I’m going to breach some norms here and let my inner fangirl out a little with this post.

One of the main reason Guts is one of the sexiest (if not the sexiest) fictional characters ever created is that he appears to be a complex and passionate personality with deep emotions and complex motives. His sex-appeal also lays in the combination of his personality, body language and appearance.

Some of the badass-est characters in fiction may possess a similar direction and character traits, but they barely ever reach the depth and consistency of Guts’ character.

I think Big Boss is a good example for such a character, however, because of the nature of the medium he is written in (a video game) his depth is still limited.

The fact how expertly Guts is drawn in some of the arcs also makes it hard for other fictional characters to even compete with his good looks.

Guts is the only protagonist I know about who I can write this deeply about. What you are about to read is a breakdown of why Guts is hella attractive – and you’ll find most of it is about who he is.

Personality

Guts got a very strong presence or aura around him: If he walks into a room, people will notice and stare. If you dare challenge him, he’s going to stare you down before you even can initiate a fight. And if ya dare fight him regardless, he’s gonna fuck yer shit up.

He is both capable of cruelty and gentleness. He both possesses the capacity to care and also the strength to protect and be fierce (That particular combination is 1000% attractive to me).

Obliterating faces with a prosthetic arm must be fun

Someone he deems member of his pack he will defend to death. If you happen to be the one harming the people he values, he’s going to make life hell for you. To a degree he also protects complete strangers, especially if you’re a woman or a child.

Guts being protective of others is my favorite trope. This is from volume 22.

Guts gently taking care of Casca in volume 23.

I like his wording here: he is explicitly stating “women” but completely omits the rest (e.g. men) by referring to them as “those inside”. From volume 24.

Guts can be extremely terrifying. He is an absolute beast of a man. He is powerful and frequently finds himself in the moral dilemma to either protect those he loves, or harm those he learned to hate.



With power also comes great responsibility, and if you’re not careful enough, you may end up harming those you love, as well – something he has experienced often enough.

Despite of his brutal side, he still is a reserved and shy person who is easily embarrassed and very ruminant – more than it would seem at first glance. Those are traits that I think make him cute (yes I totally called him that with that ominous panel from Lost Children right above this paragraph). It also makes him someone who enjoys solitude, but it likely tends to make him feel rather lonely and misunderstood, too. This in itself isn’t all that attractive maybe (depending on your tastes), however the combination of thoughtful, gentle, protective, cruel, and cute is most intriguing.

Guts is very observant and attentive. He thrives serving people he cares for and making a difference in their lives. That makes him a typical people pleaser, who on the flip side has a tendency to get taken advantage of. It’s also why he’s very picky about choosing those he trusts. He also prefers doing things by himself rather than to rely too much on others for this reason.

For him emotional stimulation is a basic need. This dude needs to feel or experience passion in order to be content and it doesn’t even matter if it’s pain. For this reason, he is prone to self-harm too (he may have secretly enjoyed Farnese’s torture session in volume 16…)

A way of self-harm: Guts holding stronger onto Casca’s blade when she stabbed him in volume 9.

Emotional stimulation in its best form means he’s going to do everything to cheer someone up, make someone feel comfortable and safe.

In its worst form he’s going to do everything to piss you off.

Because of his need for emotional stimulation he both has a feisty and a charming side to him. This and the fact he’s people pleaser indicates he’s a touchy lover-type. That means he is both a cuddler and good in bed, too (well, hello there wounds chapter 😏).

Because he is such a feeler, it makes him a very intimate person that strives for emotional connection (this is also why he goes to such length to protect Casca). He also knows how to deal with dark feelings and thoughts and is capable to act in times of despair and distress when everyone else would stand there, paralyzed. On that note, Casca is the same way, by the way.

Stubbornness and persistence are Guts’ trademarks: giving up is no option for him and while that certainly has its perks (it makes him very loyal and faithful to those he loves), it also has its drawbacks (he tends to hold on to unhealthy situations or relationships for too long instead of letting go). His persistence is something that I also find attractive because it shows that trying to beat this man down will only make him try even harder.

This page shows very well how persistent Guts is: When someone or something hits him, he’s going to hit back even harder. Not only do I like what is being depicted here (😏😏😏) but also the way it is drawn.

Once he accepted someone into his pack, he treats them respectfully, praises and supports them whenever they need it. He is someone who is there if you need him – or at least, this is what he desires to be, because he knows how hard it is to carry a burden all alone.

Another thing that is a very important part of his character is the fact he is flawed, and able to change and learn. He is also emotionally resilient and able to overcome and learn from distress that would completely break most. Because of his experiences, he is also grateful and humble, especially in the later arcs. These traits show he is capable of growth and that’s another thing that I find attractive about him.

Guts being a grateful boy during their sea voyage

Guts trying to be mindful about him using the Berserker Armor when Vritannis is being attacked in volume 33. The armor alone caused him to grow so much, but the character development associated with it is covered in a different article.



