History AmbiguousGender / AnimeAndManga

* Kuromaru in ''Manga/UQHolder'' appeared to be this for some time, claiming to be male but with several hints of being female. Turns out he's from a species that has NoBiologicalSex until age 16, at which time they choose one and gain a form to match, and he anticipates picking male... but his form is still completely androgynous for now.

* ''Literature/{{Id}}'' looks female (especially in the early art), dresses somewhat like a man, is regularly mistaken for a woman, loudly exclaims he's a man at every point, has strange costume folds that slightly hint of cleavage, and is quite careful to never expose the chest area. In the original novels Id is unambiguously male.

* Played with: Being a fox spirit, ''Manhwa/{{Laon}}'''s gender changes to suit (and seduce) whoever is closest to him/her at the time.

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[[[caption-width-right:350:Flat-chested woman or LongHairedPrettyBoy? You be the judge.[[note]]It's the latter, at least in this continuity.[[/note]]]]

* Inukashi, or Dogkeeper, from ''Literature/No6''. their gender hasn't been confirmed. Though they uses one of the masculine UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "Ore" to refer to him/herself, there are scenes which present him/her in a feminine light, most notably [[spoiler:the one in which the child that Sion sends to him/her calls him/her "Mama" as they hold him.]]

** Hange Zoe, the MadScientist squad leader. Completely androgynous in appearance, because of the author's tendency to use GenderNeutralWriting, fans have long been confused concerning Hange's biological sex and/or gender. WordOfGod finally stated that since GenderIsNoObject, fans are free to decide for themselves what they want Hange to be. The "Attack on School Castes" AlternateUniverse bonus pages for the manga have Hange, a science teacher, called "Dr. Zoe." The anime and the live-action movie does portray Hange as female, however.

* ''Manga/TheMoroseMononokean'' has Abeno's predecessor, Aoi, whose human form is never [[TheFaceless seen in full]], and the English translation uses GenderNeutralWriting to refer to them. Aoi is a VoluntaryShapeshifter who once appeared as a man before [[spoiler:Ashiya (while disguising as his father)]], but the fact that [[spoiler:Aoi is a contender for the title of the "Princess of the Underworld]] might hint that they are actually female.

* Kino, the main character from ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', is pretty darn ambiguous. Kino's gender [[spoiler:female]] is indirectly revealed in one episode, and in one of the movies Kino has a monologue about whether to use male or female pronouns (eventually deciding on [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "boku"]]]]).

* Inukashi, or Dogkeeper, from ''LightNovel/{{No 6}}''. their gender hasn't been confirmed. Though they uses one of the masculine UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "Ore" to refer to him/herself, there are scenes which present him/her in a feminine light, most notably [[spoiler:the one in which the child that Sion sends to him/her calls him/her "Mama" as they hold him.]]

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}''':

* The title character Maria Rose of ''LightNovel/ABraveHeartOfRedRose''. A running gag in the series is whether Maria is a pretty guy or a pretty girl. It doesn't help Maria displays both typical boyish and girlish reactions and attitudes.

** Envy, a shapeshifter with an intentionally androgynous ShapeshifterDefaultForm. While the gender is eventually revealed in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]] ([[spoiler:in which he was originally male, having been created from Dante and Hohenheim's dead son]]) it turns out to [[NoBiologicalSex not be really applicable]] in the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist manga]].

* Husky from ''Manga/PlusAnima'' is an in-universe example; he makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he's a boy, but he's so pretty and feminine looking that everyone else gets confused sometimes--including [[TrueCompanions his friends]], toward which he resorts to...[[NakedPeopleAreFunny hilariously]] desperate measures to convince them.

* Edward in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is introduced like this. Male name, lanky but with prepubescent features, typically dresses in a baggy white shirt and biker shorts (when in a dress, the effect is... ''sort of'' like drag). Regardless of attire, characters are often visibly confused, as Ed's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} behavior]] and voice reveal only childlike androgyny. In Ed's introductory episode, the ambiguity is resolved in the very last line, as we cut to an external shot of the ship while Faye wrestles with her: "Hey, you're a '''girl'''?!" [[spoiler:Also, "Ed" is a pseudonym - her real name is the rather more feminine Francoise.]]

