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Grade B Zettai Ryouiki
... the golden ratio for the ultimate zettai ryouiki is 4:1:2.5 (length of skirt : zettai ryouiki : length of socks above knee) and the acceptable margin for error is ±25%. The ratios are generally off because it is thought that the ultimate zettai ryouiki would generate so much moé that the equivalent energy would be enough to vaporize the planet. — Dark Mirage
A character that is equipped with such weapon can annihilate vast amounts of brain cells, which can amount to an intense moe~ness that is so destructive that one can overcome one's AT field in less than 0.03 seconds. — kj1980, Japanese otaku lingo at AnimeSuki
"Absolute Territory" (絶対領域, zettai ryouiki in Japanese) describes the area of uncovered thigh between the skirt and the knee sock.
As per usual for fandom who obsess about costumes, this can be considered a moe attribute and thus, present prominently in character designs and schoolgirl outfits. The term originates from Neon Genesis Evangelion to designate an area of Absolute Terror, although it's had considerable semantic drift. In this case, it may jokingly refer to the fact it emphasizes a shorter skirt without actually becoming creepy and showing the underpants.
As if that wasn't enough, some even categorize it into five "Grades", from E to A. Only the top two (A and B) are considered true Zettai Ryouiki and they are only usable by female characters. Some researchers additionally introduce Grade S, the highest one which consists of Grade A plus further requirements to personality and hairstyle. See the linked Anime Deshou Deshou article for details and illustrations.
Stop looking at us like that.
Just to make it clear, Zettai Ryouiki is made up of three components: socks, skin, and skirt. An Action Girl may trade the latter for hotpants but if it doesn't include knee-highs and thighs, it's not Zettai Ryouiki. Panty Shot is an entirely different zone. See also Sexy Schoolwoman (who is usually showing a lot more leg than this) and Joshikousei.
As a relatively recent phenomenon, the symbolism of Zettai Ryouiki only recently began to crystallize (or, rather, become apparent). Since it is simultaneously incredibly sensual and hardly revealing, it symbolizes budding, innocent sexuality, one of The Ingenue who is already aware of her attractiveness but not (yet) cynical enough to put it to use (which is why many a Tsundere wears Zettai Ryouiki). And that's moe. And Serious Business. Of course, as with any symbols, Genre Savvy characters can invoke it on purpose even if far from the described archetype themselves.
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Examples
General
- This is quite common in Ecchi/Hentai anime, manga, dōjinshi and video games. Note that, in fully X-rated works, it is also very frequent for women to keep the thigh-high socks even while otherwise naked.
Anime and Manga
- Rin Tohsaka in Fate Stay Night. Let's see... 57 cm stockings: check. Double pigtail: check. Tsundere: check
◊. Yes, Rin Tohsaka is Grade S!
- Rider also has a hotpants variation of Zettai Ryouiki. But she definitely does not have a grade as high as Rin's.
- Kallen Stadtfeld in her school uniform from Code Geass, not to mention her Custom Uniform. She is also credited with popularizing the hotpants+socks variety of Zettai Ryouiki.
- C.C's black outfit in R2 also uses the hotpants + socks variation.
- Uhm... I like to think Suzaku might also have a fondness for Zettai Ryouiki
◊. Sorta. Click on the link and you'll see what I mean.
- Well, both those outfits were designed by Lulu so...
- Sayoko has the socks for a decent grade Ryouiki, but her skirt is too long for it.
- Also, Nunnally gets to use a borderline B grade one in the Knightmare of Nunnally manga, as it's included in the Ashford Academy's middle school uniform. Same goes to The Libby Katerina, her Girl Posse, and Nunners's best friend Alice (who actually gets an A grade (which could borderline go into Type S).
- Tamaki Kousaka, Sasara Kusugawa, and the Himeyuri twins in To Heart 2.
- Featured in the opening of Lucky Star.
- The B-Side of the Lucky Star opening song single, "Kaeshite! Knee Socks", is pretty much entirely about thigh-highs.
- Mentioned by Konata's father in Episode 23.
- Chiaki Minami in Minami-ke.
