History RedIsHeroic / AnimeAndManga

** During the Battle City arc, [[TheHero Yugi]], [[TheRival Kaiba]] and [[BigBad Marik]] each wielded one of the [[OlympusMons three Egyptian God cards]]. Yugi's was Slifer the Sky Dragon, a fearsome red dragon.
** Joey is a hero and has three notable monsters with red themes. His Flame Swordsman has a red helmet and robe. His Red Eyes Black Dragon has, well, red eyes. And his Claw of Hermos dragon which he acquired during a filler arc is a red-skinned dragon.

** Jack's signature monster is the Red Dragon Archfiend.

** Crow has red hair.

* The main BattleCouple of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', Issei Hyodou and Rias Gremory, are both associated with the color red.

* ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'': The main female lead is the Demon Queen, a woman with red hair, red eyes and a preference for red clothing. [[DarkIsNotEvil Despite being a demon]], she is with no doubt the most heroic character in the series, as her main goal is to end the war with as little bloodshed as possible and bring lasting peace for both humans and demons alike.

* Asuna from ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' starts out with a red vest, and some of her later outfits have some red, but as an Undine, she ditches the red for blue.

* It's still in the red spectrum, but the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' leaders all wear pink (or in the case of Cure Black and Cure Bloom, have pink highlights). ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' (Cure Rouge), ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' (Cure Passion), ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' (Cure Sunny), ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'' (Cure Ace), ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' (Cure Scarlet) and ''Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure'' (Cure Flamingo) do have a member who sports red (though, in the case of ''Smile'', it's arguable as Cure Sunny is orange ''and'' red), and in ''Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure'', the continuity's two Cures, Miracle and Magical (the former being the continuity's pink Cure), have an alternate form called "Ruby Style" that dresses the two in red.

* It's still in the red spectrum, but the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' leaders all wear pink (or in the case of Cure Black and Cure Bloom, have pink highlights). ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' (Cure Rouge), ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' (Cure Passion), ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' (Cure Sunny), ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'' (Cure Ace), and ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' (Cure Scarlet) do have a member who sports red (though, in the case of ''Smile'', it's arguable as Cure Sunny is orange ''and'' red), and in ''Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure'', the continuity's two Cures, Miracle and Magical (the former being the continuity's pink Cure), have an alternate form called "Ruby Style" that dresses the two in red.

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has a strange love/hate relationship with this trope as characters wearing red or Mobile Suits sporting mostly red are designated TheRival. However, many Gundams tend to carry red ''shields'', especially in the Universal Century. One suit that plays this trope straight is the Build Burning/Try Burning/Kamiki Burning Gundam of ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry''

* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward Elric is often seen wearing a red coat. It's even commented that Edward must be a hero because he wears red. He responds that he's no hero -- he just thinks that the color looks badass.

** The Hokage hat is red and white.

* ''[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gurren Lagann]]'', it's even in the title ("Gurren" comes from ''guren'', an intense shade of red, which Wiki/TheOtherWiki -- in Japanese -- likens to "infernal flames").

** Protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki both plays this trope straight and subverts it, his coat in Bankai form is red on the inside and gives his spirit energy a red tint to it and his Hollow Mask has red markings on it and his hollow uses a red Cero. He is also a redhead.

* In ''Manga/TheRedRangerBecomesAnAdventurerInAnotherWorld'', Red was the Red Ranger on his team, and has red hair, red eyes, and a red costume. He's also a straightforward StockShōnenHero out of place in a fantasy setting.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': Goku typically wears clothing in shades of either red or dark orange, the Kaioken and [[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Super Saiyan God]] transformations are both red, and he's TheHero of the series.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_31839.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: [[Manga/YonaOfTheDawn The Princess of Kohka and the reincarnation of dragon Hiryuu]] ]]

* Most ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' protagonist {{Mons}} are red (or orange, which is close enough to establish a pattern): Agumon (both ''Adventure'' and ''Savers'' versions, though their Rookie forms on more on the yellow side), Guilmon, Agnimon, and Shoutmon; plus their evolutions. Gatchmon is mostly grey, but he has a big red helmet and evolves into mostly-red forms. Gammamon is mostly white, but his horns are tipped with red and one of his evolutions is predominately red. The exceptions are Veemon (blue) and Gumdramon (purple), both justified since they each share a continuity and screentime with one of the above red/orange characters and have to set themselves apart.

* Most ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' protagonist {{Mons}} are red (or orange, which is close enough to establish a pattern): Agumon (both ''Adventure'' and ''Savers'' versions), Guilmon, Agnimon, and Shoutmon; plus their evolutions. Gatchmon is mostly grey, but he has a big red helmet and evolves into mostly-red forms. Gammamon is mostly white, but his horns are tipped with red and one of his evolutions is predominately red. The exceptions are Veemon (blue) and Gumdramon (purple), both justified since they each share a continuity and screentime with one of the above red/orange characters and have to set themselves apart.

