Brutal Honesty / Anime & Manga

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• Asteroid in Love: Yuu "Nana" Nanami, a first-year who joins the Earth Sciences club midway through the series, almost immediately tells her new clubmates what she thinks the shortcomings of the club's School Festival exhibit are. Unlike the other members, who are interested in geology or astronomy (the club is formed by the Astronomy and Geology clubs in the previous year, owing to both of them being Club Stub), Nana is interested in meteorology and bluntly says that she thinks it's more useful than the other two fields of earth science.
• Attack on Titan has numerous examples of this trope. Given the grim, and often times cruel, setting that the story takes place in, the ability to deliver hard, verbal slaps to the face is almost a necessity.
  • The guy who stands out the most in this area has got to be Captain Levi of the Survey Corps; he says whatever's on his mind when he sees fit, politeness or dangerous circumstances be damned.
  • Jean is also notorious for being unflinchingly honest with his opinions.
  • Commander Erwin flat out tells the new recruits that the probability of them dying is 50% and most of them will die within the next year. This is actually sensible because the Survey Corps needs recruits that would volunteer despite knowing the terrible odds. And later on, when Erwin is questioned about his role in the two Titan Shifters battling each other and destroying part of Stohess, he stated it was his responsibility and made no excuses for it.
  • When Floch is asked about Marlowe's death in a suicidal charge against the Beast Titan by someone who knew the person in question, he mentions how Marlowe's bravery inspired the new recruits... and how Marlowe probably died regretting that he'd ever sacrificed himself.
• Bakuman。:
  • Takahama goes before Sasaki, the editor in chief of Shonen Jump to ask to get a new editor because he believes that his editor, Miura, won't let him draw what he wants. Sasaki responds that saying that is the same as admitting his own lack of talent, and that no artists, whether veterans or rookies, can change editors. He suggests that Takahama go elsewhere if he's dissatisfied, but Takahama, chastened, withdraws his request and apologizes. Mashiro and Takagi note that what the editor said was harsh, but he had a point and they should stop blaming Miura.
  • In Sasaki's first appearance, he tells Mashiro and Takagi that their youth isn't what's keeping them from being published — it's that their manga submissions aren't good enough.
  • Aoki Ko had this before her Character Development. She would often tell authors that she disliked their manga or that she doesn't think it has its place in a Shonen Magazine. After taking a level in kindness, she remains honest but is far less cold about it.
• Nacht from Black Clover doesn't mince his words. When he first meets Asta, Nacht tells him that he has no chance defeating any of the Dark Triad and that going would be stupid and reckless, later calling him a fool. He also lists of all of Yami's negative qualities to Asta to show his familiarity with him. Later, he states the Black Bulls' members' flaws to their face, all of which are true, and the fact that they were good-for-nothings caused more damage than exploits when mentioning that he can't stand them.
• In Black God, a side-story shows that Namu used to work as a fortune-teller and didn't make much money off of it as she didn't see anything wrong with giving the plain and honest truth. Such as flat-out telling a college kid he'd never pass college as he'd only look at porn all day in front of his mother and telling another man that he'd eventually die in the near future. It's no wonder she didn't get tips.
• Bloom Into You:
  • This is one of Yuu's defining traits — she doesn't hesitate to say what's on her mind or do so in an often blunt or snarky way. It's also what Touko finds so appealing about her.
  • Zig-zagged with Sayaka, who's Touko's best friend. While she often bottles up her feelings and lets certain opinions go unspoken, especially when it comes to her unrequited love for Touko, she generally doesn't hold back when she chooses to express herself. There's some unspoken tension between her and Yuu at first, but after they share some brutally honest observations about each other and discuss Touko, they achieve a better understanding.
  • In the School Play, the main character, who lost her memories in an accident, hears various people who knew her tell her about herself. Her younger half-brother's account is by far the least complimentary and portrays her as being distant from him and the rest of her family. That said, he does hold out hope that she could start over and mend her relationship with her family.
• Blue Exorcist has Rin. No Social Skills and a child-like demeanor towards most relationships (due to having not HAD any real friendships before high school) results in him being honest about things that most wouldn't be. Like admitting he's a half-demon to someone terrified of demons...
