Anime traps are older than anime itself. In Japan’s traditional theatrical play, Kabuki, the actors were all men who played female roles. Those who adopt a culturally feminine gender expression, mainly through cross-dressing, are known as Otokonoko no Musume (’男の娘’), meaning “male-girl”
What Is The Actual Meaning Of Anime Traps?
A “Trap” is a common characteristic term used in anime. It generally refers to male characters who behave and dress up as females. They cross-dress and generally have a feminine appearance. The viewers grow to like an anime girl, and then it turns out they grew fond of a guy and vice versa.
The real gender and social issues of a male with a traditionally feminine appearance are never addressed in a serious matter. Now that you know the basic meaning of traps in anime, young padawan, it is time to explore the list of the greatest 80 mind-blowing traps in anime history. All hail the trap gods!
1. Astolfo
Anime: Fate/Grand Order
“I never really paid attention to the pronouns he was referred to and just assumed he was a girl but then finding out he was a guy blew my mind.” (Fan comment) Astolfo is a member of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne, a group of knights similar to the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur. He has the looks of a teenage anime girl with long pink hair. Astolfo’s fan art always portrays him as very feminine and ridiculously attractive. His popularity soared thanks to his attributed fabulous memes. Astolfo occasionally likes to mess with people by playing up his gender ambiguity. He refers to himself as “Boku”, which is used to describe both male and female shy/meek characters. He hasn’t denied being called male. And it’s the same when referred to as female. Astolfo doesn’t have any interest in gender identity, so the reason he loves to cross-dress is that he’s into cute stuff. He’s a male simply because he was born that way. It’s safe to say that Astolfo is pretty much the mother (and father) of all traps.
2. Megumu Touzokuyama
Anime: If Her Flag Breaks (Kanojo ga Flag w Oraretara)
“Everyone always treats me like a girl” gee, I wonder why… She’s not a boy, Megumu is gender on its own, just like Kinoshita Hideyoshi. His trap is pretty funny because the only reason it happened was an accident by calling his friend calling him a guy. This is the second Trap that Kana Hanazawa has voiced for the Kanojo ga Flag w Oraretara series. She voices the dark Hoshino in Nanana’s Buried Treasure, as well as Megumu in this anime.
3. Xianming Lin
Anime: Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
A long, light-brown hair-trained assassin man. Lin wears women’s clothing so he can feel closer to his sister Qiaomei, from whom he has been separated for nine years. He also enjoys wearing makeup. Lin doesn’t care for social norms and gender stereotypes. He doesn’t understand what is wrong with men wearing skirts when women can wear pants. He is quite vain and can’t get enough of how beautiful he is. Still, when an LGBT crossdressing character sees Lin and asks if he wants to be introduced to some adult sites. He doesn’t.
4. Kalluto Zoldyck
Anime: Hunter X Hunter
The youngest son of the famous family of assassins in the Hunter X Hunter universe. His looks may be deceiving. He hardly speaks and wears the traditional Japanese dress Furisode which further mystifies his trap. Kalluto is a young kid, and he’s pretty androgynous. Combine that with his wearing more feminine attire, and it would be easy for someone to fall for the trap. In the anime, Kalluto is called “Kalluto-Chan”. Chan is a Japanese honorific used for cute anime girls and boys. It might suggest his gender is ambiguous. But he’s consistently referred to as male by other characters who actually know him.
5. Akira
Anime: Kemono Jihen
Another super popular trap is Akira, from the dark anime series Kemono Jihen. He grew up completely isolated from the rest of the world. Everyone in his village looks the same, but he looks nothing like the villagers, and finally, he escapes to Tokyo. Akira just thinks of himself as being cute, and he likes cute stuff, nothing to do with gender. He considers dresses girly and refuses to wear them. Akira also makes multiple comments throughout the anime series that suggests he doesn’t care about gender stereotype. Akira being an anime trap is huge because even though he’s feminine none of the other male characters tease him for it, nor does the mangaka treat him as a joke like a majority do.
6. Haku
Anime: The Land of Water / Naruto
Naruto’s artist, Masashi Kishimoto, made Haku into a trap. His genetic art design dictates a feminine appearance, and his character is voiced by a female voice artist. Masashi openly did it as a trap trope parody. So no wonder Naruto is in shock when he learns that Haku is actually a boy. Some fans speculate that Kishimoto wanted Haku to seem pure, and traditional female qualities are sometimes associated with pureness. Haku has a very beautiful, feminine appearance and likes to cross-dress in male clothing.
