Abunai Sisters: Although the sisters often talk about fashion, they're always seen in the same clothing, presumably because the show's budget didn't allow for the creation of models of them wearing different outfits. This means that Failure Is the Only Option whenever they want to go for a swim, as there is no model of them in swimwear. Despite this, this is averted for the villains, who often don different outfits to disguise themselves.
A lot of characters in A Certain Magical Index are wearing a school uniform or a nun's habit. It is only rarely that we see them in casual clothes. Tokiwadai Middile School in particular insists their students wear the uniform at all times. Then there are people like Kanzaki and Styl who have a ... unique outfit they always seem to wear.
Touma in Season Two, in episode 14, while packing for his trip to Italy, he stacks 2 of the same t-shirt he's wearing neatly folded on top of one another, so it's confirmed he has at least 3 identical t-shirts, which he was planning on taking with him.
All notable characters on planet Aqua (a future Mars that is modeled as an old-fashioned Venice with a slight futuristic touch) from ARIA are almost always in their work outfits. The Undines (all-female gondoliers/tour guides) are always in their graceful uniform slit dresses, Akatsuki the Salamander (climate moderators) is always in his Japanese-style outfit (kimono, tight sleeveless shirt, and boots), Albert the Gnome (gravity moderators) is always in his black suit and cape, Woody the Sylph (delivery men) is always in his delivery man outfit, the mailman's always in his mailman uniform, etc. The only times when they're ever depicted as wearing something else are when they go to bed in pajamas and go for a swim in one-piece swimsuits. Only Akari (the protagonist), Alicia and Athena are shown to wear other outfits, but that's when Akari has yet to be an Undine, and after Alicia and Athena retire to pursue higher careers.
Ishida Uryuu in Bleach: after his mantle is destroyed, he pulls out an identical spare. Other than this, however, the anime is known for providing its characters with a very wide variety of unique casual wear when not in their school uniforms.
One of the Blue Seed's omake has Matsudaira wondering why Kusanagi always wears the same clothes and if he ever takes them to be cleaned. This is even more amusing when you consider that Kusanagi's trademark red coat tends to get literally torn into small pieces during his transformations, yet in the next episode it is usually seen again, undamaged.
In the earlier part of Case Closed, Conan nearly exclusively wear a blue suit, a white shirt, and a red bow tie. Later he was seen with a better variety of clothes.
Then again, since Conan was originally Shinichi, it could be that his old school uniform was the only outfit he still owned from back then, and some parts of them are actually devices to help him as a detective.
In portions of the manga that take place during the summer seasons, he primarily wears either a turquoise vest or red suspenders rather than his blue coat, but other than that the outfit is the same.
Lelouch is almost always seen wearing his Ashford Academy school uniform even when it makes him stick out like a sore thumb like in a war-torn ghetto or the Britannia royal court. This has led to him being nicknamed the schoolboy by soldiers that see him enter and exit the area when he is not dressed as Zero.
Subverted though by Suzaku who has several outfits like a military uniform, battle suit, formal wear, street clothing, and of course his own school uniform.
All the main characters of Cowboy Bebop have signature outfits that they always wear. Perhaps explained by their being dirt poor.
Played straight with Banjō, Toppo and Garrison in Daitarn 3; averted for the two female sidekicks. Also, defied in episode 20: Koros captures both Beauty and Reika, turns them into Meganoids and sics them on Banjō. Banjō kills them both, then explains that he noticed "Beauty" and "Reika" are wearing different clothes than the ones they left home with, and therefore are two female Meganoids disguised as Beauty and Reika, who indeed are still being held captive by Koros.)
Maia in Daphne in the Brilliant Blue wears the same fancy party dress every day, when she's not in agency "uniform" or a disguise — and sometimes as part of a disguise.
Every Digimon character has a trademark outfit. In Digimon Adventure and Digimon Frontier, this made sense, because they were Trapped in Another World (although they didn't bother to change after they came back). Digimon Adventure 02 immediately zapped them back to the outfits they wore in the first episode every time they entered the Digital World, and Digimon Data Squad was a Cop Show, so they were technically in uniform, although their civilian clothes are always the same and halfway through the season when they ditch they uniform our to becoming fugitives, they always wear the same civilian clothes, which are different than in the first half. Digimon Tamers is the least likely to happen in real life; except for Ruki, the kids attend a no-uniform school, yet they wear the same thing every day. Ruki is the only exception; besides her regular "broken heart" outfit, she also has a school uniform, and once she repairs her relationship with her mother, the broken heart is replaced by a new and otherwise identical "healed heart" shirt.
Digimon Adventure and Digimon Frontier can be excused. The creators said in the Digital World, your appearance is based on your picture of yourself. That's why the Digidestined's clothes automatically changed when they entered the Digital World and why the Chosen Children's clothes revert back to normal after demorphing.
Digimon Adventure is less excused in the fact that they're on earth for roughly three days without ever changing their outfits. Mimi is in her pajamas at one point but that's about it.
Digimon Adventure 02 is on middle ground: they each have a new outfit to reflect the change in seasons while in the real world. They still only wear one seasonal outfit though.
Digimon Fusion initially has the same situation as Adventure and Frontier where the characters are stuck in the clothes they were wearing when they got to the Digital World, but unlike in Adventure, when they briefly return to the real world at the end of the first arc, they're wearing new clothes that they wear throughout the second arc, with the ones left in the Digital World getting new outfits too. The third arc however features significant time in the real world and yet no change in outfit between episodes.
Digimon Ghost Game similarly has the characters wearing seasonal outfits, plus school uniforms.
In earlier volumes of Doraemon, Nobita always wore the same white shirt and black shorts. Later as the artist got better, the pattern designs for his shirt and shorts got more diverse and elaborate, and he no longer had to wear the same clothes every day.
