Iconic Outfit / Anime & Manga

Iconic Outfit in Anime & Manga.

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• Attack on Titan:
  • The 3D Maneuver Gear isn't worn by a particular character (rather, everybody in the military wears it), but it's very distinctive.
  • If you do need a specific, though less obvious example, add a red scarf to the gear for instant Mikasa.
  • Levi's cleaning outfit, which he wore for a gag in a single scene, has achieved memetic status.
• Alita's very first outfit in Battle Angel Alita was a sleeveless black jumpsuit with baggy beige-colored boots with large metal knee guards, and an equally baggy duster (that came off if any ass-kicking was needed.) It's since become her most iconic and recognizable outfit.
• Black Butler: Ciel probably has more fan artwork of him in the dress he wore to the Viscount Druitt's ball than any other outfit he's worn. Cosplayers seem to love this outfit, too. Turns out the creators liked it enough to base a figure on it.
• Bleach:
  • Urahara's hat.
  • The black kimonos all the Shinigami wear.
  • Byakuya's weird... hair thingies.
  • The white outfits worn by the Arrancars.
• Bubblegum Crisis:
  • The Knight Sabers in the original OVA have a variety of casual outfits, but the most iconic ones are Linna's "cow sweater" and Sylia's inexplicably midriff-baring high-collared blouse.
  • The 2040 version of Sylia had a Little Red Dress with a Navel-Deep Neckline that stuck in viewers' memory.
• Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura stands out from most Magical Girls by having an Unlimited Wardrobe; aside from school uniforms, she rarely wears the same outfit twice, even when capturing cards. However, her most well-known outfits are her pink dress and hat combo from the cover of the first volume of the manga and the anime's first opening, as well as the rubber Cat Girl Meido outfit she wears to catch The Thunder.
• Case Closed: Conan Edogawa's suit and bowtie. He did have a case of Limited Wardrobe earlier, but even now he has a larger variety of clothes, his suit and bowtie not only means him but also the entire meaning of Great Detective. In modern comedic manga, changing to Conan's suit means s/he's going into Great Detective mode.
• Cat's Eye: The leotard-like catsuits with built in Combat Stilettos worn by the Kisugi sisters for their heists. Hitomi's is dark blue, Rui's is dark purple, and Ai's is orange (the most conspicuous by far).
• City Hunter: Ryo Saeba's light blue blazer over a bordeaux tank top and dark denim pants, and Umibozu's green military uniform and sunglasses (even at night).
• Code Geass: Lelouch vi Britannia's hat after he became Emperor of Britannia started a fan club... before the episode aired. That entire outfit he wore is also quite distinctive, having been described as a cross between pope and old-fashioned sea captain, resulting in him being drawn in it whenever he shows up in new fan art, as opposed to his old Zero outfit, which was already quite iconic by itself.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Most iconic outfits come in the form of kimonos worn by several Demon Slayer corps with distinctive color and patterns.
  • The most prominent example is Tanjiro's black-and-green kimono set in a ichimatsu (or checkered) pattern.
  • Other than her pink flower kimono, Nezuko's bamboo muzzle that she wear to hide her demon fangs is the most iconic piece of her appearance.
  • Most of the Hasharas wear a Haori that reflects their breathing style such as Kyojuro Rengoku wearing a white one with a flame motif.
• As a broader, franchise-wide example, goggles on a Digimon character have such a strong association with being worn by The Hero of whatever particular series that Masaru not wearing them is downright unusual. It's more a franchise-wide thing than any particular character, but were it to be pinned to any particular character it would be Taichi (both of him) as a result of First Installment Wins, and because the exact same goggles were passed on to Daisuke (who even before that wore goggles of his own).
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • Goku, Gohan, and Goten's signature orange gi is pretty iconic itself. Also, the battle armor with shoulder wings/spandex underwear that the Ginyu Force, Nappa, and Zarbon all wear.
  • Piccolo's turban, purple gi, and white cape (with shoulder pads). On a more humorous level, his yellow long-sleeved shirt and baseball cap from the anime filler episode.
  • Vegeta: on a serious level, his Bulma-designed Saiyan armor is perhaps his most recognizable outfit; even though he ditched the chestplate for the Buu saga, almost all post-Z material has him wearing it again. On a more humorous level, his pink "BADMAN" shirt.
