Eyes Always Shut / Anime & Manga

#-F

• Mei from The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You constantly has her eyes closed, to the point where she has to rely on her other senses to get around. Her eyes are open only briefly during an Oh, Crap! moment when she realized she was laughing at one of Hahari's mishaps (Rentarou having tricked her into thinking that the mishap in question happened to him), with subsequent Oh, Crap! moments being the only time her eyes are ever open.
• In the Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth manga, Henry Biden, who plays "Detective White" of the Othello Detectives, typically has his eyes shut most of the time, except when he's surprised, such as when Edgeworth figured out that he wears platform shoes.
• Ryousuke Kominato of Ace of the Diamond clearly inherited the Eyes Always Shut from his mom. He's rather softspoken most of the time, but he also has a sharp tongue, a dark sense of humor and a bit of a sadistic streak.
• Washimi from Aggretsuko rarely opens her eyes. Opening her eyes is actually the only expression she can make because she doesn't have facial muscles.
• One recurring villain from AIKI, a poison user, has her eyes perpetually half-lidded at best. Until Chapter 39 - when Kageyusu knocks her syringe out of her hand, her eyes pop open and remain open.
• Satou from the manga/anime Ajin. He's a cold, calculating man whose eyes are always closed and who is usually always smiling. This is used for great effect when he finally opens them at the last episode of the anime series after announcing his second wave of attack.
• Zaphikel from Angel Sanctuary is depicted with his eyes shut and a smile on his face. He does open his eyes quite often for serious or meaningful moments, but considering his blindness, it makes little difference.
• Tanonaka in Animation Runner Kuromi. No surprise that his voice actor Eric Stuart also voices Brock from Pokémon, another example of this trope.
• In the Area 88 TV anime, Roundell not only has an eyepatch but his one good eye is always shut...until he suffers a flashback at in inopportune time and it snaps wide open. Watch out for that cliff!
• Maiza from Baccano!: Maiza is such an extreme example, that his eyes remained closed even while being shot.
  • Additionally, there's Tick, Elmer and Nick (not to be confused Nicholas). Goose looks like his eyes are always shut, but closer inspection shows that they're just really, really narrow.
• Saemon Kisaragi, the Master of Disguise from Basilisk. He's only seen with his eyes open after killing his foes, and even then...
  • Another big example is Saemon's friend and superior, Hyouma Muroga. Similarly to Shaka, he's not blind per se, but his special powers (reversing people's murdering instincts on themselves, making them commit suicide instead) are so strong that he can't turn them off, therefore he'd rather keep his eyes closed to avoid hurting his allies and loved ones too. His nephew and pupil Gennosuke also has the same power, but is able to keep it at bay so he doesn't need to close his eyes.
    • Also, there's a small variation in the original novel. Hyoma is able to control his powers, but can't open his eyes unless it's at night because they're light-sensitive to the point of pain.
  • Another variation, in both manga and anime: the Igas possess a special cream named "Seven Days Ointment" that seals the user's eyelids completely for at least seven days, forcing them to keep their eyes closed. Both Gennosuke and Oboro are affected by it: Gennosuke has a dose of it thrown at him by Hotarubi, whereas Oboro rubbed some on her own eyes to not use her abilities on her own clansmen.
• Saku, the drummer in BECK always has his eyes shut to the point where they are even joked about in the dub (a life guard refers to him as the one with the "squinty eyes").
• Serpico from the Berserk manga. On the few occasions you see his eyes, almost always during a fight, it marks his Let's Get Dangerous! moment where he drops the foppish persona. The other part of the trope is downplayed as his motives are always clear, and he sometimes goes out of his way to state them.
  • Pippin had this trademark way before Serpico entered the story, and only opens them when he's warning the other Hawks to take cover or run. Since he has Hyper-Awareness, his eyes opening is always also a sign of him noticing something important.
  • Sort of half-played with Guts. After the events of the Eclipse, his right eye is permanently closed. He seems to still have perfect depth perception, though, considering how accurately he uses knives, his crossbow, and various attacks that require perfect precision.
  • Of the God Hand, Conrad, also keeps his eyes shut for most of the time.
  • Void's eyes are always shut, though in his case, it's because they're sewed shut. It still denotes a dark kind of wisdom, though, considering he's the most stoic and knowledgeable of the God Hand.
• Justified in Black Blood Brothers: Sei is so powerful that he has to keep his eyes shut at all times; the two times he opens them, he kills a bunch of vampires and opens the magical barrier protecting the Special Zone, respectively.