* In ''Manga/HeavenlyDelusion'', one of the children named Tokio in the nursery has an androgynous appearance, making them a mystery amongst their peers who have clearly defined features. [[spoiler: Tokio is revealed to be a girl later in the story and gave birth at a young age of fourteen years old. The reason her true gender was hidden at first is because Tokio had a similar appearance to Maru, and the revelation that the nursery scenes in the story were in fact taking place in the past (before the disaster that turned Japan into a post-apocalyptic wasteland fifteen years later) meant revealing Tokio’s gender early on would’ve made it obvious she was Maru’s mother]].
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'''s Heinkel Wolfe and Alucard's 'Girlycard' form in ''The Dawn''.

* The 7-Tailed Beetle's host in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. When [[spoiler: the host comes back to life]], they're confirmed as being a girl.
* Inukashi, or Dogkeeper, from ''LightNovel/{{No 6}}''. their gender hasn't been confirmed. Though they uses one of the masculine UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "Ore" to refer to him/herself, there are scenes which present him/her in a feminine light, most notably [[spoiler: the one in which the child that Sion sends to him/her calls him/her "Mama" as they hold him.]]

* ''Manga/PrunusGirl'': Aikawa says he's a guy on a regular basis and ''still'' ends up ambiguous--he's really good at playing a girl, periodically hinting at RecursiveCrossdressing and inviting Maki to personally confirm his gender.

* Kuromaru in ''Manga/UQHolder'' appeared to be this for some time, claiming to be male but with several hints of being female. Turns out he's from a species that has NoBiologicalSex until age sixteen, at which time they choose one and gain a form to match, and he anticipates picking male... but his form is still completely androgynous for now.

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nv.png]]]]

** [[spoiler:Rose's]] child in the 2003 anime,[[spoiler:who becomes the homunculus Wrath in this continuity]], is never referred to as any gender. They look boyish as a toddler in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'' but it's still never confirmed.

** Hange Zoe, the MadScientist squad leader. Completely androgynous in appearance, because of the author's tendency to use GenderNeutralWriting, fans have long been confused concerning Hange's biological sex and/or gender. WordOfGod finally stated that since GenderIsNoObject, fans are free to decide for themselves what they want Hange to be. The anime and the live-action movie does portray Hange as female, however.

** Envy, a shapeshifter with an intentionally androgynous ShapeshifterDefaultForm. While the gender is eventually revealed in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]] ([[spoiler:in which he was originally male]]) it turns out to [[NoBiologicalSex not be really applicable]] in the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist manga]].
** [[spoiler:Rose's]] child in the 2003 anime is never referred to as any gender. They look boyish as a toddler in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'' but it's still never confirmed.

** Mr. 2 Bon Kurei apparently thinks that he falls under this category, although he isn't very feminine looking (aside from the makeup and tutu). Emporio Ivankov and his Newkama army come a little closer by being able to change genders whenever he feels like it.

** The Staryu and Starmie from the anime confuse the issue even further. Despite one evolving from the other, the Staryu has a male-sounding voice while the Starmie's voice sounds female. According to the Pokédex in Japanese version, Staryu is classified as a Hermaphrodite.

** Ash's Pikachu. Arguments often occurred over his (now-confirmed) gender. Even the makers of the show didn't know what gender he was, until they decided to throw a Togepi with Attract at him and Meowth. Attract only works on Pokémon of the opposite gender; Meowth was confirmed male LONG ago, therefore the Togepi is female, therefore Pikachu is male (Attract affected him). The games have also confirmed this in their own way: ever since minor (not always obvious) physical differences between female and male Pokémon were added to the franchise, female Pikachu have a notch at the end of their tails, which Ash's Pikachu has always lacked. Averted in the Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese dubs; these languages do not have gender-neutral pronouns and referred to Pikachu with male pronouns.

