Real Men Wear Pink / Anime & Manga

Or in this case, real men's physical manifestations of their fighting spirits wear pink.

Examples of Real Men Wear Pink in anime and manga.

---

Examples:

• Chapter 54 of ×××HOLiC reveals that Tall, Dark, and Snarky Doumeki was dressed up like a girl when he was little. Of course, being the unshakable master of deadpan that he is, Watanuki's attempt to rub this in his face backfires spectacularly.
• Senri, the silent goliath bear-man from +Anima. He loves flowers, which he likes to use as bookmarks in his diary — they help him remember things. Being the oldest and the strongest, he's a protective Team Mom and a surprising male example of a Mama Bear who goes so far as to literally lick the wounds of his companions. Although, he seems to enjoy the taste of blood.
• There's an interesting detail in Appleseed Ex Machina. When Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus arrive at the ship of Poseidon in their landmates, Deunan is given an advanced prototype landmate for the final assault. Briareos says he would like to take that one himself, except for the fact that it is pink. They also get the assistance of a group of Poseidon soldiers, who all have their own landmates. Except for Argus, who takes Deunan's police landmate. Which leads us to the question why he doesn't use his own? Oh wait...
• Assassination Classroom': In the first term finals, Home Economics was aced by Class E's bullies Terasaka, Muramatsu^note justifiable in his case, as his family owns a ramen restaurant and he's a much more capable cook than his obliviously bad father, who insists on doing the cooking, and Yoshida.
• Berserk: Guts is so manly he can travel around with a little naked fairy and still oozes testosterone.
• In The Big O the titular humongous mecha has a skirt-like design around its legs.
• Bleach
  • Chad wears pink Hawaiian shirts and loves cute things like stuffed animals and cockatiels.
  • Kenpachi Zaraki doesn't so much wear pink as carry a pink-haired child on his back. He even attends Yachiru's tea parties. He also spends hours attempting to get his hair perfect and his dislike for Lieutenant Sasakibe stemmed from a shampoo recommendation that ruined his favourite hairstyle. Yachiru is actually the spirit of Zaraki's zanpakuto, Nozarashi. So Kenpachi's Empathic Weapon, which manifests as a huge cleaver, is actually a tiny, pink-haired Genki Girl.
  • Komamura Sajin enjoys the living world's cute puppies show, which is the equivalent of one gritty badass liking Barbie Shows.
  • Kyouraku wears a pink woman's kimono everywhere. The only time he ever takes it off (even throwing it to a friend for safe-keeping), it's an example of The Coats Are Off.
  • Byakuya has the well groomed appearance befitting a noble and his zanpakuto special ability breaks down into thousands to millions of blades that look like Cherry Blossoms. He also has all the skill and power one would expect of a Gotei 13 captain.
  • Hachigen Ushōda is a Gentle Giant with pink hair and is the nicest and friendliest of the Visoreds. He is also a powerful kido master and defeated Barragan, the second most powerful of the Espada.
  • Despite what his appearance might suggest, Shūhei Hisagi is one of the nicest and most mature characters in the story. He hates violence despite being really good at it, ran his own article in the Soul Society magazine, has a fondness for music and according to the Bleach Official Bootleg is a good cook.
• Brave10: Date vehemently defends the fierceness of his Kyoto outfit, however wary everyone else is about it.
• Absolutely every male character in Breakshot. From intimidating muscleman Oki to filthy cheater Isamu to main character Chinmi, as billiards players they're usually dressed in frilly shirts with flowers and little bow ties that would look more at home on a Playboy Bunny. There's something funny about a guy bragging about how strong he is while he's dressed like King from Art of Fighting.
• Cardcaptor Sakura: Touya works constantly and owns a motorcycle in the manga, is a good athlete, and extremely popular with the girls at school, but his father taught him to cook, clean, and sew, and they have a close enough relationship that Touya talks to him pretty frankly when he's feeling off-kilter about seeing his ex-girlfriend again. He's also very in tune with his feelings, being very overprotective of his little sister and Yukito, the best friend he fell in love with after being left by the aforementioned ex— he just has a hard time saying so.
• Dola's gang in Castle in the Sky.
• City Hunter: Ryo Saeba is one of the manliest men in the history of manga, capable of casually shooting a belt at over one km, lift enormous weights, and shooting through his own hand if he has to. Also, he's an incredible (and successful) womanizer and pervert. He's also capable of incredibly feminine speech, has a penchant for crossdressing, and can act as a most feminine woman.
• Code Geass: Lelouch vi Britannia is a ruthless rebel against a despotic empire with serious family issues and a vicious streak a mile wide... and is a pretty good cook, can make a fairly fancy French meal out of "some leftover pork I found in the fridge", likes wearing frilly clothes (not only is his Zero suit equipped with a crevat, but he's called girly for it by a younger Suzaku), and has worn a pink shirt on at least one occasion. And his main concern when being forced to appear in women's clothing? Having enough time to prepare himself for the role.
