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Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl

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When all you've known is darkness, the light in your life shines ever brighter.

Kikyo: I noticed that Inuyasha has changed. His eyes have a certain softness. Long ago, his eyes were much colder and he thought he could afford to place his trust in no-one.
Kaede: Kagome is a strange child. Little by little, she has been able to heal the wounds of his heart.
Kikyo: So she is the one responsible. It was she who changed Inuyasha. Had I lived, it is I who would have tended to the wounds in his soul.

The tendency for the brooding, angsty, loner boy to end up with a sweet, gentle girl who will patiently coax him out of his moods.

While the appeal of the brooding boy probably has something to do with All Girls Want Bad Boys, the brooding boy isn't necessarily bad, he's just… moody, troubled. At worst, he'll be an Anti-Hero who's put his bad boy past behind him or at least is trying to. Maybe he has a Dark and Troubled Past. Maybe he's made terrible mistakes, and that weighs on his mind. Maybe he simply takes his responsibilities far more seriously than the rest of his teammates. Whatever the case, he's just waiting for someone to draw him out of his shell, and that person is the gentle girl.

For her part and unlike her kookier sisters (the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and Genki Girl), the gentle girl doesn't try to actively shake the brooding boy out of his moodiness. Instead, she patiently and persistently offers kind words, either shy or gentle smiles, hugs, companionship, and hope. Usually The Power of Love will eventually heal the brooding boy, and she might learn some things about herself as well, especially if she ends up facing her own demons too. She may be the Living Emotional Crutch for the guy, but it's not necessary.

Eventually, their appearance will be used to underline their personalities. She tends to be blonde, while his hair is usually dark. This dynamic can also show up in a lot of Yaoi and Yuri works. If one of the partners is really cheerful and sweet, the other partner is probably an angst-fest waiting to be unleashed.

This relationship tends to be the focus of a Hurt/Comfort Fic. For a related couples trope based on personality dynamics, see Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl, Beast and Beauty, Ugly Guy, Hot Wife, Hot Guy, Ugly Wife, Light Liege, Dark Defender. Natural blue onis, especially in a Four-Temperament Ensemble that also has a Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl pairing.


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Other Examples:

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    Comic Books 
  • Angel & Faith has the titular characters, especially at the start of Season Nine, where Angel is recovering from having killed Giles.
  • Batman and Catwoman, although Catwoman is downplayed as she's an anti-heroine while Batman plays it straight.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes: Brainiac-5 is a brooding genius with no social skills, and his Love Interest Supergirl is a cheerful and gentle girl who is one of the few persons able to brighten up his day (and put up with his foul moods for longer than five minutes).
  • Nova: Richard Rider is serious and circumspect, and his sometimes-girlfriend Ginger Jaye is cheerful and perky.
  • The Sandman (1989): Dream and Death are this. Ironically, Dream is the brooding one as he is constantly caught up in his responsibilities and the issues that result from them. Death, on the other hand, is a Perky Goth who is constantly upbeat, kindhearted, and ready to listen to Dream and offer support as his big sister.