7. Hideri Kanzaki
Anime: Blend S
Hidari is into cute clothing. He’s referring to himself as “boku” and is perfectly fine with people knowing he’s a male. He loves to cross-dress and wishes to become an idol. We don’t know a lot about Hideri’s gender identity, apart from the fact that he says in his introductory episode that he’s “a boy.” It would be very hard to label him. He is not just a super cutie, but a complete trap.
8. Gasper Vladi
Anime: High School DxD
A half-human boy and half-vampire, who enjoys cross-dressing. Gasper has what some may consider feminine looks; a skinny body, straight blonde hair, and huge pink eyes. He loves to wear the girl’s school uniform with thigh-high black stockings.
9. Saika Totsuka
Anime: My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong
Saika looks very feminine and cute, he can charm anybody. Most girls in the school call him “prince”. He does his best to be manly but a soft and kind demeanor confuses the series’ main character Hachiman. On multiple occasions, he forgets Saika is a boy. This anime trap creates lots of comic situations but also adds shock value.
10. Hideyoshi Kinoshita
Anime: Baka and Test
“Hideyoshi” is a term that was coined after Hideyoshi Kinoshita, one of the main characters from the anime series Baka and Test. He is a kind, soft-spoken, and well-mannered high school student. He has a talent for mimicking voices, including female voices. Hideyoshi is often mistaken for a girl and almost everyone genuinely considers him a girl. Baka and Test aim at injecting him as a trap to get a big laugh from the audience. Most anime traps will convince you of your ability to ignore canon in your adoration of a character design, and Hideyoshi is one of those traps. Fun fact: Hideyoshi was voted as one of the most popular female characters of 2010.
11. Aoi Hyoudou
Anime: Maid Sama!
“I still have a hard time believing this is a boy.” Aoi is a big blue eye and dark blonde hair professional cross-dresser. Although it was hard for him to confess his love for cute things, he has been able to make his fandom a success by becoming a popular net idol. Now most of his fans think he is cute (He’s not really cute when you get to really know him.) When in his idol form, he wears a blonde wig and an old dress of his aunt’s which get people to mistake him for a girl. But Aoi loves the attention he gets as a trap from both men and women.
12. Kurapika
Anime: Hunter X Hunter
“What?! Kurapika’s a boy?!” HXH creator, Yoshihiro Togashi loves to shock people about his characters’ gender. Many fans believed Kurapika the bounty hunter is a girl. It’s an easy mistake to make, that’s why he is one of the top traps in anime. Kurapika is a short male, who looks feminine and is constantly called a female. He is voiced by the female voice actress Miyuki Sawashiro.
13. Kenjiro Hato
Anime: Genshiken Nidaime
A male student adopts a female appearance. Hato is conflicted about his gender identity. He feels comfortable when he cross-dresses, but feels it’s not socially accepted which makes him anxious. He has a talent, he can mimic a female voice when he cross-dresses, and his personality changes as well. Kenjiro is very popular among every other student when he is in his female form. He is the perfect anime trap. It is very hard to realize that he is a guy.
14. Honjou Kamatari
Anime: Rurouni Kenshin
This character is one of the oldest anime traps (since 1996!) his trap is used as a gag and has shocking value. Honjou is a gay character, he is a brutal hitman who loves women’s clothing but identifies himself as a male. Kamatari has the very convincing looks of a young woman, to the degree that most folks won’t realize he’s a man.
15. Ana Gram
Anime: Phi Brain: Puzzle of God
Ana is a carefree reclusive student who dresses and acts like a girl. She’s actually a flamboyant guy (it was a trap!) At one time he won a cross-dressing beauty pageant (despite not even entering.) The series use the trap as a joke where every time a character freaks out to learn that Ana’s a guy.
Most fans were fooled as well.
16. Tatsukichi Hayama
Anime: MM!
He looks like a pretty girl, but Tatsukichi is just a guy who loves women’s clothing. He names his alter-ego “Tatsumi Antoinette XVI”. When he cross-dresses, Narcissism kicks and he becomes a mean drama queen.
