[[PaniPoniDash http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1141580294775-resize2.jpg]]

Pretty much the only way in anime to make someone ugly or unusual looking is to do it deliberately and often non-subtly. If a character is not attractive looking, they're usually absurdly ugly. The result can be extremely jarring if it [[NonstandardCharacterDesign deviates too much from the rest of the show's look]], although it tends to be more tolerated in comedies and non-human characters.

This is because of GenericCuteness. Occasionally, ArtisticAge means that Gonk has to be applied to make older characters seem downright decrepit in order to seem older than the generically young cast.

Not to be confused with [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gonk_droid a certain type of power droid]], which looks more like a walking trashcan/safe.

Also not to be confused with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPJvIAWAyYM The Gonk]], which is a silly, [[SoundtrackDissonance rather ironic]] and [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome totally awesome]] tune from the original DawnOfTheDead.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Most fat characters in anime suffer from some level of {{Gonk}}. Examples include:
** Though just as often regarded as physical pinnacles, Sumo wrestlers are occasionally referenced in anime as being gonk.
** LeijiMatsumoto characters come in two flavors: [[GenericCuteness catalogue model]] & gonk. Notably examples of the latter include CaptainHarlock's sidekick Tochiro (and his seemingly endless line of [[IdenticalGrandson identical ancestors]]. How a family line with men that ugly manages to continue one for so many millenia is the greatest mystery of the Leijiverse) as well as most of the other men on the captain's crew of Jolly SpacePirates (Harlock makes a point of not recruiting anybody handsomer than he is, since he also has several beautiful women on the ship). Most incarnations of 999's Tetsuro are also very gonkish, though he was considerably bishified in TheMovie. Also, the entire population of Earth, sans cyborgs, during the BigFatFuture of the manga's second story arc.
** Oh come now, Tochiro, Tetsuro (TV ver) and their ilk may not be lookers but they're not hideous.
*** Well, in their usual outfits, they ''are'' gonk. But that might simply be because if they dressed to show off better features they'd have to beat the ladies off with a stick. [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean I mean, look at that nose...]]
** A number of anime will have impromptu cheerleading squads show up that will always include a female Gonk that will go without comment. Examples include ''YuGiOh'' and ''Yawara''.
* [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/alive_last_evolutionary_boy/v04/c014/34.html Okada]] from [[AliveTheFinalEvolution Alive The Final Evolution]], The only power-user whose overweight. He sweats constantly, may have a subtle hentai (Japanese porn) fetish, and suffers from an inferiority complex due to his physical appearance. His power involves killing victims who break their "promises" (for ex. two guys are killed when they call him fat despite being promised not to say so). Don't forget [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/alive_last_evolutionary_boy/v14/c051/15.html Han]] and ratty scientist [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/alive_last_evolutionary_boy/v11/c040/25.html Kairu]]. Oh, I can't forget [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/alive_last_evolutionary_boy/v10/c036/9.html Okada]], crazy stalker girl. (She becomes much prettier [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/alive_last_evolutionary_boy/v13/c048/32.html after losing weight later]])
* Dan in ''BambooBlade'' is short and has a head shaped like an acorn. Yet he's [[OfficialCouple got a girlfriend]], is ranked high in the school, can draw very well, and is shaping up to be good at kendo. He's probably the luckiest male in the entire show, and most fans think him a victim of a ''PingPongClub'' LawyerFriendlyCameo.
* The anime ''{{Basilisk}}'' features some downright grotesque character designs. Tokugawa Ieyasu has a deformed chin that looks like [[http://www.ifc.com/images/episodes/basilisk_10_episode_mini_gallery_photo_0.jpg a sack of huge testicles under his head]].
* Several of the less important ''shinigami'' characters in ''{{Bleach}}'' - but most of the shinigami outside the main cast are just comic relief/cannon fodder, so this is understandable.
** Also, Nnoitra. He doesn't even look remotely human.
*It's a blip, but one episode of CromartieHighSchool took place in what was basically a gender-flipped version of the main (male) characters' high school. This Troper need only comment that the "girls" in the school were very much as if the delinquents were crossdressing... ''poorly.'' Moustaches and all!
*Series/DesertPunk has quite a few. If a character is unnamed or over 40, chances are they're gonks. The titular character is pretty normal looking but becomes gonked out if he's doing something disturbing.