* Crona from ''Manga/SoulEater''. Japanese [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns doesn't have to use gendered pronouns]], and ''doesn't'' in this case. Any cases of "guy" or "daughter" in fan translations are so far just the translator's guesses. [[ShrugOfGod The author has stated that he neither knows nor cares what Crona's true gender is.]] The official English dub refers to Crona using male pronouns, but only because the writers (who are just as clueless) didn't want to resort using neutral pronouns 'it/they' because of the assumption that it would be "insulting" to Crona as a character.[[note]]Which linguists have pushed as Proper, since English is "supposed" to use male pronouns when gender isn't known (of course of late this has been contested).[[/note]] It also has Medusa refer to Crona as "my child" or "{{it|IsDehumanizing}}" to avoid any gender orientation, with the later doubling as a {{Woolseyism}} since it reflects [[AbusiveParents how she treats Crona]]. Likewise, all the other characters far more often say Crona's name instead of using he, she, him, or her. There is also a strong possibility that Crona is {{n|oBiologicalSex}}either or [[{{Hermaphrodite}} both]]. Oddly, in-series Crona's androgyny [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight is never commented upon]] except when Patty asks if Crona is a boy or girl when Kid fought Crona on the Nidhogg.

** Alluka is referred to as female by Killua and male by Illumi to add to the confusion. It's implied she's a trans girl and Killua is the only one in the family who doesn't misgender her. Though this is still ambiguous since Killua doesn't hesitate to call his family out on all the ''other'' ways they've been abusive to Alluka, but says nothing about them calling her male instead of female.

* The title character Maria Rose of ''LightNovel/BaraNoMaria''. A running gag in the series is whether Maria is a pretty guy or a pretty girl. It doesn't help Maria displays both typical boyish and girlish reactions and attitudes.

* ''Anime/{{Dororo|2019}}'': It's hard to tell whether Mutsu is a feminine looking and sounding young man or a cross-dressing woman with a deep voice. She's confirmed to be the latter when Hyogo calls her ''aneue'', an archaic word for older sister.

* ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin'' has Pink Dragon. Fans believed that he was female for ''years'' ([[http://www.gingasite.net/ginga_board/index.php?showtopic=422 Not that we can really blame them]]) until it was discovered that [[AllThereInTheManual Meteor Gin, the series' info book, very, very heavily implies that the wolf in question is actually male]].
* Crona from ''Manga/SoulEater''. Japanese [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns doesn't have to use gendered pronouns]], and ''doesn't'' in this case. Any cases of "guy" or "daughter" in fan translations are so far just the translator's guesses. [[ShrugOfGod The author has stated that he neither knows nor cares what Crona's true gender is.]] The official English dub refers to Crona using male pronouns, but only because the writers (who are just as clueless) didn't want to resort using neutral pronouns 'it/they' because of the assumption that it would be "insulting" to Crona as a character.[[note]]Which linguists have pushed as Proper, since English is "supposed" to use male pronouns when gender isn't known (of course of late this has been contested).[[/note]] It also has Medusa refer to Crona as "my child" or "{{it|IsDehumanizing}}" to avoid any gender orientation, with the later doubling as a {{Woolseyism}} since it reflects [[AbusiveParents how she treats Crona]]. Likewise, all the other characters far more often say Crona's name instead of using he, she, him, or her. There is also a strong possibility that Crona is {{n|oBiologicalSex}}either or [[{{Hermaphrodite}} both]]. Oddly, in-series Crona's androgyny [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight is never commented upon]] except when Patty asks if Crona is a boy or girl when Kid fought Crona on the Nidhogg.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Anakuro Hirooki, a.k.a. Space Hero "Thirteen", is referred to as the "gentle''man'' hero", but their actual gender is unclear. Both the manga and anime make it a point to never show Thirteen's body outside of their space suit costume, their costume appearing empty after being torn open by Kurogiri, and their hospitalized body being off screen while the scene focuses on their costume against a wall. The only part of their body that is visible in costume is their thin legs, which doesn't help. The anime further complicates matters by giving them a female voice actress in both the original Japanese and English dubs, as it is not uncommon to give male characters female voices to simulate a higher pitched male. In the English dub, they're the only one of the teachers helping out in the final exams who aren't addressed as "Mr." or "Ms."- in Japanese, the "-sensei" honorific is gender neutral. The question was finally settled by a guidebook released for the manga's five-year anniversary, ''Ultra Analysis'', [[https://comicbook.com/anime/2019/10/15/my-hero-academia-thirteen-gender-confirmed/ which revealed]] that Thirteen is... female.
** The eighth-ranked hero [[MakingASplash Wash]] wears a costume resembling a washing machine that only shows [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes their eyes under the lid in the darkness]], and their real name is unknown.
* In ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', [[spoiler:Akito]] by WordOfGod is female, however [[spoiler:she was raised male by her family and drawn masculine looking because of this. Before the gender reveal it's implied that Akito really is male so that's what the anime creators assumed. Therefore, in the 2000's anime Akito is male and in the manga and in the reboot Akito is female]].
* ''Manga/YuGiOh'': Due to the revelation that the spirit of Blue-Eyes White Dragon was carried by Kisara's soul, there are debates whether Blue-Eyes is female or not. But it's never answered officially.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yubel_5845.jpg Yubel]] in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. No body except a demonic arm, uses '[[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns boku]]' and initially primarily a female voice. Then, Yubel starts shifting from a feminine to a masculine voice and back, and also mixes that in with the voice of their host's. Characters also refer to him/her as, well, him and her. The answer, of course, is that Yubel is an intersex human/dragon fusion spirit, with a literal male left side and a female right side. The weirdest part is, Yubel [[WasOnceAMan was once human]], a friend of the young prince who would become Judai in a future life, and volunteered to become the demonic creature to act as his spirit guide. But even then, whether Yubel was a boy or a girl while human, despite being seen in a flashback, is hard to tell.
* Kino, the main character from ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', is pretty darn ambiguous. Kino's gender [[spoiler:female]] is indirectly revealed in one episode, and in one of the movies Kino has a monologue about whether to use male or female pronouns (eventually deciding on [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "boku"]]]]).
* ''Literature/{{Id}}'' looks female (especially in the early art), dresses somewhat like a man, is regularly mistaken for a woman, loudly exclaims he's a man at every point, has strange costume folds that slightly hint of cleavage, and is quite careful to never expose the chest area. In the original novels Id is unambiguously male.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
** Most of the mons belonging to characters in the anime do not have their gender confirmed. Further complicating the issue are the ones that only have confirmed genders in one language. After that, viewers have to deal with whether to use male or female pronouns for the officially non-gendered mons (Ditto, Shedinja, a couple Steel-types, and most legendaries) as even the dubs have used genders in some cases.
** Ash's Pikachu. Arguments often occurred over his (now-confirmed) gender. Even the makers of the show didn't know what gender he was, until they decided to throw a Togepi with Attract at him and Meowth. Attract only works on Pokémon of the opposite gender; Meowth was confirmed male LONG ago, therefore the Togepi is female, therefore Pikachu is male (Attract affected him). The games have also confirmed this in their own way: ever since minor (not always obvious) physical differences between female and male Pokémon were added to the franchise, female Pikachu have a notch at the end of their tails, which Ash's Pikachu has always lacked. Averted in the Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese dubs; these languages do not have gender-neutral pronouns and referred to Pikachu with male pronouns.
** Attract quickly became the go-to move to confirm a Pokémon's gender in the anime. Emolga abused the hell out of it before Iris caught her (and many times afterward too), and Snivy had the move used against her by another female Snivy.
** The Staryu and Starmie from the anime confuse the issue even further. Despite one evolving from the other, the Staryu has a male-sounding voice while the Starmie's voice sounds female. According to the Pokédex in Japanese version, Staryu is classified as a Hermaphrodite.