• Cowboy Bebop: Jet Black is a big scary-looking ex-cop with a robotic arm who loves to cook and cultivates bonsai trees. Then again, Jet has so many hobbies — both manly and non-manly — he may count more as a Renaissance Man.
• Parodied to death in, and rather the point of, Cromartie High School.
• The badass Anti-Hero of Darker than Black, known and feared throughout the underworld as the Black Reaper, who earned his reputation by killing dozens of contractors before he got superpowers, is a skinny, innocuous guy who loves to cook. Seriously, leave him in a kitchen with nothing to do for five minutes and he'll start chopping vegetables. Valuable skill for a Big Eater, especially since the show drops strong hints that it's the renumeration for his powers. (It's actually just a quirk.)
• Death Note: Aspiring God of the New World Light Yagami does wear a pink shirt when hanging with Matsuda in Aoyama. Also Ryuk remarks on Light's sewing skills and he wears a pink butterfly belt-buckle in the anime opening (as seen here [1]◊), and in the manga at one point Light wears a corset in order to hide the Death Note. There's also the Great Detective L's epic Sweet Tooth, oddly cute mannerisms, and love of strawberries, and in the live action movies his ride is a pink angel crepe van. Then there's Mello, a ruthless mob boss, who wears a very girly feather-lined jacket, nail polish, and form-fitting leather pants and his companion, Matt whose Limited Wardrobe consists of a pink and black striped shirt.
• The anime of D.N.Angel features Krad with a pink petticoat under his outfit. A very obvious, frilly pink petticoat. The animators claimed it was purple, but no. Did I mention that this guy spends his spare time playing torturous mind-games with his other half.
• Doki Doki! PreCure: Joe Okata wears a pink apron and sells accessories. And he's a Knight in Shining Armor, engaged with Princess Marie-Ange.
• Doraemon: Takeshi Goda a.k.a. Gian is the toughest kid in the neighborhood, and his hobbies include singing and cooking.
• Dragon Ball
  • Satan/Hercule. Strongest human who isn't one of the Z-Fighters, overprotective dad, world martial arts champion (and Fake Ultimate Hero)... and a dog lover, who managed to turn Majin Buu into a good guy. By befriending him. No, not like that.
  • At the start of the Trunks saga, Vegeta, the second most powerful being in the universe, is shown wearing a pink shirt◊. With "Bad Man" printed across the back. Bulma badgered him into wearing it after she took his badly damaged regular clothes while he was showering.
    • In something of a Brick Joke, Vegeta is seen wearing a pink apron in Dragon Ball Super while doing chores for Beerus and Whis. He's embarrassed when Goku sees him wearing it, but this seems to be the fact of the apron and not the color, as he doesn't remotely complain that Goku's apron is blue.
  • Tao Pai Pai wears a lot of pink. The first part of his name, "Tao", means "peaches", hence the color scheme (although said term is also a euphemism for breasts).
  • Majin Buu in all of his incarnations (save for Evil Buu who is grey or greyish-pink) is pink. He's successively more cruel and dangerous with each form, climaxing at the heartless and mindless (and still bright pink) Omnicidal Maniac Kid Buu.
  • In the Buu saga, the Ox King, Chi-Chi's father, also wears pink, and he was no slouch himself back in the original Dragon Ball days.
  • Taking things to a new level, Goku's Bad Future Evil Counterpart in Dragon Ball Super, Goku Black, gets pink hair when he goes Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, calling his version "Super Saiyan Rosé" to mock the naming scheme of Super Saiyan Blue. And he kicks all kinds of ass with it. It helps that his aura is not just pink, but has a lot of dark colors in it, which makes it look very intimidating. Black himself finds his pink hair color beautiful.
• Knight from Duel Masters spends most of the first episodes in an all black ensemble to show off how cool he is. Later on he starts wearing a pink undershirt defending the change by stating "pink is the new black".
• Fist of the North Star gives us incredibly manly men who can cut walls or make heads explode with a finger and are incredibly prone to Tender Tears. Hell, even the first opening is a love song. An incredibly hotblooded one, but still a love song.
• Maximum HOLTFORS Ballanche Kaien, Duke of Fates, the most powerful and badass headdliner in Mamoru Nagano's The Five Star Stories, repainted his Mortar Headd Akatsuki Hime deep fluorescent pink. On the other hand, Max isn't especially manly...
• Major Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist, whose bishie sparkles (that have been passed down the Armstrong Line for generations) are pink.
• Full Metal Panic!:
  • Belfangan Clouseau. He's big, tough, imposing, states that good Arm Slave piloting should resemble art, and indulges in watching cute shoujo anime (Disney cartoons in the manga) during his free time. Notably he gets pissed off in one instance when Kurz tapes over one of his cartoon tapes with porn.
  • Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin seems to enjoy cooking, and looks badass doing it (although his borscht almost killed Captain Testarossa) and can scare off Sousuke while wearing a pink, frilly apron.
• Nuriko of Fushigi Yuugi in every sense of the word.
• Giant Robo: Kenji Murasame wears a leather trenchcoat and fedora — all in pink.
• GTO: The Early Years: Kiwamezawa, a Gonk hulking giant of a high schooler, loves Sailor Moon. It's quite a sight to see him with a tiny Sailor Venus figurine sticking out of his shirt pocket. When someone steals his ice cream, he says "In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish those who waste food."
• In Guardian Fairy Michel, Woogy decides to take up knitting after Salome is captured. It's then subverted when he doesn't actually like it.
• Gundam:
  • Quatre Raberba Winner is a filthy rich kid, plays the violin and the piano, very polite, and somewhat feminine. He also pilots a badass Gundam, is The Smart Guy of the group, can handle himself with a rapier very well, can survive in the desert and space for a long time without food and water, and becomes the de facto leader after Heero leaves to rescue Relena and face Zechs. And despite having a clear distaste for killing, Quatre's not a Technical Pacifist (or at least, not until The Movie, when the whole team starts acting that way), and probably kills more enemies than any two other characters in the show combined. Or everybody combined if you include his ZERO system induced rampage. And when forced to handle the Zero System, he was still able to maintain sanity instead of being manipulated like the rest of the team.
  • Treize Khushrenada took a rose bath on a regular basis. ROSE BATH.
  • George DeSand from Mobile Fighter G Gundam has a rose-themed Gundam, is extremely courteous and refined and looks slightly feminine... but he also adores playing Volleying Insults routines with Boisterous Bruiser Chibodee Crockett, loves fighting as much as the other members of the Shuffle Alliance and, when off-duty, is a badass fencer. By the way, he's French.
    • That would be because George Sand was the alias of a female French novelist and not a "real man", so as such it's also a kind of subversion.
  • Chibodee himself has pink hair (well, pink bangs) that he dyed in himself, and is a badass champion boxer and major Chick Magnet. He's also the Queen of Spades in the Shuffle Alliance (and the former Queen of Spades also was male), admits being a Momma's Boy (due to a rather sad case of Missing Mom) and is fiercely protective of both Rain and his Four-Girl Ensemble crew.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has Athrun Zala who, like most pilots in Seed, is kind of a bishonen, but he is characterized by being the only pilot to pilot four different suits that are predominantly pink in color.
  • For that matter, the infamous Red Comet's custom paint job sure looks more pink than red. Lampshaded in the official spoof manga Kidou Senshi Gundam-san.
    • Char has worn pink and purple when not in his trademark red uniforms.
    • According to side material, Amuro Ray, the main hero of the original series, by the time of the closing moments of Zeta is somewhere offscreen leading a spec-ops squad, fighting the Titans in his own pimped out Zeta Gundam with a custom white and pink paintjob. He can definitely afford it.
  • When he's not being a genocidal fascist dictator, Gihren Zabi, Big Bad of the original Mobile Suit Gundam can be found lovingly tending the plants in his private greenhouse.
• Zaitsu Misao of Hatsukoi Limited is six feet tall, with arms as thick as tree trunks, and whom no local high school thug will fight without some way to keep him from fighting back, but he becomes frighteningly shy and reserved around his crush, unable to even say her name; in truth, he is a Gentle Giant who adores small birds and animals and loves to take care of them, but they won't come near him, as if they're afraid he'll try to call them George.
• Hello! Sandybell: Alec is a badass martial artist who beats up drug dealers for a living and smacks his own superior, Kitty, for being an Alpha Bitch. He wears a hot pink jacket.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • Sweden is fairly domestic and good with children, specially the unruly Sealand. When he gives Finland some of his clothes and the other remarks on their 12 cms. height difference, Sweden immediately grabs some sewing implements and calmly starts fixing them himself. Sounds okay, but... well, did we mention that Sweden is actually a huge Big Guy with a permanent Death Glare and Stoic Spectacles who scares people off whether he wants or not?
  • Also, Switzerland is a gun-toting Jerkass, but he wears cute pink pajamas. Which were given to him by his little sister Liechtenstein. Whom he *adores*.
  • And then there's England and his "fun embroidery".
  • In a Drama CD, America is naming all of the Allies after Power Rangers. He doesn't know who to pick for the pink ranger, but who volunteers? Russia. Who is not only the same height as Sweden, but also may enjoy bludgeoning people with wrenches and pipes. Russia is also seen cooking, wearing a pink apron with USA (rabbit) written on it. And just like England likes embroidering, Russia is seen happily knitting.
