Not So Stoic / Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Uto typically presents herself as a philosophical Wandering Minstrel with all the coolness of a cucumber. Though since the reality is that it's part of a Chuunibyou act, she's highly prone to Freak Outs if she's taken off guard by someone else either sneaking up on her or doing something unexpected. She will also panic if she falls into water as she can not swim.
• Attack on Titan:
  • Annie Leonhart starts laughing and grinning insanely when she is correctly accused of being the Female Titan. Word of God says this is mostly out of relief that she's been exposed and can briefly be a normal teenage girl.
  • Levi is visibly affected by the death of his squad.
  • Bertolt seems to hold himself together much better than the other two spies even after The Reveal, but it all comes crashing down when he's confronted by his former teammates and breaks down crying because he truly feels horrible about what he's done and really did see them as his friends.
• In Beauty and the Feast, Yamato is fairly quiet and straight-laced most of the time with a perpetual "I'm beat" look on his face, but even he can be taken by surprise or reduced to a sputtering mess of embarrassment, particularly when something happens between him and Yakumo or Rui. He freaks out in particular when he bumps into Yakumo in the dark and believes he groped her by accident.
• Guts is stoic to point of lacking emotions in Berserk until he becomes a member of the Band of the Hawk. He finally begins to open up, but his emotions are mainly limited to mirth and anger, never showing anything tender. Then, during a touching scene when he and Casca make love, he breaks down completely and despairs over his abusive relationship with his stepfather. The following night, he has another Not So Stoic moment when he finds Griffith in the dungeon and sees the horrible suffering that had been inflicted on his friend.
• Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler hits this trope when he has a panic attack in the manga.
• Black Jack:
  • Just one chapter in the Black Jack manga, but the "Black Queen", a female surgeon known for her cool, unemotional efficiency in amputations. Even her fiance is freaked out by how cold she is about her work. But then she has a drunken emotional outburst all over Black Jack — and later learns that she'll have to amputate her lover's leg, which sends the woman into complete emotional collapse. Black Jack sedates her and manages to save the leg.
  • Dr. Kiriko is quite capable of turning the otherwise collected Black Jack himself into an incoherent bundle of petty rage.
• Bleach:
  • Ulquiorra Cifer becomes more and more infuriated with Ichigo during their battle in Hueco Mundo, to the point where he actually starts to yell. It's only as he dies that he finally understands the truth about emotion and the value of the heart.
  • Byakuya Kuchiki had a Hair-Trigger Temper as a kid and, as an adult, his temper is hidden, not cured. He's furious when he learns Ichigo's method of learning bankai has violated shinigami tradition and becomes pure Tranquil Fury when Zommari tries to kill the almost-dead Rukia. However, it's only when he fights As Nodt that his stoic mask shatters completely and the consequences are so devastating it leads to the most brutal defeat in this story's history.
  • Kyoraku is always in a rather relaxed mood, but he still manages to take things seriously when the situation calls for it. Among the few times he's lost his cool is when Ukitake is incapacitated by Wonderweiss and when Yamamoto is killed by Yhwach.
• Jo from Burst Angel starts the first few chapters deeply troubled by one of Meg's frequent kidnappings.
• Tooya from Ceres, Celestial Legend, who even took the Badass Longcoat to stride, breaks away from his poker face for the first time when the subject of his relationship with Aya is brought up.
  • Taken even further in one episode where he cries, fearing Aya may die.
  • And taken even further than that towards the end of the series when he learns that Aya is carrying his child, and he cries again. This time, fangirls swoon.
• Deneve, Clare, and Miria from Claymore were all devotedly stoic up until the Pieta battle, when all three experienced emotional breakdowns over the deaths of their comrades.
• Code Geass:
  • C.C. is generally a rather stoic character, but the facade is broken when Lelouch calls her real name and she smiles happily.
  • The Grand Finale has C.C. shedding tears just as Lelouch stages his own public assassination.
• Vicious from Cowboy Bebop usually seems stoic and composed. But in combat, he is very prone to slasher smiling. Lord, is he ever.
  • Faye Valentine appears at first to be calm, collected, and manipulative. However, seeing a tape she made as a child (which she can't remember) and not having a home anymore clearly affected her deeply. The last we see of her is her crying her eyes out after Spike has gone to fight Vicious.
• Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Izuru, due to undergoing a Death of Personality, is completely stoic and finds everything and everyone around him boring. However, watching Chiaki, his Only Friend and Implied Love Interest back when he was Hajime, die causes his feelings for her to resurface and he cries.
• All over the place in Darker than Black, since while Contractors are generally pragmatic sociopaths, they're perceived as emotionless. Thus, they act stoic most of the time, but there's usually that one thing that gets a rise out of them. Particularly memorable moments included Hei completely flipping out at the mention of his sister and the time when Yin started crying.
  • Hei's character tends to play around with this trope. Compared to other contractors, he's extremely empathetic towards the people around him and is known to act irrationally based on his feelings.
  • For a human example, Kirihara starts crying when she hears her team laughing and talking about how they'll support the chief and catch the villain without realizing that their section has been disbanded.
• Death Note:
  • L, who usually often shows low to moderate levels of outward emotion, freaks out when he watches the second Kira's videotape, and they mention Shinigami. The author stated that this is because he was startled/indignant at the idea that he was supposed to just believe that Shinigami exist and throw all of his logic so far out the window. Also because they "just wanted to include a scene where L butt-hurts into the floor, so that's another reason."
