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alt title(s): Female Crossdresser 
That's a girl?!
A female character who resembles a handsome or effeminate boy but in a positive fetishistic way, usually coupled with an appropriate 'masculine' outfit of varying conceivability depending on the artwork. Swooned over by confused females as much as outright Schoolgirl Lesbians. Sometimes in the episode they're introduced, they're confused for men until the other characters recognize and treat them as girls. Occasionally, it's also a roundabout way of adding a stereotypically 'male' role to a show that doesn't have (or want) one. Very often subject to at least one Stupid Sexy Flanders gag, sometimes even after The Reveal of their true biological sex.
Interestingly, most versions are Prince Charming types and overwhelmingly 'good' characters. Bifauxnen are, from an artistic standpoint, everything that is positive about masculinity while also not losing anything fundamentally 'woman'. Many characters, in fact, simply heavily associate with traits typically praised in men; the appearance is just another path to that. Occasionally the Bifauxnen is not an outright Butch Lesbian, and is mostly oblivious to reactions they incite.
The major distinction between them and tomboys/bokukko is a direct association with elegance and style, and they often appear Older Than They Look. Tomboys are often associated with playfulness and immaturity, but are still clearly female.
Bifauxen however do not include trans men as, unlike bifauxnen, they are men and are not simply 'mistaken' as men. Usually they can be distinguished by how they identify such as cases as Takatsuki from Hourou Musuko.
The male equivalent is Dude Looks Like A Lady. Not to be confused with Sweet Polly Oliver, who only dresses like this for a goal-oriented situation. Compare to Samus Is A Girl, where the gender simply isn't discernible until The Reveal. Also see The Ladette.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Kurau from Kurau Phantom Memory (pictured above). She's very mannish and wears masculine clothing most of the time, the only thing usually giving her away is her voice. Of course, when she pretends to be a man to bodyguard a guy at his wedding, she disguises her voice perfectly.
- June from Coyote Ragtime Show. She's the knife-fighter.
- Oscar from Rose Of Versailles is the archetypal example, more or less cribbed from the otokoyaku (boytype) stereotype of the real-life Takarazuka Revue performers.
- Incidentally, The Rose of Versailles is one of their most famous performances.
- Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus) from Sailor Moon is likewise a 'Zuka derived character. While this is less emphasized after her introduction in the comic, it made her very distinctive in promotional materials by adding some variety, and eventually became her major character trait in the show adaptation.
- The Sailor Starlights from the final season also qualify under this trope, although the original mundane explanation seems inexplicably avoided.
- Ukyou from Ranma 1/2.
- Chie in Mai-HiME had hints of this. Her Mai-Otome version turned this up even more with her husky voice, flirty manner, predilection to blue roses, and association with the much-more-girly Aoi. It's even more obvious in Mai-Otome Zwei, where her Robe is a suit with a top hat rather than the standard dress.
- Paraietta from Simoun, especially impressive given the premise of the show.
- Though the outfit and her physique don't fit the trope. It's more the attitude and facial features.
- In the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie, one of the major characters doesn't realize Utena is female until he's halfway into a fight scene with her due to her boys' school uniform and short hair (covered further by a hat). Nobody made that mistake in the original, where she had long hair and wore Daisy Dukes
- Utena's status is made a bit more complex by her dislike of actually being identified as masculine. Rather, she assumes the qualities of a prince as a heroic, energetic, and proactive figure, and the rest is window dressing.
- Due to the lack of men in the show, the tall, husky voiced gun-nut Forte from Galaxy Angel ends up playing one whenever the team requires. Especially ironic given her generic costume shows off her assets very prominently.
- Likewise, Tachibana Maria and Kanna from Sakura Taisen are tall and have husky voices, so they usually play male roles in their musical productions.
- Originally a pretty girl, Mizuki from HanaKimi made a good Bifauxnen when she cross-dressed to go to an all-boy school. There, she is revered as a pretty boy. However, when she went back home for the holidays, her father mistook her for a boy upon seeing her with her short boyish hairstyle (not to mention, she was pretty flat too).
