course, he is a little kid, so it's not totally unjustified.
  • Lucille from Ningyou Kyuutei Gakudan.
  • Ayumi Saitou in Shion no Ou.
  • Yuki Saegusa from Haitoku No Shoujo.
  • Fisheye and Zoisite of Sailor Moon.
  • Naoi Ayato in Angel Beats!.
  • Mizuho of Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru is very pretty even when not cross dressing as a girl.
  • Id. Acknowledged oh so many times in-universe. Not to mention that it's pretty much guaranteed that anyone who first reads the series is going to think he's a she.
  • Peppo in Gankutsuou, to the point where people on this very Wiki still can't help but refer to him as a 'she'. Not that anyone can blaim them (yes, he is the one of the left).
  • Many a male character in Revolutionary Girl Utena could pass as a pretty woman.
  • Most of the males in the manga A Kiss To The Prince.
  • Pretty much every male character in Loveless.
  • Rolan of MAR.
  • Agito/Akito in Air Gear.
    • In chapter 279, while fighting Agito, the girlish loli Shalott reveals to Agito that she is actually a guy.
  • In Axis Powers Hetalia, several people thought that China was a girl, him with his ponytail and all. Well, it's not that hard to believe with pictures like these. It's no wonder the fans are confused.
    • Plus, he's voiced by girls in both dubs.
    • Hilariously lampshaded in the dub:

America: Wait! China, YOU'RE A CHICK?!

Person 1: Are they lesbians?
Person 2: They are two boys.
Person 2: * mind fucked* o.o

    • Young [dead link] France [dead link]
    • How come Chibitalia (young North Italy) is not here?! Everyone was convinced he was a girl and the Sacred Roman Empire even fell for him. Until Italy reaches puberty and his voice changes.
    • Young Norway
    • A lot of people thought KugelMugel was a girl at first due to having long girlish braids and a translation of gender neutral pronouns, but he was confirmed to be a boy in the end.
  • Jun Koshinae from Is.
  • Shiina, Yukari's Sekirei of Sekirei.
  • Kaoru Nagumo of Hakuouki.
  • A few characters in Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru. Most notably Yuki who's even told he looks like a girl by other characters. Which is quite understandable as he has been a girl in all of his previous lives.
    • And in episode 14, Sodom, once he reveals his human form.
  • Lucy Monostone from MPD Psycho. Of course, the name doesn't help much either.
  • Tsujido of Speed Grapher.
  • Naruse Fuuta of Kawaii Akuma.
  • Terumi "Aphrodi" Afuro of Inazuma Eleven.
  • Daisuke Niwa from D.N.Angel. He was made to dress up as the princess in a play and made a very convincing girl with just a wig and dress. On one occasion one of his friends even comments on how girly he looks.
  • Cain and Shido of Nightwalker.
  • Lady Bat from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. His name doesn't help, though there are hints that show that he is really a guy. But of course, the fans are divided between the ones who claim that he is a guy, the ones who claim that he is a girl, and the ones who don't care...
  • Rin from Togainu no Chi.
  • Ouran High School Host Club plays with this, in that Haruhi would fall into this perfectly... and does in the eyes of the Host Club's customers. Except, she actually is a girl.
  • Most of the guys from Monochrome Factor, especially Shirogane and Haruka.
  • Shun in Here Is Greenwood. As a practical joke several older residents of the dorm convince the main character (who is Shun's roommate) that Shun is in fact a crossdressing girl. This deception holds until Kazuya runs into Shun using the urinal.
  • Shugo Chara has Nagihiko, otherwise known as Nadeshiko. Yup, that Nadeshiko. This is a guy, believe it or not.
    • Tadase Hotori, too.
  • Aleksander Nikolaevich Her [dead link] , known as Sasha, from Seikon no Qwaser. He caused Mafuyu and Tomo to argue if he is a Boy or Girl in the first episode. The animators love dressing him in girl clothes.
  • A number of guys from Tactics, especially Kantarou Ichinomiya.
  • Izou from One Piece, probably due to being the only non Gonk crossdresser in the series - and the only crossdresser who actually shaves. Probably also Haruta though his/her gender isn't actually known as of yet.
  • Rune in Karakuridouji Ultimo. It's actually lampshaded; he was a girl in his past lives.
    • If you prefer to believe the Doji actually have genders (they are supposed to be robots) then Ultimo, Desir, Jealous, and most especially Sophia and Service all count (the former for his feminine name, and the latter for being a Captain Ersatz of Tamao)
  • Most male characters in "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure": Vento Aureo.
  • CLAMP. 'Nuff said.
  • Tobi in Noein.
  • No. 6: Nezumi. He makes a living by performing in Shakespeare plays. In episode 5, he was playing a girl. In episode 1, Shion even states that he looks like a girl.
    • Also, Dogkeeper.
    • Shion too. He's very pretty, has a face similar to Safu (a girl) and in chapter 6 a guy hits on Shion and tells him that he's "very pretty".
  • Makoto Fujitani from Karin.
  • The titular character of Kunisaki Izumo no Jijou looks like a girl and is often mistaken as such. Because of that, he is also invariably assigned as an onnagata[1] in the kabuki plays organised by his family's troupe, much to his chagrin.
  • RahXephon: Ayato Kamina is pretty enough that he'd probably not look out of place in a dress. His face is that similar to the girls in the series.
  • Reimei no Arcana: Adel certainly looks rather feminine due to his hair style before it's made clear that he is male.
  • Yukiteru of Mirai Nikki has a face feminine enough to be similar to Yuno's.
  • Sato of Hen.
  • Yuuki Rito of To LOVE-Ru.
  • Suriou from Kamisama Kiss. Some of the other characters even lampshade it when they remark that he is prettier than the female lead, Nanami.
  • Mawaru Penguindrum: Shouma "Shou" Takakura.
  • Minoru in AKB 49 Renai Kinshi Jourei, which inspired him to cross-dress and participate in the same auditions as his crush to secretly provide her some moral support.
  • In Pump Up! the protagonist mistakes a male classmate for a girl. It doesn't help that their uniform is androgynous, aside from girls wearing skirts and boys wearing slacks, and he's short for a boy. His feminine looks have made him popular with guys too.
  • Apparently, Heero was often mistaken by his own creators for a girl because of his slim figure. It doesn't help that his design was based off female Idol Singer Yuki Uchida, according to Word of God.
    • Interestingly averted with Duo.