• Lau in Black Butler. Who is also voiced by Koji Yusa (the same person who voices Gin and Vincent). Is there a pattern here?
• Bleach:
  • Gin Ichimaru. He is only seen opening his eyes on very rare occasions, once when attacked, once when attacking, and during his final confrontation with Aizen. Also, if artworks count, the cover of one of the manga issues depicts Ichimaru with his eyes open.
  • Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto also keeps his eyes shut, except when he wants to show he's serious (or seriously surprised).
• Leonardo Watch from Blood Blockade Battlefront keeps his eyes closed most of the time, but he can easily see through his own eyelids with his All-Seeing Eyes of God. He does open them when using their more powerful abilities, however.
• In Cap Revolution Bottleman, Dew Yamamoto never opens his eyes.
• Takashi Yamazaki from Cardcaptor Sakura, although he does open them when someone steps on his foot. Chiharu has apparently noticed this, as she remarks at one point that his eyes "are just lines".
  • The anime version of Clow Reed, though he had them open in the manga.
• Case Closed:
  • Sonoko's older sister Ayako is never seen with her eyes open.
  • "Sleeping Kogoro's" eyes are always shut when he is "solving the case," though granted this is because he literally is asleep.)
  • Another prominent character with eyes always closed it Okiya Subaru. When he opens his eyes, he's revealed to be Akai, a man with extremely distinctive eyes who is Faking the Dead.
  • Some guest characters are also fox-faced.
• Sadatsugu Nagaishi from Cat's Eye looks like he closes his eyes most of the time. He is a helpful and wise benefactor to the team, hence he looks like this.
• Code Geass: Nunnally Lamperouge/vi Britannia has her eyes permanently closed due to being blind. Her blindness is said to be psychosomatic, and it's believed it comes from the trauma of witnessing (and being caught in the crossfire of) her mother's bloody assassination, which also left her confined to a wheelchair. It's later revealed that the specific cause of Nunnally's blindness is a Geass-induced trauma, given to her by her father. She eventually regains her sight just in time for her climactic confrontation with Lelouch and fully opens her eyes.
• In Darker than Black:
  • When Hei adopts his "unassuming nice guy" persona, Li Shengshun, he has a broad smile and his eyes are either closed or wide open; but when being his actual self, he has open Dull Eyes of Unhappiness and a stoic personality.
  • Amagiri has one Eye Always Shut, which gives him a cheerful appearance and fits his personality fairly well.
• Watari from Death Note. Also simultaneously inverted with L who never closes his eyes, even when he sleeps according to one character. And then, in their joint death scene, Watari opens his eyes and L closes them.
• Falin from Delicious in Dungeon is almost always depicted with her eyes closed, highlighting her relaxed nature, though they do occasionally open when she gets intense. The accompanying Adventurer's Bible book states that it's because she's nearsighted and constantly squinting to compensate (and apparently she never considered getting glasses). When she's turned into a chimera, she gains her dragon half's superior eyesight and loses this trait since she doesn't need to squint nearly as much.
• Everyone in Suneo's family (or his ancestors, descendants, as well as alternate universe counterparts, too) from Doraemon has their eyes shut almost all the time and greatly slanted, which, coupled with their literally pointy mouths, makes them look like cartoony cunning foxes. Suneo's animal equivalent is always the fox as a result, for example when he goes to a fairytale amusement park in the future and gets turned into a fox, or when he's on the Animal Planet and has to wear a fox hat and be recognized as a fox.
• Digimon Frontier's Neemon frequently has his eyes closed. The Japanese card game suggests that he is lazy or frequently sleepy, but in the show he is perfectly energetic. Previous seasons had Gennai for the wise variation.
• Chigusa of Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san! has this as part of the dreamy expression that accompanies her status as The Ditz.
• Korin, Bulma's mother, and Majin Buu in his default "fat" form have this going on in Dragon Ball. While Bulma's mom is a minor character, Majin Buu is a very dangerous djinn who looks deceptively docile (on the rare occasions he opens his eyes even slightly, it's not pretty). And his fat form isn't the worst he has...
• Niko from Dr. Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist is blind, so he probably have no need to open his eyes. His perpetually closed eyes also highlight his serene and laidback personality.
• Walker Yumasaki from Durarara!! keeps his eyes closed constantly. He does open them very briefly in episode 18 though.
• Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy. Here, the closed eyes seem to indicate passivity and/or weakness, although he opens them with increasing frequency over the course of the series. Early on though, they tend to open in Let's Get Dangerous! moments.
  • Also pays homage to Plato's 'Theory of Forms'. Once Vincent leaves the dome, he opens his eyes to the truth of the outside world once again.
  • Coincidentally, Vincent Law and the above mentioned Gin both share the same Japanese voice actor.
• In Et Cetera, Baskerville's eyes are almost always closed...it's a very bad sign if he has them open. However, he almost always has them open while he's Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Mocked in Eyeshield 21 with the sumo wrestler Omosadake, who everyone knows has Eyes Always Shut, because he's literally too lazy to open them. They also look nothing like the usual versions, being extremely swollen.
  • There's also Yamabushi from the Shinryuuji Nagas, whose eyes aren't even slightly cracked when he cries.
• The flame dragon Setsuna in Flame of Recca literally keeps his single eye closed. If he opens it, anyone who sees it is instantly annihilated.
• Chiffon Fairchild from Freezing has this as her most notable physical feature. She is also perhaps one of the few genuinely kind, sane people among the crazed, blood-thirsty Amazon Brigade that is West Genetics...and is apparently also the strongest among them, having the nickname "Matchless Smiling Monster". Finally subverted in chapter 86, when she opened them.
• Fullmetal Alchemist
  • Vato Falman, an officer in Roy Mustang's circle. There's also Ling Yao, who chooses to do this voluntarily, along with always trying to smile, due to the fact that, although he's a pretty nice guy at heart, he happens to have "shifty eyes."
  • Interestingly played with Ling, in that when his eyes aren't closed, you know either he means business or there's something seriously wrong. For instance, when he merges with Greed, when Greed is in control his eyes are always open, but when Ling's in control his eyes are often closed except in serious situations.
  • There's also Fuhrer King Bradley, who keeps his eyes (though one is hidden behind an eye patch) closed the vast majority of the time. When Bradley opens his visible eye it means he has dropped his friendly persona and let his true, aggressive, vicious self shine through. And if you can see his other eye, start running. Fast. Not that it will help, since the Magical Eye makes him a nearly invincible/unstoppable fighter.
  • Also Fritz Lang, Bradley's Alternate Universe Double from Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa.
  • In Brotherhood, Major Armstrong displays a variation where his mouth never opens. Instead, his dialogue is visually signaled by his mustache moving. As with the spirit of this trope, his mouth only opens visibly when things are very bad (such as a flashback to him breaking down during the Ishvalan Genocide or gritting his teeth in barely-controlled rage after Mustang kills his subordinate, Maria Ross. Or appears to kill her.)
• Chichiri in Fushigi Yuugi — he opens his eyes only when speaking seriously.
  • This is justified. He's just wearing an Eyes Always Shut mask because he has a disfiguring facial scar, including one missing eye. He takes the mask off to speak seriously. (On the other hand, how he makes vivid facial expressions with the mask on the rest of the time, or is able to see, is never explained...)

G-M

• Saikawa from Gakuen Babysitters, probably to fulfill the regal butler stereotype. Aside from one early instance in the first chapter where his eyes are slightly open, the series hides what he looks like with his eyes open (along with any other expression outside of "neutral"), with one of the characters lampshading this in Chapter 24.
• Kuroudou Akabane from Get Backers, usually accompanied by a small smile, though he will open them when he's in a ''truly'' good mood.
• Professor Go in Giant Robo. He only opens his eyes when learning something that horrifies him.
• Hanna Adachi of The Girl I Want is So Handsome!, befitting her cheerful and laid-back personality.
• Ohno from Genshiken is another passive example - except when she's in otaku mode. Then you get the scary Blank White Eyes. She has normal eyes in the manga.
  • However, Ohno's fellow cosplayer and later boyfriend Tanaka plays this trope straight, both in the anime and manga. His face is constantly drawn with very little expression except for the closed eyes and slight smile.
  • Also Gonzy. Turns out this is because he's actually a Coralian who was sent to observe the crew of the Gekko, and opening his eyes would reveal his true nature (Coralians having distinctive rings in their irises, and usually odd coloration as well).
• Paz in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex keeps his eyes as narrow slits almost all the time, probably to emphasize his vaguely hostile gangster-look.
• Gintama
  • Kamui is shown with his eyes closed more often than not.