• Death Note:
  • Near alternates between being so honest people want to punch him, and so dishonest people want to punch him. Near seems completely inconsiderate with no intention to give consideration the old college try. Until the very last chapter, where he makes gestures toward both the old task force and the memory of Mello. The implication is that Mello, who enabled his victory, demonstrated that caring can, in fact, be an advantage.
  • L often roams a tactful middle ground, but L does have two moments when he first meets Light. The entire conflict between the two is about subtlety, as one screw up from either of them will expose their identity. Thus, Light is taken completely by surprise when his classmate, "Hideki Ryuga", bluntly admits that he's L. Light is then rendered speechless when L follows up by declaring he suspects that Light is Kira. Light later admits that this was a very clever move: if L dies immediately after revealing his identity to Light, that's some very good evidence that Light is Kira.
• The Dark-Haired Woman from Death Parade was described as someone who “always speaks her mind” in promotional material, and is pretty blunt and honest throughout the show proper. The brutal part comes up in episode 9, when she gives a long "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Decim, breaking down not only his own flimsy philosophy but the system he works under as a whole. She points out his incapability to understand people and says that his attempts to do so mean nothing because of his general Lack of Empathy. She doesn’t give him any room to respond either, and he’s left completely speechless, grabbing his chest and staring at her blankly.
  • Ginti is extremely honest as well, which is notable because his species are meant to be fairly duplicitous. He will bluntly tell his guests that they’re dead, he doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything for their benefit, and he is extremely forward about his hatred for humans and his animosity towards certain individuals. His character arc ends with him telling Mayu that she is that her life meant nothing because she was a Fangirl in a parasocial relationship, and calling her stupid and useless for thinking that it didn’t matter.
• Digimon:
  • In Digimon Adventure, Tailmon has shades of this when she mentions all they can do while WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fight is stand back and watch. After being called out on it as to if she even cares about her friends...
    Tailmon: Would it make a difference if I said yes?
  • Terriermon from Digimon Tamers even more so — his first line towards Takato is pointing out how bad a Tamer he is for losing his Digimon.
• Do Chokkyuu Kareshi x Kanojo ("Extremely Straightforward Boyfriend and Girlfriend") milks a lot of comedy from the Hot-Blooded protagonist Shinichiro Honda saying what's on his mind.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Subtlety is one of those things Goku's grandfather forgot to teach him before the events of Dragon Ball.
  • Piccolo. Best exemplified before Vegeta's Heroic Sacrifice against Majin Buu in Dragon Ball Z; when Vegeta asks him if he'll be able to see Goku in the Other World, Piccolo tells him point-blank that Vegeta, having spent most of his life being an evil, mass-murdering Jerkass, is most likely going to Hell and one selfless act isn't enough to make up for it. Though Vegeta probably wanted a straight answer, anyways.
• In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, Miyu straight up tells Illya and her friends that she only likes Illya and doesn't care about them at all.
• Food Wars!: Soma's skill rests on his ability to see things exactly as they are. He is brutally honest about everything, including his own shortcomings, which, in turn, makes him completely unafraid of supposedly "unbeatable" opponents. He can often come across as arrogant, but things will always show that he is exactly as good as he thinks.
• This is Emi's defining character trait in the "Little Army" prequel manga of Girls und Panzer. Her willingness to speak her mind regardless of how the listener will take it causes much of the conflict early on in the story, but it also helps Miho speak honestly about her troubles later on.
  Emi: I hate lies and flattery. There's no point in wasting praise on the selfish.
• Gourmet Girl Graffiti:
  • Shiina does this towards Kirin in Episode 7, when she suggests to Ryou that they'll do the cooking. She then points out how she saw how Kirin freeloads off her cousin and doesn't even lift a finger to help her at all, even washing the dishes afterwards. Though these statements hit her pretty hard, Kirin is swayed after Shiina tells her Ryou might enjoy their cooking, too.
  • Tsuyuko gives a harsh critique of Kirin's and Shiina's cooking in Episode 6. However, she also says it tastes good. This in stark contrast to Ryou's review, where she liked it quite a bit.
• Haikyuu!!: Both Kageyama from Karasuno and Ushijima from Shiratorizawa are like that. They don't mean any offense most of the time but lack the social skills to recognize where and when it's appropriate to criticize someone and how that criticism should be phrased. In season 4, after a minor fallout with Karasuno, Kageyama admits that he has trouble understanding other people's feelings and choosing the right words to get his point across.