Comic Books

  • Korbinian ("Bini") from Mingamanga is a Heavy Metal fan and has the hair. Also, the teacher mistakes "Korbinian" for "Korbinia".
  • Loki of The Mighty Thor spent around four years real-time as a woman. He identified as both genders, though like Thor (who still referred to him as "brother") he mostly seemed to think of himself as male. The trope was referenced by name on the official Marvel bio site, that termed this period of his life: Loki looks like a Lady


Film -- Animation

  • This is Francis the male ladybug's shtick in A Bugs Life. He has a very feminine face as well as a very masculine voice. This is lampshaded a couple of times; for example, when we first meet him, two bugs in the audience start hitting on him when he performs.

Francis: So, being a ladybug automatically makes me a girl! Is that it, flyboy?! Eh?!
Flies: Cripes, she's a guy!


Film -- Live-Action

  • Ra in Stargate looks pretty girlish, and is played by the same actor who played the transsexual Dil in The Crying Game.
  • The peasant at the beginning of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
    • And Prince Alice... er, Herbert.
  • Tobio in Wild Zero (although he might be a Wholesome Crossdresser).
  • In the movie version of Hair (theatre), the hippies crash a party and one of the partygoers comments on the "Negro with the two young ladies" (there was only one girl in the group).
  • Jimmy McElroy in Blades of Glory.
  • The '60s comedy What's New Pussycat? opens with Peter Sellers, in a velvet suit and shoulder-length hair, arguing with his wife who accuses him of seeing another woman. She demands "Is she prettier than me?" He shouts "Is she prettier than you?! ...I'm prettier than you!"
  • Invasion of the Neptune Men. The Neptune Men's human disguises has them wearing heavy lipstick and mascara.
  • The trope-naming song is used on the soundtrack of Mrs. Doubtfire, for obvious reasons. The eponymous character, however, is Disguised in Drag, though he does make a pretty old lady, come to think of it...


Literature

  • Every single male in the Anita Blake series fits this trope except for Richard and a couple of others. Most of them are swooningly subservient, have feminine faces, womanly bodies, long flowing hair, weepy emotions that they talk about for whole chapters, and generally the demeanor of obnoxiously stereotypical women.
  • The Fool in Robin Hobb's works. He even spends a few years passing as a woman, and for most of the series the Fool's exact gender is unknown, until the final book of The Tawny Man series, where it is revealed that the Fool is actually male.
  • Lani Garver, from What Happened To Lani Garver. In fact, although the narrator finally just refers to Lani in the masculine form, the issue is never actually resolved.
  • There's an entire species of these in Alan Dean Foster's Taken trilogy. When they talk, however, they sound like garbage disposals, as fits their combination of an absolute sense of honor and a fondness for killing.
  • Nakajima, protagonist of the Digital Devil Story series, is described as handsome in a feminine way. Specifically used as a taunt at one point.