- Kino's Journey plays with this deliberately, as the title character's gender isn't made explicit to the audience for a couple of episodes. Kino seems to be designed as an "everyman" (well, a woman) who everyone can identify with to some extent.
- Subversion: Rei from Maria-sama ga Miteru happens to be a Kendo Team Captain, tall, and short-haired, but this is the extent of her boyish qualities; her short, delicate-looking petite soeur Yoshino is the actual tomboy of the pair.
- Rei also tends to wear male (or at least male type) clothes when out of uniform, though this could be due to having difficulty find clothes in her size.
- Megumi from Tenshi Na Konamaiki is an unusual subversion as she was turned into a girl, and despite being unusually skilled at grooming herself, is mistaken for a one for her rough speech.
- Maggie from ROD The TV is very tall with a husky voice, yet at the same time very shy and withdrawn.
- Amane Ohtori ("the Prince of Spica") in Strawberry Panic, as well as her predatory Evil Counterpart Kaname.
- Sir Integra from Hellsing. Back when most people's exposure to Hellsing came through the series, some people were genuinely confused as to her gender, despite a flashback episode in which, as a young girl, she is clearly shown wearing female clothing. The manga and OVA actually begin with this flashback, making such confusion nigh on impossible.
- Her noble title doesn't help, either. In real life, the female equivalent of "Sir" (male title awarded to a knight) is "Dame". Someone Did Not Do The Research.
- Some people say it was mentioned that Integra intentionally chose to go by "Sir" instead of "Dame" somehow, believing that it fit her line of work better and would be more effective at gaining the respect of others, but that was possibly just Fan Wank and not actually official.
- This is more likely, given the amount of research that clearly did go into British culture for Hellsing (even if it is deliberately played up for fun, coolness and symbolism)
- She probably dresses and try to appear more masculine because she did not want to be looked down upon as a "mere woman". This makes it even more possible that she chose the title "Sir" on purpose.
- Maybe she dresses more "masculine" because she doen't want to get caught wearing a skirt and heels in a life or death situation.
- Heinkel Wolfe, at least in the "Crossfire" manga extras.
- What, no Lieutenant Rip van Winkle?
- Juliet Fiamatta Asto Capulet in Romeo X Juliet, who dresses as a boy named Odin to disguise her connection to the Capulet family line, as the last surviving member is known to be female. Small subversion, though: she's allowed to wear dresses and let her hair down when she's in the Capulet headquarters.
- Minami Iwasaki in Lucky Star, although this is played up by her Fan Girl classmate.
- Rina from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is more Tall Dark And Bishoujo than anything, but she wears the male uniform, and upon her introduction in the anime, Lucia and Hanon wonder, "That was a girl... right?"
- Touma Minami (no relation) in Minami-ke is first persuaded to pose as a brother, then later insists on being called a boy, even though she's not, probably because all three of her elder siblings are Aloof Big Brothers (to varying degrees). This provides some nice contrast to Wholesome Crossdresser "Mako-chan".
- In Pokemon, during the Battle Frontier, Ash met Anabel, whose clothes, short haircut, and ambiguous voice, at least in Japan (and the Latin American dub, by extension), led him to assume she was a guy at first. Not even Brock, who successfully blew up Duplica's similar stunt in the first season, could identify Anabel as female when he met her. The dub screwed the effect up by giving Anabel the voice of a grown woman.
- In the Pokemon Special manga, Yellow is thought to be a boy by the rest of the main cast, right up until her hat gets blown off so they can see her ponytail.
- Red still thinks she's a guy...for about a year...causing some awkward tension with Misty...and setting up for the best reaction in the entire manga when she finally takes the hat off in front of him.
- Also from the anime, Aoi/Angie in Diamond and Pearl. Gruff voice, very butch appearance, a big appetite that rivals the shounen hero and was not known to be female until she yelled "haven't you ever heard of ladies first?!"
- To a degree, the tomboyish Nozomi/Zoey also counts. For added effect, she always wears suits in when competing in contests.
- Miura of Yotsuba&! talks and dresses very much like a boy, so much so that Gentle Giant Jumbo gets confused over her gender when he first sees her.
