"These two really are birds of a feather, but also total foils to each other. The idea of them being exactly the same and yet polar opposites is going to be a huge factor in upcoming episodes."
This trope is about two individuals, (or occasionally, factions or civilizations) that are significantly linked together somehow (such as through a rivalry, friendship, being siblings, co-workers, competitors, etc.) that have differing personalities, and with it, often different approaches to the world in general and especially whatever they might be competing in/for/over. This of course gives them something to butt heads about, since their manner of acting may rub each other the wrong way and each is sure that their way of doing things is right.
By the way, don't get too stuck on the colors in the title. The title refers to a Japanese tradition that gets elaborated a bit later in the article, but it doesn't mean that a character has to dress in or be associated with a particular color in order to fit the role.
Their personalities usually run roughly along the following lines:
The Red Oni is associated with passion, wildness, defiance. A red oni character is often more brawny than brainy, extroverted, enthusiastic, determined, and filled with a zest for life. He is also much more likely to break conventions and rules than his counterpart. Often an Idiot Hero or, in more mature pieces, a Boisterous Bruiser. If a red oni is indeed noticeably intelligent, he will still be much more emotional than the blue oni, and/or with less sophisticated thoughts, feelings, or goals. When a villain, the red oni is often a Blood Knight. Generally speaking, they're more people-oriented than goal-oriented. They may or may not shrug off criticism about themselves or their aims and goals, but say or do something nasty to their closest friends, and you've just guaranteed yourself a world of pain. Likely candidate for The McCoy.
The Blue Oni is an opposite in most ways — more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted, cultured (sometimes more spiritual, although that's not guaranteed). Blue oni personalities are often respected by others, but also likely to puzzle or confound their peers because they are difficult to read and have a mysterious quality to them. Personality subtypes include The Stoic, The Spock, The Quiet One and the ever popular Aloof Big Brother. It's worth noting that while blue types appear tremendously calm and composed, sometimes this is just the surface, and scratching that facade may show that they are, if anything, wound far too tight beneath their calm and unemotional appearance. Villainous blue oni tend to be extremely ruthless, ready to do or sacrifice anything (and often anyone) to accomplish their goals. See Knight Templar and Well-Intentioned Extremist. Likely candidate for The Spock.
If Elemental Powers are present, you can usually expect the red oni to use Playing with Fire or something of a similarly flashy nature, while the blue oni will prefer Making a Splash or possibly be An Ice Person.
There are a lot of ways to play their interactions, so sometimes the two are both leads on an equal standing, sometimes the blue is more of The Smart Guy or The Lancer to the red's Hot Blooded lead. The relationship can also vary wildly, as they just as likely to be close friends as they are to be bitter rivals or enemies. One thing that is sure is that regardless of how big a cast is, when these two are in it, they will be magnetically drawn to each other.
Note that many times this will be a relative, not an absolute, distinction: the Red Oni need not be The Fool and the Blue Oni need not be a Straw Vulcan.
The name comes from traditional Japanese folklore where Oni (think troll/ogre) usually came in two flavors, a red and a blue. Over time, it's gotten to be popular to ascribe different qualities and personalities to the two colors. (Think the high-strung Type A personality and the easy-going Type B personality.) If there is a green Oni in the middle they could be a Chromatic Arrangement.
In a show where it's relevant, differences in fighting style may be something like Technician Versus Performer. For example, a red may rush headlong into combat without focus or a plan, while the blue may use cunning traps and strategies, or tend to win in elegant Single Stroke Battle fashion, or rely on hitting a target with magical powers from a distance instead of running up to their opponent and punching them in the face.
Compare Outside Man, Inside Man, Odd Couple, Cast Calculus (for the evolution of the Red/Blue dynamic through various numbers of ensembles), Tomboy and Girly Girl, Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, and Order Versus Chaos. See also Pink Girl, Blue Boy, Action Duo. Often forms the sidekick section of a Terrible Trio or Three Amigos. If the contrast in personalities between the two actually brings them to blows, you probably have a Tiger Versus Dragon situation. If a third character serves as a moderating influence between the two on a regular basis, then you have a Freudian Trio. Like the Freudian Trio, there may be a third character there who balances the two out, although the relationship is not always equivalent to The Kirk's role in the trio.
All examples are listed in the red-then-blue order unless otherwise specified:
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This Italian brand of drinking water comes in two colors: red for "very fizzy", and blue for "lightly fizzy".The testimonials also reflect it in their personality.
"I'm a Mac", "And I'm a PC".
Anime and Manga
Jin and Mugen from Samurai Champloo are perhaps the most triumphant example. They are not only dressed in the respective colors and are foils, they represent every trait possible of the trope. Water and fire (fish and rooster in the OP), past and future, tradition and innovation (Technician Versus Performer), orthodox and unorthodox, predictable and unpredictable, economy and extravagance, controlled purpose and chaotic energy, order and chaos, stoicism and emotion, etc. Jin is practically unable to feel passionate about anything or form attachments to anyone, while Mugen is reckless passion without direction or purpose (or the brain power to put it to use). Fortunately, they get better throughout all the whirls of yin and yang.
The Elric brothers from Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward (red) and Alphonse (blue). Ed is typically more impulsive quick to anger, and wears a red coat, while Al is a more collected Gentle Giant who typically has to restrain his older brother, and wears is a cool gray suit of armor.
Made quite blatant in the fourth Brotherhood opening — the two pass each other and gain their respective colors.
Also kind of interesting is that all of the other State Military characters wear blue uniforms, and the Xingese characters also tend toward either blue or more muted colors, and Ed is one of the most Hot Blooded characters in the cast. On the other hand, he's a unique example of a highly intelligent Red Oni.
Also, Winry and Sheska from the first anime. Winry is extraverted, enthousiastic and sometimes wears a red bandanna while Sheska is quiet, bookish and sometimes wears a blue uniform.
Ax CrazyBlood Knight Kimblee, who's main outfit before being re-instated is a red buttoned shirt, and cold-blooded General Ripper Archer, who's never seen in anything but his blue military uniform, from the first anime would be a villainous example.
Ayano and Kazuma from Kaze no Stigma. Ayano has a fiery, impulsive, very caring personality, while Kazuma has a calm, impassioned, jaded personality. The colors fit them too; in the OP, Ayano is colored red, Kazuma blue. Kazuma has blue eyes when his power is activated, and a general blue theme, and Ayano has red hair and reddish eyes.
The Sailor Moon manga has Usagi/Minako as impulsive, outgoing red, with Ami/Rei as cool, introverted blue. Makoto's in the middle. As for the anime, Rei contrasts better with Ami, since Rei is just as impulsive as Usagi and is actually a fire soldier to counteract calm Ami's water powers.
While Haruka and Michiru both had the same intentions in season 3, Haruka's attitude was more outgoing and harsh in comparison to Michiru's calmer, more introvert demeanor.
An arguable case is Ogami Itto and Yagyu Retsudo from Lone Wolf and Cub. Although Itto doesn't have the not-so-bright or tasteless qualities of many red oni, he is driven to incredibly reckless behavior and horrid deeds by a passion for revenge, while Retsudo prefers being the puppetmaster and using traps, mooks and the like. Along the way, he sacrifices an appalling amount of men and his own children in his attempts to stop Itto.
Light and L from the Death Note anime series are often shaded in red or blue to reflect this, although personality-wise it doesn't quite apply, since aside from a few times that Light gets riled up after his cause is challenged, (and just before his death) both Light and L tend towards being brainy, cold blooded types. This theme is also used (and generally played much straighter) with Misa and Light, Light and Near, Mello and Near, and even Misa and Takada.
On the other hand, Light tends towards extremes of fantasy and pitches of emotion that L never begins to approach.
Aizawa also gets the same lighting treatment in the last few episodes, but his color is apparently green.
Mikami, on the other hand, is purple.
Goku and Vegeta of Dragon Ball Z exemplify this trope to a point where it could be named for them.
Although it's hard to remember now, but when Vegeta was first introduced he seemed like a cold-blooded and heartless killer, one who seldom emoted more than wearing a Psychotic Smirk when killing someone. It wasn't until Goku proved himself an equal, if not superior in fighting ability, (something that goes directly against Vegeta's pride, the Saiyan traditions and culture he prizes so, etc) that Vegeta starts going off the deep end. Even then, it's worth noting that in the description it does say that (especially for villains) the calm, unemotional face of a Blue can just be a facade, and conceal a lot of intensity and even craziness right below it. (Oh, and Piccolo is definitely a Blue type as well.)
When introduced, Vegeta played the Blue Oni to Blood Knight Nappa's Red.
Literal truth right down to their clothes - Goku always wears Orange Red, and Vegeta always wears blue.
Another example from Dragon Ball Z: Goku encounters a literal red and blue oni in the first season. It's inverted, as The Big Guy bruiser is a blue oni (who gets beaten quickly in a contest of strength), while the faster and more clever red oni challenges Goku to catch him, and spends half the episode dodging the hero.
This can be traced to the very first episodes of the series with strong but dumb Goku and sly and crafty Bulma.
Androids 17 and 18.
On the same side, but Ryoma and Hayato from Getter Robo definitely fit. Ryoma's a heroic burning-sense-of-justice type(well,mostof the time...), while Hayato is a cold-blooded loner. This is taken into extremes in Getter Robo G, where Ryoma's Getter Dragon is red and Hayato's Getter Liger is blue!
Naruto and Sasuke of Naruto (complete with the colors of their clothing and demon forms). In the third opening of Naruto Shippuden, "Blue Bird", the pair are shown against a red-and-blue background◊. Unusually, Naruto has wind-based powers, while Sasuke's are fire-based.
Narutoloves this trope. Pretty much every team has the two guys as this with the girl making it a Power Trio. Other Red Oni / Blue Oni pairs include Lee and Neji, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, Guy and Kakashi (and, before that, Obito and Kakashi), Kiba and Shino, Choji and Shikamaru, and arguably even Kankuro and Gaara (at least after his Heel Face Turn). With Choji and Shikamaru, Choji is easily set off and uses close attacks while Shikamaru is known to think things through thoroughly and always be ten steps ahead, and he also uses his shadows to attack from a distance. Shikamaru is not exactly blue but he does have a cool-color based theme while Choji has his bright red symbol and in Shippuden his outfit is nearly all red.
To a lesser extent, their dads qualify. Shikaku is a fiercely intelligent, rational strategist and Jounin Commander of Konoha. Choza is calmer than his son, but is still the fieriest of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and he has red hair.
The color scene is inverted with Akatsuki partners Itachi and Kisame, the former being a cold, calculating Aloof Big Brother with red eyes and with several fire jutsus, the latter being a Blood Knight that specialises in Water Jutsus and has the blue skin of a shark.
See also Juugo and Suigetsu. Juugo has red hair, but is a Gentle Giant when he's not flipping out and is the calmest out of Taka. Suigetsu, meanwhile, is a white-hairedBlood Knight from the same village as Kisame.
Now that this troper thinks about it, a few of the Akatsuki pairings invert this. Between Sasori and Deidara, Sasori has the orange eyes and Deidara has blue. Meanwhile, Konan and Pein have their hair colors mismatching the trope. Maybe the author is hinting at something....?
Lately, Sasuke has been showing a few Red Oni traits, while Naruto has been showing some Blue Oni traits. But I wouldn't switch the names quite yet.
Then there's Hidan and Kakuzu. No colour association, but jeez, the contrast couldn't get much stronger.
There are numerous cases that could be argued from Bleach: Ichigo and Ishida, Ichigo and Byakuya, Renji and Byakuya, Ishida and Renji, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, Kenpachi and Byakuya.
In Episode 35 of the anime there are two cases when charaters are shown as such. First Aizen (Red) and Ichimaru (Blue) in a flashback. Then Hitsugaya (Blue) and Ichimaru (Red).
Ginjou and Tsukishima. No colour association so far, but we'll see what the anime guys come up with.
Rurouni Kenshin has Sanosuke and Kenshin, who are even cast in their respective colored lights during their first battle. After losing Sano becomes The Lancer.
A lot of the time, Kenshin becomes the Red Oni, especially compared to stoic antagonists such as Saito and Aoshi
In Escaflowne, brothers Van and Folken wear red and blue—the latter wearing blue as a young man. Van plays out as a brash hot head, with Folken a great candidate for The Spock as well as a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
In Fruits Basket, calm, blue-eyed, grey-haired Yuki and temperamental, red-haired, red-eyed Kyou are cousins and rivals in love, martial arts and to some degree even social life, each one envying the other's abilities in dealing with people.
In Majokko Meg Chan, Meg and Non are the Red and Blue respectively, complete with conveniently color-coded hair.
Zenon and Shien, the two gods that appear about halfway through Gensou Maden Saiyuki.
The titular duo of Futari wa Pretty Cure: Nagisa is the lacrosse-playing tomboy who wears the black and red costume, Honoka is the intellectual one in the white and blue dress. At one point they even fight a pair of red and blue Oni just to drive the trope home.
And of course their Expies in Splash Star fulfil the roles as well.
In Yes Pre Cure 5, this trope is played both straight and inverted. Cure Rouge and Cure Aqua play it straight, complete with a story showing how their opposite personalities clash. However, while Nuts usually wears red and Coco wears blue, especially in their human prince forms, Nuts is the quieter, more aloof one of the two, so they are the inversion of this trope (with the quieter one wearing red).
Heartcatch Pretty Cure also inverts this. The pink-wearing Tsubomi is a shy and introverted blue oni; her partner, the blue-wearing (and water elemental!) Erika is an outgoing and energetic red oni.
Kiddy Girl-and has the antagonist duo Saphir and Rubis, with hair colors to match their names (though Saphir's hair is actually closer to green than blue), with the "blue" one able to use ice-based attacks (the "red" one doesn't use fire, though, but rather is a beast-humanoid with long claws), and with contrasting personalities in line with this trope.
Zatch and Brago from Zatch Bell. Also, Zatch and his Evil Twin Zeno later on in the series. The former is a kind, but childish boy who wishes to be friends with anyone he meets, while the latter is a cold, manipulative person who hates humanity and bears a grudge towards Zatch, though this is only because Zatch received the Baou power instead of him. Their owners and even the color of their books reflect this as well.
Asuka Langley Soryuu and Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion also satisfy this trope, although more in the rivalry sense, as Asuka despises Rei and Rei is characteristically indifferent to Asuka much of the time. That doesn't stop Studio Gainax from pairing them up in merchandising, though.
Note that their 'theme colour' is inverted in their eye colour: Rei is blue-haired with red eyes, Asuka is a redhead (or a blonde in the manga) with blue eyes. This arguably reinforces their contrast and even complimentarily.
Their mecha are, however, all red and all blue respectively, and explicitly compared to oni in concept and design just to be obvious.
If you look at the colors of the mecha and plug suits, Shinji appears to be the blend of the two: not a hot-blooded glory hound but not a heartless machine completing the Power Trio.
Misato (red) and Ritsuko (blue).
In Gundam Wing there are two mobile suits designed to complement each other in battle: Vayeate a blue colored suit that specializes in attack and; Mercurius a red colored suit that specializes in defense.
∀ Gundam features Sochie Heim, a feisty (read: bratty) tsundere, and Miashei Kune, her relaxed and practical friend, who both wind up piloting Kapools and partner with each other often.
Yu Yu Hakusho has literal blue and red oni — the blue oni are the bureaucrats in the Spirit World, while the red oni are security. With the protagonists, Yusuke and Kuwabara are both brash and eager, ready to throw themselves at a challenge, while demonic protagonists Hiei and Kurama are far more calculating and keep much cooler heads about them.
Every season of Digimon has at least one hero and teammate that make up this duo.
Digimon season 2 has the high-energy, somewhat brash gogglehead Daisuke paired with introverted intellectual villain Ken, who pulls a Heel Face Turn halfway through the series. While enemies, they repeatedly face off; while allies, they find out that their digimon can combine into a much stronger digimon, linking their characters even more than before. Furthermore, Daisuke felt a kinship with Ken before they learned that he was a villain, and, of all the other heroes, was the most sympathetic toward Ken during the time between repentance and alliance. Oh, and on the Blue Oni quality of "pride and aloofness": After his repentance, Ken spent a long time apart from the hero group, trying to "clean up his mess" in his own way, and worried that even if he tried to join up, they wouldn't accept him.
In the first half of the season, T.K. was the Blue Oni — smarter, more level-headed and rational than Davis. With Ken's arrival, T.K. sort of became the third banana though.
Just 02? Let's see, in the first Adventure, we have the main character, Taichi, who Daisuke is an Expy for, and so they share a lot of personality traits (albeit Taichi's are toned down a little), and Aloof Big BrotherLancer Yamato, who spends most of his time trying to figure out what will keep his younger brother safest. While Taichi is unrestrained emotionally, Yamato is more prideful and tends to get embarrassed quickly at activities that lower him down to Taichi's level. Taichi is associated with the color orange (at least it's close to red), and Yamato with the color blue.
Just Digimon Adventure? Masaru and Touma in Digimon Savers, there are specific episodes built around their might vs. mind clashes, and Touma seems particularly afraid of losing his coolness and intelligence in the face of Masaru's determination and charisma. Nanami taunts him with the fact that he didn't defeat with his prided logic and calculations; he beat her by charging at her head on, Masaru-style, and this seems to disturb him. Their DATS uniforms (red bodysuit with blue jacket for Masaru, blue bodysuit with blue jacket for Touma) reinforce this... heck, there's an absolutely hilarious Image Song dedicated to them (and Agumon and Gaomon) explaining why their personalities and methods clash, but they're still the greatest team... right?
Takuya and Kouji from Digimon Frontier also have something of this dynamic, as do Ruki and Takato/Jenrya from Digimon Tamers.
In short, all seasons of Digimon invoke this trope.
Interestingly, in all of the seasons of "Digimon" save ' 'Digimon Tamers' ', the Blue Oni/Onis have "Blue Eyes" while the Red Oni has brown. In ' 'Digimon Tamers' ', this is reversed (at least if you count Ruki's indigo eyes as blue).
Duck (or Ahiru in the Japanese version) and Fakir from Princess Tutu follow this trope very well. Duck has orangy-pink hair, and is a loud, determined, dizty klutz who cares deeply about people and wants to be everyone's friend. Fakir is a green-haired boy who is cold, seemingly prideful and anti-social. They start off as bitter rivals but later discover they have the same goal — to help and protect Mytho — and end up becoming awkward partners. In the second season, Fakir develops a crush on Duck and the two become even more closely associated.
Keroberos and Yue of Card Captor Sakura fame also qualify; Blue Oni Yue is often cold, introspective, and seemingly totally dispassionate, while Red Oni Kero-chan is hot-headed and emotional.
In the anime, Sakura switches to Blue Oni when she's around the more Hot Blooded Li Meiling.
Sakura Kinomoto (red) and Li Syaoran (blue). A bit of a twist happens when the Red and Blue Onis actually fall in love.
Jonouchi (Joey) and Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh! follow this trope to the letter, right down to their trademark cards.
Sometimes Honda (Tristan) is the blue oni to Jounochi's red oni when Kaiba's too busy, Honda being more romantic, quiet, contemplative, and likely to choose his battles than Jounochi.
Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds has Yusei Fudo as the Blue Oni and Jack Atlas has turned to be the Red Oni. Remarked with Yusei´s Blue Stardust Dragon and his Clear Mind, and Jack´s Red Archfiend Dragon and his Burning Soul.
The newest Yu-Gi-Oh series, Zexal, pairs the stubborn, Hot Blooded and dim-witted protagonist, Yuma Tsukumo, with his calm, strategic and stoic spiritual partner, Astral, for this trope.