17. Kei Takishima
Anime: Pretear
Kei, “Mr. Wonderful” is a narcist graphic designer. He is a very underrated character, mainly because of his almost girly appearance. He loves himself so much that his photographs, key chains, and desktop backgrounds all feature his picture plastered all over the place.
18. Shiota Nagisa
Anime: Assassination Classroom
Nagisa had an abusive mother who wanted a girl so she forced him to grow his hair and crossdress, so she could fuel her fantasy. He doesn’t like it when people make fun of his appearance. His ‘trap situation’ isn’t a gender statement or a comedic tool, but rather builds Nagisa’s character completely.
19. Hime Arikawa
Anime: Himegoto
The main character of Himegoto is threatened by loan sharks, luckily for him, the “kind girls” of Shimoshina High School student council bail him out. But there’s a catch, Hime is now forced to cross-dress like the girls in his school to pay his debt.
20. Marulk
Anime: Made in Abyss
Next is a young boy with short blue hair and a rounded face. His feminine looks and maid clothing lead people to mistakenly identify him as a girl. But he’s actually a male. Marluk was bullied to cross-dress by Ozen, who is renowned for her incredible physical strength. She made Marulk wear a dress out of a combination of nostalgia and to help her bring back fond memories of her friend Lyza.
21. Chihiro Fujisaki
Anime Game: Danganronpa: The Animation
Chihiro from Danganronpa started crossdressing to match his own feminine appearance as a means to stop being bullied. Not because of self-identifying as another gender. He was told that he was too weak for a man. To deal with his inferiority complex, he decided to dress up as a girl. During the second chapter of the anime, there was a classic “she was a he?!” shock effect as the rest of the characters find out about Chihiro’s secret.
22. Souta Takanashi
Anime: Working!
Souta from Working is not a huge fan of cross-dressing. Mainly because he spent much of his childhood with his sisters’ who dressed him as a girl. That’s the reason he looks like a girlish doll in all of his childhood photos. The only reason he dresses feminine is to help Inami’s anxiety disorder, albeit for only a short time
23. Shido Itsuka
Anime: Date A Live
Shido is the main character of Date A Live. He was forced to cross-dress as a girl named Shiori in order to speak with a girl who hates men. Shido takes on an alternative identity when he cross-dresses. When he disguised himself, he had long blue hair and wore a female Raizen school uniform. I have to say, he looks cuter than most other girls in Date A Live.
24. Hayate Ayasaki
Anime: Hayate the Combat Butler!
This anime is old but gold. You’ll mostly love his maid outfit. This one gets everybody! The main character Hayate Ayasaki is a 16-year-old hard-working butler. He sleeps three hours a day: studying until 2 am, and waking up at 5 am. Hayate’s housework work is traditionally considered a female job. This has led to him being forced to wear girls’ clothing.
25. Kyouya Shinomiya
Anime: GJ-bu
In episode nine of GJ-bu the girls tie Kyouya to a chair and force him to wear girl clothes. The makeover overwhelms Kyouya and the girls so much that this makes the anime trap translation “boys make the best girls” completely true. His voice actor Shimono Hiro voices other characters that crossdress such as Akihisa from Baka to Test and Katsuragi from The World Only God Knows.
26. Haruhi Fujioka
Anime: Ouran High School Host Club
Another debt story went trap. Haruhi breaks an expensive escort club vase. In order to pay his debt, Haruhi is forced to cross-dress and entertain the club’s female audience.
27. Rimuru Tempest
Anime: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Rimuru Tempest is not a boy that looks like a girl, nor a girl that looks like a boy, Rimuru Tempest is a demon slime! As a slime, his body shifts into the androgynous form of the respective creatures. In this form, Rimuru has long blue-silver hair. He is often mistaken for a young girl because he wears a female character named Shizue Izawa. His current state of being a slime is technically genderless, but I always thought Rimuru was a male because of his previous life. There you have it, a genderless slime anime trap.
28. Asuramaru
Anime: Owari no Seraph
“Woah I thought he was a girl my god!”
Spoiler: This purple hair vampire is a guy! Before his transformation to a demon, he was male. Oh, trap!
29. Felix Argyle
Anime: Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
Even though he has a feminine and cat girl-like appearance, Felix is male. In his own words: “I am a male in body and soul”. (Arc 4). Felix presents herself openly as a girl, she keeps her identity a secret because it creates a lot of problems for her when it gets out. He enjoys cross-dressing in female clothes, as he likes the reactions he gets when other characters find out his birth gender.