- Rin Asougi from Mnemosyne seems to have this down pat - if it wasn't for her rather large breasts, she could quite often be mistaken for a effeminate man. This is in large part due to her choice of clothes - a man's business suit. It doesn't help that she is by far extremely Badass.
- The Wallflower has Sunako-chan turning up at a 'boy/girl mixer' with her classmates, dressed as an extremely pretty boy, because it precludes the chance of any boys asking her out but still fulfils her promise to go out with them. She's,er... special. No, not that way.
- Sai from Kaze Hikaru passes for a cute teenage boy fairly easily as a Sweet Polly Oliver - and her forbidden love for her captain makes them almost seem like Yaoi Guys. Even a few comically perverted guys in the manga fall for her to a degree- including one who goes past flirtation and outright into attempted rape, with rapidly disappearing 'comedy' aspects as it becomes clear what his intentions are and what this would mean for her prospects at continuing to pass for male.
- Diva from Blood Plus transforms herself to look like this after raping and killing her twin sister's adoptive little brother Riku in order to impregnate herself. To add insult to injury, it's his appearance she takes.
- Protagonist Ryogi Shiki of Kara No Kyoukai is a subtle example, as there are few extraneous characters to comment on her handsomeness. In the first chapter, every phrase concerning her was written so that her actual gender was not mentioned until the second-to-last line. This probably has to do with her (originally) having two personalities, one male and one female.
- Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club mostly doesn't care if she's taken for male or not and often dresses in feminine clothing when she's not at school... but since the rest of the Host Club is determined to keep her gender a secret, she wears a male school uniform.
- Benio "Benibara" Amakusa of St. Lobelia Girls' Academy's Takarazuka Club, meanwhile, is a fully intentional example.
- Setsuna Sakurazaki of Mahou Sensei Negima has fooled some into thinking she was male while dressed in edo period clothes. Most cite it as her behavior around her charge Konoka.
- In Negima?! Neo, they swap roles. But nobody makes any comment, because the only other girl around turns out to be Tsukuyomi...
- Yagyu Kyubei from Gintama is an unusual example - she exemplifies this trope, but not on accident; she was raised as a male. Otae says Kyubei was "born with a woman's body, but a man's heart".
- Both Yayoi and Lin from Kure-nai. It's no wonder that they always end up fighting each other.
- Kiri from Never Give Up! ended up with the looks of her father. Furthermore, to follow her love interest, she gets hired as a male model.
- Her masculine features are emphasized by her love interest, Tohya, being an effeminate-looking boy. This is often joked about by Kiri's friend, Natsu:
Natsu: I do think you two look good together.
Kiri: Huh?! Really?!
Natsu: Prince Kiri and Princess Tohya. You'd be best couple in the yearbook, for sure!
- In Martian Successor Nadesico, an escaping enemy once confused the athletic, short-haired Action Girl Ryoko for a guy when she tried to contact him via Holographic Terminal. She was not amused. Note this was a one-off occurrence, as this confusion would not be possible in person thanks to the magic of Latex Space Suits, and the character in question had a particularly narrow view of "proper" mecha pilots.
- The viewers weren't the only ones who were confused with the gender of the boyish Otto from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. In the supplementary manga that featured the Numbers, it's revealed that most of the Numbers themselves were also unsure whether Otto's a man or a woman, and Quattro ordered the few who do know to keep a tight-lip about it.
- And in the post-StrikerS Time Skip, she's now working as a butler for the Belkan Saint Church, complete with matching suit.
- In Himegami, there's several bifauxnen hiding almost in plain sight. The protagonist Hyou is one, though the women she protects all know. The primary villain, a French noble named Gawain, very surprisingly turns out to be one after everyone but her servants leave her home, and she undresses to be waited on hand and foot. That suit hides her bust very well.
- Ren Radou from Get Backers fits this trope to a T, especially in the manga. In the anime, she's tomboyish but still recognizably female (even without having a voice). In the manga, she's...well, see for yourself
 ◊.
- Averted in AngelicLayer, since Sai apparently wears a long skirt.