  • When L tries to reason with an increasingly panicked and furious Aizawa after Ukita's death in the middle of the second Kira's first broadcast, Aizawa angrily grabs L's shoulder, demanding to let him go out there and help his friend, and immediately goes quiet when he realizes that L is trembling with fear despite the near-absolute calmness in his voice and the impassive expression on his face. He's just as upset about the situation as Aizawa, but hides it and refuses to let it cloud his judgment.
• The super-stoic Amasawa Yuuko from Den-noh Coil breaks down crying when it is revealed that her brother has been Dead All Along, and all her efforts to revive him from his "coma" have been for nothing.
• In The Movie version of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Yuki transforms from The Stoic into a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, who's just shy. The scene where she (non-verbally) begs Kyon to stay for dinner is just moe!
• Dragon Ball:
  • Piccolo is one of the most Stoic characters in the series. He rarely shows emotions outside of annoyance, especially at the start of Z. However, he has several moments of showing true anger or sadness to the point of tears, especially around Gohan. He loses a lot of his stoic personality after merging with Kami.
  • Tien is even more of a stoic than Piccolo. It becomes somewhat of a joke that he has no sense of humor. But he becomes visibly flustered when Launch flirts with him and when training with King Kai when he was forced to chase Bubbles.
  • Filler character Pikkon, which is fitting since he's based on Piccolo. His demeanor breaks several times as he fights Goku during the Otherworld Tournament.
• Tsukasa in Dr. STONE is often cool-headed and in control. Though he reacts to Taiju's stupidity (these are removed in the anime). After he's revived a second time later on, he immediately asks Senku "what's the situation". Everyone comments that Tsukasa always keeps his cool. Senku tells him that they're going to the moon, causing Tsukasa to lose his cool.
• Elfen Lied:
  • Kurama spends his early appearances as a professional, businessman, and Benevolent Boss. After chasing Lucy for a while, his facade breaks down, as she starts to destroy his life, dismembering his adopted daughter and getting his biological daughter killed, and several members of his staff. By the end of this, his mind snaps, he grows a Beard of Sorrow and lives disheveled in a hut on the beach with one of his hitmen. His mind continues to break down after seeing the dying clone of his biological daughter, and being taunted by Lucy over it. he eventually recovers.
  • The Agent is also a stoic character, hanging around in the background, and fighting off numerous Diicoloni while keeping a calm demeanor. She saves a scientist from an Army of them and sacrifices herself to get her to safety. Once the scientist is gone, she begins crying, afraid to die, as the creatures advance towards her.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Erza has had quite a few moments, both comedic (the play episode) and dramatic (the Tower of Heaven arc, anyone?).
  • Mard Geer carries himself with calm and composure throughout the entire Tartaros arc, with rare moments of Tranquil Fury. But when Gray uses Devil Slayer Magic to tank and survive his ultimate curse? He flips his shit.
• Louise of The Familiar of Zero gets this during the rescuing of the Staff of Destruction in the first season. When Louise tries to defeat the giant golem and is more of a hindrance than anything what with her spells not doing any damage and Saito having to push her out of the way of an attack by the golem, Saito tries to get her to leave and run to safety, which she absolutely flat out refuses to do and tells Saito to let her continue, despite both of them knowing she's doing nothing to help. After a wake-up slap, Saito tells her that her life isn't worth anything if she throws it away on pride, where upon Louise immediately breaks down and admits the reason she doesn't want to quit is that all the bullying due to the lack of talent and constant explosions from failed spells really has gotten to her deep down, and in reality, she is outwardly tough but inwardly she's emotionally damaged from verbal bullying, name-calling, and her own failings as a mage, and doesn't want to be labeled a coward on top of already being labeled as a no-talent mage, and even admits that in reality the name Louise The Zero "hurts (her) feelings" despite her visually brushing it off until this point. This doesn't change her personality in the slightest, however, but at least the audience has an explanation for some of it.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Riza Hawkeye when she thinks Roy is dead in the manga and Brotherhood.
    Riza: "So... when you said that you already killed someone... You didn't. You couldn't. You... You... YOU BIIIIIIIIITCH!!"
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Riza breaks down when she sees Roy bleeding out and injured in the final episode.
• Full Metal Panic!:
  • Sagara Sousuke: after being a nigh-perfect Stoic for the entire first season, he is subjected to a Breaking Speech by Gauron, beats him up and finally snaps.
  • This happens again through Second Raid. Beginning when he was ordered to immediately cease guarding Kaname and ending with another Breaking Speech from Gauron, he spiralled downhill into a 10-Minute Retirement and a full-blown Heroic BSoD.
  • Interestingly enough, in the anime, he never cries. However, in the novel, he does break down crying and showing vulnerability... not over Kaname, not over any of his comrades dying... but over his shame and hurt pride that the hostage situation (during the Behemoth Arc) failed to go the way he planned.
  • On a smaller scale, he also unintentionally breaks his stoic image by, amazingly enough, acting like a Tsundere in regard to Kaname. During the party on the Tuatha De Dannan, Kurz tells Sousuke, "She's pretty, cute, and has a nice sense of style. Any man would fall for her in an instant." Sousuke quickly and coldly responds, "I wouldn't know. I'm not interested." Certainly a response very unlike his normal stoic, clueless attitude.
