Perpetual Frowner / Anime & Manga

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Perpetual Frowners in Anime & Manga.

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• Attack on Titan: Judging by its visible facial muscles, the Colossial Titan is trying to scowl even if it doesn't have a face.
  • Several characters in the series are this trope, including the protagonist Eren Yeager, Annie Leonhart, Levi, and Eren Kruger. Considering the horrifying Crapsack World they all live in, it makes sense. They're all traumatized.
• Battle Angel Alita: Alita, in addition to her Perpetual Frown, usually has a Perpetual Pout as well, amply lampshaded. She even got nicknamed "Octopus Lips" in-story, and when Zwoelf has to pose as her she loudly complained that Alita's constantly sullen expression is very boring. Though, given her backstory, it's somewhat justified.
• Berserk: Guts during his days as the Black Swordsman after the Eclipse. Again, he doesn't have much reason to smile after watching his entire team get slaughtered and eaten by demons, and the love of his life get raped to insanity by his former commander turned demonic god. In fact, when he does smile, it's either a sneer (usually directed toward Puck) or a murderous and bloodthirsty grin (which he reserves for his demonic enemies).
• Black Butler's William T. Spears never smiles and always looks at everyone with disdain.
• Giichi from Blade of the Immortal. Admittedly, he has good reasons to never smile.
• Bleach:
  • Ichigo is well-known for his default frowning expression, early on revealed to be a result of losing his mother at a young age and trying very hard to cultivate a badass image ever since. (In one episode when Kon runs amok in Ichigo's body, Ichigo bemoans Kon ruining his image that he'd worked so hard on.)
  • Hitsugaya is also a major frowner, probably a result of frequently being the most professional among a group of wackier characters.
  • Kenpachi is usually frowning whenever he's not in the middle of a fight, in which case he'll have a big Slasher Smile.
  • Among the Vizards, Hiyori and Kensei. Hiyori is implied to have led a rough life even before Aizen's experiments, and Kensei is probably perpetually annoyed by Mashiro. Kensei's case is somewhat Lampshaded when he is trying to smile and comfort a young Shuuhei Hisagi — and ends up with an unintentionally evil version of The Unsmile.
  • Ulquiorra Cifer is also this, almost always keeping a frowned expression on his face due to his inability to feel human emotion, which he calls "the heart". The closest he can get to emotion is when he is shocked. He finally understands emotions when he dies.
• Jun never smiles until the very last few episodes of Bokurano. Even then, his smiles are rare and small.
• Hitomi Mizumura from the Hentai manga Boys Empire is like this at first. Makoto even lampshades it for us:
  Makoto: Mizumura looks like she's always angry or something.
• In Brave10, Nobuyuki never looks happy.
• Buso Renkin: Tokiko is rarely seen without smiling during the first half of the series as she is totally dedicated to her mission to destroy homunculi. This changes in the second half of the series when she begins to soften her expressions due to her relationship with Kazuki.
• Wagner from Classi9 usually has expressions ranging from "positively annoyed" to "pissed as hell". When Liszt mentions Wagner laughed when he got drunk once, Bach and Mozart immediately dismiss the thought as Nightmare Fuel. He smiled a grand total of two times in the manga and had one chuckle in the last chapter.
• Code Geass: Come R2, Suzaku Kururugi smiles less and less; eventually, by the last couple of episodes, we don't see him smile at all. Gino lampshades this when he's looking through a packet of photographs from the good old days at Ashford Academy; he comes across Suzaku in several of the pictures and comments, "I've never seen Suzaku smile like that. He's so... happy!"
• Cowboy Bebop's Vicious is also not a happy camper. The only smiles that he actually gives are Slasher Smiles that live up to his name.
• Kyōtarō Ichikawa from The Dangers in My Heart is typically scowling on default, as fitting of his negative personality. The handful of smiles he makes are usually awkwardly forced. Even throughout his kindergarten and elementary school days, he consistently had a blank, neutral expression and his graduation book doesn't appear to have so much as a smirk in any photos.
  Yamada: He laughs and smiles a lot! Like when I showed him the cat-mantis stamp. Or when I showed him that dog face switch.
  Ichikawa: That was false laughter.