• Due to being raised on an isolated island, Kajika from Hanasakeru Seishounen is like this. She always says what she means and does not sugarcoat it. At one point she calls out and slaps a prince. She says this to Eugene after asking him for advice (about love):
  Eugene: Why did you come to me about it?
  Kajika: Well, out of all my friends... there's only one who's really, really, reeeeeeeally knowledgeable about this stuff. And that's you Mustafa!
  Eugene: I won't deny it, but...
• Inuyasha. He seemed to be about six when he was orphaned and seems to have survived for the next one hundred and forty-six years rejected by both human and Youkai, no surprise he forgot what tact he'd learned from his mother.
• Saruhiko Fushimi in K, with a nice side of Servile Snarker, mostly to his King. It seems Munakata likes it, though, because he keeps Fushimi around as his third in command. There are only two situations where he's not brutally honest: when he's on an undercover mission, and to himself (that he actually does care for his friends).
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Kaguya's cold side is far more honest than her main personality and is at least willing to admit she's attracted to Shirogane and states, "she has an insatiable craving for his ..." before regular Kaguya cut her off. This seems to also apply to her interactions with anyone other than Shirogane, as unlike her usual self her cold side is incredibly blunt while asking Kashiwagi for advice, outright admitting that she is in love with Shirogane, that she wants to be kissed by him, and that if he wanted to she would probably let him have sex with her. Unfortunately, she is unable to be honest when she is actually faced with him, something she is fully aware of.
• Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss. He will tell just about anybody what he really thinks about the situation whether they asked him to or not and he will usually do it in the rudest possible way. We do see on occasion that he does know how to be tactful, but most of the time he chooses not to be. This also means when he dodges around things (like the fact he likes Nanami) it's painfully obvious. This actually results in a heartwarming moment when Tomoe finally admits to loving Nanami, as his honesty and complete lack of censorship make it Squee inducing.
• Kaze no Shōjo Emily: Ms. Brownell thinks Emily's writings are stupid and tells her that she won't accomplish anything in the future, right in front of everyone in the whole class. Thankfully she's replaced by a better, nicer teacher later.
• In K-On!, Yui watches the light music club's first performance and tells them outright that they aren't very good.
• Kotoura-san deals with this in a few ways.
  • Deconstructed in Haruka's case. Haruka the telepath became The Cassandra because of this trope — her words made all the people around her seem like a compulsive liar, and for that reason she was labelled the compulsive liar. That's the reason why she can stand Manabe; he's one of the few people who actually speaks what he thinks.
  • Manabe's case is more Lighter and Softer than his girlfriend does as he at least can't read others' minds. He plays it for both laughs and drama.
• The "Magical Cooking" one-shot of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Comic à la Carte official anthology book presented a dilemma for Nanoha and Fate. Their daughter, Vivio, had just proudly baked some cookies on her own. Unfortunately, the cookies were awful. After taking one bite, Fate ran through various thoughts on what's the best way to say this to her daughter without breaking her 9-year-old heart. Nanoha, on the other hand, demonstrates the exact difference between her and Fate's opposed approaches to parenting:
  Nanoha: [while brightly smiling at Vivio] It's terrible.^note It isn't quite as mean as it seems, because Nanoha then goes on to explain why the previous batch of cookies were much better, so her overall assessment is constructive criticism with an especially blunt lead-in.
• Takashi Hayashida from March Comes in Like a Lion does not mince any words whenever he directly or indirectly speaks of his student Rei's social ineptness in school.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Early in the series, when the Quirkless Izuku asks All Might if he could ever be a hero, All Might, fearing for Izuku's safety and using his Game-Breaking Injury as an example of how dangerous the life of a hero was, stated that Izuku could never be a hero. This hits Izuku hard, but only for a short time, as Izuku's selflessly trying to save a friend from a villain in spite of his powerless nature convinces All Might that Izuku could be a hero after all, leading to Izuku being named All Might's successor.