Dragon Ball: Each character has a preferred fighting outfit (mostly orange karate uniforms for the humans and Saiyan battle armor for the Saiyans). Piccolo not only always wears the same outfit, but one of his powers is the ability to spontaneously conjure a new one whenever needed.
Note that it's the same kind of outfit, but not the same outfit throughout. DBZ characters change clothes very frequently, often because of Clothing Damage.
Dragon Ball Z hung a lampshade on this in one episode, where Goku opens up a closet on his spaceship to find... nothing but the orange gi, blue undershirt, orange pants, blue wristbands, blue obi sash and blue and yellow Kung-Fu boots that he wears every day.
Averted in the case of Bulma, who usually not only had a different outfit whenever possible but usually changed her hair just as often.
Also averted for various characters (including Vegeta and his infamous pink shirt) when they're not fighting, anticipating a fight, or training to fight somebody. Being DBZ, this isn't all that often though.
Piccolo notably has only averted this twice. First in the original series as a kid, he wore a Hanfu-style dark blue top (similar to Gohan’s first outfit) emblemed with “魔” aka “Demon” kanji before changing into his iconic purple gi and white cape and turban for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. The second time was in DBZ Filler where Chi-Chi gave him some Goku’s casual clothes which hilariously consisted of a yellow top, purple long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and backwards cap making Piccolo look like he should be starring in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
In Durarara!!, Shizuo Heiwajima is always seen in his bartender uniforms even though he no longer works as a bartender. His brother Kasuka gave him boxes and boxes and boxes of uniforms when he did work as a bartender. And Shizuo pretty much adores his kid brother.
The characters of Eureka Seven have one favorite outfit each, and almost never change out of them. It's particularly glaring with Eureka because her character design changes a bit throughout the series, but she's almost always seen in her blue mini dress, sometimes plus a hat. Even when it gets ruined or torn up, she produces a new one out of nowhere. Anemone we see in three outfits: her signature ridiculously shaped red dress, the skin-tight suit she wears to pilot theEND, and a fancier dress she wears to a ball. Talho upgrades to a new wardrobe about halfway in but otherwise plays it straight. The only one who really seems to avoid this is Dominic, who wears different outfits according to what his rank is at the time. It gets particularly weird when characters are shown doing laundry.
Eureka does have a bit of variance. She wears a hat for a while after her scarring, plus white pants and a dark blue blouse when she goes looking for Renton. She also wears a sleeveless variant of her typical outfit on one occasion, as well as sandals instead of her usual boots. Though it could be that the sleeves are just detachable and she rarely makes use of that.
Played with in Fairy Tail: Natsu generally wears the same outfit all the time unless his clothes get ruined, probably because he can't be bothered to change clothes; Erza has both this andUnlimited Wardrobe, given her penchant for wearing the same suit of armor all the time until she gets in a fight, at which point she can switch outfits at will; many background characters are always depicted wearing the same outfit; and Visitor Echo is said to have 100 different copies of the same suit. At the same time, several of the main characters (most notably Lucy) wear different outfits every day, sometimes several in one day. A Special chapter has Cana take Wendy clothes-shopping, and one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits provides a new change of clothes whenever hers get too damaged in a fight.
Lampshaded in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. When Rude, a powerful bruiser sort wearing a suit-and-tie uniform and known for always wearing sunglasses, has his sunglasses broken, he looks outraged, produces another identical pair from his pocket, straightens his tie, and seems to be reinvigorated, despite just having had a billboard dropped on his head.
It is interesting to note that just about every single character in FLCL are examples of this trope except for Eri Ninamori.
In the anime version of Girlish Number everyone wears the same casual outfit day in and day out, with only the occasional exception.
In Haruhi Suzumiya, unlike the other characters, Yuki Nagato constantly wears her North High uniform, even on weekends when the Brigade searches the city for mysterious events. The Beach Episode "Remote Island Syndrome" is the only time she's seen in casual clothing.
With the exceptions of gym clothes, work outfits, etc., the main cast of Higurashi: When They Cry wear two outfits: a casual one and their school uniform.
Played straight with the first arc of Initial D, averted from Initial D Second Stage onwards.
Arguably, this was more of a budgetary concern than a stylistic one (at least as far as the anime was concerned). While the First Stage's characters wore uniforms of sorts, they did reflect the kind of clothing that was popular with Japanese youth in the early to mid-'90s. Although Ryouske's Miami Vice-esque white structured sports coat and white loafers always seemed a bit exaggerated. From the Second Stage onwards, all the characters, even secondary characters in rival teams, have a changing wardrobe which also reflects Japanese fashion amongst tuners and auto enthusiasts. The anime production teams apparently put quite a bit of effort into making the people in the galleries as well as the racers look authentic.
Inuyasha's Kagome is almost constantly in her school uniform, and in one of the movie serials is actually presented with the outfit by her mother so she can change into it before going to the past. This made sense initially as she fell into the well on the way to school and was stuck in the feudal era without a change of clothes (and was initially averted as on the second trip there she had different clothes). Afterward this was entirely for the sake of recognition as while she wears casual clothes when she is in the present outside of school, she wears the uniform exclusively when in the past despite the impracticality of hiking for miles in a skirt and school shoes. Word of God states that Kagome prefers to wear her school uniform when she travels to the past because it's durable and it's easy to wash the blood out of it. Think about that. (One assumes she bleaches that white blouse a lot.)
Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure plays with this when Jotaro's school uniform is burned during the Wheel of Fortune fight. The next chapter has Joseph note that Jotaro had a tailor in Pakistan make an exact replica out of sheep wool.
Lampshaded when Kakyoin was being impersonated by Yellow Temperance. As Anne is hurriedly calling Cool Old Guy Joseph about Kakyoin apparently fighting with Jojo, Kakyoin then bursts into the room.