In Trigun (especially on the manga covers), Vash is associated with fiery reds and poses full of dynamism while Wolfwood is associated with blue and grey tones and more static positions. Bonus points if Wolfwood also glares coldly at the reader. This is an accurate representation of the contrasts between their personalities.
Vash vs. Knives is a more complex case: Knives is the brainy and coldly rational part of the "duo" but he's also incredibly violent and psychologically unstable. While Vash is a passionate and dynamic character, Knives is prone to feeling lonely and depressed and tends to hang around doing nothing. Moreover, Knives's grand theories actually hide his crazy irrationality, while Vash is able to think with a cold head so as not to take personally all the shit he takes from humans. Manga Knives is often associated with blue and aqua colors, but also with darker reds than his brother. Also note that during their fight at the end of the anime, Vash's vortex is blue and Knives's is red.
GaoGaiGar: EnRyu and HyoRyu, red and blue. Later, they get taken after by yellow RaiRyu and green FuuRyu, respectively. And then again by light pink KouRyu and dark purple AnRyu. They even represent elements - EnRyu's fire, RaiRyu's lightning and KouRyu's light for the Red Oni side, and HyoRyu's ice, FuuRyu's wind and AnRyu's darkness for the Blue Oni side. And it's interesting to note that when the first two pairs switch Fusion Dance partners, they switch across Red Oni, Blue Oni boundaries: EnRyu combining with FuuRyu, HyoRyu with RaiRyu.
GaoGaiGar himself and King J-Der. Twist: GaoGaiGar's G-Stone is green, while J's J-Jewel is red. Not to mention that GaoGaiGar is a mostly black-colored robot while King J-Der is mostly white.
Chrono Crusade reverses the color-coding: Rosette is Hot Blooded, brash, energetic and reckless, but wears a blue nun uniform. Chrono, who serves as her lancer, is calm, sensitive, and the voice of reason, but wears a striking red coat. However, Chrono himself does have a dangerous temper which flares up at times.
In the movie Tokyo Godfathers, homeless Transvestite Hana uses the story of the red and blue oni to illustrate a point to tomboyish runaway Miyuki; in it, Hana explicitly compares himself herself to the blue oni and the gruff but good-hearted Gin to the red oni.
Miriya/Max from Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Or the updated version Klan/Michael from Macross Frontier. In both they pilot appropriately color-coded mecha. Although rather than being rivals, they end up love interests, but hey what's the difference?
In a weird way Sheryl and Alto qualify for this trope as well, as their aura color is Red and Blue respectively due to Chromatic Arrangement, but the attitude between them and their individual behavior when it's just the two of them (most notably in episode 5) fits. Possibly unintended, as the Chromatic Arrangement doesn't appear in its finalized form until much later in the series.
Guts and Griffith from Berserk, with Guts being the violent, determined and impulsive Red Oni to Griffith's cool, calculating and exceedingly ruthless Blue Oni, the ruthlessness even more pronounced when Griffith goes bad. And Guts, in keeping with the Red Oni, swears unholy vengeance upon Griffith after the horrible betrayal that wipes out the rest of his True Companions and ends the anime.
Lampshaded in Berserk Abridged, with Zodd comparing the two with Naruto and Sasuke, though Griffith notes that Guts is way more Emo than he is. And as noted, Griffith does indeed turn into a "winged lipstick monster" by the name of Femto upon his Face Heel Turn.
Pokémon: The American release of the first two games, Red and Blue, sort of mirrors the trope. Also, from the anime, we have Ash, the Idiot Hero, as the perfect example of the Red Oni, while Gary, The Rival, definitely qualifies as the Blue Oni. Paul, Ash's new rival, seems to have taken over the Blue Oni role, mixed with Jerkass. To a lesser degree, Zoey and Nando also qualify.
Pokémon Adventures features the heroic trainer Red and his rival, Oak's nephew Blue. In the Japanese original, Pokémon Special, however, this was not the case, as Red's rival was Green, while Blue was the female trainer that the English-language version called Green.
Gold and Silver fit the trope better, although they don't get the colors.
Kamina and Simon — blue-shirted and blue-eyed Simon is the comparatively rational one of the two, while red-caped and red-eyed Kamina is...well, Kamina. Kamina is also the Red to Yoko's blue.
Later, Simon becomes the red to Rossiu's blue.
On the villain side, the four Beastman generals have this dynamic as well, in a way. Thymilph and Adiane, the fire and water generals, are off-the-wall BerserkerBlood Knights whereas Guame and Cytomander, the earth and air generals, are much smarter, calmer, and more calculating.
The final battle pulls one of these between Team Dai-Gurren and the Anti-Spirals. While Team Dai-Gurren make use of Spiral Energy, which is all about being Hot Blooded, Chewing the Scenery, and fighting with passion, the Anti-Spirals want to eliminate Spiral Energy, and are thus emotionless, aloof, distant, and uncaring. The colour schemes of their mecha even match, with the good guys' Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann being red, while the Anti-Spiral pilots the Grand Zamboa, which has a Battle Aura of blue fire. However, by the end of the battle, even the Anti-Spirals have given in to the Spiral Instinct and begin hamming it up.
In Gundam SEED Astray, Lowe Guele (loud, dramatic, impulsive) pilots the Astray Red Frame, and Gai Murakumo (cool, intelligent, professional) pilots the Blue Frame.
In Prince of Tennis, Kaoru Kaidoh (skittish, kinda naïve, aloof) and Takeshi Momoshiro (cheerful, a bottomless pit, carefree) might not dress in red and blue, but otherwise they fit the trope to a T. And yes, they play doubles.
In Hyoutei we have the flighty and loud redhead Gakuto Mukahi and his doubles partner, the suave Yuushi Oshitari (who has blue hair).
One Piece has two giants, Dory and Brogy, respectively titled "The Red Ogre" and "The Blue Ogre" on their wanted posters, although they both act the same to this troper
Nami and Nico Robin also fit this dichotomy as the two women aboard. Orange-haired Nami tends to react loudly and angrily to the crew's stupid antics and gets very passionate over money, while black-haired and blue-eyed Robin is introverted to a fault, reacting quietly to everything short of a world-ending crisis.
Not to mention Nami and Vivi, whose hair (orange for Nami, sky blue for Vivi) even helps to fit this trope. Nami, as mentioned above, is short-fused and quick to react with anger, while Vivi is sweet and sensible. In a crisis, however, this trope is completely inverted; Nami usually is the one to react with a plan, and Vivi has a meltdown.
In Real Bout High School, Ryoko has red hair and usually wears her (red) school uniform, while Lady of War / The OjouHeir to the Dojo Azumi Kiribayashi has blue hair and wears blue. On the other hand, Ryoko's central rivalry is with Hot Blooded Shizuma Kusanagi, who has a knack for Playing with Fire and has got a slight red tint to his skin.
The second season changes things up by introducing Vita, a tiny girl clad in red that carries around a massive hammer with a hair-trigger temper. Throughout the second and third seasons, she is the Red Oni and Nanoha, who by this time has become much more level headed and calculating, is the Blue Oni among the Wolkenritter.
A Highlander anime movie called Highlander: The Search for Vengeance features a strong Red vs Blue rivalry between its protagonist and antagonist. Colin is a red with a two thousand year old grudge against the Roman general who slaughtered his people and wife, the blue Marcus cares only for bringing "civilization" and order to the world.
If you look closely, the Suzumiya Haruhi series contains a very subtle subversion. At first glance, it may seem as though Yuki (quiet, rational and unemotional) is the Blue Oni to Ryoko's (cheerful, pleasant, compassionate and somewhat Ax Crazy) Red, but actually it's reversed. Over the course of the series, it's revealed that beneath Yuki's expressionless face exists a complex inner world which comes boiling to the surface in the fourth book/second season, while Ryoko is actually a ruthless and emotionally vacant Stepford Smiler whose foiled attempt on Kyon's life was actually a calculated act designed to prompt a reaction from Haruhi.
Haruhi and Kyon themselves could count as well: Haruhi is a passionateGenki Girl, while Kyon is the calm voice of reason and Deadpan Snarker.
In the 6th episode of the Endless Eight, Kyon wore red swimming and Itsuki wore blue swimming.
Also, in the 13th (11th) episode of Season 1, Haruhi is wearing a red uniform, while Kyon is wearing blue.
The two ghosts (or whatever they are) in The Tower of Druaga, although it's not immediately obvious for two reasons: one, the red girl doesn't show up until episode 8, and it's not the girls themselves that demonstrate the appropriate personality, but rather the person to whom they appear. The blue girl shows herself to Neeba, while the red one appears to Jil.
Noa Izumi and Kanuka Clancy from Patlabor. One is a slobbish redhead without a college degree who constantly rushes into trouble; the other is a super-professional MIT graduate with glossy black hair (that looks blue) who never lets any situation get to her.
Dragon Quest: Dai's Great Adventure has the clashes between super-Hot BloodedMaam and borderline cowardly Pop. They're respectively dressed in red and pink and in green. Maam and The Stoic Hyunkel form and even bigger contrast, but they get along well while a large amount of screentime is devoted to the conflict between Pop and his "badass goddess of luck". Also notice that Maam is a martial arts specialist and Pop a mage. Avan and Hadler are another interesting case, with Avan as the silly, warm-hearted and spontaneous red oni (he's gotta have blue hair, but he's dressed in red]] and Hadler as the stubborn and fiery but cold-hearted and stoic green-skinned warrior. Pop and Hadler become increasingly like their counterparts -the former through The Power of Friendship and the latter through the magic of Foe Yay.
D.N.Angel has Daisuke Niwa as red and Satoshi Hiwatari as blue, very obvious in their theme colours. Dark and Krad are rather associated with black and white, though they may also be seen as the grown-up and cynical equivalents of their hosts.
Code Geass has scenes where Lelouch and Suzaku are shaded in red and blue respectively, though it counts as a subversion: Lelouch is the cold, tactical one and Suzaku is brash and reckless... but in the end, both can be hotblooded and irrational under pressure.
Lelouch's first Evil Counterpart (and Worthy Opponent) Mao is also a red Oni to Lelouch's blue in a way: Mao is emotional, impulsive, completely concerned with the people around him C.C. and has no concern for the political climate or anything bigger. Lelouch is (relatively speaking) cool, intellectual, sophisticated, and has lofty political ideals. It makes for an ironic form of Color-Coded for Your Convenience in that Lelouch wears a reddish-brown jacket and Mao wears a blue-and-white great coat.
And Lelouch and C.C. are red and blue Oni respectively as well, perhaps even better. Lelouch is, after all, very passionate; and C.C. is a detached, sarcastic Stoic.
In maps, Brittania is blue and the UFN is red.
In the final arcs of the series Lelouch is red and Schneizel is blue, even though they are both ruthless and calculating Magnificent Bastards.
Sakuragi and Rukawa from Slam Dunk. Heck, Sakuragi even has red hair, not to mention Rukawa has blue eyes (anime only)
In Mai-HiME, Mai Tokiha is the Red Oni (emotional, passionate, concerned with people), and Natsuki Kuga is the Blue Oni (aloof, mysterious, and concerned with goals). They even have hair colors to match (Mai's is reddish-orange, and Natsuki's is bluish-violet).
Mirrored by Arika (red) and Nina (blue) in Mai-Otome. In the prequel mini-series, Nina's mother Sifr plays Red to Arika's mother Lena's Blue, seemingly just for the irony.
Reversed in Kurohime - The Fire Elemental is a pale-skinned, dark-haired Ojou while the Ice Elemental is a pair of hyperactive Dark-Skinned Redhead(s).
Ame-warashi and Zashiki-warashi, the fairies of xxxHolic. Ame-warashi has red hair and is brash, rude, and aggressive, while the blue-haired Zashiki-warashi is the shy, quiet, kind one.
In the manga, however, the Ame-warashi has blue hair and the Zashiki-warashi has black hair.
They aren't quite colour coded, but Tamaki and Kyouya of Ouran High School Host Club seem to embody this trope rather well with cool-headed, intellectual Chessmaster Kyouya balancing up exuberant, people-focused White Prince Tamaki.
Interestingly, at various times during the anime series, each member is represented by a coloured rose. Kyouya's is a pale blue, almost mauve, whereas Tamaki's is white. The red rose went to Haruhi.
Alternatively, the twins Hikaru and Karou represent the red and blue oni, respectively. It's not always obvious since they tend to use the 'Identical twins' act, but a few episodes that focus on the twins delve into this aspect. Exemplified in one episode when, each twin trying to distinguish himself from the other, Hikaru dies his hair pink (red), and Karou dies his hair blue.
One color may be off, but Keroro (green) and Giroro (red) not only exemplify this trope, they even drag out the trope namer and elaborate on it in one episode.
Shaman King loves this. Firstly, there are several instances where the show uses an overlay of two characters, one in red and one in blue - Yoh, the calm, cheerful protagonist, is always the blue character. Also, Amidamaru, Yoh's spirit partner, condenses into a blue spirit flame in battle, which means that Yoh's various oversouls are all blue as well. The major baddies he winds up fighting (Ren at first, then later Hao) have spirits who manifest themselves in red. Finally, there are Zenki and Kouki, two genuine oni who are actually red and blue.
In Fushigi Yuugi, friends-turned-enemies Miaka and Yui. Miaka, who is impulsive and passionate, becomes priestess for the god Suzaku, whose element is fire. The more coolheaded Yui becomes priestess for the god Seiryuu, whose element is water.
A friendly version is done among the male characters: Vitriolic Best Buds Tasuki and Tamahome, and later Tasuki and Chichiri.
The amusing part is that this is a pun on the symbol on Tamahome's forehead. Go ahead and guess what it is.
A better example is red-haired Lavi and Kanda - they even have complimentary weapons (smash through! slice through!) And Hair colours, to top it off.
Although, again, in this case, it's Lavi who's The Smart Guy.
In Soul Eater, almost every meister/weapon pairing does this.
Maka is a cool, intelligent planner, while Soul is impulsive, emotional, and aggressive. It may say something that the Blue Oni is in charge in this case!
Later on, the roles switch; Maka becomes more headstrong and direct, while Soul becomes more of a calm and cool foil.
Maka's father Spirit/Death Scythe mirrors Soul's traits, with a double shot of lechery. His former meister, Dr. Stein, is much like Maka... except that his curiosity is so strong, it drives him to do medical experiments on people while they're asleep!
The Thompson sisters as well. Patty, the Red Oni, is a ditzy, genkiCloud Cuckoo Lander with a hyena laugh, while Liz, the Blue Oni, is calm, serious, and cynical.
Jin and Jo from Innocent Venus. Jin is the smooth talker and nice guy at first; Jo is the intimidating stoic. Appropriately, Jin has white hair and pilots a white mecha, and Jo has dark hair and pilots a black mecha. Subverted in that Jin really was the villain all along and Jo is the true hero of the series.
In Axis Powers Hetalia, Red Oni America is cheerful, idealistic, brash, if a little too much; whereas Blue Oni England is his cynical, grouchy, critical, sometimes underhanded, longtime 'frenemy'.
America also has this with Canada. America, as mentioned above, plays the Red Oni to Canada's softspoken, gentle, thoughtful, and passive-aggressive-sarcastic Blue Oni.
No one's mentioned Denmark/Sweden? Denmark, ie happiest country in the world/constantly smiling dresses in red, even his flag is red, whereas the calmer, quieter and less emotional Sweden is in blue, like his flag.
One could also replace Sweden with Norway, who is constantly stoic, and calm, and although his flag only has a little blue, he himself dresses head to toe in it.
Turkey and Greece.
Azumanga Daioh's Red Oni homeroom and English teacher Yukari, who is goofy, carefree, fun-loving, and irrational, and wears bright red and yellow clothes, contrasting Blue Oni P.E. teacher Nyamo, who is cautious, caring, responsible, thoughtful, and wears darker blue clothes. Red Oni Tomo and Blue Oni Yomi also fit the trope.
Also, Spike's first partner on the Bebop is Jet, who is a ex-cop who reads 18th century literature, tends bonsai, loves jazz and frequently encourages Spike to use his head more.
Tenchi Muyo!! has the very obvious example of sex-crazed, alcoholic, sailor-mouthed Ryoko and her traditionally-minded, honor-driven counterpart, Ayeka.
there is also a possible inversion with Ryoko being blue-haired and base and Washu being Red-haired and cerebral.
It varies with those two, actually. Usually Ken is the steady reliable one and Joe the impulsive, but later on the roles reverse themselves, namely during the final Red Impulse arc.
Fai and Kurogane from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, especially through the first arc. They're almost completely colour coded (eyes/clothes even skin colour and hair to an extent) until their positions start to change and Fai starts to crack.
There's also Natsu and Gray from Fairy Tail, who even have themed powers/auras.
One scene in the first Hokuto No Ken has Ken and Shin standing next to their master's headstone. As they recall his words about the Nanto and Hokuto being two sides of the same philosophy, Ken and Shin are replaced by a Blue and a Red Oni respectively.
In episode 47, as Ken prepares to fight his brother Raoh, Raoh releases a red aura and Ken releases a blue aura, with both auras filling about half the screen and merging into a purplish haze in the middle.
Or, if you want to put into the perspective of KonataIzumi (Blue Oni), Kagami is the Red Oni.
Then we have Misao (red) to Ayano (blue), the Those Two Guys pair.
The main characters of Hunter × Hunter seem to pair off in these. Leorio is the Red Oni to Kurapica's Blue Oni. Same goes with Gon and Killua, Gon obviously being the Red Oni and Killua being the Blue Oni. Heck, they've even stated it themselves; Gon is the one who's supposed to do the stupid stuff, and Killua's there to bail him out of it. And Gon absolutely forbids it to be the other way around.
Slayers (movie/OVA timeline) got rather shy Lina with her quiet, unassuming temper of a bounding mine and narcissistic Naga showing off herself but not keeping a teaspoon of powder in reserve — she isn't wound up at all even when fighting. Lina is leaning toward the fire magic and Naga is more inclined to water, though they have personal reasons for this.
The TV Slayers timeline has Lina as a textbook Red Oni with her red hair, red outfit, red eyes, love of fire magic, and red-hot temper. "Heartless magic-using swordsman" Zelgadis is the Blue Oni. Unusually, Lina and Zelgadis are near-equals in intelligence and strategic ability.
Shiris and Orson from Record of Lodoss War are red oni and blue oni respectively. There's a slight twists, that Orson is also a Berserker and falls into an Unstoppable Rage in combat, but at these times he's literarly not himself.
Sky Girls has Ranko and Haruko Mikogami, as shown in the picture above, who fit this trope to a T.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! with Gokudera and Yamamoto, as Red Oni and Blue Oni respectively. In so many ways. A strange balance between rivalsandcomrades, Gokudera has the firey disposition while Yamamoto is almost always composed. Heck, even their Flames correspond perfectly to this trope.
The opening credits of Kouin Jojishi Tenshi Tan present Judas (blue) and Goh (red) like this, except this assignment only invites Epileptic Trees. When the other way around (Goh->blue, Judas->red) invoking this trope makes quite a bit more sense, especially as both are different interpretations of The Hero.
Shamanic Princess: Tiara (red) and Lena (blue). Or, alternately, Tiara (red) and Sara (blue).
Louie and Genie in Rune Soldier are both very tall and extremely strong, and very good in combat as well. They are also the two characters who are arguing and getting into fights with each other the most. Interestingly, they are the only two characters with unnaturally colored hair, but it's stoic and responsible Genie who has bright red hair and Funny Guy and troublemaker Louie who has blue hair. While Genie has her violent moments, it is almost always because of Louies antics.
