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alt title(s): Knee High Socks; Absolute Territory; Golden Thigh Ratio; Knee Socks Still relatively unknown to the local fashion scene, lies an incredibly deadly heaven-drilling wear... Just a quick glance of a girl equipped with Zettai Ryouiki can set the hearts of many on fire, ranging from your usual otaku to the president of the USA... With this, you will be able to rule the world (especially Singapore) and nobody will understand why they are so insanely attracted to you.
Grade B Zettai Ryouiki
"Absolute Territory" ( zettai ryouiki in Japanese) describes the area of uncovered thigh between the skirt and the stockings that's a total magnet for Male Gaze.
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 females. 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, or see this image◊ for a quick reference.
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 thigh-highs and visible skin, 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 incredibly sensual without revealing the "naughty bits", 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.
This academic treatise explains the appeal of Zettai Ryouiki as part of a more universal appeal of half-hidden beauty (also exemplified in such classics as a half-unbuttoned shirt, a semi-transparent laced dress, etc.). A revealing glimpse combined with a conservative cover-up of the other captivating parts is a classical bait for the curiousness and a powerful incentive for fantasy, which, applied to a girl, inevitably turns into attraction or, in more extreme cases, lust.
Zettai Ryouiki is currently the most popular fetish in Japan. (Or at least the one most people will admit to.) So Yeah.
Special Note: This trope also covers knee/thigh-high boots as well as socks. In fact, if you believe That Other Wiki, this trope is the whole reason why go-go boots, and all of their successors in years since, were made.
See also Stocking Filler (for stockings without the skirts), Mini Dress Of Power. Not to be confused with Zeta Reticuli, where the Greys hang out.
Examples
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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.
- Rie Kugimiya-voiced characters seem to have a tendency to wear Zettai Ryouiki.
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Anime & Manga
- 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.
- 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.
- They're not really hot pants; more like a dress if you look closely at the skirt area in any piece of art, official or otherwise. As an example, there's this one◊ or this one◊. There are also an ocasional Panty Shot in other pics.
- 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 new 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.
- Sayoko has the socks for a decent grade Ryouiki, but her skirt is too long for it.
- Nunnally gets to use a B grade Ryouiki in the Knightmare of Nunnally manga, as it's included in the Ashford Academy's middle school uniform. Same goes to The Libby Ekaterina, her Girl Posse, and Nunners's best friend Alice (who wears a shorter skirt so she actually gets an A grade, which could borderline go into Type S due to her tomboyish personality).
- Anya gets to use a nice Grade A while in her Knight of Rounds uniform.
- Touka, the daughter of the Tennouji Family (from Nogizaka Haruka No Himitsu 2nd season), has a Grade A zettai ryouiki, aside from twin tails and tsundere spoiled brat personality, making it a grade S.
- Tamaki Kousaka, Sasara Kusugawa, and the Himeyuri twins in To Heart 2.
- Love interest Rion Akagami wears this in Cage of Eden, even when they're stuck on a tropical island inhabited by hordes of prehistoric animals.
- 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.
- Naturally, Konata's father mentions it one of the series' many Seinfeldian Conversations.
- Ayano Minegishi ang Miyuki Takara have this as part of her school uniform.
- Chiaki Minami,(occasionally worn by Kana at home) also the standard uniform in her school 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.
- 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, although after a while she stops wearing them) 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.
- 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 humorously refered to, as an army of school girls in short skirts activate Zettai Ryouiki by putting on knee socks in an attempt to draw more people to their classroom for the school festival.
- This instance is doubly notable as the last comedic occurrence in the anime before things go straight to hell.
- It's also part of the school outfit in 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 as part of her nurse outfit. Also from the same series, the Angel Mort outfit seems designed with Zettai Ryouiki in mind.
- Also Rena's outfit may possibly fit this trope- she wears the thigh socks but her skirt is very long, which would normally disqualify her. However, sometimes her thighs are visible through the skirt's long side slit, as is clearly visible in this image.
- 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. Also here. Grade A.
- Don't forget Chachamaru at 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.
- Actually, if one goes by the "ideal" 4:1:2.5 ratio of skirt, Zettai Ryouiki, sock above knee, she qualifies as Grade A.◊ Especially if one accepts the +/- %25 margin. Combined with the double pigtails and Tsundere-ness, it would make her a Grade S.
- Ku Fei wears these as well.
- Setsuna's been known to wear the Bike Shorts, but she's sported this too.