* Most ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' protagonist {{Mons}} are red (or orange, which is close enough to establish a pattern): Agumon (both ''Adventure'' and ''Savers'' versions), Guilmon, Agnimon, and Shoutmon; plus their evolutions. Gatchmon is mostly grey, but he has a big red helmet and evolves into mostly-red forms. The exceptions are Veemon (blue) and Gumdramon (purple), both justified since they each share a continuity and screentime with one of the above red/orange characters and have to set themselves apart.

* Asuna from ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' starts out with a red vest, and some of her later outfits have some red, but as an Undine, she ditches the red for blue.
** Klein is a straighter example and even has a small RedOniBlueOni motif with Kirito (whose early avatar has BlueIsHeroic before he switches to DarkIsNotEvil later on). In ALO, he keeps it by using a Salamander avatar.
** Heathcliff is mostly dressed in Red Armor while his Knights of Blood has only a minor amount of red in their clothing. [[spoiler:However, it's subverted with Heathcliff (who turns out to be Akihiko Kayaba, the BigBad) and Kuradeel (who turns out to be a member of Laughing Coffin).]]

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Kallen Kouzuki is easily the most morally unambiguous character on the show and her outfits - no, just about everything about her - is red. Red pilot suit, mostly red mecha and naturally her short [[FieryRedhead red hair]].
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward Elric is often seen wearing a red coat. It's even commented that Edward must be a hero because he wears red. He responds that he's no hero - he just thinks that the color looks badass.
* It is discussed in ''Manga/LoveHina'' about ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.
* In the ''Mazinger'' series, all heroes of the trilogy -''[[Anime/MazingerZ Kouji Kabuto]]'', ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger Tetsuya Tsurugi]]'' and ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer Duke Fleed]]''- wear red outfits. Also, Mazinger and Great Mazinger's iconic chestplates are red.
* Keith/Akira of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''/''Anime/GoLion'' wears red and is the leader of the team. Oddly, his mecha (which [[LeaderFormsTheHead forms the head and torso]]) is black, while the red mecha is ridden by [[TheLancer Lance/Isamu]], who wears blue.
* ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'': The titular mecha is nearly completely red. TheHero Jordy also wears black and red armor and bodysuit.
* In the ''Anime/RobotRomanceTrilogy'', Hyoma Aoi and Ken'ichi Gō from ''Anime/CombattlerV'' and ''Anime/VoltesV'', respectively, also wear red. Likewise, ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'' titular robot is red and white.
* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': TheHero Seiya wears a red shirt. Also, when he wears his armor, the clothes under it are red. This is only in the anime, though: in the manga, he and everyone else wears white under the Cloth.
* In ''Anime/RedPhotonZillion'', [[TheHero J.J.'s]] uniform includes a red shirt that he always wears. Reinforced trope, because the word is in the freaking ''title''.

* ''[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gurren Lagann]]'', it's even in the title ("Gurren" comes from ''guren'', an intense shade of red, which Wiki/TheOtherWiki - in Japanese - likens to "infernal flames").
* In the parody anime ''Manga/SpecialDutyCombatUnitShinesman'', the protagonist is interviewing for an office job and one of the questions he's asked is "What's a good color for a superhero costume?"; he says red because his little brother had told him that heroes always wear red. It eventually turns out that the company is a front for a Franchise/SuperSentai-style hero group, and he gets made the Red Ranger and therefore TheLeader ''entirely'' because of his answer (the other interviewees gave business-safe answers like sepia, gray, moss green, and salmon pink).
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
** During the Battle City arc, [[TheHero Yugi]], [[TheRival Kaiba]] and [[BigBad Marik]] each wielded one of the [[OlympusMons three Egyptian God cards]]. Yugi's was Slifer the Sky Dragon, a fearsome red dragon.
** Joey is a hero and has three notable monsters with red themes. His Flame Swordsman has a red helmet and robe. His Red Eyes Black Dragon has, well, red eyes. And his Claw of Hermos dragon which he acquired during a filler arc is a red-skinned dragon.
* In both the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' [[Anime/YuGiOhGX anime]] and [[Manga/YuGiOhGX manga]], Judai likes the color red, even though Osiris Red is the lowest ranking dormitory. In the manga, it's also the color his idol Koyo Hibiki favors. He ultimately shows up for [[spoiler:his duel with Koyo]] in the DistantFinale wearing his school uniform.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', Yuya is an AllLovingHero with red eyes and partly red hair, a red shirt and shoes, and his ace Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is a red dragon. It's a bit more complicated as [[spoiler:Yuya is an ApocalypseMaiden with his ace once willingly destroying a dimension.]]
* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''
** Yusei rides a red [[CoolBike D-Wheel]] and wears a red helmet while doing so.
** Jack's signature monster is the Red Dragon Archfiend.
** Aki has dark burgundy hair and her outfit includes a red corset and red high-heeled pumps.
** Crow has red hair.
** All of the main heroes have red tattoos that are a part of the Crimson Dragon to symbolize their chosen one status.
* In ''Anime/OnePiece'', the colour that [[ColorCodedCharacters represents]] Monkey D Luffy is red [[WordOfGod according to Oda]] and he wears a red top for most of the series and [[PrimaryColorChampion other bright colours]]. Luffy's idol is ''Red'' Haired Shanks who is considered a BigGood across the sea, and Shanks's captain is Gold D Roger ''The Pirate King'' who -yeah you guessed it- wore red.