    Fan Works 
Backyard Sports
  • The Secret Life of the Backyard Kids: Jorge and Angela. The former is a rich kid with a lot of issues, the latter is a Naïve Everygirl who thinks he's cute. Their conversation in Chapter 7 really drives it home.
  • Elemental Angels: Savvy Guy Damien and Energetic Girl Gamey share this.
Cross Ange Crossover
  • A Bridge Once Broken (Marvel Cinematic Universe & Wakfu): Loki is a brooding, PTSD-ridden, Broken Ace boy to Jahanna's gentle, loving girl.
  • Fate of the Clans:
    • Though Cú Chulainn appears happy, he's actually depressed and hates himself a lot on the inside. His wife, Emer, was basically his emotional support. He even admits that without her, he would have completely snapped.
    • Mikoto is the brooding boy, constantly struggling to keep the others safe from himself losing control. Tatara is a male example of a gentle girl, the person who helps "tame the beast" inside Mikoto.
  • Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail (Infinity Train & Pokémon: The Series):
    • Lexi the brooding boy and Chloe the gentle girl. Lexi is a book that can detach his papers to a humanoid form, bitter at how Grace and Simon tore him apart and left him Buried Alive within the confines of his car for eight years. Chloe is a ten-year-old girl who has entered the Train in order to reinvent herself and is kind-hearted and gentle and slowly losing her shyness to embrace her likes. As one reader noted, the two of them are supportive of one another as the former is quick to give Chloe a well-needed confidence boost while Chloe is making sure to reign in Lexi's temper against the Apex.
    • In the same vein, Trip and Ash obtain a relationship like this. Trip is the stoic Unovan Trainer and Ash is the kind All-Loving Hero. However as the story goes on, Ash is going through a Guilt Complex over how he failed to be more supportive of Chloe while Trip is the one reeling him in and telling Ash that it's not his fault.
  • Maribat AU has the crossover ship of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the All-Loving Hero Ladybug, and Damian Wayne, former child assassin and current Robin.
  • Metroid 10 (Ben 10 & Metroid): This fic gender-inverts the trope, with Samus Aran being a Brooding Babe while Ben Tennyson is a Gentle Guy. Samus is fairly stoic, reserved, and cold, with a Dark and Troubled Past of seeing her Arch-Enemy Ridley murder her mother and having her father sacrifice himself in an attempt to kill him, and her losing her Chozo family did not help her. By contrast, Ben is an optimistic, compassionate, and friendly All-Loving Hero, with a loving family back home and fairly upbeat even after all the fights he's been in. While Ben is definitely attracted to Samus, he also shows her compassion and understanding with her traumatic past, and becomes a close confidant to the bounty hunter, helping her with recurring nightmares of Ridley. It's this kindness that eventually causes Samus to similarly fall in love with him and become more emotionally vulnerable around him. That being said, they both are rather insecure around one another, with Samus worrying that her cold exterior isn't good for Ben, while Ben, due to dealing with a number of girls only interested in his fame than him as a person, wonders if he's good for her.
  • Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations and its sequel Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations Vol. 2 - Ex-Aid Era feat. Cross Ange (Kamen Rider & Metroid): These provide a special case of both Brooding Boy and Girl in Samus and Mitsuzane. It serves as the purpose that Mitsuzane having recovered from Despair Event Horizon, shows him as an insecure man, spending most of the time living a life of solitude and regret. Depending on the Writer, the Gentle part could be either of them.
  • The Night Unfurls:
    • Kyril and Evetta are a platonic example. Although he's not moody, Kyril is a quiet, stoic Anti-Hero who is shell-shocked from his ordeal in Yharnam. Evetta is a sweet living doll who is just as soft-spoken as he is. She opts to care for her Good Hunter and soothe his sickly spirit, for he bears many burdens. Therefore, it is of no surprise that Kyril finds Evetta to be the one person he could be entirely comfortable with, whether it is sharing his pain or expressing affection. As a bonus, their hair colours are used to underline this dynamic (Kyril, dark; Evetta, white).
    • Celestine and Olga discuss this trope in Chapter 23, the former getting teased by the latter for earnestly trying to get her Love Interest Kyril to relax. Indeed, Celestine has been doing that a lot in the story, from how she coaxes Kyril to rest more and wishes the troubled young man to obtain the peace he deserves (preferably with her). On one hand, Kyril appreciates her efforts, admits at one point that she's "highly desirable", and even obliges Celestine's plea to kiss her. On the other hand, he is reluctant to return her affections or start a relationship with her, making this a subverted example.
  • A Triangle in the Stars (Gravity Falls & Steven Universe):
    • Though both boys, Bill is definitely brooding, and Steven is gentle, helping the triangle through his troubles. And sometimes, especially later, it's swapped and Bill helps back in his own way.
    • Gender Flipped and Downplayed with Steven and Connie, unlike in the show proper. It's especially highlighted in Chapter Forty-Six, where Connie can't even play Citchen Calamity because Bill was sitting right across from her, whereas Steven thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
  • A Waterbending Quirk (Avatar: The Last Airbender and My Hero Academia): Katara and Shoto have this relationship. As a result of his father's draconian methods and obsession with becoming the number one Hero and the effects it had on his family, Shoto is stoic and resentful to his father, while also being very socially awkward around others. Katara, on the other hand, is an All-Loving Hero who believes in Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!, doing what it takes to save others and also being far more social. Nevertheless, the two love each other dearly.

Danganronpa

  • The Naekawa Project gender-inverts this trope with the relationship between Toko Fukawa and Makoto Naegi. Toko is the Brooding Babe, as a lifetime of parental abuse and bullying in school has wrecked her self-esteem and body image and left her with social anxiety and a Serial Killer split-personality. By contrast, Makoto is the Gentle Guy, as a loving family and an upbeat personality makes him a naturally kind, friendly, and loving person who sees the best in people and supports them. Their relationship is shown to cause wonders for Toko's mental state, as she is able to slowly start opening up to her boyfriend, and eventual husband, becoming happier as time passes and finding a much better family in the Naegis.

Death Note

  • In the Crack Fic A Charmed Life Light is angsty and brooding and Ryuk is gentle with him.
  • This dynamic occurs in the Slash Fic Fever Dreams in which L is the brooding one and Light is the gentle one. While he's still very much a Manipulative Bastard he is very careful with how he treats L and of the detective's feelings. It's not just because treating L badly would be suspicious either but out of genuine concern for his well-being. As it turns out Light himself was on the receiving end of a very abusive relationship in the past and he doesn't want to treat L the way he was treated. This dynamic between him and L is turned up to eleven when Light allows his Kira memories to expire and reverts to the Nice Guy he used to be.