- Yuuki, and several of the female characters in Vampire Knight wear these.
- Gungrave: Mika occasionally wears this.
- 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.◊
- Videl from the same series is also an example.
- 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 in the opening credits.
- Jun's birdstyle in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
- Jessie's Team Rocket miniskirt and thigh-high boots in the Pokémon 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.
- Feena Fam Earthlight from Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na (both in her princess and school uniform) Also Natsuki as well.
- D.Gray-Man: Lee Lenalee, even! Helloooooo, legs!
- Seras Victoria from Hellsing, both anime and manga.
- 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), though she uses shorts instead of a skirt.
- 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!
- Hinagiku tends towards the hot pants variety, and also gets points for being Tsundere, but no twin-tails.
- Even Isumi joins in on occasion.
- In the season 2 first opening, Ha—, er, Hermione gets the treatment, with the usual result.
- 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... and Fetish Fuel for others.
- 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.
- This seems to be part of the standard uniform in Mai-Otome.
- In G Gundam, Sai Saici's girlfriend Cecile Holgar usually wears grade B. Rain also gets a grade B when she uses the Mobile Trace System and suits up for fighting.
- Cure Berry in Fresh Pretty Cure.
- How the bloody hell did you not mention Eas? Of course, she defects to the Cures in episode 23 and gains a new Cure identity that's decidedly less Stripperific, and the previous identity is mentioned in later episodes, e.g. episodes 25, 42, and 45, but still.
- 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.
- The latest volume of Nora has Keini in Grade A. She already had the other two components for Grade S. As one troper put it on the discussion page, Grade S is no longer the rarity it used to be. Could there be something higher?
- Sumika from Sasameki Koto.
- Most people don't notice but Macross Frontier actually has a lot of this. Nanase wears the traditonal variant with her school uniform, Ranka Lee has it with one of her stage outfits and Sheryl wears both the traditional and hot pants versions as well as a tantalizingly stripperiffic, one-legged version.
- Yuki Nomura from No Bra. And you'll probably not believe me, but it's a male example.
- Nodoka of Saki almost has all the requirements needed for Grade S. Just lacks the personality.
- Yuuki wears a very suspicious one too, and her personality is a bit more fitting as well.
- Ellis from El Cazador de la Bruja.
- Kaze No Stigma gives us Kanon (one of Ren's school friends) who wears A-Rank in both her school uniform and her street clothes. She also has twin-tails, unfortunately, she is not a Tsundere.
- Nodamiki from GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, at least in her anime incarnation.
- Aoba Kozue from Mahoraba wears them as part of her personal wardrobe.
- Kenichi's sister in Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple. Shigure also wears it regularly.
- All of the main girls (and we do mean "girls") in Kodomo no Jikan. Kuro also has the personality and Mimi also has the pigtails, but only Rin has all of the components for a class S.
- Umino Masachika of Satou Kashi No Dangan Wa Uchinukenai sports a solid Tybe B while wearing her school uniform. Most of her classmates wear there stockings somewhere below the knee.
- Kamen No Maid Guy has Token Loli Liz wearing this. And she even has the twin pigtails.
- These seem to be part of the school uniform in Seitokai No Ichizon. Even when they're wearing swimsuits, the stockings remain.
- The default female cadet uniform aboard the Libertad in Soukou No Strain is very definitely Grade A.
- Yukino's rival Maho Izawa in Kare Kano.
- Actually, this is a part of Maho and Yukino's standard winter uniform. Too bad they ditch it for summer.
- Kim Diehl and her weapon Jacqueline in Soul Eater (who usually wear matching uniforms).
- The girls from I"s. This manga is full of Grade A & B.
- Sieglinde Baumgard from Dragonaut.
- Emba from Wild Rock arguably sports a Grade A male version of this (other characters too, but his is the most obvious).
- Airi of Queen's Blade fame/infamy qualifies. If she were Tsundere, she might possibly be Grade S.
- Nina◊ of Wordsworth, a story-driven H-series, gets the unusual naturally occuring version of this, being a mini-skirted catgirl. Ranks somewhere around a lower A due to how she carries it off.
- Ran Mouri/Rachel Moore from Case Closed/Detective Conan sports the look from time to time. It's quite noticeable in the first OP, where she sports a Type A... damn, if she only wore pigtails, her Type B Tsundere traits would give her a Grade S.
- Hitagi Senjōgahara from Bakemonogatari.
- Lunar of Seto No Hanayome: Double Pigtails? (Check), Tsundere? (check). Yep, we have Grade S.