  • Germany is shown to love baking cakes. He even has an entire character song about his love of baking and cleaning.
  • Prussia loves cute things such as little birds, plush pandas and Italy.
  • Austria meanwhile is shown to be highly cultured, a good chef and more interested in gardening or playing music than fighting. If anything, his manlier aspects seem to be filled up by Hungary.
  • Cuba is a Hot-Blooded Big Guy with Perma-Stubble who proudly wears pink flowered shirts.
  • Norway calmly strangles the tough Denmark, and then is happy over the idea of Iceland calling him "big brother".
  • Netherlands is a Perpetual Frowner The Stoic, and also happens to enjoy tulips and gardening, romantic poetry, sweets, and owns a pet rabbit.
  • Turkey, who is a large, bearded wall of muscle, is (naturally, considering the country he represents) a fan of the dance, and is occasionally depicted in rather gauche Turkish dancing garb, both male and female.
• In color portions of the original manga, such as the covers, Inuyasha's Fire-rat suikan and hakama are pink.
• Irresponsible Captain Tylor:
  • Master Sergeant Cryborne, a man who wouldn't be out of place in Frank Miller's Sin City, shamelessly parades around in a mech that he has painted bright pink.
  • Equally hardass First Lt. Andressen provides an even more absurd example. What would he be doing if he wasn't in the Marines? Nude modeling.
  • Both of these men acted like perfect gentlemen to Hitomi in her debut episode, going so far as to dress in nice suits & bring her flowers; might not exactly count, but it's worth considering.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
  • As perhaps one of the more iconic manga and anime examples, Dio Brando, in Part 3 (he dresses more sensibly in his Part 1 debut), wears a neon yellow outfit with crotchless pants, a green heart headband and kneepads, plus pointy elf shoes. He doesn't get mocked for it because whenever he's actually out and about, his opponents are usually too busy desperately trying to survive him to point out what a fashion disaster he is.
  • His son Giorno continues the tradition by being a very badass and Story-Breaker Powerful gangster... whose outfit involves a heart-shaped chest cutout, a ladybug motif, and a hairdo that must require a large amount of time, effort, and hair gel to maintain. He also has a habit of standing in clouds of flower petals and striking campy model-esque poses, and a few official artworks show him dressed head-to-toe in, what else, bright pink (which is also his outfit color in the anime).
  • Kars, the Big Bad of Part 2, has long, flowing purple hair (although he wears a headwrap over it for most of the series) and purple eyeshadow. He's also one of the more powerful villains of the series, despite the handicap of not having a Stand (they were introduced in the part after him). After he becomes the Ultimate Lifeform, he's pretty much invincible and only defeated by Joseph getting extremely lucky and throwing him into space with a Hamon-enhanced volcanic eruption.
  • The page image is Josuke Higashikata and his Stand Crazy Diamond. Crazy Diamond is largely pink with a heart motif and the power to restore things, and Josuke, with his gentle nature and focus on his clothes and hairdo, is arguably the girliest Jojo, even more so than Jolyne. He's absolutely no slouch in combat (which you will learn firsthand if you insult said hairdo) and his healing abilities are a large factor in why his part ends with the fewest casualties of any part so far.
  • Male characters frequently striking flamboyant model-esque poses is a recurring theme in the series. Especially the badass ones.
  • Narciso Annasui is a crossdresser with long pink hair (and who was actually a girl before Araki's editors made him change Annasui's gender). He's also a ruthless criminal imprisoned for killing his girlfriend when she cheated on him.
  • JJBA is this trope animefied. Over half of the the cast is composed by strong and FABULOUS men. Most of them wearing exaggerated fashion attires, big earrings, tight jeans and shirts, colored lipstick matching with the hair (Yeah, for real), accessories like golden chains, glittering scarfs and heart tiaras, and lots of pink. They make super models look tacky and it's still one of the manliest anime/manga ever created!
  • To be fair, JJBA has always been heavily influenced by Western music trends, and one of its more notable influences was 80's American music, an era which gave us, among other things, Glam/Hair Metal, which is essentially the real-life personification of this trope.
• Badass swordsman Kuroh Yatogami in K makes nutritionally balanced bento lunches for his companions while wearing a pink apron... even before he decides to stop trying to slay those same companions.
  • Shiro even calls him his wife because of his role as Team Chef.
• The seven-foot tall Sociopathic Hero Kogarashi of Kamen no Maid Guy constantly wears a cutesy maid dress.
• In Kill la Kill, the hulking Ira Gamagoori drives a pink 1959 Cadillac convertible.
• Akira Kongou from Kongoh Bancho spends all day gathering the finest ingredients (milking evil devil cows, climbing mountains) to make himself...the most delicious pudding ever. Man loves his pudding.