- Kurumi Momose and Yuma Kashiwagi in Pani Poni Dash.
- Matsuri Shihou's excellent Zettai Ryouiki is likely the source of her immortality in Sola.
- Shana in Shakugan No Shana.
- Pictured above: Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Valliere in Zero No Tsukaima. As an Expy of Shana, this isn't surprising.
- The first episode even has a gratuitous close-up of Louise pulling her sock on.
- Seems to be a part of the standard school uniform in Zombie Loan.
- Similarly, it appears to be part of Stellvia Foundation uniform in Stellvia Of The Universe.
- Yomi in Azumanga Daioh.
- Nayuki, Kaori and Shiori in Kanon.
- Pretty much standard uniform for all female crew members in Starship Operators, but considering its Show Within a Show one could blame it on sex sells.
- Kyou (and Ryou) in Clannad — even when playing basketball. Kyou's power is truly without limit.
- Nanoha and Fate's basic Barrier Jackets in the third season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha seem to have been designed with this in mind.
- Fate's Barrier Jacket in the first two seasons, as well, and Nanoha's normal outfits (non-Barrier Jacket, non-school uniform) from those seasons. And the Lieze twins (very perfect "A" grade). And Vita's normal non-combat outfit (only "B"-grade, which is sad because she meets both of the added requirements for S-grade). And Teana's Barrier Jacket and military uniform. ...yeah, this show runs on Fanservice, alright.
- Don't forget Sister Schach.
- There's also the strange case of Reinforce, who has... only one sock.
- Alice in ARIA since its part of her school uniform, making her of the very few main characters who wears something else aside from her undine outfit.
- In one anime episode, Aika wears the variety with shorts.
- Princess Rita Sior in Sisters of Wellber.
- Seemingly part of the school outfit on School Days. It's also explicitly referred to in the School Festival episode. This instance is doubly notable as the last comedic occurrence in the anime before things go straight to hell.
- ... as well as of the one Margaret attends in Madlax.
- And Kagura Tennouzou's school in Speed Grapher. IIRC, Kagura also uses Zettai Ryouki when she dones a very Stripperiffic outfit as the Divine Goddess.
- Yui and Haruna's school in Corrector Yui also has it as a part of its standard outfit.
- Miyo Takano of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni has this on her nurse outfit. Also from the same series, the Angel Mort outfit seems designed with Zettai Ryouiki on mind.
- Yue Ayase from Mahou Sensei Negima, along others from the same series. Considering that Ken Akamatsu has written about moe on his blog, this is probably intentional.
- Evangeline does this too.
She is the goddess of Goth Loli, after all.
- Don't forget Chachamaru in the school festival.
- It's kind of a shame that Asuna doesn't were the appropriate socks, otherwise she'd be a sure shot for Grade S.
- Asuna, like all of the characters, does not suffer from a Limited Wardrobe. Look at the cover of Volume 19.
- Very good...but still doesn't give off that Grade S feeling. I think the ratio fails—too much skirt, not enough sock.
- Shiori Takatsuki in the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie. (Zettai unmei mokushi-ryouiki! Um... sorry.)
- Valentine from Guilty Gear Overture fits this somewhat. Hard to believe she is a likely copy of Justice.
- Flay Allster and Miriallia Haww in Gundam SEED, since this is a part of their military cadet uniform.
- When Lunamaria "Luna" Hawke became a redcoat in ZAFT and asked for a customized uniform with a pink miniskirt, she also added long black socks to it.
- Shino in .hack//Roots and her Expy Atoli in the G.U. games.
- Lala Satalin Deviluke from To Love Ru.
- The three heroines of Ultimate Girls.
- Mishio Maeno in Mnemosyne.
- Female Ranma (Ranma ˝) while disguised as Ryoga's sister, Yoiko.
- Akane as well, on occasion.
- Tsuyuri in Doujin Work.
- Aoba Kozue in Mahoraba dons the ZR on occasion. This troper estimates it to fall around Type B.
- Frequently, Nico Robin of One Piece, if thigh-high boots count.