  • Fumoffu? has several examples, Played for Laughs. Sousuke's immediate reaction on realizing he's forgotten Kaname's notes at home spring to mind, as does his entire Drill Sergeant Nasty persona during the Rugby episode, complete with an extremely Hot-Blooded Rousing Speech that he admits to repeating from a book that Mao gave him.
  • And then there's this◊ picture of tranquility when he was under the impression that someone was torturing Kaname. Luckily for the "kidnapper" in question, he was wrong.
  • A massive example comes right at the end of the series: Sosuke is stranded at ground zero of an incoming nuclear missile and has accepted his fate. But then his Humongous Mecha receives a transmission: a video message from his high school classmates, thanking him for saving their lives and reminding him of his promise to return to school along with Kaname. This makes Sosuke break down crying and declaring that he wants to live, which leads to his mecha's AI trying something that ends up saving them both.
  • The Second Raid has Sousuke show his trust towards Kaname by letting her cut his hair. Let's review it: a teenage Child Soldier conditioned to perceive everyone as a potential enemy is letting another person handle scissors near his head and behind his back (falling asleep in the process). More so, he actually gets aroused by her proximity even though he is The Stoic. It doesn't make him any less of a badass, though. That's just some good character development.
• Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C: 2nd GIG:
  • Batou is riding in a vehicle with Gohda when the latter starts questioning Batou about his relationship with the Major, openly asking if he's in love with her. Batou (who clearly is in Unrequited Love with his female superior) keeps his usual stoic expression until Gohda turns to look out the window, whereupon Batou's face twists with anger and he snarls over his comlink: "This guy's a real comedian!"
  • The Major herself falls into this category as well. She usually is a complete hardened super-woman with a rather dark sense of humour, but she can and WILL break face if you push her far enough. She goes into a murderous rampage against a mech-operator in season one after he nearly broke her body and cries at certain points in season two, mostly involving her feelings towards Kuze.
  • She normally shoots once to incapacitate and kill, dealing with her missions calmly and coolly. At least, until she meets the guy who shot Togusa and damaged her body. Then she got scary.
    Motoko: FORK OVER THAT GUN!
• In Gintama, the first time Imai Nobume displays any semblance of emotion is when Sougo eats donuts in front of her while she's locked up in a prison cell. She reacts rather violently (and is possibly being egged on by Kagura, who herself has a rivalry with Sougo). A much more serious example takes place in the Farewell Shinsengumi arc after Isaburo's death: she outright cries.
• Gundam has times when even the most hardened characters can crumble...
  • Paptimus Scirocco of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is in almost all of his appearances the very model of The Stoic, with only two incidents breaking his icy calm. The first is when his most devoted follower, Sarah Zabiarov, is killed Taking the Bullet for him. This notably causes the cool and collected Scirocco to go absolutely berserk, completely forgetting about the psychic duel he was fighting with rival Big Bad Haman Kahn just seconds earlier to go after her killer. As for the second time, that comes at the very end of the series when his mobile suit is paralyzed and he sees the main hero's mobile suit rocketing straight at him. But that one's a little more understandable.
  • Speaking of Haman, in her role as the Big Bad of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ she is normally made of lunar titanium. However, when Judau Ashta erupts into a Newtype-powered rage after his sister is shot, she completely loses her composure and runs for her life. Interestingly, this leads to her developing somewhat of an obsession with Judau, constantly making him We Can Rule Together offers and trying to be his Evil Mentor. Judau never once takes the bait.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 gives us The Stoic hero Setsuna F. Seiei screaming his lungs out of grief over a certain comrade "LOCKOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!"
  • Aila Jyrkiäinen from Gundam Build Fighters is introduced as an icy, detached super sportsgirl who curbstomps her opponents with her Qubeley Papillon model. Later episodes, however, show her as anything but detached when it comes to food and those who come between her and food. This is especially the case whenever she bumps into fellow Big Eater Reiji.
  • Hiroto Kuga suffers an emotional breakdown in Episode 20 after he finishes sharing his Dark and Troubled Past about Eve (an EL Diver and his close friend whom he was forced to kill) and his run-in with the original Build Divers with his BUILD DiVERS teammates. It takes a Cooldown Hug and a kiss from May for him to finally let out his grief.
    Hiroto: I trampled on people's feelings and wishes. There's no way someone like me could ever help anyone!
    May: (kisses and embraces Hiroto) Don't hold back. If you want to cry, you should cry as much as you like.
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Elan is nicknamed the Ice Prince for his indifferent and emotionless affect. It starts to break down when he learns Suletta doesn't suffer from piloting the Aerial, acting gratuitously cruel in his anger, and by the end of their duel he's screaming in rage.
• Van of GUN×SWORD has a sort of breakdown after facing a particularly powerful enemy. Not only does he show real fear for what may be the only time in the series, but the breakdown leads him to finally talk to his closest companion about his horrible past and his love for his dead fiancee. During this conversation, his voice shakes, his hand trembles, and he covers his face in a gesture more heart-wrenching than tears would have been.
• Ai Emna of Hell Girl is usually the picture of stoic, bordering on being emotionless. Then the season one finale rolls around, when she confronts Hajime and his daughter about being descendants of the boy who betrayed her and got her killed. Let's just say an angry Ai is something you definitely don't wanna meet.