• Kyo Kara Maoh!:
  • Gwendal is a badass fighter and tactician with a glare of steel, but he loves cute things and his hobby is...knitting. Knitting cute animals. He's charmingly terrible at it, too: it's a Running Gag that no one can quite tell what the animals are actually supposed to be, which makes it all the more precious that he continues to persist in making them.
  • Meanwhile, Yozak is a really big guy with bulging muscles and a handsome, manly face, and is a terrifying and intense power with a sword in his hands, and he really likes to crossdress. Initially this was explained by his being undercover when introduced, but since he changes into an 'angel of mercy' costume for saving the survivors of an earthquake and is really, really not convincing with those biceps, and clearly enjoying himself, it's probably not a work thing.
  • Early in his first scene in the manga, before it's revealed that he's a Shin Makoku spy and Serious Mentor Conrad's old friend, he's shown sitting and laughing with Conrad, in his outrageous drag queen outfit. The main character mistakes it for a hookup and gives them space. Hilarious, especially once you know the background.
  • He brings an evening dress along on a dangerous mission to a snowbound mountain, as a good-luck charm because dressing as a woman has saved his life so many times. Same sequence where he has his most impressive sword fight.
• CLAMP has another Tall, Dark, and Snarky example in Lawful Drug: Saiga. He's also at least One Head Taller than his very feminine looking partner and always wears Cool Shades... but to Kazahaya's shock, Saiga is the one who is great at, and enjoys, sewing and cooking.
• Macross gives us the Zentradi. A Proud Warrior Race that knows only war (to the point they need to have the concept of peace explained to them in Super Dimension Fortress Macross (and once it's done they reply that life is present only where there's war)...and change sides when they first hear love songs. Even those who ultimately reject the Earth lifestyle still love Minmei's love songs...
  • In a funny inversion, when a splinter fleet of Meltrandi (female Zentradi) never exposed to culture before shows up in Macross 7, they ignore the love songs, but instantly start fangirling when exposed to rock songs, inverting the trope completely.
• Shiro Takamachi of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, a ninja-assassin bodyguard that frequently took on terrorist organizations and has the multiple scars to prove it. Eventually retired after almost getting killed to become... the owner and baker of the local cafe that specializes in cakes, cream puffs, and other sweets.
• Martian Successor Nadesico's main character, Akito Tenkawa, pilots a hot pink Humongous Mecha and is an exceptional cook — this is a man who made crepes suzette as field rations. He's not a badass in any sense of the word, but out of all the things people look down on him for, his ride and his skill in the kitchen are not among them.
• Mazinger Z: Kouji Kabuto, the Hot-Blooded hero, is a Chef of Iron, especially in the original manga, where it was shown he is the one cooks for his household. It is also implied that his cooking is pretty good no matter how ridiculous it is.
• Chuzaemon from Mon Colle Knights is a muscular mohawked midget in his seventies who believes manliness is the highest goal in life and spends most of his time desperately trying to make Count Collection a proud man. He also grooms cats and dances ballet in a pink tutu, tending to be surrounded by rose petals when he does so.
• The eponymous Nozaki in Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun comes off as a standard masculine character due to his athletic build and Face of a Thug, but he also unashamedly has many feminine attributes. He writes Shoujo manga (albeit with a female pseudonym), he has the most "feminine power" of all the males in the cast according to Word of God, and he excels at just about every domestic task. He is also surprisingly driven to dress up in drag or pretend to be a girl, even when there are girls around who can do that for him.
• The Terminator of My Bride is a Mermaid initially crossdresses as a schoolgirl in attempt to understand his beloved daughter's heart through Moe stereotypes. Initially, because he inexplicably continues to wear the outfit in future appearances. He's the freaking Terminator, though, with laser beam eyes, so it isn't like anyone (besides his daughter) is ever going to call him out on it. He even really does wear pink... panties.
• Seems to be a recurring theme in My Hero Academia, such as:
  • All Might, the Big Good of the Hero world, makes cute little bento boxes to share with his protégé, Midoriya.
  • Gang Orca is gigantic, Drill Sergeant Nasty and voted the 3rd "Scariest-looking" Pro Hero...but the fact children are terrified of him makes him very upset.
  • Uraraka lampshades this by commenting that Gunhead has a really cute Verbal Tic, ending his sentences with, "Okay?"
  • Rikido Sato is an amazing baker, especially when it comes to cakes and other desserts.
  • Katsuki Bakugo swears like a sailor, doesn't take crap from nobody, and can shoot friggin' explosions from his hands. He also loves cooking and is shown to take food very seriously.
• Naruto:
  • According to the databooks, Naruto likes gardening to the point he considers it a hobby (particularly flowers and common plants), which is surprising, considering his Hot-Blooded personality. In Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, Kiba gleefully informs Shino that he's seen Naruto talking to his plants as he waters them.