- Yoko Ritona from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann goes the hotpants route (which Kamina gets a good long look at). She later switches out the socks for boots of about the same length.
- Every single girl in Shuffle, at some point or other. Mostly in their school outfits.
- Several of the Claymores wear these, even in the dead of winter. But they are Half Human Hybrids.
- Both Nena Trinity and Christina Sierra from Gundam 00 also use the hotpants variety. In season 1, Nena combines it with socks; in season 2, she switches to the long boots version.
- Itsuko Koizumi and the female Computer Club President from Suzumiya Haruhi No Seitenkan with their school uniforms. Kyonko as well if one is to include all those fanarts.
- Kokoa Shuzen, Mizore Shirayuki, and Yukari Sendo in Rosario To Vampire.
- Anzu from Yu-Gi-Oh! used the hotpants + socks once, more exactly in the Marik and Noa arcs.
- Rare male example: Zarbon. Even if it's less hotpants than it is underpants.
◊
- The trope is Older Than They Think: the belted dress-shorts and boots version was used by Mia from Ronin Warriors.
- And even older! Megumi from Voltes V uses the uniform miniskirt plus boots version.
- The titular Black God gets a very nice zone when Akane dresses her up.
- Tsukino Azusagawa from Yakitate Japan.
- Taiga from Toradora, not surprising for another expy of Louise. It also gets a lot of attention int he opening credits.
- Jun's birdstyle in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
- Jessie's Team Rocket miniskirt and thigh-high boots in the Pokemon anime.
- Rosette from Chrono Crusade has thigh-high stockings and slits up to nearly her waist in her militia uniform, making it a variation of this trope.
- Lee Lenalee, even! Helloooooo, legs!
- And her socks give her magical powers. No, really.
- Seras from Hellsing
- Shinobu from Ninja Nonsense. Extra points for doing this with a ninja outfit.
- Karin from Naruto. She also gets points for pulling it off with a ninja uniform (for ninja in the service of Orochimaru, no less).
- Hime from Yozakura Quartet sports Grade A and is a tsundere. Now, if only she wore twin-tails...
- Alsh the vampire from Bloody Kiss has his preferred Zettai Ryouiki at 10-15 cm.
- Kaolla Suu Love Hina seems to wear this quite a bit (in the manga at least).
- Himeko from Himechan No Ribon is a borderline Grade B.
- Nagi and Sakuya in Hayate The Combat Butler. The former a bona fide Grade S. So much moe!
- Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop.
- In the 4th season of Maria-sama Ga Miteru Yumi Fukuzawa starts dressing this way outside of school, making for unexpected amounts of fetish fuel.
- Rin Kokonoe in Kodomo No Jikan appears to do this intentionally to seduce her teacher, although it's never explicitly stated. The Lolicon nature of the series makes this Fetish Retardant for most people though.
- Sumire's high school in Venus Versus Virus apparently has this as part of the school uniform. What is it with all-girl schools and ultra-short skirts in anime?
- Runo in Bakugan: New Vestroia is Grade S. (In Bakugan Battle Brawlers, she was a thoroughly unremarkable C-grade, though she already had the other two parts of the S requirements). Sadly, she and the other two main girls from Battle Brawlers are pretty much gone by the second episode.
- Partial example by way of Fashionable Asymmetry: Mira in New Vestroia (the other pant leg is too long). The camera seems to focus on the "good side" whenever showing a side view, though, so it counts.
- The sisters Mawata and Mayune from Pretear.
- Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan. Dokuro has got to be at least a grade A, maybe even S. High socks? Check. Ponytails? Check. Tsundere? (Do I even have to say it?)
- The eponymous Shion of Shion No Ou exhibits Grade A Zettai Ryouiki, usually with a red miniskirt and white thigh highs.
- Nao Yuuki from Mai-HiME uses grade B as well.
- In G Gundam, Sai Saici's girlfriend Cecile Holgar wears this. So do Rain Mikamura and Allenby Biarzury when they put on their Latex Space Suits: Rain wears the more traditional version
, whereas one of Allenby's "boots" is much longer than the other... .
- Cure Berry in Fresh Pretty Cure.
