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Ambiguously Gay in Anime & Manga.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples for episodic works shouldn't be added until end of season for the season introducing the ambiguity (or after 3 months, for episodic works without seasons). This is to allow time for the story to develop the character and resolve ambiguity. There is no waiting time for non-episodic works.


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    A-D 
  • In the Ace Attorney (2016) anime, Maya seems to enjoy the magazine with "rather scantily dressed" women and is visibly disappointed when Phoenix takes it away in Episode 21. In the second game, she expresses some attraction towards Regina Berry as well.
  • Ah... and Mm... Are All She Says: Neither Tanaka nor Toda ever show any attraction to men, and both are Yuri Fans. They live together for over a year, and on several occasions other people, including Tanaka's coworkers, think they're dating. In the final chapter, Toda gives Tanaka a goodbye kiss on the cheek, eliciting a Luminescent Blush from her.
  • In Air Gear guys who ride on the flame road have a tendency for this. Kazu and Spit Fire are ambigous, Aeon Clock however is not.
  • Kai (Kaisuke in the manga) from AKIRA is short, slim, well-dressed, girlishly faced, and can knock a guy through a window. Being relatively sensitive and implied to have a crush on Kaneda in the manga (he joyfully glomps him when he finds out he's alive) and Yamagata in the anime, he's often percieved as a young homosexual.
  • Kurotobi of Amatsuki. He constantly hits on Toki, calls him cute and touches him a lot.
  • Angel Beats!:
    • Hinata often tells Otonashi he likes him (it's used as a joke, probably). Later, he tells Yui he likes her and would marry her if they met when they were still alive.
    • Naoi, after Otonashi snaps him out of his angst and gives him some sense of self-worth, makes frequent comments that can easily be construed as being in love with Otonashi.
  • An In-Universe case appears in Asteroid in Love. While everyone in the cast knows Mira and Ao are very close, they have different views on the nature of their relationship. Moe compares them to a married couple, while others tend to see their relationship as platonic.
  • Azumanga Daioh: The only reason Kaorin's orientation is ambiguous, is because it was never confirmed whether she's actually in love with Sakaki, or simply fangirling really, REALLY, hard over her. The closest the series comes to addressing the issue was when Osaka asked Kaorin if she was gay, in the "10th Anniversary Omnibus". She tells Osaka that the correct term is "lesbian," then says her attraction to Sakaki is "a teenage thing"; adding she wouldn't mind if Sakaki were a guy.
  • Later volumes of Baccano! have Carla Alvarez Santonia, unconditionally loyal Bifauxnen bodyguard of Lucrezia de Dormentaire. It's not the crossdressing that makes her suspect, but the fact that her charge is a very openly bisexual hedonist who sleeps with most of her servants, male or female - all of which are quite happy with the arrangement.
  • Beastars: There are strong romantic undertones to Riz's feelings for Tem, even down to the way Riz describes Tem and their relationship, like saying his voice was sweeter than honey and that his eyes were beautiful, and, due to his Self-Serving Memory, picturing and describing eating Tem in an oddly romantic and sexual way. It's notable that their relationship is a counterpart of Legoshi's relationship to Haru, which is what could happen if Legoshi didn't have the amount of restraint he does. This continues later when chapter 182 uses quite some ambiguous wording to talk about his current relationship with Pina, with them either having become friends or boyfriends, depending on how you read the scene.
  • Allaindelon in Beelzebub is Ambiguously Macho Camp. On the one hand, he has a daughter. On the other hand... every other aspect of his character and line of his dialogue.
  • Black Butler:
    • Alois Trancy in the second season of the anime. He alternates between being Ax-Crazy and sweet and cheerful, basically flirts with Sebastian via leaning into him and pronouncing that he "smells good", is very attached to his butler Claude, treats his one female maidservant like absolute crap (he stabs out her eye with his fingers just for looking at him and later mocks her for it), dresses and acts very effeminately and flamboyantly and has a girlish face. Well, he was ambiguous until episode 5 where he outright flirted with Ciel, licked his ear, and stated that he "wants" him. And in episode 11 when he tells Claude "I wanted your love."
    • Also, Finny of Ciel's household staff: girly looks, wears barrettes in his hair, Keet, a bit of a crybaby, and tends to go into fanboy mode over Sebastian.
    • And Claude. It becomes painstakingly obvious after he brainwashes Ciel, though maybe he just really wanted Ciel's soul...
    • Sebastian, believe it or not. Exhibit A. Stilettos. Exhibit B. The way he stands and walks, particularly prominent in the first couple of volumes. Exhibit C. Doesn't he say he finds Ash more attractive than Angela? Exhibit D. And, of course, fighting over Ciel with Claude, which leads to both Alois and Grell implying that he's in love with Ciel. Sebastian doesn't deny it, and, in fact, agrees while fighting Claude in episode... 10? That he's not fighting for Ciel's soul...
  • Creed from Black Cat is never explicitly stated outright to be gay. However, every single character in the series notices his obsession with Train (other than Train himself), and he takes his old partner's rejections way too personally for his feelings to be completely platonic or professional. He dresses in very flamboyant, feathery clothing, and is constantly seen with roses (he has a freakin' bath filled with them!). He also seems rather resentful and angry at most of the females in the series.
  • Bleach:
    • The true nature of Sui-Feng's attachment to her mentor, Yoruichi, and her sexuality, in general, is an often debated subject. Many believe that she's in love with Yoruichi and cite her emotional breakdown at the end of their fight, along with the time she tried to take pictures of her nakednote  as evidence. Others dismiss it as Sui-Feng either fangirling over her, or believe she only looks up to Yoruichi as a 'big sister' figure (mainly by those who ship Yoruichi with Urahara). Either way, the anime team ran away with the subtext, to point of it being 'writing on the wall'.
    • Amongst the hollows, there is actor-wannabe, pink-haired, flamboyant Szayel Aporro Granz who becomes even prettier when he releases his sword, named Fornicarás (kanji: 'evil promiscuous queen/princess', Spanish: 'you will fornicate'), which he's also willing to deep-throat. His fights are accompanied by lewd, disturbing comments regarding the sexiness of his opponents and whether or not they're his type and when his clothes are damaged, he will stop fighting to get changed before continuing. He'll even use his cloning attack to give his opponents fashion make-overs.
    • Charlotte Cuuhlhourne, who is incredibly proud of his beauty, believes he's the most fabulous thing alive and will fight anyone who disagrees.
  • Daley Wong and Linna Yamazaki from Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 share both similar backgrounds and extremely ambiguous sexuality, though nothing is ever admitted outright. Linna's reaction to the resident biker chick and bad girl getting a boyfriend is telling enough however, as is the fact that she spends the next couple of episodes moping about it. Poor Linna...
  • Buso Renkin: Koushaku Chouno, better known as Papillon. He dresses in a flamboyant outfit including speedos and a distinctive butterfly mask, and he certainly has a lot of tension with Kazuki.
  • Code Geass:
    • Lloyd Asplund is certainly mechasexual and Prince Schneizel is more ambiguous. His Bishounen advisor Kanon lampshades both in R2 09. He likes talking about love for a war advisor, apparently.
    • Kanon himself, who is quite pretty and expresses more concern for Schneizel than an advisor should for a boss. Side materials state that he's a crossdresser who had a hard time getting a job until Schneizel hired him for his talents and didn't mind his peculiar tastes.
    • Lelouch himself could be seen to fall under this: he's a Bishōnen verging on Dude Looks Like a Lady known for his memetically FABULOUS mannerisms and hamminess, is very fastidious in his clothing, cooking and cleaning, has a huge Unwanted Harem whom he mostly barely notices (and even when he does notice, he barely reacts) and the only girls he does openly admit affection towards are his sisters. Add in all the Ho Yay, the cross-dressing and Mistaken for Gay moments in the side materials...
