History Main / BringMyRedJacket

* Mal Reynolds of ''{{Firefly}}'' wears mostly earth tones, including brown and red. These clothes are frequently ripped and torn, mostly by bullets and knives. Occasionally this color scheme is the direct cause of some of Mal's injuries -- like when he wears it into an Alliance-friendly bar on Unification Day and picks a fight.\\
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Mal wearing red is played with in the side comic book story ''{{Serenity}}: Those Left Behind.'' In the comic, River comments that she hates the color red on Mal, which is an ironic throwback to the episode "Ariel" in which she cuts Jayne with a butcher knife and then comments that ''he'' looks better in red.

** It doesn't do much about hiding wounds though, seeing as almost every time he's in a major fight, [[{{Fanservice}}at least part of his shirt comes off.]]

* In sports red shirts are a popular choice. In [[TheBeautifulGame football/soccer]], at least three teams are nicknamed "Red Devils" (Manchester United, Belgium and South Korea); England has it as secondary uniform, and since their only FIFAWorldCup was won with a red kit, it's used for special occasions; and in a not-very-successful attempt, Germany for 4 years used red as a secondary kit in an attempt to intimidate (it has since been changed to black).\\

* Ragna, the protagonist of ''BlazBlue'', wears a red coat, and also has [[GlassCannon horrible defense]]. Not to mention that several of the {{Multiple Endings}} end with him dying.

-->"Fetch me old red doublet
-->Bring it to me now
-->I'll wear it in the rigging when they fire across the bow
-->Fetch me old red doublet
-->That's all the luck we'll need
-->Even if they shoot me down they'll never see me bleed!"
-->-- '''The Ballad of Old Redcoat''', ''The Pyrates Royale''

* Zapp Brannigan of ''{{Futurama}}'' considers red velour the best choice of military uniform.
[[{{Squick}} (But for some reason, also no pants.)]]

Characters who have a tendency to receive horrible injuries also tend to wear red. Perhaps this is some bizarre permutation of the RedShirt effect, warped slightly by ContractualImmortality. Perhaps some otherworldly fashion deity has declared that anyone likely to be spattered with blood must wear complementing shades of scarlet. Or perhaps it's just the censors wanting to keep the carnage from standing out more. Whatever the reason, it sometimes seems as though all a guy has to do to get his arm hacked off is stand near some red drapes. And woe be to one of these guys if he ever comes near a [[BullSeeingRed bullfighting stadium]]...

The trope name comes from an old joke: the [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen captain of a ship]] always asks for his red jacket before a battle, so the shirt color would hide any wounds. (The punchline supplies the name for BringMyBrownPants.)

[[LittleDeadRidingHood Red is also a dangerous color for young girls to wear]] - [[LadyInRed older girls, however]], are more likely [[FemmeFatale dangerous themselves.]] Compare RedShirt. Compare and contrast WhiteShirtOfDeath.

* {{Inuyasha}} in his completely red outfit is not particularly lucky, and despite ([[GoodThingYouCanHeal because of?]]) his demonic resilience, Kagome practically has to duct tape him back together after many battles, including once having a punch go through his abdomen and out the other side. His brother, Sesshomaru, provoked the mutilation gods merely by having a few red ''stripes'' on his clothing, and subsequently lost an arm. The censor potential is especially notable here, as blood seems darker on dark-suited folks.

* [[UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Battler Ushiromiya]] manages to suffer from a double dose of this trope - red shirt, [[WhiteShirtOfDeath white jacket]]. He's also the only one who never simply dies, oh no, [[FateWorseThanDeath he dies and then is resurrected to be killed over and over again.]]

* One of the children's spinoff books based on [[{{Cluedo}} Clue]] had [[spoiler:Miss Scarlet being identified for an accidental stabbing because she was the only one who had clothes she could use to wipe the blood off her knife.]]
* Occurs in [[{{Literature/Witch}} Witch]] by ChristopherPike. Julia has a vision of Jim dying in a gas station, and his red jacket is very prominent in the vision.
* The Eastern Empire from the later HeraldsOfValdemar books issues dull red uniforms to its army. The joke in that army is that the color was chosen to cut down on cleaning bills post-battle.

* [[FateStayNight Rin Tohsaka]] wears red in all of her outfits ('cept her sleepclothes), but it's pretty much a subversion, because the one time you see her seriously wounded, her blood isn't just on her, it's ''[[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank everywhere.]]''

* In sports red shirts are a popular choice. In [[TheBeautifulGame football/soccer]], at least three teams are nicknamed "Red Devils" (Manchester United, Belgium and South Korea); England has it as secondary uniform, and since their only FIFAWorldCup was won with a red kit, it's used for special occasions; and in a not-very-successful attempt, Germany for 4 years used red as a secondary kit in an attempt to intimidate (it has since been changed to black).
** Conversely, in college American football, to be a 'redshirt' means being put on the practice squad for a year. The reason you'd do this is to get better while retaining a year of eligibility of play.

[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nanoha-red-makes-me-pretty.jpg]]
[[caption-width:300:The red brings out the color of my eyes]]

-->"Little Powell's got on his battle shirt!"
-->--'''Rallying cry of Confederate Soldiers upon seeing General A.P. Hill'''

* Played with in CheekyAngel, where the school bad boy wears a ''black shirt'', against code, because he gets in a ton of fights and blood won't show on black.
* It needs to be said that in Japan red is the traditional color of the hero. It could also be the fact that many of these heroes fit the red formula in the RedOniBlueOni duo, as well as highlighting their usual [[HotBlooded fiery spirit]].

