Incompatible Orientation / Anime & Manga

• In Antique Bakery, Ono confessed to Keiichiro when they were in high school. Unfortunately for Ono, Keiichiro harshly rejected the confession due to him being interested in girls. While Keiichiro came to regret his response over the years, he's still only interested in women while Ono holds onto his feelings for his old crush.
• Ayakashi Triangle:
  • Shirogane turned Matsuri from male to female entirely to foil Suzu's crush on him. To Shirogane's surprise, Suzu remains attracted to Matsuri, though it takes quite a while for her to be open about it. Matsuri himself thinks he can't date Suzu as a girl, though it turns out that's not based on Suzu's assumed sexual orientation.
  • Matsuri turning into a girl made Soga fall in love with him, and multiple characters encourage them to hook up, though Soga won't admit it and Matsuri doesn't notice. Some of Matsuri's unusually-affectionate behavior to Soga can be seen as unaware romantic attraction, but he makes it clear when he gets hit on at school that he's not interested in romance with guys.
  • Suzu not only does view Matsuri and Soga as having romantic chemistry, she possibly takes it as evidence Matsuri will become only attracted to men. Although it's also possible Suzu just fears Soga specifically as romantic competition, even if Matsuri's transformation made him bisexual.
• Jessie from Battle Athletes is completely straight. That doesn't stop her from attracting a one-episode female Stalker with a Crush.
• Blue Flag: Two gay characters are in love with their heterosexual friends. Touma Mita is in love with his Childhood Friend Taichi Ichinose. Masumi Itachi is in love with her friend Futaba Kuze. Eventually subverted in the Distant Finale, where Masumi eventually figures out she's bisexual and marries a man. Taichi would also grow up to become more comfortable with his attraction to both men and women, and eventually marry Touma.
• Bokura no Hentai:
  • This is the source of Tamura's troubles. He falls for a straight classmate and that's why he begins crossdressing. The problem is his crush is homophobic and only uses him for sex. He isn't interested in a romantic relationship and is abusive towards Tamura. He eventually expresses disinterest in sex with Tamura once his voice begins deepening and he grows taller. By then Tamura has become fed up with him and they stop talking soon afterwards.
  • Mai is attracted to Marika, however Marika only likes boys.
  • Akane develops feelings for Tamura however he is gay and in love with her best friend Marika.
• Cardcaptor Sakura:
  • Sakura had a crush on Yukito at the beginning of the series, but he's in love with Sakura's brother Touya. He explains this to her this in the gentlest way he can; Sakura, who by that point is developing feelings for Xiaolang (who, hilariously, also had a bit of a crush on Yukito), immediately gives in and even tells him that she'll be his wing-woman if needed.
  • Subverted with Tomoyo and Sakura. The former has a crush on the latter, despite the latter having a crush on Yukito, and then later entering into a romantic relationship with her male classmate and rival/partner, Syaoran. However, despite this, this has little to do with Sakura's orientation being "incompatible" with Tomoyo's, as according to Clamp, she doesn't see gender as a barrier to romance and has no problems being with girls (with Clamp noting that she still would've fallen in love with Syaoran if he was a girl). Rather, it's because Sakura doesn't notice Tomoyo's feelings for her and sees her as just a friend. Despite these circumstances, however, Tomoyo doesn't have an issue with this and is supportive of Sakura and Syaoran's relationship.
  • Sakura and Tomoyo's mothers had the same sort of relationship. Tomoyo's mother, Sonomi, was in love with her cousin and Sakura's mother, Nadeshiko, but Nadeshiko married her teacher.
• Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun has a major crush on her onee-sama Mikoto, who in turn has a huge crush on Touma, the main character of A Certain Magical Index, a guy.
• In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Juzo Sakakura is secretly in love with his best friend and classmate Kyosuke Munakata, who is in a relationship with the guy's other friend and classmate Chisa Yukizome. When Junko Enoshima discovers this, she threatens to out him to the friend he loves unless he tells him that she is innocent. Sakakura is unable to let his secret be revealed, and he does what she said, causing him much self-loathing.
• Misa Amane of Death Note is in love with Villain Protagonist Light Yagami despite the fact that Word of God reveals he's "incapable of loving women." The same applies to the other woman vying for his affection, Kiyomi Takada.
