History StraightMan / AnimeAndManga

* Beauty and Gasser from ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo''.

* Firo tends to serve as the designated StraightMan in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Typically, he has to deal with Isaac and Miria's shenanigans, but other ([[AxeCrazy usually profoundly violent]]) lunatics are happy to fill the role when the two aren't available.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Kyon is the straight man for Haruhi's craziness. Though it has to be noted that [[DeadpanSnarker Kyon is damn hilarious on his own]], too.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'': Surprisingly, [[ChivalrousPervert Issei]] of all people actually becomes this. He's this to Asia and Xenovia when they end up praying and gain damage, to Rias when he recognized who the Satan Rangers were (while Rias thought it was a new enemy), to Bikou and Vali when they thought [[CreepyCrossdresser Mii-tan]] was a ''CatGirl'', tried this to Irina when she said she wanted to create a new club but is still joining the Occult Research Club, and to Rossweisse when he lampshades how her immediate reaction to the ClothingDamage she received from Dress Break was to complain about ''[[SkewedPriorities losing her clothes that cost her money losing her clothes that cost her money]]'' instead of immediately covering herself up.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Zelgadis is the straight man for Amelia. Lina and Gourry, meanwhile, are a fluid pair, each one switching between straight man and comic role depending on the routine.

* ''LightNovel/ProblemChildrenAreComingFromAnotherWorldArentThey'' has Kurousagi to the problem children, and occasionally other characters like Shiroyashi. Kurousagi is constantly trying to curb their goofball antics, and they constantly twist her words or plainly contradict her in favour of fun, usually at her expense.

** [[TheMeanBrit England]] often acts as this to his {{foil}}s, the [[LoveFreak idealistic]], energetic and [[CloudCuckooLander overimaginative America]] and the [[DramaQueen overdramatic, swishy France]].

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask is everyone's straight man. He's a master at it, on a good day he has to play this role for [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a good ten people at once]].

** Amusingly enough, the Eight-Tailed Ox, an extremely powerful ancient demon, plays this to its host, the CrazyAwesome Killer Bee.

* Sasshi Imamiya and Arumi Asahina from ''Anime/MagicalShoppingArcadeAbenobashi''
* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', anyone with darkness as a personality trait (Negi, Evangeline) or who has [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Black]] as their ''tonus'', or [[TransformationTrinket Pactio]] colour (Setsuna, Yue, Chisame) will fill this role.
** Eishun fills this role during the flashbacks, and Akira occasionally fills this role within the group of {{Muggle}} girls.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'':
** [[DeadpanSnarker Norway]] acts as this to the [[{{Keet}} excitable]], [[BoisterousBruiser overeager]] and somewhat [[DumbBlond dimwitted Denmark]].
** [[TheMeanBrit England]] often acts as this to his {{foil}}s, the [[LoveFreak idealistic]], energetic and [[CloudCuckooLander overimaginative America]] and the [[DramaQueen overdramatic, swishy France]].
** [[NiceGuy Lithuania]] is the Straight Man to his [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friend]] [[ManChild Poland's strange antics]].
** [[TheStoic Japan]] is usually this for the Axis Powers.

* Among the main characters of ''MangaMonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'', Sakura, Mikoshiba, and Hori tend to take up this role, with their deadpan and self-awareness contrasting with [[TheComicallySerious Nozaki]], [[DitzyGenius Kashima]], [[LovingBully Seo]], and [[ProneToTears Wakamatsu]]. They all have their eccentricities, though, so one of the other two will step up when Sakura's [[SingleTargetSexuality gushing about]] Nozaki, Hori's gushing about Kashima, and [[{{Otaku}} Mikoshiba]]'s gushing about gal games.

** [[TheMeanBrit England]] often acts as this to his [[{{Foil}} foils]], the [[LoveFreak idealistic]], energetic and [[CloudCuckooLander overimaginative America]] and the [[DramaQueen overdramatic, swishy France]].

* Tenten, from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', seems to be a Straight Man for her genin team, since Neji is the ArrogantKungFuGuy (and [[{{Filler}} occasional]] ComicallySerious guy), and Gai and Lee are... Gai and Lee.

** Amusingly enough, the [[EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods Eight-Tailed Ox]], an extremely powerful ancient demon, plays this to its host, the CrazyAwesome Killer Bee.

* Fuyuki Hinata from ''Manga/SgtFrog''. He exhibits great patience and friendship towards the Keronians, and is often the voice of reason and manages to diffuse conflicts, whereas his older sister Natsumi is blatantly racist to the point where she is hated by many fans.

* Characters from ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' dynamically assume this role, although Mio, Nano and Sakamoto do it most often.