Played With in Legend of the Galactic Heroes with Wolfgang Mittermeyer and Oskar Von Reuental. Much of the trope is played straight: Mittermeyer is a blond commoner, more brawny and passionate, and, in his youth, was clearly a bit more goofy. In any other anime, he could be the Idiot Hero. Reuental is colder and more distant, dark haired and elegant son of a noble family. They are even colour coded: their otherwise identical flagships have a red stripe for Mittermeyer, and a blue one for Reuental, and after the uniform change in Season 3, they sport adequately coloured capes! The playing with comes into play in many ways, firstly because they are best friends rather than rivals. Secondly, because they are both masterful tacticians, and very brawny. However, their tactical preferences for commanding fleets are quite different: Mittermeyer prefers swift attacks, while Reuental prefers a slower, more calculating approach, thereby matching the trope.
Mazinkaiser SKL's opening doesn't even try to hide who's the red oni and who's the blue oni between the two main characters.
Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka Miki in Puella Magi Madoka Magica right down to the respective colors of their hair, eyes, and combat outfits. Madoka (outgoing, cheerful) and Homura (distant, aloof, collected) also fit, including their color identifiers (pink, gray).
Madoka and Sayaka, meanwhile, the two best friends at the start of the series, count as an inversion of sorts - Madoka is pink and Sayaka blue, as already mentioned, but gentle, slightly ditzy Madoka is definitely the blue oni to boisterous, Jumped at the Call Sayaka's red oni in terms of personality.
Finally, though it's not reflected in the colour-coding, both Madoka and Sayaka could be seen at the beginning of the series as the naïve red onis to Mami's calm, experienced blue. It seems that Kyouko might also fulfil the red oni role to Mami in the prequel manga much as she does to Sayaka in the anime.
And pretty much everyone ends up playing the red oni when interacting which Kyubey.
From Shichinin No Nana, Nanappe is hot-tempered, violent, wields a red crystal, and wears a red Nana Ranger costume. Regular Nana is much more calm, rational, and level-headed, wields a blue crystal, and wears a blue Nana Ranger costume.
In Rosario + Vampire, the two main characters are Aono Tsukune (the only human among monsters and often the Only Sane Man) and Akashiya Moka (who's much more excitable, to say nothing of her true vampire personality). Most of the other characters also have colour-based names.
Go Lion plays with this trope. Isamu has all the stereotypical characteristics of the Red Oni: impulsive, rebellious, loud, confrontational, outgoing, nervous...but wears a blue uniform, while still piloting the red lion! Akira has the Blue Oni traits: levelheaded, cool-minded, rational, quiet, calm, composed, judicious, reasonable...but wears the red uniform and civilian attire! Fala has an even mix of traits from both red oni and blue oni, wears a pink uniform and civilian clothes, and pilots the blue lion.
The eponymous duo of Tiger & Bunny exemplify this. Heroes with identical abilities forced to work as partners by their sponsoring company, their personalities and views on their profession are vastly different. Wild Tiger is the Red Oni - relying on emotion, instincts, and personal beliefs in justice to guide him; Barnaby is the Blue Oni - relying on logic, reason, and the best interests of his sponsors instead.
Their color schemes are actually inverted. Tiger originally wore blue but moves on to green (still a "cool" color) early on in the series; in constrast, Barnaby wears red, a "warm" color.
Durarara!!: Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara. Masaoimi Kida and Mikado Ryugamine.
Also, Walker and Erika collectively play red oni to Kadota's blue.
Shizuo Heiwajima gets two, actually — when Izaya isn't around, his Benevolent Boss and middle school sempai, Tom Tanaka, acts as his blue, complete with meeting the insanity caused on a daily basis with tolerance and facepalms. He's not without his moments, though.
Tom: You guys never heard of Heiwajima Shizuo? You guys really did go to public school...
Not only do Lotte and Asuha wear the matching colors for their roles (well, Asuha wears pink, but close enough), but Lotte is of course a demon (oni) and Asuha is half, meaning this borders on Visual Pun.
In Night Raid 1931, Aoi is a red oni, being friendly and easygoing, is very open about his feelings, and uses his powers a lot, even when not necessary. He frequently buts heads with blue oni teammate Kazura who is The Stoic, generally keeping his emotions in check and often appearing humorless (although he can be The Comically Serious). He only uses his powers when necessary. For extra points, Aoi wears his clothes casually and has a red tie hanging loosely, while Kazura dresses conservatively and generally wears dark colors.
Excel and Hyatt from Excel Saga. The anime fittingly gives Excel red hair and Hyatt blue hair. When they sing the opening theme song, Excel has a red microphone and Hyatt has a blue one.
In Bakuman。, Takagi and Mashiro; Takagi tends to wear red and is somewhat more excitable and temperamental, while Mashiro wears Blue and is more often level headed. On the other hand, when issues that influence whether the manga they are working on at the moment will get an anime come into play, Mashiro tends to be the one to get impatient and take risks while Takagi is more cautious. Similarly, Miura and Hattori, as Miura tends to lose his temper more easily than the much calmer Hattori does, as while Miura is cautioned to avoid letting artists see him lose his composure, it's noted that Hattori angrily reacting to Mashiro and Takagi going mainstream is unusual for him.
In Muhyo And Roji, Muhyo is a blue oni to virtually everyone he's partnered with. His old friend and current enemy Enchu comes off as fairly stoic most of the time, but inwardly held issues with jealousy and feeling pressure to become an executor, leading him to snap and perform a Face Heel Turn after his mother's death. Roji is also quite the Red Oni, being more impulsive, emotional and concerned with others than Muhyo is. Busujima and Imai are another Red Oni, Blue Oni pairing.
Inverted in a A racing genre manga, Bakusou Kyoudai Lets And Go The older sibling, Retsu, wearing red, is level-headed and careful, while Go, the Hot Blooded and bad behaving little sibling, wears blue. Their traits also show off in their customized mini 4wd racing machines.
Magic: The Gathering: Red magic and Blue magic. Red magic, mages, and creatures are all about passion and defiance. Blue magic tends to be big on thought and planning. Also, fire magic tends to be red, while water magic tends to be blue.
Don't forget about the flavor of the plainswalkers! The two stereotypicals of this comparison are Chandra Nalaar's pyromantic Red to Jace Belleren's mindbending Blue. Jaya to Karn(Though Karn's technically colorless), Koth to Venser, the list goes on and on.
Comic Books
Wolverine (Red Oni) and Cyclops (Blue Oni) - Wolverine's color may be yellow, but he's easily the Red Oni of the team.
from Everywhere in ElfQuest: there's Cutter and Rayek, Two-Edge and Winnowill, Ember and Suntop, and Bearclaw and Joyleaf.
During the Dork Age when Superman was an energy being, he was briefly split into two separate characters, the calm and rational Superman-Blue, and the hotheaded Superman-Red. This was actually inspired by a classic Silver Age Imaginary Story — though in that both Supermen were more or less the same.
Green Lantern: Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner are Red Onis; Kyle Rayner and John Stewart are Blue. There's usually at least one pair of them working together, and they make this trope.
An "emotional spectrum" has been established in recent years, explaining that each major emotion has a color associated with it: Lantern Corps using the "warmer" colors are unrestrained and selfish Red Oni (red rage, orange greed, and yellow fear) while the "cooler" ones are calm and focused on others as Blue Oni (blue hope, and indigo compassion). The exception are the Star Sapphires who wield violet love; as their color is one of the "cooler" ones but they're easily as passionate as the "warm" Corps.
Sort of a running theme with Deadpool, actually. Another example of a Blue Oni paired up with him is Taskmaster, a level-headed mercenary whose unique abilities are based around observation and analysis and who will typically run away from a fight if he determines that he can't win it in contrast with Deadpool's typically cheerful brainless recklesness, but the most striking comparison is probably with Domino, who, like Deadpool, is the cast-off product of a secret government Super Soldier program, and favours the same style of costume and equipment (even wearing what was essentially a blue-and-black woman's version of Deadpool's distinctive red-and-black bodysuit in the Cable & Deadpool series), but is typically cold, clinically rational and often emotionally conflicted over her actions, and her special ability is essentially not getting hit at all in a fight, where Deadpool's powers effectively allow him to wade anything that's thrown at him.
Saxon and Kenzie from Mouse Guard—even their cloaks match.
Hawk and Dove of DC Comics are an embodiment of this trope, with Hawk being red and Dove being blue. Hawk is an aggressive muscleman, quick to anger and always ready for a fight. Dove is a cool, slender peacekeeper who tries to avoid direct conflict whenever (and however) possible.
You could make a good argument for Batman (the cool, calculating Blue Oni) and Robin (the more impulsive Red Oni). Batman is also a Blue Oni to The Joker's Red Oni.
This is reversed in Grant Morrison's Batman, where original Robin Dick Grayson takes over the role of Batman, while Batman's son Damien becomes Robin. Dick is cheerful and spirited, Damien is somber and brooding. This also mirrors the dynamic between Dick-as-Nightwing and both Nite-Wing and the Red Hood.
In Batman-Superman team-ups, usually the writers emphasize Supes' Red Oni qualities and Batman's Blue Oni qualities, even matching their cape colors. Likewise, when they team up, Lex Luthor has his Blue Oni qualities emphasized and the Joker his Red Oni ones, though their color schemes tend towards the purple and green. However, when the Joker makes an appearance with Harley Quinn, he becomes more of a sociopathic Blue to balance her Red.
Usagi and Kenichi. In both cases this is amplified by their character designs: Tomoe and Usagi are round and "chubby" while Noriko and Kenichi are lean and angular.
Gemini Storm has Elizabeth who is cold and snarky and Midnight who is more prone to outbursts. In battle, though, the moods switch. Midnight calculates every move, whereas Elizabeth is much more... enthusiastic.
Sin City has two assassins working for the same organization: Blue Eyes and Mariah. As expected Blue Eyes has blue eyes and wears blue (she's one of the few characters in Sin City that has color added). Likewise, Mariah is also one of the few characters in the series that isn't Deliberately Monochrome. She has bright red hair and wears red spandex. Blue Eyes is the Black Widow, seducing men and killing them quietly. Mariah is verbose and perfers just to chop people up when she kills them. While we never actually see them together, they do reference one another and have the typical "Red vs. Blue" rivalry.
Dwight, normally a pretty calm guy, has had two red onis to his blue oni. He usually teams up with Miho who is much more violent and probably a little unbalanced. He has employed the help of Marv as well, resulting in a similar relationship.
The title character of Shakara has full red eyes, and is in fact a completely red liquid being in a suit of powered armour; he is also insane, reckless, and driven exclusively by rage and hatred. This stands in stark contrast to Cinnibar Brenneka, hero of the Shakara, who was always very stoic, rational, and driven by a higher calling. He also had blue yes and body markings.
Augustus and Julius Furst, patriarchs of the Furst Family in Astro City. Augustus is a dignified, spare man, who can calculate anything to the sixth decimal in his head, and rejigger any Phlebotinum needed to save the day in minutes while puffing on his pipe. Julius is a shaved-headed Boisterous Bruiser who spends his free time knocking back Budweisers and arm-wrestling. When evil-doers show up, Julius chomps down on a cigar, picks up his BFG and wades into the thick of it alongside his super-powered niece and nephew.
May can also be seen as the Red to Darkdevil's Blue thanks to their CousinYinYang.
Raphael and Leonardo of TMNT are Red and Blue oni respectively: Leonardo is calm, thoughtful and self-controlled leader of the team, when Raphael is easily-angered hot-tempered rebel.
Fanfic
In the Great Chicken Miasma's Mario fanfic Better Off Alone, the young Yoshi Waffles is the Red compared to everyone else in the group being the Blue.
In kirbystarwarior's 'Disgaea: Jewel of the Gods fanfic', Laharl is the red oni to Adell, and Mao's blue oni.
Adell can also, arguably, qualify as the red oni to Mao's blue oni.
Winter War gives us Ikkaku and Nanao, the co-leaders of the Hueco Mundo mission. Ikkaku is a Hot BloodedBlood Knight with a newly acquired habit of giving nicknames, a physical fighter with no aptitude for kidou. Nanao is a serious, methodical, control obsessive Badass Bookworm and kidou specialist who so far has avoided hand-to-hand combat.
Also, Frodo who is more goal-focused can be called the blue oni while Sam is the red oni as he is more emotional and intense.
RedTails: the primary character conflict is between Hero / Lancer duo Easy and Lightning. Blue and Red respectively.
In the Hellboy series, the title character (sloppy hot-tempered demon dating a human flamethrower) and Abe Sapien (studious, slightly prissy gillman) are actually addressed as "Red" and "Blue" respectively; although this is due to, y'know, their actual skin color, the association still fits.
From Hellboy II, one could argue that Liz is a passionate Red Oni to elf Princess Nuada's polite Blue Oni, though there's not much deliberate contrast made between them.
Hellboy and Krauss, too, particularly when Krauss is posessing that Golden Army trooper in the final scene - all his glowy bits go blue. They fit the personality portions of this trope to a T.
The Sith and the Jedi from the Star Wars series fits this trope to a T. The Sith wield red lightsabers and are defined by their passions and their ambitions. While the Jedi typically wield blue or green lightsabers and are presented as more intellectual and steeped in tradition.
On a more individual level, the master/apprentice relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker during the prequel trilogy. Obi-Wan is the more cautious and thoughtful blue Jedi and Anakin, being younger and more ambitious, represents the passionate red. Of course, this speaks volumes about the paths the men choose by the end of the end of said trilogy.
The original trilogy also has the brash, cynical, sarcastic Han compared to the good-natured, honourable, and heroic Luke.
The Phantom Menace had Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan for the Jedi, and Darth Maul and Darth Sidious for the Sith.
Also, R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Darth Sidious is Blue Oni to each of his apprentices: Hot Blooded Darth Maul, Out Gambitted Darth Tyranus, and Darth "I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing" Vader. He was Red Oni to his (blue-skinned) tactical genius Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, though.
In the movie version of LA Confidential, Edmund Exley is a near-perfect example of a blue oni (and nearly always dresses in a blue suit to boot), while Bud White is very much a red oni (complete with brown/maroon suit).
In Men in Black, Agent K is the serious, deadpan blue oni mentor while Agent J is the wisecracking, impulsive red oni rookie.
James Ellroy seems to love this trope, the two detectives at the center of his The Black Dahlia are even referred to explicitly as Mr Fire (red) and Mr Ice (Blue).
The Will Ferrell movie Blades of Glory has Chazz Michael Michaels, the improvisational, womanizing idiot Red Oni, and Jimmy Macelroy, the technical, thoughtful man-child Blue Oni. This is even reflected in their "Fire and Ice" costume.
From Watchmen, Rorschach/The Comedian/Ozymandias to Dr. Manhattan. Actually, anybodyeverybody is a Red Oni compared to Dr. Manhattan.
Literally as well as figuratively.
Every Die Hard movie has one or more elements of this. John McClain, the hot headed runner and gunner always goes up against a calculating intellectual Big Bad. The first two movies also have a subplot involving McClain's "Red Oni" tactics budging up against the "Blue Oni" by-the-book style of the authority.
Fight Club: Tyler is impulsive and rash, whereas the Narrator is a calm and cool corporate executive. Their different personalities are, of course, all mixed-up in the heat of the fight.
Trading Places has Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe III.
The Back to the Future movies have Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown.
Top Gun has the brash/hot-headed Maverick play Red Oni to the Blue Oni of his level-headed copilot Goose and their more by-the-book fellow pilot Iceman.
Indiana Jones is the red oni to his father Henry Sr.'s blue oni in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he is the blue oni to Mutt's red oni, with good reason: Mutt is really his son.
Osmosis Jones has this with a color inversion. Ozzy is the Red Oni and Drix is the Blue Oni. This is despite Ozzy being blue and Drix being red.
Literature
In Camus' The Stranger, the borderline-apathetic narrator Meursault is contrasted with the violent, passionate Raymond.
Occurs in Animorphs, where violent, aggressive Visser Three (Red) is strongly contrasted with patient, subtle Visser One (Blue)
The Pevensie siblings, from the movie version of Chronicles of Narnia, can be differenced by this, with Peter and Lucy represented by Red, due to the fact that they are more intuitive, vibrant, determined and, to an extent, more sensitive than Edmund and Susan, who are more logical, cold and down to earth, represented by Blue.
OR Calm, Jesus-y Aslan could be the blue, while the evil, angry witch is red.
In Harry Potter, the Marauders' group has two sets. James Potter and Sirius Black, represented by Red, are the dark-haired, rash, prankish Hot Blooded. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew are calmer, quieter and more collected than them, having blue traits.
Ron and Hermione very much fall along this trope.
Wizards (dangerous fantasy) and Muggles (relatively safe reality)
Gryffindors (hotblooded) and Ravenclaws (intellectual)
Hufflepuffs (just happy to be here) and Slytherins (ruthlessly ambitious)
Trelawney and McGonagall
McGonagall and Umbridge
Dumbeldore and Voldemort, and to a relatively (he was a Well-Intentioned Extremist, initially) lesser extent Grindelwald.
This carries over in a myriad of ways in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. In addition to grandscale comparisons like the rapidly shifting seasons and entire royal families like the Targaryeans and the Starks, this dynamic also carries out between several sets of important characters:
Robert Baratheon and Eddard "Ned" Stark.
Jaime and Tyrion Lannister.
Arya and Sansa Stark.
Cersei Lannister and Catelyn Stark.
The Big Bad Duumvirate of The Thrawn Trilogy consists of the blue Grand Admiral Thrawn and the red Jedi Master Joruus C'baoth. Thrawn is calculating, Affably Evilscarily good planner appreciates art, respects his men and his Commander Contrarian, is extremely pragmatic, and has a temper, but overall is A Lighter Shade of Grey compared to, well, any of the Empire's previous leaders. Also, he has blue skin. Joruus C'baoth is domineering, believes himself to always be entirely in the right, treats non Force-Sensitives like puppets, calls the Empire his Empire, flies into a violent rage at random, constantly rejects any authority but himself, and is insane. Joruus fell to the Dark Side long ago, and the Dark Side is often represented with red. The two are often at odds, and Thrawn reliably comes off looking better.
In Outbound Flight, the two highest-ranking people on the Trade Federation taskforce sent by Darth Sidious to destroy Outbound Flight are Kinsman Doriana and Viceroy Siv Kav. Kav is Red - he's impatient, he tries to attack Commander Thrawn's little picket force right away, he resists and blusters when Thrawn captures the two, he never learns to pronounce Thrawn's full name properly and continuously underestimates the commander, and he gets killed when he tries to kill Thrawn. Doriana is Blue and a foil, and not only does he live, he plants the seeds to Thrawn's joining the Empire.
It's easy to tell that Timothy Zahn likes playing the calculating type off the irrational type, and the calculating type tends to win.
Invoked literally in Monster Hunter Vendetta. The heroes have to defeat a pair of rampaging oni, one stronger and the other more devious, who attack a heavy metal concert.
In the Honor Harrington series, Nimitz is the Red oni to Honor's blue. He's a direct and uncomplicated soul, who is emotionally open (as befits his species), and will obliterate any enemy that comes in reach (particularly doable when you're as formidably armed as he is). Honor is the cooler, less emotionally open (though she's not emotionless) and more intellectual and nuanced member of the pair. She, true to the trope, likes water while Nimitz (being a felinoid) doesn't.
You also get a distinct Red/Blue flavor when Queen Elizabeth and Honor interact.
