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....staying all serious and scowling every minute of the day is impossible! How can anyone look so mad all the time?!
I can't exactly fight a war with a big smile on my face.
A character (usually Badass) who can always be seen with a serious upside-down smile, even in the most pleasant of situations. Though it can be compared to The Stoic, Perpetual Frowner differs in the simple fact that rather than wearing a face of indifference, the character perpetually expresses the biggest, ugliest frown he or she can make on their face.
Usually comes in 3 varieties, 1) mopey and listless, 2). angry and angsty, 3). focused and serious. In many cases, the look of extreme tension continues even when they're asleep. For series where character background and development is allotted, it may later be revealed that the person expresses the demeanor as a result of a living or having lived a harsh or tragic life.
Extra points if the character also displays a habit of keeping his arms crossed along with the constant frowning for that extra pouty look.
If the Perpetual Frowner actually does smile, it's either a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming that signifies that the character has found a reason to be happy and enjoy life again, or one of the most potent sources of Nightmare Fuel you will ever come across.
If the expression is not voluntary but the result of damage to nerves or the like, it falls under Frozen Face.
Compare Aloof Big Brother, Deadpan Snarker, The Eeyore. Contrast Perpetual Smiler. See also Death Glare.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Jotaro Kujo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure never smiles even once throughout the series. And considering how long it's been going on, that's saying something.
- Giichi from Blade of the Immortal. Admittedly, he has good reasons to never smile.
- A well known anime frowner is Ichigo in Bleach, early on revealed to be a result of losing his mother at a young age and trying very hard to cultivate a badass image ever since. (In one episode when Kon runs amok in Ichigo's body, Ichigo bemoans Kon ruining his image that he'd worked so hard on.) The example is particularly interesting considering the fact that he is the main protagonist. Hitsugaya is also a major frowner, probably a result of frequently being the most professional among a group of wackier characters. Kenpachi is usually frowning whenever he's not in the middle of a fight, in which case he'll have a big Slasher Smile.
- On Naruto, even after rising to become the first Chuunin in his class, achieving the place as team leader of the group, being subjected to considerable Character Development, and getting a potential girlfriend, Shikamaru still doesn't seem to find a reason to wipe that big ugly frown off his face.
- Sasuke also started out as a frowner due to his tragic past and fervent mission in life to kill his brother. However, following his Face Heel Turn and the series' timeskip, Sasuke gains a more impassive look, adding to his growing similarity with his Aloof Big Brother.
- Gaara, even after accepting his companions, has almost never smiled a non-murderous smile.
- In the most recent, hot-off-the-presses manga chapters, the Sandman of Tsuna smiles once in awhile and generally shows far more emotion than he used to, but it's still pretty rare in comparison to other characters.
- Among several others, Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta were the three biggest Perpetual Frowners in Dragon Ball Z. The only things they did with their arms were punching, lifting, push-ups and crossing over the chest. Though Vegeta does crack a smile every now and then in the form of an arrogant smirk (and the occasional evil grin during his scenes as a villain).
- Piccolo got the occasional grin as well, mainly when interacting with Gohan - even with the eyebrows up at least once (during his death in DBZ.) Vegeta, however, had somehow managed to master scowling even when asleep or unconscious.
- Mugen on Samurai Champloo always has a nasty, twisted, "don’t trust anybody/ya wanna mess with me?" look on his face. Unless presented with food.
- Kaiser Ryo of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX . Oddly enough, his Face Heel Turn to Hell Kaiser caused him to smile... evilly, with a touch of insanity.
- Kaiba from the original Yu-Gi-Oh!. This was commented on in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, with Yugi remarking "Every time Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies."
- Could we argue that Yami is one of these too? His face seems to be stuck that way. Even when he's happy he's frowning!
- Sesshoumaru from InuYasha is characterized by his constant aloof, disdainful frown, though it is said that he is all the more dangerous when he actually does smile.
- Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist has smiled a grand total of 3 times in the entire anime.
- He smiles once in the manga, in the Ishbalan refugee camp when he is told that there are many survivors of the genocide in camps all over the country. He has a nice smile...
- Kasanoda from Ouran High School Host Club is an unfortunate example. He looks scary as hell, and his default expression is an angry frown... because he's been trained from childhood to take over the position of Yakuza boss of his family. Unfortunate, because he's not such a bad guy, but nearly everyone is too freaked out to notice.
- Lucy from Elfen Lied combines this with Hidden Eyes.
- Gwendal in Kyou Kara Maou is an extreme example, even other characters comment on his perpetual frowning.