  • Future Trunks has his black tank top, blue jacket, grey pants, orange and black-tipped boots, and his sword. Despite the fact that he actually loses the sword fairly early on when it gets broken in a fight, all artwork and fan work continues to portray him with it, and he's using it again by Dragon Ball Super.
  • Master Roshi's shades, Hawaiian t-shirt, turtle shell, and staff.
  • Tienshinhan's most iconic look is his green gi.
  • Bulma has a number of iconic outfits throughout the series, including the red bow tie and pink dress with her name on it that she wears in her first appearance, the playboy bunny suit, and the yellow and black outfit and red hairband she wears during the Namek saga. Her daughter Bulla is shown to have adopted the Namek hairstyle in Dragon Ball GT.
• Durarara!!:
  • Shizuo Heiwajima is inseparably linked with his endless supply of bartender's uniforms to the point that they've wormed their way into a canon (God of Destruction in a Bartender Suit) nickname.
  • Also Celty's Kitty-Cat-Eared yellow biking helmet, which was a joke by the illustrator but loved so much by the animators that it became her stock outfit in the Anime. And no, the cat ears don't have anything to do with anything, especially when you know that Celty is a Dullahan.
  • Izaya's black coat with grey fur lined around the edges.
  • The blue uniforms worn by Raira Academy students.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Edward Elric can be recognized by his red Badass Longcoat alone.
  • The Amestris Military uniform is equally iconic to the series as a whole since it's worn by every non-civilian in the series. For cosplayers, four people will be assumed to be cosplayed, based on items and/or gender: Man with gloves, Mustang; Woman with gun, Hawkeye; Man with brass knuckles, Alex Louise Armstrong; Woman with a Sword and/or fur-trimmed winter jacket, Maj. Gen. Olivier Mira Armstrong.
  • Scar has his orange jacket and his Cool Shades from his first few appearances.
• The mechanized Bonta-kun outfit probably gets more attention than most Full Metal Panic! characters do naturally. It is a Powered Armor suit that's essentially a miniature Arm Slave.
• Ryoma's outfit from Getter Robo Armageddon was supposed to be a reference to Shinichi from Maju Sensen, another series by Ken Ishikawa, but the popularity of the OVA led to the iconic outfit being attributed to him instead.
• The black outfits Section 9 wear in the V-Formation Team Shot from the opening to the second season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
• Gintama has lampshaded the series' Limited Wardrobe, but Okita's sleep mask has become emblematic of his character even though he only wore it once.
• Haruhi Suzumiya:
  • Haruhi's outfit, complete with her yellow hair ribbons and school uniform, is so iconic that it has become a considerably famous in-joke in the otaku community that you can recognize her simply by her color scheme. Said joke even made it into Ragnarok Online with the skill icon for Gloomy Shyness◊ (also translatable as Melancholy).
  • The bunny-girl outfits—unwillingly worn by Mikuru in the club's horrible amateur film, and occasionally flaunted by Haruhi—proved so memetic that a lot of merchandise shoves the costume onto characters who never actually wore it, such as Asakura.
• Joey from Heroman looks androgynous enough normally but his clothes when Disguised in Drag are almost as often seen in fanworks as his main clothes.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • England, in a single strip and most likely not in his right mind, dresses up in an angel outfit and calls himself "Britannia Angel". Only in one short strip did he do this, but there are a lot of fanworks of Britannia Angel.
    • Also, England scores again with his "Sexy Waiter" outfit, which is basically the lower half of a Hadaka Apron.
    • And then there's his Black Magic get-up, aka the cloak that seems to come with its own Dramatic Wind.
  • Poland crossdresses a grand total of three times in the entire series. The extent to which he does it in fanart is....much, much higher.
  • Canada is commonly depicted in his military uniform... even though he has yet to actually wear it in the strips or anime.
  • America and his bomber jacket, even though it's only a part of his main WWII military uniform and he isn't seen wearing it outside of WWII strips, and sometimes, not even then.
  • Russia and his Badass Longcoat.
• Inazuma Eleven had a gag where Endou's mom wrote "Endou" in marker across the back of a pair of his boxers in embarrassingly large handwriting, to ensure he wouldn't get his laundry mixed up with anyone else's at an overnight training camp. That pair of boxers tend to show up in fan works as Goofy Print Underwear whenever a Comedic Underwear Exposure gag has Endou as one of the victims.