* The Puchuu in ''ExcelSaga'' are cute mascot characters whose faces become Gonk (resembling scarred, haggard manga assassin Golgo13) when they are injured or killed.
** Sumiyoshi from ''ExcelSaga''.
* In ''{{Ga-Rei}}'', anyone who isn't a main character or relatively young is ugly. It's a bit jarring to see the really attractive [[GenericCuteness Kagura]] next to the extremely old-looking [[CoolOldLady Fujiko]], for example.
* {{Getter Robo}} teams always have "The fat guy", with varying levels of gonk. Musashi from the original looks a bit gonkish, especially compared to his impossibly handsome teammates (and his ridiculous, slapped together "uniform" doesn't help, either), but most of the subsequent incarnations had Musashi or his equivalent drawn with the similar rugged good looks to his compatriots. Kaede from the all girl Getter Robo Zan team is probably the gonkiest of all the Getter pilots (being a {{Distaff Counterpart}} of Musashi), but then again all the girls on that team are pretty homely by anime standards.
** When you compare the likes of Musashi, Benkei, and Gai to the worst this trope has to offer I think it's a little harsh to call them outright gonky just because they're big.
*** Far, ''FAR'' more gonkish are "Build Angels" Mido and Monko of [[KotetsuJeeg Kotetsushin Jeeg]]. Mido is tall and slender to a creepy degree, while Monko might have been able to pass for a bodybuilder-style HotAmazon if she didn't look like she had a man's face pasted onto her body.
* An unusual example in a serious anime is the sinister Kazundo Gohda (or Gouda) from ''[[GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex GitS: 2nd Gig]]'', whose face was hideously disfigured in an accident. Gohda decided ''not'' to have his face rebuilt because his new appearance made him distinctive. This is deliberately contrasted with Hideo Kuze, the show's nominal (but less villainous) villain, whose prosthetic body wears a handsome mask-like face.
* GirlsSaurus: [[http://www.onemanga.com/Girls_Saurus/10/09/ Ichigo]]. [[NightmareFuelUnleaded Sweet mother of god]], [[http://www.onemanga.com/Girls_Saurus/10/32/ Ichigo]]
* ''KareKano'' featured a flashback of a guy who had considerably improved his appearance since he was a child. He's drawn in a completely different style than everyone and vaguely resembles a Fisher Price toy.
* Kemeko from ''KemekoDeluxe''. Short, ugly and yet thrown into more outfits and situations than a character of this type should be in.
** Curiously, when seen early on in some sort of maintenance bath, Kemeko appears to be [[FanService patently feminine]], only to revert the instant it's cleaning cycle is finished.
* Deconstructed on three separate occasions in {{MAR}}, all of them by villains from the Chess Pieces.
** The first gonk, Rapunzel, is an extremely ugly, hag-like [[YoungerThanTheyLook 29-year-old]] whose sensitivity about her appearance has turned her into a violent, murderous, backstabbing psychopath who enjoys killing everything that's "ugly" to her, especially women.
** The second gonk, Emokiss, is equally sensitive, though unlike the previous example her ugliness is self-inflicted, as she's constantly seen eating. She actually destroys her sentient Guardian ÄRM after it comments on her ugliness.
** The third gonk, Kouga, is not NEARLY as sensitive as the previous two; his problem is that, because of his ugly face, he has become delusional that ugliness equals goodness. Because of this, naturally, he is the only one of the three gonks in {{MAR}} whose sheer disgust for beautiful people is actually genuine, and NOT from denial.
* Ryu from {{Mobile Suit Gundam}} is a bit of a borderline case, as he's usually drawn in a slightly different style than most of the main characters, but he's not really ugly (in fact, in the novels Sayla has a bit of a crush on him before she ends up getting together with Amuro).
* Several characters in ''{{Mononoke}}'' are like this.
* Justified in ''NaruTaru'' with Sato's fiancee, whose odd appearance is due to Down's Syndrome.
* Rock Lee from ''{{Naruto}}'' has strange, perfectly circular eyes with pronounced bottom lashes, as well as BigOlEyebrows and a super-shiny bowl cut.
** Konohamaru's early attempts to perform the Sexy no Jutsu were frequently comically grotesque. An entire early episode was devited to his mastery of it.
** One of the Tsuchikage's bodyguards is [[http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/454/02-03/ a giant name Akatsuchi]] who has big fat cheeks, a bowling bin-shaped body, and a bulbous nose. In fact, [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens the Tsuchikage himself]] also has an even weirder looking nose.