Kakyoin: "Jojo left me behind so I was sunbathing by the pool.
All the characters in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean — granted, they are prisoners (and one priest).
In Kaitou Saint Tail, Meimi is the only kid in the series who appears to have a civilian wardrobe. Everyone else seems to wear their school uniform everywhere except to bed (with the semi-exception of Seira, who switches between that and her nun's habit).
Each Kanon girl has her own signature outfit, even those who don't go to school. In the Toei version, they seemed to only wear these outfits, except when the plot called for something else. Ayu has an excuse; the others do not. However, see below.
Yuuichi and Kitagawa lampshade the trope by pointing out that while their clothes always look exactly the same, they're not! Really! They don't believe each other.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Played straight with Ryozanpaku masters and most Yami masters. (Which clearly underlines their being badasses.) A notable exception to this was when the Ryozanpaku masters put on some normal civilian clothes when pretending to be Miu's relatives so that they could attend Miu's School Play performance. On the other hand, this trope is averted with most of the teenage characters, if not for any other reason than for the fact that they must have some normal outfit when attending school. Kenichi didn't even have a field battle outfit until chapter 145.
Played with in Kujibiki♡Unbalance: Komaki wears her trademark scarf everywhere — even in the sauna, when wearing a skimpy bathing suit. Likewise Izumi with her hat and goggles. The cast attend an Elaborate University High with the usual Japanese school uniforms, but do have street clothes and other clothing that they wear out of school... but Komaki always has her scarf, and Izumi her goggles.
The entire family March in the Little Women adaption from Nippon Animation.
Unless he has to disguise himself, Lupin III always wears that suit of his, though the color of the jacket changes from work to work. It's common for fans to refer to certain arcs and remakes of the show simply by the color of the jacket Lupin wore in them (green, red, or — rarely — pink). Likewise, his allies (Jigen and Goemon) and Inspector Zenigata never change outfits. The one exception is Fujiko, whose entire style (including her hair color) is subject to change.
It is in fact the case that Lupin has several copies of each suit. Also, there are two different colour schemes for the suit, sans the jacket. Yellow tie with black shirt and black or navy blue pants, or pink tie with blue shirt and white pants. In some of the films, he wears a blue jacket. As for Fujiko, she not only dyes or undyes her hair, but also evidently makes use of breast implants on occasion and has them removed later.
In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, while the clothes of the characters change between seasons, they will wear the same casual outfits until then. Heck, in the first season, you could practically predict which episodes Nanoha would perform her Stock FootageTransformation Sequence based on whether or not she's wearing her orange long-sleeve shirt and brown skirt combo when the Jewel Seed Monster attacks.
By Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, where they didn't use the Transformation Sequences that often, the characters were allowed to have multiple sets of casual clothes (okay, maybe only one or two), but of course they'd almost always be seen in either their Barrier Jackets or their uniforms anyway.
Midori Days for the most part has Seiji wearing his high school outfit during school and several different kinds of clothes outside school, with other characters having various sets of clothing to wear as well excluding Midori who, for practical purposes, wears a series of handmade dresses out of white fabric. In one instance during the anime during an episode not portrayed in the manga, Midori wakes up to find her and Seiji have switched places, her being the body and him being the hand, and she is seen wearing the same outfit and pajamas several days in a row despite her noticing Seiji's dresser had gained a large size of her wardrobe. This of course could be subverted, however, as it turned out to be a dream sequence.
Naruto's orange tracksuit, Sasuke's blue shirt and white shorts, Sakura's red dress...
Sasuke wears a different, black outfit for a short period of time, before quickly reverting back to the old outfit. Word of God said the change was due to the outfit being hard to draw. He has a few different versions of his Shippuden outfit.
The Sand Siblings get new outfits in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and filler, partly to symbolize their alliance with the Konoha, and partly because the old ones were hard to draw.
And despite appearing less than any of the other teams they have all have new outfits by their second appearance post-Time Skip. And as a side note, Kankuro's Facial Markings change pretty much every time he reappears.
Likewise, Sasuke's outfit undergoes various changes in wardrobe after fighting Deidara and later Itachi, which seem to result from both a change of attitude and Clothing Damage.
Many of the Leaf Ninja who lost in the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams — Ino, Tenten, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, and Choji — wear casual clothing while coming to watch. In Shippuden, Sakura and Hinata do the same when they're not on missions.
Most Chuunin and Jounin wear nearly the exact same outfit as each other. It's a uniform that they personalize (i.e. Kakashi's mask and Asuma's sash).
In the manga, pre-timeskip, Hinata and Ino have a different outfit every time they appear, even in flashbacks.
While Misato and Asuka in Neon Genesis Evangelion have pretty varied wardrobes, most of the other characters seem to have about two changes of clothes in their respective wardrobes.
Rei has her plugsuit and her school uniform, and is rarely ever seen wearing anything other than these two costumes. Any moment when she's not seen wearing one or the other is when she's switching between them. Her lack of wardrobe might be tied to her lot as the Emotionless Girl, with clothing serving nothing more than a plain function.
Shinji seems to be in a similar boat, having only his plugsuit and uniform, plus a few shirts and such.
Ritsuko is usually seen with a few combinations of the same articles of clothing, plus or minus her labcoat (of which she has several). She does have a few formal dresses for weddings, though.
Gendo and Fuyutsuki are pretty much always seen in their uniforms. Same goes for the command crew at NERV HQ, although at least they have a few different items of clothing.
Gendo gets to the closet gag in Shinji Ikari Raising Project when he admits twice he only has identical outfits... Including at least one that is made specifically for summer. The second time Yui immediately sends him to buy some beach clothes.