Fusion Fic

  • In My Huntsman Academia (My Hero Academia & RWBY): Izuku and Blake form a gender-inverted version of this trope. Blake is brooding, anti-social, and paranoid due to her fear of being judged for being a faunus and her Dark and Troubled Past as a former member of the White Fang. Her belief that she's a coward and a fraud gives her a great deal of self-loathing. Izuku is a gentle and trusting soul who offers her constant companionship and comfort, finding nothing but good things to say about her despite his own Heroic Self-Deprecation. He also gives her an outlet to vent about her frustrations and tell her secrets without fearing reprisal, promising to act as her Secret-Keeper for as long as she desires. But some of his attempts to cheer her up end up just embarrassing her, like when he's encouraging her to ask out wonderful guy she's apparently interested in when it's fairly clear to everyone except Izuku that she's talking about him.

Godzilla

The King of Fighters

  • In this fandom, almost any het pairing involving Iori Yagami involves the preferred partner note  invoking the trope via becoming the "only girl" able to offer him solace, tenderness and rest, "fixing" his massive issues coming from his centuries-long family baggage. Among the canon girls subjected to this, the most common ones are Athena Asamiya and Chizuru Kagura. And it's Hilarious in Hindsight when one considers the Drama CDs...

The Loud House

Pokémon

  • Guys Being Dudes has a male-on-male example with Spark, who serves as a softer and more outwardly affectionate counterpart to Arlo's Emo villain with a troubled past and difficulties showing affection.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has Red and Yellow as this. Red generally acts in a quiet, subdued manner, and he seems very unhappy, mostly by choice. Yellow is the one who does the talking for him, has a more cheerful and friendly attitude, and spends a lot of time and effort trying to get him to come out of his shell. Though their relationship seems more brother-sisterly-like which is probably a good thing since they're strongly implied to be half-siblings.
  • Downplayed with Steven and Daisy Oak in Pokémon Strangled Red after Miki's death. Their continued relationship is only referred to in passing.
  • Gliscor (Brooding Boy) and Noivern (Gentle Girl) in Dark Amphithere's Total Pokémon Redux. Gliscor initially was uncomfortable around Noivern, because Pidgeot falsely blamed him. Noivern, on the other hand, helps Gliscor overcome his anxieties and wants him to be okay.

RWBY

  • Adam Taurus and Eirian Esna from AZRE. Adam is a deeply troubled young man who's constantly haunted by the mistakes of his past, feeling embittered by his treatment at the hands of racist humans and no longer believes in the same dream as his family; that Faunus and Humans could live together in peace. Eirian is a happy-go-lucky girl who always looks on the bright side of any situation, even if it negatively impacts her. She constantly tries to bring Adam out of his depressed moods and gives him advice on how to deal with it all, showing great care for her close friend.

Spooks

  • Demons: This fic has Lucas North developing this relationship with an OC named Andi when he stays at her apartment as part of an investigation, though she's not comfortable with him using her home for a stakeout at first. It is especially the case near the end when Andi has to console and calm down Lucas during one of his PTSD nightmares from his imprisonment and torture in Russia and though he tries to tell her he's alright and brushes it off as "just a bad dream", he still accepts her warmth and compassion for him.

Total Drama

The Walking Dead

Dormant/Dead/Unsorted

  • The Homestuck fic armor portrays Karkat and Nepeta as this.
    "She is compassion in its purest form. She never backs down at the chance to help someone in need, opening her own heart in hopes that they will open theirs. It's what he adores about her the most.
    He was stubborn at first. Shying from her love, swatting away her benevolent hands. But she persisted: slowly, patiently, and lovingly. Always lovingly."