* In Manga/BungoStrayDogs, [[CreepyChild Q]]'s gender has not been officially stated, and even his character page is written gender-neutrally, although most assume him to be male as the [[HistoricalInJoke writer]] he based around was. Q's ambiguous gender is lampshaded in a BSD Wan! chapter where the Black Lizard try to investigate whether Q is a girl or a guy, but decided in the end [[GenderIsNoObject it doens't matter as long as Q is happy]].
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'''s Heinkel Wolfe and Alucard's 'Girlycard' form in ''The Dawn''.

* Otto during ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. As revealed in the [[ComicBookAdaptation supplementary manga]], even most of her fellow [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers]] were unsure if Otto was a male or a female, with the few who knew being told to keep quiet about it by [[SmugSnake Quattro]]. Eventually revealed to be female, though Seven Arcs continues to play up her ambiguous gender by, for example, excluding her from the Numbers' {{Fanservice}} [[TheMerch posters]].
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has the Innovators [[spoiler:AKA Innovades, a group of {{Artificial Human}}s, most of which are either sexless or genderless according to the people who made the show (excepting Anew, who's completely female)]].
* The 7-Tailed Beetle's host in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. When [[spoiler: the host comes back to life]], they're confirmed as being a girl.
* Mammon in ''Manga/Reborn2004'' of the Varia is stated to be a man but his future self looks suspiciously feminine. Also [[spoiler:Daisy of Byakuran's Six Funeral Wreaths. Turns out to be a guy but for a while he was right in the middle.]]
* ''Manga/PrunusGirl'': Aikawa says he's a guy on a regular basis and ''still'' ends up ambiguous--he's really good at playing a girl, periodically hinting at RecursiveCrossdressing and inviting Maki to personally confirm his gender.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Mr. 2 Bon Kurei apparently thinks that he falls under this category, although he isn't very feminine looking (aside from the makeup and tutu). Emporio Ivankov and his Newkama army come a little closer by being able to change genders whenever he feels like it.
** Haruta, going with the way the series' non-{{Gonk}} female characters are usually drawn (ridiculous hourglass bodies and big irises), is probably male, but exceptions are made from time to time. And even if Haruta's a male, then he is a quite effeminate-looking one, which isn't typical of the guys either. In the anime, they have a female {{Seiyuu}} (but a male voice actor in the English dub), though that is not {{canon}} (they have no spoken lines in the manga). WordOfGod later indirectly confirmed Haruta to be a male by stating that no female members of Whitebeard's crew were present at the Marineford battle.

** Kurapika was this for a while until he was confirmed to be male, and there are many people who still aren't convinced. His tribal wardrobe and habit of dressing as females for undercover missions don't help things.

* Toto of ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'' does this on purpose, although he occasionally slips up and uses gendered language.