    • Rolo in the anime. While he states that he sees Lelouch as a brother, there's some scenes where it seems more like he's in love with him. This is to the point where many fans saw his murdering Lelouch's girlfriend Shirley and his intended murdering of Nunnally, Lelouch's sister, as a case of Murder the Hypotenuse.
  • In Comic Girls, Kaoruko's sexuality has never been clearly stated, but she keeps a large number of Joshikousei figures and she even checks under the skirts of these figures. She was also broken out of her fear of horror mangaka Fuura by noticing how pretty she was and how large her breasts were.
  • Father Jelice Bryah of Dazzle. Lampshaded by Rahzel "I don't recall coming out of some queer's stomach." (She said that because he was trying to be her father, but given the idiot of a dad she has, he is definitely a huge improvement.)
  • Every single major male lead in Death Note is either this or ambiguously asexual.
    • L. OK, so he does watch footage of Misa Amane strapped up against a board for a long time and does confess "I could actually fall for you" to her, but that doesn't stop him handcuffing himself to Light, as said before, and Light is the only character aside from Watari to whom he gives his 'phone number, he also had 3D art done on his nails, cross dressed twice in the "L: change the world" novel, even flirting with another male during it (though this could have been him just playing up the part ) and there's his reaction to when Maki is kidnapped in the novel seems very reminiscent of a scared parent/mother
    • Near takes all the tension Light had with L to a creepy, rape-y, one sided extreme. He calls Light a lot and then hangs up without talking, pulls... odd faces when thinking of Light and in the manga it's revealed that Near didn't entirely want to kill Light, he wanted to keep him. And that's before we even get onto the chemistry that is more commonly interpreted between him and Mello.
    • Mello takes this trope so far as to be mistaken for a girl by a lot of readers/viewers until he is referred to as a "he" by other characters. He does not, like the other senior Mafia men, cuddle up with girls, dresses in tight leather long before he rides a motorbike for the first time in the series, has a VERY girly fur-lined coat, dons black lipstick and nail polish, ignores Hal Lidner's coquetry when she talks to him from her shower, licks chocolate bars suggestively in the company of other men, and lives with Ambiguously Bi loose-cannon geek Matt in a house full of mannequins. He also seems unenthused when Matt points out that switching jobs would mean getting to spy on a cute girl (Misa.) Did we miss anything?
    • The elegant, well-manicured, immaculately-dressed and long-haired Yotsuba employee Reiji Namikawa. While almost all the other businessmen are either cuddling up with Misa's modelling friends or having a drink in her flat, he's busy looking at the artwork. Oh, and he wears a silver heart-shaped ring.
    • Rem's strange (and for a Shinigami, highly unusual and controversial) relationship with Misa Amane. (She says it's platonic, but who knows?) She also dies for her to rescue her and keeps Light alive just to keep her happy. That's some serious platonism!
    • Teru Mikami, who surpasses both L and Near in his fixation for Light (although for markedly different reasons). He also spends a lot of time working out at the gym.
    • Beyond Birthday, of the spin-off novel Another Note, is completely obsessed with another man to the point that he copies his appearance and mannerisms and is a self-described as "an aggressive top."
    • Sayu, Light's little sister, is Ambiguously Lesbian- she first says that she "doesn't want a boyfriend." Then she exclaims that Misa is "my type!" And she smiles when leafing through one of Light's magazines. The ambiguity here is that she does fangirl over Hideki Ryuga (the pop star), so she might be bisexual if the fangirling is sexual in nature. She also tells Matsuda that she'd date him if he was younger.
  • D.Gray-Man has Kanda, who has an easy-to-provoke personality, a Bishōnen design, takes a lot of care of his long hair, and has an apparent lack of interest in any romance. Ironically, in later chapters it seems almost certain that he isn't gay after all, and in a Fourth-Wall Mail Slot interview Allen speculates that Kanda has no romantic interest in anything except Mugen, his sword. In actuality he turns out to be gay technically; he and his Childhood Friend Alma were lovers prior to dying and having their brains transplanted... but that Alma was a woman prior to this.
  • Yukio Oikawa in Digimon Adventure 02 wears a purple trenchcoat, and seems a tad obsessed with his late childhood bud Hiroki Hida.
  • Hairo of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.. Kobayasu, Kaidou, and even Saiki wonder about his sexuality in one chapter. He's seemingly unaffected by Teruhashi's charmsnote , has an intense physicality in his rivalry with Nendou, is very popular with the guys, tends to be nude a lot, and is hands out "friendship chocolates" to his male friends on Valentine's Day. By the end of the chapter, Hairo admits that he's never fallen in love with anyone before, before proceeding to inadvertently fan Kobayasu and Kaidou's speculations some more.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Dragon Ball Z has Zarbon, who has an extremely feminine face, keeps his hair in a long, loose braid, and wears lots of jewelry, plus shiny black thigh-high boots. He's also apparently rather obsessed with his appearance. Frieza is questionable as well, having extremely feminine mannerisms in the Japanese and a female voice in the dub (though changed as of Dragon Ball Z Kai, it still sounds quite feminine).
    • Goten and Trunks have been very tight friends literally their entire lives and, as teenagers, quite often spill over into Ho Yay. Trunks even shows no interest in women, and his mother went to the extreme of putting him in a office building shaped like a penis and filling it with hot women; he seems outright intimidated by both. Whether their being Fusion Dance partners makes this better or worse is debatable. In the second Dragon Ball GT ending, it begins with all the various couples being shown together: Goku and Chi-Chi, Gohan and Videl, Vegeta and Bulma, Krillin and Eighteen... and then cuts right to Trunks and Goten walking along, in the same style. Apparently the creators consider them "life partners" after one fashion or another.
    • At the end of Z, when the Z-fighters are competing in the tournament, Trunks is paired with a leather-bound muscle man who blows him a kiss and makes a comment to the effect of "Oh, I got the cute one."
    • Whis is campy, feminine, and blushes and smiles when his male boss accidentally flashes him in the third episode of Dragon Ball Super.
    • Goku Black and Future Zamasu they seem to be, considering that Zamasu became so obsessed with Goku to the point of stealing his body becoming "Goku Black", he also has a love/hate relationship with Goku as a person, also when Bulma tried to seduce Future Zamasu he got angry too, the relationship between both is in itself very intimate (although it is somewhat understandable considering that they are the same person).
    • Kale the Legendary Super Saiyan of Universe 6 is implied to have a romantic crush on her boss Caulifla, the reason for her transformation is she believes Caulifla is in a relationship with Cabba, a male Saiyan and tries to kill him, once she assures her that she has no interest in Cabba only then does she calm down.
  • Dr. STONE :
    • While Gen Asagiri is introduced as a Covert Pervert, after choosing to join the Kingdom Of Science, he doesn't appear to be attracted to any girls but has a significant number of moments with Senku that could be interpreted as something more than a friendship. He is also incredibly flamboyant even liking to cross-dress and in a summer merchandise he has a rainbow colored towel.
    • Dr. Xeno and Stanley Snyder are Childhood Friends who care about each other very much, with Xeno calling himself Stanley's Damsel in Distress with a loving smile. At one point, Stanley is seen caressing Xeno's face and lips in a way that is hard to view as strictly platonic, while not outright stating that they're lovers. However, their sexual orientation is not really touched upon.

    E-H 
  • Iggy, robot sidekick to Re-L Mayer in Ergo Proxy, spends a substantial amount of time gossiping and trying to get Re-L to go shopping. And this was the intention of both the original filmmakers and the dubbing company.
