History SamusIsAGirl / AnimeAndManga

** And as a little extra, Charles/Charlotte also happens to be a CharClone and later becomes a {{Love Interest|s}} for Ichika.

* The John Titor character in ''Anime/SteinsGate'' is actually [[spoiler: Suzuha Amane]]. The anime even uses male voice actor in John Titor's email conversations with protagonist Okabe before the eventual [[TheReveal reveal]].

* In ''Manga/CellsAtWork'', Monocytes usually go about their business in bulky hazmat suits and gasmasks that totally conceal their identities. But when pathogens show up, they shed their suits and become Macrogphages; busty [[LadyOfWar Ladies of War]] in maid outfits wielding [[{{BFS}} enormous cleavers]] to wreak bloody havoc against invaders.

* EnigmaticMinion Masquerade of ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' is actually [[spoiler:Alice]]. She uses her StatOVision {{Sinister|Shades}} {{Mask|Power}} to transform.

* EnigmaticMinion Masquerade of ''Manga/{{Bakugan}}'' is actually [[spoiler:Alice]]. She uses her StatOVision {{Sinister|Shades}} {{Mask|Power}} to transform.

* In the ''Manga/GiantRobo'' [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVAs]], ActionGirl[=/=]CoolBigSis Ginrei first appears in disguise as a [[CoolMask masked]] BadassLongcoat to rescue Dr. Shizuma -- for all of a minute, before [[FlungClothing suddenly changing]] into her trademark Chinese dress, and never using the "Iron Mask" disguise for the rest of the series.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', the seventh wielder of One for All and the master of All Might was only known as "Shimura" (her last name) for a while. About 40 chapters later, her full name was revealed as "Shimura [[SevenIsNana Nana]]," then the next chapter features her in a flashback. Since All Might is the living embodiment of RatedMForManly, his teacher and predecessor turning out to be a woman is pretty surprising.

* A bit of a drawn-out occurrence appears in ''Manga/Reborn2004''. It is pretty much impossible to tell I-pin's gender, since she is a baby...then she gets hit with the 10-year Bazooka. No romance (again, baby) but she ''does'' spend a lot of time with Lambo.

* ''Literature/KinosJourney'': [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity Kino]] is a girl. The anime doesn't tell you until the fourth episode and you don't find out for quite a while in the non-English novels, before which most viewers tend to either assume she's a boy or think "But he could be...". The people who figured it out before hand got to give themselves a good pat on the back when her gender was finally revealed.]] Strangely, it is Japan in which this is easy to guess due to seemingly CrossdressingVoices, the English dub gives the character a much more ambiguous voice. Though it's not uncommon in anime for adolescent males to have distinctly effeminate voice.

* Inverted in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', where Claire Stanfield, the expert assassin Luck had hired, turns out not to be the [[RedHerring fatigues-wearing]] ActionSurvivor woman [[RedHerring that'd been making her way across the train,]] but rather [[spoiler:[[RedHerringShirt the redheaded conductor that was supposedly killed off very early on in the story.]]]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'':

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the villainous organization GREMLIN, which is mostly made up of people with Myth/NorseMythology gimmicks, is led by someone called Odin. Surprise, [[spoiler:Odin is Othinus, who ''looks'' like a 13-14 year old girl and is still powerful enough to CurbStompBattle pretty much anyone since she indeed has the power of the Norse God Odin]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', Celty's gender isn't clear when she first appears thanks to camera angles and lighting, although her feminine form is much more apparent later on. It's apparently less obvious in-universe than it is to the viewers; neither Shizuo nor Tom knew that Celty was female until Shinra told them.

* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' there's Karin Koizumi, the quarterback of the Teikoku Alexanders. What makes her remarkable is that not only is she a female playing American Football, she's the quarterback of Japan's ''best high school football team''.

* ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'': In the Second Raid, Mithril agent Wraith is revealed to be a woman. She disguised herself as an overweight man complete with a voice changer.