* [[AnthropomorphicPersonification New Zealand]] from ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' had this going for a while until he was confirmed to be male. Creator/HidekazHimaruya [[TeasingCreator seemed to have fun being deliberately vague about it]] beforehand, though.
-->'''Fans''': Is NZ a boy or a girl?\\
'''NZ''': Which do you think I am? :D
* [[CreepyTwins Hänsel and Gretel]] in ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' appear to be HalfIdenticalTwins, but they actually both have short hair and [[TwinSwitch swap a wig and voices]]. As they both wear fairly-unisex school uniforms, their actual sexes are impossible to determine. In the "gender swap" omake, they don't change at all.
* In ''Manga/ZeroSevenGhost'', Kuroyuri's gender has yet to be revealed. Even the other characters don't know, Kuroyuri threatens them with death if they tell.
* In ''Manga/FamilyCompo'', Shion is automatically thought of as a woman for the early chapters. Then Shion announces the intent to go to university as a man. Shion's cousin then searches the family photo albums and realises Shion has been switching genders at every school attended. Attempts to find proof of Shion's gender have failed.
* The King in ''Manga/{{Arisa}}''; the official translation uses the pronoun 'he' but notes that the Japanese pronoun is gender-neutral.
* Arimaru from ''Manga/{{Gamaran}}'' has a masculine sounding name, but is mostly referred to with feminine pronouns (though others use masculine ones). However, unlike most of the examples on this page, this is not due to the fact they're a gorgeous androgynous being but rather a grotesque, huge brute with dark skin and claw-like nails, and a really freaky face.
* The title character Maria Rose of ''LightNovel/BaraNoMaria''. A running gag in the series is whether Maria is a pretty guy or a pretty girl. It doesn't help Maria displays both typical boyish and girlish reactions and attitudes.
* Inukashi, or Dogkeeper, from ''LightNovel/{{No 6}}''. their gender hasn't been confirmed. Though they uses one of the masculine UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns "Ore" to refer to him/herself, there are scenes which present him/her in a feminine light, most notably [[spoiler: the one in which the child that Sion sends to him/her calls him/her "Mama" as they hold him.]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'':
** Hange Zoe, the MadScientist squad leader. Completely androgynous in appearance, because of the author's tendency to use GenderNeutralWriting, fans have long been confused concerning Hange's biological sex and/or gender. WordOfGod finally stated that since GenderIsNoObject, fans are free to decide for themselves what they want Hange to be. The anime and the live-action movie does portray Hange as female, however.
** The androgynous Nanaba, until the editors confirmed that she is female.
* Frosch from ''Manga/FairyTail''. All of the previous cats have clearly been male or female, and matched the gender of their Dragon Slayer companions. Frosch is given a fair few female indicators while paired with a male Dragon Slayer, and has an androgynous baby voice in the anime. When a question as to Frosch's gender came up on the Q&A section in one of the manga volumes, the people answering questions couldn't agree on what gender they thought Frosch was. [[TrollingCreator Hiro Mashima]] has also told curious fans who contacted him over Twitter that Frosch's gender is a secret.
* Is Junketsu from ''Anime/KillLaKill'' male or female? Assuming all kamui have an assigned gender, we don't know this since it never speaks, aside from [[spoiler:screaming when Ryuuko ripped it off of her]].