- Most likely averted in They Are My Noble Masters, Natose is a semi-bifauxnen, the only thing is she has boobies (huge ones in fact), and she wears pantsu/panties under her clothes.
- Ice Revolution - tomboy Masaki is getting tired of constantly being mistaken for a boy (her short Anime Hair, preference for tracksuits, masculine speaking style, aggressive nature, amazing strength and fighting skills, in-denial dojo-owning father and two brothers, one of whom looks just like her don't help) gets inspired by figure skating after trying to find the only boy who's seen her in a girl's uniform in order to thank him after he saves her from a truck. Unfortunately the coach who discovers her believes he's found the next great male figure skater. It takes another two chapters before that's cleared up and a Wholesome Crossdresser gives her beauty advice.
- Oniisama E has Rei and Kaoru; Rei usually wears a black suit with lacy shirt while Kaoru's clothes tend to be almost vaguely unisex.
- Kana, the Wrench Wench from Haibane Renmei.
- Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV of Cowboy Bebop. See Cowboy Bebop At His Computer for the confusion that resulted from her character design.
- With a guest appearance by V.T., the long-distance truck driver (what's the faux equivalent of biseinen?) in episode "Heavy Metal Queen".
- Healing Care, Dark Action Girl and Ribbons' twin sister from Gundam 00.
- Ennis from Baccano! is a partial case, being obviously female but prone to dressing and carrying herself like a man in a time period where that didn't often happen. The real bifauxnen however is Ricard Russo, who's more often taken for a Cute Shotaro Boy than a teenage girl by characters and readers.
- Almost all of the above examples are predated by Black Jack's Kisaragi Kei, who began living entirely as a man after her (cancerous) ovaries and uterus were removed.
- Kiri-chan from Ga Rei Zero. (Almost a carbon copy of the one in the picture above.)
- Shadow in Godannar manages to cross the line all the way to "are you sure she's not a man?" despite having an obviously female body. This is because she manages to be one of the few pilots to contract the Insania Virus, which is supposed to primarily affect men.
- After years of doing the opposite in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure, Hirohiko Araki finally dropped the reverse Bridget on us with Hot Pants in Steel Ball Run. It makes her Stand power, the flesh-spraying Cream Starter surprisingly fitting and making her a de-facto Staff Chick.
- After cutting off her long braids, Lichtenstein in Axis Powers Hetalia can pull of a rather convincing Bifauxnen, despite being a Yamato Nadeshiko personality-wise. She's not very pleased by such a prospect, though, since it outlines her lack of endowments.
- You would never know Miura Ito of W-Juliet was a girl unless she told you, especially at the beginning of the manga. Likewise, her boyfriend Makoto makes a gorgeous woman, to the point where all of his male classmates are in denial when they find out the truth at the end of the manga. Ito is constantly given male roles in the school drama club (their teacher is apparently a huge Takarazuka fan), and the one time she was cast as the female lead it was supposed to be a comedy version of Sleeping Beauty, with Makoto as the hansom prince.
- Jun of Saki. Short hair, dress shirt and tie, husky voice, usage of male first-person pronouns, and a tall, lean figure? Even some viewers were thrown off by this despite her presence in an all-girl tournament.
- Throughout most of the series, Yubel in Yu-Gi-Oh GX does look female. Actually, she's a hermaphrodite. The confusion sets in when you see her in her formerly human state, where she's a prepubescent girl with a masculine features. Viewers often mistake her for a boy because she was so androgynous.
- Amane Ohtori of Strawberry Panic, to the point that her nickname is the "Prince of Spica". Aside from her voice (and that you need to really listen for to hear any differences) and the fact that no male appears in the anime, ever, there is no way to tell she's not a she. There's even a quick after-sex scene near the end that shows her nude form, and you might not tell even then because below the waist is covered anyway.
- Tomokane of GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class is so masculine to the level that she's easily passed off as a boy with girl's school uniforms.
- A character in Monochrome Factor who is employed at Master's bar looks perfectly male as his shirt is always half open and you can see he (she) has a flat chest. However, after he goes a little crazy after telling Maya he (she) is actually a girl and Mayu rejects him, then is posessed by kokuchi she (he) seems to develop rather large breasts...