• I Want to Eat Your Pancreas: The protagonist is usually an unemotional, aloof Deadpan Snarker. However, as the story grows darker, there are three moments where the protagonist breaks down:
  • The protagonist slams Sakura to her bed in a show of anger after one prank too many and doesn't let go until she starts crying.
  • After Sakura is killed, he is so visibly distraught he refuses to attend her funeral and doesn't recover enough to visit her family home until days later. The animated adaptation amplifies this by showing him walking out of the living room after seeing the news broadcast announcing her death and stumbling on the stairs to his room, unable to get up.
  • After reading Sakura's farewell message, the protagonist finally sobs in front of her mother.
• In Inuyasha, there is actually an episode entitled "Inuyasha Shows His Tears for the First Time" in which the title character believes his friends are dead and almost breaks down. He fully starts crying in relief when he finds out they survived. Later, Inuyasha cries again, this time in grief when Kikyo dies in his arms.
• K:
  • Kuroh is usually The Stoic when compared to Shiro, but he gets agitated a few times. A good example is when Shiro procrastinates on proving his innocence, or when he calls Kuroh his wife. The only time his calm facade really derails, though, is at the end of episode 3 when he shows off his tape recorder, which has all of his old master's quotes on it. He gets a big smile, giddy fanboy sparkles, and a Luminescent Blush.
  • An even better example is Munakata, who spends basically the entire show cool and unruffled, even when he's in combat...until Mikoto pisses him off one too many times and Munakata shoves him to the ground in a rage. He also makes a heartbreaking face when he realizes he has to kill Mikoto.
• Mai from Kanon is very much The Stoic at first, and seems pretty much emotionless up until the middle of her story arc. Sayuri gets attacked when Mai is not around, and Mai's reaction to this is absolutely heart-wrenching. She first collapses in shock at the sight of the wounded Sayuri. Once Sayuri is admitted to the hospital, Mai then tries to kill herself, feeling guilty for not having been able to protect her friend. When her suicide attempt is foiled by Yuuichi, she breaks down into tears. And if at first you don't succeed...
• Kimi ni Todoke has an example in Ryu: in a flashback to his mother's death, little Chizu starts to bring him onigiri as his mother used to make. When he finds her leaving it on the doorstep, both of them break down crying. He was only around eight years old at the time, but it's still a shock, and very heartwrenching.
• Throughout 90% of Kino's Journey, Kino is the definition of The Stoic. Then, in the last episode (which takes place before the first), she stops in a town, befriends an adorable little girl, and is welcomed warmly by the rest of the people. She comes to love it so much that she considers settling down and living there. Eventually, however, the townspeople begin insisting that she leaves, to the point that they all but force her to. Reluctantly, she complies, only to end up watching from a safe distance as a volcano erupts, completely destroying the town and killing everyone in it...including the aforementioned adorable girl. Made even worse when a letter she was given before she left reveals that they knew it was going to happen, but loved their town so much they decided to stay regardless. Quite understandably, Kino flipped out.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's:
  • Chrono in the second Sound Stage. His usual stoic expression of professionalism gives way to a lot of spluttering, spatial disorientation, and general bewilderment when going-to-be-adopted Fate blind-sides him with an awkward attempt to address him as "Onii-chan (brother)".
  • At the end of Season 1, he turns purple after Nanoha suggests that he's quite nice despite his stoic exterior for suggesting that the TSAB will be lenient with Fate by taking her circumstances into account, and immediately claims that what he said isn't necessarily his opinion.
  • Signum gives us two more examples from the same season:
    • She loses her cool and punches the wall when the Wolkenritter find out that Hayate's illness is life-threatening.
    • She sheds a tear after this exchange:
      Signum: Had we not met like this... we may have been really good friends.
      Fate: There's still time for that!
• Crown Prince Kouen in Magi: Labyrinth of Magic is normally very emotionless, even when his stepmother Gyokuen flirted aggressively with him, when Gyokuen succeeded his father before him and when half of his body was burned away by the Medium. However, he would occasionally show emotions such as getting angry, chuckling and laughing at Alibaba.
• Monster: Johan loses his Dissonant Serenity exactly two times in the entire course of the series. Both times become memorably creepy for it.
• World Champion Most from Monster Rancher is almost a Warrior Poet, with a Jedi-like detachment and calm. Although the heroes are forced to fight him in order to win the cup he doesn't hold this against them, actually helping his rival Mocchi improve his skills and trying to persuade him to forfeit the match as Most was worried about hurting him. This last scene subtly displays a patronising and arrogant side, and indeed when Mocchi actually knocks him down he clearly loses his temper and roughly shoves the referee aside as he starts to count. He quickly recovers his composure.
• Nabari no Ou:
  • Miharu is adorable, and loves to use his sweet smiles and ability to blush at will to his advantage; still, unless it's just to mess with someone, he's extremely apathetic towards basically everything. ...And then he meets Yoite, whom Miharu finds impossible to not care about. Miharu has a few good outbursts here and there concerning Yoite, and even laughs genuinely, but the turning point is his not-so-stoic breakdown, which leaves him openly sobbing. It's... yeah.
  • Yoite himself counts. He shows almost no emotion when first introduced, but over the course of the story he has more and more emotional moments, usually concerning his impending death, his desire to be erased, or Miharu.