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Mello's first appearance has him in rather gender-neutral clothing, with a rather androgynous-looking figure and hairstyle, and it takes quite a few pages for the character to be referred to as a "he". [[ViewerGenderConfusion Many readers assumed Mello was a girl]]. This leads to some [[WildMassGuessing fan]] [[EpilepticTrees speculation]] that Mello may be transgender or something along those lines.
* In ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'', Izana is a member of a third gender created via LEGOGenetics to replenish populations decimated AfterTheEnd. Members of this group start out intersex, but they will change to either male or female based on their attraction to a particular individual. (They become male if attracted to a female, and female if attracted to a male.) [[spoiler:After falling in love with Tanikaze, Izana begins a difficult transformation into a girl.]] At the academy, their uniforms are just like the girls' uniforms, but with shorts in place of skirts.
* Kuromaru in ''Manga/UQHolder'' appeared to be this for some time, claiming to be male but with several hints of being female. Turns out he's from a species that has NoBiologicalSex until age sixteen, at which time they choose one and gain a form to match, and he anticipates picking male... but his form is still completely androgynous for now.
* ''Anime/{{Sekirei}}'': They play with this a little bit in the between-season OVA "Two Gossip Topics". In the first topic, "Sekirei Diagnosis," Homura (whose sex has been kept pretty ambiguous) stands in front of the diagnosis center wondering which direction to take (because there ''are'' male Sekirei such as Shiina). We never see Homura make a choice because the building gets destroyed during an incident inside. The [[RunningGag same thing]] happening at "Sekirei Resort" also saves Homura from having to commit in the second part. But then it gets terribly serious once season two proper starts. [[spoiler:It turns out Homura really ''is'' ambiguous, shifting between the two sexes until being drawn towards one through the attraction to an Ashikabi.]] [[spoiler:That proved to be Minato, his sixth; Homura's powers (including GenderBender) stabilize upon winging, but because Minato is male, Homura is seen more often as a female going forward.]]
* Possibly the most baffling example occurs in the dubbed movie ''Anime/SerendipityThePinkDragon'', in which the bird Peela-Peela is referred to as male in the first half of the movie and female in the second half. The voice actor seems to be female, though.
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' does this occasionally with Juuzou Suzuya who was [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a girl]] by his ghoul mom to the point of [[spoiler:castration so he wouldn't grow up to be manly]], and is androgynous enough that characters are confused as to which gender Suzuya is. In an omake Hanbee pictures Suzuya as wearing a wedding dress if they were to get married.
* Najimi Osana of ''Manga/KomiCantCommunicate'' sometimes identifies as a guy, sometimes as a girl, wears the skirt from a girl's uniform with the tie of a boy's uniform, and is fairly feminine in appearance. Najimi wore a boys' uniform in junior high, and while they claim Tadano must be thinking of somebody else when he brings it up, a flashback to those days confirms that Tadano is telling the truth.[[note]]The flashback is specifically Najimi telling Komi about those days, meaning it isn't Tadano being an UnreliableNarrator.[[/note]] This leaves almost everyone confused about Najimi's gender, to the point fan translations have characters referring to Najimi as "he/she". Tadano usually operates under the assumption that Najimi is a guy, keeping "him" away from the girls whenever there is a social outing that involves the girls getting naked.[[note]]They sleep in the same room as and hang out with the girls during the class trip, but they are shown to have bathed before everyone else.[[/note]]
* Husky from ''Manga/PlusAnima'' is an in-universe example; he makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he's a boy, but he's so pretty and feminine looking that everyone else gets confused sometimes--including [[TrueCompanions his friends]], toward which he resorts to...[[NakedPeopleAreFunny hilariously]] desperate measures to convince them.
* ''Manga/DrStone'' has Francois, the butler to Ryusui Nanami. Even Ryusui doesn't know what their gender is (nor does he really care). When revived from petrification (everyone wakes up naked), they immeditely grab a pair of clothes Yuzuriha has on hand and gets dressed in a flash.
* In ''Manga/HeavenlyDelusion'', one of the children named Tokio in the nursery has an androgynous appearance, making them a mystery amongst their peers who have clearly defined features. [[spoiler: Tokio is revealed to be a girl later in the story and gave birth at a young age of fourteen years old. The reason her true gender was hidden at first is because Tokio had a similar appearance to Maru, and the revelation that the nursery scenes in the story were in fact taking place in the past (before the disaster that turned Japan into a post-apocalyptic wasteland fifteen years later) meant revealing Tokio’s gender early on would’ve made it obvious she was Maru’s mother]].
* In ''Manga/LandOfTheLustrous'', the lustrous have an androgynous appearance and go by they/them pronouns. However, in the original Japanese, most of the lustrous default to [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns masculine pronouns]].
* ''Manga/LoveHina'': Nobody in the Hinata House seems to be sure of Tama the turtle's gender. Keitaro refers to it as a boy while Naru and Shinobu refer to it as a girl. Mutsumi presumably knows (since her family are turtle breeders) but she never specifies one way or the other.

* Most of the tanuki in ''Manga/{{Itsuwaribito}}'' since they don't display any visible TertiarySexualCharacteristics, and when they transform, they can turn into either male or female. This was discussed regarding Pochi, whom Uzume believes to be male, but Neya believes is female. Pochi, being very young, doesn't seem to be aware that there is such distinction. [[spoiler:The same applies to Pochi's fiancee, Tsukumo, who currently takes the form of a human boy they once befriended, but no one is sure whether they are actually male or female. Tsukumo's human friend did ask about it as well, and Tsukumo's answer was similarly vague.]]

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':