• The number of times L had smiled in Death Note can most likely be counted in less than fifteen panels. He is generally the "focused and serious" variety, though sometimes he dips into "mopey and listless". Both of his successors, however, are more expressive. Near frequently displays a Cheshire Cat Grin, and Mello has a full-on Slasher Smile a lot of the time.
• Kokushibo from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is never seen smiling, save two very specific stances, both in flashbacks in happier times: 1) As a kid, in Yoriichi's version of their childhood recollection. 2) For a brief period as an adult, happy with his wife and children as head of the Tsugikuni family.
• In Digimon Ghost Game, Asuramon's three heads can each only experience and express a very limited range of emotions unless they wear faces that they stole from humans, which carry the victims' emotions and personalities. While they can change their expressions to a degree, a given head can only make a full range of expressions while wearing a stolen face. Of the three heads, the left one can normally only experience sadness and the middle one can only experience anger. These two heads can't even smile while laughing maniacally from the high they get from wearing a face whose owner was feeling powerful emotions. The right head is a Perpetual Smiler instead.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Among several others, Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta were the three biggest Perpetual Frowners in Dragon Ball Z. The only things they did with their arms were punching, lifting, push-ups and crossing over the chest. Though Vegeta does crack a smile every now and then in the form of an arrogant smirk (and the occasional evil grin during his scenes as a villain).
  • Piccolo got the occasional grin as well, mainly when interacting with Gohan — even with the eyebrows up at least once (during his death in DBZ). Vegeta, however, had somehow managed to master scowling even when asleep or unconscious.
  • Launch from the original series always has a frown in her blonde-haired form, opposite to her blue-haired side's Perpetual Smiler.
• Tetsuma Jou, receiver for the Seibu Wild Gunmen from Eyeshield 21, has had a permanent serious frown on his face from (at least) the tender age of four. Although he did once adopt an expression of raging, unholy killing intent when Gaou broke Kid's arm, if that counts as a change.
• Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star used to be a happy camper but after his best friend kidnapped his fiancee and left him for dead in the desert, it's understandable that he doesn't smile much.
• Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist has smiled a grand total of three times in the entire anime. He also smiles once in the manga, in the Ishvalan refugee camp when he is told that there are many survivors of the genocide in camps all over the country.
• Haikyuu!!:
  • Kageyama fits this trope to the point that he even looks angry when he's doing mundane things such as trying to decide what drink to get from a vending machine. In one episode of season 4, a boy watches him frowning to himself and figures he must be plotting something when he's actually thinking about buying t-shirts.
  • Ushijima also fits for how stoic and serious he is in general.
• Professor Hoot from Happy Happy Clover is mostly seen with a serious expression and pretty strict with the younger animals since he's the teacher and doctor of Crescent Forest. But he does smile a few times when he gets very impressed.
• Germany and Sweden from Hetalia: Axis Powers rarely smile, though not because they're unhappy. Hong Kong may be a straighter example, and Belarus mixes this with Yandere. Germania so much so that he couldn't smile when he tried to.
  • Of the few blood-related siblings, Norway and Iceland both tend to frown, and have only rarely been seen smiling.
  • Japan too. While it's more of a blank expression than a frown and he has smiled once or twice, it's noticeable enough that one manga strip revolved around Italy trying to get Japan to smile and failing.
  • Netherlands has also never been shown smiling yet, always having either a disinterested expression or scowl on his face whenever he appears.
  • Romano is almost always scowling, contrasting with the perpetually-smiling Spain. The few times he has smiled, it's been pretty unsettling.
• Hiyo and Vivid!: To Hiyo's annoyance, her face is stuck in a cold, deadpan glare no matter how much she thinks she's smiling.
• Sesshomaru from Inuyasha is characterized by his constant aloof, disdainful frown, though it is said that he is all the more dangerous when he actually does smile; on one occasion when he did smile, Jaken was so freaked out by it that he literally begged Sesshomaru to get angry and beat him instead.
• Jotaro Kujo from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure hardly ever smiles throughout the series. (In fact, one of the few times he does, it's because he's inches away from losing his mind.)
• Shinobu from Junjou Romantica, when he's not crying. He's even frowning in the opening theme while glomping Miyagi.