• Used in Naruto to the point where pretty much every developed character who tries to be emotionless (as Ninja are expected to be) fails at some point:
  • Shino tries to be cool and calm, but on several occasions is irritated by being left out or unrecognized. Zabuza spent the entire Story Arc priding himself on being an emotionless killing machine, but in spite of himself flat-out cried when Haku died. Danzo's policy is that emotions just cause trouble, but he outright flies into a rage when it's suggested Kakashi be promoted to 6th Hokage ahead of him. Itachi gives what appears to be a raging Villainous Breakdown but states that is really how he always feels then it turned out he was actually a former pacifist feeling so horrible for being Necessarily Evil that he's rather happy when he thinks it's all over. Subverted, Itachi had such a powerful grip on his emotions that his believable act of hysteria may fool any character and even the viewer. Sasori claimed to be as emotionless as his puppets, but at several points when fighting seemed anything but calm. During the present storyline, Konan avoids expressing herself, even the entire time she fought her former master, but is vocally upset several times when Nagato starts pushing his body beyond its limits. I think I'm sensing a theme.
  • Gaara gets a special mention. When he's first introduced, he speaks in a dull monotone and barely shows any reaction to, well, anything. This seemingly impenetrable stoicism is shattered spectacularly when he wakes up Shukaku for his fight with Rock Lee, and later, Sasuke and Naruto; and also when he tries to deal with Might Guy's defense of Rock Lee and his horrible emotional background (thank you, Yashamaru). Sasuke making him bleed for the first time got quite the reaction. He's also had his moments post-Time Skip, such as when he broke down in tears when his temporarily revived father told him that his mother did love him, contrary to what he was told.
  • And Pain in Episode 167 of Shippuden, what with some of the bizarre facial expressions he pulled.
  • Sasuke, calm and cool in almost any situation, even when all the other characters are panicking, laughing uncontrollably, or cheering. But push his Berserk Button (the Uchiha and their fate) and look out.
  • Kakashi is for the most part very stoic, never really shedding tears at the mention of his dead father and closest friends, but read/watch the Kakashi Gaiden special, especially the end where he breaks down crying at the death of Obito. It's truly heartbreaking to see that. In Chapters 599 and on Kakashi discovers just who Tobi actually is — his old teammate Obito — which leaves him completely shocked to the point where Guy actually has to shake him back to the real world. Cue Chapter 608, where he barely even tries to defend himself from Obito's attacks... The poor guy is completely out of it.
  • Can't leave Hiashi out, either — beneath that icy demeanor is a man who will get on his knees to beg his nephew to reconcile with him.
  • Chapter 518 has Sai finally lose his ever-present control over his emotions and fly into a rage when Zombie!Deidara blows up Sai's zombified older brother, threatens to do it again and again after the guy reforms, and insults Sai's art.
  • Madara remained fairly cool and level-headed despite being in the middle of a massive war where his side consists of two people and a barely-controlled monster. Then Hashirama shows up and Madara slips into Blood Knight mode. He soon goes back to his normal personality, only for it to slip twice when he goes mad with power on being resurrected and then joy when realizing Guy is a Worthy Opponent.
• Princess Arika of Negima! Magister Negi Magi mostly acts like The Stoic, but finally shows some emotion after Nagi rescues her from execution and tells her he loves her.
  • In a Lotus-Eater Machine that showed Negi what life would have been with his parents, Arika remains extremely distant and aloof even to her own son. It is very obvious that she cares about him though, and she holds his hand while walking down the street with him and Nagi.
    • Rather than "distant and aloof", she was more nervous and awkward having absolutely no idea how to treat her own child. Regardless, this still underlines her graduation from The Stoic.
  • Also, Tsukuyomi managed to send Fate in a fit of rage by threatening to "steal his kill".
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Rei is heavily implied to have fallen in love with Shinji by the end. Either that, or developed motherly feelings for him since she's partially a clone of his mother, and is choosing him over his father Gendo to become the "Messiah" of instrumentality in End.
  • Gendo himself does this twice in the series proper. The first is when Rei's Eva goes berserk, and he severely burns his hands in his rush to get to her afterwards (opening the superheated release mechanism for her entry plug). The second time is when he orders the activation of Unit-01's dummy plug (autopilot) when his son's life (as well as the Eva, which contained the soul of his wife) was threatened by the 13th Angel. The look on his face shows it in the Japanese version, but the English dub has him swearing and yelling at his subordinates.
    • An interesting instance, as in the Rebuild, Gendo still orders the activation of the dummy plug but as the frenzied Evangelion proceeds to tear the Angel/Evangelion-03 to gibs, we see a satisfied smirk from Gendo in spite of the carnage that forces Maya to turn away and bury her face in her hands, and the others on the bridge to watch in silent horror. It is also one of the few (or possibly the only) time Gendo has ever really smiled since Yui died.
    • In End of Evangelion Gendo flat out panics on a level not seen before when Rei absorbs the Adam embryo in his hand into herself and initiates Third Impact on her own with both actors in English and Japanese making it clear from their tones of voice just how screwed Gendo knows he is now that his Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb slash surrogate daughter slash clone of his dead wife has effectively told him to fuck off and die. And in his final scene he flat out states that the reason he has been so distant to Shinji is that he was afraid he'd only hurt him.