  • When asked to give her opinion of the training between Izuku, Uraraka, Bakugo, and Iida, Yaoyorozu pointed out and scrutinized all the flaws of each person. Namely, Bakugo was not a good team player and was destructive, Uraraka lost focus halfway through the training, and both Bakugo and Izuku allowed their emotions/personal feelings get in the way of their original goal (to secure/protect the weapon). Iida was the only one she praised who did his part effectively. Regardless she said a lot more than what All Might wanted, resulting in an awkward silence from the rest of the class and All Might to think she was being a little too honest.
  • Tsuyu Asui's brutal honesty is acknowledged in-universe as her general M.O. ("I always say all that's in my mind", as she freely admits to Izuku when she starts talking to him) She has no filter and says what she thinks about others, frequently snarking at the antics of her zanier classmates and rarely letting personal feelings or sentiment get in the way of her judgment.
• In My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Catarina attracts the attention of fourth prince Alan by saying he's boring and unappealing if he has to complain to someone that she's hogging his fiancee's attention. If he was so great his fiancee would be paying attention to him no matter what Catarina did. Of course, the joke here is that Alan is actually right and that Catarina has been (accidentally) seducing his fiancee.
• Naruto:
  • Sai was raised as an assassin and spy by Root, an organization where all emotion is stamped out. As a result, he can't predict whether his words will hurt others, and many problems are created or solved because Sai, unlike the other teenage protagonists, doesn't pussyfoot around delicate issues like "The promise your best friend made you when he was twelve is killing him" or "Sasuke is too dangerous to be left alive".
  • Also Tobirama Senju, aka. The Second Hokage. He has no problem saying exactly what he thinks about the Uchiha Clan, even if one of the last surviving members is the one asking him.
• Luffy from One Piece seems to do this deliberately, such when he broke Tama's heart in pieces by telling her that Ace died (though given that he personally witnessed this, well...) when she was awaiting him to return to Wano. Zoro and usually Sanji tend to follow suit, what with Zoro admitting his gripes on fighting Tashigi (she reminds him of his dead childhood friend) and Sanji declaring he Wouldn't Hit a Girl even if it kills him, not to mention his chivalrous disposition with females.
• Koma, from Otaku Elf has a tendency to blurt out whatever she's thinking without regard to how others might take it, as Koito is quick to point out the first time she does it on-page. For example, when she first meets Elda, the titular otaku elf, her first remark is on how big Elda's ears are. That plus the laughing didn't help Elda's complex about said ears.
• Ouran High School Host Club's Haruhi is usually a Deadpan Snarker and sometimes it's because of this. Often times she's just stating the honest truth without realizing it might actually hurt someone's feelings.
• Persona 4: The Animation: Yu Narukami has practically no filter when it comes to honesty. In one example, when Rise Kujikawa tries to make an origami crane and botches it, he says, completely nonchalantly, "You suck."
• Ryuunosuke in The Pet Girl of Sakurasou; he did not hide why he comes out to attend classes (to obtain enough attendance points to go to college), and, of course, towards Rita in episode 10, when he sees right through her "fake smile" and tells it like he sees it. It doesn't go very well with her.
• In Plastic Memories, Isla's diary is filled with this. While Tsukasa notes that the entries seem kind of generic, Isla says that their job is to rip apart the bonds formed by humans and their Giftia. He sees this firsthand with Chizu and Nina.
• Shiho's mother in Psychic Squad adopts this as something of a coping mechanism due to Shiho's psychometry powers, which enable mind-reading with any physical contact. So as to not try to hide things from Shiho, she simply speaks her mind, with no regard as to what she's about to say.
• Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½ tells the brutal truth, but he tells Blatant Lies almost as often. Sometimes he tells the truth even when toning it down or lying may have served him better, especially when confronted with Akane — this can easily be seen as early as the first Martial Arts and Crafts story, where he proclaims Ryōga's declaration of Akane's progress to be nothing but the lovestruck Eternally Lost Boy lying through his teeth for Akane's sake. On the other hand, especially in the manga, Ranma will lie without a second thought if it suits his purposes and is in fact one of the most deceitful, false-tongued, insincere members of the cast.
• Rebuild World:
  • Akira will not mince words with others and will tell someone straight to their face if he considers them expendable or if they're The Load. He's surprised when Shiori calls him out on this when she asked him to evaluate Reina's abilities, as his inability to speak with nuance or subtlety does nothing but anger everyone around him. This nearly leads to a shootout between him, Shiori, and Reina. Alpha gently chides him over this, explaining that he could have avoided all of this conflict had he chosen his words more carefully.