Comics
- Raf from Angel's Friends wears these at Grade B. Did we mention that she is 12 as well?
- Appears many times during Empowered — as part of Emp's Sexy Librarian Costume Inertia; Sistah Spooky and Ninjette's outfits; in Emp's vision of herself with wings that looks suspiciously like Etna cosplay...
- One of Legionnaire Kinetix's costume's sported this look. However, given her penchant for changing costumes, it didn't last.
- Cyclone from the Justice Society of America. The fact that she displays so little in the way of skin compared to other superheroines arguably just makes her more attractive.
Fan Works
Films — Live Action
- 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.
- Several upper year girls in St Trinians.
- Not involving a skirt, but Trillian's outfit in The Movie of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in her first main story appearance, has this as one of about a dozen things contributing to her overall sexiness. The socks are argyle, too!
- Before it even had a name, the thigh-high/mini-skirt combo was seen in many of the outfits worn by the girls in Clueless.
- In the first Scary Movie, Buffy has this as part of what appears to be a naughty schoolgirl outfit right after Cindy is taken down to the police station the first time.
- Then in Scary Movie 2, the Charlie's Angels parody has the girls remove their clothing to reveal... well, they initially forgot their Angel clothing, leaving them in just their underwear and shoes, which in one case consisted of a Black Bra And Panties and thigh-high stockings. Sadly, this lasts all of about three seconds.
- This is one of the reasons Push makes a friend of this troper... a tad uncomfortable.
Live Action TV
- Abby Sciuto of NCIS sometimes wears this kind of attire. And woo-ee, does she work it. (This comment springs from the keyboard of a straight female, by the way...)
- This troper can kind of see why they don't use things like this in Ziva's wardrobe. Anyone who saw it would have a heart attack, or at the very least be unable to understand any of the plot. Jeez... even thinking about it...
- Geoffrey Jellineck◊ in a brief cheerleading tryouts scene◊ in Strangers with Candy.
- Seven episodes into Dollhouse, and Echo has already rocked it twice. Once using thigh-high boots, the other time using stockings (which can also be seen in the theme song sequence).
- Cameron pulls this off extremely well in the third episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (see here for some examples). This troper will be in his bunk.
- Natsumi, the female lead of Kamen Rider Decade, wears tights with every outfit. In episode 10, she wears them with shorts, and is suddenly that much hotter. Zettai Ryouiki in action!
- Maddie from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody gets a B-grade in an early episode and often has a C-level.
- Watching the Disney Channel's live-action lineup can be quite frustrating to a savvy troper, as they seem to actively be favoring C- and D-level Zettai Ryouiki in their female characters' wardrobes. It would almost be better if they didn't even bother trying. Still, it's a channel for kids and "tweens", so one can only hope that this introduction serves to induce them to seek out better ZR as they mature. Better still, most of those shows skew towards a female demographic, which would actually be displaying this...''
- In Star Trek The Original Series, a Romulan commander, of all people, wears Zettai Ryouiki of a sort.◊ Yes, that's Spock in the background. Zettai Ryouiki: so fetishy even Spock likes it.
- The Athenian Academy uniform in Caprica includes a Grade C. Likewise in virtual space in one episode Lacy wears a booted version, also Grade C.
Music Videos
- ABBA was playing around with this back in the 70s. See this version of Waterloo.
- 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.
- Miku also has Twin Tails, which makes her closer to Grade S.
- 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.
- Madonna manages to pull a decent grade B-C in the video for her song "Celebration".
- The flash ads for MMORPG Yogurting falls under this...and likely due to the long-ago prominence of the ads, many characters as well.
- Beyoncé, in the video for Video Phone (with bonus Lady Gaga).
Theater
- Wendla in Spring Awakening wears these in the first scene, where she is chastised by her mother for their suggestive appearance. She switches to a less-revealing dress and, later, a frumpy nightgown in Act II. They reappear in the show's closing number in addition to being prominently displayed on the poster.
Video Games
- Serah from Final Fantasy XIII.
- 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 Pokémon 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
- In the manga, Dawn's counterpart, Platina, has higher stockings making her closer to a grade B.
- This just in: Kris (from Pokémon Crystal)'s HeartGold and SoulSilver counterpart, Kotone, 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. To show just how short they are, she shows almost as much ass as Dawn when she crouchs
- She's got an upcoming appearance in the anime, and while details are still scarce (the episodes in question are only just now airing in Japan), it looks like she might be an S class, after all. Stay tuned for updates.