- A recent example, Nagi from Nyan Koi! is tall and flat-chested, also a gangster (the daughter of a Yakuza family) and the captain of the track team. She used to love girlish clothes and things, but started dressing and acting like a man after her first love rejected her.
- Mashiro Ichijo's gender identity is a key part of the plot of the manga After School Nightmare.
- Two manhwa series are doing this similtaniously:
Comic Books
- Happened to Jubilee of the X-Men at least once. In a slightly odd turn of events, the dinosaur-riding tribe who made the mistake actually had her half-way to the altar with a choice bride standing by before the misunderstanding could be cleared up.
- In the early Star Wars comics, the ones produced by Marvel, there was a prince who went to Luke Skywalker for help; later in the arc it was revealed that this character was that princes' twin sister, as the prince himself had died. For some reason she'd needed to keep his death a secret. At the end of the arc the princess also died, and the two of them met Yoda in the afterlife - the princess was clearly shorter and somewhat narrower-shouldered than her brother, but still fairly androgynous.
Film
- The Angel Gabriel played by Tilda Swinton from the movie "Constantine". She/He was very attractive!
- Orlando from the film Orlando, also played by Swinton.
- Johnny (Jane Birkin) from Je T'aime Moi Non Plus. She ends up giving the gay protagonist Krassky (Joe Dallesandro) a major case of Stupid Sexy Flanders after dropping a Bridget on him.
- Cate Blanchett playing... er... "not Bob Dylan" (It Makes Sense In Context) in I'm Not There
- Chloë Sevigny from If These Walls Could Talk 2
- Angelina Jolie in GirlInterupted was wonderfully Johnny Deppish.
- Imogen Stubbs, as Viola/Cesario in the 1996 adaptation of Twelfth Night. Olivia's infatuation is completely understandable...
- A short-haired Keira Knightley is mistaken for a boy (and to be making out with the female protagonist) in one scene in Bend It Like Beckham. (*happy sigh*) Although the character is traditionally feminine in some ways, her sportiness, preference for trousers at all times, and lack of interest in enhancing her cleavage create a boyish aura around her (contributing to her mother's suspicions that she's gay).
Literature
- In Anne Rice's 'The Vampire Lestat' The Vampirized Gabrielle, Lestat's mom usually adopts male clothing and hair style to be free to do as she wished. During the time (late 18th century) it was difficult for women to get away with living so independently, so she does this for practical reasons.
- The protagonist of Tipping the Velvet, a male impersonator in late Victorian England.
- And her first lover Nan, also a male impersonator.
- Keladry might be an example of this. As the first girl in several hundred years to train for knighthood without disguising herself as a boy, most people know or are directly told who she is. But with her tall, fairly muscular build, at least one minor character was initially confused. "Isn't Keladry a girl's name?"
- Played with (and subverted) in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Secondary protaganist Bree is a six-foot-plus, strapping Scottish redhead who waltzes around in the 18th century in trousers— but only passes for a man if you're really not looking, and is goggled at, flirted with (with cracks about stepladders) and horrifies her father.
- Jame from Chronicles Of The Kencyrath is mistaken for a boy on a regular basis, is declared to be officially a boy in a fair few contexts throughout the books, and is mistaken constantly for her twin brother.
- In One Good Knight, (part of Mercedes Lackey's Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series), the Champion, Sir George, turns out to be Sir Georgina. The Order of the Glass Mountain has no problems with training female Champions, but she has to hide her true gender to keep the villain from figuring out how she got past his magic barrier.
Live Action TV
- Shane from The L Word.
- And in Real Life, Kate Moennig, the actress who plays Shane. In fact, fans of the show often conflate the actress with her role, which is lampshaded in this tongue-in-cheek interview.
- Note: The Doctor Who character to whom the quote at the top of the page refers is definitely not an example of this trope. The Countess (Catherine Schell) was a stereotypical glamorous woman (though of a certain age). Either the Doctor, as an alien, is insensitive to the charms of the human female, or given that this was a Douglas Adams episode, he was simply letting the Countess know that she wasting her time using her charms on him. Given the obvious chemistry between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward (in a schoolgirl outfit!) in the same story, the later, probably.
