The other day the guys over at SGCafe made a rank about the 10 best Trap Characters. A Trap character is a male character whose looks, mannerisms and outfit are those of a girl. After a heated debate they came out with this list below:

Warning: Thanks to the very nature of this ranking, this article is full of SPOILERS, so thread with care!! You have been warned


Rank Character Series 10 Hime Arikawa Himegoto 9 Kamatari Honjou Rurouni Kenshin 8 Hayate Ayasaki Hayate the Combat Butler! 7 Mizuho Miyanokouji OtoBoku 6 Kenjirou Hato Genshiken 5 Saika Totsuka Oregairu/ My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU 4 Mariya Shidou Maria†Holic 3 Aoi Futaba You're Under Arrest 2 Ruka Urushibara Steins; Gate 1 Hideyoshi Kinoshita Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts


Mmm for starters I think Hideyoshi deserves its own category and I'm not the only one that thinks like that. Also I love seeing Aoi Futaba in that list let me tell you why:

You're Under Arrest is one of my favorite childhood Animes, and actually is the one I picked as the series that got me hooked into Anime (I can't really remember what my 10 year old self thought about a character that acted, dressed and talker like a girl, but was actually a guy, but probably nothing, since that occurrence is somewhat normal in my parents hometown) and the only reason I watched Rail Wars! was because it was you're Under Arrest with inverted genders to fit a Harem.


I found very funny drawing the parallels for absolutely every character in the series, and seeing them being inverted, even Aoi the trap character has an inverted parallel in Rail Wars, a "prince" that its actually a girl, a character we call a Reverse Trap.

Why the talk about that you may ask? Well because this post is actually a trap! You though I was going to discuss trap characters right? Well, surprise, this talk is about reverse traps!


Note: You can read more about each character at Sgcafe (and please do)

A reverse trap is a female character who resembles a pretty, androgynous boy (most of the times paired with an appropriate 'masculine' outfit) that is depicted that way on purpose to deceive either the other characters, the audience or both and sometimes even after the reveal, people still treats them like boys. So without further ado, here it is.


Top 10: Reverse Trap Characters in Anime


Rank Character Series 10 Yuu Kashima Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun 9 Otto Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha 8 Rathy Tears to Tiara Bonus 1 Shiki Ryougi Kara no Kyoukai 7 Naoto Shirogane Persona 4 6 Yukimura Kusunoki Haganai 5 Fleur "Eve" Boland Spice & Wolf 4 Ukyo Ranma ½ Bonus 2 Kana Haibane Renmei 3 Haruka Tenohu Sailor Moon 2 Haruhi Fujioka Ouran High School Host club 1 Kino Kino's Journey

Just like the SGCafe list I start mine with a character in a recent series: Kashima Yu from Nozaki-kun who by all standards plays the "prince" role of the series. Next we have Otto from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the other Akiyuki Shinbo-directed Magical girl Anime who fooled both the audience and the characters from the series. To round the first three positions we have Rathy from Tears to Tiara who fools all the party into thinking she's a man.


For my first Bonus character in the list (because I like Bonuses) we have Kara no Kyoukai's Shiki, why the character is on the list? Well you have to discover that for yourself.

For the next batch of characters we have Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 albeit the Anime doesn't play with this as much as the game. Next we have Yukimura Kusunoki from Haganai, a very interesting case because at the start of the series not even herself thinks she's a woman and the MC gets a nice surprise when he finds out. Next we have Fleur Boland from Spice & Wolf whos VA is famous for playing the roles of young boys or though boyish girls, so you can see what they did that on purpose to fool the audience. Then we have the lovely Ukyo Kuonji from Ranma 1/2 a character that fools the MC when they meet for the first time after a long while to the degree he demands her "to fight like a man" and that doesn't end well.


For the next Bonus character we have Kana from Haibane Renmei, the reason she didn't made the list is because this part is somewhat downplayed in the Anime but was less obvious on the original Doujinshi.


For my top 3 we have Haruka (Amara) Tenoh better known as Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon, and while there are more than one character in the series that fit the criteria, well I like her the most. The second place goes to Haruhi Fujioka from OHSHC who everyone thinks at the start is a boy. The top spot goes to Kino from the very recommended Kino's Journey who is ambiguously written that way to confuse the audience for a couple of episodes.

So there you have it. Sorry for rambling so much but I hope you enjoyed reading this.


Your Mushishi's Mio or your Muv Luv's (Unlimited/Alternative) Mikoto Yoroi are not on the list? Well then throw your favorite Reverse Trap characters in the comments below. Also don't forget to throw your favorite Trap characters too and don't limit to Anime (adaptations) like I did. So throw your VN, LN, Manga etc. traps/reverse traps in there too!