Reflectionless Useless Eyes

Are your eyes reflecting the light? Lower your eyelids until the light is concealed. Voila, you've got yourself Reflectionless Useless Eyes.

Although often overlapped with "Uh-Oh" Eyes, these eyes are not inherently sinister. The primary meaning is in relation to the lowered head or eyelids due to fainting or death, and by extension, the unseeing eyes of the blind. Or they are utilized in a way ours are not because they belong to someone who is notably different.

Subtropes include Empty Eyes (post-traumatic flat eyes) and Dull Eyes of Unhappiness (which can be cured by taking a level in cheerfulness). A frequent feature of Mind-Control Eyes.

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Examples:

Unconscious, Dead, and Inanimate:

Anime & Manga

• Black Butler: Victims of Drossel's Puppet Permutation appear identical to their original human form, except for their glazed eyes and smooth skin.
• Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card: Sakura finally unmasks the cloaked figure, to reveal the lackluster eyes of a sleepwalker.
• Chobits (anime only): In the title sequence, a robot girl opens her eyes which are quite human, complete with gleam and detailed pupils. Then the Art Shifts so that they fade into her usual flatter brown irises with little glare. After that everyone's eyes are depicted this way. In the last episode, every robot gets normal-looking eyes during a worldwide upgrade.
• After Alfons is shot in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, his eyes quickly turn a dull colour.
• Hunter × Hunter: Used when Neon Nostrade makes prophecy through automatic writing. For some reason, Chrollo uses the same superpower without affecting his eyes (except in the first anime).
• Inuyasha: This happens to Kagome when she had her soul stolen by Urasue to re-create Kikyou.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Tends to happen to almost all characters who die, though they're more noticeable in the anime than the manga. Special shoutout goes to Koichi in Diamond is Unbreakable, after getting impaled and managed to survive, and Abbacchio in Golden Wind, whose eyes go from their normal to completely grey.
• Kemono Friends: Little Bit Beastly Friends born from extinct animal species like Japanese Crested Ibis or Aurochs don't have eye highlights. Also, Kaban's eyes go dim upon hearing her species' alleged extinction.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Chachamaru is drawn with less detailed eyes (ranging from "less shiny" to "flat") to emphasize her robotic nature, and her puppet sister Chachazero consistently have no light in her eyes.
• Ranma ½: The anime depicts Kogane with these to signify her status as a ghost.
• Talentless Nana: In the anime, Nana's recovery from a mortal injury is indicated by her eyes returning from this to normal.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Bruno/Dark Glass has these naturally. It's a hint to the fact that he's actually a Ridiculously Human Robot.

Fan Works

• Fantasy Kaleidoscope: Yuyuko is the only character who doesn't have white reflections in her eyes, by virtue of being a Cute Ghost Girl.

Video Games

• The characters of Etrian Odyssey are waiting for you to breathe life into them.
• In Doki Doki Literature Club!, Sayori and Yuri has these after dying from suicide.
• Rika in Higurashi: When They Cry is depicted with dull eyes whenever her corpse is depicted.
• Persona 5 Royal: Maruki's past girlfriend, Rumi has this while catatonic. They go away after she's actualized into forgetting about her trauma.

• World's End Club: One Dummied Out sprite for Reycho shows him with colorless eyes.

Visually Impaired:

Anime & Manga

• Aoharu × Machinegun: Tohru's eyes have no shine, indicating his poor eyesight.
• Armed Girl's Machiavellism: Tsukuyo Inaba's eyes are a dim brownish-red due to her blindness.
• Black Butler: Ciel's eyes go dull when blinded in the Emerald Witch Arc.
• Marin in Brigadoon: Marin and Melan after literally going Blind Without 'Em, though her eyes return to normal as long as she wears 'em.
• Cowboy Bebop: In "Waltz for Venus", the only detail in Stella's blind eyes is a black-to-gray gradient.
• The titular character of Cutey Honey, when blinded by scales of a butterfly monster.
• Dororo (2019): Hyakkimaru's prosthetic eyes have no shine.
• In Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy Mustang has these (combined with Milky White Eyes in the manga) after a forced Equivalent Exchange costs him his eyesight.
• Future Diary:
  • Minene Uryu's injured left eye is depicted as having a lusterless, crumpled iris.
  • Tsubaki Kasugano has poor eyesight, being unable to see more than a few meters.