- Blue from Wolf's Rain uses thigh high boots and a peacoat.
- Moetan is filled with this as part of the all-you-can-eat Fetish Fuel Station.
Comic Books
- From Marvel Comics: both Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel and Betsy Braddock/Psylocke use Zettai Ryouki in their superhero costumes.
Films
- Felicity Shagwell from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is both a western and live-action example on her first appearance.
- The eponymous D.E.B.S. wear outfits like this.
- Shilo's outfits in Repo The Genetic Opera are almost all Grade A Zettai Ryouiki.
Live Action TV
Music Video
- Vocaloid has both Megurine Luka and Hatsune Miku wearing thigh-highs and a skirt (or in the case of Miku, thigh-high boots, but many people don't even realize this), and as if that weren't enough, the most popular fan-design of Kagamine Rin (from the song Meltdown) has her wearing leather thigh-high boots and (of course) a skirt.
- Alizée, on many live performances of "J'en ai marre", wears hotpants and overknees for a B-Grade.
- Shakira in the video for her song "Las de la intuición
". Oh, my...
- Namie Amuro wears an extremely short dress and tigh-high stockings in her recent "New Look" video.
Video Games
- Sion Eltnam Atlasia from the Tsukihime spin-off Melty Blood packs a pair that rivals Rin's.
- Pokémon has Dawn
, the female lead character in Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum and the Pokemon DP anime, as well as Leaf , the female lead of FireRed and LeafGreen (albeit to a much lesser extent for the latter than the former).
- This just in: Kris (from Pokémon Crystal)'s HeartGold and SoulSilver counterpart, Soul
, has just enough for a Grade A, but with the hot-pants variant. Yet although she has pigtails, she's still no Grade S due to her (possibly) not being a Tsundere.
- Solana, the female player character from Pokemon Ranger, also has the hot-pants variant of Grade A.
- Another "partial example" is Galactic Admin Jupiter.
- More than a few generic trainers in the games, as well, including just about every incarnation of the Lass.
- And among Gym Leaders, we have Gold/Silver/Crystal's Whitney and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum's Candice.
- Venus from Metal Gear Acid 2 had zettai ryouiki so devastating that it had to be censored for her cameo in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
- Yukari Takeba from Persona 3 goes the socks-and-skirt route, and it's actually quite surprising that she never panty-shots throughout the entire game considering the length (or lack thereof) of her skirt.
- Weeeell, the players never got it see it — but considering Yukari hastily told Minato and Junpei not to look up in the monorail scene...
- Chie Satonaka in Persona 4 uses footwear to fight, some of which goes up past the knee. You don't get Panty Shots with her either though, since she's a serious Action Girl and takes the precaution of wearing shorts under her skirt.
- Actually for Persona 4, Rise Kujikawa falls this trope perfectly as she really is wearing a knee high socks along with her school uniform. Not to mention her Moe Moe personality.
- The Shadow Hearts series is fond of this. The prequel has Koudelka, the first game has sweet innocent Staff Chick Alice, and the third game has Elegant Gothic Lolita vampire Hildegard, all with very high stockings. German soldier Karin in the second game achieves the same effect with thigh-high boots.
- The miniskirt + long boots is a standard part of the uniform worn by the Pegasus Knight / Falcoknight / Dragon Knight ladies in the Fire Emblem saga. Even The Ladette Vaida uses it, and she's FAR from Moe Moe.
- Not only them, either! Some troubadours (mounted healers) also use it, like Clarine from FE 6 and L'Arachel from FE 8.
- Any female mounted unit, actually. This kind of makes sense when you think about it: the short skirt is more comfortable for riding, the long boots offer protection.
- One non-mounted example (at least, pre-promotion) is Princess Eirika from FE 8. Actually, here's another: Mia pre-promotion in FE 9 (after promoting to upper tier, the skirt becomes too long).
- In the intro video of La Pucelle Tactics, the Maiden of Light wears this.
- Charlotte Aulin from Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.
- If you hold up for about 5 seconds, she poses, making it more obvious.