  • Rei meanwhile looks at what happens with the dummy plugs, and she looks pretty freaked out (for her), at least as much as she does when she sees Shinji rip apart an Angel and it's hinted that she would find the truth about them horrifying enough to turn on Gendo.
  • Let's not forget Ritsuko's breakdown in the Dummy Plug Plant, where she starts screaming and crying for her mother. Bear in mind she's somewhere between Rei and Gendo on the scale of stoic-ness. Ironically, her reaction upon realizing that Caspar, the Magi who represents her mother as a woman, has chosen Gendo over her when she attempts a Taking You with Me by blowing them all up is tearful but fairly composed after the initial shock wears off, with her simply stating "Liar" in response to what Gendo tells her^note the exact words of which have only ever been revealed to the actress playing Ritsuko before shooting her dead.
• One Piece:
  • The biggest example is Robin. She showed little to no emotion from the first time she was introduced as The Dragon and continues being stoic even after joining the Straw Hats. Then comes the CP9 saga, the majority of which is dedicated to this trope; when Robin's Tear Jerker past comes to bite her, she starts showing genuine fear, anger, and sadness. The apex comes after seeing her companions declare war on the World Government for her sake, after which she tearfully screams "I WANT TO LIVE!" She goes back to being The Stoic at the arc's conclusion, though, as though nothing had ever happened...though she's gradually started showing more and more emotion since then.
    • And it seems that she's slowly slipping into a lesser Stoic status as of the Dressrosa arc: after several hundred chapters of being the calmest person in the world, she has finally adopted her crewmates' habit of showing overreactive faces. Those dwarves just don't get it. And she has another, even bigger Wild Take a bit later in the same arc when talking with some toy soldiers.
    • Without saying a word, sometimes what she's thinking is shown to us through thought bubbles and the results usually range from goofy, odd, or cute. It's as though she says morbid things to throw people off about how lighthearted she actually is.
    • During the beginning of the Zou Arc, Kanjuro the samurai draws a pathetic-looking dragon and brings it to life. The Straw Hats dub it "Ryuunosuke" and in her mind, Robin refers to it as "cute" 3 times, all while blushing. Ryuunosuke had the task of climbing up to a very high destination with the Straw Hats and Law on its back. When they finally make it, Robin is driven to tears by the dragon's efforts to help them as it slowly bonds with the surface, reverting back into a drawing.
    • The Wano arc takes this to a new level when Robin makes the same expression as Franky and Usopp when learning Luffy is in Wano (and already a wanted criminal). As seen in here.◊
  • Zoro has only cried about three times thus far in over 700 chapters, and two of them were when he was a kid. This is because Zoro is SO STOIC that he can make a Tear Jerker out of standing there, staring off into the distance, and saying "Nothing happened!" While covered in blood. Though as stoic as he is, he's had his fair share of wild takes alongside the other Straw Hats...except for Robin, of course.
  • Marco, the first Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, usually maintained a stoic reaction throughout the battle. However, he visibly lost his cool when Whitebeard was stabbed by one of their allies, when Ace dies, and when Whitebeard himself dies.
  • Jimbei is usually one of the most focused characters in the series. But he lost his cool in regards to Ace's death and cried Manly Tears when Nami forgave him. On a lighter note, he got a Wild Take when he saw Princess Shirahoshi and an injured Hachi with Luffy.
    • He got another Wild Take when Luffy is more concerned about food than the important information Jimbei was telling him. After getting angry with Luffy who cheerfully tells him that he likes to leave things to chance, Jimbei then goes into a minor depression.
  • In Chapter 597, Dracule Mihawk thinks that training the man who wants to take his life in battle is hilarious, so he actually laughs when Zoro begs him for training.
    • On the next page, it shows Mihawk agreeing to train Zoro. The look on Zoro's face also falls into this trope. He looks so happy and bright-eyed, like a little kid that got exactly what he wanted during the holidays.
  • Doflamingo is always seen smirking, and almost never stops pre-Time Skip. Even then, it was only due to puzzlement. However, when Law cuts the SAD, Vergo, and practically the entire island of Punk Hazard, all while giving a New Era Speech to him, Doflamingo actually shows frustration for the first time ever.
    • But that's merely the prelude of a massive symphony, the first movement of which comes when Law gives him a Sadistic Choice after taking Caesar Clown hostage. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place: either he would give up his position as a Warlord and get Caesar back, or keep the position and be unable to produce SMILEs. If he takes the former, the Admirals won't stand idly by anymore and hunt him down. But if he takes the latter, he'll anger Kaido of the Four Emperors and get wiped out. After being given this choice, Doflamingo loses it and starts going on a rampage on Punk Hazard, slaughtering G-5 marines and giving Smoker a severe No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, all while demanding the heads of the Straw Hats and Law.
    • The next movement comes many chapters later when Doflamingo finds out that in spite of how smart he was, he severely underestimated exactly how massive of a Spanner in the Works the Straw Hats could be. Sugar, one of his crewmates whose Devil Fruit powers are the linchpin to maintaining his Masquerade over his kingdom, is knocked out, reversing her powers and exposing Doflamingo as the devilish man he is. His expression as everything he had worked for over the past decade comes crumbling down around him screams this trope, and the apex comes when he's taken by surprise and decapitated by Kyros... or rather, his doppelgänger is.