Live-Action TV

  • Vince Noir of The Mighty Boosh is mistaken for a woman (or more specifically, as his friend Howard's wife or girlfriend) in nearly every episode. He addresses his oddly compelling androgyny himself in the episode "Party": "Of course you [fancy me] -- all men do! I'm the confuser! 'Is it a man? Is it a woman? I'm not sure if I mind!'"
  • Dennis Finch in Just Shoot Me, though he is more often confused for being gay.
  • The CSI episode "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?" features a guy killed after he is mistaken for the female victim the murderer had already picked out. The murderer did have vision problems though, due to bad laser surgery, but not confusing your victims is Serial Killer 101.
  • An episode of the German police procedural Tatort had a short scene from a rapist's point of view while he was looking for a new victim. The camera lengthily gazed over several longhaired beauties, among them one which caused the POV to rapidly shift to another when he turned around.
  • Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! had a whole song about a man whose footsteps sounded like those of a woman.
  • An episode of Mad About You had Paul and his cousin first mistaking an obese "woman" as pregnant - and when correcting for that mistake, discovering it was a man. After it was solved, they call the waiter who asks "And the lady?".
  • While Kurt from Glee doesn't look like a girl per se (though he's Bishonen enough that him doing drag isn't hard to picture), he certainly sounds like one: the second thing he usually has to say when answering the phone is "No, she's dead, this is her son." It's been lampshaded a bit, like like Sue calling him "lady face" and when the mean jocks in theatricality mentioned that they couldn't tell the difference between him and girls.
  • Chappelle's Show: During Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories skit about Prince, Charlie Murphy remarks how Mickey Free, a member of Prince's crew, looked like a girl.

When he joined the group, I heard mad cats like, "Yo, Shalamar got a new girl in there, man, bitch fine like a motherfucker." They was talking about Mickey Free, man, okay? Mickey Free is not a girl."

  • Noah's Arc: Even aside from the effeminate clothes, Romeo's physical features are remarkably feminine.
  • Two Broke Girls: Han remarks in one episode that a Camp Gay couple asked him if he was a "rice queen on the downlow"

Earl: They think he's gay!
Max: Huh... (Beat) That's a step up; usually people think he's a lesbian.