Noir is sort of halfway there — when not wearing other clothes for the purpose of their work, Kirika and Mirielle wear the same outfits day in and day out. While Mirielle does look good in a black miniskirt and boots, there are limits...
Especially noticeable when they're doing a hit in a Muslim country, where wearing a face-concealing veil (or at least not wearing an attention-grabbing Western miniskirt) would make sense.
They do sometimes wear more practical outfits for an assassination job, along with occasional disguises, but this is done very inconsistently. Sometimes Mireille does her work in top, miniskirt, and high heels, even though she would have had plenty of time for switching to a better outfit.
Chloe from the same series takes the opposite tack. While she occasionally is seen in tunics at the Soldats' headquarters her entire closet at her Paris apartment is filled with identical green cloaks. Another episode has her closet filled with colourful, frilly dresses - that she never, ever wears. Supposedly it's a reference to her seiyuu's previous role as Tomoyo of Cardcaptor Sakura.
Ash and Brock from Pokémon: The Series usually have one outfit per arc (except for a short time during Diamond & Pearl where they got winter clothes for a few episodes when traveling to Snowpoint City, though they've already switched back despite being at the equally frigid Lake Acuity). The female companions, however, get slightly larger wardrobes. Serena eventually becomes the first female companion to change her outfit entirely partway through the arc (as an allusion to how the player can do the same thing in Pokémon X and Y)... but then that becomes her limited wardrobe.
Somewhat averted in Sun and Moon. Ash still wears the same outfit every day for school and his adventures but at home, he has a variety of t-shirts and outfits for relaxing and pajamas.
The characters from Pokémon Adventures only wear one outfit each (with slight variations between arcs) until their game counterparts get updated clothing. This sucks for Yellow as she is a Canon Foreigner; when the Kanto gang got new threads in the FRLG chapter, she still had the same outfit. Even her fellow CF Emerald got new clothes in the ORAS chapter. It can be argued that they can't change clothes because they're out Walking the Earth. Which is great and all, until we see Ruby's closet, which is full of the exact same outfit he always wears. Sapphire seems to be a bizarre exception - a frilly dress as a civilized child (compared to Ruby who wore a variant of that exact same outfit), a bra and skirt made from foliage as a Wild Child, the game outfits for RS, Emerald, and ORAS, and her ORAS Contest outfit - but when you realize that Platinum only wears variants of her outfit, the oddity is that much more noticeable.
The anime of Ranma ½, compared to the manga, has a much smaller wardrobe for the characters, and for more secondary characters like Ryoga and Mousse, changes in costume were usually reserved for special episodes. While special outfits still showed up (for example, a Chinese "Red Guard" uniform that Ranma used for fancy attire or various forms of dress for disguising his female form), they were often used repeatedly. Ranma Saotome, himself, was almost always seen in a sleeveless Chinese shirt and bracers, undershirt, and long Chinese pants in the everyday anime (with pre-curse flashbacks invariably showing him in a gi like his father), whereas manga-Ranma almost never wore the same thing twice. Part of the reason for this might have been budget issues, which actually got the anime canceled briefly (a second company picked it up after the end of season 1, hence why it ends on a Recap Episode).
In both canons, Ukyo wears either her business uniform or her previous boy's uniform (the latter mainly in the manga) almost all the time. The only times she doesn't are when it's related to the plot or otherwise inappropriate — a pretty dress in "The Great Girly-Girl Gambit", a Hadaka Apron on a desert island, female gym uniform on those rare occasions where she's shown taking part in it, a Miko's robes...
Meanwhile, in the manga, Mousse only ever wears his one long robe and pants; Ryoga has two outfits (the yellow, screentoned shirt with long sleeves, and a black and tattered shirt;) Shampoo's Chinese blouses and pants are always the same style, although she does wear different prints; the adult men (Genma, Soun, Happosai) always wear their gis; and Kasumi's apron tends to obscure any variance in wardrobe. Nabiki and Akane, on the other hand, are huge clotheshorses, and Nodoka never wears the same kimono twice. Unfortunately for Ranma, when he settled into his long-sleeved tunic around halfway through the manga, he almost never wore anything else unless it was part of a plot.
Re:Zero has Subaru wearing the same tracksuit on end. An interesting variation in that, while this is played straight in the anime (though briefly Subverted at the very end of Season 2, as he dons a more formal outfit when he becomes Emilia's Knight), the Light Noveljustifies it by revealing Rem has created identical copies of his tracksuit, enabling him to wear clean clothes while still retaining his signature look.
Justified in The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World. Tougo arrived in Idola's world with only the clothes on his back and his transformation bracelet. He doesn't have the funds to get any new clothes, so he's always seen wearing what he had before coming to Idola's world. But the early pages showing his memories has him wearing the same clothes in nearly every scene aside from one where he's wearing his school uniform over it.
The creators of Samurai 7 even remarked on none of the samurai ever changed outfits, justifying it by saying that they had to carry everything they owned with them. Though Katsushiro seemed to have a change between his red-riding-hood-esque purple raincoat and something a little more mature for the last episodes.
That doesn't explain Ukyo's outfit, though. As the son of a wealthy magistrate and later as the Emperor, he should have more than that one outfit. And no, throwing on a coat doesn't count.
While Lina Inverse of Slayers has a multitude of sorceress outfits (and variations of her most well-known one in the novels), her True Companions, and the rest of the characters for that matter, have either one or two outfits in their entire repertoire. The princess Amelia even wears the same frilly pink dress and accessories every single time she's performing a diplomatic duty.
Characters in Sonic X always wear the same clothes. Despite being a Lonely Rich Kid, Chris seems to only have one set of clothes. It's unusual that Maria, a Posthumous Character, is depicted in two different outfits (her main blue dress and a pink dress).
Just about every character in Soul Eater has a trademark outfit, and with recent chapters, sometimes even two or more.