• The Protect Gears from Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and the rest of Mamoru Oshii's Kerberos Saga are Heavily Armored Mooks with gas masks, red Glowing Eyes of Doom and an Ammunition Backpack while toting MG-42s. Their distinct appearance has influenced the Helghast to the point where they're often confused for the other.
• Jotaro Kujo's gakuran coat and hat from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders.
• Kagerou Project: Ayano's Sailor Fuku/red scarf combo is instantly recognisable, to the point that she's wearing it post-mortem, despite dying in an entirely different outfit.
• Kill la Kill has Ryuko when wearing Senketsu in either its normal state or when transformed with both having their colour in black and red, the transformed version shows off gratuitous Underboobs with suspenders, a microskirt and Zettai Ryouiki. In her regular state, it's just a crop top with a mini skirt.
• Four of the five main cast members of Lupin III get iconic outfits:
  • Lupin's red or green jacket paired with black or white pants and a black or blue shirt and yellow necktie — which is doubly famous thanks to Nabeshin's Author Avatar stealing it... Hell, you don't even have to mention the name itself, all you have to say is "The Red Jacket" and a lot of people will instantly know what you're talking about. Fans go so far as to classify where Lupin media falls in the franchise by jacket color.
  • Jigen's dark suit with the fedora slouched over his eyes.
  • Goemon's yukata and hakama.
  • Zenigata's conservative brown plainclothes suit, trenchcoat, and fedora.
  • Fujiko doesn't wear her Spy Catsuit as much as the other four wear their outfits. In fact, due to her aversion to the Limited Wardrobe trope, Fujiko Cosplayers aren't always recognized in the catsuit, either.
• Lyrical Nanoha has the eponymous heroine's Sailor Fuku inspired white Barrier Jacket.
• After an episode of Mega Man Battle Network had most of the main cast (yes, even the males) Cosplay as Aki-chan to serve as decoys, with some of them looking patently ridiculous, drawing various characters in that cosplay caught on. Including characters who originally didn't do the cosplay in that particular episode, and especially characters who look even more ridiculous in it.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny: Yuna Roma Seiran's bright yellow pajamas mix this with Narm and Fashion-Victim Villain.
• Meroune Lorelai De Neptune of Monster Musume is rarely seen wearing anything but Elegant Gothic Lolita dresses outside of special occasions, but her most famous outfit is her standard house clothes: a maid-styled bikini that shows up in every generic promo picture she is featured in.
• Izuku's red-and-white sneakers are this in My Hero Academia. After he starts attending U.A., he's almost never seen without them, even incorporating them into his hero costume. They're so synonymous with him that they even got two votes in the second popularity poll.
• Nabari no Ou: Raikou's infamous "USA-CHAN" outfit◊. It's amazingly well-known for something he was only shown wearing for a single panel in the manga.
• Naruto:
  • The main character wears vibrant orange-and-blue jacket and pants, an outfit famous for making him a Highly-Visible Ninja. Also there's the orange-and-black Shippuden outfit.
  • The green, skin-tight suit Lee and Guy wear is one of the most recognizable outfits in the series.
  • Also, the standard green flak vest worn by Chunin and Jonin ninja.
  • Sasuke's original blue shirt and khaki pants.
  • The outfit worn by all Akatsuki members: a black cloak that is decorated with red clouds.
  • Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage's, Badass Long Coat.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Setsuna was once made to wear a cute alternate catgirl maid costume to make her more attractive to the crowd watching her fights. She started wearing it later for no reason other than being popular with the readers — the Pactio can be registered with a variety of outfits for battle. Maybe Konoka liked it...
• Neon Genesis Evangelion features special Latex Space Suits (sorry, "plugsuits") designated for each of NERV's Child Soldiers.
  • Asuka is most commonly associated with her casual yellow sun dress and red Mary Janes.
  • While Misato wears a few different outfits throughout the show, her one constant clothing item is her red officer's jacket, which she tends to wear whenever she is not at home. And even then, she most commonly wears said jacket in combination with a Little Black Dress.