* Alvida from ''OnePiece'', when we first see her. Then she eats the Slip Slip Devil Fruit between story arcs and becomes incredibly slippery... and slender. And [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer everyone's object of lust]]. Luffy can't recognize her on first glance, and she was the first villain he fought.
** And much later we have Kokoro and Lola, as well as the island of Amazon Lily, who's population is roughly equal parts Gonk and HotAmazon.
**No discussion of One Piece Gonkiness regarding the obese is complete without Satori, Hotori and Kotori (whose bodies are, in fact, perfect spheres in addition to being ugly), and ESPECIALLY Fukurou.
** Also: Wanze and Duval. So Gonky that repeated kicks to the face rendered them ''[[MagicPlasticSurgery better looking]].''
*** And Duval happens to look exactly like the poorly drawn wanted poster of Sanji, which in and of itself is Gonky in how it exaggerates Sanji's attributes, especially his spiral eyebrow.
** OMG, we forgot one: [[http://www.onepiece.de/media/pictures/pics/5/Episoden/054/032.jpg 'Admiral' Nelson]], from one of the anime's fillers. Aside from being rather ugly, what REALLY makes him stand out is how very fat he is.
*** Also Wapol. The guy ate "himself" to become thin.
** Emporio Ivankov, a transvestite, has quite an odd facial expression with a face locked into an almost perpetual grin and eyes wide open. Mr. 2 also has quite an odd face for being a crossdresser, enough so that when he decided to make the world's weirdest face from a collection of all the faces he's encountered, he only had to add Usopp's nose.
* A strange example occurs in ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' when the host club does this in an attempt to cheer up Haruhi. Since the show already has quite a few crossdressers, they (with the exception of [[TheChessmaster Kyouya]], natually) end up in hilariously overdone makeup to make the situation funny.
* ''PaniPoniDash'' has several, most notably [[{{Delinquent}} Yankee]], whose picture is at the top, and the hordes of identical Itou-sans. Then there's the characters who are drawn to look very similar to their real life originals, which...doesn't quite mesh with the PuniPlush cuteness of the rest...the Tommy Lee Jones Circa MenInBlack for example is especially jarring, as he's mostly seen with Ichijou...who often sports an even simpler face than normal.
* Me-Mania in ''PerfectBlue''. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel NOT played for laughs]].
* Noteable exception -- ''PrincessNine'''s Mao Daidouji being heavy-set is important to her characterization, but she is drawn in a realistic style.
* One episode of {{Pokemon}} D/P: Battle Dimension has Team Rocket stressing over their current fitness, going from [[LargeHam delightfully plump]] to outright {{gonk}}.
* Konatsu's step-family in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' is deliberately made hideous, despite them being hostesses at the "Sexy Kunoichi Tea Spot" (a brothel, the reader is made to assume, or at least an extremely exclusive parlor.) His stepsisters are either gangly and monkey-like, or gigantic and with lips so huge they are her entire face. To say nothing of the shrunken, yakuza-faced step-mother. This makes Konatsu by far the most attractive woman, even though [[WholesomeCrossdresser he's a guy]].
* Another exception, ''SailorMoon'' has one of Usagi's schoolfriends who pops up now and then in the first few episodes of the show. She's chubby, but not ugly in any way. She gets [[{{BrotherChuck}} Brother Chucked]] pretty fast along with the rest of Usagi's former friends after other Senshi start showing up and she hangs out with them instead. Sadly, while the other girls had names, this character never did (and this is a show that has been known to give names to the most minor of characters in [[AllThereInTheManual the guidebooks]]) so fans can only identify her as "Usagi's Fat Friend".
* Several side-characters from ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' are drawn completely different from the main cast. Chiri Kitsu shifts to a Gonk [[AxeCrazy as needed]].
*Actually averted in the film {{Spirited Away}}. Miyazaki didn't want his female protagonist Chihiro to be overly beautiful, in order to reinforce her presentation as an average girl at the film's beginning. He managed to succeed at this task without having her look exceptionally ugly or out of place, capturing just the look he was going for.
* Kimo-o in the manga ''Stripe Blue''. He's totally unaware of how freaking creepy he looks, and the fact that he also ''acts'' like a lunatic doesn't help.