    • As it turns out, Naruto got it from his daddy, Minato, who had zero qualms with wearing a pink apron while washing the dishes. And who was also the Fourth Hokage.
  • Some non-Japanese fanboys refuse to believe that Ax-Crazy demon-possessed Gaara has the word 'love' written on his head and get mad when fangirls draw him with a heart. "No, it must be something badass like death, or suffering." Nope. It's love◊. Carved into his forehead by his sand-shaping powers the moment he finally broke after his Uncle Yashamaru tried to kill him and then told him that he never was and never would be loved. This symbolizes that he loves only himself and fights only for himself, prior to his Heel–Face Turn.
    • It has also been revealed that, like Naruto, he enjoys gardening. In Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage, he pleasantly surprises Hakuto, his fiancé (arranged by Suna's elders) when he mentions how much he enjoys cultivating cacti.
  • Itachi likes to go to tea shops. The Sunny-Side Battle! OVA shows that he can also cook very well and has no qualms about wearing a lacy apron.
  • Naruto's son Boruto predominantly dresses in black but his main color is actually pink (which contrasts with Naruto's orange). It's even mentioned in the novels that his underwear is florescent pink. Boruto isn't necessarily feminine despite his love of pink.
• In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ryoji Kaji takes up growing watermelon as a hobby; he asks Shinji to keep it a secret, because he doesn't want his manly reputation to be compromised. Maybe his time spent with Misato left him with a taste for melons. ^note The sad thing is, he'd probably make this joke.
• One Piece
  • Sanji is a five-star chef who is always impeccably dressed and has a pronounced tendency to turn into subservient, heart-eyed goo in the presence of a pretty girl. He's also a grade A badass Dance Battler and in the top three fighters on one of the most feared and renowned pirate crews in the world. Oh, and not forgetting the pink apron with the panda logo or his Skypiea shirts. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
  • Ship's doctor Tony Tony Chopper famously sports a large pink hat that was given to him by his adoptive father. While he's not as powerful as Sanji it is highly recommended you don't piss him off because he will Mess. You. Up.
  • There's also Donquixote Doflamingo who wears a very pink feathery overcoat while treating people as puppets using what appears to be string based powers ( which apparently double as Razor Floss when he feels like it). He's clearly one of the most dangerous men in the world, combining immense combat prowess and a vast and powerful organization with a complete disdain for human life.
  • Kumadori is an odd case. Points to his manliness include his huge size and combat prowess (he is in CP 9, which doesn't exactly take just anyone). He has a bit of a Kabuki theater theme going on, which is not necessarily unmanly, and although his hair is a vibrant, hot pink, it's quite deadly. What's left? Well, he plays some kind of weird little palm-drum thing. And he's in quite a few shots with cherry blossom petals.
  • Not to mention Mr. 2 Bon Clay, AKA Bon-chan, a self-proclaimed transvestite who loves pink clothes and swan motifs. Also possibly the manliest character in the series.
    • Another transvestite, Emporio Ivankov, is the "Queen" of Kamabakka, a kingdom (queendom?) of transvestites. He's also the right-hand man of the world's most wanted criminal, and an absolute monster in battle. The dude/lady can beat people senseless by winking at them.
  • General Ripper Akainu apparently wears a pink shirt going by one of the openings. As shown here◊. Even more interesting is that he has sakura petals tattooed over his shoulder and arm, a pink rose in his lapel, and likes to tend to a bonsai tree as seen on chap 592.
  • Pekoms. He wears an all-pink suit with red high heel-like shoes, has cute dot eyes, but happens to be a member of a Yonko's crew and even sports a bounty of 330,000,000 million beli. He also knocked a Logia out cold with a single punch after an epic one-liner. Oh yeah, and he's a friggin' lion!
  • Pretty much all the male members of Big Mom's crew count, as they all dress in bright colors and are themed either around foodstuffs or Alice in Wonderland, but they're still ruthless pirates who control a good quarter of the New World. Charlotte Katakuri, for example, has pink hair and pink tattoos, but he's also insanely dangerous in combat (he's one of the few pirates with a bounty over one billion berries) and has Observation Haki so advanced he can see the future. He used to have even more unmanly habits, like gorging himself on donuts, but he hid them and deliberately built up an ultra-manly image to scare bullies away from targeting his family. He wasn't deterred by the bullies targeting himself because he could beat them up if they got uppity, but when they targeted his sister to get to him, things changed.
• The hero of Otomen (a blend of otome = maiden + the English "men") has dedicated his teenage years to evading this trope and failing so, so utterly. He may look like the stoic ultra-manly Kendo Team Captain, but he gives cute bento boxes to the girl he loves and makes stuffed animals in a trance when he thinks about her. His best friend uses him as the model for the heroine of his hit Shoujo manga series.
