Eyes Always Shut - Television Tropes & Idioms

This describes a character who appears to have their eyes shut constantly, except, perhaps, for a few instances of surprise or shock. Nevertheless, they still give every indication of being able to see - which implies that this characteristic is actually more of a pronounced squint.

This is an old device to imply wisdom; more recently, it's been subverted as a device to show "wise guys".

This device, when used to show a "wise guy", is called "Kitsune No Me" in Japanese ("fox's eyes" or "shifty eyes" in English).

Examples:

Anime / Manga

Karin, Bulma's mother and the 'fat' version of Majin Buu from Dragonball.
Takeshi/Brock in Pokemon. As well as practically everyone in his family, except for his mother. There is one scene in the series's long, long history where we finally see them open, but it's not near as dramatic as one could think.
- One of the few women to actually enjoy his constant flirting is the frontier brain Lucy. Upon returning home at the end of the episode, it is revealed that she keeps a group of pokemon, all with the same squinty eyes implying that her attraction to Brock was due to this feature alone.
Bunta Fujiwara in Initial D
Xelloss in The Slayers. Also present in Rezo, the blind priest in the original series. However, that's not because he's a trickster so much as because if he opens his blinded eyes, he'll release the fragment of the supreme demon god, Shabranigdo, imprisoned within, a fact he remains unaware of until he heals his eyesight and does so. Another example is the appropriately-named Inspector Wizer.
Chichiri in Fushigi Yuugi -- he opens his eyes only when speaking seriously.
- This is justified. He's just wearing an Eyes-Shut mask because he has a disfiguring facial scar. He takes the mask off to speak seriously. (On the other hand, how he makes vivid facial expressions with the mask on the rest of the time is never explain...)
Koizumi Itsuki (seen above) and a few cases the narrator Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.
Yakumo Fujii in 3x3 Eyes.
- Only in the first season, afterwards he has them open much of the time. Symbolic perhaps?
Vato Falman, an officer in Roy Mustang's circle, in Fullmetal Alchemist. In the manga, there's Ling Yao, who chooses to do this voluntarily, along with always trying to smile, due to the fact that, although he's a pretty nice guy at heart, he happens to have "shifty eyes."
Also in Full Metal Alchemist, Fuhrer King Bradley keeps his eyes (though one is hidden behind an eye patch... and for a reason) closed the vast majority of the time.
Utsumi, Patlabor's sneaky recurring antagonist.
Ichimaru Gin in Bleach. He has only been seen opening his eyes on two occasions, once when attacked and once when attacking.
Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy. Here, the closed eyes seem to indicate passivity and/or weakness, with the rare instances when he opens them being a prelude to aggressive engagement with a problem.
Yu-Gi-Oh GX makes special use out of this trope; Professor Daitokouji/Professor Banner usually has his eyes shut. He eventually reveals himself to be one of the villains in disguise, whereupon he opens his eyes. They remain open until his defeat, whereupon they close again for the last few minutes before his death. His spirit, when manifest as himself and not a ball of light, still has him with his eyes shut in later seasons.
Both Mitsune Konno (appropriately nicknamed "Kitsune") and Kaede Nagase (from Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima, respectively) do this; the latter is legitimately wise (although Book Dumb) while the former is more of a "wise guy".
Mokona used to have its eyes always closed in Magic Knight Rayearth, so it came as a bit of a shock when one of the Mokona Modokis suddenly opened them in Tsubasa Chronicle after sensing one of Sakura's feathers.
Ohno from Genshiken is another passive example - except when she's in otaku mode. Then you get the scary Blank White Eyes. She has normal eyes in the manga.
Hap from Eureka Seven
Subverted somewhat in the first episode of Romeo x Juliet. A wealthy socialite with Eyes Always Shut appears to have them LITERALLY shut - he sweeps in unannounced in a scene, plucks the wrong lady from the dressing room amidst declarations of love for "my honey", and proceeds to take her to a ball...all without being aware that he's dating the wrong girl.
The eponymous Zatoichi (both old version and new) is a blind swordsman who walks around with his eyes closed all the time. At the end of the new version, he does open his eyes briefly for an interesting exchange with a mob boss.
Shusuke Fuji and Renji Yanagi from The Prince Of Tennis. They only open their eyes when they're ''really' dead serious about something. Yanagi's case is more extreme; when he opens his eyes during a match in the manga, his teammates say they had never seen him like that, unlike Fuji who opens his own eyes more or less often.
Heihachi in Samurai 7.
Digimon's Neemon frequently has his eyes closed. The Japanese card game suggests that he is lazy or frequently sleepy, but in the show he is perfectly energetic. Previous seasons had Gennai for the wise variation.
- No, Neemon's fallen asleep at times in Frontier. He's also not very smart, in contrast to Bokomon.
Inuyasha's Soul Piper's eyes are usually closed. You do not want to be the cause of his opening them.
Watari from Death Note. Also simultaneously inverted with L who never closes his eyes. He only closes them for his death scene.
Takashi Yamazaki from Card Captor Sakura, although he does open them when someone steps on his foot.
The kindly old scientist and inventor Dr. Mayzel from the Spriggan OVA anime movie (Japan 1998). Although you can clearly see his eyes behind his glasses, they're constantly closed and drawn as upturned curves. In contrast, the character looks rather different in the print manga where he wears Scary Shiny Glasses.
Subverted in Saint Seiya: Virgo Shaka, one of the most powerful Golden Saints, maintains his eyes shut to actually keep his power under control. When Phoenix Ikki finds out, after sorta recuperating from Mind Rape inflicted by Shaka himself, he tricks him into cutting off all of his senses and overpowers him, winning their fight and earning Shaka's respect for outsmarting him.
Saemon Kisaragi, the metamorph (of sorts) from Basilisk. He's only seen with his eyes open after killing his foes, and even then...
- Another big example is Saemon's superior, Hyouma Muroga. Similarly to Shaka, he's not blind per se, but since his special powers (reversing people's murdering instincts on themselves, making them kill themselves instead) are so strong that he can't turn them off, he'd rather keep his eyes closed to avoid killing his allies and loved ones too. His nephew and pupil, Gennosuke, also has the same power, but is able to keep it at bay so he doesn't need to close his eyes.
Naruto usually closes his eyes when he's concentrating his chakra or thinking (for some reason, he has them closed for nearly all of the second episode!). It also adds to his fox-like appearance.
Fujita Goro/Hajime Saitou of Rurouni Kenshin.
Ezra from Vandread has these, obviously to emphasize her wise, motherly persona.
Taro from the first Hanaukyo Maid Tai.
Serpico from the Berserk manga. On the few occasions you see his eyes, almost always during a fight, it marks his Lets Get Dangerous moment where he drops the foppish persona. Though in somwhat subversion, his motives are always clear and he sometimes goes out of his way to state them.
Kuroudou Akabane from GetBackers, usually accompanied by a small smile, though he will open them when he's in a ''truly'' good mood.
Media from Pani Poni Dash.
From Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny, the incarnation of Zhao Yun, Chou'un Shiryuu, is practically like this. Apparently, while almost every characters always had their clothes torn one way or another, she manages to keep her clothes clean and never torn from attacks, all when she's fighting with eyes closed. She rarely opens them, if she did, it's probably for a brief of time and in a non-combat situation.
Howdy from the TV show Hamtaro.
Lee Linho in R.O.D the TV.
Kabapu's assistant, Ms. Momochi, in Excel Saga.
Higsby/Higure from Megaman NT Warrior/Rockman.EXE.