- Solana, the female player character from Pokémon 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 the HeartGold/SoulSilver female
Cooltrainer Ace Trainer. Holy crap,◊ they've never done that much in the games, have they?
- In the portable games, no. Colosseum's Supertrainers and Cooltrainers did a fine job, though.
- 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.
- Both Kasumia and Ayane from Dead Or Alive wear this for their default costumes.
- 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.
- Not any female mounted unit: Natasha from FE 8 (if promoted into Valkyrie), Priscilla from FE 7 and Cecilia from FE 6 don't wear ZR. Priss's boots are too short, Cecilia's skirt is too long and the cut on it isn't high enough, and Natasha's cleric robe is excessively long as well.
- One non-mounted example (at least, pre-promotion) is Princess Eirika from FE 8. Actually, here's another: Mia pre-promotion in FE 9/10 (after promoting to upper tier, the skirt becomes too long).
- Also Lachesis from FE 4, the inspiration for Eirika's design.
- For another non-mounted example: Louise from FE 7. Who is actually Clarine's mother
- 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.
- Marche from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has a shorts version of this. Ritz would almost gain this trope, but not quite.
- 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-.
- Yet another (likewise highly loli — oh, shit, that was unintended and unfortunate) Nippon Ichi example: Marona from Phantom Brave.
- Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts.
- And another one from the Final Fantasy series : Kuja. And he's a dude.
- 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.
- Alicia is at the very least Grade S, what with her twin tails and initial Tsundere attitude (much more so in the anime adaptation).
- 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: Till the End of Time, 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.
- For that matter, this is somewhat standard for Star Ocean heroines. Rena and Sophia both wear short skirts with long stockings. Millie wears a slightly longer skirt than is standard for this trope, while Reimi wears an outfit that gives the illusion of a skirt.
- 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.
- American Tiffany Lords on the other hand, gets a hot pants + boots version of this with her new costume in Project Justice.
- 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.
- Ar Tonelico 2's Luca and Cloche both have this in their default costumes, Luca is a grade A, while Cloche averages to a grade A (her skin tight boots are staggered in length, part extends under her skirt, par is grade A and part is Grade B).
- Luca's school uniform has a grade A and maybe even S depending on the scenario.
- Jacqli's maid outfit is another grade A.
- Many of the girls' costumes in Cross Edge have this, including Mikoto's default outfit and her Nurse Uniform.
- By extension, Aurica's Luca costume and Misha's Cloche costume give them the same grades as mentioned above.
- Rita from Tales of Vesperia, though only on one leg, and the skirt may be a bit too long for this.
- However, her waitress costume title is around a grade B.
- Noel Vermillion of Blaz Blue.
- This Troper chose to play her because of this trope.
- Karst of Golden Sun: The Lost Age has the boots/skirt variation, in black leather at that. It's only one of her many charms.
- Nue Houjuu is the first Touhou girl to officially be drawn with Zettai Ryouiki — Grade A, no less!
- The second one. Suwako had it before her.
- Most commonly seen with Reisen Udongein Inaba, Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, and occasionally Eirin.
- The redesigned Harley Quinn in Batman Arkham Asylum is a rare Western example of a high-end grade A, if not grade S.
- .hack//LINK redesigns for Atoli and Tabbi retain their Grade A, while adding it to Subaru◊ and BlackRose◊.
- The Wood Elf Wardancers in the recent video game rendition of Blood Bowl achieve this look when they reach a high enough level (or receive the best boots in the real-time Blitz Mode). This troper couldn't give a grade (only seen it once) and odd are that most people's attention will be on the massive mohawk they have, rather than their thighs.
- Guild Wars contains a suprising ammount of Zettai Ryouiki for a Western game, in all kinds of forms: standard, hotpants, shorts, thigh-high boots... Unsuprisingly, most of the armor combinations that allow for Zettai Ryouiki belong to the Mesmer class.
- In the Rock Band games, it's possible to purchase a skirt, called crinoline & tears, with Zettai Ryouiki for the female characters. A grade B, if I remember correctly.
- Seth Balmore of Lost Odyssey has this, though often it's difficult to see due to camera angles.
- Wordsworth, a story-driven H-game, has the mini-skirted catgirl Nina, who is an unusual naturally-occuring variant. As it's not animated, there is less opportunity to really see it in action, so this is maybe a mid-to-high B.
- Misaki from Fatal Frame 4.