• Hunter × Hunter:
  • Komugi keeps her blind Eyes Always Shut, except when she plays chess with these eyes.
  • Pairo has these eyes, indicating his visual impairment.
• Inuyasha:
  • After Inuyasha gets his right eye gouged out in the manga, he regenerates this eye until it becomes fully functional.
  • Inuyasha again, when blinded by the poison from Sesshomaru's claws.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • When Laguna Granscenic in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS finally removes her eye patch (after having been accidentally shot in the left eye), we see that the eye under it is dull and unfocused. It is never indicated explicitly, however, whether this means that even the advanced medicine on Midchilda cannot restore lost vision, or that she has, in fact, received a cybernetic replacement eye.
  • Nanoha's right eye is shown this way after the final battle of Detonation, though it's fine once they're in the hospital afterwards. According to supplementary material, that's because it was so badly damaged that it ended up being replaced with a cybernetic replica.
• Naruto: Sasuke had these eyes for a while because he nearly went blind from the overuse of his Mangekyo Sharingan. Implanting Itachi's eyes fixed that problem for good.
• The Prince of Tennis: This signifies that Yukimura has taken away the eyesight of his opponents.
• Sket Dance: Sasuke Tsubaki's eyes lack highlights, signifying his poor vision.
• In the final episode of Sword Art Online Alicization, Eugeo calls out for Kirito before he succumbs to his wounds. His eyes were glazed over, indicating he couldn't see anymore.

Fan Works

• Fate of the Clans: Subverted. Mikoto assumes at first that since Cú Chulainn Alter's eyes are dull it means he's blind. Turns out his vision is the same as before.

Literature

• Amagi Brilliant Park: In the light novel and manga, Latifa Fleuranza's eyes have flatter irises and less light than the other characters, which indicates her blindness.
• Anti Magic Academy The 35th Test Platoon: Orochi's eyes lack shine to indicate his blindness.
• In Another World with My Smartphone: Ellen, the wife of the Duke of Belfast, had been blind ever since contracting an illness five years in the past. Her eyes are dull and non-reflective at first, until the protagonist uses magic to restore her vision, and they gradually return to normal.
• Asura Cryin': Rikka Kurasawa loses her vision in one eye near the end of the series, and it becomes dull-colored and non-reflective.
• Jayfeather from Warrior Cats has reflectionless blue eyes. He was born blind.
• Similarly, Wings of Fire has Tamarin, a blind Rain Wing stated to have a sort of dull film over her eyes.

Video Games

• Katawa Shoujo: Lilly Satou has blue eyes that are slightly clouded.
• One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e: Misaki Kawana has these due to her blindness.
• Phantasy Star Online 2es: In the last chapters of Season 1, one of the heroes is hooked up to a machine that will allow the villain to absorb her. As it slowly shuts her down, she first loses the eyesight, giving her these.
• Rosie from Verdant Skies has foggy eyes due to being born blind.

Web Original

• A Game of Chance: Matthias Cline's eyes are blank and unmoving.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph's irises are pale grey because she's been blind since birth, though she's still able to "see" by sensing seismic vibrations.
• Megas XLR: The Robotic Worms have eyes that can only see energy.

Inhuman and Nonhuman:

Anime & Manga

• Akame ga Kill!: Susanoo's eyes are drawn with no highlights, which is more noticeable in the anime. This is probably to hint at his nature as a humanoid weapon.
• Assassination Classroom:
  • Looking closely, Blood Knight Karma's eyes lack the shine his classmates have. Also, his eyes are drawn a little wider, making him appear just a bit... off compared to the others.
  • Asano Sr. and Jr. lack any glimmer in their eyes, presumably to make them look more focused and ruthless.
• Vestals from Bakugan are different from humans by their eyes, because they have a colored pupil and no shine.
• Black Jack: When a patient notices that doctors, nurses and his mother are acting strangely, he starts seeing them as having these eyes. Instead of alien possession as he's convinced, it turns out his disease is so serious that everyone is hiding this information from him. Ironically, the attempted aversion of Lethal Diagnosis makes him become paranoid, almost killing him. Once the secret is disclosed, their eyes return to normal.
• Jeri Katou in Digimon Tamers has these while she is behaving oddly. However, this "Jeri" is actually a clone constructed from data.
• El Cazador de la Bruja:
  • When Ellis unconsciously manifests her powers under stress, her eyes go dull with dilated pupils. It seems like it indicates she's unconscious or distressed, but her eyes still change even after she gains full control of her powers.
  • L.A. on several occasions as Mind-Control Eyes.
• Fairy Tail: The eyes of Virgo and Aquarius lack any shine, emphasizing they're spirits.
• Freezing: Nova eyes, if they have humanoid eyes at all, glow so much that they overwhelm the light reflection. Pandoras get the same eyes if the Nova tissue in their body affects them too much.
• GeGeGe no Kitarō: Tofu-Kozo primarily has this trait in both the 2007 and 2018 anime unlike his previous incarnations that displayed with light.
• In Hell Girl, Hone Onna's eyes look like this due to her being a Youkai of human origin.
• Inuyasha: Half of the Big Bad Naraku's incarnations have glazed eyes.
• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro: When Neuro, a demon, takes human form his swirly eyes have no highlights; though he frequently pretends he's an ordinary man with ordinary eyes.
• Mahoraba: The Occult Research Club President's irises are entirely black.
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: People surpassing their physical and mental limits ("SEED mode") exhibit dull, expanded irises and constricted pupils.
• Morita-san Wa Mukuchi: Mayu Morita, the titular Quiet One, has "the eyes of frozen squid".
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: The demonic eyes of Zazie Rainyday and her sister.
• Pani Poni Dash!: It's as if Ichijou's flat brown eyes let nothing in or out; she is always Emotionless about everything happening around her, and we don't get to see what's happening inside her Chaotic Stupid mind.
• In Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God, the Friendly Enemy Rook frequently lacks highlights in his eyes. The Mood Whiplash comes after he and the hero spend an episode hanging out together, when he thanks his friend for the day with the highlights fading as the sun sets, and challenges him to the final battle. Averted after his Heel–Face Turn.
• The Prince of Tennis: When doubles players "synchronize" with each other and play as one, their eyes turn gold with no pupils.
• Sailor Moon: This happens when Uranus and Neptune pretend to make a Face–Heel Turn on the Senshi and side with Galaxia.
• Sola: This happens with all Yaka powers.
• The Buff Clan in Space Runaway Ideon look identical to humans, with the exception of their eyes.
• Several Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann characters get spiral-shaped eyes at various points when they're utilizing massive amounts of Spiral Power.
• ∀ Gundam: The Moonrace's eye reflects light less often than the Earthrace's. This serves as a way for the audience to distinguish Dianna and Kihel when they switch places.
• You Are Being Summoned, Azazel: Akutabe, a devil summoner with cold eyes who even devils are afraid of.

Video Games

• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon Black and White: N is truly Well-Intentioned, but his non-reflective eyes are a sign that something about him isn't right. Indeed his world view is heavily distorted, because he has a strange personality and his father, Ghetsis, has been misleading him with biased information to support Team Plasma. In a trailer for Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 after he is freed from the latter, his eyes now have sparkle, although they still don't reflect in most of his appearances.
  • Pokémon X and Y: Hex Maniacs have, well, maniacal eyes, and their battle sprites show them with hypnotized swirls.
  • Pokémon Sun and Moon: Lusamine's eyes are not only non-reflective, but are much more slanted than everyone else. Then we learn about how her insane obsession with the Ultra Beasts led to her becoming a harsher person, especially towards her children. When she is defeated and separated from Nihilego, her eyes start to reflect and are no longer slanted. Averted in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where her eyes reflect all the time, likely in her part of her becoming less of a villain.

Western Animation

• Monsuno: Master Ey has flat green eyes, indicating his otherworldly knowledge.

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