    Films — Animation 
  • Disney's Beauty and the Beast, though it only started resembling the trope after Beast did something else than brooding and yelling at Belle (read: saved her from a pack of wild wolves). From then on Belle realized that there was more to Beast than cruelty, tended to his wounds, and started helping him to become a better man… well, man-beast.
  • Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie has grumpy and temperamental Dean Bitterman Mr. Krupp and kind and gentle Shrinking Violet Edith.
  • Hercules has a gender-flipped version with Megara (Brooding Girl) and Hercules (Gentle Boy). Megara was hurting badly after she made a Deal with the Devil with Hades and that backfired badly on her, so she was set as a Honey Trap of sorts for the super-strong Kind Hearted Simpleton Hercules… but Herc's cheerful approach to life and genuine care for people made Megara actually fall In Love with the Mark.
  • Trolls: Branch and Poppy respectively. Poppy being the upbeat optimistic Cutie she is, with Branch being the moody grump of the Troll species. Though Branch does have a Freudian Excuse for his attitude, because his singing got his grandmother eaten when he was a child.
  • In Turning Red, this is Gender-Inverted. Ming is very high-strung and repressing decades of mommy issues. Jin is patient, sweet, and supportive.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Gender-flipped with Felix and Calhoun. Felix is the overly friendly, pacifistic Gentle Boy to Calhoun's emotionally and psychologically scarred Brooding Girl who has "been programmed with the most tragic backstory ever".
  • Zootopia: Judy's emotional support and faith in Nick inspires him to believe in himself again and become the first fox police officer. This soon gets deconstructed pretty hard; while Judy is optimistic, idealistic, and supportive of Nick, she isn't perfect and her own flaws bring trouble to their relationship. Her subconscious bias regarding predators flares up during a public interview that almost ruins their friendship and causes considerable hardship in the eponymous city.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Ajnabee: Raj is quiet and reserved compared to Priya's upbeat and bubbly personality. This is Gender-Inverted for Vicky and Sonia, with him being fun-loving and loud while she's calm and reserved which is why Vicky later proposes they do a "wife swap".
  • In The Bad Sleep Well, Koichi and Yoshiko Nishi take on these respective roles. Koichi is quiet but full of emotional turmoil, and Yoshiko is a gentle, physically disabled ingenue whom he falls in love with after marrying her.
  • Baśń O Ludziach Stąd has a brooding, angsty, loner girl end up with a boy who aimed for adorkable and overshot by a couple hundred metres.
  • Beauty and the Beast (2017): Unlike the animated original, the much more intelligent Beast fits this trope immediately, and it's his intelligence and education that woo Belle over.
  • The Crow: Eric is a more serious, dark, angsty guy while Shelly is a light, cheerful lady.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) has a Kaiju version of this trope in Godzilla and Mothra—Godzilla is as grumpy and aggressive as ever, but he shows a sweeter side around Mothra, who is depicted as the Martial Pacifist Team Mom of the Kaiju and is especially loyal and kind to Godzilla himself.
  • Inception has Dom and Ariadne. The former is a fugitive who is still haunted by the memories of his dead wife, while the latter is the Naïve Newcomer whose more optimistic views help him get through the job and eventually get over his issues.
  • Maleficent has a non-romantic, gender-flipped version, a bit understated by their frequent Snark to Snark Combats. Maleficent is the brooding, bitter, angst-ridden Byronic Heroine and Diaval is the gentle Nice Guy offering her emotional support. While he is not the one to prompt her full Heel–Face Turn, he does encourage her helping Aurora and bonding with her, which leads to Maleficent turning good again.
  • In Panna a netvor, a Czech adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, Netvor (the Beast) is a bird-like Animalistic Abomination who broods about being neither human nor monster but is increasingly moved by Julie's (the Beauty) kindness and innocence.
  • Top Gun: Maverick: Though Maverick hardly spends all his time brooding and Penny certainly does her fair share of lively teasing, she's also a steady, comforting presence for him in his darkest moments, including when Cyclone grounds him permanently and takes over training the rest of the pilots; she reassures him that he does have what it takes to train them well, and her faith in him gives him a second wind and helps get him back in the game.

    Literature 
  • The 10,000 Dawns: Robert Brick can get moody at times, in contrast to his more cheerful girlfriend, Sasha Billie.