One episode of Soul Eater Late Show revealed that Excalibur has numerous copies of his trademark outfit, including the cane.
In episode 15a of Tamagotchi, one of the rumors Safetytchi hears and writes down is that Necktietchi has a hundred ties that look exactly alike so that nobody will notice he doesn't wear the same tie all the time.
It seems the cast of Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note only have at most three sets of clothing: school uniforms, the clothes depicted in the work page image, and Soccer Team members also have their kit.
Almost every human in Transformers has no more than two outfits, but Jean in Victory really takes the cake - he always wears that hoodie, suspenders, red shoes, and jacket, even while attending school, despite the fact that his classmates all wear uniforms.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime provides a particularly painful example, due to Arcueid's outfit being simultaneously extremely plain and extremely characteristic. She never changes it; even being literally chopped to pieces doesn't stop her from wearing the same clothes later.
To be fair, it's much the same case in the games, and the clothes themselves are magically formed. Not to mention she has at least one other outfit (the "vampire princess" dress).
On Golion/Voltron, each main character has a single set of civilian clothes that they wear at all times when not in uniform. They are wearing these clothes when they arrive on Planet Altea/Arus, and they apparently never see the need to expand their wardrobe for the rest of the series apart from sleepwear in scenes when they're woken up in the middle of the night. The only exception is the Princess, who has two or three outfits: the pink dress she wears before she joins the team, and the pink jumpsuit afterwards. Plus her uniform is pink. Princesses Prefer Pink, after all. One episode shows that she also has a closet full of other dresses that she never wears.
In Rebuild World, Akira is never shown wearing anything but a tank top and jeans and his protective gear. He doesn't have any other clothes due to lacking the funds for it and investing all of his money into shelter and hunter equipment.
Somewhat averted later on in the series. Akira asks Celene to design him custom tailored Coordinated Clothes designed to match the Lost Technology dress Akira gave to Sheryl, since that impressed even him with his numb fashion sense.
Misaki in Welcome to the NHK almost always wears the same sweater and miniskirt, even under freezing conditions.
Maru and Moro of xxxHOLiC have two similar dresses each; they also seem to each have a kimono, though we never see those. This is made all the more noticeable by the fact that mistress Yuko has an Unlimited Wardrobe
While his friends varied things up a little bit, Yugi almost always wore his school uniform.
Yugi had just two things to wear in the show, his school uniform and an outfit that made it look like he was heading for an S&M club. But if you look at this outfit, he still wears the pants from his school uniform.
For the couple of episodes with Yugi playing Dungeon Dice Monsters, he wore a unique outfit that consisted of jeans, a black shirt, and a gray vest-jacket. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series lampshaded it with Yugi doing an internal monologue wondering if anyone noticed he is wearing something different.
It's an unwritten rule that the lead character of Yu-Gi-Oh! would have the least amount of clothing variety amongst the characters, and the rival usually has the most. To point, Yugi had around three distinctly different outfits, whilst Kaiba had the Domino high school uniform, a white variant with gold trim, the three variants of Trenchcoat, and a white business suit. In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX it's a boarding school, but Judai only had to change jackets and pants. Manjoume/Chazz wore blue Obelisk coat, a black coat, the Society of Light coat, and in a daydream a fancy white tuxedo. Even Sho/Syrus had more since he's the only character seen wearing all three uniforms. Likewise its successor Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds with Jack and Yusei. The former, even when he was growing up in the slums, wore a hoodie jacket in his youth, which then turned into a duster coat, which then got traded out into the obligatory trenchcoat. All Yusei ever wore was his blue jacket, black shirt with red design, and blue pants (the orange 'bubble' guards were only added when he got his D-wheel). Even his tracksuit was designed after it, and he even wore it to a gala event.
Edo Phoenix of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is specifically shown to have a vast closet full of identical white suits.
The Familiar of Zero: Saito wears his jersey almost all the 3 seasons. In the novels, it is constantly damaged and someone (usually Louise) tries to mend it.
The various Zoids anime are particularly grievous examples. In all four seasons, most of the characters have one or two outfits each, their "day" wear and what they wear when driving their Zoid — and even then, the latter seems optional. The only time a character will wear something else is if the plot needs it.
In Future Boy Conan this is dealt with in a realistic manner: Conan and Jimsy lived in very poor areas cut off from the rest of the world, so it's the only set of clothes they have. Lana was abducted, hence she has only one outfit. Once they get to Lana's hometown, however, the kids get their clothes washed and change into different outfits. Conan still prefers his old clothes though.
A weird example in Sengoku Basara. The cast seem to spend all their time wearing their combat outfits; in other words they go around their house in full armour (some of them even keep their helmets on indoors, including Motonari and his 3-foot tall hat). This made sense in the games, where you only saw them in battle, but in the anime, it just looks impractical and strange. The only characters who get to change are Masamune, who wears a kimono and no shoes at home as would be expected, Kojuro when gardening, and Keiji who changes outfits once for a formal occasion (but it was an awful outfit that the fans would rather forget).
Semi-Averted in Hetalia: Axis Powers. While the central cast tend to have many different outfits that they wear depending on both the situation and historical era, they always retain some distinguishing features/pieces of clothing. However, played straight with the supporting characters who tend to wear the same outfits all the time.
The cast of Puella Magi Madoka Magica has, at very best, three outfits apiece: Their Magical Girl outfit, their school uniform (casual clothes in Kyouko's case), and pajamas or hospital clothing for a lucky few (well, not really lucky for those that ended up in the hospital).
Super Atragon: All the main characters wear the same clothes for everything; Go flies a Diesel Punk seaplane in his Navy utility whites, Captain Hayate wears his dress black uniform even while going into combat. Annette and Avatar both wear their blue & red suit with white cape also while going into combat.