- Poor, poor Bob.
- In the original pilot for the Get Smart TV show, this was done with Agent 99. When Maxwell Smart first meets Agent 99, she has a pageboy haircut and is dressed in a not-very-flattering chauffeur's outfit. It takes Max most of the episode to realize that she's female.
- Actually she comes off quite sexy and clearly female right from the start...but this is Max we're talking about.
- Anjali Jay as Djaq in Robin Hood; the most stunningly beautiful "boy" you've ever seen.
Theatre
Video Games
- Sheik from The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though this is debatable because magic is involved). The fans are split in how far the transformation goes; mere clothing, hairdo and a more masculine shape or a complete gender transformation. Nintendo doesn't seem to care about such details and at most it's become humorous fodder whenever mentioned.
- Isn't there anybody else who mistook Tetra for a boy at first glance as well? Aryll's "The girl fell into the forest!" caught me (who never reads any instruction-manuals but only looks at the art-work) completly off-guard!
- King from King Of Fighters. She dressed as a man in the original Art Of Fighting, due to an incident regarding her gender and childhood training in Muay Thai. In that game, she is presented as asexual (besides baring her bra if beaten with a super move), but future games acknowledge her true gender. She continues to dress is masculine clothing in all her later appearances, though; the closest concession to her actual gender, clothing-wise, is wearing a dress in her ending in The King of Fighters XI.
- Another SNK example - Koujiro, the Sweet Polly Oliver/Half Identical Twin of Last Blade. Thanks to a gender-ambiguous name, her gender is debatable until her story-mode ending, when her supporting cast are relieved that she can go back to Staying In The Kitchen. Thankfully, she has other ideas.
- Razzy, a major supporting character in the underrated game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story is very ambiguously gendered. In fact, throughout a good chunk of the game, the player character and various NPCs think that Razzy is a boy. One NPC even comments that Razzy will be a handsome man when he grows up. Coupled with this boyish look is that, out of the five available weapons in the game (sword, axe, spear, knuckles, and drills), Razzy uses knuckles. Also adding confusion is that it is hinted that, while playing as the female option, Pratty, Razzy will acquire a crush on you.
- Hikaru of Power Instinct Matrimelee is a almost a parody of characters like Bridget from Guilty Gear (like many characters in the game). Her gender is so well hidden that nothing in the game itself actually mentions it, not even in her ending. The only way someone would be able to determine her true gender is from other documentation.
- Faris, the pirate captain in Final Fantasy V, whom Bartz and Galuf swoon over before The Reveal.
- This troper was always unclear how anybody would've been fooled by her. Even with 30x30-pixel sprites and not being able to read the language, I had her pegged not only as female but as Lenna's sister almost from the moment she was introduced. After giving up on trying to muddle through an RPG where I couldn't read anything, several years later I played the game in English and was amazed that her gender was supposed to be a surprise.
- This◊ is what Amano originally drew her as. The SNES's graphics messed the twist up.
- In Persona 4, one of the main characters, Naoto Shirogane, the masculine, pistol-wielding, uniform-wearing, amateur detective-turned high school student is a biological woman dressing as a man.
- Her outfit seems to be a reference to the Kuzunoha family as well.
- Disturbingly enough, Izanami's human form looks a lot like the Protagonist, despite being a woman.
- Also in the manga, the gas station attendent look even more boyish than in the game.
- Fujiwara no Mokou from Imperishable Night.
- Wriggle Nightbug from the same game fits this trope better. Mokou's just a tomboy.
- Here's some fanart of what Wriggle would look like as a Gender Flipped version: exactly the same. And then there's all the NSFW fanart of her proving her girlhood by exposing herself...
- And this is even considering the fact that there are no males in Touhou games. Period.
- Youmu Konpaku from the previous game in the saga as well. It took this troper a few play throughs to remember the the law that the previous troper mentioned, which came with the realization that "...wait, this kid's a girl?!". The fact that she's basically a samurai in her demeanor doesn't exactly help.