30. Sylvia-San
Anime: KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!(Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!)
Syvia is one of the eight generals of the Demon King, she’s also a chimera. Chimera is a creature that can absorb living and magical items into its physiology. It’s genderless. But technically she was always a man. She once mentioned she had a heart of a man”. So I guess trap is a better fit.
31. Mare Bello Fiore
Anime: Overlord
A 76 years-old blond elf. Mare is perceived to look female, with the dress and the very feminine voice. This character is in fact male, it’s very easy to get confused. His twin sister has a very tomboyish personality, and she dresses like a male and has the same bang hairstyle.
Overload creator Kugane Maruyama defiantly enjoys setting up traps to confuse people. It’s his fun kink in a way.
32. Hasuta
Anime: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
Hasuta’s is an alien, his trap was born from a misunderstanding of the distinction between BL and transgender characters. He acts in ways that are (allegedly) feminine and cute
33. Envy
Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist
Envy can shapeshift and modify into a woman. The manga book describes him as an “uncertain gender”. He is pale-skinned with a muscular body and can mimic a female voice. Envy really brings extra spice to FMA, and is by far the funniest and more interesting character. His trap is there for the laughs. Thing is, Envy is a dark psycho, and he’s pretty terrible!
34. Daruku Hoshino
Anime: Nanana’s Buried Treasure
Though he may look like a girl, he’s actually an anime trap and quite a heterosexual pervert. We can label Daruku in the fantasy-trap category. He’s a spirit that came out naked from a magic lamp. Daruku cross-dresses as a maid and wears a women’s uniform at school.
35. Fish Eye
Anime: Sailor Moon
Originally a fish who has been magickly given human shape. Fish Eye has a decidedly feminine face with long, pale blue and green hair. He has the body of a rather slender man. Fish Eye has long green hair and wears a dress to disguise himself. He is usually able to pass off as a woman to attract his male targets. He is neither male nor female. But if you don’t know that you might be confused. Ah, the magic of anime traps is beautiful, yet frightening sometimes.
36. Crona
Anime: Soul Eater
He is a kind heart monster and he looks female. The series never let us know Crona’s type of gender, rather points out a gender ambiguity, but it’s not a trap gag. Crona himself doesn’t address his gender at all. He suffered emotional abuse from his own mother, perhaps his gender ambiguity was a representation of madness and identity loss. It’s no surprise that he was driven to the point of insanity.
37. Venti
Anime Game: Genshin Impact
Venti is both male and female or simply genderless. To my awareness, he isn’t even a human for that matter, just a wind spirit who later took the form of a human he fell for. The cast refers to Venti as “him”, even “he” does call himself male. Bottom line: Venti is a genderless anime trap.
38. Tetora / Tetra (Curse)
Anime: Log Horizon
Tetora, also called Tetra, is a boy stuck in a body of the opposite gender. He keeps his female persona because he doesn’t care about his/her gender. He refers to himself as “Boku.” Shiroe is perfectly fine being mistaken for a girl. He’s the classic trap and catches most fans in shock when they discover she’s a he.
39. Ayumi Saitou
Anime: Shion no OU
Ayumi pretends to be a blue haired girl in order to earn money from an award competition. The trap is exposed in the first episode. However, it’s still hard to believe he’s not a girl. Ayumi has a male voice (although, he is voiced by a female actor) and he is convincingly male even when dressed as a woman.
40. Mariya Shidou
Anime: Maria Holic
“So cute… (tears up, nosebleeds) If only you weren’t a boy…” Mariya Holic is a self-described “black comedy” anime series that pokes fun at traps. Mariya, the perfect anime trap. He is the school beauty and is actually a boy in disguise. He will do anything it takes to keep his identity a secret. Mariya is not an innocent girl, he’s a hateful and abusive person. He spends most of his time slamming the protagonist of the story, Miyamae, for being a lesbian.