Video Games

Kliff Undersn in Guilty Gear.
Moogles in the Final Fantasy series.
Juno in Megaman Legends.
Dr. Noel Chandler in Star Ocean: The Second Story. He is shown as being an animal researcher which is appropriate to the wisdom stereotype.
Online game example: the "Aisha" and the "Chia" species in Neopets.
- Interestingly, in the Aishas' profile, they are clearly shown blinking, implying that the "shut" look is what their eyes actually look like.
Ini Miney from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney always has her eyes shut. Even in her driver's license photo. The Ini we see, however, is actually Mimi Miney, who's impersonating her sister and keeping her eyes shut to fit the role (hers have a very distinctive look). When her facade cracks later in the case, she opens her eyes.
- Shelly DeKiller is also another Eyes Always Shut.
Oscar in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
Redd the Fox in Animal Crossing. He fits the Japanese view of "fox eyes" perfectly--he operates a black market that sells goods for an outrageous price, although you can occasionally find treasures only available in his shop.
The Happy Mask Salesmen from The Legend Of Zelda. He also opens his on occasion, but only when he's not happy. This, combined with his general creepiness and un-movements (everyone else in Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time moves normally. He shifts from one position to another instantaneously.) make him the source of much Nightmare Fuel, but he's not presented as being very wise or very mischievous. However, he is well-traveled and a normal guy doesn't carry around quite that many magical masks (then again, Link winds up with a large collection of them throughout Majora's Mask, so maybe he just goes through Termina often and keeps his eyes open... well, figuratively, anyway.) In the end, we don't know much about him.

Literature

The Warcraft novels wrote by Richard A. Knaak feature the green dragons doing this, both in drakanoid and humanoid form. in this case it not only symbolizes their wisdom, but also their ability to see through the Emerald Dream.

Western Animation

Numbuh 3/Kuki Sanban from Codename Kids Next Door
Gaz in Invader Zim. She actually does open one eye occaisionally, but this is generally a sign that she's finally snapped and is about to commit some particularly horrifying act of sociopathy.

Comic Books

The Western ur-example is Captain Marvel (the one who is not Shazam). He's been drawn with normal eyes lately, but for the great majority of his history they were always closed.
Jughead, of the Archie comic books and television show typically has his eyes closed. It's referred to on-panel by other characters often, even down to the fact that this should render him blind. (A case of either Lampshade Hanging or Genre Savvy.)
- Let's not forget the time when the gang convinced Jughead to open his eyes, upon which he couldn't see a thing due to bright light...
Both Grandma Ben and Lucius Down from Bone.

Music

Milo from the animated musical group Prozzäk.
Noodle from the animated musical group Gorillaz.

Webcomics

Anja Donlan from Gunnerkrigg Court. Her eyes appear white when she's seen in silhouette; apparently her usual appearance is just a stylized way to show she has small, dark eyes.
Dante from Angst Technology has permanently screwed-up eyes.
Grant Kyokasho from Angel Moxie, until his Heroic Sacrifice.

Live Action TV

Rare Live Action version: Harry from Third Rock From The Sun. French Stewart, the actor who plays him, is naturally "squinty" and rarely has his eyes open more than slightly. This is particularly pronounced when he smiles, and he plays it up for comic effect. Parodied in the first episode:
Harry: "I can't see through my eyelids!"
Dick: "Open them!"
Harry: "Oh, they're manual!"
Gilbert Gottfried is also "squinty" in most of his live-action performances.
Ditto the late Dennis Wolfberg.
"Sparky" Mortimer, then-10-year-old sports reporter seen on The Late Show With David Letterman, would squeeze his eyes closed for the first few words of anything he said.

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