• Momo from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War seems to only be capable of three emotions: boredom, annoyance, and anger. She is, however, shown giving a smirk in Chapter 202 when Shirogane gets her and the other members of the previous student council together to throw a small graduation party for his predecessor.
• Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss. He actually has a lot to be pissed about; like the fact that his master and best friend Mikage abandoned him twenty years before the start of the story or the fact that he was made an indentured servant to an Ordinary High-School Student. However, he also manages to be pissed at anything and everything.
• Kill la Kill:
  • Ryuko Matoi herself is usually shown to be rather grumpy, though she does become more chipper over time. Then again, it's hard to blame to her considering everything she went through.
  • Satsuki Kiryuin often has a scowl on her face. Ryuko once even referred to her as a "perpetually frowning, caterpillar-eyebrow bitch." If she's smiling, it's not so much a smile; it's a smirk.
  • Her friend, Shiro Iori is much the same way, as in all the time we've seen him, he has an annoyed/serious expression. He's only smiled once.
• Lady!!: Baron Gruffald often frowns and has an unhappy past because of his Career-Ending Injury that prevented him from competing in the Olympics. He is a harsh teacher to Lynn and always critisizes her style of riding Victoria. Lynn is hurt, but this motivates her to practice even more.
• Constanze from Little Witch Academia is perpetually grumpy and gloomy, and it's implied she suffers from some sort of mental disorder. Constanze also from Germany, so she could be a nod to the stereotype that Germans are often depressive. However, at the end of one episode she did give a radiant smile to Akko.
• Ogami Itto from Lone Wolf and Cub seems to have only two expressions: Grim scowl, or horrified surprise.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Nove in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, whose expression is always in some form of angry, and maybe some bits of embarrassment. In fact, fans reacted with shock when the artwork for an audio drama showed her with a slight smile on her face. She would later lose this characteristic after a few years of being Happily Adopted.
  • Rinne from ViVid Strike! is noted to never smile, even after she wins fights. The only time she is shown to smile is while she has breakfast with her adoptive parents.
• Exedore/Exsedol's redesigned version, when seen in Macross 7. The only time he ever smiles is...
• Dr. Hell from Mazinger Z has mostly three default expressions: angry, worried and disappointed/frustrated. He seldom smiles (fortunately, since when he actually does so, it is a very creepy Slasher Smile).
• Kii the dryad from Monster Musume always looks either bored or vaguely annoyed. Lala also very rarely smiles, but mostly to keep up her "reaper of souls" facade.
• In My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected, the anime version of Hachiman Hikigaya nearly always has his eyebrows in a knit. He does smile but usually it's a wry smile.
• Naruto:
  • Even after rising to become the first Chuunin in his class, achieving the place as team leader of the group, being subjected to considerable Character Development, and getting a potential girlfriend, Shikamaru still doesn't seem to find a reason to wipe that big ugly frown off his face.
  • Sasuke also started out as a frowner due to his tragic past and fervent mission in life to kill his brother. However, following his Face–Heel Turn and the series' timeskip, Sasuke gains a more impassive look, adding to his growing similarity with his Aloof Big Brother.
  • Gaara, even after accepting his companions, has almost never smiled a non-murderous smile. In the later manga chapters, Gaara smiles once in awhile and generally shows far more emotion than he used to, but it's still pretty rare in comparison to other characters.
  • Shikamaru's son Shikadai has inherited his serious expression in Boruto.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Along with a certain pose, Gendo Ikari is a reliable owner of one of these. While he is occasionally seen smiling, in the vast majority of cases, it is when he smirks in triumph over something going just as planned. His only truly warm smiles only really ever happen around Rei or in flashbacks to before Yui's death.
  • Gendo's son Shinji, being a Angst-filled woobie with many mental issues, likewise has a sad frown on his mug 24/7. In the manga, when Shinji does smile, his caretaker Misato immediately takes note of it and tells Shinji that he's much cuter when he smiles and that he should do it more often.
  • Rei Ayanami, being the Trope Codifier for Emotionless Girl, naturally has an impassive frown on her face all the time. When Rei does smile◊ for Shinji (who is also smiling and crying with happiness over the fact she's not hurt) in Episode 6, it's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
• Renge from Non Non Biyori is affixed with a perpetual half-open-eyed frown (with flashbacks showing that she's been like this since she was a baby). Though it's not very indicative of her mood, as she's your average Cheerful Child.