  • Later characters include very manly guys like Kitora, a tall and intimidating-looking Gentle Giant who loves flowers more than anything (or anyone) and Tounomine, Asuka's rival Kendo Team Captain who is obsessed with make-up and hair & skin care.
• Pokémon Adventures: Ruby, who participates in Pokémon Contests (the Pokémon equivalent to beauty pageants), regularly grooms his team, and even sews and trims outfits for man and 'Mon alike. Interesting case since we see the pink before we're given any hint to the man. Still, this is the son of Gym Leader Norman we're talking about.
• Pokémon: The Series: In "The Screen Actor's Guilt", action movie star Brad Van Darn (a Captain Ersatz of Jean-Claude Van Damme) owns a Smoochum, a small, pink Pokémon that resembles a young girl with short blond hair. His manager fears that fans will ditch him once they find out... but when the truth comes out, his fangirls melt in a collective puddle of Squee and love him even more.
• In The Prince of Tennis, we have Kabaji Munehiro, a huge giant at age 13, who enjoys knitting and considers Home Economics his favourite subject.
• Minamoto of Psychic Squad takes care of The Children, including cleaning and cooking in a frilly apron. He also has been known to use drill-equipped trucks, crocodiles and other improvised weaponry when pushed beyond his limits.
• Kuroh from Project K is described by Shiro as his housewife because of his cooking and sewing.
• Ranma Saotome, from Ranma ½, is probably the strongest fighter in this continuity. Although he complains loudly about it, he clearly enjoys some of the possibilities his instant-sex-change curse gives him. Eating big, girly sundaes is about the only one he'll admit to. But, while he'll protest that he only goes to that extent because it's necessary, he does seem to get a thrill out of "seducing" men to get them to surrender some MacGuffin or other — and his favorite "disguise" is a pink dress.
  • He's also an excellent cook, though he never uses it, presumably because his Cordon Bleugh Chef and Tsundere fiancee would go ballistic if he constantly pointed the fact out (she does not take the initial revelation very well). He's also good at gymnastics, tea ceremony, sewing, and cleaning (to the point he will compulsively clean someone else's messy room, having to think about it to stop, not start, in the manga). Do note that many of these things (probably even the cleaning, at one point; it's a long series) were also forms of martial arts in which he's competed. So if he has to learn something girly and emasculating like knitting to fulfill his goal of being the best at every form of martial arts ever, so be it.
  • Somewhat closer to the title of the trope, in the anime one of the outfits Ranma most commonly wears is a short-sleeved pastel-orange shirt and little red bowtie. Keep in mind that this is the same practitioner of Supernatural Martial Arts who can punch you over 500 times per second, move so fast you can't even see him do so, smash through concrete without noticing and not only withstand a blow that should have broken every bone in his body, but be capable of fighting on at full capacity mere moments later.
  • Ryoga Hibiki is hinted to have studied rhythmic gymnastics and is even shown teaching it early on in the manga. Martial rhythmic gymnastics, yes, but rhythmic gymnastics all the same.
• Drake Anderson from the Read or Die OVA is a badass, gruff mercenary capable of taking out super-powered enemies in hand to hand combat, surviving helicopter crashes without a scratch, and is outright feared by Paper-users for his prowess against them. He also enjoys pottery, sightseeing, and classical literature.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin Himura is short, wears his long hair in a ponytail, always wears his pink kimono (often with matching tabi), cooks, washes the clothes, and cleans around the dojo... and he's the fearsome Battousai the Man-Slayer. In the Japanese version of the anime, he's voiced by a woman.
  
  In the manga, Nobuhiro Watsuki claims he based Kenshin on Genzai Kawakami, an assassin during the bakumatsu who was short, thin and easily confused with a woman... he used it to his advantage by crossdressing and hiding at Geisha Houses after killing.
  
  Also of note is that in the manga, Kenshin is constantly mistaken for a woman, despite carrying a sword around (which was forbidden at the time) and having a big badass scar on his face. He also serves as a babysitter to Dr. Gensai's granddaughters (exclusive to the anime as near as it can be told).
• Bontenmaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo can literally rip a man in half with his bare hands. He hangs out with several badass killers, and reads shoujo manga.
• The primary premise of the Sanrio Boys. The main five characters are each attached to a cute mascot of choice. It also has a lesson about the importance of being honest about the things you like.
• Harima in School Rumble is a buff bad boy. Most students tend to steer clear of him due to his delinquent nature and tendency to beat people up. (Which he does a lot.) One other kid in class has made it his life goal to become manlier and cooler than Harima. In his free time, though, Harima draws manga and takes care of stray animals.
• Scryed's Straight Cougar is a manic super-speed fighter and irrepressible flirt who not only wears bright pink shades with his uniform but drives a hot-pink car to boot. No one ever calls him on it, probably because addressing Cougar about anything will earn you a ten-minute hyper-enthusiastic explanation/tirade.