Music

  • Besides the Trope Namer, there's also the Killers song "Somebody Told Me".[2]
  • "And Jet, I thought the major was a lady suffragette. JET!!! Woo-ooh-ooh-WOOH-ooh-ooh-WOOH-ooh-ooh!"
  • Oh, SHINee's Taemin...
  • Jonas Bjerre, lead vocalist of the alt-rock band Mew.
  • Most ironic of all, Steven Tyler's face has become unexpectedly feminine since his recent plastic surgery/ies. Dude * does* look like a lady. (Carly Simon, to be specific.)
  • Davey Havok of the band AFI, as seen in this Nothing Nice to Say strip.
    • He's manned up considerably as of the release of Crash Love (2009).
  • Brian Molko. Incredibly feminine.
    • Depends on the photo. Sometimes he looks indistinguishable from a woman, other times he looks like a dude in makeup, other times he looks... somewhat hard to tell, etc.
  • ... David Bowie?
  • Jeffree Star has made a career of looking 'fierce'. Many don't realise he's a boy for quite some time. See here
  • Bill Kaulitz. Yep, that's a guy.
    • Have some more to help you [dead link] make up your mind.
    • It's even funnier when you imagine what the other members of the boygroup he's part of must be thinking of the guy. Seriously, one day he looks completely normal and then poof, suddenly mascara! By this point, "Bill" looks girlier than Madonna.
    • Before he finally finished puberty, Bill Kaulitz of the german Rock Band Tokio Hotel was most of the time mistaken for a woman for both, his looks and his voice. (Styling himself like a J-Rock singer might have had something to do with it as well.) 90% of the bashing the band got (And there were whole websites dedicated to bashing that band) were actually targeted against Bill's androgynous looks, which supposedly gave "real men" in german showbiz a bad name.
    • It's also worth noting that one of those bandmates is his identical Twin Brother, Tom. He had the same features, but manned up his look considerably with the use of piercings and long dreadlocks.
  • Jonne Aaron, singer of the Finnish band Negative. Quite possibly more feminine than Kaulitz.
    • It's not so much that he was more feminine than Bill, it's just that his was a much more natural femininity. He didn't use half as much make up.
    • He has since manned up... sort of.
  • On the subject of Finnish musicians, Marko Laiho of the Black Metal band Beherit has exemplified this trope on a few of their early photos
  • Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. Although the people being fooled were Beavis and Butthead so that's hardly conclusive proof.
  • People still mistake the 100% pure man J-rocker singer Gackt for a chick (despite his deep manly voice, rock-hard flat abs and personality) -- it might have something to do with his pretty factor. He himself has stated that he thinks he would lose in a contest for looking like a manly man, but that he'd kick everyone's ass in an androgyny contest.
    • The cover for his recent single "Koakuma Heaven" certainly doesn't help things (However you can clearly see his Adam's apple).
    • This was especially funny around the time his new movie "Bunraku" was announced with a picture of him next to Josh Hartnett. Many fans of Hartnett who saw the picture on forums made comments like "Wow! That asian chick is so pretty! Who is she? Is she his love interest in the movie?"
    • This can also be applied to many other Visual Kei artists and J-rockers, often intentionally. Although in a the case of Miyavi, he looks girly even without make-up, skirts and hair.
    • It isn't just Miyavi who looks feminine even without trying. Shinya from Dir En Grey has to be the best example of that. X Japan's Yoshiki is the same. It must be a drummer thing. As for Gackt- well, he doesn't seem to be mistaken for a woman very often really, but maybe that's because when he was at his most androgynous he was within close proximity to Mana, and that can distort perceptions a bit.
  • Boy George, especially during the 80's.
  • Michael Jackson spent some time between plastic surgeries looking exactly like his sister Latoya.
  • Ryan Ross [dead link] from Panic! at the Disco. Every time he decides to grow facial hair life feels like a bizarro acid trip where nothing makes sense.
    • There is a pic of him and his ex-girlfriend where they looked exactly like a lesbian couple. Also this picture where he must have been at least 19. He looks like the young girlfriend of the guy he's in the picture with.
    • Spencer Smith (on the left). In his younger days he often looked girlish which was compounded by the fact that he sometimes wore girls' clothing and jeans and usually stands with his hip cocked. You can see it in motion here. Now he still has a pretty face but usually covers it up with a beard that's fuller at some times than others and a bigger, manly figure, also at times. He still ends up looking like a bearded woman sometimes though.
    • This applies to Brendon Urie as well, only exacerbated... um enhanced with his flamboyant attire to match Spencer's, and liberal use of stage makeup.
    • Especially made clear when seen in this group picture, with only Jon Walker (the one in black) looking particularly masculine.
  • The Hanson brothers in the band Hanson were jokingly referred to as the Hanson sisters for a long time.
  • Adam Lambert of American Idol is this on the cover of his self-titled album.
  • Pete Burns of 80's Synth Pop group Dead Or Alive. A Wholesome Crossdresser. Partial subversion in that his singing voice makes it quite clear he's a man.
  • All of the members of X Japan. Take a look at their pages if you don't believe us. Subverted, however, by Pata when he grew a beard to look more masculine.
  • Drive/+ images/35557657 Michael Jagmin (center, redhead) [dead link] of post-hardcore band A Skylit Drive. His voice doesn't help.
  • Roger Taylor of Queen fell victim to this trope so often that he cut his hair in an attempt to avert it.
  • J-pop singer SHOWTA. NO ONE believes he's a guy the first time they see him. It doesn't help that he has a very high, girlish voice.
  • The late Taiwanese singer Chang Yu Sheng, who also sounded like a girl.
  • Almost every group in Johnny's Entertainment has one.
  • Japanese guitarist Hizaki of Versailles. He wears fancy dresses and really pulls it off. Late bassist Jasmine You also fit this. Other guitarist Teru falls into this occasionally.
  • All the guys in Vidoll and most other Visual Kei bands.
  • Justin Bieber.
  • Marilyn Manson at times [dead link] (NSFW)
  • Korean singer G-Dragon definitely looks like a girl despite his lack of hair.
  • Everybody in the Japanese heavy metal band Dir En Grey used to look like females at the start of their career, especially because of the makeup.
  • The artist who painted the front cover of Daryl Hall And John Oates' self-titled 1975 album (the one with "Sara Smile" on it) make them look very effeminate against the duo's will, especially Daryl, which would lead to stories that the duo were gay lovers. Daryl would joke in their 1998 VH-1 Behind The Music episode that on the cover he looked like "the woman I always wanted to go out with".