  • The Chaos Cycle: Kai is an angsty loner and werewolf who falls in love with, and starts a romance with friendly Nice Girl Miyu.
  • Rodion and Sonya from Crime and Punishment, with Rodion as the broody protagonist and Sonya as the downtrodden but nonetheless gentle prostitute.
  • Eventually it seems to be Rolf Carlé and Eva's dynamics in Eva Luna. Not that she has not lived her woes, but he's the one most traumatized after going through Hell in World War II. One of their most iconic scenes has Rolf explaining said WWII woes as well as how his mentally-handicapped sister died in a psych ward, and Eva turns the sad story into a more hopeful one to re-write the circumstances and offer him solace.
  • Fifty Shades of Grey has broody and troubled Christian Grey and sweet, submissive Anastasia.
  • Finding Snowflakes: Subverted. The guy, who is usually stoic and reserved, has a relatively positive outlook towards life whereas the resident Genki Girl is actually really a closet cynic.
  • Forbidden: Maya and Lochan have this dynamic. They share the burden of taking care of their family (which is the same family) and so they're both somewhat brooding, but Lochan has the additional burden of social anxiety, and Maya helps ease that.
  • Ashley and Melanie in Gone with the Wind. Ashley, although respected by his community, is not quite one of them—he's more bookish and intellectual and less inclined towards the hunting and carousing his friends and neighbors enjoy. Then, after the horrors of the Civil War, he becomes even more withdrawn and brooding. He describes the sweet, kind Melanie as the "gentlest of dreams".
  • A rare platonic version between Carly Beth and Steve in the Goosebumps book The Haunted Mask as well as its sequel. Steve is a bully with a heart of gold who loves to play tricks on Carly Beth (Brooding Boy) while Carly Beth is a Shrinking Violet who gets scared easily (Gentle Girl). In the TV series, Steve admits that he only teases Carly Beth because he likes her.
  • While in most contexts it's a bit of a stretch to call Ginny "gentle", she and Harry very clearly have this dynamic starting in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry is brooding and moody over the aftermath of Cedric's death, almost no one believing him about Voldemort's return, and being terrified over the possibility of Voldemort being able to possess him. Ginny manages to give him some comfort by having him actually talk about his fears, which helps him, somewhat. This continues in the next book when Ginny offers him a comforting shoulder after Professor Dumbledore's death.
  • Same-gender example in The Heroes of Olympus and The Trials of Apollo. Nico is the son of Hades, the god of the underworld, and has had a fittingly troubled life. He's a black-haired, brooding loner who tends to drive people away with his general aura of death. Will, on the other hand, is the son of Apollo, the god of music, healing, and the sun. He's blond, optimistic, an accomplished healer, and one of the few people who can get Nico out of his shell.
  • Love Letters to the Dead: It looks like this will be the case with Sky and Laurel, with Sky being mysterious and Laurel being shy and sweet. However, these roles are flipped when it becomes apparent that Laurel is far more troubled than she first appears, and Sky tries his best to help her through her emotional turmoil.
  • Mara, Daughter of the Nile: Thutmose and Inanni would be this if Thutmose was the least bit interested in going through with their Arranged Marriage. Inanni even has an Internal Monologue about how she "would be a good wife to him and comfort him when he headached" (She has been led to believe that severe headaches are the reason he is a Mood-Swinger.)
  • In Wellness, this is what Jack and Elizabeth start out believing their relationship will be like, but ends up being an Inverted Trope. While they still curate these personas outwardly, Elizabeth is much more of a brooding personality and Jack is straightforward and optimistic.
  • Subverted in Wuthering Heights: Cathy is far from gentle, but instead just as fierce and rugged at heart as the brooding Heathcliff himself. Though she's not evil like him, she's also definitely morally gray, being selfish, abusive, capricious and very much a jerkass. Isabella Linton thinks she's evoking this trope when she marries Heathcliff, but her delusion is brutally deconstructed.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Angel:
    • Fred played "Gentle Girl" to both Gunn and Wesley. Well, when Gunn and Fred began expressing interest in each other, neither was particularly broody. Wesley, on the other hand...
    • Connor and Not-Cordelia. With a twist in that the Gentle Girl is evil, is only gentle while he's watching, and is manipulating him into serving as her Dragon.
  • Arrow has adorkable I.T girl Felicity and broody vigilante Oliver. An ongoing theme throughout the series is Felicity helping him to open up about his tragic past and trust people again. Given the Trauma Conga Line he's gone through, it's not surprising he needs a little help in learning to be happy again.
  • John Sheridan and Delenn on Babylon 5—he doesn't want to burden her with his problems and thinks he has to do it all himself. She disabuses him of that notion rather quickly.
  • CSI: NY has Mac and Christine. He's the serious, brooding, widowed detective whose whole life is his job; she's the blonde sweetheart who coaxes him out of his moods and is, in his own words, "...everything that's good in [his] life".
  • Clare and Eli from Degrassi: The Next Generation. Clare is a sweet, mostly innocent Christian girl, and Eli drives a hearse.
  • Rose and the Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who are a pretty archetypical example. Later, Clara Oswald has this effect on both the Eleventh Doctor (when an incarnation of Clara coaxes a brooding Eleven out of self-imposed retirement) and the Twelfth (where Clara "prime" becomes his Morality Chain and The Heart of their relationship).
  • Jagger and Karen on General Hospital. Repeated a few years later with Stone and Robin, then a year after that with Jason and Robin (brain damage left him unable to express any emotion, so her getting him to laugh/cry/show love was a huge feat.
  • Gilmore Girls's season has Jess and Rory. Jess is the cynical brooding boy who falls for the town princess Rory after he discovers she has a passion for books and music similar to his own. Bonus points that both teens were a product of Teen Pregnancy but with two wildly different upbringings. note  A recurring theme is Rory believing that Jess can do more than everyone - including him - expects and that it doesn't have to be him against the world. Although they eventually break up due to Jess's issues, he later returns having got his life together, lost the brooding aspect, and acknowledged he couldn't have done so without Rory believing in him.
  • On NCIS, Agent Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane is slipping into the Gentle Girl role to Gibbs' Brooding Boy. As a fellow Shell-Shocked Veteran with her own demons to contend with, she understands him in ways very few people ever can, and he knows she understands him. Her inherent gentleness, compassion, and lack of judgment mean she can coax him out of his dark moods when no one else can, and he will turn to her when he wouldn't turn to anyone else.
  • In Riverdale, Jughead is a very moody, sardonic and intense boy from the South Side of town who has teamed up with Betty, the kind, compassionate Girl Next Door in order to solve the murder of a local teen. They work very closely together and eventually develop feelings for each other, becoming a couple midway into season 1.
  • In Smallville, Clark's female companions/love interests tend to play this role to his brooding boy on his bad days: Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan, and Lois Lane have all played this role at various times, and Lois ends up being the one who helps him move out of his formerly brooding ways completely by the end.
  • Power Rangers RPM: Summer/RPM Yellow is a caring Action Girl, who doesn't take crap from anyone. This naturally leaves her in charge of Dillon/RPM Black, wisecracking Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • The Vampire Diaries:
    • Stefan and Elena. Stefan is the mysterious, brooding vampire who falls in love with Elena, the sweet, cheerful girl next door, who often makes Stefan crack a smile.
    • When Damon takes a break from being the Deadpan Snarker to rival his brother for the brooding championship, Elena plays this to him as well.
    • Anna and Jeremy definitely fit here. While she is more of an Abhorrent Admirer at first, their eventual dynamic, especially after her death fits this trope down to a T.
  • Veronica Mars had Logan and Hannah during season 2.
  • Not explicitly romantic, but there's plenty of Ship Tease between Daryl Dixon and his Morality Pet Beth Greene in The Walking Dead (2010).
  • The White Queen: Richard III and Elizabeth of York. His temperament becomes increasingly saturnine after he becomes king, and when a schism forms between Richard and his wife Anne Neville, the only person who can reach past his gloomy exterior is the kind Elizabeth.