41.Rui Ninomiya
Anime: Gatchaman / G-Force: Guardians of Space
A cross-dresser coder. Rui disguises himself as a woman when he goes out in public. That way he can easily watch people without being noticed. The Gatchaman team refers to Rui as a girl however they don’t know it’s a trap since they only have seen him/her in disguise. One of the main concepts of the anime series character design is associated with the universal message of the series: “be yourself”. That is why Utsutsu wears a swimsuit all the time, and why Rui goes crossdressing as if it were another ordinary Monday. As Rui, he usually wears a light blue coat over a white shirt with black accents and black pants and shoes, and black glasses.
42. Naoto Shirogane
Anime Game: Persona 4
Naoto Shirogane is a bright sixteen-year-old androgynous-looking young detective. Naoto was born female. She comes from a family of detectives. The trap to fitting in a male-dominated environment. She identifies herself as female, “I finally think that I can accept myself. That I’m a woman…”
43. Keima Katsuragi
Anime: The World God Only Knows: Goddesses
A gamer who is known as the “God of Conquest”. Keima is the absolute dating master, he traps a girl’s heart in the best way for the given situation. Keima is such a risk-taker that he cross-dresses to get his girls.
It seems to work for him as in his girly persona. ridiculously looks cute when he cross-dresses. He actually sounds like a girl. He cross-dresses to make that reverse anime trap and make the girl fall in love with him. And this is why people think anime is weird.
44. Kirito Kirigaya
Anime: Sword Art Online
In the second season of Sword Online, the main character (Who is also the OP MC who hides it), Kirito Kirigaya disguised as a girl to get close to Sinon. I must admit Kirito is so kawaii when dresses like an anime girl. Normally traps are trying to show people that there actually boys even in front of girls but in Kirton’s case, he’s trying to act like an actual girl. Trap Kirito is the best Kirito no questions asked.
45. Kuranosuke Koibuchi
Anime: Jellyfish Princess (Kuragehime)
This is how drastically clothing can change a person! Kuranosuke’s biggest hobby is women’s fashion. He disguises himself as a woman in order to sneak into a fashion event where only women are allowed. He also dresses the way he does because he wishes to honor the memory of his mother. The Jellyfish Princess centers around a group of nerdy women. For the most part, Kuranosuke’s trap is not a joke. He is not outed for shock value. As the main character of the show, he delivers the message that femininity is subjective.
46. Juliet Capulet
Anime: Romeo × Juliet
Of all the anime traps on this list, you probably won’t expect to find the most famous fictional lady, Juliet Capulet. The anime adaptation Romeo × Juliet features the cross-dressing as a masked vigilante hero. Juliet dressed as a boy all her life, she wishes to “be a girl, just for a little while.” Later on, Juliet develops two different identities. A male named “Odin,” and the other is a woman “Red Whirlwind.”
47. Alluka Zoldyck
Anime: Hunterpedia
Is Alluka a boy or a girl? in his childhood, Alluka used to dress like a boy, but because his parents didn’t like the fact that he played with his dolls, they decided to dress him up like a girl. Great parenthood indeed. He ended up looking like a girl and in HxH he wears a furisode, typically a traditional dress for Japanese women. Alluka is basically the anime character equivalent of a transgender person. He was born male but identifies as a female.
48. Kiku
Anime: One Piece
Kiku the samurai says he is a “woman at heart” and so tends to act effeminately. He is actually named Kikunojo and is known as the most handsome man in Wano. One-piece anime fans were surprised to learn that Kiku is biologically male. There were many things hinting at it: The clearest sign of Kikunojo’s gender is his referring to himself with Sessha, an archaic form of “I” used by male samurai.
49. Lily Hoshikawa
Anime: Zombieland Saga
Lily is the first, and so far only, openly LGBTQ+ anime character. Some fans predicted her identity as a transgender female. The name Lily itself has an alternate meaning, “a feminine man”, although this would contradict Lily’s identity as an anime trap.
50. Tsukimiya Ringo
Anime: Ixion Saga DT
Ringo presents herself as a woman and acknowledges having male genitals but seems like she’d be happy to be rid of them.
51. Luka Urushibara
Anime: Steins Gate
Steins Gate is an isekai anime about time travel and a parallel universe. Ruka or Luka is a male in most timelines. When the main character, Okabe goes into the original world line, he is surprised to find that Luka is in fact a girl. At first, he can’t believe it, but later they go on a date anyway. It’s one of the biggest anime traps of all time! Luka has strong feelings for Okabe, but the series resolves their relationship with respect. Luka looks like a more pale and fragile teenage girl than a child boy. He’s an extremely feminine guy and always dreamt of being a girl.
