Affectionate Gesture To The Head / Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Kishika Torotoro grew up having to take care of her four younger siblings so her parents could work. Because of this Kishika craves being the one who's spoiled and cared for, enters a state of Emotional Regression when she gets pampered (much to her embarrassment after the fact), and specifically associates the affectionate gesture to the head with it. When introduced, she Hates Being Touched because any contact with her head will make her want more, if it doesn't just instantly put her into "baby mode". Meanwhile a bonus chapter shows that this association started with Kishika was in grade school, and a glove fell on top of her head.
• Children of the Whales: Rasha used to give Shuan headpats, and Shuan later picks up the habit with Chakuro.
• The Dangers in My Heart:
  • Yamada does a simulation of this to give Ichikawa a good night's sleep over the phone, by having him stroke his own head four times. Unbeknownst to Ichikawa, she's stroking the head of one of her stuffed animals at the same time.
  • Much later she pats him on directly in Chapter 133. Which is justified since they're couple by then.
    Ichikawa: Don't touch.
    Yamada: Do touch.
• In Dog Days, this is a trademark of Princess Millhiore. Everyone she pets comments on how soft and gentle her hands are. Cinque also does it to her and a few other girls.
  • By the second season, it seems the favorite peacetime activity for all three rulers is getting petted by their respective Heroes.
• Dragon Ball:
  • This is how Goku shows affection towards his sons and later his granddaughter in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, patting them on their heads.
  • Young Gohan is patted on the head quite frequently; even by Vegeta. One particular moment that stands out was during a flashback when Piccolo does this to a sleeping Gohan and promises that he won't let anything happen to him, cementing his Heel–Face Turn and Papa Wolf status towards Gohan.
• In Elfen Lied when Kurama sends Nana to capture Lucy and bring her back to the lab this is all she asks for in return, because this was how he showed affection to her.
• In Free! Rin Matsuoka, from season 2 onwards generally comforts, compliments and shows affection towards his younger teammates and friends (namely Nagisa, Nitori and Momo) this way.
• In Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Heiter had a habit of showing Frieren affection by patting her head, a gesture she claimed to dislike. In Chapter 29, a flashback shows Frieren patting an elderly Heiter on the head after they talk about who will praise him for acting like a proper adult in this world. In the present, she does the same gesture to others whenever she praises them.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist Ed often pats Al and Winry's heads to reassure them.
• GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class:
  • Kisaragi gets patted from Noda and Tomokane after telling the story of how she came to buy a "god's pencil", then again from them plus Miyabi and Namiko after she explains that it "worked" (though it's pretty clear that practice was really what worked).
  • In a chapter image, Namiko seems to be giving Tomokane and Kisaragi one of these as the younger four of the five seem to be engaged in a group hug.
• Grave in Gungrave often pats Mika's head. It's all he needs to do to show that he cares for his little protege.
• Gunslinger Girl. Given that the eponymous cyborgs are Badass Adorable this happens several times, and the response is often telling.
  • In "Bambola", Triela has to go on a mission while undergoing period pains. Her handler Hilshire, who up to now has been distant towards her, realises she looks ill and tries to put a hand on her forehead, only for Triela to push his hand away, showing her conflicted feelings toward him.
  • In "Gelato", Enzo tousles Henrietta's hair, and she looks discomforted as he's not her handler Jose. Enzo in turn is surprised to smell perfume on his hand afterwards and discusses with Jose the expensive gifts he showers on her.
  • When Pietro is introduced to Rico in "Amare", the Section One agent strokes her hair and Rico looks up at him with Puppy-Dog Eyes, not used to any affectionate gestures from her handler Jean. Jean's response is to curtly brush Pietro's hand away, reestablishing control over his cyborg.
  • A more lighthearted example happens just before the Venice belltower assault when Triela encounters a couple of special forces soldiers she trained with the year before, who immediately start rubbing her Twin Tails for luck. Cue Luminescent Blush from the Agency's toughest cyborg.