* Vash the Stampede (or Stampeed, depending on your source) from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' wears a large red coat and is the most heroic of all the characters, plus he's [[TechnicalPacifist a pacifist]].
* The title hero of ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'' wears a red superhero uniform. One of his allies, Shokupanman, has red as his accent color for his uniform. This is taken to the extreme in the movie ''Ruby's Wish'', where Ruby, the red Aurora Girl automatically believes Anpanman is the best superhero ever just because he wears red, even before seeing his heroic deeds.
* It's still in the red spectrum, but the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' leaders all wear pink (or in the case of Cure Black and Cure Bloom, have pink highlights). ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' (Cure Rouge), ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' (Cure Passion), ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' (Cure Sunny), ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'' (Cure Ace), and ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' (Cure Scarlet) do have a member who sports red (though, in the case of ''Smile'', it's arguable as Cure Sunny is orange ''and'' red), and in ''Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure'', the continuity's two Cures, Miracle and Magical (the former being the continuity's pink Cure), have an alternate form called "Ruby Style" that dresses the two in red.
* Maka, the heroine of ''Manga/SoulEater'', wears a red skirt as a part of her primary outfit and also wields a red scythe.
* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': Invoked and discussed by Ayano, [[spoiler: to convince her adoptive siblings Kido, Seto and Kano that [[RedEyesTakeWarning their red eyes aren't monstrous]], but marks of heroism]]. It's also the reason why she wears her [[IconicItem iconic red scarf]]. It's no coincidence that Shintaro also wears red [[spoiler: at least, in the timelines where he manages to move on with his life]].
** [[spoiler: Shintaro wears the red jacket because Ayano thinks it suits him.]]
* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' sports a red ensemble, though despite being the main character [[VillainProtagonist there's very few people that'd call him a hero.]]

* ''Anime/{{Daitarn3}}'': Banjo's combat suit is dark-red. He also wears a red jacket.
* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Asuka wears a red plugsuit and pilots a red HumongousMecha. She's not the main character and an AntiHero as opposed to a regular one, but she's one of the heroes nonetheless.
* ''Manga/DragonBall'': Goku typically wears clothing in shades of either red or dark orange, the Kaioken and [[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Super Saiyan God]] transformations are both red, and he's TheHero of the series.
* ''Anime/BloodPlus'': Saya Otonashi, the main protagonist, has [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] and, after a one-year TimeSkip, wears a [[BringMyRedJacket maroon-colored coat]].

* ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'': Kokoa Shuzen, one of the protagonists, is a FieryRedhead.
* Gene Starwind's red hair is actually commented on multiple times in ''Anime/OutlawStar'' in conjunction with the fact that he carries a Caster (a special weapon that fires [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells bullets that contain magic spells]]. Exactly why the fact that he's a redhead with a magic gun is never actually explained. He also has the Outlaw Star painted red as well.
* The main BattleCouple of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', Issei Hyodou and Rias Gremory, are both associated with the color red.

* In ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'', Gotchiman, a superhero character from the ShowWithinAShow of the same name, wears a red mask, cape, and belt.
* ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'' wears a red cape.
* Chihiro of Anime/SpiritedAway wears red.

* ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'': The main female lead is the Demon Queen, a woman with red hair, red eyes and a preference for red clothing. [[DarkIsNotEvil Despite being a demon]], she is with no doubt the most heroic character in the series, as her main goal is to end the war with as little bloodshed as possible and bring lasting peace for both humans and demons alike.

* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' it is discussed when they act the "Peach boy" legend. Conan is told he can't be the hero because he wants to wear blue, his color code, but the kids say the hero wears red.

* It's still in the red spectrum, but the ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' leaders all wear pink (or in the case of Cure Black and Cure Bloom, have pink highlights). ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' (Cure Rouge), ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' (Cure Passion), ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' (Cure Sunny), ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'' (Cure Ace), and ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' (Cure Scarlet) do have a member who sports red (though, in the case of ''Smile'', it's arguable as Cure Sunny is orange ''and'' red), and in ''Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure'', the continuity's two Cures, Miracle and Magical (the former being the continuity's pink Cure), have an alternate form called "Ruby Style" that dresses the two in red.

* The title hero of ''Franchise/{{Anpanman}}'' wears a red superhero uniform. One of his allies, Shokupanman, has red as his accent color for his uniform. This is taken to the extreme in the movie ''Ruby's Wish'', where Ruby, the red Aurora Girl automatically believes Anpanman is the best superhero ever just because he wears red, even before seeing his heroic deeds.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': Kokoa Shuzen, one of the protagonists, is a FieryRedhead.

* Chihiro of Anime/SpiritedAway wears red

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Shoto Todoroki and Kirishima.

** Yusei rides a red [[CoolBike D-Wheeler]] and wears a red helmet while doing so.

** Akiza has dark burgundy hair and her outfit includes a red corset and red high-heeled pumps.