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Body Language and Facial Expressions

Like his eyes his body language is very expressive. The strong presence his personality has reflects on the way he moves, too. He doesn’t need any words to express himself because you can often tell how he feels or what his state of mind is only by taking a look at his face or body language.

Here, his body language shows friendliness and attentiveness: He is leaning forward to Schierke and is patting her head. The fact he is looking down on her (after all he could kneel, but he doesn’t) symbolizes he has the “upper hand” in this interaction – but in my opinion, that only gives him an additional punch to his words of praise and reassurance.

I think this panel is the perfect example how his looks and body language both play into his overall sexiness. Who turned up the heating in here?

“You’re gonna be okay” – get you a man who stares at you like this. For context, this is the face he makes looking at Casca when Flora offers him magic talismans that keep Casca save from his inner demons – in exchange of helping her pupil Schierke.

This is a stance he usually takes when he is being both thoughtful and uncertain or insecure about something. Normally, if he feels comfortable and secure, he’s spreading out and leaning back, but here he leans forward, protectively placing his arms on his leg, and holds onto his own arms with his hands. He’s doing something like this again in Godo’s cave, contemplating Godo’s words about revenge.

Me after writing this article

Appearance

Wellp. I decided to bring this up last because I won’t be able to handle it otherwise. 😔



Guts is seriously a beautiful man. He looks handsome, manly and pretty at the same time. Let me just state how hard it is to get a drawn person to look like this and then also get it to look just right. You can really tell that Miura spent years or even decades trying to perfect the way this character is drawn. I especially love Guts’ look between Conviction Arc and Millenium Falcon Arc.

I absolutely love the curvy side of his face that is facing away from the view when he’s drawn from this perspective

Face

Guts’ face has perfect proportions and follows a couple of simple, but effective drawing rules. If you get the underlying construction down properly, you’ve already done ~70% of the job. It’s not even that hard if you know how – Just takes a lot of practice ( I’ve spent the last 2 years trying to figure out the secrets of drawing him, I should know akdsj).

This guy is rustling my ovaries on a regular basis and I both hate and love it at the same time

Guts’ glance is very stern and expressive with his bushy eyebrows and set-in eyes. Honestly his eyes are my favorite part about his face, closely followed by those 10/10 lips and jawline he got 👌. Because life has left its marks on his face, it only makes his rare smiles beautiful and genuine.

I’m having a hard time not burst into random keyboard smashing because I’m fangirling way too hard right now. Oh god.

I also like the puffy strands of hair on the front of his head. His “morning hairdo” (when his hair gets wet or ruffled) is pretty adorable, too.

Physique

This guy is tall and absolutely ripped, with broad shoulders, chiseled abs, and a huge back and arms. A b s o l u t e u n i t.

He is around 195cm (~ +6ft) tall and most characters look very small compared to him, despite of having average height.

Casca and Farnese are slightly below average-sized (afaik they are around 175cm) but barely reach his chest. Isidro and Schierke barely reach his pelvis. I’m around Casca-sized and when I try to imagine how tall Guts is, he’s probably not going to fit into the door frames of my apartment… That being said his hands are HUGE too.

Look at their hands in this picture and consider for a moment that Casca isn’t particularly short…

Needless to say a tall wide boi like this is hella attractive (it means you can be smol and vulnerable in his arms 😍). Now just consider this and the fact he’s quite the force of nature, being a very passionate, protective and comforting man – dayum. I’d melt.

Wait, no. I’d vaporize.

It’s usually small panels like this one….



….or this one that make you realize just how damn beefy he is.

But because he is so tall, he still looks pretty “normal”, as if he is just a scaled-up or beefed-up version of an average person. If he would be any shorter, he would look more chunky, like a typical body builder. The ratio of amount of muscle/limb length is in perfect balance for mostly aesthetic reasons.

It is actually impossible for a human being to reach this level of ripped-ness. But the fact Guts has been swinging a sword much bigger than him ever since his childhood makes his appearance somewhat plausible (after all, you do build up quality muscle mass over your life time as well). He has to be this ripped in order to swing the Dragon Slayer, after all.

The Fanbase reacts to Guts

Guts is so sexy the fanbase is completely heads over heels with him, men and lesbians included – and this is something that I rarely see in other fandoms. Comment chains like this are fairly frequent:

It’s so prevalent that phrases like “It’s not gay if it’s Guts” and ones of similar nature have become frequent running jokes:

The posts I do on tumblr that involve either his character or appearance are well-received and also the ones that have a very high note count. The fanbase is absolutely thirsty for some Guts! Take it as proof how amazing this character is and I have to give mad probs to Kentaro Miura for pulling this off. Pretty sure Miura himself must be quite the force of nature, too.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think about this topic in the comments section below!



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