  • Eyeshield 21: Hiromi Kisaragi, whose obsession with power makes him see buff men as Bishōnen. And yet, as strong as the implications are, Kisaragi isn't gay... he's just only attracted to women who fit his "strength is beautiful" aesthetic.
  • Kazuki of Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressor certainly qualifies. At least three girls have fallen in love with him, and he's either oblivious to their feelings or he knows and is completely uninterested. Then there's his utter devotion to Soushi, and the show makes sure to let the viewers know that they are the most important person to each other. He even vows to wait forever for Soushi to return at the end of the first season, and flies into a rage during the movie when Festum show up instead.
  • Fairy Tail has several examples — Freed Justine, Kagura Mikazuchi, and Cana. Freed hero-worships Laxus while Kagura looks up to Erza as a big sister, but at times, it seems like they have crushes on their respective idols (not helped by Kagura kissing Erza on the lips and the anime Flanderizing Freed to make him wonder what Laxus would do before making any decision). Meanwhile, Cana has a habit of feeling up just about any attractive woman in later chapters (her most common target being Lucy).
  • On The Familiar of Zero Siesta remarks that some think Agnes is into girls. There was that one time with Louise...
  • Free!: Almost all the major characters are males show show zero interest in girls romantically and have very VERY intense friendships with at least one other male character.
  • Ayame Sohma from Fruits Basket. Long, feminine hair; feminine clothing; has been seen wearing an actual dress. He acts rather romantic and melodramatic, and his voice (at least in the dub) is... well... stereotypically gay. He and Shigure hit on each other with alarming regularity. And yet, after all this, he's a totally straight pervert who is revealed to be dating his (female) shop assistant, Mine. Even Ayame's American voice actor basically said in the most polite way he could that he didn't want to portray Ayame as a Camp Gay stereotype because he didn't want to be offensive. There's also that one scene where Kyou wakes up to find Ayame sleeping next to him in bed. He goes into a shocked state and Ayame mumbles "I'm still sleepy", grabs Kyou and tries to cuddle with him. We then see him covered in bandages from after Kyou beat the crap out of him and Ayame states he snuck into Kyou's room because Yuki had locked him out of his room when Ayame tried to sneak in.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Major Alex Louis Armstrong. He's never seen with any women, but this isn't a romance-heavy series, so that's not a strong indication. That said, a lot of his character traits—strong emotions and a preoccupation with bodybuilding and male beauty—fit a lot of Japanese stereotypes about gay men.
    • Garfiel from the manga and Brotherhood anime, the only reason why he isn't officially acknowledged as homo/bisexual is because the series doesn't state that directly.
  • Everyone in Gankutsuou, except Eugenie Danglars who is unambiguously straight. Extremely ironic, considering that she is as unambiguously lesbian in the original novel as 19th century literature could hint.
  • Kazuki from Get Backers. He was raised to be like a woman, he looks like a woman, he has long flowing hair, he is always surrounded by men, and Ban jokes about him and Juubei being like a married couple. He did show interest in one girl, but she looks like a boy and is actually a computerized being. He has never said a word about marrying and having children, even though he's the heir to the Fuuchouin clan and all its associated combat arts.
  • Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Meiko Rokudou, unlike most of the other females in the series, does not give any hint of being attracted to men, but she's very attached to Mikami.
  • Goblin Slayer: High Elf Archer is tomboyish, the only woman in Goblin Slayer's orbit who isn't completely besotted with him, extremely protective and affectionate towards Priestess; and is giddy with excitement to form a pen-pal relationship with Noble Fencer.
  • Bio Booster Armor Guyver has its fair share of moments.
    • Tetsurō Segawa has subtle hints of being possibly gay towards his Bromance, Sho Fukamachi. His sister Mitzuki has taken various opportunities to paint them in such light when catching them in moments odd moments such as holding hands with Sho when the two were reaffirming their resolve and friendship. To top it off, he is never seen hitting on women, never flinching or startled when a naked Sho pops up unexpected. Such as when in the manga a Sho clone pops up and he comments on why he's naked due to the heat, and later when being busted out of a prison cell in the anime. During the final episode of anime, he encourages and pushes his sister to greet a long thought dead Sho, only for Natski to ask her why he wont himself, which causes him to blush in embarrassment.
    • The evil Chronos organization is nearly an exclusively male operated with male exclusive male membership in high ranks and troops. This has led to some ambiguity amongst their leaders and ranks. Supreme leader Archanfel has a girly elfish appearance, and later ends up having a shared mind with and mutual loyalty to fellow Zoalord Imurikum. Imurikum in turn is often shown carrying a Archanfel in his arms. The "Hyper Zoanoid Team Five" members have a big deal of loyalty to one another, but Elagen and Zx-Tole are portrayed in the OVA to a high degree of this trope with lines such as "You have to hold on, I need your strength, I need you!" and "Oh, I'll do anything for you Elegan!".
  • Itsuki Koizumi from Haruhi Suzumiya seems to like invading the main male character's personal space a little too much in the anime, and in the novels especially he makes it quite clear that he trusts and likes Kyon. He claims to act the way he does because Haruhi expects it and would make it real if he didn't, which would be a plausible explanation if he actually did so while Haruhi is watching. Also, in the 4th novel his alternate universe self admits to having a crush on Haruhi, but this isn't brought up in the main storyline - although many of his actions and words towards Haruhi, especially his constant claiming of being "the expert of her heart" imply some secret affection for her. Whatever the case may be, Itsuki's bond with Kyon could be seen as a fumbled attempt at a bromance or an actual romance slowly developing. Played for Laughs in Haruhi-chan, in which Itsuki makes blatant innuendos towards Kyon with no indication whether or not he's joking. And then there's the time when Kyon suddenly confesses his love to Itsuki. Cue the latter having the most G-rated possible depiction of an orgasm.
  • Here is Greenwood: Kazuhiro Hasukawa, the older brother of main character Kazuya. Has a rather bishounen look to him and the rumors fly about his sexual orientation (he's the nurse in an all-male school). But then again, he's also Happily Married (and the wife is just another of the points of contention the brothers).
  • Schrodinger, from Hellsing. The flouncy, feminine Cat Boy evades this list no longer.
  • Near everyone in Hetalia: Axis Powers has their gay moments, though there are some that stand out even amongst them:
    • Poland could be the poster child for this trope. The only thing stopping him from being fabulously Camp Gay is the fact that his sexuality is never stated or touched upon.
    • Italy has a high, girly voice (said voice being by the same seiyuu as the below-mentioned Fai and sounding quite similar), a tendency to sleep naked with his male "friend" Germany, when growing up he wore a dress and was often mistaken for a girl, and when younger (Chibitalia) he had a romance going with the (male) Holy Roman Empire. He still likes pretty women.
    • England is very tsundere, and is the only one of the main eight characters to never show interest in women — when the cast is asked what kind of girl they would like, he's the only one who doesn't answer, albeit due to a "loss of time". England has also had Ship Tease with several male characters, mostly the implication that he has a crush on America. There's also when he infiltrates Italy and manages to blend right in....until he doesn't flirt with the girls. (Though compared to a lot of places in the world, Britain is a lot more reserved when it comes to hitting on people, regardless of gender.)Plus he does show interest in Hungary in the anime dub.
    • Germany, another tsundere, is in love with Italy, and the fandom often interprets Buon San Valentino as Germany's Coming-Out Story. However, it's possible Germany is sexually attracted to women as well. To make matters more confusing, he is extremely awkward when talking with women or talking about women, which could be interpreted either way.