• The Seven Deadly Sins, being one of the few Shōnen manga where romance plays a significant role, has several badass male characters with hearts. Special mention goes to Ban, a muscular ex-con who grew up on the streets. He is utterly devoted to his tiny fairy wife, and his life's ambition is to write a book.
• Eguchi, the main character of the popular biker gang series Shounan Bakusozoku (aka Bomber Bikers of Shonan), isn't just the leader of the titular biker gang but also of his school's handicraft club.
• In Sonic X, Sonic apparently has a fondness for flowers. He even uses this to taunt Knuckles at one point when he was tricked by Eggman (again) and challenging Sonic to a duel, and later on in the series Sonic gathers a bunch of flowers and puts them in a vase at Chris's house. Later still he gives Amy a bunch of flowers.
• Loid in Spy X Family has some feminine skills:
  • He is mainly responsible for cooking, since Yor in general is terrible at it. Yuri begrudgingly had to admit that the dishes Loid makes are delicious.
  • He's also excellent in sewing, as shown in Short Mission 3, after Anya's penguin plushie was ragged by Bond and (accidentally) Yor.
• Jake Martinez from Tiger & Bunny was a badass mercenary before prison, and out of prison became a terrorist who Held all of Stern Bild hostage & managed to hospitalize four of its heroes by himself, and almost defeated a fifth. He did it in red skinny pants, a fluffy black and white fur coat, blue lipstick, pink & green eye shadow & pink & orange hair. Despite his flamboyant looks, he still managed to be terrifying.
• Haise Sasaki from Tokyo Ghoul :Re. He's surprisingly domestic, acting as the Team Mom for his squad and cooking most of their meals at home. During a stakeout that required them to be Disguised in Drag, he turns out to be extremely talented with makeup and fashion. None of these feminine talents bother him, or lessen his subordinates' view of him. Throwing them around like ragdolls during training exercises and dealing out a Curb-Stomp Battle to a high-ranked enemy probably help cement his masculinity in their eyes.
• Ryuuji from Toradora!! is well-known at school for having the Face of a Thug and an intimidating presence, but in reality he's a proud House Husband who likes to cook while wearing aprons (including a pink one), and can often be found cleaning the school bathroom with a toothbrush and doing the household sewing and shopping. Don't forget he also wears pink boxers!
• Galvatron, the Big Bad of Transformers — Beast Wars II, is totally PINK. He even transforms into a giant pink dragon (make of that what you will). Despite that, he is a deadly serious villain, and in his dragon form, a rampaging unstoppable monster attacking friend or foe. Well, except when he is sleeping — which he does for most of the series.
• In The Way of the Househusband, it's downplayed with Tatsu, who likes housekeeping, cooking and being a house husband, but whose approach is more like cleaning a crime scene or completing missions for his gang. One example is when arranging flowers, he uses it to convey his experiences with the Yakuza, like "the violence of the moment when an excavator crashes through a rival office's wall" or "the sense of fleeting life as your brothers-in-arms' lives are slipping away during a botched raid".
• In Weiß Kreuz Side B Ken Hidaka, the team's resident Big Guy, is a former professional soccer player and ex-convict who kills people for money with a pair of steel Wolverine Claws. He likes his job. He also likes cookery, adores small children, appears to have unilaterally decided Kurumi is his surrogate sister and, like the rest of his team, has a cover job as a florist.
• Takashi "Jumbo" Takeda from Yotsuba&! is six foot ten, muscular, and frightens strangers on the street, but he works as a florist and is very sensitive, romantic, and great with kids.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Kurama is a fox demon known as the infamous bandit Youko Kurama whose very name could strike fear in the hearts of other demons. His human body has been mistaken for female with his big green eyes and pretty-boy face, but he can instantly grow carnivorous demonic plants that can and will kill you from seeds he keeps in his long hair. He is the perfect student at his school where the male uniform is pink, is the rational intellectual of his team, and will do anything to protect his mother. He's also an S-class demon — meaning deific levels of destructive power. When faced with an unkillable opponent Kurama subjects him to eternal torment via hallucinogenic demonic plants. Want to giftwrap a past-tormenter to his tormentee to torture for as long as they please without death as a respite? He knows a plant for that too.
  • Kazuma Kuwabara is a man's man, but he still has a soft spot for cats...especially his pet kitten, Eikichi. Not to mention he is one of few men who will loudly, without ANY hesitation whatsoever, proclaim that he does what he does for love. Even calls himself a Warrior of Love several times.
  • After ridding himself of his old man disguise, the Beautiful Suzuka monologues in this choice of attire◊ in the Dark Tournament. He follows that by blowing up a section of the crowd.

---