It’s a TRAP! An analysis of Male Crossdressing in Anime

What do you think... is this a girl or a boy?

Well, there has been a new wave of trap anime recently ever since 2006, and we are not talking about gender-bending Anime or females dressing like males as they don’t quality for the TRAP moment. We are talking about males that look like girls who dress like girls. The most known examples I’ll be discussing is from Otoboku, Hayate no Gotoku, Baka no Test to Shokanju, Clannad and Kaichou wa Maid-sama.

What is exactly a TRAP?

Trap in anime is simple. A male character that vastly looks like a female and dresses in female clothing. With this, characters won’t recognize that the trap is actually a boy and try to fall in love with him without knowing the truth and then BAM! The bridget falls when the trap reveals that he is actually a male. The problem is, it’s difficult to tell that if he is a girl or not, thus they are called the so called “Wholesome Crossdressers.” They may be forced into the outfit or do it at will. There are many examples of Traps, but I will cover the most known traps (besides MariaHolic which also had a trap).
Examples

Mizuho Miyanokouji

It’s obvious that I will pick this one out of the hat as this is one of the best known examples. Mizuho is one of those well known trap from the Anime/Visual Novel Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru. Unfortunately, I haven’t started this Anime title since I don’t have the DVDs for it, but basically he is forced to go to an All-Girl’s School according to a will and to do that… Yea, it says it on the tin and yes, the bridget falls on someone when his actual gender is revealed accidentally. Also, Mizuho is pretty girly himself too, so it becomes even difficult to tell if he is a she or not… and he is voiced by Yui Horie… Oh well, I’m going to have fun with this once I start it…

In comparison, MariaHolic is very similar to Otoboku, except a female lead and the male crossdresser is a villain.
Hayate Ayasaki

Another well known example of a trap is Hayate. Why? His appearance looks almost like a girl. This is a reason why Nagi and eventually Maria forces Hayate into female clothing including, but not limited to a catgirl and a school girl. Not only that, there was an arc in the Second Season of Hayate no Gotoku where Hayate is cursed by a crossdressing curse, which forces him into a nekomimi maid outfit and also another cat outfit with a Zettai Ryouiki. Not only that, Tama, Klaus and some other Butler fell for him as a female without realizing that he is a male… I laughed out loud when Hayate reveals the hard cold truth… Ouch… Not only that, I find these trap moments very funny…

Yeah... My thoughts exactly....

Shima

In the Clannad Visual Novel and the Clannad After Story in Misae’s Arc, we are shown a flashback with Shima. Shima unfortinately looks so much like a girl that when he went into the school to look for Misae to see her at her job and two of her friends forces him in a girls school uniform complete with a Wig and yes… everyone including Misae made remarks on how cute he is and Shima confesses saying that “I (Shima) want you (Misae) to be with me forever.” I rolled around laughing afterwards…

Not only that, Shima looked really cute! Sorry… I couldn’t resist. :p

Although not related to traps, In the Visual Novel Hiiragi Kappei, a male that looks like a girl Sunohora begins to have a crush on, although Kappei is actually a boy. Even after told the truth, Sunohara still have a crush on him still and denies the fact Kappei is a male
Hideyoshi Kinoshita

Hideyoshi from Bakatest…. the most popular Trap out there in recent history? Well, yes, so much that the characters force him into female clothing and it looks so good on him that… well, you know… It’s near damn impossible to tell if he is a girl or not that some people classify his gender as Hideyoshi. Also that public bath scene that makes it think that he is a female so much… well, you get the idea. Although I haven’t started this yet, I think it is pretty hilarious.
Aoi-chan

Believe me, this is very convincing...

Now with Satsuki’s Nephew… Aoi-chan…

Just recently in the Shoujo anime, Kaichou wa Maid-sama reveals another delicious trap again… people might be wondering, is this person a girl or a boy? It wouldn’t matter if you unfap, because you will get trapped again by Aoi-chan. Not only that, (s)he is a net-idol with hits over the roof wearing lolita outfits… Not only that, it has the same effect as Hideyoshi… looks better in girls clothing. Surprisingly enough, Usui does not fall for it. It only took Misa-chan to punch Usui in the face and slapping Aoi-chan into reality.

Aoi-chan unlike the traps I mentioned earlier, he actually enjoys crossdressing for real and loves cute clothing and stuff and hates wearing boys clothing… The problem with that is that he gets shunned for what he likes, but don’t worry, there is no need to unfap this… because it will give off a very good result at the end that ends up being very funny from all he reactions from people and his feminine appearance doesn’t help either…

Maybe Usui didn’t fell for it, but I’m pretty sure most viewers fell for it without any prior knowledge.
Conclusion

It’s obvious that our instincts make us yell “It’s a TRAP!” when we see a male character that looks like a female in female clothing because most can’t tell if that person is actually a female until we find out the hard and cold truth. Even though we want to think they are a girl, it ends up failing in the end… but it’s all right because it will happen again because usually, once these anime shows a trap, it will happen again and we will have the bridget fall on top of our heads again… ¶

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