  • In "Battlefield of the Vanquished" when Triela survives the belltower assault unharmed, Hilshire strokes her forehead. She removes his hand but instead of brushing it aside like before she holds his hand in her own, showing their how their relationship has changed.
  • In "Clever Serpents, Innocent Doves" it's noted that Jose doesn't actually touch Henrietta for all his supposed affection. In truth Jose has become tired of her neediness but is advised by Dr. Bianchi to just pretend to be kind for Henrietta's sake. Jose ends up pinching Henrietta's cheek, which is something he used to do with his (deceased) little sister.
  • In "Survivors", Jean wakes up in a hospital bed and finds his cyborg Rico there, having brought him to safety, so he reaches up and strokes her hair.
• Heaven's Lost Property:
  • Ikaros pats others a lot, usually to soothe someone who is upset. One time, she even randomly did it to a Yakuza boss. The man's bodyguards are shocked by this violation of personal space and move to attack her, but the boss stops them and enjoys it.
  • Astrea ends up patting Chaos' head.
• In Volume 8 of Hellsing, following his final release and transformation into his original form of Dracula, Alucard pats Seras Victoria after she awkwardly points out that he seems to have grown a mustache. It's the first affectionate thing he ever does towards her.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • In one episode, France affectionately ruffles America's hair during the latter's hundredth birthday.
  • A darker example is Russia and Latvia; Russia is seemingly very fond of the much smaller Latvia, and likes to give him affectionate — and very crushing, due to their huge difference in strength — headpats. Latvia claims that the reason he's so small is because of them.
• Hidamari Sketch:
  • Yuno is patted by her mother because she was worried about her father being at home alone.
  • Yuno gets one from Sae and Miyako at her explanation of Hiro's setting aside an onigiri.
  • Yuno gets one from Nori after telling her and Nazuna why she brought them to the bathhouse.
  • Nazuna gets one from her father after her mother thanks her friends for helping her, and tells her she has it good.
• Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers: When Hitomi gets "intoxicated" from an energy drink, she gives Yuu an affectionate pat on the head at one point, which is a far cry from how she usually interacts with him.
• In K: Return of Kings, when Shiro is working hard on his research to find a solution to the issue of the second season, Neko tells him she believes in him, and he gives her a pat on the head (because she's a cat). Then, Kuroh, the "Black Dog" and Shiro's other teammate, tells Shiro the same thing and leans in for a split second as if he wants a head-pat, too.
• K-On!:
  • Azusa is frequently patted against her will, even though it's what Yui used to calm her down when she blew up. But she does take it better when it's employed while they're reminding her that they haven't forgotten the club. (The others had been too involved in the play to practice for the concert.)
  • One time, when Nodoka jokingly asks the Hirasawa sisters if they didn't come out in the wrong order (Yui needs help with a math problem that Ui knows how to solve after glancing at it while setting tea she made down, Yui and Ui briefly interact as though they were the other way around; this gesture is part of it.
  • Nodoka pats Ui in the very next strip after being randomly hugged by her.
  • In K-On! High School, Azusa tries to reach kouhai Sumire's head, saying "Rub... head..." as she stretches for it. Sumire takes this as a request and confusedly rubs Azusa's head.
  Azusa: No, not me!
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Signum pats Fate on head in A's when they change from being Worthy Opponents to Friendly Rivals.
  • The movie adaptation of A's has this as part of the "Lindy adopting Fate" subplot by having scenes where both Lindy and a dream copy of Precia attempt to comfort Fate by caressing her cheek. She enjoys the former but outright recoils in fear of the latter (since the real Preica was incredibly abusive). The scene with Precia also takes place in the series, but Lindy merely holds her hand instead.
  • In something of a role-reversal, six-year-old Vivio gives her mother Nanoha a pat on the head to cheer her up during a flashback in StrikerS. And it's adorable.
  • Nanoha also pats Subaru on the head at the end of the first episode of StrikerS, causing her to start shedding Tears of Joy.
  • Subaru does this to Ixpellia in StrikerS Sound Stage X right before Ixpellia falls into a sleep that could last for thousands of years.