In The Outsiders, the difference between the greasers and the Socs is described as being that the Socs don't allow themselves to feel emotion, while the greasers feel emotions too violently.
From the realm of Tortall (and the Protector Of The Small series, specifically) come Nealan of Que and Keladry of Mindelan. Neal personifying the Red with his poetry, wild emotions, and inability to suffer any injustice and Kel breathing Blue with her emotionless shell and refusal to let others get to her.
In Death: When there's a pair of murderers, they will likely fall under this trope, like in Seduction In Death and Indulgence In Death. Would it surprise you to know that the Red Oni tends to be the weak spot of the two?
The Jennings series' two main characters, Jennings and Darbishire, follow this dynamic: Jennings is impulsive, brash and extroverted (red), while Darbishire is calm, timid and introverted (blue). The two main teachers can also be classified under this trope as Mr. Wilkins is a temperamental and emotional Jerk with a Heart of Gold (red) while admitted Author Avatar Mr. Carter is calm, reasonable and intellectual (blue).
Western adaptation Kamen Rider Dragon Knight also qualifies, though Kit Taylor (Dragon Knight) isn't as Hot Blooded or impusive as most Red Oni; he really only looks a little that way when compared to Len (Wing Knight).
Kamen Rider Blade has Blade as the Red Oni (And The Hero) and Garren as the Blue Oni (And The Lancer). Played with in that their main colors are the opposite of their personalit (Blade, the Red Oni, is mostly blue in color, while Garren, the Blue Oni, is mostly red.)
Kamen Rider Kabuto has Kagami Arata and Tendou Souji, who fit the trope to some extent, but with some notable exceptions:
The blue oni, Tendou, is the main hero.
Any victories that Kagami achieves are won at length and through actual effort, not handed to him for free by virtue of Dumb Is Good.
The colours of their suits are reversed: Kabuto (Tendou) is red and Gatack (Kagami) is blue.
Kamen Rider Den-O has Momotaros, the red oni looking one, who loves the thrill of a good fight. Then there's Urataros, the blue one, who keeps cool at all times and prefers to use deception to get out of sticky situations and score with the chicks.
Kamen Rider Decade has Tsukasa/Decade and Daiki/DiEnd, although Tsukasa is normally more blue in personality... until Daiki shows up. Their suits mostly match their roles, although Decade is magenta, not red.
Kamen Rider W gives an interesting triangle. While Philip almost-always plays Blue Oni to both Shoutaro and Terui (if Philip is playing Red Oni, then you know it's a bad situation), Shoutaro's "hard-boiled yet passionate" and Terui's "cold and distant yet volatile" personalities regularly has them switching roles, depending on who's Red at the moment.
W's only red/blue combination is HeatTrigger, which inverts Philip's and Shoutaro's colors.
Accel's suit starts out red, but his power-up of Trial Mode is blue. This actually mirrors Terui calming down as the series progresses.
Kamen Rider Fourze has Gentaro, the loud, excitable, dim wit Red Oni, and Kengo, the quiet, stoic, intelligent Blue Oni.
Although Justin and Alex, from Wizards of Waverly Place, are both sarcastic and, to an extent, Deadpan Snarkers, they have really different personalities. While Alex is witty, prankish and lazy, never taking anything seriously (represented by red), her older brother, Justin, is responsible, much more mature, studious and collected (represented by blue).
The interesting thing is that in their wizard competition, they reversed the associated elemental roles, with Justin showing more of an affinity for fire, while Alex tended to use water.
Many Super Sentai and Power Rangers series have the Red Ranger as a Red Oni, and several have the Blue Ranger as something of a Blue Oni. Few have their relationship as a major theme, though.
Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger has Ban Akaza, the Red Ranger/Oni who is chaotic but friendly, and Hoji Tomasu, the Blue Ranger/Oni who is professional but arrogant. The American version, Power Rangers S.P.D., does the same with Jack Landors and Sky Tate, although Jack does not embody Dumb Is Good to the same extent as Banban.
Gai and Ryuu of Choujin Sentai Jetman, though their colors are reversed: Ryuu (The Hero) is the Blue Oni but wears red, and Gai (The Lancer) is the Red Oni but wears black.
Speaking of Power Rangers, the original series (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) fit the trope to an extent - the Red Ranger was the confident, extremely physical leader of the band while the Blue Ranger was the intellectual brainiac of the bunch. The other three members (the Pink/Girl, Yellow/Asian and Black/Afro-American Rangers) probably fall under Unfortunate Implications...
Whenever the Power Rangers writers get lazy and make the Rangers Expies of Sentai, the theme shows up more. Often Sentai will have the Hot Blooded Red who lives by Don't Think. Feel and the calm expert Blue. Power Rangers tones down the loud screaminess of the Reds but falls back on Rookie Red Ranger to the point that the dynamic is the same: a Red who's winging it and an expert Blue, who's actually more likely to be annoyed with Red than in Sentai. It's worse when the Rookie Red is given formal authority. (See, it's known that Red is "always" the leader, but half the time, "Leader" seems to mean "Red stands in the center for the Super Sentai Stance because it's habit." Nobody ever actually said Leo or Mack were in charge of anything; but in SPD and Wild Force, that's not the case, and the guy who doesn't know what he's doing outranking the one who does is a way to keep the friction going for quite some time.)
Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1 could fit into this trope as many of the earlier episodes conflict came from O'Neill's emotional pragmatism conflicting with Daniels intellectual desire to study and understand various things.
Ronon and Teal'c have this kind of relationship in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Midway". Ronon being the aggressive and wild Red Oni and Teal'c being the calm and cultured Blue Oni. And both being The Big Guy of their respective show.
Rodney is Red Oni to almost any other scientist that appears on the show, notably Zelenka, Beckett, and Beckett's replacement and McKay's love interest, Dr. Keller.
In a recent episode of Judge Judy, a calm woman with dyed-blue hair sued an angry woman with dyed-red hair.
Firefly loves playing with this trope and stretching the boundaries of it as far as they can go, sometimes with mind-bending results.
Mal and Simon are set up at the start to look like Red Oni and Blue Oni, Simon's even set up to look like a villainous Blue Oni. Then the truth is revealed and from that point on, it's very clear that while they superifically look like an ideal Red Oni, Blue Oni example, they're actually a case of Not so Different, as Simon is every bit as passionate and willing to break the rules and law as Mal. As it turns out, he's even got a better talent for crime than Mal - at least when it's involving a subject he's familiar with.
Jayne and Simon have an equally interesting dynamic. Their Red Oni, Blue Oni relationship is deliberately used to play them against each other in almost every scene they share. However, who is Red and Blue actually changes depending on the situation. For all of Jayne's hot-headed uncultured nature, he's also a very level-headed, Combat Pragmatist with sometimes surprisingly accurate assessments of people and situations. This is often used to compare and contrast with Simon's cultured intellectualism that only superficially masks his deeper passion and idealism.
In a similar sense to Simon and Jayne, Jayne's pragmatism is sometimes used to play villainous Blue Oni against Mal's heroic Red, especially with regards to the issue of keeping Simon and River on the boat. No-one can deny the sheer logic of Jayne's attitude, but Mal's far too compassionate be swayed by it.
Mal's most obvious Blue Oni counterpart is Zoe, who is also a Blue Oni to her husband's Red Oni.
There's also one going between Simon (Blue Oni) and Kaylee (Red Oni).
To an extent, this also applies to Mal and Shepherd Book. Although Book has a somewhat rough, earthy nature akin to a red oni, he is also a very intellectual, spiritual, and cultured individual. Besides that, there's his heavily hinted past with the Alliance, which is about as blue an organization as you can find.
This trope fits very well with Lost. Jack - though a doctor, which is very blue in nature - is a very passionate, people-oriented, and frequently rebellious leader. Locke, on the other hand, is more preoccupied with spiritual matters, such as destiny and purpose, as well as more learned in a greater variety of fields. Interestingly enough, though Locke has also frequently shown signs of the blue oni villain through his coldness towards others, Jack's ruthlessness is far more potent, as depicted when Locke cannot bring himself to shoot Jack in order to stop him talking to the freighter people, but Jack is fully willing to shoot Locke when the two next encounter each other.
Though, when it comes to classic Evil Blue Oni, it's pretty hard to match Ben.
And Sawyer is both in one person!
Peter and Nathan Petrelli from Heroes Nathan takes the role of the Aloof Big Brother while Peter is the younger, emotional, and unfortunately for many an Idiot Hero. Also, Peter and Sylar, according to how their powers work(Peter's is empathy, Sylar's is intuitive aptitude). However in Season 3, Peter absorbs Sylar's ability, making him have the hunger, and Sylar has had Peter's ability all along. Also deconstructed in a future episode, where Peter summons fire while Sylar summons ice. It makes even more sense since Peter and Sylar are revealed to be brothers.
Except, it's later revealed that was just a lie and they are in fact not brothers.
Also if you compare the heroes with their future selves, who are all apparently Badass. It's inverted in the case of Sylar, where he moved into Claire's home, calls himself Gabriel(his real name) and is much nicer than his present self. He even has a son, named Noah.
Inverted in the case of the siblings Meredith and Flint. Meredith has the red fire, but she is much more calmer and level-headed than her younger brother, who's about as bright as a flea but has the blue fire. However, since Meredith is on the side of good, she possesses a genuine warm (pardon the joke) and caring personality for her family while her brother is ruthless and even killed a woman with his powers.
Also, in an early first-season episode, Mohinder and Sylar are speaking about Mohinder's father (who was actually murdered by Sylar, unknown to Mohinder). At first both are lit by a blue-green light, but when the murder comes up, Sylar turns away from Mohinder and smirks, and his face is lit in a red light. Mohinder's still in the blue light.
This dynamic plays out with several characters in The Wire:
Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland possess this dynamic: McNulty's a free-wheeling Cowboy Cop who yells, cusses, gives a fuck when it ain't his turn to give a fuck, and generally plays by his own rules, whereas Bunk is quiet, direct, and by the book.
Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell possess this as well. Avon's the shrewd but hotheaded leader of the Barksdale organization, while Stringer generally seeks to avoid conflict and instead see the practical side of things, and attempts several times to make legitimate business pursuits.
Felicia "Snoop" Pearson and Chris Partlow, the enforcers for up-and-coming drug dealer Marlo Stanfield in Season Three also form this dynamic. However, the one time Chris truly loses it, even Snoop is amazed.
Jed Bartlet (red) and Leo McGarry (blue) from The West Wing fit this trope to a tee — in fact, a good portion of Leo's job is to act as Bartlet's cool-headed, hard-nosed, deep-thinking Blue Oni counterpart, pulling the passionate, sensitive, deeply moral and idealistic President back from the brink with logical arguments when he gets too angry, vengeful, excited, righteous, irrational, or quixotic.
Spock (fittingly costumed in blue) is a classic blue oni on Star Trek: The Original Series; on the occasions when they're not all chumming it up as a Power Trio, Kirk and McCoy each often serve as red oni to his blue, depending on who's playing off whom at the moment. Red and blue aren't specifically used as contrast colors for them—McCoy wears blue as well—but their red human blood and his "cooler"-colored green Vulcan blood are often contrasted.
According to Shatner's autobiography, one problem they had with the original pilot, The Cage, is that Captain Pike and Mr. Spock were both too similar. If you were going to have an unemotional Mr. Spock, then the captain needed to be very emotional so that they could play off of each other, and that's how Shatner played him. Also, the show originally was meant to be Kirk and Spock, and the Kirk/Spock/McCoy trio developed on its own. (Note that only Shatner and Nimoy have "I get what he gets" clauses in their contracts.)
Also, the show buys into this trope in a more general way: science and medical personnel, the knowledge-oriented "brains" of the outfit, wear blue, while operations, security and engineering, the action-oriented "brawn," wear red.
In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we have the rival temporal beings the Prophets (very cold in their interactions, theme color blue, basically "good" if kind of confusing about it) and the Pah-Wraiths (subtle about nothing, spewing red flames all over the place, unmistakably evil).
In a more general sense, the Federation (blue) and the Klingons (red) fit this pretty well in the 24th century, including the color scheme (for instance, the graphics used for their transporters, and their emblems).
Despite that Worf is a blue Klingon and Jadzia is a Red Starfleet officer.
Prison Break's protagonists, brothers Lincoln Burrows (red) and Michael Scofield (blue), fill this trope to a T.
While not on the same shows (or even the same channel), "dueling" pastry chefs Buddy (Cake Boss) and Duff (Ace of Cakes) have opposite personalities: Buddy is extremely Hot Blooded while Duff is considerably more relaxed; this extends to their surroundings: Buddy's bakery is a neighborhood institution and is mostly staffed with his family (including his four older sisters) while Duff only does specialty cakes and is surrounded by his friends.
The promos for both of these shows does the same. The promos for Cake Boss are usually with a warm reddish background, with the famous red TLC logo. In contrast, most of the promos for Ace of Cakes are done in shades of blue and even color the Food Network logo blue.
Blake's 7 has two pairs of these, one on each side, for the first two seasons: red oni Roj Blake, passionate freedom fighter, frequently reckless, and his Lancer, blue oni Kerr Avon, coldblooded "what's in it for me?" tech, versus blue oni Servalan, primary power of the evil Republic, and her revenge-obsessed red oni general Travis.
In season 3, with Blake vanished, Avon ends up stuck with red oni/brash youth Tarrant while fugitive Servalan doesn't bother to replace the dead Travis.
A Disney Channel movie called "Stepsister from the Planet Weird" had this for the two families: the down-to-earth Earthlings were blue while the literally air-headed (they're bubbles) and overly emotional aliens were pink/orange. Naturally, their wedding theme was purple.
The Casablancas brothers on Veronica Mars. Dick is stupid, impulsive, never thinks things through, loud, and sex-obsessed. Beaver is intelligent, quiet, reserved, manipulative, secretive and completely ruthless.
Also, Logan and Duncan. Duncan (blue) is reserved and somewhat emotonally restricted, whereas Logan (red) is pretty much the dictionary definitiopn of Hot Blooded.
And, in flashback, Lilly and Veronica. Lilly was the brash, wild one (red), whereas Veronica was sweet and demure (blue) (things changed).
"The Persuaders!" an English crime series, has two main characters: the aristocratic Brett Sinclair (Blue) who is cultured, clever charming and has a dry British humor, and Danny Wilde, a self-made American rich (red), who is hotheaded, uncultured, and very enthusiastic.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel both have this with the vampires Spike and Angel. The former being Red, the latter being the blue. Especially in Season Five of Angel.
Also Buffy and Kendra. Then Faith and Buffy. And maybe Willow and Tara in season six.
A nice example in Homicide Life on the Street with the duo Bayliss/Pembleton. Bayliss is a somewhat Emo young man who is tragically unable to keep emotionally distant from his job and is given to outbursts of violence, but is also caring and sensitive. Pembleton is an older, smarter, educated, cold and occasionally smug professional.
At the end of the pilot of Leverage you see a group shot in which the two most hot-headed and aggressive of the crew (Nate and Eliot) have on red ties, and the two most calm and collected members of the team (Sophie and Hardison) are wearing blue. Of course Parker, being the resident sociopath, has no color scheme.
Dean and Sam from Supernatural are red and blue, respectively, especially during the first season.
Made explicit by an image on the Supernatural: The Animation website, where Dean is lighted in red and Sam is lighted in blue.
Except as Character Development marches on, they switch places: Sam is revealed to be much more hotheaded and reckless, and Dean revealed to be more of a stoic. It's most obvious when you compare their reactions to each other dying. Dean cries perfect single Manly Tears and asks Sam what he's supposed to do now. Both times Sam is faced withDean's death (in "Mystery Spot" and during the four months before Dean was resurrected, he cries first but soon after sets about avenging him.
Jeeves and Wooster - Jeeves is the level head (Blue) to Bertie's naïve optimism (Red).
Saturday Night Live gave us loud, cocky Wayne Campbell (red) and shy, nerdy Garth Algar (blue).
In Unnatural History, there'sthe adventurous, bold Henry Griffin (red) and his level headed, stick to the status quo cousin Jasper (blue).
On 24, Jack Bauer and Tony Almeida play these roles to each other - with Jack the Rabid Cop red oni and Tony the (relatively) controlled, businesslike blue oni.
Keen Eddie: Eddie Arlette (red) and Monty Pippin (blue).
The Mighty Boosh: Many characters pair off and start redding and bluing it up, especially anyone in a conversation with Naboo, the show's resident Blue Oni. Howard and Vince often play with the red and blue chemistry, but they're more like a couple of purples putting up a front.
Fiona and Michael have been this since the very start in Burn Notice. Now that Jessie has been added to the team, (who is both a male Red Oni and also a spy like Michael) it brings up all sorts of interesting chemistry, not to mention the vastly different approaches that Jessie and Michael bring to their job.
The main stars of Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. Both do the same job, but Adam does it flying by the seat of his pants, laughing and exclaiming over every explosion or test result, while Jamie coolly looks on. When one myth required them to use a remote control airplane to test the myth, co-star Grant talked about the differences in personality.
Grant: Adam is a very exuberant personality, so I expect him to crash the plane very quickly. Jamie is a much more controlled personality, so I suspect he's going to be able to fly it better and that he'll be our pilot in this test.
As you can tell from that quote, Grant himself is blue. His counterparts in the Build Team, Kari and Tory, are both red.
Merlin and Arthur with the quieter, more sensitive Merlin usually in darker, earthier colors while Arthur usually wears brighter, flashier clothing. Somewhat Justified as Arthur is a prince and would wear fancier clothing.
The Vampire Diaries has a rather unusual example with the brothers Stefan and Damon, with the younger brother Stefan playing a heroic Blue to his older brother's Red. Damon is impulsive and passionate, and tends to flip between anti-hero and villain on a whim, while Stefan is usually measured and controlled.
In the early seasons of Farscape, D'argo and Zhaan have this relationship, down to the colors. It's played with, though, as both also have Hidden Depths. D'argo, at heart, wanted nothing more than a simple farm life with his family, while Zhaan's cool exterior hides a seething rage that is terrifying to witness when it breaks through.
John Crichton and Scorpius can also fall under this heading, particularly when they're forced to team up: Crichton is outgoing, exuberant, and (especially in the later seasons) more than just a bit crazy, while Scorpius is cold, calculating, manipulative, and ruthless. Once again, both have hidden depths: for all his eccentricities, Crichton is still a scientist, and by the end of the series, he's developed a knack for planning ahead and adjusting said plans at speed; Scorpius, on the other hand, hides a vicious temper under his reserved exterior.
Blue Bloods: Henry and Danny are red onis Frank, Erin and Jamie are blue
Babylon5 : Delenn is a Blue Oni. Londo is bluer then G'kar but less blue then Delenn. G'kar is red. Sheridan is very blue.
Ivanova is an uptight and militaristic officer who is usually blue but she often seems to have a bit of redness buried deep inside. Marcus Cole might go either way but his devotion to an order of Warrior Monk s is more blueish. Garibaldi has more then a bit of redness, surprisingly for a security officer. Franklin is definitely blue.
The Shadows are red and the Vorlons are blue. Minbari are blue, humans and centauri are in between and Narns are red.
Dexter: Dexter himself is blue and each of the main killers of each season are red.
Also his sister Deb might qualify as red.
In BBC's Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes is the intelligent, aloof Blue Oni to John Watson's more emotional Red Oni.
Torchwood currently has emotional, impulsive Gwen Cooper and cool, almost perpetually blasé Captain Jack Harkness. In past seasons, hotheaded, profane Owen Harper and reserved, polite Ianto Jones played Red and Blue respectively when interacting with pretty much anyone else.