  • Ayumu, who never opens them except when he's angry (and even then they glow red/green/purple/whatever). And once again, he's voiced by Koji Yusa. Hmm.
• In Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, after the Prince in Rapunzel falls victim to quite the Eye Scream, he's shown with his eyes like this. He manages to open them again when Rapunzel's Swiss-Army Tears heal him.
• Mao Yasaka in Gundam Build Fighters, occasionally opens his eyes when he gets serious such as when he fires his Hyper Satellite Cannon.
• Balladbird Lee in Gungrave. When he actually opens them... it ain't pretty.
• From .hack//SIGN, A-20. It shows that even though all the characters are drawn the same way, hers is much more cartoony-looking than most others.
• Hanaukyō Maid Team. In the first series, Taro always has his eyes shut.
• Haruhi Suzumiya: Koizumi Itsuki (although he opens his eyes much more frequently than most Eyes Always Shut characters), and in a few cases the narrator Kyon.
• Nonohara Kaede from Hayate the Combat Butler was never seen opening his eyes. In addition to his Eyes Always Shut, he's always smiling.
• Wanyuudou in Hell Girl, but only in his human form; in his wheel form, he appears with both his eyes open.
• Italy in Hetalia: Axis Powers is usually drawn with eyes that resemble equals signs.
  • Aside from some of the official art advertising the manga/anime, he only opens his eyes TWICE in the course of eighty-some episodes. They even make fun of it in one strip, in which he wakes up, opens his eyes, and gasps. A caption underneath states "'I tried opening my eyes today!' - Italy".
  • Made even better during Bloodbath 2011, when one of the requests was that he keep his eyes open. After about ten seconds, all the other characters were freaked out, and Germany ended up covering Italy's face (because he thought it was "too limpid").
  • Bulgaria was drawn this way in his first appearance, in both the manga and anime. He's had fully open eyes in every appearance since.
• Fuku from Hikaru no Go, a naive, good-natured insei kid. Never gets so angry or upset that you get to see his eyes even once.
• IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix: Team Black Egg's frontman Ricardo Montazio. One can wonder how he can pilot one of those mechs without having his eyes visibly open.
• Imaizumin-chi wa Douyara Gal no Tamariba ni Natteru Rashii: ~DEEP~: Keichiro's girlfriend Mayumi has her eyes permanently closed.
• Bunta from Initial D. It makes few drifting moments even more terrifying.
• Like many classic examples, Zange Natsume of Inu × Boku SS is a tricky character who, when his eyes are shut, generally comes off as silly, only to open them when he's being serious. He actually takes this up a notch because due to his demon heritage he actually has one hundred eyes all over his body which he usually keeps shut and hidden under his clothes, only opening them all when he needs to use his powers to gather information.
• InuYasha has this with the Soul Piper, a youkai that serves as a psychopomp to deceased children, playing with and entertaining their souls until they are prepared to accept death and move on. Its eyes are usually closed, but every time a child's soul does wrong, the Piper's eyes open a bit more, and when they open completely, the child will be Dragged Off to Hell.
• From Ikki Tousen:
  • Chōun Shiryū (incarnation of Zhao Yun (Chō Un), aka Zilong (Shiryū)). Her eye color is green and it's only known through cover arts where she's drawn with eyes open.
  • Shokatsukin Shiyu (incarnation of Zhuge Jin (Shokatsu Kin), aka Ziyu (Shiyu)). A minor character with healing capability. Elder sister to Shokatsuryō Kōmei.
  • Sōsō Mōtoku (incarnation of Cao Cao (Sō Sō), aka Mengde (Mōtoku)) after his eyeballs are sliced in half by Minamoto Kurō Yoshitsune.
• Tsukihiko from Kagerou Project is never seen with his eyes open, which is odd for a series where eyes are such an important theme.
• Touko Takamine from Kaiju Girl Caramelise fits the shifty "fox eyes" variant of this trope, as she's a producer for the sleazy daytime gossip talk show "Gabfest" who convinces Arata Minami to appear for an interview while sporting a closed-eye smile the whole time.
• Vice Commander Hoshina from Kaiju No. 8 is a textbook example. He's only ever seen with his eyes closed and a goofy smile on his face... until he confronts the titular kaiju (who, unbeknownst to him, is protagonist Kafka), and his eyes shoot open menacingly just as he releases his Power Limiter. Kafka is shocked at the sudden change in Hoshina's personality.