    • And the third movement comes when Luffy and Law confront him. At first, he's taking it as easily as he can under the circumstances; that is, he's gotten so frustrated that he's just laughing it off. But then a lengthy fight commences, and he finds himself victimized by a few sneak attacks before Law takes out his last and most powerful crewmate, and then he begins a fight with Luffy one-on-one. They're evenly matched for a while…up until Luffy unleashes his trump card, Gear Fourth, and turns it into a Curb-Stomp Battle. And in the end, despite Doflamingo revealing all of the trump cards he had hidden, he loses.
  • Trafalgar Law is seen as a lesser example of The Stoic; he's smug, smiling, takes battles casually, and is not above showing emotion at times. However, he is unmistakably serious in all aspects, which leaves him rather bothered by the Straw Hats' quirks after they form an alliance. Examples include tying Chopper to his head, Luffy not following his plans, and the Straw Hats' absurdly nonchalant behavior in the calm before the storm. The first instance of this trope is shown after their victory on Punk Hazard when instead of fleeing, they throw a party. Law is shocked but ultimately joins in, albeit managing to keep his Stoic appearance intact. Four chapters later, however, when he realizes that he's grown too used to the Straw Hats' casual pace, he is FLABBERGASTED.
  • Jack of the Beast Pirates is shown constantly frowning as he goes around spreading destruction and death, but he loses it twice:
    • He visibly loses his composure when he realizes that Zunesha is about to flatten his fleet.
    • Jack then goes on to panic in Wano when he realizes his boss Kaido has arrived to Okobore Town... drunk off his ass.
  • Admiral Kizaru is pretty laid-back even when he's in the middle of curbstomping people. He visibly shows the slightest hint of panic for the first time in the entire story when he's confronted by a Gear 5 Luffy in Egghead: he starts sweating.
• Ouran High School Host Club:
  • When Kyouya first meets Idiot Hero Tamaki he takes all of his strange antics and outbursts relatively well... until he blows up at Tamaki and unloads all of the pent-up rage and insults he had been keeping inside. It turns out Tamaki was (at least part of the time) deliberately playing up his Idiot Hero side, in order to force Kyouya into this so that he could find out what Kyouya was really like Beneath the Mask. After the outburst, they're closer than ever, and Kyouya knows he's free to occasionally tell Tamaki how stupid he is without ruining their friendship... just like everyone else does.
  • Mori is also quite stoic, but when the moments where he truly Face Faults are few and far in between, but when he freaks, he freaks.
• Vincent Nightray of PandoraHearts usually manages to keep up his cheerful disposition quite flawlessly, even while torturing and killing people. The first time his facade slips, which is Played for Laughs, is when Ada introduces him to her special collection. The second time is much more serious: Vincent confronts Duke Nightray after Elliot's death and loses his temper when the duke doesn't express any remorse over his son's death. Vincent beheads Duke Nightray along with his two bodyguards, thereby ending the legitimate Nightray bloodline. He Lampshades this trope when he comments that it isn't like him to lose control like this.
• In Persona 4: The Animation, Yu is usually comically stoic, casually remarking that he feels like dying when Teddie bites his hand and having a blank expression when he and Yosuke are shoved into a river by Chie and Yukiko during a school camping trip, for instance. Later in the series, though, when his cousin and surrogate younger sister Nanako is kidnapped, he loses his shit. Worse still, when she (temporarily) dies, while the rest of the Investigation Team is debating whether to stick the suspect into the TV World for revenge, Yu silently drags the suspect to a nearby hospital TV and nearly shoves him in, himself!
• Ping Pong: Smile, in spades. His demeanor hasn't changed since elementary school, and he barely shows any emotion throughout the series…that is, until he surpasses Mr. Koizumi. After that, O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
• Pokémon:
  • Silver from Pokémon Adventures. Cool and composed, except for the one time he got a Heroic BSoD when he found out who daddy was. The one moment that really sticks out though, is when he falls over when he sees his wanted poster.
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Paul normally has a scowl as his trademark expression with a condescending smirk or intense concentration thrown in during a few battles. The one time that he has ever flipped out completely is in A Pyramiding Rage! when he battled Brandon and Brandon kept knocking out his Pokémon with no sign of his even taking damage.
    • Nando the Pokémon minstrel, in his early appearances, was so calm and polite that even getting arrested and framed for robbery failed to rile him. Then came the Grand Festival, where when Zoey begins shutting down his combinations, he drops the facade and gets even more intense than she is.
    • Hun from The Legend of Thunder likewise. Usually he remains calm and blah, including telling his partner to stop joking around. Then the fighting starts and he gets, shall we say, into it.
• Genichirou Sanada from The Prince of Tennis tries to act as The Stoic leader of his team, but he loses his temper far too often.
• Shows in small pieces earlier, but in Episode 8 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica Homura breaks down crying over how Madoka refuses to understand that others like her the way she is.
  • Episode 10 puts all of that into heartbreaking perspective. Homura was once a cute, glasses-wearing, dorky Shrinking Violet. Four time loops (possibly more) of seeing Madoka die or turn into a witch (one of which involved killing Madoka herself) later... It's clear that she's crying on the inside.
  • A lesser example, also from Episode 10. Mami, who is second only to Homura in the stoic department, snaps into a sobbing mess when the Sayaka of that timeline turns into a witch. She so breaks from the revelation that they'll all eventually become witches, that she shoots Kyoko's soul gem, killing her, and would have killed Homura too, had Madoka not killed her first.