Frasier (red) and his younger brother Niles (blue). Note that this does not mean Niles is any less neurotic or eccentric than Frasier, just that he has a far milder temper, their demeanors fit the mold (Frasier's brand of conceited pompousness is overbearing and Hot Blooded while Niles' is fussy and sharp-tongued) and is more down-to-earth by comparison whenever Frasier gets caught up in his ridiculously over-emotional trains of thought, irrational schemes and obsessions, and explosions of anger or vengeance.
The Nanny: Fran Fine (appropriately called "The Lady in Red" in the theme song) and Maxwell Sheffield.
Psych: Impulsive, intuitive Shawn (red) and thoughtful, cautious Gus (blue).
Breaking Bad plays around with this. For starters, Jesse Pinkman and Walt White epitomize recklessness (youth) vs. calculation (experience). Hank and Walt similarly reflect this, mainly with the former's direct, almost obnoxious way of dealing with his family and job. However, Jesse plays Blue when dealing with his less smart cohorts Badger and Skinny Pete. Walt and Gus Fring also flip this around: the first acts more out of emotion and concern for his family and (sometimes) Jesse. The latter, who has no emotional attachments the audience knows of (or at least living ones), conducts business the way only a cold-blooded Complete Monster would, taking extreme caution to keep his respectable businessman facade while not minding his underlings' (or anyone else's) deaths to keep his drug distribution outfit operating.
Microdisney were like this, Cathal Coughlan being the red oni, Sean O Hagan being the blue oni. Their music was known for the contrast between Cathal's angry/melancholic lyrics and Sean's euphonic, peaceful melodies. This became even clearer when the band broke up due to a clash between the onis - Cathal wanted to make more aggressive music, Sean wanted to make softer music.
Space had Jamie Murphy and Tommy Scott as the respective oni. Jamie was a Fiery Redhead whose constant partying caused him to have a nervous breakdown, while Tommy was the more sensitive and introverted one of the two. The trope also applies in the musical sense as Tommy's songs were more melodious and romantic - albeit in a rather twisted way - while Jamie's were darker in tone, particularly on Spiders, and more indie rock-oriented.
During the heydey of Britpop, Oasis (the loud, outspoken, 70's rock and Beatles-influenced working class band) were the Red Oni, and blur (the quieter, witty, Kinks-influenced band consisting of University intellectuals) were the Blue Oni. Because of their respective Oni characteristics, Oasis were the more popular of the two, while Blur had more critical acclaim. The two bands also hated each other for most of the 90's, and so did their hardcore fans.
In The Who, Roger Daltrey was a more reserved, polite musician while Keith Moon was the Crazy Awesome drummer. They didn't always get along off-stage.
Aerosmith: Steven Tyler is the loudmouth flamboyant frontman (Red) while Joe Perry is the quiet mellow guitar player (Blue).
ABBA: playful and exuberant Anni-frid Lyngstad was the red oni while discreet and reserved Agnetha Faltskog was the blue oni.
Sleater Kinney were an aural equivalent of this trope. Corin Tucker, whose voice was often harsh and abrasive, was the Red Oni. Carrie Brownstein, whose voice was generally much smoother and gentler, was the Blue Oni.
The obvious Japanese mythological reference above, being the Trope Namer.
From the same source we have the demon brothers Fujin the dark green-skinned god of Wind and Raijin, the light red-skinned god of Thunder.
Areas of Asia that have been heavily influenced by Taoism tend to have "red oni" and "blue oni" analogues. In particular, traditional depictions of shishi (foo-lions or foo-dogs) tend to have "red oni"/"blue oni" symbolism based on Taoist concepts of yin and yang.)
The notion of "positive" and "negative" signs in Western astrology mirrors this trope as well. Peculiarly, in both cases the Red Oni is referred to as "masculine" and the Blue Oni as "feminine".
Most descriptions of "Hero Twins" stories from Southeastern, Southwestern, and Mesoamerican Native American cultures generally consist of a "red oni" (usually a Wild Boy character coming from a clot of blood, raised in a jar, being part jaguar, etc. depending on the specific culture) and a "blue oni" (usually a "tame boy" character who largely goes along with whatever the Red Oni is plotting, though sometimes he objects).
The earliest recorded version of this are the Mayan stories of Hunhapu (Blue) and Xbalanque (Red) in the Popol Vuh and in Mayan stelas (some dating back to at least 200 CE and potentially even dating back to Olmec iconography), making this trope at leastOlder Than Feudalism.
The trope in relation to Mayan mythology gets a bit complicated as Hunahpu takes the initiative in the mortal world, but Xbalanque does in the land of the dead Xibalba; however, Xbalanque is more animalistic (in many depictions, being a jaguar Half-Human Hybrid), thus fitting more in the Red Oni role despite having turned into the Moon whilst his brother became the Sun. The Siouan, Cherokee, and Dine (Navajo) versions play the Red Oni/Blue Oni imagery rather straighter.
A better pairing that you don't have to squint to see is fire giant Loki, willing to pull nasty tricks on someone for momentarily ticking him off, and his sworn brother gray wanderer Odin, who holds his cards so close his chest he ticks off all the other AEsir (except possibly Baldur).
The Thor and Loki example is notable in that, while the Blue one is usually the good guy, The Red one is the GOOD guy, while the Blue one is the BAD Guy
In Greek Mythology: Athena is blue, Ares and Aphrodite are red. Apollo is so blue that the blue oni personality is sometimes called "Apollonian"
In Kane's second most notable tag team, with The Big Show, Kane plays the Blue Oni to Show's Red. Kane tends to be the more stoic(if psychotic) of the two, while Show ranges anywhere between Hot Blooded to Big Fun.
Former WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, Mike "The Miz" Mizanin (angry Red) and John Morrison (mellow Blue).
The Rockers (originally AWA's Expies of the Rock 'n' Roll Express from the NWA), Marty Janetty (Blue) and Shawn Michaels (Red); notable for the fact that the group originally split after they gradually switched roles over the course of their 5-year tag team career.
In the same vein, the current iteration of D Generation X, with Shawn Michaels back in the Red Oni role and partner/best friend Triple H in the Blue Oni role (it can also be noted that Hunter can switch the colors pretty much on demand now as a story needs him to).
Classic big-man tag team The Twin Towers, where the Big Boss Man (prior to his Heel Face Turn) was the Red Oni and Akeem "The African Dream" (after switching gimmicks from the One Man Gang) was the Blue Oni.
The Outsiders, Kevin Nash (Blue) and Scott Hall (firmly entrenched in Red terrritory).
Even Mick Foley (jokey Red) and Al Snow (serious Blue) meet this trope head-on!
When Tazz went to the ECW Brand, Cole became the Blue to John Bradshaw Layfield's hard-Red.
Gorilla Monsoon (Blue) and Jesse Ventura (Red). Gorilla was firmly Red, however, when teamed with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (cold, calculating Blue).
On that token, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper lived up to his moniker when he served as Monsoon's replacement Red with Brain.
In TNA, you have Mr Anderson (rule-breaking stubborn asshole Red) and Matt Morgan (higher-minded honourable Blue), although in an ironic twist, Anderson's entrance lighting is very blue-themed whereas Morgan's is very red.
Sports
Shaquille O'neal (red oni) and Tim Duncan (Blue oni)
Karl Malone was the blue (blue-collar work-ethic, more reserved demeanor) to Charles Barkley's red oni(Party animal, loud, very outspoken).
Choleric tennis star John McEnroe had a famous rivalry with the imperturbable Bjorn Borg.
Ohio State (FUCK! THE! WOLVERINES!) and University of Michigan (alumnus Mike Wallace: "They say [Michigan] is intellectual and snobby. And I guess that's true").
USC and UCLA. The Trojans in cardinal and gold tend to be more proud and arrogant as the red onis, while the Bruins in True Blue and gold tend to be more intellectual and nerdy.
City rivals Rice (blue) and Houston (red) fit this trope to a T, in both their student body profiles AND their respective choices of school colors.
The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The colors even match, as Bulldogs in (red and black) are rough and rowdy sports fans while the Yellow Jackets (in white, gold, and navy) had a reputation for being intellectual "engine-nerds."
Boston Red Sox (blue collar, ironically) and New York Yankees (metropolitan)
Like Dr. Manhattan, everyone is a hot-blooded underdog compared to the New York Yankees.
Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers (just for color, they both used to be blue)
The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, embodied by the playing styles and personalities of their respective superstars: the Caps' Alex Ovechkin (red), and the Pens' Sidney Crosby (blue). Appropriately, Washington's primary color IS red, while Pittsburgh used blue as its primary color until 1980 and recently brought it back for their alternate jersey.
Eternally present in European Football Clubs. Especially that most local rivals tend to wear Red and Blue to contrast each other intentionally.
In Italy's Serie A, AC Milan wears red, and they're a passionate club, with a fanbase mostly from the lower class. Inter wears blue and their policy is calculating, with their devoted fans coming from the upper class.
Manchester United and Manchester City. United is the much more fiery one, given their huge fanbase (accounting to 5% of the world's population) and the number of silverware they accumulated over the years. City is much more closer to the upper class Mancunians and residents of the city proper, in contrast to United's wider demographic.
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, also known as the North London Derby. Arsenal is Red, with a very diverse multiethnic fanbase. Tottenham is Blue, and is supported by the conservative Jewish population of London.
A teammate example: Italy's and AC Milan's midfield duo, the fiery, aggressive Gennaro Gattuso and the cool, efficient Andrea Pirlo.
Another teammate example, Chicago Blackhawks stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Together the two are the face of the team, and to an extent the NHL as a whole. Kane tends to be a bit more excitable both on and off the ice while Toews exhibits a much more cool and collected personality.
The three major Texas colleges fit a slightly mutated version of this trope. The University of Texas is the high profile, upper class, some would say snobbish blue oni. Texas Tech is the hot blooded, unsophisticated, very red scrappy. And Texas A&M is kind of the purple middle man, who can fill either role depending on which of the other two they're facing next..
NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have a pair of outside linebackers who sort of fit. La Marr Woodley is Red Oni and James Harrison is Blue Oni. La Marr is the more talkative, is more likely to celebrate (every sack he records is followed by the most awkward flying side kick ever witnessed), and is generally more energetic. James is a quiet, not-quite-right-in-the-head fellow with a penchant for perpetrating unspeakable violence with little noticeable emotion.
The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers of the late '80s were an inversion. The blue-coloured Oilers were young and high-scoring, led by the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jarri Kurri, while the red-coloured Flames played more of a defensive, tight-checking game.
Tabletop Games
Siblings Grave and Jaina Stormborne from the Fantasy Strike universe. Dedicated swordsman with wind powers versus hot-tempered archer with fire powers. Unsurprising, as it's a very deliberate Street FighterHomage and they're the Ryu and Ken analogues. Designer David Sirlin worked on Street Fighter HD and Puzzle Fighter, and his games Yomi and Puzzle Strike were inspired by those games. but he ended up creating his own setting and characters rather than getting the license.
Traveller : Vilani and Zhodani are Blue, Aslan and Vargr are Red. Solimani are sort of in between. The Third Imperium is a very Blue empire but some of its member worlds are more red.
In the movie version of the musical Jekyll and Hyde (yes, the one with David Hasselhoff), Dr. Jekyll is shown with a red light◊ (hard to tell in this picture, sorry), and Hyde is shown with a blue light shining on him◊
Romeo and Juliet gives us Romeo (red) and Benvolio (blue), Mercutio (red) and Benvolio (blue) and even Romeo (red) and Juliet (blue).
To a degree, Henry Higgins (red) and Colonel Pickering (blue) from Pygmalion and My Fair Lady.
Toys
BIONICLE started off featuring easily-angered Toa of Fire Tahu and Not Good with PeopleToa of Ice Kopaka. However, later teams would invert this; Jaller was a Toa of Fire yet calm and professional as The Captain, while his team's Toa of Ice, Matoro, was quiet but compassionate, determined, and The Chosen One. The Bara Magna setting has another inversion, as the fire tribe warrior Ackar is old and thoughtful, while his best friend Kiina (with the water tribe) is a brash, sharp-tongued Ladette.
Video Games
Inverted in Team Fortress 2, where in the Payload and Point-Capture maps the RED team is defending a zone, thus requiring mostly slow and durable classes like the Heavy or Engineer, and the BLU team is attacking, making them more likely to use speedy and swift classes like Scout or Spy.
Joseph Sheridan and von Richter in the WW2RTS game R.U.S.E'- While the US officer Sheridan, a Yale-dropout, is described as impetuous, and willing to push the enemy to their limits, whatever the cost may be, German General von Richter is described as a chess-player, who loves calculated approaches with maximal gain, and minimal losses. One of the few times that a Nazi is more of a Magnificent Bastard than the Ally protagonist in a WW2game.
The real Blue Oni at Sheridan's side is The Lancer, Colonel Andrew Campbell, Senior British Intelligence Officer. He is calm, collective, and introduces Joe to all the ruses, and practically is his tutor throughout the war (as he also is older and more experienced than Sheridan). He evens keeps Sheridan from addling away once being promoted to General, like his predecessor did before him.
Ada and Leon from Resident Evil fit this trope well. Ada is known for wearing the color red, where arguably Leon's trademark color would be blue as in his RPD uniform. The two are on opposite sides of the spectrum and often clash over similar or different goals. Also an example of Opposites Attract.
Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter. Ryu is philosophical, traditional, and prefers using the fireball from a distance, while Ken is brash, cocky, innovative and his favorite move is the uppercut, best performed at close range.
Sakura Kasugano (blue) and Karin Kanzuki (red) from Street Fighter Alpha Three.
An inversion in brothers Yun (red oni dressed in blue) and Yang (blue oni dressed in red).
A much more direct example is Hanzo and Fuuma from World Heroes, particularly since Fuuma has two very ostentatious fire attacks and Hanzo's biggest super has him vanishing repeatedly.
In the third Tenchu game, the evil wizard Tenrai employs both blue and red demons as foot soldiers. They're not given much personality, but if you're spotted and get drawn into a fight, the red ones will simply keep fighting until killed, while the blue ones will try an explosive kamikaze attack once their health is low.
In the second Onimusha game, the always-drinking, eating, and lecherous Ekei can pass for a red oni (and dresses all in yellows and reds), while the serious, book loving, thoughtful Magoichi is a blue oni (complete with blue clothes).
In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle you have New Destroyman, whose was cut in half in the first game, and his two halves got two different personalites. And android halves. The Red one is in the background calling Shinobu a whore and the like, while the Blue one at least offers to shake hands.
Reversed, however, as the arrogant, misogynistic, Jerkass Red Oni has a blue eye, while the more polite and eloquent Blue Oni's eye is red.
Travis Touchdown has a red tiger, and a trailer indicates that his twin brother Henry was supposed to have a blue tiger. Hmm....
In the Viewtiful Joe anime, Joe wears a red costume in hero form while Junior wears a blue costume in hero form. Joe is the strong, energetic, reckless one, while Junior is shaping up as The Smart Guy. The color-coding is reversed in their normal forms, however.
And in the games (on which the anime is based), the blue oni is represented by Silvia who always tries to keep her boyfriend on task.
Suikoden II has lovable henchmen Seed and Culgan who wear red and blue respectively and pretty much embody the concept.
Not to mention the main characters of the game, Riou and Jowy.
Given a slight twist in Utawarerumono. The "blue oni" who is the protagonist in "oni" form is literally blue, though the "red oni" is actually mostly black. Also, the two turn out to be two halves of a god, which merge before going into hibernation at the end.
Perhaps a better representation in Utawarerumono is Hien and Hauenkua standing side by side as they betray their lord Kuuya, calm and collected Hien in a blue mecha, while borderline insane due to bloodlust Hauenkua sits in a red mecha.
Most Fire Emblem games give you two near-identical horse-mounted knights at the beginning of the game: One will wear red armor, have an outgoing/reckless personality, and have more Defense and Attack power, while the other wears green, behaves modestly, and specializes in speed and accuracy. It fits the trope better once you remember that the Japanese, like many other cultures, don't fully distinguish between green and blue.
And then Blazing Sword goes and inverts it - Sain, Chivalrous Pervert, is in green and Kent, his superior in both rank and self-control, is in red.
An odd variation occurs in Lex and Azel of the fourth game. Red-haired Azel is the gentler of the two, but more emotional and impulsive, while blue-haired Lex is Hot Blooded and gruff-speaking, but more laid back. So for them this trope is both played straight and subverted.
Even though they never technically appeared in a Fire Emblem game together, the Super Smash Bros. incarnations of Marth and Roy definitely qualify for this trope. The red- haired Roy speaks almost entirely in loud, high- pitched grunts and screams, and as a fighter his raw power is probably his greatest asset. The blue- haired Marth, on the other hand, speaks in a breathy, almost whisper- like tone, and he relies more heavily on grace and finesse than brute strength.
Atsuma and Touya of Enchanted Arms fit the trope almost perfectly: seeing as how the game contains more than a few gaming/character stereotypes, this should be no surprise.
In Final Fantasy X, Tidus and his father Jecht are both Hot Blooded red types who favor the Indy Ploy and have impulse control issues, while Auron is a blue. So is Seymour, the main onscreen villain.
Final Fantasy X-2 has Yuna positioned between red Rikku and blue Paine.
In Final Fantasy VII, this is inverted respectively with Tifa and Cid as the Red Oni in dark clothes, and Aeris and Vincent as the Blue Oni wearing bright red.
After Aeris dies, Yuffie becomes the Red Oni and Tifa becomes the Blue Oni.
Zach (Red) and Cloud (Blue) also follow this trope.
On a smaller scale the Biggs and Wedge pair in VIII are also a colour coded example of this, Biggs is brash, aggressive and ambitious, Wedge is his cool headed, reserved and long suffering subordinate.
Raijin and Fujin also qualify.
On an even smaller scale, in Final Fantasy IV, twins Palom and Porom. Palom uses Black Magic; he's brash and always getting himself into trouble. His twin sister Porom uses White Magic; she's studious, dutiful, and constantly smacking her brother upside the head to get him to behave.
It is later subverted: Zidane becomes a lot more responsible and thoughtful, while Kuja...
Even the planets Gaea and Terra are colour-coded according to this convention.
Zorn and Thorn may not have the personalities to match this trope, but at least their colors do.
In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is outwardly cold and professional with a former past in the military. Fang is flirty and cocky and comes from an ancient tribe of warriors. Lightning's outfit is white with a red cape, while Fang's outfit is black with blue sashes. The parallels extend to their Eidolons - a white knight and a black dragon.
The game also plays with this in another way: Lightning acts like a blue but her plan to save cocoon basically involved going nuts and killing anyone who stood in her way, whereas Fang acts like a red but was the only l'Cie that had anything resembling an actual plan to save humanity.
Also Snow and Hope invert this trope. Snow, the Hot Blooded character in blue clothes is the Red Oni in comparison to Hope, the level-headed character in yellow and orange clothes who is the Blue Oni.
And the aloof blue ice-element Dark Action Girl Leviathan and red fire-element berserker Fefnir in the Mega Man Zero games.
And the blue Emotionless Girl Pandora and berserk (even moreso than Fefnir) Prometheus in the Mega Man ZX series.
Inverted example: Vent/Aile, the Blue Mega Man, is a hotheaded and impulsive boy/girl who tends to charge headfirst to the situation, and thus, Red Oni. Girouette, the Red Mega Man, is his/her Big Brother Mentor who is calm, caring and level-headed, and thus, the Blue Oni.