    • Russia is often shown blushing, giggling, winking, giving off a pink flowery aura, and sending "pressure" in the form of little pink hearts. He is implied to have crushes on at least three male characters, especially Lithuania and China. He also greets men with a kiss on the lips, but this is only because of his cultural traditions. Lampshaded by America, who declares Russia is a "bad guy" for this greeting, implying Russia may be invoking the Depraved Homosexual or Depraved Bisexual (and Russia "offers" to "make his gums bleed" after he says this). Lastly, there's that he refuses to marry Belarus, the only person actually willing to "become one" with him, even though he acknowledges she's a very beautiful girl...but this could EASILY be because she's even more mentally unstable than him, and his own sister.
  • High-Rise Invasion: The main character, Yuri Honjo, has yet to show any attraction to male characters, having only shown interest in her brother (in a Big Brother Worship way) and the Sniper Mask (merely noting that he is handsome beneath the mask and is a good ally), but hints at no attraction to either. She does, however, dedicate a lot of time to her partner Action Girl Nise Mayuko, whom she describes as cute and at one point kisses her (though it's never revealed where she kissed her).
  • The High School Life of a Fudanshi:
    • Ueda is loyal to Shiratori and is willing to do whatever he's told, says that he's in love with him (but not that way), and is fine not having a girlfriend as long as he's with Shiratori.
    • Reiji, Keiichi's Childhood Friend, also leans this way. He likes getting close to him and tells him that he doesn't need a girlfriend as long as he has Reiji.
  • Rika and Satoko from Higurashi: When They Cry. Yes they're both approximately nine years old but their behavior, especially Rika's, is a bit suspicious, especially in the sound novels and manga. They have a very close friendship to the point where Satoko is a Living Emotional Crutch to Rika. In one arc Rika tried to kill herself in order to not see Satoko be abused in that universe. Rika and Hanyuu also looked like they were going to kiss in the intro to Kai. Bernkastel from
  • Umineko: When They Cry is an expy of Rika, though she is implied to be an incarnation of her, and is in a relationship with another girl. Still, there are some implications that Rika might have a Precocious Crush on Akasaka and Keiichi, and there are a few jokes implying she might like boys, which also makes her lean on Ambiguously Bi.
  • Hunter × Hunter: Killua. Unlike Gon, he's never dated women, and doesn't want to. Instead, he "Just wants to be by [Gon's] side... always..."
    • There's also him gently watching Gon sleep with a smile, and blushing when questioned about it. The 2011 anime also adds non-canon chibi sections after some episodes, one which shows him explicitly kissing Gon.
    • Togashi has mentioned that prior to Hunter, he wanted to create an all gay rom-com called "The Trouble Quartet" but was shut down by Jump. He also says he is still playfully trying to get his revenge. This coming from the husband of the creator of Sailor Moon.

    I-L 
  • I Think Our Son Is Gay:
    • It's unclear whether Daigo reciprocates or even notices Hiroki's crush on him, but Daigo readily compliments Hiroki's looks and, as revealed in Chapter 20, uses a picture of Hiroki as his phone wallpaper.
    • Hiroki's mother has a male coworker who's strongly implied to be gay, as he has a "friend" he's very affectionate with and goes on a cruise with. She wants to ask him about his experiences but won't, out of respect for both his privacy and Hiroki's. Zig-zagged when someone finally asks him directly; he confirms that he's gay and has been living with his boyfriend for ten years.
  • Inuyasha:
    • Jakotsu, who hits on every male character he comes into contact with (except Bankotsu), and has an unwanted attraction to Inuyasha, to the point where, in his sadistic version of love, tries to torture him to death because of it. After The Reveal that Jakotsu was the only completely loyal member of the Band of Seven, Bankostu shared a bubbly Headbutt of Love with him.
    • Jaken started following Sesshomaru because he thought Sesshoumaru was beautiful. This is anime filler only and never happened in the manga.
  • Izetta and Finé the leading ladies of Izetta: The Last Witch have shown no interest in men and share great affection towards each other due to their history as childhood friends. Izetta shows strong devotion to Finé and is willing to break her taboo openly using magic to protect her while Finé at one point called Izetta, 'My White Witch'. Notably, prior to their reunion in the first episode, Finé dreams of her first meeting with Izetta and thinks about her a few times before offering herself up for a political marriage she previously declined.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • As Joseph Joestar points out, Robert E. O. Speedwagon devotes his life to supporting Jonathan and his descendants, is never even shown to be attracted to women, and when he passes away of a heart attack, he "dies a bachelor", which at the time was a euphemism for being gay, ergo...
    • N'Doul from Stardust Crusaders is extremely loyal to DIO, and takes time to admire his beauty.
    • Aya Tsuji from Diamond is Unbreakable gets very touchy when performing treatments on Yukako, including grabbing her breasts. She also makes several comments on female beauty, never male, though most of her aid is on helping heterosexual women wanting relationships.
    • Golden Wind:
      • Sorbet and Gelato never make an appearance outside of flashbacks, but from what the audience learns of them, they were apparently very close, with the rest of La Squadra believing the two were a couple, but never bothering to ask.
      • Cioccolata outright tells Secco that he loves him. However, whether or not this is meant to be romantic is unknown, as Cioccolata treats Secco as more of a Human Pet.
    • Enrico Pucci from Stone Ocean is at one point seen in a flashback lying on a bed with a shirtless DIO, and the admiration Enrico has for DIO seems to go beyond a simple friendship, given that what might be his very love for DIO drives the conflict of the Part. It also helps that DIO is confirmed to be bisexual and will romantically pursue anyone who he respects.
  • Mikoto in K was very close to Totsuka, to the point he became a Death Seeker upon his death, but it's uncertain how close they were - i.e. if it was romantic in tone - before Totsuka's death. Extra materials don't exactly paint a clearer picture though it does bring in more questionable moments between them. Some fans ship Izumo/Mikoto/Tosuka as an OT3, given the trio's relationship pre-HOMRA. On top of all of this, there is his relationship with Munakata which reeks of subtext. Gora's writer Blue also tweeted that Totsuka and Mikoto had a "special relationship" that was kept a secret because otherwise it would be considered "unmanly" in their gang. One of the most damning moments comes from the prequel manga K: Memory of Red however, in which Izumo relates to Seri a story from his high school days. Totsuka brought Izumo and Mikoto to a window a female teacher was changing in front of so they could peep on her, and when she turned around, Izumo and Totsuka ducked down to hide— but not Mikoto. Instead, he kept staring ahead at the woman with a completely blank expression on his face, displaying absolutely no reaction to the sight (other than greeting her with a flat, "Hey.").
  • Otohiko from Kamisama Kiss. He's an all around pretty boy that flirts with both men and women. He dresses in a stereotypically gay fashion (he even has a biohazard suit decked out in flowers) and his familiars are show-dogs with a heart shaped collars. Nanami even calls him a homosexual when they first meet but his actually sexual orientation has yet to have been revealed.
  • Kamui Den: Nowhere more ambiguously that with Ryunoshin and his young charge Miyagi Onya. Initially, the latter approaches Ryunoshin requesting that he become his "nenja" (a kind of mentor figure, but like the erastes of ancient Greece, with strong gay overtones). Ryunoshin says he has no interest in "shudo" (male pederasty), but recognizing the young man's purity of heart, accepts his request to form a special bond (chigiri) together. Of course, Shirato had to go and muddy the waters further by saying in a recap, that the two characters shared a bond of "shudo," which all but explictly labels them as gay lovers. Certain characters within the manga also seem to think their relationship swings this way. As they are never shown engaing in anything beyond mildly affectionate behaviour, it would seem they are in a platonic gay relationship...maybe.
  • Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku: Hime has a Single-Target Sexuality towards her trans girl friend and is uncomfortable with the attention of a boy, though whether it's because he's male or because it's that specific boy unclear. She also seems starstruck by a pretty waitress (who turns out to be a Disguised in Drag classmate).
  • Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl:
    • There's no doubt that Tomari likes girls considering she is a love interest in a Yuri Genre manga. The questions are "Did she like Hazumu when she was a boy?" and "Does she like girls or just Hazumu"? There isn't much shown of their relationship pre-genderbend to make a consensus on Tomari's sexuality.
    • Ayuki has no interest in romance whatsoever and is implied to have never fallen in love, which pins her as ambiguously asexual.
  • Seiji from Kids on the Slope is artsy and fairly flamboyant, and has a lisp in the English dub. His casual flirting with Kaoru (particularity emphasized in the English dub) creeps the latter two out, especially considering that the series takes place in the '60s, but he is written respectfully; he's a poor kid who wants to become a pop musician to support his family.
  • Kill la Kill: Nonon Jakuzure. There is only one person she's nice to, Satsuki, and uses honorofics and phrases that would otherwise be inappropriate for her level on the totem pole.
  • Ayane from Kimi ni Todoke is written almost exactly like a teenager who won't realize she's gay until she's 21. While all of her close friends are getting into loving relationships, her main concern is that she can't feel the same level of attraction for any guy she dates (at least three people, which is a lot for this series). The only time she shows a spark of attraction is toward her homeroom teacher Pin, who would be guaranteed to reject her (the obvious reasons are gone by this point but he was still never the type to go for that). Meanwhile she's said several times that she would totally have dated Chizuru or Kurumi if she were a guy. The idea of actually non-hypothetically dating another girl is never brought up, so we can't say for certain how she would react...
  • Escargon from the Kirby anime. It's pretty clear by episode 55 that he's in love with Dedede; he even uses "aishiteru" in his song at the beginning of the episode, and it's known that "aishiteru" is a stronger way of telling someone you love them. He even gets all flustered when he finds out Dedede heard the entire song. In the English dub, he was voiced with an impression of famous Transparent Closet actor Paul Lynde. The fact that he's also lavender (lavender is usually a color associated with gay men) only adds fuel to the fire.
  • K-On!: Tsumugi Kotobuki is seen observing their teacher, Sawako Yamanaka, in an oddly intimate manner. When Mio and Ritsu ask her about it, she dodges the question entirely. In a later episode, she's shown jealous of what is perceived as the physical intimacy between the other girls, really just Mio giving Ritsu a Dope Slap and Yui being overly affectionate with Azusa, and demands to be hit in the head. Although, she's later shown telling Ritsu she'd be popular with girls if she were a boy. Since she attends an all-girls school and the group are never shown interacting with boys their age, it's not clear if she really is a lesbian or she's doing what she believes is something "normal" girls do.
  • Miki from Life (2002), and by extent Ayumu too. Their bond can be described as being stronger than a normal friendship but it's not exactly romance either. Apparently Ayumu liked a boy in middle school but she's shown no interest in boys in high school (though she has good reason not to with all the trouble she's been having). Ayumu falls for a boy by the end of the manga and Miki said she has a lover in her hometown though..
  • Little Witch Academia (2017):
    • Chariot du Nord and Croix Meridies were very close friends during their Luna Nova days, had several very emotionally intimate moments together, and despite Croix absolutely destroying their friendship, tricking Chariot into stealing the magic of one her show crowds, Chariot still doesn't hesitate to try and save her when the Noir Rod goes berserk, while Croix quickly shifts gears to pleading with her to abandon her and save herself. She's also quite distressed in the epilogue when Croix has to leave, and gives a rather emotional farewell, complete with a rather wistful promise to wait for her return.
    • Diana, especially as her relationship with Akko mirrors that of their teachers. Her official artwork and interactions with Akko in the show play into her acting as a flustered tsundere to Akko. When the rest of her classmates are fawning over Andrew, she just looks completely disinterested, but it's hinted later that it's likely due to their previous frosty history and their interactions are more playful later on. In episode 10, she imagines Akko in the art style of The Rose of Versailles (which famously has its own lesbian themes), when she's struck by the love bee. She also never pays any mind to males like Thomas and Frank that fawn over her, but also never brings up her sexuality that could shut them down as well.
    • Sucy. When Akko is about to kiss Sucy awake inside her mindscape, Dragon!Sucy (which is made up of all of her stray thoughts and inner desires) gets hearts in its eyes and becomes very sad when the Original Sucy denies Akko the kiss. It should also be noted that out of the main trio, Sucy is the only one who doesn't get Ship Tease with male characters.
  • This is a plot point in Love Me For Who I Am. Tetsu is a teenage boy who is in love with the male-assigned-at-birth but non-binary Mogumo. He is unsure whether he's gay or not, but doesn't think it matters because Mogumo isn't a boy. Tetsu hasn't shown any clear interest in anyone but Mogumo, though one gag has him and the others staring starry-eyed at Ten (who is male).

    M-P 
  • Maken-ki!:
    • Though there's been ample amounts of subtext between Yuuka and Takaki, only the latter has been confirmed to be lesbian. Still, it's been implied that Yuuka may have feelings for her, if they're not already involved. They're almost always together, including when they arrived for the group's vacation to Okino Island, as if they were a couple. She also agreed with Uruchi, when the girls were discussing the kinds of guys they liked:
    Uruchi: (while drunk) "I think real love isn't restricted to just having relationships with MEN!!"
    Yuuka: (also drunk) Yep! I feel the same way!"
    • During the flashback in chapter 48, Yuuka referred to Takaki as, "her important person", and the chapter 45 preface page shows them spooning together while engaged in foreplay. But the page caption says the scene has nothing to do with the actual story and is merely for fanservice. Yet, chapter 57 begins with a similar scene, which has Yuuka "healing" her.
    • Kimi is a yaoi fangirl and always reads boys love manga and doujinshi, but in chapter 33, she admitted to secretly practicing bondage techniques to try on other girls.
  • Maria Watches Over Us: Essentially all of the girls. It's even more blatant with the original light novels as they go in-depth into the characters' thoughts. The characters have heavy levels of Homoerotic Subtext and it's the most famous Yuri Genre series but there isn't actually any confirmed romance between the characters.
  • Atsuko Jackson from Michiko & Hatchin, who seems to have feelings for the woman she is tasked with bringing to justice. At one point, Michiko even states that Atsuko used to become aroused whenever Michiko beat her up when they were children.
  • Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Where Kobayashi's maid obsession ends and interest in girls begins is anyone's guess. The only times Kobayashi is shown having sexual interest in Tohru are when Kobayashi first saw Tohru transform from dragon into dragon-girl during their first drunk encounter in manga chapter 32/anime episode 12, where she was amazed how big Tohru's boobs were and wanted to fondle them, and after Ilulu switches her genitals against her will in the manga. Plus, besides Tohru, the only other people who are romantically interested in her are all female; and her male best friend, Takiya, is just her platonic best friend, nothing more.
  • Moonlight Ladys Io Azuma: Disappointed his cousin by growing up to be a "pretty boy" instead of a "hunk", really into J-Dramas, somewhat flighty, seems to polish his nails...unfortunately, nothing keeps him from being a pretty boy. Averted in the visual novel, where he is the Gay Option.
  • Despite Suna's status as a Chick Magnet in My Love Story!!, he is absolutely uninterested in romance and has been since elementary.
  • Zelik Lindemann and Silas Edwards in Mother Keeper come off as this way. Silas even seems to get slightly flirty with Zelik at one point.