    Music 
  • In Country Music, songs about this trope could practically form a subgenre. If the male narrator in a song refers to himself melancholically as a “cowboy” and applies spiritually charged language to the object of his affection, it’s probably this Trope. Bonus points are awarded for implying that the woman’s love saved him from a dangerous path in life. These songs can either apply a lot of emotional weight in a short time by relating to concepts already present in the fandom’s psyche or degenerate into a bad Strictly Formula piece.
  • Tsukiko Amano’s song Bodaiju can be seen very easily as being written from the POV of a Gentle Girl and directed to a Brooding Boy.
    You come closer and then move away again, and the temperature of your body drops
    How much strength do I need?
    When the tips of your dreams pierce your chest even deeper, I’ll be here, I’ll always be by your side
    Don’t hesitate anymore, I’ll pull the blunt thorn out of you and cover the wound until the day you smile
  • “Say What You Will” by Eric Clapton clearly depicts a man who has seen plenty of trouble and struggles with insecurity, but he has a caring woman and appreciates her deeply.
  • In Franz Liszt’s “A Faust Symphony,” this well describes the relation between the first two movements, “Faust” and “Gretchen.” The former has all the brooding and passion of a Byronic Hero, while the latter is gently melodious and intimately scored.
  • Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s duet, “Don’t Give Up” could be seen as this trope. Gabriel’s character is a serially unemployed man and ex-soldier whose home has been destroyed (Word of God says it’s set during the Dust Bowl/Depression-era), edging towards suicide, and Bush sings wispy, gentle words of encouragement. It’s set to a vaguely African, vaguely synth-pop beat. (It’s also Better Than It Sounds.)

    Mythology & Religion 

    Roleplay 
  • In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, glimpses of the future have shown the moody, anti-social Simon in a relationship with Mirielle, a gentle baker's girl. Though said relationship falls apart when Simon leans too much towards the dark side, subjugating and detaining Mirielle's superpowered friends. In the present, it's shown that Simon has taken an interest in Mirielle's oddly cheerful personality.

    Theatre 
  • Hamlet and Ophelia from Hamlet could be seen as a deconstruction of the pairing. It is suggested that they were quite close and affectionate before Hamlet's father died. Then, when Hamlet's stress of seeing the ghost of his father gets to him, poor Ophelia is stunned and has no idea how to help him. From then on he's acting mad, and his next scene with her has him denying their relationship ever happened. Then she goes crazy for other reasons…
  • Sam and Rose in Street Scene.
    Sam: What's the good of having brains, if nobody ever looks at you—if nobody knows you exist?
    Rose (gently): I know you exist, Sam.
  • The Grinning Man: Dea is the Gentle Girl to Grinpayne's Brooding Boy
  • Jasper in Deadland: Jasper is downcast and reserved as a result of his hard life, whereas Agnes is gentle and optimistic in an attempt to convince him and herself that his life can still be fulfilling.