* Brilliantly pulled in ''LightNovel/InfiniteStratos''. Ichika accomplishes the impossible and moves an IS, something that's said to be impossible to be done by males. He gets himself enrolled in an all-girl school... then after a while, another male by the name of [[{{Bishonen}} Charles Dunois]] is transferred into the class and said to have accomplished the same feat. He is awfully shy around Ichika in the locker room and [[spoiler:refuses to change with him, something Ichika finds quite strange and tries to lightheartedly force the issue, only to provoke the other boy into running away. When he returns to their mutual room, [[ShowerOfAwkward Dunois is in the shower and Ichika enters the bathroom just as the former was about to leave the cubicle]]]]. Yup, [[SweetPollyOliver Dunois]] is [[FullFrontalAssault definitely not a guy]]. "He" later explains that [[spoiler:as an illegitimate child, she was kept in secrecy until a few years ago when she was tested and found to have a good aptitude at using an IS. Her [[WholesomeCrossdresser disguise]] as a boy served two reasons: first, as a publicity stunt to her father's company which was falling behind in IS development and second, as a way to [[TheMole get close to Ichika and spy on him]]]]. A few days later, Ichika's class receives another transfer student. Everyone, say hello to [[{{Moe}} Charlotte Dunois]]. Naturally, everyone in the class knows Charlotte and Ichika used the bathhouse together the previous night and instantly make the assumption he must've known and [[AccidentalPervert took advantage of it]]. Cue [[{{Yandere}} Rin]] [[PervertRevengeMode bursting into the classroom with her IS and firing a full-powered shot at Ichika's head]].

* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'': [[AmbiguousGender Kino]] is a girl. The anime doesn't tell you until the fourth episode and you don't find out for quite a while in the non-English novels, before which most viewers tend to either assume she's a boy or think "But he could be...". The people who figured it out before hand got to give themselves a good pat on the back when her gender was finally revealed.]] Strangely, it is Japan in which this is easy to guess due to seemingly CrossdressingVoices, the English dub gives the character a much more ambiguous voice. Though it's not uncommon in anime for adolescent males to have distinctly effeminate voice.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'', [[NoNameGiven The Hero]] was greatly surprised to find that The Demon King is [[SheIsTheKing a really cute girl]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}'' inverts it with Oboro, who [[AloofDarkhairedGirl looks]] ''[[CrossdressingVoices and sounds]]'' so feminine, that no one realizes he's actually [[DudeLooksLikeALady a male.]] At least, not until the locker-room scene [[CrotchGrabSexCheck between him and Tanukichi]] in Episode 9. When Tanukichi tries to tell Ayame about it, she finds it so hard to believe that she [[CassandraTruth dismisses it]] as a weak excuse for his failure to catch the underwear thieves.

* In the second season of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Yuuki's [[note]]known at this point as [[RedBaron Zekken]][[/note]] badassery is established when she defeats [[InvincibleHero Kirito]] in a duel. The only reason the audience doesn't know she's a girl, however, is because the duel takes place offscreen, and we only see it as a combination of :[[TheBlacksmith Liz]] relating the story to [[LadyOfWar Asuna]], who wasn't present at the fight, the fact that Liz forgot to mention her gender, and Asuna's imagining of the scene (presented as a kind of pseudo-flashback), where she pictures Zekken to be some badass dude in bulky black armor. Hilariously, upon finding out, Asuna suspects Kirito lost because the reveal distracted him, but in a later montage, it shows that she ''still'' defeats him, mainly because of [[spoiler:her AIDS]], which for the past three years has forced her to live full time in the virtual world [[spoiler:while her real body undergoes treatment]]. As a result, she has a whole year more virtual life than Kirito, and he went so far as to say that if she was in SAO, ''she'' would have gotten the DualWielding skill, not him.

** In the ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'' spinoff, during Squad Jam 2, LLENN meets an androgynous player named Clarence who ends up PlayingPossum after LLENN kills the rest of "his" team. She gives Clarence a kiss in exchange for "his" magazines, then finds out after the fact that Clarence is a woman. The localization of the light novel even refers to her with male pronouns until the revelation.