  • My Hero Academia:
    • Best Jeanist has some campy qualities, such as preoccupation with fashion, grooming, and having all his male sidekicks wear very tight skinny jeans.
    • Anime-only character Saiko Intelli is surrounded by adoring female classmates who blush when she speaks to them, and she seems a little bit fixated on Momo, even if she was just trying to defeat her in the Exams.
  • Naruto:
    • Zabuza and Haku have something going on, and at the very least Haku is intensely devoted to Zabuza, but nothing is explicitly stated.
    • Orochimaru, to compliment his Memetic Molester status. Granted, he pervs on girls too, but he seems to much prefer boys. His underling, Kabuto Yakushi, is dangerously obsessed with him and doesn't seem interested in anyone else.
    • Some of Suigetsu's mannerisms and body language could also be interpreted this way, such as the scene where he threatens Sasuke from behind while naked, though his Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with Karin can be viewed as Belligerent Sexual Tension.
    • Madara Uchiha's obsession with Hashirama is well established, and that was before it was revealed that the Sharingan is activated by a loss of love, and Madara's was activated when he broke off his friendship with Hashirama...
    • Gaara shows no interest in the fangirls he gains following the Time Skip and has a Ho Yay filled relationship with Naruto. In particular in Chapter 678 when everyone is trapped inside Infinite Tsukuyomi, most of them dreamed about being with their Love Interest. Gaara dreamed about his family and Naruto. Also, Gaara's page on the Naruto Wiki gives us this gem under his personality section:
    Gaara eventually formed a close friendship with Naruto, viewing the Kohoha ninja as his first true friend, and became very loyal to his decisions, and protective over him as a companion. Gaara also came to view meeting Naruto as the greatest event of his life and believed any price, even the painful life of a jinchūriki was worth the experience. Gaara even forgave Shukaku for his miserable childhood, claiming that it was only because of such a life that he was able to meet Naruto.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • In chapter 336 where Fate says "He (Negi) already belongs to me. Give up." and the end of the chapter reads "The strongest love (?) rival appears."
    • While Setsuna's Bodyguard Crush on Konoka can be seen from space, Konoka herself is far less definite, and whether she just liked to tease Setsuna or genuinely returned her feelings continued to be a mystery. At the very least they get a lot of romantic/sexual moments together, and the epilogue heavily implies they married each other.
    • Their pactio kiss lasted much longer than it needed to, and Konoka only broke it off because Setsuna needed to breathe. Some took that scene as confirmation.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: Kaworu Nagisa's behavior towards Shinji (who is himself Ambiguously Bi) and their interactions have been hotly debated since the show aired. A romantic element clearly exists, with the pair flat out stating their feelings for each other, and is carried through to both Alternate Continuity works and plenty of official artwork, but it's never made clear whether this is all there is or if more layers exist. Kaworu's exact orientation is never stated, although several spin-offs say that he "isn't attracted to girls." The fact that his original English voice actor had a slight lisp, an old stereotype of gay men, doesn't help. He has said the ADV crew actually told him to "stop sounding so gay", though. Despite all of this, sexuality might also be simply irrelevant to Kaworu since he's an Angel. In some official material, however, Kaworu shows interest in or is occassionally even paired with Rei, further complicating things.
  • Nyan Koi!: Junpei's friend Haruhiko, at least in his mannerisms. He's been known to buy eroge manga and was the one to start peeping on the girls during a Furo Scene. However, he was all-too-willing to wear the maid outfit during the school festival...
  • One Piece
    • Cross-dressing ballerina kick-ologist Mr. 2 Bon Clay is about as ambiguous as they come. To the point where it's his catchphrase.
    • Nami shows little to no interest in men, and comments on the sex appeal of Kalifa during their fight. She also has a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with Vivi, and they're shown sleeping against each other's shoulders in an opening.
    • Zoro is alone among the young male characters (except for Luffy, who is himself aromantic and asexual, according to Oda) in not displaying obvious attraction to women. He's shown himself to be immune to women's attempts to use Distracted by the Sexy on him, and not in a Heroic Willpower way, either — he doesn't even notice. On the other hand, he displays a rather telling blush during his anime-only accidental near-kisses with Sanji...
  • Ouran High School Host Club:
    • Kyoya, and Tamaki to an extent. They give backrubs and call each other "mommy" and "daddy". Tamaki may be more along the lines of Ambiguously Bi given how he seems to genuinely enjoy female company, but Kyoya never displays any genuine interest in the club's customers beyond what he can get them to buy. When Tamaki calls the rest of the host club (other than Haruhi) the homosexual supporting cast, Kyoya is annoyed. However, he's only annoyed by the 'supporting' line, he doesn't seem to care that he was called a homosexual.
    • The relationship between Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai seems rather suspicious.
    • The twins Karou and Hikaru are as ambiguous as they come. They play up the Twincest angle for all it's worth for the benefit of their fans and to draw customers, but they're often just as close even if they don't have an audience or are completely alone. There's also the probable crush on Haruhi to consider, but that doesn't arise often.
  • PandoraHearts:
    • Gilbert Nightray/Raven is practically in the Transparent Closet by the end of the series. He's shown no interest in the many females that fawn over him at parties but constantly fawns himself over Oz, his chosen master and Living Emotional Crutch. He's also quite feminine in appearance; the manga artist likes to have him dress up in girls clothes.
    • Leo often teased Elliot for being so feminine, what with his knowledge about the language of flowers and organic soaps and all. Then, there's how Elliot isn't all that interested in women and one guidebook comic in which he gushes over Cheshire Cat, who is a Cat Boy but just drops the happy when Cat Girl Ada shows up.
  • Peacemaker Kurogane: Most of the characters are pretty strongly implied to be gay or bisexual. Heisuke makes more than a few references to men and boys he finds attractive or may or may not have slept with. Saitou, while he may or may not actually be interested in men (who knows with him?), is willing enough to pretend to be for information. And general dynamics of Ho Yay between various cast members aside, there are always Hijikata and Okita, who always seem just one step shy of being an Official Couple (with Hijikata's voice actor going so far as to respond to a remark about his character having given up romantic pursuits for his mission with, essentially, "Uh...no"). The shinobi Susumu often cross-dresses (quite convincingly) to gather information, blushes when Tetsunosuke mentions that he and Testsu are friends, and when Tetsunosuke offers him comfort by trying to touch his hand following his sister's death Susumu tightly grabs Tetsunosuke's hand in his. Lastly there's Pretty Boy Suzu, based on his fanboying of Yoshida's sex appeal and his relationship with Tetsu before becoming a Depraved Homosexual in the sequel.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Tucker, though despite the way he dresses, he has a very deep, masculine voice, but still manages to be flamboyant.
    • Burgh, a fashion designer who wears tight pants and a scarf.
    • Harley refers to himself with feminine pronouns in the Japanese dub, gushes over Norman, dresses in a flamboyant manner, and once flirted with Drew while crossdressing as May. Overall, it feels less ambiguous and more like the writers were pushing how far they could go without setting the Moral Guardians off.
    • Zoey is usually claimed to be this, for her short hair and habit of dressing almost exclusively in boyish pantsuits for contests, and being very touchy-feely with Dawn.
    • James is often the subject of discussion as to whether he's Camp Gay (often crossdresses, campy mannerisms and obsession with his looks) or Camp Straight (crossdressers are usually hetero, straight Bishōnen often have campy mannerisms, and he's had several crushes on girls including [very briefly] the psychopathic Jessie-lookalike Jessebelle). The dub dialogue usually exaggerates the former while also adding a few confusing signposts in the other direction; given this is Pokémon, it's unlikely the question will ever get an answer.