- Annie Eilenberg, title character of the upcoming Atelier Annie, is practically the embodiment of this trope. Seriously, look at this and see what your reaction is... this troper is willing to bet it'll be "... that's a GIRL?!" If the existing image wasn't so good, she'd be the banner girl for the trope. Of course the game itself wastes no time in poking fun at her for this, with several NPCs mistaking her for a boy at first glance.
- In the first Sa Ga Frontier game, Asellus is a girl who is mistaken for a man by a maid who made a suit for her, who develops a crush on her. According to a sourcebook, this (and Asellus's feelings for her companion, Lady White Rose) is due to the magical blood transfusion she got from the Charm Lord, a Dracula-type character. (It doesn't help that the Lord insisted that Asellus become the "Prince" (not princess) of his kingdom.)
- From Infinite Undiscovery: Vic (a short spoiler tag will make this too obvious, so I'll add a bit: Vic's true gender soon becomes fairly obvious with several hints shortly after Vic joins your party).
- Leo from Tekken 6. Short hair, check. Masculine name, check. Masculine outfit, big check (includes a white masculine tuxedo).
- Masculine build, even. If that's supposed to be a woman, then someone at Namco changed their mind at the absolute last second.
- That's certainly an odd "masculine build" (not a single one of the males in Tekken, even the ones considered girly-looking, are built as slightly) and one can see that the belts around her chest are more for function than for decoration.
- Chris in Princess Waltz. She not only dresses like a boy, and has the interest of all the girls; she was told she was supposed to be born a boy and plans to become one through magic. Even after she starts sleeping with the main character, her ultimate goal doesn't change. Somehow Chris' gender isn't obvious to Arata after the second chapter. No, not even after seeing her in the bath.
- Halo: The "tough" type female Marines (voiced by Michelle Rodriguez).
Web Comics
- Ash from Misfile, who actually used to be a guy.
- Probably closer to The Ladette: Her gender tends to be clear enough for most people, but she very much acts like she used to when she was he.
- Alex from Chris Hazelton's first work, Building 12, is a straight example. She was selected to an exclusive program to fill a diversity quota because her application was smudged and they thought she was a guy (it gets mostly female applicants), so now she's pretending to be male.
- Vivian from My Life In Blue.
- A weird example, Tedd from El Goonish Shive accidentally sets off his transformation gun and is turned into a girl. His friend doesn't notice until Tedd points out the twins.
- Grantz, Baron Wulfenbach's monster hunter. This troper's first reaction upon seeing them refer to her as "she": "That's a girl?!"
- Wilhelm from Boobs Ahoy, who gets mistaken for a boy so frequently that its practically a Running Gag. Conversely, her co-star Captain Clover doesn't look much like a boy, she just acts like one.
- An from Footloose.
- Part of an Instant Cosplay Surprise (sort of) inflicted on Alex by Lita in Cheer! for their "date". Don't think she didn't have an agenda there.
- Die-hard anime fan Yuuki from Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki seems to be deliberately aiming for this effect with her boy's uniform but can't quite pull it off due to the Most Common Superpower.
- Brooke Lynn of Eerie Cuties is one complete with 'That guy from summer camp.' Cue Cross Popping Veins and possible Berserk Button.
Web Original
- Dacey Ashcroft of Survival Of The Fittest version 3 is described as being very ambiguous in gender - especially since she is very tall for a girl and in general, just doesn't act 'girly'. That she deliberately perpetrates this charade doesn't help matters for the confused.
Western Animation
- One episode of Family Guy sees the Griffins in witness protection in the Deep South, and Chris befriends a kid named Sam who looks and sounds like a guy - until he kisses Chris and it's revealed shortly after that he is a she.
- Another episode, "Mind Over Murder", the 'man' Peter punches turns out to be a woman, leading to her unfortunate pregnancy as well.
- The title character of Cybersix's secret identity involves wearing glasses, recombing her hair and dressing as an english teacher named Adrian (she fools everyone).
- Smellerbee in Avatar The Last Airbender. Notably, in her first appearance she appears to be a straight use of Crossdressing Voices which is quite unusual for the show, and it's not until she comes back a year later that her gender is revealed. She still gets offended when people think she's a boy, though.