• Kudo from Doki Doki School Hours has a major crush on Suetake, who in turn is totally oblivious regarding his feelings. Of course, this could also be because Suetake is a complete dolt. And Kitagawa definitely has a thing for her teacher Mika, who doesn't appear to swing that way at all.
• In The Gentlemen's Alliance, student council president Shizumasa aka Takanari has so many women chasing after him that he has Maguri, another male member of the Student Council, pretend to be his lover. The problem with this arrangement? Maguri actually does have feelings for him, and has to sit by and watch while he chases the main heroine instead.
• Girls Bravo:
  • Kosame has the hots for Kirie and desperately wants to get in her panties. Except Kirie's straight, not that Kosame cares, since she intends to have her anyway.
  • To a lesser extent, Hijiri wants Kirie too, but not until the final episode after being defeated by her.
• Almost aggravatingly so in Hana-Kimi with Nakao and his blatant crush on the womanizing Minami Nanba, whom Nakao still believes he has a chance with.
• Hayate the Combat Butler:
  • Luca confesses to Hayate that if he were a guy, she'd have fallen for him. She thinks he's a girl because she's only met him while he was crossdressed, so she doesn't know that Hayate is actually a guy, and that she actually did confess to him because of it. Even before the confession he didn't want to let her know he's actually a guy.
  • Both Miki and Ayumu have expressed romantic interest in Hinagiku as well, and decided to take a backseat to things, since Hinagiku is smitten with male Hayate. Ayumu has expressed interest in Hayate as well, allowing her to possibly supercede the limits of this trope without changing any orientations.
• Midori from I'll Bring You Mille-Feuille! really wants a husband despite being a lesbian. Her friend tells her it's a useless idea however Midori doesn't acknowledge her, until she tries to have sex with a man but is too repulsed to.
• Miwa, one of the main characters of How Do We Relationship?, is a lesbian. She's also a Dude Magnet. This naturally leads to a fair bit of awkwardness but none so much as with her bandmate Tsuruta, who confessed that he had Love at First Sight towards her... a few minutes after meeting her.
• I Can't Believe I Slept with You: What Chiyo claims in the morning, after finding out she and the Landlady had sex. Whether that's the whole story or not remains to be seen.
• I Think Our Son Is Gay treats it a bit more seriously, mainly because the author is gay himself and tends to portray homosexuality like what it is:
  • Hiroki's childhood friend Asumi develops a crush on him after he compliments her looks, unaware that he's gay. After she drops off a gift for him, Hiroki's mother realizes that he's completely oblivious to her feelings.
  • This trope is also discussed in Chapter 18, as Yuuri notes they don't know Daigo's sexuality, so there is a possibility that Hiroki's crush on him may end up like this.
• I'm Gonna Be an Angel!:
  • Sara develops a big crush on Mikael in the second season but it never goes anywhere because first, Mikael has only eyes for anything related to angels and second, he's already in love with his male teacher, Raphael— even if he has problems admitting the fact to himself.
  • Similarly, Natsumi has some questionable feelings towards her deceased older brother Fuyuki over whom she obsesses throughout the whole series, but again, it never goes anywhere because first, Fuyuki is well, dead and he turned into an angel Raphael and second he's in love with his male student, Mikael.
• Parodied to hell and back in the aptly named Jump SQ one-shot I'm the Main Character of a Harem Manga, but I'm Gay So Every Day Is Hell for Me; since our protagonist is not attracted to any of his haremettes, he just kind of No Sells their aggressive affection for him and all the cliches that come with that. The real twist here is that he's in love with the "cooler best friend" character and does as his harem does to nab him, but the friend is completely oblivious to his advances and is very much straight.
• Happens twice in Karakuridouji Ultimo. Akitsu has a crush on Rune, who has a crush on his best friend Yamato, who has a crush on a girl named Sayama. We should point out that Rune does not take it very well. At all.
• Komi Can't Communicate: Yamai is a lesbian who is deeply (and dangerously) in love with Komi. Komi, however, is by all appearances straight (she's in love with the male Tadano) and even if she's bisexual has shown no interest in Yamai.
• Magic User's Club takes the cake for having multiple cases in the same Love Dodecahedron. Aburatsubo, the bishonen gay vice-president is crushing on Takeo, the straight club president (who lusts for Cute Witch Sae, who is too shy to express her feelings for Takeo). Meanwhile Nanaka (another Cute Witch and club member) has a crush on Aburatsubo, which he can't return either. They have a heartwarming moment when she confesses and he turns her down... but admits that he knows fully well how she feels, unable to have the one you love.