Inversion in Mega Man Battle Network. Lan and MegaMan are blue, Chaud and Protoman are red. Chaud's the AloofRival to Lan's Idiot Hero, and while Rock is a lot more savvy and collected than his Operator, Protoman's professionalism and businesslike manner still plays Blue Oni to his Power of Friendship philosophies.
Inversion in Mega Man Star Force: Geo Stelar, who wears red, is a WangstyHikiko Mori who doesn't actually enjoy fighting, and thus, the Blue Oni. The blue Omega-Xis, on the other hand, is a hotheaded Jerk Ass who likes fighting and is very aggresive, and thus, the Red Oni.
The Mega Man series inverted this from the get go with naive and impulsive Kid Hero Megaman, who is the one in blue, and his more mature and experienced Aloof Big Brother Protoman, who wears red. However, Megaman, who is not a Technical Pacifist like X but still isn't all that into fighting, is the Blue Oni in comparison to his Blood KnightEvil Counterpart Bass (who wears black and gold, but still qualifies for obvious reasons).
This is reversed with our titular blue hero is a lot more outgoing and carefree than his red-clad counterpart, Shadow. Of course, there's still the red Knuckles, where this trope is played straight.
This is also reversed with Sonic and Dr. Robotnik in general.
Shadow first appeared in 2001 in Sonic Adventure 2 while Knuckles first appeared in the Red Oni role in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994 and reprised it in Sonic & Knuckles later that year. Knuckles remains uncontested in the Red Oni role up to Sonic Adventure.
Also, Knuckles (Red) to Rouge (Blue).
In Sonic Adventure, this is inverted with Chaos, who is blue, but falls under the Red Oni category and Tikal, who is red-orange, but falls under the Blue Oni category.
Also another extreme example is Tikal's father Pachamac and the rest of the ancient echidnas (Red) in comparison to Tikal (Blue).
The Sonic girls also follow this trope as Amy is the Red Oni wearing a red dress and being much more energetic in comparison to Rouge being the Blue Oni in dark clothes who is much more calm and collected.
In Knuckles Chaotix, the Chaotix also follow this trope with Vector, Charmy, and Bomb being red in comparison to Espio, Mighty, and Heavy being blue.
In Sonic Riders, the Babylon Rogues also follow this to a degree with Jet being red in contrast to Wave being blue and Storm being in the middle.
Also Tails (Red) to Wave (Blue).
In Sonic Chronicles, Knuckles would be the Red Oni to Shade's Blue Oni.
Sonic Rush plays it different - Sonic meets Blaze, from another dimension. Sonic is blue, but more outgoing. Blaze is much more reserved and angsty, while being red and having fire powers. Towards the end of the game, when they get riled up about who will fight Eggman (mostly due to Blaze's distance and distrust of others for most of Rush), it is Sonic who remains calm, like his blue colour, while Blaze is getting really angry and agitated, being the red. The two Eggmen in these two games also do this - the normal one, wearing red, is exciteable, whereas the Nega version in his cool black/dark green colours is a very calculative Complete Monster.
The sequel Sonic Rush Adventure has Marine (Red) and Tails (Blue).
Team Sonic has Knuckles (Red) and Sonic (Blue) with Tails in the middle.
Team Rose has Amy (Red) and Big (Blue) with Cream in the middle.
Team Dark has Omega and Shadow (Red) in contrast to Rouge (Blue).
Team Chaotix has Vector and Charmy (Red) in contrast to Espio (Blue).
Devil May Cry: 3 has identical twins Dante (Red, wears red, arrogant, sarcastic, impetuous, good-guy) and Vergil (Blue, wears blue, somber, stoic, ruthless, bad-guy); 4 has Dante (ditto) and Nero (Blue, dedicated, also good-guy).
Agni and Rudra have shades of this, despite having the same personality.
The Super Robot Wars series gives us the awesomeness that is the hotblooded Sanger Zonbolt and his Heterosexual Life Partner and intellectual foil Elzam Braunstein. Each of them is a total badass in a different way, one spouting absurdly cheesy lines but making them pure gold while the other serves as an Aloof Big Brother whose theme song trumps all others? Although like some incarnations, the Red Oni Sanger's mechs will more likely have a dominant color of blue, while Blue Oni Elzam always paints his mechs red.
Axel and Lamia as well, though the Original Generation series no longer portrays them as rivals. Axel is a hotblooded redhead who always fights on the front lines and pilots a martial arts Motion Capture Mecha. Lamia is a cold and logical Ridiculously Human Robot whose mecha uses illusions and attacks from afar with a bow. Their personalities differ somewhat depending on which one's playing hero and which is playing villain, but they retain their red and blue traits no matter what.
Hot Blooded Ralf Jones (red oni) and The Stoic Clark Still (blue oni) from Ikari Warriors and The King of Fighters. Ralf beats enemies down with explosive punches and lots of yelling, while his partner Clark is much more inclined to break his opponents' bones with grappling moves without breaking a sweat (or saying much of a word).
KoF's own Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami are their series' Red and Blue. Kyo is cocky and high-spirited while Iori is cold and ruthless in battle. However, if Iori's Orochi blood flares up...
Fatal Fury carryovers Terry and Andy Bogard fit as well, with Terry matching the red attributes (being outgoing and having a vibrant personality) and Andy picking up the blue (focused and disciplined).
Kazuki and Sogetsu from Samurai Shodown. Both are ninja, but the former dresses in red, is hot-tempered, and has fire-based powers; the latter dresses in blue, is far more composed, and has water powers.
Some possible pairs of characters in the Dragon Age series:
Oghren is definitely the Red Oni of the Warden's band with his ferocious berserker nature and his massive red beard, the Blue Oni is usually Sten.
At the very beginning the emotional and somewhat childlike Alistair is played as the Red Oni to the icy and calculating Morrigan's Blue Oni.
In the second game, Isabela and Aveline take on these roles.
Shows up, oddly, in Mass Effect with Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian, who default to red and blue armor respectively and are a semi-criminal mercenary and a cop. Oddly subverted in that Wrex, while violent and impulsive, is actually fairly stoic and difficult to anger, while Garrus is significantly more hot-tempered and easier to rile.
Ashley and Kaidan also play more standard Red Oni / Blue Oni roles, albeit with less color-coding; in a dialogue option partway through the game, Commander Shepard says that when s/he wants an answer "from the head," s/he goes to Kaidan, and when s/he wants one "from the heart" s/he goes to Ashley. Eventually Shepard (and by extension the player) is forced to choose between them.
Shepard can also join in on this trope thanks to the game's Karma Meter, though with some slight inversions. Blue-coded Paragon Shepard tends to be more empathic and personable (typically a red trait), while Red-negade Shepard is more self-centered and/or mission-oriented (typically a blue trait).
In Mass Effect 2, paragon and renegade decisions affect Shepard's appearance by wave of a Hand Wave. A renegade character will end up horribly scarred and with glowing red eyes. A paragon character, meanwhile, eventually heals the scars and goes back to what they used to look like. Default Shepard has blue eyes. Renegade Default Shepard ends up with red eyes. See where I'm going with this?
Don't forget about Miranda and Jack. The two don't get along, and their temperaments are could not be more different. Cool, collected Miranda, with her impressive intellect and all-business demeanor is the Blue Oni, and hot-blooded, impulsive Jack, with her vengeance motif and passionate poetry is the Red Oni.
Tali and Kasumi also qualify. Both are some of the best tech experts in the galaxy, but Tali is calm and sarcastic, while Kasumi's nature is much more energetic and cheerful. This also shows in their career roles. While Tali is content with performing research and maintanence, Kasumi uses her skills to become one of the best thieves in the galaxy
Saix and Xigbar also seem to have this, especially in relation to Roxas. Saix is cool, calm and detached but was completely ruthless in Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2where he fought Roxas over whether he could leave or not. Xigbar is more likely to bend the rules in order to get what he wants. He also seemed concerned about Roxas/Sora in both Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2 and Kingdom Hearts II
An evil variant occurs with the Big Bad Master Xehanort and The Dragon, Vanitas. Master Xehanort is the blue, Vanitas is the red.
Terra and Aqua as well. Terra is more impulsive, and is also emotional and extremely concerned for his friends (not to say Aqua isn't). Aqua is more calm when it comes to decisions. Their battle poses reflect this as well.
In Silhouette Mirage, nearly all lifeforms are divided into two categories: the Silhouettes, who represent force, emotion and determination, and the Mirages, who represent intelligence, technology, and cold logic. Oddly, the typical color scheme is reversed: Silhouettes are blue while Mirages are red.
Played straight in Gunstar Heroes and Gunstar Super Heores, to the point where, in addition to having personalities entirely constructed on this trope, the dual protagonists are named Red and Blue.
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness has Isaac the Red Oni, who is emotionally-driven, vengeful, passionate and embodies the FoeYay trope; Hector, your hero, is the Blue Oni. He's told - and tells himself - often to keep his cool and not get all 'riled up' by Isaac's antics so as not to be overtaken by Dracula's curse. Their official wallpapers make their Convenient Oni Colour Coding clear, if we didn't catch it the first time.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow features, among its trio of cultist villains, the hot-headed (and red-headed, and red-attired) maniac Dario Bossi, who has fire powers to boot, and the cold-blooded psychopath Dmitrii Blinov, who wears blue and whose power is copying magic attacks used on him.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin also included Jonathan, the hot-blooded Red Oni, and Charlotte, the collected Blue Oni. The Twins Stella and Loretta also fit this trope, Stella being a bit more hands on with her swordplay, and Loretta, using her spells to attack from afar. Both pairs also have this evidenced in their attire: Jonathan and Stella having a much warmer color scheme and Charlotte and Loretta having a cooler tone.
Come on: Xenogears could be almost renamed "Oni meets Christianity (IN SPACE!)": We have Fei, the brash martial Artist, and Elly technically his substitude mother AND wife since the crash of the Eldridge 10.000 years ago (Freud would have loved this game) the more composed officer: Fei's angers are a sight to behold and Elly is the only one who can calm him she's probably the only one who's tought enough to wistand the full extant of his anger anyway, and a flashback shows us that 500 years ago, during the diabolo's war, and even 40 CENTURIES ago during the Zeboim era she was already the blue, calmer part of their couple. Apart Fei and Elly, we have Citan (so blue that sometimes it take time to understand that the man is really angry ) and the red hot blooded Bart while on the villain side we have Ramsus (who gets reder and reder during the course of the game) and Miang, who is so blue that it even affect her hair, or the trio formed by ID, who like Miang is hair coded, Grahf (middle ground) and Magnificent Bluestard Krelian...
Not directly used, but possibly referenced in Perfect Cherry Blossom of the Touhou series: In the Extra StageMid Boss battle against Chen, one of Chen's spell cards is named Oni Sign "Blue Oni Red Oni". Half the bullets rush directly at you, while the other half drift around slowly in a somewhat random direction, though there are both red and blue bullets of both types.
For a more direct representation of the trope, Mountain of Faith's goddesses Kanako and Suwako fit the bill.
For an even more direct representation of the trope, we have Yuki and Mai, the stage 4 bosses of Mystic Square, one of the old generation games. Yuki is the Red Oni: she's upfront with the protagonist, and she uses fire magic (usually blanketing the whole field). If Mai is defeated first, Yuki will be in a state of righteous indignation when she gets serious. Mai is the Blue Oni: She barely says a word before the battle, and she uses cold magic (usually aimed straight at the player). If Yuki is defeated first, Mai will declare that Yuki was dragging her down and now she doesn't have to hold back.
This trope's also used in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil with the Scarlet sisters: Remilia, the more calm and collected one with blue hair, and Flandre, the more playful and Ax Crazy one dressed in red. Though Remilia is still the Scarlet Devil from her feeding habits.
Ironically, both of the actual oni characters seen in games so far have been pretty strongly red.
And finally, there's the main protagonists Reimu (very much a blue despite her red and white outfit) and Marisa (very red and assertive, and loves blasting her opponents).
While The World Ends with You's protagonists are very much a mixture of traits (Neku and Joshua being blue with red spots, Shiki and Beat being red with blue spots), a much neater organization can be found among the Reaper Organization. The best example of Red Oni, Blue Oni is probably Koki Kariya (Blue) and Uzuki Yashiro (Red).
Another Day also has this with Shuto (Red) and Neku (Blue). When picking colours for their Five-Man Band, Shuto got Red while Neku was stuck with Black 'n Blue, until he was demoted to just blue. It's even lampshaded by Joshua right before Neku's and Shuto's Slamming duel, calling it red and blue eternal rivals.
Heat, the short-tempered, impetuous and eventually antagonisticLancer who transforms into the fire demon Agni and Serph the rational, calm and almost emotionless leader who transforms into ice demon Varna in Digital Devil Saga.
Red Oni Sol Badguy and Blue Oni Ky Kiske from Guilty Gear.
Blazblue has Ragna and Jin. Iron Tager is actually nicknamed "The Red Oni" (Translated as "The Red Devil"), but this has to do with his fighting prowess and physical resemblance to one, and he doesn't really fit the archetype.
Ragna and Jin subvert this since, free of any outside influences such as an out of control Azure Grimoire and Yukianesa, both of them are actually pretty hotblooded though their values are different.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has Tasha/Zadia, a Fiery Red Head who is driven by vengeance for her dead brother, and her co-commander Gage/Trak, a The Stoic blue-haired Cold Sniper. They're commanders in the same army, and very much foils of each other.
Additionally, Will, the emotional new recruit, and Lin, the older, colder, and more cynical veteran.
In The Legend of Zelda, Ganondorf, the resident Big Bad, is represented by the color red — the color of Din, Goddess of Power, whose portion of the Triforce he wields. The color of Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, is blue, and synonymous with her acolyte, the wise, kind, serene Princess Zelda.
Don't forget in Link's Awakening DX, the Red Clothes boost offense whereas the Blue Clothes boost defence. This is reused in the Oracle games with the Red/Blue, and Power/Armor rings. Link also commonly gets offensive Fire Arrows and defensive Ice Arrows.
Speaking of the Oracle series, the games themselves were packaged in red and blue boxes - Seasons, in the red box, is the more action-oriented game, and Ages, in the blue box, is the more cerebral of the two. Their signature girls who are named after the goddesses, Din and Nayru respectively, are representative of this trope as well.
Not fitting the trope per se, but makes for some interesting food for thought: Link could be seen as something of an intermediate "green oni" (as per the color of Farore and the Triforce of Courage that Link holds) in a way - more active and aggressive than Zelda, but cleverer and more patient than Ganon.
The games specifically require players to be both Onis, since gameplay alternates between fast-paced battles against powerful enemies (red) and complex puzzles that require careful thought and planning to solve (blue).
The Dept Heaven games just love to reverse this trope.
Riviera: The Promised Land has red-themed Ledah with a blue personality and blue-themed Malice with a red personality.
Yggdra Union has twin sisters Luciana and Aegina; while Luciana is red and Aegina is blue, Luciana's trademark colors are black and blue and Aegina's is red.
Knights in the Nightmare has Maria, Marietta, Meria, and Melissa. Maria and Marietta have red-and-gold coloring with blue personalities, while Meria and Melissa have blue-and-purple coloring with red personalities.
However, the Law and Chaos phases bathe the battlefield in blue and red, respectively. Uphold the law!Let chaos reign!
Ōkami has a pair of enemies known as "Red Oni/Ogre" and "Blue Oni/Ogre". They attack with fire and ice, respectively.
Don't be forgetting Amaterasu and Okikurumi, now.
These two characters actually subvert the trope since Amaterasu (who has red markings) is the more calm, poised one, while Okikurumi, whose main color is blue, is hot-tempered at best and caused turmoil by stealing the legendary sword.
Jyuji Kabane and Rocketbilly Redcadillac from Gungrave: Overdose. One is a hot-tempered, undead blind warrior who constantly makes death threats against those who annoy him and who's fast in attacking his opponents without really thinking of a plan first (and he's Dual Wielding red gunblades), the other is a kind and somewhat naive rocker ghost with a heart of gold who loves the ladies (and his weapon is a blue electric guitar). They Fight Crime.
Reversed in Chrono Trigger. Ice-wielding Marle is outgoing, friendly and impulsive; fire-wielding Lucca is a levelheaded Gadgeteer Genius.
In an inversion, the reckless one was given the title "blue" and the serious one given the title "red."
Tales of Symphonia. Lloyd and Genis even match the colors: Lloyd is athletic, aggressive, puts all his focus into physical combat and dresses in all-red. Genis is much more studious, much more willing to play by the rules, much calmer, puts all his focus into magical combat and dresses in all-blue.
A better example would be Lloyd {Red} and Kratos {Blue}. kind of strange, since they're father and son.
Partially inverted by Celsius and Efreet, the summon spirits of ice and fire. Celsius is blue, but is arrogant and gives off a hot-blooded air. Efreet is red, but is calm and somewhat humble.
Tales of the Abyss also follows this trope. The main character, Luke, sports firey red waist-length hair and is extremely emotional and aggressive. The party's scholar, Jade, is calm, cool, collected and sports an incredibly sharp wit. He is clad almost totally in blue.
Tales of Vesperia is another example, with Flynn assuming the role of Blue Oni, and Yuri as Red (though they use different colors for the contrast : black and white). Flynn is much more calm, rule-abiding, and all around more mellow than Yuri. Though Yuri also understands the implications of his actions more than an average Red Oni, he's much more driven by his passion and obsession of taking justice than Flynn. Even to the point of resorting to vigilantism for a lot of the game to try and set things right. Whereas Flynn is more concerned with setting the laws themselves right, and then respecting the rule of law. Ultimately, they share the same exact sort of goal (but different means of accomplishing it), as well as sharing somewhat similar sword skills (though the "identical" artes like Dragon Swarm are still performed quite differently). Classic rival example.
Featured prominently with the two races added in the first World of Warcraft expansion. The arrogant and reckless Blood Elves have a red color scheme, while the more stoic and noble Draenei have a blue scheme. They even have red and blue underwear.
There is also Kil'jaeden and Archimonde. For this one the colour is reversed though, Archimonde is the red, Kil'jaeden is the blue.
Then in Wrath of the Lich King, Tirion and the Argent Crusade is the blue, Darion and the Ebon Blade is the red.
High Inquisitor Whitemane vs. Argent Confessor Paletress
The Alliance vs. The Horde.
The portable remake of Persona3 has managed to pull off a fairly rare Distaff Counterpart version of this by introducing the option to have a female protagonist; the male protagonist is typically a bit reserved and intellectual and is accordingly given blue hair and eyes (and a blue in-game interface); the new female option is quite a bit more outgoing and cheerful and is naturally themed red with her hair and eyes.
The Super Mario Bros.! While originally the Bros. were little more then a Palette Swap of each other until Divergent Character Evolution split them apart. Mario, being the titular hero, wears red and is the all-around happy-go-lucky, kick-assy, everyone (except Bowser)-lovesy guy. Whereas the green-clad Luigi became portrayed as a Cowardly Lion, who is rather introverted and at times even outright ignored by the game's cast. Poor guy.
Appropriately enough, in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, after visiting two temples, Mario gets the power of (red) fire and Luigi gets the power of (blue) thunder.
Anybody else remember the Red and Blue Goombas that King Goomba sends to stop you from reaching Toad Town in "Paper Mario"? Yeah.
The red and green Koopas invert the dynamic.
Played straight with the princesses as well: We have Peach and Daisy (wearing pink and orange, respectively) contrasted with Rosalina (who wears blue).
Inverted in the original Myst: Achenar is passionate, strong, uncontrollable to the point of insanity, and an excellent hunter while his little brother Sirrus is calm, sophisticated, manipulative, and a brilliant technician. Nonetheless, Achenar is trapped in the Blue Book when you meet him, and Sirrus is trapped in the Red Book.