• Shino from Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, despite having her eyes closed all the time, still manages to be the hottest character in the series. According to her best friend, something bad apparently happens when she opens them.
• Amil Gaoul of Kiba actually has a reason for its eyes being closed, at least in its first form: it's eventually revealed that until changing into its second and then third form, when it opens its eyes, Amil Gaoul had been asleep, even as it easily defeated Zed's enemies.
• Otori of Komi Can't Communicate has yet to be shown with her eyes open.
• Komori's mother in Komori-san Can't Decline!. Combined with her messy hair, it gives her a constantly exhausted look.
• Shouichi Imayoshi in Kuroko's Basketball keeps both his eyes closed, and only opens them when he wants to emphasize his words. They're usually very biting against his opponents and condescending, at which point he allows the reader and the characters to glimpse the "worst personality" that characters like Daiki Aomine and Makoto Hanamiya have earlier commented that he has.
  • She opens her eyes when singing, which is stated as the reason why she doesn't sing in the karaoke episode.
• Toba in Laid-Back Camp has her eyes closed most of the time, if not covered by her shiny glasses. The only time her eyes shown open is in her first appearance as the drunk lady who is with the "fire starter guy" that Nadeshiko and Rin met (who turned out to be her younger sister).
• Millefeuille of Lapis Re:LiGHTs has these as part of her warm, caring, "big sister" personality.
• Dappa-oh Kuya from Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato.
• The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Luke Stokkart, second in command of Milk's squad, seems to be nice, but when one of the most dangerous characters in the show starts threatening his captain, he shows what he is made of.
• Mitsune Konno (appropriately nicknamed "Kitsune") from Love Hina usually appears with only one of her eyes open, and very rarely opens both unless she's surprised.
• Cinque Nakajima from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT always keeps her right eye closed in reference to the fact that her main series counterpart is missing an eye.
• Maken-ki!: Done by both Yuuka and Minerva. If either them ever opens their eyes, it's almost never a good sign:
  • Yuuka does it, 'cuz it's just in her nature. She's almost always up to something and even when she isn't, her perpetual smile gives the impression that she is. Among the few times she'll ever open her eyes is either during dire situations, or when she's alone with Furan.
  • It was initially assumed that Minerva was blind, but during her conversation with Himegami, she explained that she's able to see anything possessing Element. The reason she keeps her eyes closed isn't revealed until chapter 22, when she finally opens them: it releases a continuous stream of inexhaustible Element. Therefore, keeping them closed is the only way to limit her power.
• Mokona used to have its eyes always closed in Magic Knight Rayearth, so it came as a bit of a shock when one of the Mokona Modokis suddenly opened them in Tsubasa Chronicle after sensing one of Sakura's feathers.
• Hayami from Minami-ke is usually seen with her eyes closed, most likely to highlight her cunning and mischievous nature.
• Mission: Yozakura Family:
  • Kyoichiro never opens his eyes. He's even able to give people Death Glares without opening his eyes.
  • Makoto constantly keeps his eyes closed while acting as the kindly doctor...until his Mad Scientist side comes out.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid:
  • Lucoa almost always has both eyes closed (and even when she does open her eyes it's usually only the left one). Even her dragon form seems to have perpetually closed eyes. It fits with her devil-may-care attitude, and helps conceal the rather unsettling left eye.
  • Kuramoto, one of the more prominent classmates of Kanna and Saikawa in the anime version, is usually depicted with her eyes closed.
• Monster Musume:
  • Miia's mother constantly has her eyes shut. When they're open, she looks more ominous.
  • Cott and Ton never open their eyes, not even in their profile with Cathyl and Merino.
• Mikoto Hebigami from Mr. Fullswing. He has a highly spiritual lifestyle as a practicing Buddhist. Once his eyes are open, his immense powers are unleashed.
• My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: Kai's eyes are almost always closed into slits.

N-Y

• Naruto:
  • Naruto usually closes his eyes when he's concentrating his chakra or thinking (for some reason, he has them closed for nearly all of the second episode!). It also adds to his fox-like appearance. Perhaps as a result of Character Development or just an Early Installment Character-Design Difference, he does this less and less as the series goes on.
  • When Sai is first introduced in Shippuden, he is constantly wearing a phony smile with closed eyes. Despite the fact that he is repeatedly called on it, he doesn't actually stop until he has had sufficient character development.
  • Akamaru is a dog with always-shut eyes, which succeeds in giving him a somewhat mischievous appearance. This disappears when he takes on human form for the "man beast clone" jutsu, or in very rare moments of extreme surprise.