• One Piece:
  • ALL of the male Straw Hat Pirates' outfits are notable and memorable considering they don't change until well into the manga. And of course the straw hat itself. To a lesser extent, Robin's Hell-Bent for Leather outfit◊ from the Enies Lobby arc^note Likely because the arc is focused on her. It's still appearing in games and other materials 10 years after she stopped wearing it.
  • For the Straw Hats in general, their first post-Time Skip outfits are the go-to getups for any media set after the Time Skip; whether spinoffs like One Piece Party, promotional material, or video games, despite the fact that they've only worn those outfits for two arcs.
• Haruhi in Ouran High School Host Club is first seen by the viewer in a plain, ugly sweater and glasses combo with messy hair. This is explained by a long string of coincidences and Haruhi's overall disinterest in fashion.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • All of Ash's main outfits count (especially the Indigo League outfit for this hat actually has backstory), but his "Ashley" and maid outfits are remembered even though he only wore them once each.
  • The iconic Poké Ball-colored hat.
  • Misty is most remembered in her original clothes for the anime, even more so than any of her game looks. Super Smash Bros. Melee even had her trophy wear it, despite everything else being game-based. Indeed, it's so iconic she returns to it for her appearance in a two-episode arc of Sun and Moon after having worn a similarly-styled, mostly yellow outfit for her appearances in Advanced Generation, the last time she had appeared in the main series outside of flashbacks, and she also wears it (albeit with slightly different colors) in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, her first game appearances since the second half of Generation V. The same look also returns for the Pokémon Masters mobile game despite everyone else from Generation I appearing as they did in Generations IV and V. Whenever Ash is thinking about her, he mostly thinks of her in her original outfit, unlike with Brock and May, whom he would often think of in their newer outfits.
  • Brock's original clothes are his most iconic, followed by his Diamond & Pearl series outfit.
  • May's Ruby & Sapphire look is her most iconic look (with the particular preference here aimed at her bandanna and gloves).
  • Dawn's Diamond & Pearl look is her most iconic, especially to fanfiction author Khaos Omega (with a particular preference for her pink boots). Nowadays, her outfit has become a symbol of her Static Character, since she and her team have changed the least out of the pre-Sun & Moon returning characters, aside from Tracey (although his Venonant was eventually revealed to have evolved in the final episode of Journeys).
  • Serena's three outfits and hairstyles have become a reflection of her character development and maturity. Her original outfit based on the XY games symbolizes the beginning of her journey and lack of personal goal as a trainer. Her second outfit symbolizes her journey from a goalless trainer, who is too shy to confess her romantic feelings, to a goal-orientated trainer who has managed to show her true feelings for Ash. Her third outfit symbolizes her new maturity she has gained from solo traveling and the growing success of her career.
  • Several of Ash's Pokémon who have specific clothing items. Squirtle's sunglasses serve as a symbol of his leadership within the Squirtle Squad. Krookodile's sunglasses which serve as an emotional crutch for its bravery. Butterfree's yellow ribbon which symbolize his departure from Ash's party to pursue his own happiness. Krookodile and Butterfree are consistently depicted with their respective items.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Madoka is quite often drawn in the white-dressed form she unveils when superpowered in the final episode, often referred to as "Goddess Madoka", offically "Ultimate Madoka". This outfit showed for probably about 2 seconds.
  • Madoka's red hair ribbon becomes this in the last episode, when she gives it to Homura. To fans of the series, long black hair + red ribbon instantly brings Homura (and Madoka) to mind. In the first episode, Madoka almost wears a yellow ribbon instead, so the writers apparently planned its iconicness from the beginning.
• In Ranma ½, the title character wears a wide variety of outfits throughout the course of the anime. He is likewise depicted wearing Chinese tangs in a variety of colors in promotional artwork for the manga. His most iconic is usually a red top with black pants, the sleeve length of which varies. He is also often commonly shown in a Chinese "Mao" uniform instead.
• Sailor Moon:
  • The Senshi attire (especially Sailor Moon's) is one of the most recognizable outfits in the Magical Girl genre, if not all of anime. To a lesser extent, normal Sailor Fuku as well as they look similar to Senshi uniform.
  • There's also Sailor Mars's civilian outfit, a miko priestess outfit that is in some ways more recognizable than her Senshi uniform. Her pink overalls have become increasingly popular with cosplayers and fan artists as well.