- Let's see...constantly frowning? Check. Arms often crossed? Check. Tragic backstory? Check. Frowns even when he's sleeping? At least sometimes. Certainly does it when he's coming out of the shower. Yup, Fakir from Princess Tutu is definitely an example of this trope.
- Tetsuma Jou, receiver for the Seibu Wild Gunmen from Eyeshield 21, has had a permanent serious frown on his face from (at least) the tender age of four. Although he did once adopt an expression of raging, unholy killing intent when Gaou broke Kid's arm, if that counts as a change.
- Thorfinn from Vinland Saga, when he does smile, those smiles are rather....vicious.
- Germany and Sweden from Axis Powers Hetalia rarely smile, though not because they're unhappy. Hong Kong may be a straighter example, and Belarus mixes this with Yandere.
- Of the few blood-related siblings in Hetalia, Norway and Iceland both tend to frown and have never been shown smiling.
- Japan too. While it's more of a blank expression than a frown and he has smiled once or twice, it's noticeable enough that one manga strip revolved around Italy trying to get Japan to smile and failing.
- Netherlands has also never been shown smiling yet, always having either a disinterested expression or scowl on his face whenever he appears.
- Try to find canonical pictures of Zoro from One Piece where he's just smiling happy and friendly-like as opposed to scowling or just smirking. It's very hard.
- Especially recently, though. He used to smile and laugh quite frequently in early appearances. It gets rarer after he loses to Mihawk. In the Arlong Arc, Sanji notes that Zoro developed a bad temper after he lost to Mihawk, so this change is very, very intentional on Oda's part.
- Similar case with Tashigi. She smiled a lot early on, but after some bad experiences in Alabasta, likely disillusioning her in many important ways, she generally looks either impassive or rather miserable.
- Nove in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, whose expression is always in some form of angry, and maybe some bits of embarassed. In fact, fans reacted with shock when the artwork for an audio drama showed her with a slight smile on her face.
- Exedore/Exsedol's redesigned version, when seen in Macross 7. The only time he ever smiles is during his Crowning Moment of Awesome. This troper actually thinks he looks a bit like Squidward....
- Kurogane from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.. The only times you see him smiling are when he's fighting... And it's more of a Slasher Smile than everything. As far as I recall, he only really smiled in the flashbacks from his childhood... And in chapter 167◊.
- Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star used to be a happy camper but after his best friend kidnapped his fiancee and left him for dead in the desert, it's understandable that he doesn't smile much.
- The title character of Golgo 13 fame is one of the trope's fathers.
- Sagara Sousuke from Full Metal Panic!. He is described numerous times to be a very attractive boy... except for the problem that he looks perpetually angry, with his eyebrows slanting down and lips pressed firmly in a grim straight line, giving him a very unapproachable appearance. He's actually pretty well known for never smiling in the story. Here's his attempt at trying to, for the sake of his photo ID◊. Though more unnervingly, one of the few times he's shown to smile naturally can be seen here. Yikes, Sousuke, you Sociopathic Hero, you.
- Cowboy Bebop's Vicious is also not a happy camper. The only smiles that he actually gives are Slasher Smiles that live up to his name.
- Natsuhi from Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a rare female example. And Kanon's a male, albeit effeminate one.
- Shinobu from Junjou Romantica, when he's not crying. He's even frowning in the opening theme while glomping Miyagi.
- Xanxus from Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is in a permenantly bad mood and nearly always scowling, but his smile is even more frightening.
- Tsuna in Dying Will form has been described several times as having "his brows always furrowed".
- Saionji from Revolutionary Girl Utena fits this trope to a t, given that his life has been a bit... complicated.
- Gally, in addition to her Perpetual Frown, usually has a Perpetual Pout as well, amply lampshaded. She even got nicknamed "Octopus Lips" in-story, and when Zwoelf has to pose as her she loudly complained that Gally's constantly sullen expression is very boring. Though, given her backstory, it's somewhat justified.
- Paul in the Pokémon anime, which is probably fitting of his nature as "Stop Having Fun" Guys incarnate.
- Hitomi Mizumura from the Hentai manga Boys Empire is like this at first. Makoto even lampshades it for us:
Makoto: Mizumura looks like she's always angry or something.
- Along with a certain pose, Gendo Ikari is a reliable owner of one of these.
- The number of times L had smiled in Death Note can most likely be counted in less than fifteen panels. Near? Not really.
- Does Black Butler's William T. Spears ever smile?
- Homura Akemi almost never smiles. To be fair, it's not like she's got a lot of reason to.