Religion and Mythology

  • In Greek Mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection. Some say that he mistook it for a beautiful woman, while others say that he recognized himself. He was then turned into a flower that bears his name. This happened because he spurned the affections of a young man named Ameinias and a (female) nymph named Echo, who prayed to Nemesis for revenge.


Theatre

  • In Jerusalem, Ginger is mistaken for a woman by the Professor, though this is only because the former has long hair and the latter is a senile and possibly crazy old man. Nobody else has any doubts about Ginger's sex, which makes sense given that Mackensie Crook doesn't look much like a woman at all.


Video Games

  • The male cleric from Disgaea takes the cake for being the most feminine. Infact the anime adaptation has an episode where Laharl encounters a "biker gang" and this nameless member of it was given a female voice with a british accent when dubbed Nevermind the male voice in the original audio and label in the actual game.
  • Link in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. He's shown as manly in the concept art, but leaves much to be desired regarding that area in the actual game; high cheekbones, pointy chin, full lips and big eyes are serious clinchers for this category.
  • Raiden, from Metal Gear Solid 2. Like Rune, he got patted down, but in... er, a different area. By the US President. It doesn't help that we're so used to visual representation of the male body as having no hips (they do, just not as pronounced as women) that Raiden is relentlessly mocked because of the figure-enhancing suit he wears. ("Hips Don't Lie" is a minor meme for male character models that look like they're just very flat women.)
    • Then there's Raikov, from the follow up game Metal Gear Solid 3. Raikov was created in response to the controversy surrounding Raiden following his replacement of Solid Snake as the main character. Hideo Kojima on more than one occasion has commented on Raikov's beautiful looks.
  • There's Gothitelle from Pokémon, with a M/F ratio of 25%/75%. However, Gothitelle looks a lot like a woman.
    • Gardevoir has the same problem, being the most well-known Cute Monster Girl in the franchise, despite its M/F ratio being a solid 50%/50%.
    • Also, Bellossom, Roselia, Ribombee, Lilligant, Whimsicott, Florges... lots of Pokemon, actually.
  • Fire Emblem has a couple of these. The first one seen by Westerners was Lucius from the seventh game, Fire Emblem: Rekka no ken. He's even mistaken to be a woman by Serra in-game.
  • And then there's Kuja from Final Fantasy IX, who is wearing the most feminine, Stripperific outfit imaginable (except for the codpiece...), has feathers in his long, flowing, luxurious hair, and is wearing lipstick and eyeshadow, not to mention the feminine hips and waist. There's a reason he's the poster guy for the Viewer Gender Confusion page. Only once is this commented on in-story, when Queen Brahne calls him girly.
  • Cecil from Final Fantasy IV has long, flowing hair, an angelic face, and even wears lipstick.
    • In DS, Cecil's gets gets an decent outfit that doesn't look girly after changing to a Light Knight at Mt. Ordeals.
  • The (in)famous cross-dressing quest from Final Fantasy VII cannot be left out of this category. Cloud is generally presented as withdrawn and Badass, but he's clearly a pretty man if there's a way for Don Corneo to pick him in the competition.
  • Let's not forget Bridget from Guilty Gear. Doesn't help that he makes for a cute girl...
  • Bridget from (no, not Guilty Gear) Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Just like every other human in the game, he was cursed with the appearance of a demon. Of course, in his case, the aforementioned demon form is that of a very feminine Nymph-like creature. Unsettling Gender Reveal}}s ensue.
  • Check out the people on the cover of Magna Carta: Tears of Blood. One of them is a man.
    • Here's more. That's the male part of the cast. With such androgynous males it's practically happens in reverse - you start seeing traps that aren't there. Like on this pic, featuring female part of the cast, the right-most girl can be taken for yet another trap.
  • Shion from King of Fighters XI. In fact, he was going to be a girl according to Word of God, but got his gender changed in the last minute. And then SNK got confused themselves!
    • Then there's Adelheid Bernstein of The King of Fighters 2003 and afterward. He was actually designed as a girl (that name? The standard nickname for it is "Heidi"), but then SNK decided to make the child of Rugal that did the fighting into a guy. It's easy to tell the designs started as a female.
  • In Fatal Fury, there's also Jin Chonshu., twin brother of Jin Chonrei. The voice behind him is Kappei Yamaguchi. Gosh Dang It to Heck, that's gotta be some very convincing 'Cross Dressing Voice'!
  • Leon in the Resident Evil series. Often complains women won't listen to/ignore him. In Resident Evil 4 at the start talking to the Spanish policemen in their car results in them asking "Why you back, forgotten your makeup?"