52. Ritsu Sohma
Anime: Fruits Basket
Ritsu is a very interesting character. He’s a man who likes to wear feminine clothes. Ritsu’s crossdressing is connected to his belief that crossdressing keeps him stress-free. He is not just a trap joke, which it may seem from the English version. It makes sense why he’s a trans icon, he does outwardly omit another gender physically, although for different reasons.
53. Shuuichi Nitori
Anime: Wandering Son
Shuuichi Nitori’s life gets complicated when she must adjust to her new school. She is considered the prettiest girl in school, maybe because she is actually biologically male and one obvious trap. She does not identify as a girl, and she is in constant discomfort related to her gender identity. Throughout the series, she attempts to discover her true identity. She has to deal with growing pains, relationships, puberty, and acceptance.
54. Kaoru Hanase
Anime: Tamako Market
The supporting character Kaoru is referred to as a female by the series characters. She looks like a woman with a deep male voice. Kaoru is probably a man in drag or nonbinary. The anime cast refers to her with female pronunciation, and with “miss florist”. Kaoru is also the tallest girl in Tamako Market.
55. Seiji “Kiyoka” Takamori
Anime: Super Lovers
A beautiful trans woman who loves to dress up as a maid. She has long black hair, and purple eyes and always wears lipstick. Kiyoka is the cause of a lot of misunderstandings, can you guess why? Trap! Her birth name Seiji Takamori is usually associated with males.
56. Aoi Futaba
Anime: You’re Under Arrest
“My body is male but my heart is female.” AOI sets the trap record to another level. It is highly impossible that by the looks of him, you’d guess he’s a male. Aoi used to be an athletic young man until her career as a police officer took a strange turn. He first cross-dresses as a part of an undercover operation to catch a serial rapist. That’s when he realized that he feels his spirit is that of a female, and from then on he’s “going native”.
57. Ai Asato
Anime: Tokyo Beat Cops (Kochikame)
She’s a woman who happens to have been born a man. Ai is a tall, and beautiful patrol officer, and one of Manga’s first transgender characters. She is most often addressed as ‘Maria’. She was previously a kickboxer champion. Ai eventually got magically made into a real girl.
58. Giselle Gewelle
Anime: Bleach
Giselle who identifies as being a female is actually a male. She identifies as a girl and takes offense to be called a guy. She uses her looks to her advantage since she doesn’t expect someone to tell her gender right away. Most Bleach fans never saw it coming. As stated in some Bleach forums, the manga creator Tite Kubo found a way to kill Giselle by making her a boy. Either way, the anime trap was an amusing twist, in a sort of awkward way. Once again, Kubo’s proven himself the master of twists!
59. Akasaka Ryuunosuke
Anime: The Pet Girl of Sakurasou (Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo)
Akasaka is a bored young hacker and programmer. He is constantly stalked by the beautiful blonde girl Rita. But he hates girls, he actually frightens them. Everyone backs off when Ryuunosuke arrives. His only trap-worthy attribute is his long purple hair and feminine facial line. In one episode he is forced to be a salesperson and wears a hot maid outfit to attract customers.
60. Narancia Ghirga
Anime Game: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo
The unintentional femboy we all fell into. The Skirt, tank top, the headband, are voiced by a female actor. It’s no secret that Narancia somewhat looks like a masculine woman. Narancia is neither a boy nor a girl, Narancia is a gender of its own. Some fans pointed out his stand (Energy) which is named after a music reference is named Aerosmith (エアロスミス Earosumisu). Of course, the band’s most famous song is “Dude is like a lady”!
61. Yuri Kamanosuke
Anime: Brave 10
All aboard the trap train! Yuri Kamanosuke from the sword anime Brave 10, is an elite warrior. She makes her androgyny looks to her advantage. In multiple events in the series, she is mistaken for a boy. We first meet Yuri who disguises himself as a helpless woman to trick his opponents. She is in fact a woman, although she insists, she’s a man. She pulls off a double anime trap: A girl who disguises herself as a boy playing a girl.
62. Nasu Suketaka Yoichi
Anime: Drifters
Yochi is an interesting character. You’d probably assume he’s a woman. He is often confused by the series’ characters to be female because of his incredibly feminine features. He’s even referred to as an Otokonoko (translated as she-male in the English version of the manga).