    Visual Novels 
  • CLANNAD: Tomoya and Nagisa.
    • His father Naoyuki and Asuko in Clannad: The past path.
  • Danganronpa:
    • Makoto Naegi and Kyouko Kirigiri in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc are a Genderflipped version. After Kirigiri spends the majority of the game unable to trust anyone and feeling she has to take on the mystery alone, Naegi tells her You Are Not Alone and she just slightly begins to open up to him by the end of the third chapter. After he goes so far as to take the fall for her in the fifth chapter, she decides to trust him completely as True Companions. Finally, when she seemed closest to the edge of a Despair Event Horizon in the final trial, he saves her from that despair, leading to the remaining students finally escaping.
    • Hajime Hinata and Chiaki Nanami in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair play it straight. Hajime's a rather cynical, withdrawn, and snarky guy brooding over the mystery of his forgotten talent, and Chiaki's a sweet, sleepy, and mellow girl whom he grows to trust in and confide the most. Her execution in the fifth trial for an Accidental Murder throws him into a Heroic BSoD, and he's left floundering emotionally, spiraling deeper and deeper into despair until her ghost appears to lift him up in the sixth trial.
  • In Daughter for Dessert, the jaded protagonist who is weighed down by secrets can be paired with Lily, a free spirit who is never blunt.
  • In Double Homework, the protagonist is perpetually guilty over a big incident he caused, while Johanna is positive and encouraging.
  • Almost all the Katawa Shoujo routes have elements of this and will bring up three big-ass deconstructions of the concept:
    • Hisao/Lilly: He broods because he has just found out that he has a severe heart condition and has just arrived to a totally different world, she's gentle and an Onee-sama despite her blindness. Their relationship helps Hisao open up and become happier, but doesn't do the same for Lilly. This, and Hisao's overdependence on her, nearly destroys their relationship—he will be reluctant to voice his objections to her leaving for Scotland despite how it will make both of them unhappy and she really doesn't want to leave, and "trusting Lilly's judgement" on it will tear them apart.
    • Hisao/Hanako: A gender-flipped example, where Hisao tries to support Hanako since she not only is a Shrinking Violet but has very serious self-image issues due to being Covered in Scars. If Hisao goes overboard, he'll go from Gentle Guy to "white knight", and since Hanako also has issues with being pitied she will end up screaming at him in their Bad Ending, calling him out on what she views as Hisao "using" her to make himself look good.
    • Hisao/Rin: Another gender-flipped example, with Hisao playing the part of the Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder to Rin's Cloudcuckoolander/Mad Artist. Taking care of a person with serious emotional and mental issues, and one who's under heavy pressure as well, can be incredibly draining; one small mistake can either make the "caretaker" give up after the first fight or not be able to stop the other person from destroying themself.
  • Melody gives the option of pairing the protagonist with Becca - a relationship that fits this dynamic.
  • Can potentially happen in Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow , if the Plucky Girl Player Character hooks up with guys like Eduard (the local Amnesiac Lover), Asagi (who turns out to have quite the Hidden Depths), Kagura ( who has a very troubled Split Personality), or Soushirou (a Stepford Smiler who's dealing with his soon to come death).
  • Inverted in the Kaori Route of Tokimeki Memorial 2: the main protagonist there is the Gentle Boy who patiently loves and supports Kaori, the Brooding Girl. The same can be said in the Novelization of that Route, Anata o Shinjiteru, although Shunta Torigoe (who takes the place of the main protagonist there), while having the same dynamic with her, is more energetic.
  • Surprisingly, the Player Character from True Love Junai Monogatari can become the Gentle Guy to more than one of his love interests, nevermind his stupidly high libido. The more striking examples are Mayumi Kamijou (who hides huge self-esteem problems under her Good Bad Girl facade and later goes through a very traumatic Attempted Rape) and Ryouko Shimazaki (an Idol Singer who hates the turn her career is taking but feels she cannot do anything to change it since her manager is her brother AND caretaker).

    Webcomics 
  • Subverted in Crepuscule with Setz and Carne. They certainly look the part, but as time goes on, it becomes evident that though Setz has his issues, he's at least trying to cope; once Carne's problems come to light, she's far more unstable. It doesn't take too long before their positions are swapped: Setz is the one who has to reassure the mentally ill Carne and ultimately try to save her when she goes insane. It doesn't end well.
  • Gender-Inverted in Ever Blue, when Ten, a guy who's not dispirited upon his boat breaking in a couple of pieces or fazed when attacked by what may-or-may-not be the Grim Reaper meets Luna, a quiet, nervous and lonely young woman with quite a couple of secrets. They get on like a house on fire.
  • Spoofed in this Penny Arcade strip.
    "I should warn you. My shit is way tormented."
    "I still love you. Even though you're so cool and rad."
  • Played with in Matchu. Matchu and Amber fit the bill personality-wise but are also Star-Crossed Lovers who can't interact without something bad happening to either of them.
  • Pixie and Brutus: Brutus presumably saw a lot of nasty things in his military career and continues to be fairly dark and gruff. Pixie is a sweet little kitten who tries to make friends with everybody, happily offers to share her bed with Brutus, and apologizes for pouncing (which she's apparently unaware is too minor to hurt).
  • Til Debt Do Us Part: The stoic, rich, and traumatized Yejun marries the cheerful and kind Subin, who not only draws him out of his shell but does the same for his similarly closed-off family.

    Web Original 
  • This is the dynamic between Jester and Caleb in season 2 of Critical Role, with Liam (Caleb) even noting on a Talk Machina episode that the Sad one is soft for the sunshine one.
  • Downplayed in Off the Page and into Life. Most of the time, Gail is willing to gently talk Henry out of one of his moods… but if that doesn't work, she's just as happy to use shouting and snarkiness, too.
  • Gender flipped in RWBY with Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong. Blake has a very Dark and Troubled Past and feels she alone has to fight against the world's problems and frequently suffers from Heroic BSODs over her various issues. Whenever Sun sees Blake in distress, he often tries to cheer her up, usually to be ignored or coldly dismissed by her. The duet, "Like Morning Follows Night", from their perspectives, delves into this dynamic. Blake questions whether Sun understands what she's been through, and feels like she only causes suffering and tragedy to her loved ones, which is why she tries to keep everybody at a distance. Meanwhile, Sun tries to convince Blake to let go of her past and forgive herself for her mistakes.