    • Pokémon themselves are no exception to this. Meowth has an intense relationship with Team Rocket's target Pikachu, has had homoerotic fantasy spots about Giovanni, and has fallen for James on one occasion (due to mood-altering Shuckle juice). Ash's Oshawott has the same sort of adoration towards Ash as Chikorita, Aipom, and Gliscor had; the former two of them are confirmed to be female and in love with Ash at one point.
  • Bugsy in Pokémon Golden Boys. He's a young Bishōnen boy, even more so than in the games. He's constantly blushing and acting sweet around Gold. You may think this is just his personality, but he acts differently around other people.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
    • Homura and Madoka are taken to the knife edge between subtext and text, including Always Save the Girl, multiple Declarations of Protection, and all the Red String of Fate symbolism around Madoka's ribbons. However despite constant teasing from the staff and incredibly suggestive official art, nothing explicit has ever been stated one way or the other.
      Homura: (explaining her motivations) It's only natural that you don't understand. Yes...No one in the world could possibly understand. This emotion is mine alone. It is for Madoka alone. (...) It is the pinnacle of all human emotion. More passionate than hope, far deeper than despair. Love.
    • Kyouko has a lot of signs of having a crush on Sayaka, and her and Mami are shown to have been very close in Farewell Story and Different Story, but again there's nothing official.

    S-Z 
  • Sailor Moon Movie R presents Fiore whose (supposedly) only friend on Earth was Mamoru/Darien a.k.a. Tuxedo Mask. When he returns, he's possessed by the Xenian Flower and becomes a Yandere for Mamoru, wanting to be his Only Friend and kill off Sailor Moon.
  • Saiyuki: Genjo Sanzo is hinted to be gay as it shown in the first season that he did he not get mad at all when a gay drunk came on to him in a bar:
    Guy: (Leers and holds Sanzo's face) You're so pretty that you look like a woman.
    GS: (Calmly nonplussed) I'm a man though.
    Guy: (Leers even more) I don't mind.
    GS: (Remains placid) Fool.
  • Samurai Flamenco:
    • Moe Morita / Flamenco Sapphire from Samurai Flamenco. She frequently blushes around Mari, an older girl in her idol group, and reacts dreamily whenever Mari playfully kisses her. At one point she's shown expecting a kiss from Mari, and not only becomes visibly disappointed when it doesn't happen, but later states that she doesn't mind being manipulated by her.
    • As for Mari herself, it is unclear whether she is Ambiguously Bi (she has an unrequited crush on Goto, one of the show's male leads), or if her flirtations with Moe are just for the sake of titillation.
  • Mokuzu from Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai. She says she is a mermaid who needs to find a friend within a certain timespan or she will die, directly paralleling The Little Mermaid except for the romantic part. She is drawn to the protagonist, Nagisa, and attempts to be her friend. Mokuzu attracts the attention of a boy in her school but doesn't give him the time of day and is utterly uninterested in him. She only went on a not-date with him because she wanted to spend time with Nagisa. She even ignored him though that was because he was speaking into her deaf ear and she couldn't hear him. Nagisa and Mokuzu end up trying to runaway with each other but... It ends very poorly.
  • Miki from School-Live! had a very strong friendship with her best friend Kei that is all but romantic. She tends to have a large amount of blushing moments around the other girls as well. This is more obvious in the anime, as it removed the other survivors (and thus Kei's brief male crush) and put emphasis on Kei's and Miki's relationship.
  • Sekirei has two examples, Mikogami and Karasuba. Mikogami is a well-dressed young man with a harem of devoted, attractive women at his beck and call. He's more interested in seeing what would happen if he kissed his male Sekirei down there. Karasuba, on the other hand, is a Combat Sado Masochist that leers at her Worthy Opponent and pins her against the wall.
  • Seraph of the End
    • At one point in the manga, Shinoa jokes that Kimizuki "swings that way" to the rest of the squad who all look visibly shocked. Yoichi reacts with, "He does?!" while blushing.
    • Shinya shows little interest in women (including his former fiance) and flirts with Guren constantly. His answer to "what he looks for in the opposite sex" in the official fanbook almost seems to imply he's "tired" of trying to be with women. Also, in the drama cd translation the girl crazy Goshi says they need to spend a Christmas with girls before they go to war to which Shinya responds "I'm not sure about the part with girls but I support having a Christmas party."
  • Sk8 the Infinity:
    • Langa is between a razor thin line of near-textual Ambiguously Gay and textual crushing on his best friend Reki, only really kept from it due to the phrasing of his conversation with his mom, where, when asked if he likes the person he broke a promise with, he admits he does with a gasp, aversion of gaze and subtle blush, going "Well...yeah." When she goes on to clarify her question is of romantic persuasion, assuming it's about a girl and specifying "her," he simply echoes "Her?" in confusion, and they both go "Huh?" at each other. Reki, in turn, is subtexually Ambiguously Bi, as the entire series is about the build-up of their relationship with a great deal of romantic overtones as it goes on. In the end, the series has Langa subtly express that Reki is his Implied Love Interest several times, but on Reki's side, while it seems like a likely mutual crush due to a lot of blushes between them, it's not as directly implied.
    • Their friend Kaoru (Cherry) has a childhood Ship Tease moment with the now villain of the series, Ainosuke (Adam), that directly parallel a Crisis Catch And Carry moment between Langa and Reki, and he looks rather swept away at once point when Ainosuke finally reveals his face and smiles at him.
  • Kumiko from Sound! Euphonium comes off as this in the anime adaptation. In the books she's at most Ambiguously Bi. The anime removed or toned down almost all of her scenes with her male love interest, Shuichi, while in return it amped up the Homoerotic Subtext between her and Reina to excruciating levels. The Duet Bonding scene between the two, with all its romantic overtones and Reina grazing her finger on Kumiko's face to her lips, is only the tip of the iceberg. Kumiko seems utterly uninterested in Shuichi (and in fact in the books, others had to tell her that she liked him in order for her to notice her own feelings for him) despite his obvious crush on her. The anime ultimately ends on No Romantic Resolution with either Shuichi or Reina however she does give a very heartfelt love confession to Asuka. Whether Kumiko's confession was in a sisterly or romantic context is left vague.
  • Desslok from Space Battleship Yamato is supposed to be straight, and has slept with at least two women (Starsha and Mela). And yet he has male bath attendants who rub him down vigorously and then clothe him (no, really) and he hits on his generals. And he had an entire canon song written about how he and Wildstar are "bound together" and "unable to live with it anymore". And Zordar, who ignores his girlfriend who is right there and can see everything to hug Desslok. When she got revenge on Desslok and Zordar found out, he said he would have killed her if he wasn't so busy, and did kill her in the original as soon as he got an opportunity. And there's Talan, Desslok's faaavorite general, who begs to be sent to prison with Desslok and bursts into tears on the spot when he's told he can't. In Farewell, Sergeant Knox shouts "I LOVE YOU!" to Wildstar (at least in Japanese). Wildstar and Venture do some bizarre wrestling when they're fighting over Nova. Wildstar and Ryusuke also have a fight while the narrator says how Ryusuke felt such new feelings within him. It's like the semi-canon Cast Full Of Gay.
  • Sugata Shindo; from Star Driver. He does love and care for Wako, but nowhere has it been shown that this is a romantic love. Also, his professed "curiosity" about Takuto as well as his gay subtext-dripping conversations with Head are signs that are too big to ignore. There's also Shingo Head's currently comatose lover from fifteen years prior, who with the way he looks and talks is only ambigous because the creators didn't directly say anything about his sexuality.
  • Akira from Sweet Blue Flowers eventually falls in love with her best friend Fumi. Fumi is a lesbian however Akira has implications of being asexual. This causes tension in their relationship though they're still the end-game Official Couple.