63. Himezuka (Theo) Seo
Anime: Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin
With big cold blue eyes and a soft appearance, Himezuka is a half-British, half-Japanese inventor and scientist. He might look young, but he’s one of the oldest characters in MNOK (He’s 38 years old). Theo keeps getting mistaken for a woman. He really hates that! He’s just a pretty man, that’s all! He used to have blonde hair but colored it black.
64. Juuzou Suzuya
Anime: Tokyo Ghoul
Is Juuzou Suzuya Male or Female? He is a male, despite his very feminine appearance, a young-looking man with an androgynous appearance, pale skin, and pure shoulder-length white hair. Juuzou makes a stunningly beautiful young woman when he cross-dresses. In one of Tokyo Ghouk’s episodes, he was compared to a doll. Juuzou is fairly fragile looking, but is one of the strongest Investigators and is known for having an incredibly athletic body.
65. Ernesti Echevalier
Anime: Knight’s & Magic
What’s the importance of Ernesti being a trap have to do with the story? Well, it doesn’t at all. Probably just a design choice. Still, the Knight’s & Magic anime protagonist has traditional female features. He has huge silvery purple eyes and white hair.
66. Koutarou Araki
Anime: Ultimate Otaku Teacher (Denpa Kyoushi)
“I might look like a girl but I don’t like boys in that way.” Koutarou is a crossdresser who is scared to reveal his gender identity and is ridiculed by his classmates. But when he sums up the courage to claim his true identity to his class, to his surprise he is accepted for who he is. He even got permission to wear a girl’s uniform because he is too cute to be a guy.
67. Kino
Anime: Kino’s Journey
Kino’s Journey is a dystopian philosophic anime. Nothing is really what it appears to be. And Kino isn’t what she appears to be. If you spent most of the time thinking that Kino was a guy, my bet is that you were totally shocked to learn that Kino is a tomboy (Aka “reverse trap”). Due to cross-dressing, her gender is constantly mistaken. When Kino is referred to as a male, she corrects the speaker. She doesn’t want to be called a boy or a girl.
68. Makoto
Anime: The Idolmaster
Known as “The Pretty-boy Idol” Makoto was raised by her father as a boy, because… he wanted a boy. Makoto is a tomboy, and she wishes to make herself more feminine by becoming the next top idol. However, her fanbase is composed primarily of teenage girls who admire her boyish charms. She doesn’t identify as male and spends her days dreaming of her prince who will come riding one day to sweep her off her feet.
69. Seishirou Tsugumi
Anime: Nisekoi: False Love
Tsugumi is just that damn reverse trap awesome! She’s an ex-female assassin and a skilled sharpshooter, and a fan of boyish dresses. Her masculine body leads to everyone mistaking her for a guy. She hates feminine clothes, as they get in the way while fighting. Lots of characters from the series mistake her for a masculine guy.
70. Bon Clay
Anime: One Piece
Some of the strongest One Piece characters are actually those who crossdress/are transgender. Writer and illustrator Eiichiro Oda seem to show them lots of respect. One of his favorite characters is Bon Clay. Though the character doesn’t look like an anime trap, he uses the Clone-Clone (Devil) Fruit to turn him into one. The fruit lets him transform his appearance to anyone he touches. That enables him to turn himself into a female, which makes him a literal trap.
71. Sena Izumi
Anime: Love Stage
Seni is a bisexual character who comes from a showbiz family, but unlike the rest of his family, he has no interest in pursuing an entertainment career. He is obsessed with computers, and magical girls, and wants to be a manga illustrator.
72. King Canute
Anime: Vinland Saga
If you watched the medieval anime series Vinland Saga you couldn’t help but notice how beautiful and effeminate Prince Canute is. He is the perfect trap. Canute is like the reincarnation of the goddess Freyja. He was often confused for a girl when he was a teen.
73. Jun Watarase
Anime: Happiness
“I wear a skirt because it looks cute on me!” Jun Looks like a girl, dresses like a girl, and sounds like a girl, but he is a boy. The perfect trap. Jun is a transgender who dresses intentionally “like a female”. Her friends sometimes forget that she used to be a boy. She never seems to mind it. In a filler episode, The Brilliant Day of Jun Watarase (2007), a combination of powerful magic spells at school temporarily and accidentally grants Jun a female body. This had been her wish all along.