- Guts during his days as the Black Swordsman after the Eclipse. Again, he doesn't have much reason to smile after watching his entire team get slaughtered and eaten by demons, and the love of his life get raped to insanity by his former commander turned demonic god. In fact, when he does smile, it's either a sneer (usually directed toward Puck) or a murderous and bloodthirsty grin (which he reserves for his demonic enemies).
- Tokiko Tsumura's default expression is "I'm about 5 seconds away from disemboweling someone."
- As mentioned above, Athrun Zala from Gundam SEED.
Comic Books
Literature
- "I snarled", "I glared", "I scowled"....Harry Dresden of The Dresden Files is very much this. This is notable, given the fact that he spends most of his time cracking bad jokes.
- Morgan from the same series is practically carved out of granite. He smiles maybe once in all of the books.
- Karkaroff's caricature-esque grimacing in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie.
- Kreacher the house elf makes emo kids look optimistic and happy from his introduction in the fifth book until the seventh, when he finally sees the light and starts to become cheerful.
- When he's not smirking, Snape spends his time either scowling or frowning.
- Or sneering. He likes sneering a lot too.
- Bukama from The Wheel of Time prequel novel is one of these. "The older man brightened. Well, his scowl lessened a little. For him, that was as good as a grin from anyone else."
- Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights starts out like this, at any rate.
- The titular character in the Eisenhorn trilogy, though not by choice. You see, early in the first book, he gets tortured so horribly (an this is set in Warhammer 40,000, so feel free to imagine just how) that the muscles in his face are irreparably damaged. He can't smile, even if he wanted to.
- The Death Gate Cycle: The fact that Haplo tends to maintain a grim expression even while sleeping is remarked upon by other characters. He does smile occasionally, however.
- Tahniya in The Path To War is actually described as having a permanent small frown, which always makes her look like something has irritated or troubled her.
Live Action TV
- Live action/puppetry: The grouchy Oscar and Bert on Sesame Street. All the more remarkable in that their faces aren't articulated enough to make it obvious that they're frowning — Carroll Spinney and Frank Oz rely on their ability to create character for that.
- Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family, any version. (Not counting Addams Family Reunion, which we do not discuss.) When she smiled after being brainwashed in Addams Family Values, it deeply unnerved all onlookers.
- "She's scaring me!"
- Not so much in the original TV series. She was quite cheerful there. (And how dare you even mention the name of Reunion?!)
- However, she was in the ORIGINAL newspaper comics, which preceded the live action show
- Stargate SG-1's Teal'c as played by Christopher Judge. Seriously. How many examples are named here and nobody mentions the frowniest face in Showbiz?
- You try smiling after your forehead is cut with an Orak knife and molten gold is poured into the wound. Makes a kick-ass tattoo, though.
- Compare with Christopher Judge himself, who always seems cheerful.
- Bart Bass in Gossip Girl. Lampshaded by Eric: "He only has one facial expression. He scares me." Whenever he does try to act in a friendly or romantic manner, it's very disturbing and clearly fake.
- In Stargate Atlantis Rodney Mckay personifies the D: face, when he isn't scowling/whining/complaining. Does that count, even though he isn't a stoic?
- Ronon Dex scowls half the time, usually to intimidate someone (he's 6'4"), although he has been shown to smile occasionally.
- This becomes hilarious in a crossover episode where Teal'c and Ronon are trying to out-scowl each other before they beat the crap out of each other.
- The title character of House.
- Angel smiles so rarely that when he does it's enough of an event that one of the other characters may feel called upon to remark on it.
- Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries, in more episodes than not. You can tell that if he's smiling things must be going really, really well.
- Debbie Downer, played by Rachel Dratch in a recuring SNL skit. She always says depressing things and brings down the mood of any gathering.
- Aaron Hotchner from Criminal Minds. Also a male When She Smiles.
Music
- Rivers Cuomo of Weezer is notorious for always looking somewhat dismayed. Which makes his obvious happiness in the music video for "Keep Fishin'" a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- As a kid, I found the Backstreet Boys to demonstrate this trope in any opportunity they could, mainly posters/CD covers. In fact, the only way I could tell the difference between them and N'SYNC was that N'SYNC smiled - the Backstreet Boys didn't.
- In the song "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, people think there is something wrong with the narrator because of this.
- Henry Rollins always looks angry - and he probably is at something
Video Games
Webcomics
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach looks perpetually unhappy. Then again, given how much he likes his job...
- A good adventuring fight seems to perk him up a little, though, if this page is anything to go by.
- Earthsong's Gwen.
- Karkat is the angriest troll. He is just so angry, you don't even know.