    • As of Resident Evil 6, Leon still has the same haircut, but his face looks more rugged and masculine than before. He's even got a bit of facial hair going now.
  • Felix in Radiata Stories. He has a male stalker who is shocked and appalled when it is revealed that Felix is male - yet continues to stalk him anyway.
  • Kingdom Hearts has plenty of guys who could be women at first glance, most notably Marluxia, whose original design was supposed to be female anyway, but was changed to a guy after he was partnered with a woman and they decided two women who tried to rebel against the rest of the (male) Organization and failed would have severe Unfortunate Implications.
  • Gaia Online's Gino Gambino, despite having Big Ol' Eyebrows, is so femme that people joked about his "lesbian kiss" with Sasha.
  • Ace Attorney:
    • Ron DeLite. The personality doesn't help matters, nor does his hairstyle being one half of Yurika Kirishima's hairdo.
    • Jean Armstrong is an... odd, example. He's obviously male due to his beard and muscular arms, but his nature is so dainty and feminine that the judge actually asks him whether he's a woman. He even refers to himself as a 'girl' at times, which makes it even more confusing.
  • Tales (series):
    • Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia.
    • Mithos is far worse as he looks almost like Colette. Considering Colette was the result of controlling marriages over time in an attempt to create an almost exact body duplicate of Mithos' sister for the purpose of becoming Martel, this is justified.
    • Yuri from Tales of Vesperia tripped a lot of people up.
    • Duke from Tales of Vesperia tripped up a lot of people as well.
    • Ion from Tales of the Abyss, and Jade seems to have been with his official artwork.
  • Flea of Chrono Trigger is mistaken for a woman when he first appears. Of course, that he is apparently wearing a bra and a dress and talks like a flirtatious woman doesn't help in the slightest.
  • Fierro of Eternal Eden fell in love with Jean despite Jean telling him that he's a man.
  • Palm in Mushihime-sama Futari. The breast tube he wears tends to make discerning his gender a bit confusing.
  • Strider Hien is pretty girly looking if you don't believe it Google his name up and look at images
  • Shin Kazama in U.N. Squadron, aka Area 88. If you were familiar with the original manga it was probably easier to tell he was a guy. When all you have is one measly portrait? Less so.
  • The titular hero of The Legend of Kage.
  • Ranmaru Mori of the Samurai Warriors series has a very feminine appearance. Amusingly, one of his battlecries from Warriors Orochi is "I'm as dangerous as I am manly!"
  • Mega Man Battle Network 4 features Viddy Narcy, which you'll swear it's a girl unless you read his wiki entry. The lack of voice acting on the game further feeds this belief, to the point you'll treat him like a girl anyways. Apparently, he's got a hairstyle that's beyond gender.
  • Jikun Hu from Cosmic Break, the fact that most human powersuit users are all women doesn't help
  • The Prince of Falena (the main character) of Suikoden V. Somehow this is not really commented on in-game, but he has a feminine face (ESPECIALLY in the higher-detail opening sequence), slender shoulders that he emphasizes with a shoulderless breastplate, long, braided white hair, and he wears tights and appears to be wearing a skirt. Even one of his two voice options (which is only heard as grunts in battle) is distinctly high-pitched. Before the game was released, many people thought it was going to have a female protagonist.
  • Golden Sun: Dark Dawn's two playable Water Adepts are both male.
    • Rief's gender was the subject of a great deal of online Wild Mass Guessing for quite a while. Leaked clips of his Voice Grunting didn't help, since Golden Sun uses the same set of squeaks for young boys as for female characters.
    • Early material on the European official website billed Amiti as a girl, despite a leak of his Shirtless Scene. This was eventually corrected.
    • Factor in Amiti's Bishonen father and the fact that Rief and Amiti are second cousins it becomes apparent that this is a hereditary trait.
  • In World of Warcraft, blood elf males invoke this trope frequently. One post-Cataclysm quest, for instance, features a parody of a Knight Errant looking for damsels in distress. One of said damsels is a male blood elf, who dropped his purse...um "crate" in the lake.
  • Bujingai Swordmaster has Lao: apparently being played by Gackt wasn't enough, so they put purple lipstick on him.
  • Ranmaru Mori (no, not that one) of Onimusha 3: Demon Siege looks extremely feminine as a human. When he is transformed into a Genma he looks a little more manly, but not that much.
  • Look at the team rosters for any of the Inazuma Eleven games. With very few exceptions, the teams aren't as co-ed as they appear. Even when they have boys who look like this. Or this.