74. Ranma Saotome
Anime: Ranma ½
Ranma becomes a girl through a “curse”, As a result, whenever he comes into contact with cold water, he turns into a girl. Throughout the series, Ranma’s gender changes between a boy and a girl. In fact, Ranma isn’t bothered that much by his/her shape-shifting abilities. He is depicted to be very attractive, which he discreetly takes pride in and often uses to his advantage.
75. Konatsu Kunoichi
Anime Manga Series: Ranma ½
The “Genius female ninja that is born every 100 years” Konatsu was raised by his cruel stepmother and stepsisters. They raised him as a girl in order to keep up the Kunoichi family tradition. He has no problem being feminine, Konatsu even hides paper bags on his chest, and most characters on Ranma ½ don’t know he’s a Crossdresser. In the U.S. version, he is considered to be one of the first transgender characters. But, when asked, creator Rumiko Takahashi said: “With Ranma ½, I had thought a lot of doing a series with a male/female like the protagonist, and since in the greater part of my previous stories, the main character had been a woman…. I therefore I decided on the character being half man and half woman.”
76. Dororo
Anime: Dororo
The boy from the hit anime series Dororo shows no emotion, in fact, looks like a real doll. Dororo undergoes quite a bit of character development, as more and more details about his past and present are revealed. Spoiler alert: Dororo is, in fact, a girl. We can’t wait to see her grow up in Dororo Season 2 (Fingers crossed)
77. Robin Newman
Anime: Ace Attorney
Robin is a pre-law student living in a male-dominated environment. She identifies as male, however, when she is called to the witness stand, she admits “it’s for real, I’m a girl body and soul”. She is a character of both masculinity and femininity.
78. Faris Scherwiz
Game: Final Fantasy V
An anime trap is a trap only when you don’t know it. Faris looks very androgynous, her real name is Sarisa Scherwil Tycoo. She hides her identity from her crew and disguises herself as a man, It is revealed only later in the game that Faris is female.
79. Kokoro Hanabusa
Anime Game: I-Chu
Kokoro Hanabusa is one of the main characters in I-Chu. He is a pop idol who catches fans’ hearts. He thinks he shines as a boy, but that he can shine even more when he is a boy.
80. Midare Toushirou
Anime Game: Ouken Ranbu
Midare Toushirou from the popular anime game Ouken Ranbu wears a combat clothing dress. She’s often mistaken for a woman but is in fact, male. Spoiler alert: All characters in the game are male.
FAQs
Q1: What can be considered anime traps?
Traps can be divided into eight types: (1) Nonconformist Ambiguous (2) Forced Fantasy (3) Magical (4) Spells and Curse (5) Disguise (6) Transgender (7) Androgynous.
Q2: What Are Nonconformist Ambiguous Anime Traps?
Characters who identify as male don’t care for social norms and gender stereotypes. In some cases, it can be someone who loves cute things and cross-dressing and is ambiguous about his sexual preference.
Q3: What Are Forced Anime Traps?
Someone who doesn’t choose to cross-dress but is forced into doing so. An example would be parents who want their kids to be girls instead of boys or boys instead of girls. Sometimes they are characters who are in debt and are forced to cross-dress as entertainers.
Q4: What is Fantasy Magical Anime Traps?
These are sometimes seen among fantasy creatures such as elves, magic fish, fairies, demons, monsters, werecats, aliens, and ghosts.
Q5: What are Spells and Curses Anime Traps?
While distinct this type overlaps with the fantasy / magical traps, and in practice, they frequently occur in combination.
Q6: What Are Disguise Anime Traps?
Characters that disguise themselves as female, for a specific purpose. The traps are set up to engage in a romantic encounter, get ahead in one’s career, protect a secret identity, and so on.
Q7: What Are Androgynous Anime Traps?
A person who was born male and identifies as male, is often mistaken for a girl.
Q8: What Are Reverse Anime Traps?
Simply the opposite, a person who looks male but has female genitals.
Q9: What Are Transgender Anime Traps?
A person whose sex doesn’t match one’s gender may express it in a way that corresponds with one’s actual gender.
Transgender traps may trigger negative usage by straight males when they find out that a woman they find attractive is transgender.