Ikaruga main gameplay mechanic makes use of positive(white/blue) and negative(red/black) energy shots.
Otomedius features the Gofer Sisters, R.B. (Red) and L.B. (Blue). To further drive home this trope, they favor those colors on their dresses and matched fighters, Hugin and Munin.
Breath of Fire III has a mild case of this with Garr (red) and Gaist (blue) at least before Gaist dies. Their horns are even conveniently color-coded.
Breath of Fire IV plays this trope extremely straight with Ryu (Red) and Fou-lu (Blue); literally the only deviation would be that these two are not literally oni but rather Split at Birth halves of a draconic god. (Fou-lu is in fact a literalGod Emperor who gets driven down a Trauma Conga Line and ends up ultimately a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.)
And even then, if you count their "trance"/"meditation" dragon-kemonomimi forms, this trope gets played even straighter—Ryu's meditation form has red markings on the "dragony" bits, whilst Fou-lu's has blue "dragony" bits.
This seems to be the situation with twin maids Hisui and Kohaku in Tsukihime, who are Different as Night and Day, with Hisui being the cold one, and Kohaku being the passionate one. But this is actually a subversion, with Hisui and Kohaku having switched personalities when they were younger.
In a "kinda sorta" example, in Halo 3, The Arbiter is a Red Oni to the Master Chief's Blue Oni. At the same time, in 2 and 3, Arbiter is also the Blue to Rtas "Half-Jaw" Vadum's Red.
Don't forget Emiele's red to Jeorge's blue from Reach. Most clearly seen when rescuing the researcher.
In .hack//G.U., Haseo and Ovan. Haseo is a fiery, obstinate Jerk with a Heart of Gold, while Ovan is calm, smooth, calculating, and manipulative.
Treasure Hunter G actually has two brothers named Red and Blue as the protagonists. In a subversion, Red is both the Hot Blooded hero and the stern big brother. Blue is portrayed as weaker but noble at heart.
Maxie and Archie from the Pokemon Ruby And Sapphire series of the handheld Pokémon games. Ironically, while exactly which is which tends to vary a bit depending on the medium, generally quiet and scheming Maxie (the leader of red-themed Team Magma) pulls Blue Oni duty while his wilder Team Aqua counterpart Archie plays the role of Red Oni.
Pokémon has plenty of examples: Mewtwo and Mew, Ho-oh and Lugia , Groudon and Kyogre, Latias and Latios, Dialga and Palkia, Darkrai and Cresselia, Basculin's alternate colors, Throh and Sawk, Zekrom and Reshiram... Many times the Red Oni will also have high attack stats while the Blue Oni has higher defenses. Darmanitan is a special case in that it follows the trope in both coloration and stats while being the same Pokémon.
The titular pair in the Banjo-Kazooie series, with Kazooie serving as the aggressive Red Breegull to the more easygoing Blue-Backpacked Banjo. This is especially visible when the two of them get the Split Up ability in ''Tooie." Kazooie keeps her flight capabilities, still has her entire arsenal of eggs, has less hitpoints, quick movement and learns a quick melee attack. Banjo starts out with no attack before learning a slow one, more hitpoints and learns moves that are more passive and defensive in nature.
Salsa {red} and March {blue} from Eternal Sonata. Even their hair are the respective colors!
A Meta example (which is occasionally lampshaded in other works) is in video games where Players 1 and 2 are usually assigned these colors.
There are several examples in Knights of the Old Republic. In the first game, Carth and Bastila: Carth is a soldier, more impulsive and quick to act, and impatient of bureaucracy; Bastila is a Jedi, more likely to counsel discretion and restraint, and much more confident in the wisdom of the Jedi Council. Among the villains, Revan and Malak (as expounded in the first game and further developed in the second): Malak is aggressive and violent, willing to destroy an entire planet to kill one person; when you fight him, he has the Force Jump feat, indicating that he is a Jedi Guardian, the more combat-oriented of the Jedi classes. Revan was a Chessmaster verging on (in the sequel, achieving) Magnificent Bastardy, turning the tide of the Mandalorian Wars through strategic brilliance. In the second game, Atton and Kreia fill these roles, with Atton reacting much more emotionally to any given situation and Kreia remaining cool and detached.
The villains of the first Golden Sun have a Red Oni, Blue Oni vibe. Menardi, while more reserved, is Hot Blooded and driven, plays the role of The Dragon, occassionally gets fooled by her partner's scheming, and dresses in red. Saturos, while more outgoing, is a crafty trickster and has a definite blue theme going in his design.
Dark Dawn gives us the Kaocho generals, temperamental Ku-Embra in red armor and honorable Ku-Tsung in blue armor.
And the warm, outgoing Sand Prince Gem, who openly invites you to befriend him/it in the Defeat Means Friendship sense, and the cold, arrogant, self-centered Ice Queen Gem, who balks at the idea of serving Adepts again.
Wheately and GLaDOS have this dynamic in Portal 2, with GLaDOS being cold, rational, and calculating, while Wheately is dimwitted, outgoing, and gregarious. Their color schemes are inverted, though; Wheately is blue, and GLaDOS is orange. Interestingly, Wheately was actually created to be a counterweight personality core for GLaDOS — specifically, he was designed as an intelligence inhibitor to make her stupider.
Atlas and P-Body do this too, Atlas's eye and portals are blue and is more cautious while P-Body's are orange/red and is impulsive.
The Fubuki brothers. Shirou Fubuki is the blue oni, a cool, calm, and rather timid defender. His brother Atsuya Fubuki is the red oni, a rather Hot Blooded forward, with red hair to boot.
The two co-captains of The Chaos, Burn (Nagumo Haruya) and Gazel (Suzuno Fuusuke). Burn is, as his name would suggest, a fiery red oni (also with red hair) to Gazel's blue oni, who's calm, confident, and An Ice Person.
Disgaea Has the red haired Demon Etna und the (white-)blue clad Angel Flonne, both with quite different methods and personalities but the common goal to make Demon Prince Laharl a good King.
In the fourth installment we have Fuka and her little sisterDesco play this trope straight and inverts it. Fuka has a brash, aggressive personality who takes baseball as Serious Business and Desco has a cutesy, cheery, and kinder type personality. However, their interests conflict with their personalities. Fuka wants world domination and have stereotypical interests in several girly things like sweets and dress-up while Desco desires to be a Final Boss someday and cause total massive destruction.
Kirby and King Dedede play Red Oni to Meta Knight's Blue Oni. Their colors play this trope straight too - with the carefree, sometimes Idiot Hero Kirby being pink, the agressive King Dedede wearing red, and then the calm and mysterious Meta Knight being blue.
Best friends Chie (Red) and Yukiko (Blue) in Persona 4. However, their powers are inverted, as Chie (Red) uses ice magic and Yukiko (Blue) uses fire magic.
Kyle and Alex, the protagonists from The Colour Tuesday. Kyle is the level-headed blue oni, Alex the Hot Blooded red oni. They complement each other well.
In Ninja Gaiden Sigma II, the Tengu Brothers fit this trop to a T. The red twin is hot-blooded and cheeky, while the blue twin is wiser and more cautious, telling his brother not to underestimate the enemy. When you fight them at the end of chapter 5, the red one will usualy come at you first, although their fighting style is identical.
Oni has fun with this. Konoko, real name Mai, is the blue Oni, while Muro, Mai's brother, is the red Oni. However, their personalities seem to be the opposite of their colours...at least early on. By the end, however, they pretty much exhibit the personalities you would expect from their colours. By the way, is it a coincidence that they both have purple hair, which is the colour you get from mixing red and blue together?
In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake and his Evil Twin Liquid Snake could represent this trope to a point. Whereas Solid Snake is usually calm, generally soft-spoken, and tries to compartmentalize his emotions, Liquid Snake is brash, arrogant, obnoxious, and overconfident.
Tekken's major red/blue example is between Jin Kazama (a stoic and soft-spoken blue) and Hwoarang (fiery with a touch of arrogance, making him red).
Visual Novels
Twin sisters of the Nasu Verse, Aoko and Touko are this. One is chaotic, the other lawful. Touko was originally depicted as having blue hair until the Kara no KyoukaiOAV gave her an Adaptation Dye Job to more resemble her twin sister. Genetics beats out symbolism these days. Nevertheless, their Mage Titles are "Red" and "Blue." (Don't bring it up, it's a sore subject.)
Archer and Lancer of Fate/stay night provide the first Servant duel in the game and are dressed in red and blue respectively. They are often shown battling each other promotional materials as well as during the UBW intro (they also have a rematch late in UBW), invoking this sort of dynamic. Their colour schemes and personalities traits are reverse, however: Lancer is a hot-headed Blood Knight, while Archer is a cold and calculating Combat Pragmatist and Fallen Hero.
Played straight with Rin and Saber.
Mion of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has a tattoo of a blue oni, prominently featured in the opening. However, she's far more like the red oni in terms of personality. Then again, the tattoo isn't "hers" to begin with, thanks to an unfortunate Twin Switch in which Shion was supposed to get it. As a result, Mion is supposed to act Red as part of the older sibling role she's forced to play, while her sister Shion acts Blue as part of the younger sibling's role.
Also, in episode 20 of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Hanyuu says "If Keiichi is a flame that burns red, then Rena is a quiet, blue flame!"
Perhaps played with or perhaps just a coincidence, but in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the highly emotional hero who gets by largely on luck always wears blue, whereas his Rival, the stoic, intellectual, supremely controlled Miles Edgeworth wears red. In fact, the lawyers with the more fiery reddish qualities (Phoenix, Francizka etc.) have a blue motif in their dress, while the more aloof ones (Edgeworth, Godot's visor and clothing as Diego Armando) have a red motif.
Also played with in Justice For All: Matt Engarde, a popular - if somewhat dim - celebrity wears a scarlet jacket, whereas his manager, Adrian Andrews, is calm and collected and wears blue. In reality, Engarde is a vicious, self-obsessed manipulator and Adrian is a co-dependent, frail woman who's deathly scared of Engarde.
Megatokyo has Largo and Piro, Red Oni and Blue Oni respectively. Erika is also the Red Oni to Kimiko's Blue Oni, though they occasionally switch places.
Sluggy Freelance has Oasis and Kusari, two gymnastic assassins of mysterious origin with superhuman and probably supernatural powers. Oasis is basically insane as a result of Mind Control gone bad, which involved manipulating her emotional states. She is left impulsive and compulsive about the emotional reactions she was ordered to have before her controller was killed, and is often incapable of rational thought. Recently, it's even be discovered that she is pyrokinetic, just adding to her fiery repertoire. Kusari obeys orders unfailingly, possibly also mind-controlled, but is still capable of rational thought and always remains cool. The two look about as identical as they can under their respective outfits considering that Kusari is always masked, but Oasis's most noticeable feature is her fiery red hair, whereas Kusari is always shown in the same bluish-purple outfit. There is speculation that the contrast between the two hides symbolism hinting at their as yet unknown origins.
The Continentals: A steampunk murder, mystery, scifi adventure webcomic set in post Jack the Ripper England where Continental Operative Jeffrey Tiffen Smythe is the sophisticated, elegant, intellectual gentleman and his gender bending partner the adventress Lady Fiona Fiziwigg is a hot tempered, foul mouthed, do and say as I damned well please malcontnent and proud of it. It's a pairing of mismatched personalities that works surprisingly well as the two investigate a series of brutal "mangling" murders uncovers a tangled web of intrigue, adventure—And murder!!! Find it here.
El Goonish Shive has Tedd and Susan, sort of. In this case, it's more of a personality difference as Tedd is generally upbeat and unobservant while Susan is a Deadpan Snarker. Other characters lean towards both sides, but generally hover in the middle.
Hanna and Zombie from Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name are a good example: calm, stoic Zombie (Blue) and impulsive, extroverted Hanna (Red).
Also works with a Hot Blooded, uninhibited Casimiro and disciplined, well-mannered Finas. Even their color schemes are red and blue respectively.
There's also Doc Worth's Jerkass red to Lamont's nice guy blue. Although it's been shown that if anybody can get Lamont to lose his cool, it's Worth.
Karkat Vantas (red) and Jack Noir (blue) also have traces of this during their team-up in Act V, minus color correlations*
because trolls think fashion is stupid and Jack Noir is big on black
. Karkat is impulsive, loud, and almost always angry at something, while Jack is cool, quiet, and moves with a chilling economy of effort.
Karkat again plays Red Oni to John's Blue once they start interacting. Their colour correlations match up as well, and Karkat's first conversation (from his perspective) with John is a textbook example - Karkat is a raging, capslocking, furious, hateful mess, while John responds with a cheerily oblivious "hi karkat!".
Also, cheerful, perky Jade (Red) to grim, dour Rose (Blue). Rose ends up playing Blue Oni to a lot of people, really; she's just about as blue as it is humanly possible to be.
Equius Zahhak, a stoic traditionalist, plays Blue Oni to the Red Oni antics of Nepeta Leijon, a genki roleplayer.
Juathuur. Dejoru is dark-haired, calm and compassionate, with the talent to become a healer. Ratheel is loud, fun-loving, has red hair and fights by making stuff explode. Partly subverted as Dejoru is capable of releasing an enormous amount of raw energy. Ratheel, on the other hand, is completely useless in each and every fight we see.
The Lawyers: Phil's red to Mr. Jones' blue. There is something of an inverted lampshade hung on this; Phil wears a blue tie, and Mr. Jones wears a red tie.
Miko also plays the red to both Roy and Hinjo's blue
Ozy And Millie: Ozy blue (well, grey furred), and Millie red. Helpful that both are foxes.
In Girl Genius, we have the upbeat, charismatic Gil and the dour, calculating Tarvek. An interesting example in that they're both Sparks, and both schemers by admission.
Gunnerkrigg Court has an interesting example, where we were introduced to a red-haired Emotionless Girl (Annie) who befriends an impulsive gung-ho girl (Kat). Mutual Character Development however, has by now reversed the roles almost completely.
Arguably Sabrina and Zig Zag from Sabrina Online, the former being a somewhat reserved computer/Transformers nut and the latter an outgoing porn star legend.
Elf Blood has the KO Twins: SKO is the Blue Oni, being an adherent of law, order and obedience whereas TKO is the Red Oni, being the runaway renegade with a passion for freedom. Judging from a photograph taken when they were in school however, this dichotomy may have been inverted in the past.
In Two Guys And Guy, Guy (and occasionally Wayne as well) is the red to Frank's blue.
The Wing Antivirus corporation from Electric Wonderland has modest (blue) Nathaniel Wing as software developer and his meglomaniac (red) wife Nina as CEO.
Kaustos and Two, Heiwa and Nandin, and others from Universal Compass. Almost every character has a foil because they are based off of emotions.
In Next Town Over, John Henry Hunter is a pyrokinetic outlaw with a suave demeanor and a zest for life, while Vane Black is a stoic, melancholy woman who eschews all pleasure and relations in her quest to kill Hunter.
Web Original
While most of the characters tend towards red oni, Red Vs. Blue has a bit of this going on in the different teams, mostly their leaders. Church, the man in charge of the blue team, is fairly on-the-ball and tries to get things done, and he took over from Butch Flowers, a soft-spoken, thoughtful man whose only flaw seemed to be in thinking that the whole Red Army versus Blue Army conflict was something of a game and strategizing accordingly (in a flashback, when Church reports on Red activity, Flowers refers to them as "Those rascals!" in a no-hard-feelings sort of way). Sarge, leader of the red team, puts exactly no thought into his battle plans beyond how they can be used to kill Grif, but he goes at them with such a fervor that, if he did think about his plans for three seconds straight, he might actually win.
Gantz Abridged actually calls this trope out in a full-on Shout Out to the TV Tropes Wiki, with an actual Red Oni alien telling a Green Oni alien that he's supposed to be Blue and asking if they're subverting the trope. The trope is then furthered carried out when the Red Oni decides to immediately resort to smashing things, to which the Green Oni replies, "You WOULD say that."
And in hbi2k's earlier work, Berserk Abridged, Zodd compared Guts and Griffith to Naruto and Sasuke. Griffith however believed that Guts should fulfill the Sasuke role since he's the angstiest of the two.
Desu Des Brigade has the two female reviews Jesu Otaku and Vixen to match up to this trope. While Vixen is the more emotional and tends to freak out more often (See: Papa To Kiss in the Dark), Jesu Otaku is far more reserved and analytical. The same goes for Professor Otaku and Arkada, though not nearly as stark of a contrast.
Interesting case: they fit the roles to a T during the Halloween event, but then get partially inverted during the Xmas event.
We're Alive has Latch as the blue with Scratch as red.
The Mondo Media series Dick Figures features a red stick man and a blue stick man with distinctly opposite personalities.
In Everyman HYBRID, HABIT and The Slender Man come off this way, especially in the fights between the two on Twitter. (Yes, Slender Man actually says something.It's actually pretty creepy.) HABIT types in ALLCAPS, is absolutely insane and unambiguously evil. Slender Man seems condescendingly amused by his shenanigans, and his messages are typed normally.
Before HABIT's nature came to light, The Rake was typically thought to be the Red Oni instead.
Lyle and Dex of Sanity Not Included. It's even displayed in the title sequence.
When Po Ping and Tai Lung arrived in Ink City at the same time, both ended up on the Paint Side of the currently split City and wound up temporarily recolored in the spirit of this. Po found his black and white replaced with vibrant shades of red and yellow, and deemed his unexpected makeover awesome. Tai Lung, on the other hand, finds his fur turned various shades of blue, and was considerably less amused.
The Questport Chronicles has the DuLac sisters, with Sabriel as the Blue Oni and Lirael as the Red.
Protectors of the Plot Continuum gives us Agents Suicide (Red Oni Spartan squire) and Dio (Blue Oni who does not even have a registered Lust Object).
Shiny Objects Videos: "An Earnest Discussion" places Curly as the Red Oni with Daniel as the Blue. According to Word Of God, there were plans for several more videos with a similar theme, but were lost due to Development Hell.
All three are exemplified in "Hearth's Warming Eve" where, in a pageant, the reds were cast as theirrace'sleaders while the blues played their Beleaguered Assistants.
Other relationships show signs of this; for instance, Applejack is a Blue Oni to the more gung-ho and impulsive Dash, but a Red Oni compared to the prim Rarity.
Ironically, despite being the Red Oni in pretty much any pair (except maybe when teamed with Pinkie Pie; that one has been shown going both ways), Rainbow Dash is a blue pony.
This is a list of the Mane Cast (and Spike) by order of most red to most blue: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy
The Cutie Mark Crusaders count as well. Scootaloo being the Red Oni, to Sweetie Belle as the Blue Oni. Applebloom is generally the Blue Oni to Scootaloo, and can be either the Red Oni or Blue Oni to Sweetie Belle.
Also done with the Princesses, though played unexpectedly. Celestia, brightly colored Monarch of the Sun and the Day, is quite clearly the calm, rational, wise Blue Oni, while Luna, dark-colored Monarch of the Moon and the Night, is the short-tempered and emotionally driven Red Oni.
My Little Pony as a whole had several of these. The most obvious being Firefly-Medley and Cheerilee-Rarity.
Transformers Generation 1. Blaster is loud, outgoing, spontaneous (and red) while Soundwave is quiet, introverted, and calculating (and blue).
Jazz (Red) and Prowl (Blue) also count in some continuities, especially in the IDW comics and Transformers Animated.