While most of the characters have something of a limited wardrobe, Tiger & Bunny lampshades Barnaby's by noting that it is yet another one of his numerous eccentricities — it turns out he's been wearing that red leather jacket of his nearly every day for five years straight.
Father Garai from MW is almost always seen wearing an outfit as a priest.
While most of the characters in Death Note have realistic wardrobes (except Mello and Misa), L is always seen wearing the same baggy white shirt and blue jeans (no shoes).
In the L-File: One Day mini-manga, it's shown that he does have more than one outfit, but it's all copies of the same outfit. Watari explains that L is very particular about his clothes.
Kodomo no Jikan uses both this and Unlimited Wardrobe, depending on the character. More specifically it's a subversion: The teachers are discussing the problem of parents who spoil their kids with lots of clothes, and one of the more experienced teachers says that the real worry are the children who always wear the same outfit every day (implying parental neglect). Description Cut to Mimi, the shy girl with good grades who makes no problems for anyone. Suddenly the reader realizes that every other child changes outfits, but not Mimi. She always wears the same thing. You just never noticed it before because of this trope.
Each of the Haibane in Haibane Renmei have one outfit each. They're only allowed to own used or cast-off items, so none of them have many belongings. At one point Rakka worries about getting a stain on her only dress, and when seasons change she and the younger Haibane visit the one thrift store in town allowed to serve them to get winter clothes (Rakka wears the winter dress for the rest of the series).
Ramen Fighter Miki: The core cast are Burger Fools and they have at least one episode dressing something different than his uniforms.
In Kill la Kill, Senketsu is literally the only set of clothes Ryuko owns, being an orphan who lives in abject poverty. This becomes a plot point in Episode 4 when Mako's mother does the family's laundry... including Senketsu. This forces Ryuko to go to school in her pajamas (which are too small for her anyway, since they're Mako's hand-me-downs).
In a side story for Attack on Titan, it's noted that Annie Leonhart only owns her uniform and a few identical long-sleeved hoodies. Unlike the other characters that live relatively spartan lives out of necessity, her position within the Military Police Brigade offers her ample opportunity to acquire new clothing. She simply doesn't see any reason for it, finding her uniform and hoodies "sufficient". In comparison, her roommate Hitch is stated to be fashionable and regularly goes shopping with the other female soldiers in their unit.
Parodied in Sekirei. Each Sekirei is assigned unique battle gear, and whenever they suffer (frequent) Clothing Damage, a new set will arrive in the mail or be delivered by an employee from MBI. Musubi acquires some extra outfits prior to Minato realizing that the company provides a never-ending supply of clothing. Uzume is the one exception, having a closet filled to the brim with costumes — a bit of Fridge Brilliance since her weapon is a shawl.
The staff of Denki-gai no Honya-san seems to have just one outfit for each season. Amusingly brought up with Sensei, who Umio mentions owns multiple identical tracksuits.
The Seven Deadly Sins plays it straight, but Ban takes it to the point of parody. Ban doesn't actually own any clothes, But he usually suffers Clothing Damage a lot(and boy, does he). So usually by the end of an arc, some poor schmuck will wander by who just happens to be wearing Ban's usual outfit, whom Ban promptly robs offscreen to dress himself.
YuYu Hakusho Hiei is the most extreme example. While the other main characters don't change outfits often, they still change at least 3 times, if not more. The girls in the show, except Yukina and Genkai, change every new day. Hiei on the other hand only has two outfits. His all-black attire (sometimes with a light blue shirt, but usually either shirtless or black shirt) and one change where he's wearing a blue Chinese warrior's outfit is it, then it's back to all black.
In The Mysterious Cities of Gold Esteban is the only one that got a costume change, and that was early in the show. His seafaring clothes just got torn up after the Esperanza's wrecking, and by the time he got to Tao's island he simply discarded his red vest to end up in the damaged outfit he'd wear for the remainder of the show. One would think that trekking through the mountains, jungles, deserts, and seas, would those clothes be reeking of gunk by the end of the show. Gaspar and Gomez still have one costume each but at least theirs show a little wear and tear. Mendoza somehow manages to maintain his cloak.
Lampshaded Closet Gag Examples
L from Death Notereally does have◊ a million of the same outfit.◊ During his time in the series other than the flashbacks to his childhood, he pretty much never wore anything else including while pretending to be a paramedic. He's still wearing that outfit even as a ghost. Yep.
Durarara!!'s Shizuo Heiwajima really does have a closet full of identical bartender waistcoats. They were a gift from his brother.
Gintama anime lampshades this at the beginning of one episode (quoted in the quote page) when the main character (who wears the same clothes every day, occasionally yukata) reads letters from viewers. He then proceeds to rant about how much pain it is for anime studio/mangaka to come up with different outfits every episode/chapter. So basically, the creators are just being lazy, and the characters know it too.
In Kaze no Stigma, Ayano wears her school uniform all the time, even when she spends the day out of school. In episode 13, she takes her time choosing between three identical outfits.
A character on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, having suffered the destruction of his hat by gunfire, discards it and pulls an identical hat out of his pocket; the same character is later seen keeping four identical white linen suits in his closet.
Hanson actually has a large collection of identical outfits, though he claims they have "subtle differences".
As noted above, Ruby of Pokémon Adventures has been shown to have multiple identical outfits, including multiple versions of his hat.
Poor Rurouni Kenshin doesn't even get a closet to lampshade—he's wearing exactly one outfit, as is shown when he gives up a part of it to Misao—the anime takes the time to close up on it, showing all of the repaired Clothing Damage he had taken up to that point. Misao then asks if his wife had left him (yes, if being dead for ten years counts as leaving him).
The black T-shirt is the only kind of top Yamagami from Servant × Service wears, even though they may come from different retailers and may be of different material (at least this is how she justified it when Chihaya lampshaded this.) Apparently, it's hard for her to get clothing because of her large breasts.