- Covered in Todd World, a series targeted at preschool audiences. Todd's dog, Benny, meets a dog named Sam and they play together in the mud, so he never really gets a good look at her. When they meet later, Benny is shocked she's a girl— "Sam" is short for Samantha. He thinks that he can't play with a girl, but learns differently. "Benny has a new friend now. Girls make great friends and so do boys!"
- Mulan. Pretty as a girl, she passes for a feminine looking boy.
Real Life
- Canadian model Eve Salvail.
- Mary Frith, a.k.a. Mad Moll Cutpurse was a well-known pickpocket and pimp in the English Renaissance, who dressed as a man, dueled other men, smoked a pipe, and swore. She was married to a man eventually, but it was largely believed to be a domestic farce. Thomas Middleton's play The Roaring Girl was based on her.
- Julie d'Aubigny, "La Maupin" was a 17th century duellist and opera singer. She was raised by her father, who taught her to fence. At age 15, she seduced his employer, the Comte d'Armagnac. At 18, she escaped Paris with a young man and ended up in Marseille, where she earned money by fencing (in male clothes) and started to study singing at a music academy. She then tired of her beau and seduced a nun. This resulted in a trial (in absentia) where sieur d'Aubigny (mentioning her true gender was a bit too scandalous) was condemned for kidnapping a novice, body snatching, setting fire to the convent, and failing to appear before the tribunal. She was lated pardoned by the king and left Paris again, at the age of twenty, where she was hired by the Paris Opera as one of the first mezzosopranos. She then stayed in Paris except for a short trip to Brussels to escape the law (she had broken the duel edict when fighting for a pretty girl she met at a royal ball). In Brussels she had a affair with Maximilian Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria (one of the German princes of the Holy Roman Empire). She came back when the king pardoned her (yes, again). She died in 1702. Yes, this is true. Why nobody made an anime of this woman's life still baffles this troper.
- Thats amazing. She sounds like the coolest person in the Universe. No exaggeration. Why is this not a film!!!!!!?
- Or an HBO/BBC series? Seriously, 2 hours couldn't contain the awesomeness of this person's life.
- Female crossplayers are a particular real-life version of this trope, as groups will often pick their most masculine-looking female friends to cosplay male characters. This will often lead to bizarre situations occurring at Anime conventions, though people have generally learned not to question the gender of those entering bathrooms.
- There's an entire group of Piratesofthe Caribbean cosplayers, who do all of the main characters and most of the minor ones. Only one of the Sparrows, the Norrington, and the Barbossa are male.
- Pikmin Link, among the very best Link cosplayers in existence. Very nearly everyone is surprised to find that she is female.
- K.D. Lang
- Grace Jones.
- "Otokoyaku" (boy role) actresses in Takarazuka. Often leading to copious amounts of Even The Girls Want Her.
- Katie Sketch, lead singer of the Organ.
- Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler. Often the only thing gave it away was her affinity for wearing dresses on stage (and even then mostly for shock value) during Black Flag concerts.
- Tilda Swinton.
- Kim and Kelley Deal. Wearing lumberjack shirts and smoking like chimneys hasn't helped.
- You mean it has helped...
- Many Victorian actresses and comediennes— notably Vesta Tilley— made a career out of this. For others, it was the only acceptable way beyond a Romantic Two Girl Friendship they could actually get out there and enjoy a romantic relationship with whoever they wanted.
- Anne Bonney and Mary Read, female pirates in the early 1700's. Sources differ on if or how long they disguised theirselves as men, though.
- Annie Lennox, especially during the height of The Eighties androgynous phase.
- Patti Smith
- Jeanne d'Arc (known largely as Joan of Arc in the U.S.) cut her hair and dressed as a man during the Hundred Years War. Actually, when she was on trial by the English for heresy, this was one of the only things they could convict her of, and thus was one of the sole reasons she was burned at the stake.
- Alison Moyet, especially when she was in Yazoo and looked like a butch lesbian (not really one, AFAIK). Deep voice too.
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