  • Chouza Akimichi is another example - until very recently, his eyes have never been shown open - although he's more of a down-to-earth Gentle Giant than a mischievous type like Naruto.
• Kaede Nagase from Negima! Magister Negi Magi is a legitimately wise (although Book Dumb) Ninja who almost never opens her eyes.
• An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess: Joana only opens her eyes when she's geniunely upset.
• Mobile Police Patlabor: Richard Wong's habit of keeping his eyes closed is lampshaded when Kumagami gives his description to Detective Matsui, after she's been shot by one of Wong's subordinates. She warns Matsui that while it makes Wong appear to be happy-go-lucky, he's actually ruthlessly cunning.
• Rory the mailman from Pecola has eyes like this.
• Saburo Watanuki in Penguin Revolution, another instance of the trope being used to indicate a wise and good-natured character.
• Slightly from ‘’Peter Pan no Bouken’’ is portrayed this way, he only opens them when he reacts in shock.
• Takeshi/Brock in Pokémon: The Series currently provides the main page's picture. As well as practically everyone in his family, except for his mother. There is one scene in the series' long, long history where we finally see them open, but it's not nearly as dramatic as one would think◊.
  • In The Ninja Poké-Showdown, Brock's eyes open when Ash's Charmander accidentally uses Flamethrower on him◊.
  • His eyes open for a single frame when he gets beaned in the back of the head by Jessie's Arbok in Who Gets to Keep Togepi?.
  • One of the few women to actually enjoy his constant flirting is the Frontier Brain Lucy/Azami. Upon returning home at the end of the episode, it is revealed that she keeps a group of Pokémon as pets; they all have the same squinty eyes, implying that her attraction to Brock was due to this feature.
  • These days, his eyelids are likely to balloon in those situations you'd expect other characters' eyes to do so. A few times when he's being shocked and his body starts flashing, his skull shows the slits instead of circular eye sockets. Make of that what you will.
  • His eyes also open when he's being Bishōnen, but all they ever show is basically a glistening squint.
  • This Yahoo Answers post◊ gives an entertaining justification that ties into his choices as a Pokémon trainer.
    • As does this post.◊
• Shusuke Fuji and Renji Yanagi from The Prince of Tennis. They only open their eyes when they're really serious about something.
  • Yanagi's case is even more extreme than Fuji's; when he fully opens his eyes during a match, his teammates say they had never seen him like that, unlike Fuji who opens his own eyes more or less often. It's even lampshaded in the manga: Kirihara asks him directly how come he can see if his eyes are like that, and Yanagi is so offended by such a dumb question that he slaps him.
• In Promare, Kray Forsight seems to never have his eyes open no matter what. When he does open them, it's when he reveals his true colors and that he's been ordering the exterimination of the Burnish. Oh, and they just so happen to be Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Futugami, the Columbo-esque reporter in RahXephon has his eyes shut most of the time, and generally opens them at moments indicating that his seemingly bumbling persona is Obfuscating Stupidity. He also fits the wise and kind elder version.
• Kail's half-sister in Red River (1995) has her eyes drawn shut. In her case, it's to indicate her blindness.
• Nekoyashiki in Rental Magica very rarely open his eyes. This is one thing that makes him appear more mysterious.
• Subverted somewhat in the first episode of Romeo × Juliet. A wealthy socialite with Eyes Always Shut appears to have them LITERALLY shut - he sweeps in unannounced in a scene, plucks the wrong lady from the dressing room amidst declarations of love for "my honey", and proceeds to take her to a ball...all without being aware that he's dating the wrong girl.
• Fujita Goro/Hajime Saitou of Rurouni Kenshin. He actually has naturally squinty eyes (which Sanosuke notes when first meeting him), and they appear closed while Saitou is "acting" as Fujita, which makes him look more like a "nice guy". Once Kenshin recognizes him at the Kamiya dojo, however, this is dropped completely for the rest of the series.
  • Also, Chou the Sword-Hunter keeps one eye closed at all times except from when starting to lose the upper hand in a fight. Seeing as this is in a somewhat realistic swordsmanship manga, it could be a shout-out to the practice of closing one eye when trying to piss off an opponent. He's basically saying: "You'd be too easy to beat if my perception was normal."
    • Considering that, in the anime, when Chou opens both eyes, one never completely opens, he may actually have a lazy eye or some other condition.