Wilhelmina Carmel from Shakugan no Shana wears a maid outfit at all times. The third season shows her getting several identical copies of that outfit out of her closet.
Also done in Strike Witches, as seen here◊ with Sanya next to a wardrobe full of identical outfits for Eila and herself.
Cardcaptor Sakura beats even Totally Spies! in that: not only are there a multitude of unique outfits in addition to the summer and winter school uniforms, but the Transformation Sequences were reanimated for each exquisitely detailed outfit.
Technically, only the outfits were reanimated. There was underlying Stock Footage of Sakura sans clothing (with Barbie Doll Anatomy, natch).
In the first season of Sailor Moon we quickly see that (outside of their Senshi outfits and school uniforms) these 14-year-old girls actually have their own wardrobes, and they're quirky and individual. (Who would have expected that the Shinto shrine maiden would wear pink overalls and baseball caps when not on duty at the temple?) However, for teenage girls, they seem to have a limited selection of casual clothing.
Hell, even Sailor Moon's little brother had a fairly varied wardrobe for someone who was Brother Chucked.
This is played straight with Mamoru in the anime, as for most of the first series, he's always seen in the same green jacket, black turtleneck, grey slacks combo. Later in the series, he gets some variations on his wardrobe, though it's still common to see him merely ditching his jacket and still wearing the turtlenecks and pants. You'll also frequently see him repeat his wardrobe choices for multiple episodes.
Uta∽Kata had a different manga-ka/character designer/figurine maker design the protagonist's Magical Girl outfit for each episode.
In Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, there is a reason why the gang all wear the same T-shirt (with their rank number) and jeans design all the time: the outfits are designed to become their bird costumes when they change, and they need to wear the whole outfit for it to work. Furthermore, it proved near-disastrous when Jun lost a shoe from the outfit. Galactor found it and stumbled onto its bird costume transformation function, thus giving them a vital clue as to one of the Science Ninjas' secret identities.
Although the Toei Animation version of Kanon gave the girls very limited wardrobes, and the game wasn't much better, the Kyoto Animation version gave them plenty more clothes — even Makoto, the amnesiac freeloader, who was suspected by fans of raiding Nayuki's closet.
Nami from One Piece originally starts off with wearing the same clothes, but after defeating Arlong, and thus ending her financial limitations, she buys a pile of new clothes and changes very often. Sanji, while mostly wearing his usual black suit, can be seen occasionally in more casual clothes.
After the Strawhats hit the Grand Line, they usually get a new outfit early in the arc for reasons that make sense, and then maintain that look whether it makes sense or not until after they beat that island's Big Bad. You can tell the arc is over because they all change back.
Though Watanuki, Domeki, and Himawari generally wear their school uniforms day after day, Yuuko of xxxHOLiC not only wears something new and incredibly elaborate every day but sometimes changes mid-chapter. In fact, it's a plot point when Yuuko wears the same outfit twice.
And in its sister series Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- while the characters each have a set of default clothing, they generally adopt the clothing of whatever world they land in, and then change outfits as appropriate. This is partly a form of fanservice for CLAMP's female fanbase. Note, however, that this is NOT Unlimited Wardrobe as they are shown bartering old clothes for new and they do not change clothes in situations where they would not realistically have had the opportunity. (Example: Kurogane remains in his outfit from the previous arc in Acid Tokyo because their impoverished hosts don't have much clothing to spare.)
Dragon Ball subverts this trope as much as it uses it. The guys mentioned above generally wear different outfits when not in their fighting clothes (such as the infamous pink shirt worn by Vegeta). Then there's Bulma. Not only does she change clothes, but she also changes hairstyles more or less every appearance. In addition, the symbol on Goku's shirt usually changes every time he gets a new outfit.
Goku has 20 (or more) outfits total, not counting identical replacements for Clothing Damage. In order of appearance (roughly): 1. a blue gi with a white obi, 2. a pair of overalls borrowed from Oolong, 3. a blue pair of pants with a white tank top and obi, 4. his first Turtle School orange gi, 5. the suit he wears to and from the 21st and 22nd World Tournaments, 6. the outfit he borrowed from Suno when he fought the Red Ribbon Army in the north, 7. the outfit he took from the ninja dog Shu after his gi was destroyed, 8. the outfit he wore before the 23rd World Tournament, with the turban, 9. his adult-sized orange gi with the weighted black T-shirt and Kami's emblem on the back,, 10. the suit he wore for his wedding, 11. the gi with the blue T-shirt that he started wearing before fighting Raditz, 12. the gi with King Kai's emblem on the back, 13. the closet full of gi that he gets for the trip to Namek which have his name on them, 14. the Yardrat battle armor he wears when he returns to Earth before the Android Saga, 15. the gi he wears from then on that has no emblem on either the front or the back and has a wider blue sash instead of the black obi, 16. the Saiyan battle armor he wears for training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, 17. the slacks/button-front shirt/leather jacket combo he wears before the Cell Games, 18. the blue gi with a white obi and dark blue pants he wears before he leaves to train Uub. 19. the slacks/button-front shirt outfit he wears to visit Gohan's school in the first Broly movie, and 20. the plaid suit he wears with the bow tie in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!. Not counting the outfits he got when fused into Vegitto and Gogeta, or Dragon Ball Super, or in GT. And that's just Goku; Gohan, Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, Launch, Master Roshi, Vegeta, Trunks, Videl, and Chichi got several outfits each. And yet, when people think of him, they only think of that last orange gi with no emblems.
In one episode, Piccolo is forced to borrow some of Goku's clothes
Although Tsuna from Reborn! (2004) is usually in school uniform, he wears different boxers every day (the fact that we know this for a fact might give the wrong idea to people who haven't seen the show). Most characters on this show wear different outfits whenever they aren't in school.