• Usui often affectionately pats Misaki's head in Maid-Sama!.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid:
  • Kobayashi normally shows affection to Tohru, Kanna, and Ilulu by petting them on the head. It's pretty much the only way that she knows how to express affection since she has admitted to having trouble dealing with interpersonal relationships.
  • Taketo pats Ilulu's head after hearing why she's so adamant on finding the owner of an abandoned doll, and then again when she comes into work after having been out sick (she had actually gone into heat, but he didn't know that). The second time causes her to get a warm feeling in her chest, though she doesn't recognize the significance.
• Musashi-kun to Murayama-san wa Tsukiatte Mita. has an entire three-chapter arc devoted to Murayama trying to get Musashi to pat her head.
• Futaba from My Senpai Is Annoying is on the receiving end of head pats and hair ruffling from her larger coworker who she has feelings for. Her grandfather also has a tendency to pat her head and he takes issue with Takeda doing the same thing to her, mostly because he suspects Takeda is her boyfriend.
• Naruto:
  • Itachi's brotherly gesture, the forehead poke, was affectionate by definition. Very dramatic, emotionally-eliciting gesture.
  • Sasuke continues the tradition by patting Sakura before he left for his journey of atonement at the end of the manga. Sakura later notes that she prefers it over kissing Sasuke.
  • Sasuke patted his own daughter, Sarada, at the end of Naruto Gaiden, despite being absent from her life for long periods of time. His wife Sakura had previously been shown to have shown Sarada the forehead poke when she was younger.
  • Kakashi has a habit of patting his students on the head.
• In one chapter of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!, Tomoko tries to get an affectionate headpat after seeing it in an anime. She does various things to prompt guys at school to give her one to no avail, going so far as to trying to engineer an accidental one by sitting under the railing of a stairway. About the only headpat she ends up getting is from a cat she stops to feed at a park bench. In Chapter 115, Tomoko gets a real headpat from a cute graduating upperclassman after she successfully pins a corsage on his uniform.
• Episode 5 of Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God has Ra giving every single one of his children headpats after returning home from his journey.
• Tsurezure of Ojojojo gave his girlfriend's sister a pat on the head after finding out that she's a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who's trying to break them up and take her sister's place as heiress (showing that he cares about her as Haru's sister despite all that).
• In Peace Maker Kurogane, this is one of the very few ways that Hijikata shows outward affection to Tetsu.
• In Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, Lusamine tousles her daughter Lillie's hair when they reunite. According to Lillie, she last saw her mother when she was a baby and is not thrilled with neither the gesture or her mother acting like she never left, and smoothes her hair down in a Funny Background Event.
• In Saiyuki, this is one of Sanzo's few outwardly affectionate gestures towards Goku.
• Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove it: In the main characters' ongoing quest to define love with the scientific method, testing the effects of this is the main experiment of Episode 2, with Yukimura petting Himuro's head. It sets off Himuro's Expressive Hair, prompting Yukimura to wonder what principle is allowing her hair to move independently. Due to Ibarada's suggesting that they need a control for the experiment, Yukimura pats hers and Kanade's heads and compare Yukimura's heart rates in each case.
• In the Sengoku Basara anime when Shingen seems about to give a standard Megaton Punch to Yukimura but switches to patting and tousling his hair at the last second, telling him he's done well.
• Taishi of Servant × Service occasionally pats younger women on their head out of unconscious habit, due to his sister.
• Skip Beat! has Kyoko and Ren play the roles of the Heel siblings Setsuka and Cain, respectively. Cain tends to affectionately pat his little sister on the head or gently ruffle her hair, even using this as a form to communicate a compliment. Kyoko also receives one of the comforting variety from a director over someone having snapped at her, and she notes how different the two gestures felt.
• In Tiger & Bunny, Kotetsu often pats younger characters on the head as a sort of fatherly gesture.
• In Wasteful Days of High School Girls, Saku's grandmother gives her granddaughter headpets every night before going to bed.

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