Visual Novels

  • Clannad: Kappei Hiiragi. Sunohara is still in denial, despite the fact that Tomoya told him that he had been fooled. The implications are not lost.
  • Jun from Happiness!.
  • Yuuki Ashikaga in School Days.
  • Kanon of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Though it might be a reason for this since it is hinted that he and his "sister" Shannon actually are the same person.


Webcomics

  • Jacob the Rag doll from Monsterful, his long hair and shy personality make it even worse.
  • Tedd of El Goonish Shive, whenever he removes his Nerd Glasses. And even when he doesn't, "he's just that androgynous" is the oldest Running Gag of EGS.
    • Certain habits of his don't help matters, though it's suggested that one of the reasons he does it is when he's a boy, his feminine face gets him mocked. When he's a girl, he's a hottie.
    • Noah is even worse. Elliot's reaction when meeting him is "Who's this...guy? I think?"
  • Dan in Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures.
  • Penny Arcade had a running gag where Gabe kept mistaking game developer John Romero for a woman (despite Tycho's repeated corrections) because of his "long, flowing hair".
  • Parodied in Insecticomics when Moral Guardian Lady Jaye attempts to make the 'naked' robots all wear censor bars. Override, who is female but has a gender-neutral body, taunts Lady Jaye by asking how many censor bars she needs. Lady Jaye eventually puts a censor bar on her groin but not on her chest, having decided that Override is male.
    • Given that in the original show Override's show was dubbed from she was male, it's not completely surprising.
  • Leslie from Flaky Pastry has an ambiguous name, dresses androgynously, works as a barmaid (complete with skirt and tube top) and is surprised when the girl he asks out thinks he is gay.
  • In this Sidekick Girl strip, Chris looks like a tall, skinny girl, but in the next strip is revealed to be a young man with very long hair.
  • This Sluggy Freelance strip invokes this trope thanks to an alien race where the males look an awful lot like human females. Rather than being grossed out that they were drooling over a guy, Torg and Riff keep right on staring at his breasts. "Could you jump up and down for us, mister?"
  • Cale from Looking for Group is often referred to as "she" by Richard when the latter is still getting to know him, even after he's well aware that Cale is male.
  • "Your mom looks like a girl. Ooo."
  • In Gold Coin Comics, Theo, whose job class (healer) is normally reserved for girls, is mistaken for a woman when Lance first meets him.
  • Randy, who is male, once was miss April on a calendar.
  • Kano, the main character of Kagerou. The artist has made specific note of his "absurd girl hair".
  • Eutropia of Amazoness—it's actually a plot point.
  • Chovek, a minor character in Inhuman. The fact that he's pink doesn't help.
  • Lampshaded heavily and hilariously in Chasing the Sunset, as Leaf is so girly that it often takes ages for someone meeting him to realize he's a guy. But then, he's an elf, so bishiness is pretty much par for the course.
  • The Order of the Stick's Vaarsuvius. Maybe.
  • In spite of being an adult male well into adulthood, Vinci of Vinci and Arty is often mistaken for being a female, at one point being mistaken for a pregnant woman in labor when pulled over by a cop. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Meet Dubious Company's Elator Later on a drunk Tiren braids his hair with magic hairties that won't undo. Then this happens and this.
  • Unwinder Tall Comics: Dr. Minivan, after losing his hair (for science), buys a wig to hide his baldness. The wig is so long that he gets mistaken for a woman. When this happens in a public restroom, he panics and hides in a stall, and tries to figure out how to get back out of the restroom without incurring further confusion. This takes so long that he grows a beard. Problem solved!

Web Original

  • Izael from the The Gamers Alliance is often confused for a girl because of his looks.
  • Axel from Demyx Time enjoys mocking Marluxia for this. Inverted when Demyx firmly believes that Larxene is a man.
  • In the Machinima of Final Fantasy Dissidia called "Real Men", there's a segment where Leon states, "Only a real man hangs out with the ladies." Cloud responds with, "You know that's a guy, right?" but Leon firmly states that it's a chick, until he finally decides to ask the man/lady in question, who is Bartz. Bartz replies, "Oh yes, I am male-I mean, FE-male." Leon's response?