Reborn! is actually quite good when it comes to clothes. The characters wear different outfits every day, and the girls in particular get quite creative when it comes to fashion. The only exceptions are Hibari, who always wears his school uniform, and Mukuro, who only half exists anyway.
Becky, from Pani Poni Dash! is often wearing different outfits, while everyone else has their uniforms. She's the teacher though and is allowed. Even though she's twelve, and some of her outfits are... odd.◊
In Read or Die: The TV, Michelle, Maggie, and Anita have a vast variety of outfits; some of these they create themselves using their power to control paper, and then complain that paper clothes aren't comfortable. This is in contrast to Yomiko in the Read or DieOVA, who is a fine example of the trope, always in the same trenchcoat, skirt, blouse, and vest.
Every episode of Michiko & Hatchin — unless multiple episodes take place over the day — features Michiko and Hana wearing different clothes. Despite being on the run/tracking someone down across the country. Michiko occasionally changes clothes mid-episode.
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which like Michiko & Hatchin, was directed by Sayo Yamamoto, also has the lead heroine in a very wide variety of outfits.
In Haruhi Suzumiya, when not at school and thus in uniform, all the characters are shown in casual outfits that change from episode to episode (and within an episode, if it spans more than a day).
The "Endless Eight" arc shows the same 2 weeks 8 times over, out of however many tens of thousands repeats that happened in the story, yet each episode has the characters wear different outfits or choose different yukata for the supposedly same summer festival, among other things.
Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Sayo (resident Cute Ghost Girl) wears the same old style school uniform, however as a ghost I doubt she's got much in the way of options. Kotaro wears two outfits per arc, his normal gear which he always has, and an outfit for his 15-year-old disguised form (this second one changed from the mafia suit in the Festival arc, and the armored clothes in the Magic world arc). The rest of the cast has their uniforms (Negi has his suit) which they wear generally, giving a sense of this trope. They wear other outfits to provide clothed Fanservice, putting whatever Stripperific outfit they wish on the girls and then replacing them with an equally stripperific outfit after whatever they are wearing suffers the inevitable Clothing Damage this series brings. However, in a case of actual limited wardrobe, Negi only has the one cloak, as he hasn't replaced/mended it since a fight in the latest arc which put a large hole in it.
Before the start of the Magic World arc, the limited wardrobe aspect is commented on when both Negi and Kotaro are called out for not "getting in the mood" since neither was wearing an eccentric battle costume or casual outfit. Negi insists he's still a teacher and must dress as one, and Kotaro insists his school uniform IS his battle costume.
Pactio cards have an outfit programmed into it, so when they summon their artifact the clothes change to a limited wardrobe option.
Kaleido Star — although she has a couple outfits that we see her in several times (most notably a blue shorts and white T-shirt combo she trains in), in general Sora wears a different set of clothes in almost every episode. She even has different sets of training clothes, ranging from the aforementioned shorts and T-shirt to a leotard and ballet slippers.
The cast of Azumanga Daioh, when not in their school uniforms, show great variety in their outfits, with each character having her own distinct fashion sense. This also applies to Yotsuba&!, at least for characters besides Yotsuba herself.
Yotsuba seems like a more severe case than she actually is. Some people misremember her as only having one shirt, but it's actually a number of shirts with the same design scheme: an X body with Y sleeves and collar (and sometimes shoulders). Careful comparison reveals significant differences. That said, she does have other outfits that don't follow this pattern: her pajamas, her swimsuit, her yukata, her poncho, her recycled shirt, her hapi, her "flower cupid" outfit from chapter 18, her triangle-like dress from chapter 27... umm... that's still not that much. Maybe others will surface.
Ouran High School Host Club: When the characters aren't wearing their school uniforms they have several casual outfits. In the anime we never see them wear the same outfit twice. In the manga, Haruhi has one or two outfits that occasionally show up again, but she's from a lower-middle-class family so it makes sense she doesn't have a literal Unlimited Wardrobe like the rich Host Club members.
In Lucky Star the cast, when not wearing their school uniforms, is seen with a large variety of outfits.
Girl Friends (2006): The main characters mainly wear the variants of their school uniforms, but whenever we see them outside of school they almost never wear the same thing twice. Indeed their frequent shopping trips amount to Costume Porn.
Even minor characters in Loveless wear different outfits each time they appear.
The characters in Wandering Son often change their outfits. Rarely are they seen in the same outfit, aside from school uniforms, and if they are it isn't for long.
The Human cast of Hamtaro tends to have a good size sets of wardrobes, especially Laura and Kana.
In Chapter 37, she wears a tracksuit matching Senai's exercise clothes.
Apparently Lum from Urusei Yatsura claims to only have one top when Ataru stole it during that eventful game of tag in the first episode. If Lum had more tops she wouldn't have lost the game.
Everyone in Violet Evergarden has a limited wardrobe. Both in the anime and the Light Novel. The anime shows Violet wearing a good number of different outfits in episodes 1, 2, and 8 (which is largely a flashback to before episode 1), but after she becomes an Auto-Memories Doll, she only wears her iconic white dress and Prussian blue jacket. Hodgins and Iris are both shown wearing an alternative outfit on one occasion each (Hodgins in episode 8 during the flashbacks, and Iris in episode 4).
Valkyria Chronicles: In the "Selvaria's Wonderful Day Off!" OVA, we see Selvaria waking up and going to her closet and learn she doesn't own any clothes besides multiple pairs of her standard military uniform. The only reason she doesn't sleep in them is that she Sleeps in the Nude.
... nothing but the orange gi, blue undershirt, orange pants, blue wristbands, blue obi sash and blue and yellow Kung-Fu boots that he wears every day.
