Trope Idea Salvage Yard sandbox from the Hand-Hiding Sleeves TRS thread.
Long sleeves can be used to show that a character is untrustworthy, hiding something, just plain creepy, or at the very least mysterious. This tends to be associated with Inscrutable Oriental characters (and is a staple of the outfits of Yellow Peril villains). Sneaky Sleeves tend to be combined with hoods, and are often worn by wizards.
Examples
- VideoGame.Shikihime Garden: Yatagarasu has one large sleeve covering one of her hands. No one knows what's inside and she doesn't like it when people try to look inside, either.
- WesternAnimation.Hammer And Bolter: The Prefect of the librarium always has his hands hidden within his sleeves. This is to hide the fact that his arms are mutated and avian-like.
- Film.The Postman Fights Back Fu Jun’s long sleeves conceal a hidden dart launcher, which he can use for sneak attacks, effective in taking down a fleeing bandit and later getting him out of a fix in the Dual Boss battle. But against Hsu, unfortunately Hsu’s wrist magnet completely No-Sell Fu Jun’s darts.
- Manga.Iris Zero:
- Hijiri wears longs sleeves to hide scars from self harm
- Kuga used to wear long sleeves as a kid [[spoiler: to hide abuse from her father]
- Manga.Kaiju Girl Caramelise: Kuroe wears outfits with oversized sleeves in order to hide whenever one of her hands transforms.
- Manga.Pop Team Epic: Pipimi uses long sleeves
to hide her Devil Hand. - Ougi Oshino from Bakemonogatari has these of the sneaky variety, often holding his/her hands over or near their mouth when they take up the role of a self-proclaimed detective. Seemingly everyone other than Koyomi Araragi is aware, including the audience, that Ougi is capable of psychological mischief.
- Choza Habaki from Itsuwaribito wears his kimono sleeves so that they cover his poisoned hand claws when he isn't fighting. Furthermore, he is an itsuwaribito (basically a thug/thief/trickster hybrid) himself, which makes his sleeves an example of loaded sleeves and sneaky sleeves.
- Naruto:
- Dosu Kinuta's Sneaky Sleeves combined with his hunched-over stance and dog head-tilts creates a creepy vibe around him.
- Dosu Kinuta's Sneaky Sleeves combined with his hunched-over stance and dog head-tilts creates a creepy vibe around him.
- Most every film depiction of The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (A Christmas Carol) has the Sneaky Sleeves version of this trope, combined with the cloak and hood that hides all of the ghost's features. (Rather apropos, since it's usually heavily implied that he is The Grim Reaper.)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: In The Ersatz Elevator, the doorman wears a bulky jacket with sleeves that obscure his hands. Unsurprisingly, he's really The Hook-Handed Man in disguise.
- Manga.Bleach: Luppi hides his hands inside his slightly oversized sleeves half the time. It's a combination of "cute" and "creepy". Considering his androgyny, boastful attitude, and belligerent creepiness, it basically serves to make him less likable.
- Xerxes Break of PandoraHearts wears a coat with oversized sleeves that immediately mark him as a quirky character who is hiding something, and sure enough, he's one of the sneakier (and creepier) characters in the series. He also tries to invoke the “cute” aspect of this trope, but most people just think it's weird.
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: In The Ersatz Elevator, the doorman wears a bulky jacket with sleeves that obscure his hands. Unsurprisingly, he's really The Hook-Handed Man in disguise.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Lord Varys, the Spider. His normal court attire are robes with long sleeves, sometimes with pockets in them, and he usually keeps his hands folded in front of him, hiding them within said sleeves. This plays well into his character; a master of deception with an intricate network of spies and informants all across the world.
- Skye in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wears these when relaxing on The Bus. It's a combination of "quirky" and "cute", with a touch of "deceptive".
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Parado loves playing (mind/video) games and generally having a blast, though his sleeves are more like sneaky fingerless mittens. They're actually much tigher fitting than the usual examples, go past his knuckles and have a hole for the thumb.
- Rauru of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has large sleeves so long that they hide his hands. His robes give him an air of authority that puts him under the high class examples (and maybe the mysterious side of "sneaky").
- Shadow Naoto from Persona 4 wears a lab coat with oversized sleeves, highlighting the real Naoto's insecurities about being looked down upon due to her age and gender.
- F.A.N.G. of Street Fighter V has a pair of truly impressive hand-covering sleeves on both his costumes. Notably, despite being of the Sneaky Sleeves variety, this is more than just a design choice; his Critical Art has him jump in the air and stay aloft by flapping his giant sleeves like wings (while he screams like a maniac) and spread poison all over the place. The Cinematic Story Mode adds another layer to this and reveals that he actually needs them. His hands constantly produce a highly corrosive poison, thus when not in combat, he keeps his hands hidden in his sleeves so he doesn't melt everything he touches.
- F.A.N.G. of Street Fighter V has a pair of truly impressive hand-covering sleeves on both his costumes. Notably, despite being of the Sneaky Sleeves variety, this is more than just a design choice; his Critical Art has him jump in the air and stay aloft by flapping his giant sleeves like wings (while he screams like a maniac) and spread poison all over the place. The Cinematic Story Mode adds another layer to this and reveals that he actually needs them. His hands constantly produce a highly corrosive poison, thus when not in combat, he keeps his hands hidden in his sleeves so he doesn't melt everything he touches.
- Ming Hua from The Legend of Korra appears with these at one point, doubling as sneaky sleeves and loaded sleeves, since she has no arms and is simultaneously concealing this and her waterbending tendrils.