* Characters from ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' dynamically assume this role, although Mio, Nano and Sakamoto do it most often.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', Tomoya often takes the role of the "Straight Man" in regards to pranking other characters, particularly Sunohara

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Kyon is the straight man for Haruhi's craziness. Though it has to be noted that [[DeadpanSnarker Kyon is damn hilarious on his own]], too.

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask is everyone's straight man. He's a master at it, on a good day he has to play this role for [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a good ten people at once]]
* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', anyone with darkness as a personality trait (Negi, Evangeline) or who has [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Black]] as their ''tonus'', or [[TransformationTrinket Pactio]] colour (Setsuna, Yue, Chisame) will fill this role.
** Eishun fills this role during the flashbacks, and Akira occasionally fills this role within the group of {{Muggle}} girls.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Zelgadis is the straight man for Amelia. Lina and Gourry, meanwhile, are a fluid pair, each one switching between straight man and comic role depending on the routine.
** Gourry is usually straight man when Lina is plotting something or when she goes on one of her rampages of destruction. Lina is usually straight man when thickheaded Gourry tries to understand something.
*** Also, Gourry frequently tries to abandon the straight man role by straight-up telling jokes. These are always awful, and leave Lina exasperated. Gourry ends up disheartened, though ironically, doing this puts him in the comic role like he wanted.
* [[{{Tsundere}} For some reason]], Teana of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' usually gets this role in FanWebComics. This was pretty much acknowledged by the people behind the franchise when they gave us an official ''Nanoha'' parody {{Yonkoma}} where Teana played the straight man for everyone. Even [[SugarAndIcePersonality Fate]]. [[http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/422/nanohaforce0113aeng.jpg See]].
* Chika to everyone but especially Miu in ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow''.
* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'': Watanabe are Matsuya are the straight men for the somewhat hyperactive CasanovaWannabe Iwata, and, arguably, Sumiyoshi acts like this for all three of them when Watanabe and Matsuya are of the OnlySaneMan. Excel and Hyatt play Straight Woman to each other, as both have their bizzare quirks that rarely overlap, and to Il Palazzo, who is the ComicallySerious.

** Almost everyone in the entire crew (except Luffy) has moments of being the straight man, but none of them are always was the straight man (not even Robin, who has probably the darkest sense of humor out of all of them.)
* Sumi from ''Manga/WifeAndWife'' plays this role for her CloudCuckoolander wife, Kina, making her a [[LipstickLesbian Gay Woman]] Straight Man.
* Haré from ''Anime/HareGuu'' plays this role for pretty much everyone in the series.
* Koganei is the straight man to Amasawa's [[{{Manzai}} boke]] on-screen in ''Manga/TheWeathermanIsMyLover''.
* Piccolo from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' certainly seems to fall into this role, particularly when [[IdiotHero Gotenks]] is involved.
* Himeko from ''Manga/SKETDance'' and she takes it's very [[SeriousBusiness seriously]].
** Bossun as well.
* ''Manga/TransformersCybertron'': Jetfire is the straight man, with various other characters up to and including Optimus Prime and even [[BigGood Prim]][[{{God}} us]] playing the wise guy role.

* Beauty and Gasser from ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo''.
* Sasshi Imamiya and Arumi Asahina from ''Anime/MagicalShoppingArcadeAbenobashi''
* Fuyuki Hinata from ''Anime/SgtFrog''. He exhibits great patience and friendship towards the Keronians, and is often the voice of reason and manages to diffuse conflicts, whereas his older sister Natsumi is blatantly racist to the point where she is hated by many fans.
** Dororo could also be considered a straight men, seeing as he is always at odds with Keroro over his plans to take over Earth, since Dororo is basically a tree-hugging hippie.
* ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' have Tadakuni towards the more oddball Hidenori and Yoshitake, and Tadakuni's DistaffCounterpart Habara towards Yanagin and Ikushima (who are Hidenori and Yoshitake's DistaffCounterpart respectively).
* Ayu Tateishi from ''Manga/UltraManiac''.

* Firo tends to serve as the designated StraightMan in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Typically, he has to deal with Isaac and Miria's shenanigans, but other ([[AxeCrazy usually profoundly violent]]) lunatics are happy to fill the role when the two aren't available.
* Natsuki plays this role in ''Manga/ChroniclesOfTheGoingHomeClub''. Her clubmates often say or do extremely unusual things, such as fighting bears, being so [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney absurdly rich]] to the point that spending money for them is the same as running tap water, or wanting to try eating the ice cream stuck on a lid as being the best part of it, only to then buy a popsicle instead.