  • Much later on in the series, Reina ends up giving some of this to Akira while negotiating with him, telling him that she's thought of killing him for something he did (killing Katsuya). However, Akira laughs this off and respects her for her honesty, cementing the two as Fire-Forged Friends.
• Sailor Moon:
  • Shingo Tsukino. He's a Deadpan Snarker who often criticizes Usagi, but just about anything he ever says is the truth or at least his honest opinion. Keep in mind that even though he annoys Usagi and says some pretty harsh things, he does care about his sister.
  • Yaten Kou of the Sailor Starlights doesn't believe in sugarcoating and will tell you exactly what she thinks no matter how blunt it is.
• A few characters practice this in Saki:
  • Hiroko "FunaQ" Funakubo of Senriyama, after hearing that her teammate Izumi Nijou lost badly in her match in the semi-finals, says that she messed up, and proceeds to disabuse her of her notion that she's the best first-year mahjong player in the inter-high tournament.
  • Mairu Shirouzu of Shindoji has a similar approach to her teammate Hitomi Ezaki's similar loss in the third match of the semi-finals, in response to her saying that "It's all the government's fault!" In the first match, while talking with her best friend Himeko Tsuruta about their teammate Kirame Hanada's chances, she says that no matter how they put it, Kirame's situation does not look good, possibly considering that they knew she wasn't good enough to get on the team, and put her in that position because they knew she wouldn't go under 0.
  • In Saki Shinohayu -dawn of age-, this happens when Kanna recruits her friends to form a mahjong club and defeat Hayari Mizuhara, who won the local tournament, defeating Kanna.
    Kyouka: Are we supposed to beat (Hayari), too?
    Kanna: Nah. You're just here to be my sparring partners.
    Kyouka: Can't you at least try to show some tact?
  • Kyouka later turns it around by saying that she didn't come to watch Kanna at the mahjong tournament because she thought Kanna would be embarrassed to have one of her friends see her defeated and humiliated. In one of Kanna's POV chapters, however, this is subverted when it's revealed that Kyouka, however, did see at least part of the game.
  • Early on in the main series, Yasuko Fujita, a pro player, plays against and defeats Saki and Nodoka, then reveals that the best player on the team that won the prefectural tournament last year was able to defeat her.
    Fujita: Oh? You girls are also entering the preliminaries? Too bad. I think you girls understand, but there is absolutely no way you girls can win.
  • In a somewhat similar vein to Fujita, Chisa Sakane, advisor to the Yumachi mahjong club in Shinohayu, openly admits that she's an advisor in name only, and doesn't even want to do the little that she's doing since it's extra work for no pay. According to the Club President, though, she's kinder than she lets on, and she drops hints that she's not entirely satisfied with how things are. It turns out that she has no desire to push the students too hard.
• Saya of Servant × Service is prone to this, and her Innocently Insensitive hurt people even more. It was even lampshaded by the local Cosplay Otaku Girl Chihaya.
  Chihaya: She's perfect for Hydrangea [Blue, one of the heroines of Magical Flowers]... Because hydrangea... its hanakotoba is "brutal".
• The eponymous character in Soul Eater. He consistently and bluntly tells his partner, Maka, that's she's flat and lacks sex appeal; he doesn't dislike Maka, though, sharing several heartwarming moments with her. This comes back into light during the Book of Eibon arc in the Lust chapter where one's innermost lust reflects itself as a gender swap. Soul becomes a dead ringer for Maka.
• Tonari no Kashiwagi-san:
  • When Yuuto asks for it, Kazuki will respond bluntly, who can also be as direct to his girlfriend.
  • Sayaka, being who she is, won't spare feelings, either.
• In The Useless Senpai and The Talented Kouhai, Hiromi Tsukioka, the eponymous kouhai, is rather blunt when it comes to her senpai Shiori Ochiai and her many shortcomings. This is presented positively since unlike the rest of the team, which badmouths Ochiai behind her back, Tsukioka respects Ochiai enough to be honest with her.
• In Yuri is My Job!, Mitsuki Yano is rather blunt and usually says whatever's on her mind. Later chapters reveal that she struggles to read between the lines when interacting with others and doesn't like the idea of telling white lies.

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