  • Soujiro Seta's eyes are always closed, except during his freakout due to one of Kenshin's many Talking the Monster to Death speeches. After he appears to be better, they are again closed.
  • Tae Sekihara's eyes are often closed, although she sometimes opens them when she is distressed. This seems to happen more in the animated version than the comic. Apparently Watsuki really likes this trope.
• In Saint Seiya, Virgo Shaka, one of the most powerful Golden Saints, maintains his eyes shut to actually keep his power under control. Unlike most depictions of the ever-shut eyes, his eyes lines curve downward rather than upward, which put a touch more seriousness to his character. When Phoenix Ikki finds out, after sorta recuperating from Mind Rape inflicted by Shaka himself, he tricks him into cutting off all of his senses and overpowers him in a suicidal maneuver, winning their fight and earning Shaka's respect for outsmarting him.
• Variation in Saki, Fukuji Mihoko rarely opens her right eye, partly because she's sensitive to how it's a different color from her left, and partly since her heterochromatic eyes that can activate her Geass Awesomeness by Analysis techniques. However, she often opens her right eye in moments when she's shocked enough that she forgets to keep it closed, such as when Hisa outplays her in a tournament three years ago, prompting Hisa to call her right eye beautiful, and after Hisa remembers her, she starts keeping her right eye open when around Hisa.
  • Ikuno Akasaka, interim coach for Himematsu, has her eyes shut most of the time, since her typical expression is a somewhat ditzy smile.
• Benitora of Samurai Deeper Kyo has his eyes shut most of the time, except when he's shocked by something. The English translation of the manga hangs a lampshade on it, but in the Japanese, he's talking about getting laid.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: Jinroku, the third teacher at Itoshiki-sensei's three teacher school is almost always shown with a heavy squint and a smile on his face, seemingly making him the nice and wise version. On the other hand, there's some evidence including a rather large tattoo on his back and his ability to avoid the scrutiny of cameras, that he had a rather dark past, likely in the Yakuza. In the scene with the tattoo reveal, he exhibits the Beware the Nice Ones/Obfuscating Stupidity version, as his eyes open slightly, giving him slitted, evil-looking eyes.
  • ...and it's hinted that, whenever he does, it's a very, very bad thing.
• Sekirei: Karasuba early on tended to keep her eyes this way, mostly to act cordial and avoid others immediately picking up on her aggression and bloodlust. She drops this as the story advances, though.
• Chisa from 7 Seeds Team Spring is generally depicted with her eyes closed, to show her usually calm and demure exterior, although she is ready to step up when necessary.
• This is Yuuri's default look in School-Live!. She does open them a lot though, especially when genuinely angry or in serious situations.
• Neko-san, from Shinobi Life, is Beni's minor-character-Meido. She never opens her eyes, regardless of when the situation obviously calls for it.
• The art club president and Juju in Sketchbook. Both of the nice and wise variety since the president is the Only Sane Man and Juju is a reliable senpai and overall less excentric than the rest of the cast. Lampshaded when the club goes to see fireworks, they all decide to squint at the fireworks and see what it looks like. No one can tell if these two are squinting or not.
• Bobble from Splatoon; her eyes appear to be stuck in a permanent "^_^" position, combined with an equally pervasive smile.
• In the original series of Slayers, Rezo the blind priest. However, that's not because he's a trickster so much as because if he opens his blinded eyes, he'll release the fragment of the supreme demon god, Shabranigdo, imprisoned within, a fact he remains unaware of until he heals his eyesight and does so. Another example is the appropriately-named Inspector Wizer.
  • Rezo's copy too. Why he doesn't open his eyes considering that the story says his eyes were healed is another question. He doesn't have a demon sealed in him like Rezo.
    • The reason he kept his eyes shut in the anime is simply because Eris tried to fool the Slayers gang to think he's the real Rezo. In the original novel, however, he had a damn good reason to keep them shut even after the gig was up: he had been fused with a mazoku and it caused him to have extra mouths where his eyes should have been. Yikes.
  • Xelloss "the Trickster Priest" opens the eyes wide (displaying the vertical pupils) and stops smiling when he ceases his tomfoolery and becomes serious. Given that he's the most powerful Mazoku short of godlike Dark Lords, it's not a good sign. And of course, in this case we cannot write off eyes closed by the lower eyelid (sometimes it's clearly visible) as a stylistic choice.