Teen Titans has two sets: Robin and Starfire are represented by Red and are more brash, stubborn and passionate then the others (Starfire displays this most in the comics to which the flashback/origin episode "Go" paid tribute). Cyborg and Raven are represented by Blue and are more intelligent, analytical, and in Raven's case, cold.
That, when they are in combat, but when they just hang along, Starfire and Beast Boy are more on the Red side, due to the fact that they are almost always happy, laid-back and carefree, while Raven and Robin have blue traits, being controlled, calm and down to earth. Cyborg falls in the middle.
In the current Teen Titans comic, Red Devil (literally a Red Oni) and the new Blue Beetle have become a comic relief dynamic duo that fans have dubbed Beevil. While both characters have similar personalities, Beetle tends to be level headed while Devil is more impulsive.
Don't forget about Thunder (blue) and Lightning (red) from the 4th episode.
Slade is definitely the villainous Blue to Robin's heroic Red.
Avatar The Last Airbender has played with the red vs. blue color game quite a bit. Probably the most clear cut case for this in actual characters is the contrast of angry, defiant Determinator Zuko, who lives and dies with the Indy Ploy (although he is by far one of most complex reds), and the Dangerously Genre SavvyChessmaster/Dragon Azula, who even makes blue fire (which is actually hotter). Some other notable examples of playing with red vs blue include:
Zuko also used a visibly different fighting style when he was "The Blue Spirit".
Best friends turned enemies Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin both had dragon companions. Roku's was red, Sozin's blue. Sozin tricks Roku, leaving him to his death.
Aang and Zuko are taught a different version of Firebending philosophy and forms at least in part by a red and blue dragon. Zuko is being taught to move beyond destructive motivations (his red oni background) while Aang is being taught to accept his destructive potential (against his blue oni background)
Aang is, appropriately enough, a combination of the two. Aang normally can be both foolish and passionate (represented by his normal saffron clothes and temporary Fire Nation wardrobe change, which he later salvages to make a new set of robes.) But when in his glowing blue Avatar State, Aang can become frighteningly cold and ruthless, to the point where Aang himself has nightmares about it.
Also invoked in the last half of the third season, between Zuko and Katara. Katara is constantly angry and emotional, and extremely protective of Aang and her own interests. For once, Zuko is calm instead of passionate, and thinks about how to deal with her. Ironic, in the sense that Katara is typically dressed in blue and Zuko in red.
Except, of course, in each of their 'spirit' alter-egoes; the Blue Spirit, and Katara's reddish Painted Lady. In that commonality, their colour schemes reverse; likewise, in the interactions between just the two of them, they switch roles.
Likewise, before Zuko switches sides they fit this but with the opposite roles. Originally Zuko was searching for the avatar, whom no one had seen for a century, as part of a crazy scheme to get back in the good graces of his father (just in time for conquering the world). Katara, on the other hand, seemed to be pushing for a long-term strategy of training the avatar and restoring an earlier period of peace and balance.
More broadly this applies to the Fire Nation and Water Tribe. This is especially clear in the Siege of the North - the Fire Nation troops are the aggressive attackers whose arguably deluded military leaders (General Zhao and Prince Zuko) are busy with insane schemes (to kill the Moon spirit and capture the avatar respectively). Meanwhile, the Northern Water Tribe are defending themselves, sometimes with the more planned (but equally unsuccessful) plots to infiltrate the Fire Nation navy and seek help from the spirit world. The color scheme throughout those episodes fits this trope to a t - the Fire Nation are typically dressed in red (and black) compared to the Water Tribe who are typically dressed in blue (and white or gray) and even more obviously the moon and night sky become blood red when the Fire Nation Admiral Zhao begins to kill the Moon Spirit foolishly risking the destruction of the earth in order to prevent water benders from bending, thereby making the city an easy target. The response from the Northern Water Tribe is exceptionally non-aggressive, as the princess, something of an incarnate of the Moon Spirit, sacrifices her mortal life with the aim of restoring balance to the world and enabling others to fight against Fire Nation imperialism.
Also, the (red) Fire Nation and the (green, not blue) Earth Kingdom during the attacks and sieges of Ba Sing Se and the establishment of Fire Nation colonies, where the Fire Nation are pretty clearly the (unsustainably) aggressive party. Of course, the Earth Kingdom has the Dai Li who dress in cooler colors and engage in more underhanded aggression, like brainwashing.
Also, the elements themselves. Fire and water, anyone? Fire is offensive and water is more defensive.
And, even earth and air, as in red clay. Earth is offensive and air is definitely defensive.
Although, at first, Stan and Kyle from South Park had similar personalities, later on, they were differenced. Stan was an introvert, calm Deadpan Snarker, while Kyle was an impulsive, bold Hot BloodedSnark Knight, especially in Cartman's presence.
Tweek and Craig fit this trope, as well. The former is hyperactive, paranoic, anxious, who shows his emotions easily, while the latter has a darker personality, being stoic, pragmatic, monotone and ironic.
Possibly unintentional, but Blitzwing of Transformers Animated has a Split Personality represented by his three faces. The black face is The Mad Hatter, but the red and blue faces are textbook red and blue oni, the blue face cold, calm, and calculating (and uses ice powers), while the red face is brash, impatient, and agressive (and uses a flamethrower).
Even his alternate modes reflect this; the blue face wanted to choose a fighter jet, maneuverable and good for attacking from a distance, while the red face insisted on an assault tank, heavily armored and bristling with firepower, ideal for being right in the middle of the action. After they'd argued for a bit, the crazy face stepped in and, cackling madly, scanned both; which one he uses depends on which of him is driving.
Interestingly, while you'd expect Jetfire and Jetstorm to follow the trope (they even have red and blue color schemes, respectively), they avert the trope by both acting pretty red. Of course, they are working for Sentinel Prime, so who knows how that affects their personalities.
Senitnel Prime is the red who is reckless and an arrogant Jerk Ass, Optimus Primes is blue far more levelheaded and humble to everyone, ironically Sentinel's primary color is blue, while Optimus is red.
Then there's Bumblebee who's well The Bumblebee, and Prowl who is more mature and more experience in fighting.
In Justice League, Hawk and Dove, who are also brothers then one brother and a girl, then two girls, according to the DC Encyclopedia.
In Xiaolin Showdown good examples on the villain side are Jack Spicer (red) and Chase Young (blue).
Leonardo (blue) and Raphael (red) in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Reversal in that Leo is the leader of the team (aside from Splinter). Raph does the Blood Knight bit when he takes the guise of Nightwatcher in the CGI movie.
In fact, they pretty much summed up the trope in four words with this exchange from the first episode of the '03 series:
Inverted with Pablo and Tyrone of The Backyardigans: Pablo's blue, Hot Headed, and panicked a lot in season 1, placing him as the Red Oni. Orange-furred Tyrone, on the other hand, is calmer and more level-headed, which are true aspects of a Blue Oni.
In the cartoons series for Disney's Hercules, Ares the God of war and Athena the Goddess of wisdom who are siblings and rivals were perfect representations of this trope.
Aladdin the Animated Series: Aladdin: Red/purple and white, uses his own strength, lives with a mess of friends, has a monkey sidekick, versus Mozenrath: Dark blue and black, uses magic, lives pretty much alone in a ghost city, has an eel sidekick.
In Taz-Mania the Taz/Dingo shorts, Taz plays the role of the Hot Blooded red oni while Digeri Dingo plays the role of the cool and cunning blue oni. Also, Molly and Jake with Molly being the easily stressed red and Jake being the more cheerful blue.
In Bonkers, Bonkers (red) and detectives Lucky Piquel and Miranda (blue).
In Invader Zim, Gir seems to show some signs of this trope, though the colors are reversed. The first few seconds when he was active, the episode "Gir goes Crazy and Stuff" and occasionally thru-out the series, Gir's colors switch from blue to red and back again. When red, he seems to show the traits of the Blue oni, and is intelligent, calm, and eager to serve his master (Often Saying "Yes my Master!"). When Blue, he acts more like the Red Oni, and is wild and over the top, with no control over his own urges or actions.
There is also the scene were Zim hypnotises Dib, and the scene shows the ground falling apart with Zim in red and Dib in blue. Makes sense, since Zim is known for being impulsive and not thinking before acting, where as Dib is more scientific and logical (If only by a little bit)
Dagget (red oni) from Angry Beavers is highly emotional and prone to Donald Duck-esque rages; stark contrast to his older brother Norbert (blue oni), who is cool-headed, and considers himself suave.
Trevor and Aeon from Æon Flux. Subverted, in that Aeon, despite being a cool, calculating, cause-oriented Blue Oni, is meant to represent chaos and anarchy, whereas Trevor, the vain, arrogant, people-oriented Red Oni, represents order and stability.
Out of the stretchy superheroes in Batman The Brave and the Bold, Plastic Man, who wears red, is much more blunt and is okay with stealing valuables from the scene of the crime while Elongated Man, who wears purple (it's a kind of blue) is much more analytical and noble. Plas has a similar dynamic with Batman himself.
Likewise Batman (Blue) and Aquaman (Red), Atom (Blue) and Aquaman (Red), and... heck, anyone and Aquaman.
In Titan Maximum, the original Titan Force Five had the Hot Blooded Palmer and his Lancer Gibbs (they even wear red and blue respectively). However the fact that Gibbs was the Only Sane Man of the team (as well as Palmer leaving him to die just so he wouldn't miss a hot date) led to Gibbs turning evil at the first episode.
Tiana and Charlotte from The Princess and the Frog! They also fit the Tomboy and Girly Girl mold as well, with Charlotte being the loud, over-dramatic, ditzy, spoiled dreamer and Tiana being the quieter, more down-to-earth working girl. Also one scene has Charlotte in a pink ballgown with Tiana in a (borrowed) blue dress.
Tiana and Prince Naveen also fit the description to a T, with Tiana being a Work-A-Holic and Naveen being overly laid back and lazy.
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan has two examples, one with an inversion in color: Sweet-tempered Suzie wears blue while boisterous tomboy Anne has a lot of orange in her outfit, but responsible Henry wears orange while impulsive goofball Stanley wears blue and green.
Henry and June in KaBlam!!: Henry is the red oni (he's energetic, idiotic (not to extreme levels), while June is the blue oni (cool, cynical, smart). With June it kind of makes some sense, she does have blue hair, after all.
In Life with Loopy, Loopy is the red oni (energetic, life-loving) to her older brother Larry's blue oni (inteligent, shy). Oddly enough,the colors of their hair is are the opposite of the oni (Loopy has blue hair, Larry has red)
The Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. While they are both still immature jerks, Ignignot is much more level-headed and sarcastic than the vulgar, in-your-face Err.
Beavis And Butthead are a borderline case. While both of the boys are active pranksters, and neither of them show good judgement, Beavis is Hot Blooded, brash, irritable, and violent, while Butthead is more laid-back, calmer, and (barely) smarter. Ironically, Beavis wears a blue shirt while Butthead wears red shorts.
Two sets of them in Wing Commander Academy: Payback and Archer (the former is a Blood Knight, the latter often hesitating to end another's life), and to a lesser degree, Maniac and Maverick (Manic is Hot Blooded, Maverick is by-the-book enough to have earned an Ironic Nickname)
Wakfu has this dynamic between Amalia. and Evangeline. Amalia is a Rebellious Princess who absconds for little reason other than boredom and brattiness. Meanwhile, Evangeline starts as The StoicBad AssTyke Bomb with Undying Loyalty to the Sadida royal family. She is all about duty and self denial and doing what's right. But as things go on, they both learn from each other and end up reaching more balanced positions on the matter of responsibility. Amalia learns from the example of Evangeline's courage and commitment, taking up challenge of living up to her royal responsibilities and defending the Sadida kingdom at its darkest hour. Evangeline, at the same time learns how to enjoy herself without compromising her duty.
Freakazoid and Cosgrove in Freakazoid!. In the episode "Two Against Freak", RoddyMacStew fills in as the Red Oni while Freakazoid is in the hospital. They're even-albeit unintentionally-in the right colors: Freakazoid's in red tights and Roddy's kilt is red, while Cosgrove is always in his blue police uniform.
Used a bit with the main six in Recess when broken into three groups of two
T.J. as the red oni (Genki, easily excitable) with Vince as the blue oni (cool, sarcastic)
Spinelli as the red oni (Hot tempered, tough) with Gretchen as the blue oni (smart, laid back)
Mikey as the red oni (Outgoing, drama king) with Gus as the blue oni (shy, quiet)
Legend Of The Dragon has the dragon twins Ling and Ang. You may think from looking at pictures that Ling is the blue Oni and Ang is the red Oni. However, in terms of personalities, Ling is the red Oni and Ang is the blue Oni.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Bloo (red oni) is obnoxious, self-centered, and rude, while Mac (blue oni) is intelligent, shy, and always wants to do the right thing (most of the time). Ironically, Bloo is well, blue, while Mac wears a red t-shirt.
The Revenge Couple on Total Drama; Trent and Courtney. Courtney is a red oni, and Trent is a blue oni.
Another couple, Gwuncan also fits for this trope, as Duncan is a red oni, while Gwen is a blue oni.
Red-clad Iron Man often acts more brash and short-tempered than the calm, reflective, and blue-clad Captain America.
For most of the first season, The Wasp loves the exciting and beneficial qualities of crimefighting, but her colleague, Ant-Man (whose red costume seems ironic in this case), prefers to confront criminals by talking things out and rehabilitating them. They switch roles during scientific projects, which Ant-Man enjoys more than Wasp does.
Ozzy and Drix has this with a color inversion just like the movie it was based on, mentioned above, with Ozzy as the Red Oni and Drix as the Blue Oni. This is despite Ozzy being blue and Drix being red.
In Looney Tunes, Daffy Duck serves as the hot-tempered, overacting, obnoxious red oni to Bugs Bunny, who is a calm, cool, intelligent blue oni
During the Cold War, communist countries were represented by a red star, symbolizing the passion associated with revolution and subversion of "the system", while capitalist ones were associated with the color blue, representing the "cold" and calculating nature of the capitalist ethos.
Inverted in American revolution, where the British already had red uniforms and the revolutionaries were left with blue.
Now in the USA, Red represents Republican states or regions, Blue represents Democratic states or regions.
An interesting case as this is both played straight as far social issues go, and inverted as far as economics. The red Republicans are as a whole more passionately religious, containing the Christian right, and supportive of laws pushing a certain moral view point, and also support gun rights and are more likely to be War Hawks. Democrats on the other hand support a live and let live mentality concerning social rights, except when it comes to supporting gun control, and are more likely to be Peace Doves. Economically, however, Republicans tend to be staunch supporters of the free market and capitalism, a colder more logical approach, whereas Democrats support a more touchy-feely approach that involves government intervention in the form of taxation to support welfare and works programs.
The colors were arbitrarily changed around until the 2000 presidential election, where Tim Russert started talking about "red states" and "blue states" and the monikers stuck.
Came to a head in the 2008 elections with No-Drama Obama and Maverick McCain, or at least, that's what the parties and media went with.
And reversed in the United Kingdom and Canada, where the main left-leaning parties (Labour and Liberals, respectively) are identified by the colours red and yellow, while their opponents in the Conservative Party are identified by blue. In this case, the use of red is derived from the socialist and social democratic associations of each party, while blue was traditionally associated with the monarchy and other such traditional institutions.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Coca-Cola has survived by its aggressive and continual marketing campaign and bright, memorable advertisements, is incredibly popular, and is sold in red cans. Pepsi has a much more subtle presence in marketing and is sold in blue cans. On the other hand, Pepsi is totally the Red Oni, in spite of the can color. When their ads do show up, they're all about aggressively taking potshots at Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola's marketing generally involves adorable polar bears quietly enjoying a refreshing Coke.
This is even true for the way both taste: Pepsi has been described as being extremely sweet, almost aggresively so, while Coca-Cola is alot more mellow. The differences in taste has led to them preforming differently on various kinds of taste tests.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the two famous Progressive-era Presidents. They aren't color-coded, but they fit the personalities well and the colors associated with their modern day parties.
Admirals Halsey and Spruance who regularly exchanged commands of the Central Pacific subtheater in World War II. Halsey was the Red Oni and Spruance the Blue Oni
John Mc Cain is the Red Oni to Barack Obama's Blue Oni. The 2008 election played this out to the book.
McCain was also a Red Oni to Mitt Romney's Blue Oni, and Obama played Blue Oni to Hillary Clinton's Purple Oni (some Red Oni traits, some Blue Oni traits), during the respective primaries. Mike Huckabee was arguably another Red Oni, although he doesn't fit it quite as well as Mccain. So perhaps he'd be a Green Oni?
Sarah Palin is also a Red Oni to Obama's Blue Oni; Mc Cain would also play Blue Oni to Palin, but only really in comparison. Similarly, Joe Biden is the Red Oni to Obama's Blue.
Bush was also a Red Oni to Dick Cheney's Blue Oni.
The 2012 Presidential election has rivals Rick Perry, a Red Oni, and Mitt Romney, a Blue Oni, Michele Bachmann, another Red Oni, and Newt Gingrich, another Blue Oni. Herman Cain has both Red Oni and Blue Oni qualities, and Ron Paul would be a Yellow Oni. The winner of the primary will go up against Obama the Blue Oni in the general election.
This advert for Milky Way chocolate bars, "The Red car and The Blue car had a race...".
South Korea's flag is the yin-yang with blue and red instead of the usual white and black.
South Korea itself is the restrained, well-behaved sibling of the boisterous, blustering North.
Unsurprisingly, siblings can be like this. This is especially pronounced when they're twins, or when there are only two children in a family. For larger families, there may be more than one red/blue sets.
L.A. street gangs the Crips and the Bloods wore blue and red bandannas, respectively, to distinguish themselves. Whether either group tended to be more emotional and hot-tempered, though, is up for debate.
Swedish monarch Gustavus Adolphus and his chancellor Axel Oxienstierna, at least in Hollywood History. An anecdote has an exasperated Gustavus telling Oxienstierna "If it wasn't for me, this country would be frozen solid!" and Oxienstierna calmly replying "And if it wasn't for me, it would be burnt to ashes."
Queen Elizabeth II is the blue oni- blue is her favorite color and all- since she is so prim and proper, always practical and no-nonsense. Her late sister Margaret was the red oni. Which one is the Tomboy and which one the Girly Girl, that is harder to determine.
Another example of siblings fitting this: the Gyllenhaals. Look at their film roles, and their offscreen personalities; Maggie is the Red Oni, and Jake is the Blue Oni.
There are two main different types of personality that define this trope - Red Oni is extrovert, and Blue Oni is introvert.
Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger. Feynman was rough, energetic, informal and uncouth. Schwinger was dignified, reserved, formal and proper. They took completely different approaches to quantum electrodynamics, and came up with essentially the same solutions. They (along with Sin-Itiro Tomonaga) shared a Nobel Prize for this work in 1965.
In Australian Politics, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott plays the Red Oni to the Blue Oni of Prime Minister Julia Gillard (and her immediate predecessor Kevin Rudd).
World War II era Generals George Patton and Dwight D Eisenhower fit this quite well, with Patton being the Hot Blooded and gruff Red Oni and Eisenhower being the careful and calm Blue Oni
In a similar case is Patton and Montgomery. Patton being new and eager to get to the front and while Monty is a veteran and has more experience in fighting the Germans.
In the US Congress, the House of Representatives is often considered the Red Oni to the Senate's Blue.
Among the First Triumvirate in Ancient Rome, the red was Pompey the Great, the fasionable and charismatic maverick who loved the spotlight, and the blue was Marcus Crassus, the behind the scenes wheeler-dealer who preferred to stay in the shadows. Julius Caesar fell somewhere between the two