• Masato from Manga no Tsukurikata is in love with his childhood friend Morishita, who in turn is in love with his sister.
• Toyed around with endlessly in Maria†Holic. The main character goes to an all-female school to meet girls, and basically falls in love with every girl she meets.
• Moriarty the Patriot: In A Scandal in the British Empire, John Watson comments that even someone like Sherlock might fall prey to the lovely Miss Irene Adler's charms, to which Sherlock responds that he has no interested whatsoever in women and normally he would leave such things to an "expert" like John.
• My First Girlfriend Is a Gal: Yukana's best friend Ranko has been in love in her for quite a while. Yukana, for her part, never shows any signs of being anything but heterosexual, meaning that Ranko's crush was hopeless from the get-go.
• Yukino Kikukawa from My-HiME is in love with her childhood friend, Haruka Suzushiro. But, given Haruka's statement to Shizuru Fujino about relationships between two women being "filthy" (a sentiment that, ironically enough, Shizuru seems to share at the time), it's not likely that she'll ever return Yukino's affections the way she wants.
• One Piece:
  • Ladies' man Sanji is wanted by the entire population of the gay island Kamabakka Kingdom.
  • Boa Hancock could have any man in the world who was even slightly attracted to women, plus all the girls from her kingdom... but she ends up falling for Luffy, who is completely Oblivious to Love and simply not interested in romance.
• Outlaw Star:
  • Camp Gay Arms Dealer Fred Luo is in love with straight Handsome Lech Gene Starwind, but neither of them seems to Gayngst about it. Gene uses Fred's crush to score better deals on parts and weapons, and Fred uses Gene's desperation for said parts as a bargaining chip in his less legitimate business endeavors.
  • Lampshaded when Fred tells Gene that, in exchange for supplies, he 'owes him a favor'. Gene doesn't miss a beat before responding "I'm not going to sleep with you Fred."
  • Fred Luo's also on the receiving end of this trope, as his parents refuse to accept he's gay and so have an Arranged Marriage for him to a woman named Reiko Ando, who genuinely does love Fred even as he finds her sexually repugnant.
• Furui of Poor Poor Lips, despite his initial dislike towards her, ends up having a crush on Ren. This causes him no small amount of angst since one of the causes for his initial dislike is his discomfort around the fact that Ren is an out of the closet lesbian.
• In Queen's Blade Grimoire, when Alicia and Tiina share a dance, Tiina admits she has a crush on Alicia and wishes Alicia were a boy. Alicia quickly says she doesn't swing that way.
• In Reborn! (2004) Lussuria has a creepy love for Ryohei to the EXTREME even though he is straight (and one of the few to be obviously married in the future).
• Revolutionary Girl Utena:
  • Juri, a lesbian, is in love with Shiori, while Shiori has no romantic interest in her. However, it's heavily implied (and outright confirmed by Word of God) that Shiori actually does have romantic feelings for Juri and is actually Armoured Closet Gay. By the end of the series, the two are shown to have gotten much closer.
  • Ruka, who is male, is in love with Juri, who is a lesbian. It's all but stated that his knowledge of this situation is what fuels his treatment of Shiori.
• Saber Marionette J makes a running gag of the attraction the flamingly gay rich boy Hanigata has for the poor, industrious (and fundamentally straight) Otaru.
• Sanae Ebato of Scum's Wish is pursued by her cousin Atsuya, despite outright stating she has no interest in men, and being generally creeped out by his attempts. Atsuya, for his part, seems to be aiming for her to concede If It's You, It's Okay. Meanwhile, Sanae herself appears to have this issue with Hanabi, but it's not as clear; while Hanabi doesn't return Sanae's feelings, she's Ambiguously Bi, so it may not be her orientation that's the issue.
• Seraph of the End:
  • Mitsuba, Shinoa and another school girl are shown to have feelings for Yuu, while Akane is a Hopeless Suitor for Mika as well. However, Mika and Yuu are all but stated to have feelings for each other and instead focus more attention on the other.