*In ''Team Medical Dragon'', it's possible to identify the good and bad guys by one characteristic alone: most of the time, the good guys are drawn incredibly attractively, while evil characters invariably look like the products of 18 generations of inbreeding.
**The villains sure are ugly (as hell), but the sympathetic male characters range from heroically handsome over small and dorky to TheBigGuy. The women, of course, are attractive. The patients look sickly.
* Tenchi's classmate Kazuhiko Amagasaki (TheFatGuyWithTheBigLipsAndPimplyNose) in ''TenchiMuyo''. He appears mostly in ''TenchiInTokyo''.
* Attenborough from ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', who is best described as a crazed muppet. In fact, his FanNickname is {{Beamspam}} [=McMuppet=].
** Leeron may count too, the guy may aim to be a Bishounen, but "he" still looks like a frog.
** Jougan and Balinbou aren't exactly pretty either.
* Another exception -- In one episode of ''TenjouTenge'', we learn where female villain Emi Isuzu keeps all her hidden knives: she's really quite obese, and uses ki techniques to compress her fat and use it to carry concealed weapons. However, her full-sized form is completely Gonk-free, though it doesn't stop Maya (who [[SecretKeeper learns Emi's big secret]]) from teasing her about it.
** Whether or not it's Gonk-free is ''really'' arguable; this editor found it laughably Gonky.
* A lot of the lesser villains in YuGiOh!. While [[http://www.onemanga.com/Yu-Gi-Oh/1/16/ Ushio]] and [[http://www.onemanga.com/Yu-Gi-Oh/25/12/ Kai]] look rather decent, the others like [[http://www.onemanga.com/Yu-Gi-Oh/21/06/ Kujirada]] and [[http://www.onemanga.com/Yu-Gi-Oh/48/04/ Nezumi]] (whose name in case you don't know means 'rat' in Japanese), are outright gonk!
* Kimura from AzumangaDaioh, with his perpetually gaunt and slack-jawed expression.
* [[TwoWords Two Words]]: {{Afro Samurai}}

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[[folder:Comics]]
* ''{{Dick Tracy}}'' used this in many of its villains, such as Pruneface, Flathead, The Brow, Rodent...
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Corporal Nobby Nobbs from ''{{Discworld}}'' is ugly enough to require documented evidence to prove that he's (probably) human. Official art of him is indeed {{Gonk}}like.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
*ApeEscape: Monkey Yellow is a good example of this. And he (she?) considers himself (herself?) the best-looking character in the series.
* Eunice in {{Bully}}. Subverted in Beatrice, who would be attractive if she lost the glasses and got some Abreva for her mouth.
* The {{EarthBound}} (or Mother) series has a few Gonks, primarily in their fat female characters; however, Lardna Minch is their queen. Maybe it's something about how her mouth is bigger than the rest of her head, or how plastic and grotesque her smile is, but it's kind of disturbing.
** If this troper recalls correctly, Lardna is a PaletteSwap of other fat women.
** And her son Pokey looks quite disturbing, even for someone of his weight; when he [[spoiler:fights alongside Giygas in the final battle]], he appears to have blue skin.
* Queen Brahne in ''FinalFantasyIX'', who outranks most of the monsters in the game in sheer ugliness for no easily explained reason. This may be a vague dig at BeautyEqualsGoodness (compared to the villainous but attractive Kuja) as her subjects usually insist Brahne is a competent and respectable leader, at least pre-game. It particularly bizarre because her daughter doesn't look anything like her [[spoiler:which theoretically isn't a problem because Garnet is revealed to not be her biological child. Except that Garnet was adopted by the royal family was because she looked close enough to the real Princess Garnet to take her place, which means that Brahne still had a biological child that looked nothing like her.]]
** This troper would chalk that down to [[spoiler:her having an incredibly attractive husband who had the misfortune of getting an ArrangedMarriage, which might explain the daughter that looks nothing like the mother.]]
*** It could just be that she hasn't aged well. Growing old and not exercising much can do some pretty horrible things to people.
****Like turning you blue.
* Every FireEmblem game includes one playable gonk. The bandit class seems to be soley composed of these. One gonk by the name of Gheb achieved internet popularity. In fact, one can pretty reliably tell which enemy characters will eventually join the player... they're the ones who don't look like either a monkey's behind or Morticia Addams.
** Gonzales from Fire Emblem: Sealed Sword would like a word...
*** And Oliver, who takes the cake because of his delusion that he's the most beautiful thing in the world despite all evidence to the contrary.