** In the main series, the mysterious, [[HeroKiller legendary]] and [[TheDreaded greatly-feared]] [[HalfHumanHybrid One-Eyed]] [[OminousOwl Owl]]/[[EvilOverlord King]] is revealed to be a young woman. People just ''assume'' the King/Owl is a man, as the loose cloak and massive [[InstantArmor Kakuja]] armor she wears completely concealed her form, making it easy for [[spoiler:her own father [[BigGood Yoshimura]] to impersonate her more than once]]. [[TheDogWasTheMastermind In a further twist]], [[EvilAllAlong said woman is]] [[spoiler:Eto, the childlike supposed-henchman who uses her male persona to be a KingIncognito, ''and'' Sen Takatsuki, [[TheHero Kaneki’s]] favorite author who he personally met at a book signing]].
** Lantern, the SerialKiller Ghoul from the {{Prequel}} ''Jack''. Wearing a Jack-o-lantern mask and a large trench coat, she takes full advantage of people assuming that Lantern is a man. Once again, it turns out to be [[TheMole someone the characters knew]] -- [[spoiler:Uruka Minami, who inserted herself into Arima’s investigation on her]].

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the villainous organization GREMLIN, which is mostly made up of people with Myth/NorseMythology gimmicks, is led by someone called Odin. Surprise, [[spoiler: Odin is Othinus, who ''looks'' like a 13-14 year old girl and is still powerful enough to CurbStompBattle pretty much anyone since she indeed has the power of the Norse God Odin]].

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* ''Anime/LupinIIIPrincessOfTheBreeze'' has Lupin fighting a Sky Pirate in a bird-beak mask. When Lupin pushes on the pirate's chest to keep them away from him, the pirate is upset. It turns out ''she'' is a young girl. Cue weaponized ArmorPiercingSlap, and Lupin getting knocked off of the airship.

* In the manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/MegaMan6'', Centaur Man is revealed to actually be a woman who disguises as a male and has a crush on Knightman. It doesn't carry over into any other adaptations, but many fans will still argue that it's canon.

** When finally introduced after years of being TheGhost, [[spoiler: [[MadScientist Dr. Vegapunk]]]] is revealed to be a woman.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Yoruichi is a more long and drawn out version of this. As long as she remains in cat form, everyone assumes she's a man. In the manga, this was just an assumption on the part of the reader. The anime is more deceptive, as they gave cat-Yoruichi a really masculine-sounding voice. It doesn't help that she has the speech patterns of an old man. Cat-Yoruichi is supposed to sound masculine. In the manga, she tells Ichigo that most people who only know her as a cat think she's male because of her voice. HilarityEnsues when she reveals that she is a girl.

* Rei in the manga version of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' when she's still inside the Eva. [[FogOfWar In the confusion of the battle]], Shinji can't tell if anyone ''is'' inside the Eva (Rei's name comes up, but that seems to be a thought bubble rather than spoken dialogue on Misato's part). Shinji cries out (in the English translation), "Our guy's getting clobbered!" But when he gets to NERV headquarters, he still seems to think he was saved by a robot. At any rate, as soon as the reader -- and, a few panels later, Shinji -- actually ''[[TheReveal sees]]'' Rei, it's clear she's a BandageBabe -- along with all sorts of other types of {{fanservice}} / FanDisservice.

** [[spoiler:Yamato, Kaido's AntagonisticOffspring]], is actually his ''daughter'', not his son as was initially claimed. Turns out, he's such a huge {{Fangirl}} for [[GreaterScopeParagon Kozuki Oden]] that he imitates him in every way possible... including calling himself a man when he biologically isn't purely because Oden was a guy.

* In the anime ''Manga/{{Bastard}}'' Arshes Nei was shown at first as a figure in full plate and rather bulky armor, which made impossible to tell that the character within that armor was, in fact, a slender female.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' Guts doesn't realize that Casca who is in full medieval knight armor is woman until he knocks off her helmet.
** Later at a formal celebration Guts is approached Casca now dressed in, well, a dress, despite knowing very well that she's a woman, Guts is awfully surprised to see her looking like one, likely used to her being one of the guys.
** Even later when the Hawks plan to rescue Griffith their guide is none other then Princess Charlotte who admits not realizing that she was a woman the first time they meet (much to Guts and Judeau's amusement).

** In Part 8, ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'', Josuke is attacked by Going Underground/Born This Way, a Stand that looks like a man riding a motorcycle. Turns out the user is Kyou Nijimura, the Higashikata family maid.

** The Last General of Nanto, who dresses like a fearsome warlord. Once the helmet comes off though, the General is revealed to be none other than Yuria, who was presumed dead at the time. Of course when this is revealed Yuria gets [[DamselInDistress captured]] by Raoh [[{{Chickification}} shortly after]].