  • Shinya is hinted to have feelings for Guren, who is well known to have a romantic and sexual relationship with Shinoa's big sister Mahiru. However, because Mahiru is currently fully consumed by her demon side, is physically dead and can only exist as a mental concept inside Guren's head, not to mention that he is disgusted with her demon side and doesn't seem to mind Shinya's flirting, it will probably not be so hopeless for him after all.
• Kou from Sweet Blue Flowers has it tough, since Kyouko, the girl he is engaged to, is lesbian — at least judging by her crush on Yasuko. Played with later, though, since Kou and Kyouko end up getting married to each other.
  • A random guy who takes the same train as Fumi falls in love with her at first sight and confesses, and she has to turn him down due to her being a lesbian who's already in love with someone. This scene is intercut with the scene of Akira breaking up with Fumi, implying it's a similar situation of unrequited love due to orientation.
• In Tamako Market, Midori has a crush on her female friend, the main character, Tamako. There's an episode where she gets jealous of Tamako's chemistry with her male childhood friend, Mochizou, and tries to sabotage their relationship for her own sake. In the end, she reluctantly accepts that Tamako isn't homosexual and stops getting between Tamako and Mochizou (who go on to be an Official Couple).
• Tooru Mutsuki in Tokyo Ghoul is a trans male with feelings for Kaneki, a cis male, who is in love with Touka.
• Vampire Game: Laphiji is in love with Seiliez, his Not Blood Sibling. Unfortunately for him Seiliez is shown to be straight considering his crush on Ishtar. However this can also be subverted for it is hinted later on that Laphiji and Seiliez do begin a sexual relationship... albeit one that is likely to not last long.
• In Wagnaria!!, Jun is having a hard time with his feelings for his colleague Yachiyo, who in turn is in love with Kyouko, her female boss at the family restaurant they work at. Questionable - although Yachiyo is utterly devoted to Kyouko and would almost certainly be willing. There is no direct evidence that they have ever been lovers or that either have ever had lesbian sex with anyone.
• Wandering Son:
  • Makoto has fallen for several boys (and adult men), however the current object of her affections is her (ignorant and immature) friend who is Oblivious to Love.
  • One of the reasons Chiba's crush on Nitori is unrequited, aside from her lack of romantic feelings for Chiba, is because she loves her due to seeing her as a boy. Even though Chiba appeared supportive of Nitori's interest in wearing women's clothing at first, it's later revealed to be because she saw it as a "girly phase" and that Nitori was just a boy who happened to like crossdressing. This of course is not the case. This is also the reason she's so jealous of Takatsuki whom Nitori has feelings for - because she doesn't understand why Nitori could choose him over her even though they are both female, when Takatsuki is similarly transgender.
• In Whispered Words Masaki Akemiya has an adorable, albeit unfortunate, crush on his girl-loving classmate Sumika Murasame. He develops Wholesome Crossdresser traits due to his affections.
• In Yurika's Campus Life, this is played and exaggerated to almost ridiculous levels. The titular character considers herself straight, but the rumor of Yurika having slept with over half of the female population in her current college has torpedoed her prospects of dating men... and while men do find her beautiful, she inexplicably turns them off. Other women on the other hand, even those that believe themselves straight find her extremely sexually attractive. Since she has bills and tuition to pay and no other recourse, she starts taking advantage of this and becomes a gigolette to get money and food.
• Yuureitou:
  • Tetsuo is a trans man attracted to women. He's noted that it is hard being romantic as women get turned off when they learn his biological sex. His Only Friend Amano has a crush on him, originally because he was attracted to him as a boyish woman, but later he began seeing him as male and liking him as such. It turns out Tetsuo is actually bisexual, though he simply didn't acknowledge it until meeting Amano, and they end up the Official Couple.
  • Tetsuo's mother once tried to marry him off to a man. Tetsuo refused because he didn't like men, though stated that he wanted to be like brothers with his fiance. When he told his fiance of his dislike of being female and his lack of interest in men, he ended up confused. When they meet several years later, he still considers Tetsuo his fiancee... but he has mental problems and doesn't even recognize that he is horribly disfigured, nevermind that Tetsuo is living as a man. In the end, the guy passes away and as said above, Tetsuo and Amano stay together.
• Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko: The MC is straight, it's why he is so hell-bent on not raising a flag with another guy. That said, he seems to work with the theory that this will not matter if a flag is raised because BL rules would just make him be attracted to that one guy in particular anyway.

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