- MOMO from Xenosaga has Zettai Ryouiki that can blow your eyeballs out through the back of your head — if you can deal with the fact that she's made of solid loli.
- The female character in Final Fantasy III for DS gets some killer zettai ryouiki if you change her job to Scholar. This also makes her a Meganekko.
- The same goes for Scholar Artifact armor from Final Fantasy XI, when worn by any female player character or NPC. This troper has two friends who took the job to level 60 for no other reason than to equip SCH AF.
- This is one of the few costume options that City Of Heroes sadly lacks.
- It's there now, called Disco, and can be paired with skirts and even worn with Thigh High Boots.
- Yup, Disgaea has this, too. Etna, you spoil us...
- And not just her, either, as we also have Sapphire
◊ and Plenair ◊.
- True, but Etna's is... well, I guess it's kind of an S-. She has the Grade A Zettai Ryouiki, and both of the other aspects are present, but not at their highest possible grades (especially the 'tails — does it even count if they defy gravity like that?), as stated in the article. The criteria for Grade S seems rather arbitrary, though, and it would seem kind of cheap to give out only the second known S-grade here when there really are better examples that lack one of the two S-grade criteria. So, S-.
- Rikku in Kingdom Hearts 2.
- Female human mages in Lineage II start with this, and most of their clothing options up to 20 in level are these.
- A good number of the skirt-wearing female soldiers in Valkyria Chronicles qualify. The most noticable are Alicia, Rosie, and Isara.
- From Flower, Sun, and Rain, Toriko Kusabi has Grade C, and Yayoi Hanayama has Grade A.
- All of the rival cheer girls in Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan have Grade B.
- Nel Zelpher, the deadly serious ninja-wizard of Star Ocean 3, happens to have a very short, tight-fitting skirt to go with her very tall, yet equally tight boots. That bit of thigh between them is all the skin she shows though, since she's otherwise very modestly and functionally dressed... which arguably makes it that much hotter.
- Mitsuki Konishi in The World Ends With You. So zettai ryouiki!
- Heart Aino from Arcana Heart sports a Grade A Zettai Ryouiki.
- Ange from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni definitely has this, and depending on your definition of knee socks (they stop literally just below the knee), so do all of the other girls. Even Maria.
- Alicia from Valkyrie Profile 2.
- A couple of Athena Asamiya's alternate outfits in KOF Maximum Impact 2 sport this look, as does Miu Kurosaki from gaiden game KoF EX 2.
- Momohime from Oboro Muramasa.
- Nobody plays Mega Man Legends 2 enough, apparently, because if anyone did, they'd mention the serious Grade A Zettai Ryouiki going on for Sera and Yuna. In Yuna's case, it even meets one requirement for Grade S.
- On the topic of Mega Man, Mayl has Grade A, too.
- Momo Karuizawa from Rival Schools sports a nice grade A and Girlish Pigtails, though she's more of a Bitch In Sheeps Clothing than a Tsundere.
- Kay Faraday from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth sports a grade B.
- In Cartoon Network's Fusion Fall the Powerpuff Girls have this with a grade B in the game, yet a grade A in official artwork.
Web Comics
Web Original
- All OS-tans have been depicted wearing Zettai Ryouiki at some point. It is especially popular with XP-tan and Firefox-ko.
- In the Whateley Universe, Jade has discovered this. Along with the formula. Fear her! She's a trap! And a post-op.
- About 85 Percent of dancers in any of fan made or official Caramelldansen videos.
Western Animation
- Yumi Ishiyama in the first episode of Code Lyoko, "TeddyGozilla". Also Noémie, a minor character.
- Starfire from Teen Titans. Thigh-high boots, very very short skirt, yeah, SHE'S HOT.
- Portia Gibbons from The Mighty B. Imagine her in five years time...
- Sheila from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon gives us the thigh-high boots with short tunic variant.
- Yori in Kim Possible.
- Winx Club's Bloom sports this in her Season 2 casual outfit.
- Various outfits that the Winx wear have this, including Stella's Believix costume.
- Sari Sumdac of Transformers Animated starting in Season 3.
- Various outfits in Totally Spies!
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