- There has been a whole H-Game released under the actual title Zettai Ryouiki!, dedicated to the concept.
- In No More Heroes 2 you fight a gothic lolita named Margaret who has this, it's even mentioned in her song /Thigh-high socks and my absolute territory/Go on and drool the Otaku can not resist/
- Humorously, one of the Uniforms for female medical workers or scientists in Mass Effect has a variation on this, with thigh-high boots, stockings, and some sort of space skirt that emphasizes the inner thigh area without actually showing skin.
Web Comics
- When Sam creates Custom Uniforms for each of the cheerleaders in Cheer!, she gives Alex a shorter skirt and thigh-high socks, as she states here (other comic linked because the one where she mentions her changes doesn't actually depict it).
- Agent 32, too.
- And, apparently, Karen.
- And another. Geez, Tselsebar likes this trope, huh?
- His followers, too. See this guest filler pitting Muse vs. Anti-Muse.
- Kimiko does this very well in one of the Megatokyo posters.
- Fuchsia the succubus gets into this in Sinfest when she dresses up as a schoolgirl to pander to her crush on Criminy.
- The title characters of the Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi after chapter 1.
- Kit in the third chapter of Fey Winds, of the thigh-high boots variety.
- Sarah often does this in Building 12.
- One of Cassiel's many Fan Service outfits in Misfile in this strip
- Just about all of the characters in Moe Moe Niji Taisen.
- Naturally considering its Mangaesque origins, Experimental Comic Kotone is loaded with them. The title character gets most of these, but Anya, Laika, and Lisa all get their chances as well.
- Yuki from Ménage ŕ 3 also sports the look.
- Angel Moxie: Tristan starts wearing stockings with her warm-weather uniform in this strip — and has to argue with a teacher that it isn't against the school's dress code on the next page.
- In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob, the skirt and gogo boots Galatea sports in France would count — although the viewer's enjoyment may be hindered by the fact that her legs have fur (although some folks... oh never mind...).
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.
- A, er... slightly naughty web advertisement◊ for an even more naughty item plays on this.
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.
- Various outfits worn by the Winx Club's protagonists sport this, including Bloom's season 2 casual outfit and Stella's Believix costume.
- Sari Sumdac of Transformers Animated starting in Season 3.
- Various outfits in Totally Spies!
- Huntik's Sophie Casterwill has stockings of a different length, giving her an A Rank (or maybe B+) on her left leg, and a C Rank on her right. Does Zettai Ryouiki average or revert to the lowest common leg?
- The Grade of Zettai Ryouiki depends on the total area of exposed thigh, therefore, it averages.
- Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Ami wears a short dress with thigh high boots thus fulfilling this trope. Yumi is in a similar boat, except sure wears biker shorts under her skirt and just ends up with bare knees.
- Several of the girls on Jem have this at various points in the series. One example being Aja's workout outfit, which has this at grade A.
- Evangelyne from Wakfu; another case of thigh-high boots with miniskirt.
- In Legion of Super-Heroes, Zettai Ryouiki can be seen in the costumes worn by Triplicate Girl, Triplicate Girl, and Triplicate Girl.
- Scooby Doo: Velma Dinkley's trademark outfit qualifies as Grade C.
- Stacy from Phineas and Ferb, who seems to shift between Grade C and Grade B.
- Princess Mandie on The Fairly Oddparents. Her boots come up to mid calf, then straps wrap around her legs up to her knees.
Real Life
- It seems that this is fashionable for this year (2009)'s fall season. Grades C and B seem the most popular, while some places do carry grade A.
- Surprisingly, some male soccer players are able to pull the shorts variant of Grade C more or less succesfully. This is actually a Justified Trope, since the long socks help them keep their shinguards in place. Pay attention the next time you see David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo on screen...
- Jlist.com now sells a shirt praising the style: Link
- Part of the so-called racy outfits used in the (attempted) suggestive routine that got the Jonesboro high dance team disbanded. Link; actually probably is SFW, because the lack of an HD version means your choices are really small or really blurry and the sound is, well, exactly what you'd expect from a high school gymnasium.
- Volleyball uniforms with knee high socks will most likely be connected to knee pads giving it the illusion of Grade C Zettai Ryouiki (Action Girl variant).
- Think this couldn't ever be used with a suit? Think again.◊
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◊ for a quick reference.
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 thigh-highs and visible skin, 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 incredibly sensual without revealing the "naughty bits", 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.
This academic treatise
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