• Also could count in Sailor Moon when the typically hardass Sailor Uranus witnesses her lover, Sailor Neptune get her heart stolen and die in front of her, while Uranus doesn't break down or cry, for the first time in the series she looks truly heartbroken. She then attempts to kill herself. (Whether that action was performed due to anguish and desire to follow her girlfriend into death, or purely for the sake of the mission is never fully clarified
• Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo possesses an aloof demeanor that often breaks when an interesting fight or opponent stirs his inner Blood Knight.
  • Hishigi from the same series is a very strong example of The Stoic. He loses his cool very rarely, such as when Fubuki's suffering is trivialized. When he does get angry...run.
• In School Rumble's later chapters, we learn that Karasuma's lack of facial expressions was all an act. Once he does start showing emotions, he becomes almost unrecognizable.
• Ken Washio on Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is extremely controlled. Except when it involves his father. Who was undercover for most of Ken's life. Then killed for real before the two could develop any sort of relationship. And angered Ken enough that he dragged the entire team into an enemy trap.
• Langa of Sk8 the Infinity is stoic for the majority of his screentime, but as the series goes on, he shows the depths of his emotions, despite it still being his default state. He'll smile incredibly gently at Reki, sport an unnerving Grin of Audacity in the face of danger, grin excitedly around friends he skates with, and even look crushed as his closest friend decides to leave him behind.
• While Zelgadis Graywords of Slayers isn't entirely stoic — he enjoys good company and can occasionally be as mischievous as Lina and Amelia — he certainly never lets himself be vulnerable, and his default mood is a mix of stoicism and condescending snark. Come the fifth season of the anime, he learns that he can never turn his chimeric body back to its original human state, ever, from his great-grandfather, a man he loathed, he starts to openly weep and yell.
• Soul Eater:
  • This is used to comedic effect. Normally, Death the Kid is a quiet, observant, and intelligent young man. That is, until he notices something that isn't symmetrical.
  • The Shinigami/Reaper is a quirky example. While not exactly stoic, he usually brushes off any and all situations by being/looking/talking/acting goofy, putting him firmly in comic relief territory. That is, until the Kishin gets loose. Just as the Big Bad is about to flee outright, the Reaper shows up. There's some brief banter, where the Kishin calls the Reaper out on his goofiness, to which the Reaper offers some terse explanation and cuts loose. His voice drops to a low growl, his goofy mask takes on a thoroughly pissed-off expression (which is actually more effective than his previous "scary face"), he actually starts swearing at the Kishin and shows everyone exactly why he's the boss.
  • To be reminded that the Cloudcuckoolander and the usually low-key boy are father and son, just point out something (significant) which goes against their sense of order. Kid also counts for the moments when his calm, matter-of-fact attitude towards being a god is broken by his occasionally hysterical concerns over not being a ''good enough'' god.
• Haku from Spirited Away is normally calm and emotionless, even when Yubaba was breathing fire inches away from his face and wrapping her hair around his neck and body. But when he is around Chihiro, he reveals many more emotions, such as concern, a hint of snarkiness and happiness.
• Barnaby of Tiger & Bunny is normally a very restrained individual, but after the discovery and subsequent loss of a lead on the organization responsible for his parents' murder he completely loses it — physically attacking his partner Kotetsu, snapping at everyone who talks to him, and briefly going AWOL before his mentor manages to get a hold of him and calm him down. Likewise, any mention of his parents' killer makes him almost unrecognizable in his fury.
  • From Episode 18 onwards the story is littered with such moments on Barnaby's part — so much so that it counts as a complete subversion of the Stoic Spectacles archetype he previously represented; the screaming in The Stinger of Episode 18, a number of crying (nay, sobbing) scenes in Episode 19, and the Tender Tears in Episodes 20, 24, and 25.
• Thorfinn of Vinland Saga tries to be The Stoic, but the mask slips more often than not.
• Takayama from Witchblade kisses Masane after she visits him following his forced resignation from Doji.
• Haguro Dou from Wolf Guy - Wolfen Crest is an unsmiling and absolutely gigantic middle-schooler who, as the violent son of a Yakuza boss, serves as werewolf protagonist Inugami's main enemy for the first arc. When Inugami shows him just how powerless he really is, Haguro starts busting out Slasher Smiles like nobody's business and goes on a psychopathic rampage that still shows no signs of stopping, all to regain his original image as a "monster."
• Wolf's Rain:
  • A particularly heart-wrenching example is when resident tough guy Tsume breaks down and openly weeps after Toboe's death.
  • In the same series we also have Darcia, the cool, quiet, and enigmatic noble who completely loses it when he returns home with Cheza, (she of the Healing Hands) to save his ill fiancee, only to find that his fiancee was murdered shortly before his return. He doesn't take it well.
• Karasu from the Dark Tournament saga of YuYu Hakusho initially seems to be the calmest and most reserved member of Team Toguro. During his battle with Kurama however, he turns out to be much more malicious and brutal than expected.
  • Kurama tends to be calm most of the time, but after winning a game against Amanuma/Game Master that costs the poor kid his life, he becomes enraged under his stoic facade, instantly decapitating Makihara/Gourmet with his Rose Whip and setting up a plan to defeat Elder Toguro (who was controlling Makihara's body after killing him) while he is still unable to read his thoughts through his rage. Hoo Lee Shit.

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