Leon: "...Oh you're dead... *gunclick*"

  • Phase, in the Whateley Universe, looks and sounds so girly that he's given up and dresses in mannish girl's clothes that fit him, while he tries to find a way to change himself back to a manly guy. Even in pants and heavy coat, he still gets tabbed as a girl, much to his disgust.
  • More than a few viewers of this demotivational poster believed the photo on the right to be of Emma Watson with a new short haircut. Both photos are of Justin Bieber.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series parodies this trend in Yu-Gi-Oh!:

Marik: Foolish fools! There are no women in Yu-Gi-Oh!, only extremely girly men! And I am the girliest of them all!
Pegasus: Keep telling yourself that.

    • Marik and Bakura are frequently mistaken for a woman. Duke and Yami are very pretty like women as well.
  • Equestria Chronicles has Shiloh, who looks like a filly and has been mistaken for one on multiple occasions.
  • Beret Swirl invokes this trope to get free drinks.


Western Animation

  • Home Movies - Brendon comes home to find his mom and her boss looped on wine. On seeing him the boss shouts "Well, look at you! What a perfectly adorable little young lady!". Brendon anxiously replies "Ah...well...I'm not so little...". Brendon is considered to be kind of girly by lots of folks, including his friends.
  • Nermal from Garfield and Friends.
  • In Nermal's pawsteps is Snooky Wookums from Krypto the Superdog.
  • Skwisgaar Skwigelf is tall and thin, with long hair, large lips and very nice butt. He does not like it when you call him a lady.
  • In an episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny is at the beach when he approaches what appears to a woman in a bikini, but as soon as the person turns around, it turns out to be a slender man with long hair in a speedo.

Johnny: Whoa! I thought you were a chick!


Real Life

  • Stylistically, it was common for painters in the 1700's to portray young boys as looking almost female. The fact that they wore dresses as children didn't help either...The second from the left is actually a boy.
  • Noel Fielding
  • Yoshiki Hayashi, again - because he has been confused offstage in pics at events unrelated to his band.
  • Mustapha Pasha, the Ottoman supreme commander.
  • John Robinson in Lords Of Dogtown.
  • The top 25 men who look like old lesbians. So that's why Mike Myers hides behind so much make-up.
  • In a really truly depressing real life example, one of the victims believed to have been killed by the real-life Monster of Florence was a young male German tourist, traveling with another male friend. It's believed that they were mistaken for the killer's more usual targets, a heterosexual couple alone in their car, because of the one man's slight build and long blond hair.
  • Both of their genders are really debatable. However.. this and this.
  • Jaye Davidson.
  • Jamie Campbell Bower. He is scheduled to play young Gellert Grindelwald, lover then enemy of Albus Dumbledore, in the last Harry Potter films. However, it was never stated that Grindelwald was gay, too...
  • Chris "leave Britney alone" Crocker. No, seriously
  • Somewhere between this and Cross-Dressing Voices : Haydn's Die Schopfung (The Creation). The oratorio has three angelic soloists. Gabriel is played by a soprano.
  • The Venture Brothers co-creator Doc Hammer is self-admittedly a very feminine-looking guy. Ironically, he does the extremely masculine voice for Dr. Girlfriend. When asked at a con whether or not he would do Dr. Girlfriend despite her manly voice. Doc answered in the affirmative, then turned it around:

"Would you do me if I had a really sweet girl voice? I'm telling you, from behind, it doesn't make much of a difference!"

  • Quite of few of the guys in this news report on the "Teen Werewolves" phenomenon, especially their unofficial leader.
  • Cillian Murphy. He does. Don't deny it. And he's so effin pretty. His role on Breakfast On Pluto doesn't help, either.
  • Andrej Pejic, male model. Once went down the runway in a kooky Gaultier wedding dress and by God did he pull it off.
    • Seconded. This guy is the ultimate embodiment of this trope.
    • In fact, a topless cover of his on a magazine was banned for being too feminine.
    • He recently appeared in an ad for push-up bra, the company that makes it using the "If a dude looks good in it, it must be good!" strategy. And my god dooes he look good in it.
  • German actor Sandro Lohmann.
  • Participants in the "bravehearts" movement may wear kilts, robes, or other skirted garments for men, often based on menswear from other cultures. Some people unfamiliar with the movement may confuse it with drag.
  • Persian Crown Prince Abbas Mirza Qajar did some very manly exploits, notably fighting the Russians during the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards and having 26 sons, but paintings of him have him with big doe eyes, rosy cheeks, and flowing dark hair. Even after he grew a thick, manly beard, he still was quite slender, and the tight robes he wore did not help.
  1. ↑ male actor playing female roles
  2. ↑ "that you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year"
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