*Gannon the carpenter from ''HarvestMoon DS: Island of Happiness'' is considerably less attractive than the other inhabitants of the island. His daughter Eliza, on the other hand, is [[TastesLikeDiabetes so cute it hurts]].
** The Gourmet. Dear lord, the Gourmet. Some fans are convinced he's not actually ''human''. ''Island of Happiness'' and related replaced him with a CuteShotaroBoy {{Expy}}
* Most of the characters in the ''[[RiverCityRansom Kunio-kun]]'' games are [[GenericCuteness generically cute]]... except for Misuzu, who is a seven-foot schoolgirl with a head the size of a pumpkin and the face of a middle-aged woman.
* In ''TheLegendOfZelda: The Windwaker'', we have [[http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Maggie%27s_Father Maggie's father]]. Ew...
* Gutsman's operator Dex in the ''MegamanBattleNetwork'' franchise. Naturally, his ''[[MegaManStarForce Star Force]]'' {{Expy}} Bud also falls under this. Dex looks like some strange obese shark person, while Bud is some obese guy with his hair shaped into horns.
** This might be a possible shout out to ''AstroBoy'' 's designs; OsamuTezuka characters have a distinctive old-school flavor that often looks really strange to newer anime fans.
* A non-fat gonk in {{Persona 4}} would be the homeroom teacher, "King Moron," who seriously needs a dentist. Possibly a dentist with a ''hacksaw.''
** And then there's Mitsuo's fish-eyed face, but in his case he's supposed to be unsettling for a different reason.
** {{Persona 3}} has The Gourmet King, but he's nothing on {{Persona 4}}'s Hanako.
*** This troper's first reaction at seeing Hanako was that she had to be some kind of shadow in human form. Her face, with its full puffy lips, full eyes, and mole, looked like a plastic mask made in mockery of human beauty. Seriously, it's borderline NightmareFuel.
*** This troper's reaction to seeing her on the camping trip was comparable to someone first laying eyes on an EldritchAbomination.
* King Hippo from ''PunchOut'' is obese and barely looks human. ''{{Captain N}}'' takes it one step further and gives him blue skin.
* Gen-An Shiranui from ''SamuraiShodown'' is so terrifically ugly that it is impossible to even tell his ''species''. (He's not a tengu, and he's not an oni, but he definitely isn't human...) Somehow, he not only has a JunglePrincess wife, but a few centuries down the road, his line supposedly includes MsFanservice JigglePhysics queen Mai Shiranui...
** There's also obese [[McNinja Texan ninja Earthquake]], and then there's Kusaregedou, a literal CompleteMonster who's uglier than Gen-An and Earthquake combined.
* Rufus from ''StreetFighter IV'', although as a martial artist, he's definitely in-shape. (Spherical is a shape, right?)
* Yohm from ''BreathOfFire IV'' is pretty much the prototypical example of Geezer Gonk. Stick legs, round body, his nose looks like a potato, and the impression one gets is of AnpanMan gone terribly wrong and evil.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Duchess in ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''.
* Cotton in ''KingOfTheHill''.
* Debbie the prostitute in ''TheLifeAndTimesOfTim''.
* The American film ''QuestForCamelot'' utilizes this with its villain, Lord Ruber. His huge misshapen body and shrunken face makes him really stand out from the other Knights of the Round who are perfectly normal looking people. Presumably this is so you can tell he's the villain, but this begs the question of why some freaky guy like this was ''ever'' let onto the Knights of the Round in the first place.
* [[CanadaEh Canadians]] in {{South Park}} with their horizontally separated heads which bobble when talking, not to mention other ridiculously cartoonish features, even for characters in South Park.
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[[folder:Film]]
* In ''What Planet Are You From?'', Garry Shandling played a Gonk. It counts as character design because the problem wasn't his natural features so much as his 'I just ate a bag of lemons' expression. By the end of the movie I had to turn away every time he came on. (He was the main character, so that was a ''lot''.)
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[[folder:Other]]
* GaiaOnline decided to pull a fast one on the members when asking if they wanted cute child star Timmy to remain a child or become an adult. After the votes were tallied and adult Timmy was chosen, he was aged up as promised and turned into an incredibly ugly and gangly man with an enormous honker (while everyone was expecting yet another hot anime guy). One member actually responded by posting a smiley called "gonk".
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