    Western Animation 
  • Terry and Dana from Batman Beyond have this dynamic in the first season, though with a teasing slant on Dana's end before Dana got Flanderized into The Obstructive Love Interest and Demoted to Extra later on. It's back in full force in "Epilogue".
  • Silverbolt and Blackarachnia in the Beast Wars's Sequel Series Beast Machines. This is a reversal of how their relationship started: he was a painfully earnest Knight in Shining Armor, she was a snarky Dark Action Girl. In the sequel series, however, he gets brainwashed into being a sadistic villain and is pretty traumatized by it when he's finally freed. He doesn't act like his old self again until the Grand Finale.
  • Deconstructed by Bojack Horseman with BoJack's relationship with Wanda, a peppy owl, in Season Two. Bojack finds it too difficult to change, Wanda has a hard time enjoying his negativity, and the relationship falls apart.
  • From Garfield and Friends, Gender Flipped version, Orson Pig and Lanolin Sheep in the U.S.Acres segments. Orson has given her a lot of kindness, so Lanolin at times, tries to show kindness back to him.
  • Gender-flipped and Zig-Zagged with Arnold and Helga in Hey Arnold!. Helga is a Broken Bird who acts as a bully to hide her insecurities and vulnerable side; Arnold is an All-Loving Hero who gives emotional advice and support to others (including Helga) when they are in some personal crisis. However, because the former acts as if she hates the latter, they hardly make any development in their relationship resulting in more friction.
  • The Magic School Bus: Arnold and Phoebe in the episode "Goes Cellular". Arnold was understandably moody and angsty, as he was orange on the night he was accepting a big geology award. Phoebe, on the other hand, stayed optimistic and even tried to help mask his orange skin… with flour.
    Phoebe: There. You don't look nearly so orange now. (giggles)
    Arnold: Phoebe, I can't go out there covered in flour! I look like a pumpkin pie!
  • Deconstructed with Eric Cartman and Heidi Turner in South Park. The two form a romantic relationship in Season 20 after quitting Twitter. However, the sweet and compassionate Heidi doesn't realize that Cartman isn't the misunderstood Jerk with a Heart of Gold he led her to believe but a notoriously manipulative sociopath and by the next season, their relationship progressively deteriorates with Cartman constantly lashing out at her for the state of their relationship and decides to make her more like him by feeding her junk food and sharing his bigoted views. They become Birds of a Feather for a while only for Heidi to realize what Cartman's negativity has turned her into and decides to leave him for the sake of her well-being.
  • Entrapta and Hordak in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, with the former often encouraging the latter to see that his imperfections are beautiful. Their relationship often crosses over with Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl.
  • Steven Universe has Lars as the grumpy and extremely insecure Brooding Boy to Sadie's friendly and nurturing Gentle Girl.
  • Lance and Ilana from Sym-Bionic Titan, although their relationship is more familial and platonic than romantic.
  • Teen Titans (2003):
    • Robin is far more serious and moody than his not-girlfriend Starfire, particularly whenever Robin gets laser-focused on stopping Slade. It's generally up to her to brighten his day with her cheer or give him a gentle and well-meaning What the Hell, Hero?.
    • Kid Flash and Jinx are a Gender Flipped version because she is gloomy over being walking-bad-luck and focused on her Villain Cred while he is very patient in his attempts at her Heel–Face Turn (and making her teammates look like idiots with his antics).
    • Beast Boy and Raven are another gender flip. Even though they never have an official relationship on the show, Raven's troubled backstory mixed with Beast Boy's attempts at making her smile and laugh make them appear as such.
  • Winx Club: Resident gentle girl Flora's romantic interest who only appears in the comics is Karel, a brooding and mysterious werewolf.
  • Superboy and M'gann in Young Justice (2010) have this dynamic through the first season, with M'gann frequently being the one to coax him out of angry outbursts or sullen moods. Over the course of the season, however, it became more and more apparent that many aspects of M'gann's "gentle girl" persona were cultivated as part of her Stepford Smiler act (and that she was deliberately modelling at least parts of her and Conner's relationship on a relationship she watched on a sitcom). Over time, as M'gann grew more accepting of her true self, the more overt "gentle girl" traits faded into the background, while Conner developed more self-control over his temper and became better at regulating his own emotions. By season three, they've moved past this dynamic altogether, just in time to hand it off to newcomers Brion and Violet, although Violet, while possessing a female body, does not strictly consider herself to be a girl (but seems okay with female pronouns).
  • Platonic version between Duncan and Zoey during the fifth season of Total Drama. Duncan is a delinquent with a Hair-Trigger Temper and Hidden Heart of Gold, while Zoey is a Nice Girl who tries to see the best in everyone.

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