- Karkat smiled once. Eridan smiled never.
- Aeris has such a short temper that she's almost always at least annoyed. When she does smile, it's generally not a good sign.
- Sabrina's mother and father are a pair of frowners, too.
- Butler insists that he has more than one expression, but apparently doesn't look into mirrors often.
- Scowl 3:The Scowling.
- Rocky rarely shows happiness in Our Little Adventure, possibly because he's surrounded by idiots.
- Dave of The Anime Club. Since Mort and Mark are always yelling at each other, they might count, too.
- Mike Warner has smiled about ten times over a ten year period of existence. Note that these smiles only appear when he's completely hammered. The comment section following this comic and Amber's reaction kind of says it all.
- Manly Guys Doing Manly Things seems to collect Perpetual Frowners, as seen here.◊
- Tyler in Damaged Tape hasn't smiled once in the entire run of the comic. He's only had two other expressions: yelling, and a typical Nut Shot reaction face.
Web Original
- Strong Bad, from Homestar Runner, has a luchadore mask for a face, giving him a perpetual scowl.
- Strong Bad has smiled on a few occasions... Including one time in which he believed that being flushed down the toilet would turn him into a monster. This Troper isn't sure whether he was smiling because he honestly believed that he would mutate into a Kaiju or if he simply liked being flushed down the potty.
- Strong Sad, who is pretty much the emo member of the group, almost never smiles, except for a few occasions (Usually when he gets his revenge on Strong Bad... or when he's had too much caffeine).
- Heck, ALL of the Brothers Strong (Strong Bad, Strong Sad, and Strong Mad) are often seen with frowns on their faces.
- The Homestar Runner Wiki has pages for cataloging instances of smiling for all three Brothers Strong.
- Doreen, from Doreen and Maureen
- Black puffles from Club Penguin.
Western Animation
Real Life
- As an actor, Ice Cube utilizes the angry scowl so often that when he does smile; it looks downright freaky.
- Many politicians!
- Especially notable in Dick Cheney◊. It doesn't matter whether he's at the Republican National Convention, the campaign trail, having tea at the White house, apologizing for shooting another guy in the face, getting an apology from the guy that he shot in the face, or even making the official announcement that Bush has won re-election — he always has this look on his face like someone just ran over his pet dog a few hours ago.
- Or just ran over your pet dog and is daring you to do something about it.
- Silent era comedian Buster Keaton, also known as The Great Stone Face. In his entire film career he has only smiled once...and he had to push up the corners of his mouth with his fingers to do it.
- Queen Elizabeth was once famous for this one, almost never smiling in public if she could help it. Nowadays she’s rarely seen without a big smile on her face however. This role has since been taken by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose memorable attempts to smile for cameras resembled Wednesday Addams (and provoked similar reactions).
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Although it is not that apparent on press pictures, she seems to have developed some new facial muscles since she has been voted chancellor.
- Ned Sparks ("I never go anywhere, I never do anything and I never have any fun!).
- Despite his rather jokey nature, Eminem rarely smiles in covers, interviews or anywhere else really.
- It's rumored that he made a vow to not smile in front of a camera after Proof died.
- What about Steven Seagal◊?
- Till Lindemann of Rammstein.
- Which makes the video for "Mein Teil" creepier than it would be otherwise, as he as a rather impressive rictus throughout.
- Jason Statham. It's mentioned on his page that all of his good movies could alternatively be titled Jason Statham Drives A Car And Kills People (While Scowling A Lot).
- Pick any movie he's in, he has exactly two expressions: frowning, and frowning with his shirt off.
- Formula One World Driving Champion Fernando Alonso. His smile practically involves a frown.
- Supposedly there does exist a photo of Henrik Ibsen smiling. One portrait.
- Gilmour Dobie (Gloomy Gil), was inducted into the College Football Hall Of Fame with an amazing coaching record of 182-45-15. Somehow, he never let his success affect his negative demeaner. One of his famous quotes is, "There are only two ways you can finish in life. Dead or a loser".
- Charlie Sheen always looks as though he's scowling, even if he's smiling or telling a joke. His eyebrows seem to be the main factor.
- Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown always looked miserable (although that was probably justified). Sadly his spin-doctors noticed this and told him to smile more, it didn't really work.
- Trent Reznor.
- Most birds of prey such as eagles, vultures, and hawks, constantly looked pissed off all the time, although this is more due to their facial muscles being more limited in expression that in humans.
- Also with snakes, especially rattlesnakes, who might as well be considered the most angriest looking animal in the entire animal kingdom, looking like they're constantly pissed off at everyone's shit.
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