  • Miku Kohinata from Symphogear is this. At first, anyway. Any ambiguity disappeared in G when episode 10 revealed that the reason she could link up with Shenshou Jing is because of her love for Hibiki.
  • Riho and Chimo of Tamayura start living together quickly after they meet, and they never seem to show any interest in guys (despite both of them being rather attractive, and Chimo even having a persistent male suitor). The series contains some hints about their relationship status, such as their subtle display of intimacy as they watch the New Year's sunrise together.
  • It's not really dealt with in the anime itself, but the fifth Tiger & Bunny drama CD strongly implies that Pao-Lin has a crush on Karina. The fact that Pao-Lin is a stereotypical Tomboy and usually dresses in male clothing adds further fuel to that particular reading.
  • Tsukiyama of Tokyo Ghoul is a mildly effeminate Wicked Cultured Fashion-Victim Villain obsessed with "eating" the protagonist, who spends much of the manga's second half constantly placing himself at Kaneki's side (and occasionally huffing his blood off of a handkerchief in the bathroom). Being that Tsukiyama particularly targets people he finds attractive, his fanatical stalking of Kaneki leaves the "ambiguous" part of this trope the only questionable one.
  • Mint from Tokyo Mew Mew has a strong interest in Zakuro and fangirls whenever she’s around. The ambiguity comes from Zakuro being a celebrity that Mint has admired before she found out Zakuro is the fifth team member. Aside for dancing with men at one or two parties, there’s no apparent interest Mint has with guys. At one point later in series, she and Zakuro are fighting and Mint makes an Anguished Declaration of Love. What type of love she felt isn’t elaborated.
  • Sunny from Toriko is extremely flamboyant, obsessed with beauty, wears pink, and licks other men with his hair. He is also trying to steal Komatsu away from Toriko (because he's beautiful when he cooks).
  • Even when CLAMP's Everyone Is Bi policy is taken into account, Fai from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- still deserves an honorable mention.
  • Umineko: When They Cry:
    • There is an example in Ronove, a Battle Butler with No Sense of Personal Space (especially around Battler, who is his main Ho Yay target) who get some spends a lot of his free time baking cookies. In the fourth arc, he gets punched in the face, and his nosebleed turns into rose petals, of all things.
    • Going into huge (Visual Novel only) spoiler territory with Umineko, but what's up with Jessica and Kanon? Did she seriously not notice she was in love with her best friend, who is usually female? For that matter, since Yasu's gender is so ambiguous, it's hard to tell which relationships in the series are straight and which are gay.
  • Urusei Yatsura has two female characters whose extremely masculine behaviors have led fans to speculate if they may perhaps be lesbians; Ryuunosuke Fujinami and Benten.
    • The alien warrior-woman Benten is is a skimpily-clad alien biker-chick with a lust for battle and a penchant for chains and explosive ordinance. Even her best friends Lum and Oyuki can't recall her ever going on any dates, and she never expresses any interest in guys in the course of the series. Combined with her strong friendships with first Lum and later Ryuunosuke, and modern fans in particular have speculated about where her tastes lie.
    • Ryuunosuke Fujinami is...complicated, to put it mildly. Raised as the Opposite Gender by a psychotic, physically violent father who Wanted a Son Instead so badly he became a delusional abuser, the clearest thing one can say about Ryuunosuke is that she knows she's a girl, she identifies herself as a girl, and she wants to act more feminine, but she doesn't know where to start. She reacts with violence when guys like Ataru and Mendou get grabby, but then, so do the straight girls in this series. When she first meets Mendou, she shuts down his request she become his girlfriend by punching him and insisting she has no interest in boys, then later insists to Shinobu that she's straight. She's gone on dates with both Ran and Shinobu, but in both cases she did so for an ulterior motive — to study femininity from Ran, and to be paid off with a bra with Shinobu. She tried to kiss Shinobu when she was told that this would earn her the bra she desires, but expresses revulsion at the idea of being kissed by girls in other stories, even weeping in despair when she is kissed by Ran in one story. In one story, Ryuunosuke realises after some thought that the only people she's ever admired have been girls, but when asked what she'd like in a boyfriend, asserts that she'd like a boyfriend who is stronger than her, tough and wild — and then she agrees to duel the various boys at Tomobiki High to see if any can measure up to her standards and become her boyfriend. Further complicating matters is that her crazy father will not hesitate to stick his nose into his "son's" dating life, and he is both vehemently pro-Ryuunosuke/girl and anti-Ryuunosuke/boy. She ends up in an Arranged Marriage with a extremely pretty crossdressing boy namd Nagisa Shiowatari, who was also Raised as the Opposite Gender by a crazy dad, and so is as feminine as Ryuunosuke wishes she could be... but also so strong and skilled in martial arts he can easily beat her.
  • Aidou and Ichijou in Vampire Knight. Their affections for Kaname just cross the line between platonic and romantic a tiny bit sometimes...
  • Lucia from Venus Versus Virus. Nothing is said about her bond with Sumire, and it doesn't go anywhere on-screen, but it's heavily implied she harbors feelings for her.
  • Wandering Son has an ambiguously asexual example. When the closeted trans widow Ebina tries dating, the woman she begins seeing describes herself as having never fallen in love and being fine with never falling in love, but worried about not marrying before she becomes an Old Maid. It doesn't work between them. It's all but stated that she was aromantic.
  • Anna from When Marnie Was There develops a very close and intimate friendship with the titular Marnie that consists of having a Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date, cute dancing together, and declaring their love for each other. She also gets quite upset when Marnie shows interest in a boy. However the last minute reveal that Marnie is Anna's Dead All Along grandmother as a child really muddles up the story's intentions.
  • Longshot from X-Men: Misfits. Not only could he legitimately pass for a girl, he is only interested in giving Kitty fashion tips, and he dresses in a fur-trimmed zebra-stripe flaring trenchcoat with a leopard-print fedora, as seen here.
  • Yo-kai Watch: Robonyan really loves it when B3-NK1 stabs him in the rear and chest with his sword. In the Japanese version he even moans while being "rubbed" by the sword.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Doctor Chronos/ Dr. Crowler dresses very flamboyantly, although there was one episode where he - like all the other males - seemed attracted to Dark Magician Girl. Also, there was Johan/Jesse Anderson, Judai's new best friend who wears frilly shirts, uses the ace card Rainbow Dragon, and spends a little too much time with Judai for us to believe he's completely straight. His subtext with Judai is spread so thick that it's noted on in-universe.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL has Mr. Heartland, an Expy of Pegasus (and shockingly enough, voiced by the same actor) who comes off just as gay, if not more! (But far more evil.)
  • Yuki Yuna is a Hero:
    • The titular protagonist has a very close friendship with Togo, who is canonically in love with her. She is utterly Oblivious to Love though.
    • Karin gets flustered by Yuna quite a lot and is tsundere towards her.
  • Yuriota ni Yuri wa Gohatto Desu?!: As a pastiche of Maria Watches Over Us and similar "yuri in a Catholic Girls' School" stories, it indulges in the stereotypical yuri trope of leaving everything to implication and being extremely unclear about whether the girls are actually in lesbian relationships or just Pseudo Romantic Friendships.
  • Zombie Land Saga: Ai and Junko have a lot of Ship Tease throughout Revenge. Junko in particular drops small hints throughout the series that suggests she's still in the closet.
    • In Episode 11, She visibly blushes upon seeing Yugiri in full Oiran attire.
    • Episode 2 of Revenge has her flustered by the mere mention of marriage.
    • In episode 4 of Revenge, she gets very clingy and intimate with Ai when it appears that Ai is considering leaving Franchouchou.

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