History Main / RedArmbandOfLeadership

* Hibari and the rest of the Disciplinary Committee on ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' wear them.

* During the [[FestivalEpisode summer festival]], ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'''s Evangeline wears an armband as "Honorary Advisor" to the [[TrueCompanions Ala Alba]].

* Haruka Suzushiro of ''Anime/MaiHime'' wears one as head of the Executive Committee. [[spoiler:As she is dying from Yukino's Child being destroyed, her last act is to throw it to Yukino]].

* Kyoya Hibari from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' is the leader of the disciplinary committee and wears a red arm-band to show as much - even when he's not at school.

* Not an armband, but in ''FanFic/JustALittleBitOfPixieDust'', a prequel fanfic to Disney's ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' movies, Cassidy wears a red feather on her hair, which symbolizes her position as the leader of the Lost Boys [[spoiler:until she dies in chapter 4]] and the feather is eventually passed on to Peter. Yes, the feather Peter wears on his cap is important.
* {{Defied}} in ''FanFic/ContractLabor'': when she's appointed hall monitor, Sarah refuses until she's allowed to ''not'' wear the armband, because, as an American, wearing one of those to her has much different connotations.

* The creepy old teacher in ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'' always wears one. What it says changes every time it's seen.

* Tetsu Ushio in the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga and [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Toei anime]], as leader of the Morals Group, sports one of these.

* Kitagawa from ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'' is seen with one of these during the anime fest.

* Genma in ''Anime/FutureCardBuddyfight'' is the leader of the Seifukai, a minor gang that [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters that don't really act like a gang.]] Because of that, his Core Gadget looks like one of these, even though it does mean he has to hold his arms above his head whenever he draws a card.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona3'' (at least the US version), ''everyone'' in SEES wears one when participating in [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld "club activities."]] Meanwhile, Disciplinary Committee head Hideotoshi wears a yellow armband, most likely to differentiate it from the red SEES armbands.

* The teacher penguin in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' wears one.
* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney 3'', Larry wears one of these while working as a security guard. In the localized versions, it's removed.

** This is prevalent in the Marine Corps. It helps that Red is one of the official colors.

[[quoteright:350:[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ishipointing.png]]]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' story "The Order Of The Smurfs", Hefty and Brainy wear blue armbands as police officers.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' (at least the US version), ''everyone'' in SEES wears one when participating in [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld "club activities."]] Meanwhile, Disciplinary Committee head Hideotoshi wears a yellow armband, most likely to differentiate it from the red SEES armbands.

[[folder: Web Animation]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* The team leaders in the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FIM]]'' Winter Wrap-up episode each wear a color-coded armband.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* {{Life Imitates Art}}: At [[http://www.animepunch.org Anime Punch]], an Ohio anime convention, all members of convention staff wear red armbands. (Mostly to make them easily spotted by attendees.)

* From the ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'' series:

* Not an armband, but in ''FanFic/JustALittleBitOfPixieDust'', a prequel fanfic to Disney's ''Disney/PeterPan'' movies, Cassidy wears a red feather on her hair, which symbolizes her position as the leader of the Lost Boys [[spoiler:until she dies in chapter 4]] and the feather is eventually passed on to Peter. Yes, the feather Peter wears on his cap is important.

* Haruhi Suzumiya (pictured), leader of the "S.O.S" Brigade in the anime ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. She wears several of these, declaring her as Chief, Ultra Detective, or whatever her current role is. She also makes an orange one for her deputy chief...Koizumi. [[CosmicPlaything You didn't seriously think she'd actually give Kyon a promotion, did you?]]

[[quoteright:250:[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cit_suzumiya_haruhi_-_image_song_cover_1.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[-Heil Haruhi!-] ]]


In Japanese society, a method for identifying the leader of a group -- be it the leader of an ''Ouendan'' or a club or group president -- is to look for the red armband on the upper arm. The armband has the name of the group printed on it.

For westerners, associations might come out wrong. [[ThoseWackyNazis Very]] [[PuttingOnTheReich wrong]]. Except for Russians, who used similar armbands quite innocently during the Soviet period. Plain black armbands have a much different connotation - they indicate that the wearer is either mourning a lost comrade, or that they're [[BombThrowingAnarchists an anarchist]].

* For ''[[Film/TheKarateKid The Next Karate Kid]]'' they needed to make the opposing karate student character that each film got fit into a high school JerkJock mold. Since there is possibly no high school in the Western hemisphere where the top karate student ends up at the top of the pecking order they made up some weird paramilitary hall monitor disciplinary team who gained automatic power over all other students by running around wearing scary black armbands.