  • The black tuxedo, magician's hat, and cape worn by Tuxedo Mask, along with the white mask covering his eyes; especially if he's holding a rose. Ray Narvaez Jr once used a similar-looking mask and Tuxedo-pattern shirt for his Grand Theft Auto Online character, fitting for him as a rose lover whose favorite character of all time is Tuxedo Mask.
• Lain has her iconic hat, sweater, and long skirt outfit from Serial Experiments Lain. However, outside of the intro, she almost never wears it. She is seen more often with her school uniform if anything.
• Knuckles' wonderful, wonderful hat from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.
• Spy X Family: Out of the main characters, most people remember Loid/Twilight for his green tuxedo, and Anya for her school uniform and distinctive horn-shaped hair decorations. Yor, however, has two distinctive outfits, that being her black "Thorn Princess" dress and her most famous casual outfit; a red shoulderless sweater paired with black tights.
• Sword Art Online: Kirito's Black Swordsman garb, consistent in a full black outfit with a Badass Longcoat, fingerless gloves and a shoulder strap holding his sword sheaths on the back. Whenever he dons it in post-Aincrad arcs, Dual Wielding awesomeness will ensue.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kamina's Cool Shades and ragged Badass Cape.
• Tiger & Bunny has the spandex costume Kotetsu used to wear before Apollon Media made him don the Powered Armor. Despite the name, it's popular enough to warrant its own Pixiv tag.
• The Tokyo Mew Mew animators weren't so good with costume design, so most clothes that didn't first appear in the manga got weird looks. One recurring outfit, a white and lime green hooded top given to the resident bad boy, stuck out so much (both for the color scheme and for being out of character) that it appeared again, in a Detective School Q ending theme, worn by his same-voiced Expy.
  • In terms of the reboot, Tokyo Mew Mew New, out of Ichigo's casual outfits, the one she's most recognized in and wears the most is a white turtleneck with a pink strapped dress, white socks and brown ankle boots paired with her trademark bell choker.
• Lum from Urusei Yatsura that wears a tiger-striped bikini (from an old myth about Oni wearing tiger skins) and she is easily one of the most recognizable anime characters in history.
• Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! has the titular protagonist's "Sugoi Dekai" Fun T-Shirt.
• Nitori from Wandering Son is associated with a Sailor Fuku because she originally wore it to pass as a girl. She later starts wearing a variety of clothes and even abandons sailor fuku in high school (she brought a blazer school uniform), yet she is associated with the blue sailor fuku. Likewise, Takatsuki is associated with gakuran because he often wore them until late middle school.
• Many fan artists like Shun's Little Red Riding Hood clothes from the School Festival episode of You and Me despite him only wearing it once.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yugi Mutou has his school uniform. Yami Yugi has his leather pants, sleeveless black shirt, and the jacket from said school uniform worn in a cape style. And don't forget the Millennium Puzzle, worn as a necklace.
  • Seto Kaiba has his silver sleeveless longcoat.
  • Ryou Bakura has his blue and white striped t-shirt. Yami Bakura has that plus the black trenchcoat he wore in the series' final arc.
  • Katsuya Jounouchi's pair of sneakers which he wears to every outfit. During the introduction chapter of said sneakers, a lot of people were beaten up and one person was even poisoned because of those shoes. Khaos has been shown to focus more on the jacket he wore during Duelist Kingdom.
  • Anzu Mazaki has been shown in many outfits, but her two most iconic ones (especially to Khaos) are the two she wore with thigh-highs and platform sandals. One of the two (the one with black thigh-highs and red shoes based on color scheme) has a modified version in Dark Side of Dimensions (replacing the platform sandals with some Mary Jane-esque high heels).
• The leads from Yuri!!! on Ice all have iconic ice skates: teenage upstart Yurio wears trendy black Revolution blades, seasoned champion Viktor wears gold blades, and underdog hero Yuri wears standard steel blades made in his homeland.
• Ask which outfit fans best remember Yusuke wearing in YuYu Hakusho and nine out of ten times it'll be his trademark green school uniform. Even though he isn't seen regularly wearing it anymore by the time of the Dark Tournament arc, it's still the garb he's best known for.

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