* The same goes for the titular character in Takahashi's previous work in a red shirt, [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]], but in a more comedic manner.

* Asuka in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' wears a red plugsuit and has red hair. Arguably, she's the one the gets the most severe injuries out of all of the pilots [[spoiler: with the exception of Toji, who, depending on whether you go by the show or the manga, either loses a leg or simply dies]].
** Arguably? ARGUABLY?!?! No matter which happened to Toji, Asuka gets to feel the pain of [[spoiler: being impaled through the eye, eaten alive, arm cut in half and finally impaled through her arm, head (again), and torso with 9 spears]] all at 300% strength (her sync rate of 300 made her feel everything 3 times stronger than reality). Suffers more than either nigh instant [[spoiler: death through crushing]] or loss of a leg? I believe so.
** The same goes for her mech, Unit 02, which in one battle had both arms and its head cut off while in TheMovie was wrecked up in a manner [[{{Gorn}} so graphic]] it's only rivaled by the destruction of [[spoiler:Unit 03, again piloted by Toji.]]
* Shanks from ''{{One Piece}}'', depending on who does the coloring, has either a red or black cape. Subverted as he threw it off to swim out to save Luffy, and ''then'' lost his arm.
** Luffy fits too with his standard red shirt. And boy does he get beat up.
* Ed from ''{{Fullmetal Alchemist}}'' has his standard [[{{BadassLongcoat}} red duster]] [[spoiler:which on the evening before the final battle he purchases a bunch of red fabric and replaces it because his old one got torn up after he went north.]]
** His reason for wearing red is that red is a Badass color.
* RurouniKenshin wears a red kimono (and [[LimitedWardrobe pretty much only that one kimono]]) throughout the series. However, he's portrayed as wearing blue in flashbacks when he was an assassin.

* {{Deadpool}} has "always been partial to red and black," and his uniform is primarily red with black accents.

* Mal Reynolds of {{Firefly}} wears mostly earth tones, including brown and red. These clothes are frequently ripped and torn, mostly by bullets and knives. Occasionally this color scheme is the direct cause of some of Mal's injuries -- like when he wears it into an Alliance-friendly bar on Unification Day and picks a fight.
** Mal wearing red is played with in the side comic book story ''{{Serenity}}: Those Left Behind.'' In the comic, River comments that she hates the color red on Mal, which is an ironic throwback to the episode "Ariel" in which she cuts Jayne with a butcher knife and then comments that ''he'' looks better in red.
* In StarTrekTheOriginalSeries, {{Red Shirt}}s are famous for guaranteed deaths. (Scotty and Uhura excepted.)
** Scotty was killed by the probe NOMAD in "The Changeling". [[IGotBetter He got better.]]
* In StarTrekTheNextGeneration, {{Red Shirt}}s are now command and main characters. They don't often die, but they do get tortured, maimed, shocked or have the shit kicked out of them.

* Ragna, the protagonist of ''BlazBlue'', wears a red coat, and also has [[GlassCannon horrible defense]].
** Not to mention that several of the {{Multiple Endings}} end with him dying.

* Aquaman in the JusticeLeague cartoon. He and his baby were tied to a DeathTrap. He managed to return back to his castle with the baby, but the baby wasn't wrapped in red cloth anymore. [[LifeOrLimbDecision Cue the reveal of the wrapping around his handless arm.]]
* The titular character in CaptainScarlet.

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[[LittleDeadRidingHood Red is also a dangerous color for young girls to wear]] - [[LadyinRed older girls, however]], are more likely [[FemmeFatale dangerous themselves.]] Compare RedShirt. Compare and contrast WhiteShirtOfDeath.

* Redcaps were named for their red caps. The red came from the blood of people they killed. Which they did often since the red would eventually fade.

* RurouniKenshin wears a red kimono (and [[LimitedWardrobe pretty much only that one kimono]]) throughout the series. However, he's portrayed as wearing blue in flashbacks when he was an assassin.

* Ed from ''{{Fullmetal Alchemist}}'' has his standard [[{{BadassLongcoat}} red duster]] [[spoiler: which on the evening before the final battle he purchases a bunch of red fabric and replaces it because his old one got torn up after he went north.
** His reason for wearing red is that red is a Badass color.]]

* Ed from ''{{Fullmetal Alchemist}}'' has his standard [[{{BadassLongcoat}} red duster]] [[spoiler: which on the evening before the final battle he purchases a bunch of red fabric and replaces it because his old one got torn up after he went north.]]

** The same goes for her mech, Unit 02, which in one battle had both arms and its head cut off while in TheMovie was wrecked up in a manner [[{{Gorn}} so graphic]] it's only rivaled by the destruction of [[spoiler:Unit 04, again piloted by Kaji.]]

* Asuka in [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Neon Genesis Evangelion]] wears a red plugsuit and has red hair. Arguably, she's the one the gets the most severe injuries out of all of the pilots [[spoiler: with the exception of Toji, who, depending on whether you go by the show or the manga, either loses a leg or simply dies]].