* Kiyotaka Ishimaru from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' wears a red armband with the words "public morals" on it to signify his status as a hall monitor[[note]]Or more specifically, a Public Morals Committee member.[[/note]].

* Military Police throughout the world will typically wear armbands imprinted with the internationalised standard designation "'''MP'''" (even by forces that aren't actually ''called'' 'military police' per se in their respective languages, like the ''[[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Feldjäger]]'', whereas others use the local language equivalent, like the Greek ''[[UsefulNotes/ThisIsHellas Stratonomia]]'' ("'''ΣN'''").

* Military Police throughout the world will typically wear armbands imprinted with the internationalised standard designation "'''MP'''" (even by forces that aren't actually ''called'' 'military police' in their respective languages, like the ''[[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Feldjäger]]'', whereas others use the local language equivalent, like the Greek ''[[UsefulNotes/ThisIsHellas Stratonomia]]'' ("'''ΣN'''").

* In the United States Army and Air Force, military policemen sometimes (depending on where they are stationed) wear black armbands identifying them as law enforcement (in both English and the local language). Certain other personnel fulfilling special roles ([[TheInquisitorGeneral Inspectors]] during training exercises, for example) will have similar methods of identification.

* Kiyotaka Ishimaru from ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa'' wears a red armband with the words "public morals" on it to signify his status as a hall monitor[[note]]Or more specifically, a Public Morals Committee member.[[/note]].

* Haruhi Suzumiya (pictured), leader of the "S.O.S" Brigade in the anime ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. She wears several of these, declaring her as Chief, Ultra Detective, or whatever her current role is. She also makes an orange one for her deputy chief...Koizumi. [[CosmicPlaything You didn't serious think she'd actually give Kyon a promotion, did you?]]

* For ''[[Film/TheKarateKid The Next Karate Kid]]'' they needed to make the opposing karate student character that each film got fit into a high school JerkJock mold. Since there is possibly no high school in the Western hemisphere where the top karate student ends up at the top of the pecking order they made up some weird paramilitary hall monitor discplinary team who gained automatic power over all other students by running around wearing scary black armbands.

* Kiyotaka Ishimaru from ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa'' wears an red armband with the words "public morals" on it to signify his status as a hall monitor[[note]]Or more specifically, a Public Morals Committee member.[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': In the beta, several of the classes wore their class symbols on such armbands. Presumably Valve realized this would result in UnfortunateImplications, especially for the Medic, who is German and probably old enough to have served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, so eventually they went with shirts/jackets that have the class symbol on the sleeve instead.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': In the beta, several of the classes wore their class symbols on such armbands. Presumably Valve realized this would result in UnfortunateImplications, especially for the Medic, who is German and probably old enough to have served in WorldWarTwo, so eventually they went with shirts/jackets that have the class symbol on the sleeve instead.

* The lead character in the game ''[[OsuTatakaeOuendan Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan]]'' (depending on the difficulty level) will wear an armband, with the name of the group on it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}''has Masayoshi Shido sporting this in his [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pVR8JrRwZJ4/hq720.jpg shadow form]].

* Haruka Suzushiro of MaiHime wears one as head of the Executive Committee. [[spoiler:As she is dying from Yukino's Child being destroyed, her last act is to throw it to Yukino]].

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and the Nazis were quite fond of the red armband. The armband was usually made in the same style as the Nazi flag, with the white circle and black swastika adorning it.

* Kiyotaka Ishimaru from ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa'' wears an red armband with the words "public morals" on it to signify his status as a hall monitor.

For westerners, associations might come out wrong. [[ThoseWackyNazis Very]] [[PuttingontheReich wrong]]. Except for Russians, who used similar armbands quite innocently during the Soviet period. Plain black armbands have a much different connotation - they indicate that the wearer is either mourning a lost comrade, or that they're [[BombThrowingAnarchists an anarchist]].

* Kitagawa from ''{{Genshiken}}'' is seen with one of these during the anime fest.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' (at least the US version), ''everyone'' in SEES wears one when participating in [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld "club activities."]]

* In ''{{Persona 3}}'' (at least the US version), ''everyone'' in SEES wears one when participating in [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld "club activities."]]
* The teacher penguin in ''Super Mario Galaxy'' wears one.

** This is prevelant in the Marine Corps. It helps that Red is one of the official colors.