• Shiraori of So I'm a Spider, So What? keeps her eyes shut because even she's grossed out by each one containing four smaller eyes. It doesn't inconvenience her one bit since she can see through her own eyelids. She does open them when using her Evil Eyes techniques, or even exploiting them for intimidation or to show that she's dead serious.
• Shinya Itou from Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Later, it is revealed that he is one of the leaders of a faction of the Yamato crew planning a mutiny on behalf of a senior UN Cosmo Force commander back on Earth.
• The kindly old scientist and inventor Dr. Mayzel from the Spriggan (1998) movie (Japan 1998). Although you can clearly see his eyes behind his glasses, they're constantly closed and drawn as upturned curves. In contrast, the character looks rather different in the print manga where he wears Scary Shiny Glasses.
• Chizuru in Squid Girl keeps her eyes closed constantly. She only ever opens them (revealing that yes, she does have eyes) to give Squid Girl a terrifying Death Glare. This, along with Killer Whales and Sanae are the only things Squid Girl is genuinely terrified of.
  • She opens her eyes one other time. She gets excited that Squid Girl is making a friend, and tells her "Good Luck!" with a glare of assurance. Squid Girl interprets it as a threat, and is thoroughly terrified.
  • However, later on (second season of the anime if you're watching that), Chizuru opens her eyes and smiles at Squid Girl perfectly normally because she wants her to be friends with them. It actually goes really well for once until Squid Girl off-handedly mentions that she can go back to being a monster now. The last thing we see of Squid Girl is her being dragged off for another "talk".
• Spy X Family: The Forger Family's dog Bond always has his eyes drawn slanted, making it look like he's got them shut as if he were a bit sleepy-eyed. When really expressive, they'll open up more like in shock or anger.
• Shouka from The Story of Saiunkoku. His perpetually closed eyes seem to indicate his wise and easygoing personality. On the rare occasions he's seen with his eyes open, it typically means very bad things for someone.
• Fuuko Sorano of Talentless Nana always has her eyes closed. When she does open them, her eyes are a light grey color.
• Season 2 of Tiger & Bunny introduces Little Aurore, a NEXT with the power of Super-Intelligence who has kept her eyes shut for 40 years. Justified as her powers only work when she closes her eyes, and she continued so she can solve world problems and help unite NEXT and non-NEXT.
• Brother Matthew from Trinity Blood. He only opens his eyes once or twice when he is being exceptionally evil.
• Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: So far, the times Tsuki has opened her eyes can be counted on one hand.
• Val × Love: Futaba is almost always seen with her eyes closed, as her vision is very poor and she needs glasses, but only wears them during serious moments.
• Yachiyo Todoroki from Wagnaria!! has this, emphasizing the intimidating impression she gives off by wearing a katana from her family's blade shop, in contrast to her actually gentle personality.
• Wife and Wife: The only time Hayase ever opens her eyes is when presented with a hypothetical situation of Komugi being stolen from her, and she gives everyone present a Death Glare.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX makes special use out of this trope; Professor Daitokouji/Professor Banner usually has his eyes shut, to go with his friendly, approachable, somewhat goofball teacher persona. He eventually reveals himself to be Amnael, one of the Seven Stars, whereupon he opens his eyes - which are Blood Red. They remain open until his defeat, whereupon they close again for the last few minutes before his death. His spirit, when manifest as himself and not a ball of light, still has him with his eyes shut in later seasons.
• Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs: Nazuna is never seen with her eyes open. Neither is fortune teller Ryuuzen.
  • While Byakuei does open his eyes a few times, his default expression has his eyes shut.
• Akane from YuruYuri. She's the only character with this trait, and it is noted by Kyouko when she looks at Akari's chibi-style drawings of everyone she knows: even though it's Akane whose eyes are always shut, Akari draws her eyes open like everyone else, except Chitose who doesn't have this trait. This makes Kyouko think that Akari drawings reflect how she actually sees people, and the fact that Akane, Akari's creepy adult big sister with a closeted sister complex, only opens her eyes when interacting with Akari and Akari alone, is quite unsettling.
• Yuusha Gojo Kumiai Kouryuugata Keijiban: Company Employee constantly has his eyes closed, which sets him apart from all the other heroes.
• Yomi from YuYu Hakusho hasn't opened his eyes ever since he was blinded in a failed assassination attempt. Because of his blindness, he has developed a second set of ears and can basically hear everything within a certain range and has become one of the three powerful beings in Demon World by the time of the story proper.

---