• One Piece:
  • Try to find canonical pictures of Zoro where he's just smiling happy and friendly-like as opposed to scowling or just smirking. It's very hard. Especially recently, though. He used to smile and laugh quite frequently in early appearances. It gets rarer after he loses to Mihawk. In the Arlong Arc, Sanji notes that Zoro developed a bad temper after he lost to Mihawk, so this change is very, very intentional on Oda's part. It's gotten to the point where Sanji and random strangers◊ literally force Zoro to curl his lips up because otherwise he just ain't doing it.
  • Speaking of Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman has smirked a few times (when Zoro challenges him, when Zoro accepts his loss and turns around so he won't have a swordman's greatest shame of a wound to the back, and when Luffy states that he'll become Pirate King) and outright laughed when Zoro asks Mihawk to tutor him, but otherwise has a constant dispassionate frown.
  • Similar case with Tashigi. She smiled a lot early on, but after some bad experiences in Alabasta, likely disillusioning her in many important ways, she generally looks either impassive or rather miserable. She smiles again after taking care of the giant children at the end of the Punk Hazard arc.
  • Jimbei has this as his regular face with him rarely changing it.
  • Trafalgar Law is an interesting example in that, in his first appearance and all other pre-timeskip appearances to a lesser extent, he was established as a Perpetual Smiler instead. Post-timeskip, however, he has become this, being portrayed as a much more serious character.
  • Once his true appearance was actually revealed, contrasting with the Slasher Smile of his unfinished character design, Kaido just seems to be perpetually pissed off at something, never changing his dour grimace. It seems fitting enough, considering he's the sort of Death Seeker that would set the whole world on fire and walk into the flames to see if they could finally kill him (which would be up for debate).
    • Averted in later chapters and episodes, Kaido can smile it just ain't pretty◊.
• Kasanoda from Ouran High School Host Club is an unfortunate example. He looks scary as hell, and his default expression is an angry frown... because he's been trained from childhood to take over the position of Yakuza boss of his family. Unfortunate, because he's not such a bad guy, but nearly everyone is too freaked out to notice.
• Paul from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, as by far Ash's most serious rival, is almost always shown scowling, save for the occasional Psychotic Smirk when trapping Ash either verbally or in battle.
• Fakir from Princess Tutu. He's constantly frowning, even when he's sleeping and coming out of the shower.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Homura Akemi always has a melancholic look on her face. And she's got a lot of reason to.
• Reborn! (2004):
  • Xanxus is in a permanently bad mood and nearly always scowling, but his smile is even more frightening.
  • Tsuna in Dying Will form has been described several times as having "his brows always furrowed".
• Samurai Champloo:
  • Mugen always has a nasty, twisted, "don't trust anybody/ya wanna mess with me?" look on his face. Unless presented with food.
  • Jin doesn't smile, since he's The Stoic.
• Sgt. Frog: Giroro, presumably, though the Keronian biological structure disguises this a little.
• Kaede Rukawa from Slam Dunk has this expression as a standard. He only gives one smile throughout the entire story, in the second-to-last volume. Doesn't stop girls from fawning over him, though. The fact that he's The Ace of Shohoku certainly helps.
• Kurogane from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-. The only times you see him smiling are when he's fighting... And it's more of a Slasher Smile than everything. He only really smiled in the flashbacks from his childhood... And in Chapter 167.
• Sheila from Tweeny Witches wears a stern expression at almost all times.
• Thorfinn from Vinland Saga, when he does smile, those smiles are rather....vicious.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!. This was commented on in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, with Yugi remarking "Every time Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies.". The latter's expression does lighten occasionally (and usually when he gets to stroke his own ego in the most hamtastic way possible) but otherwise pulls off the 'stern' expression 90% of the time.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX:
    • Kaiser Ryo. Oddly enough, his Face–Heel Turn to Hell Kaiser caused him to smile... evilly, with a touch of insanity.
    • Edo is initally introduced as the opposite of this trope, but as we get to see more and more of him, his smiles become much rarer. He's serving as the Shadow Archetype of Judai after all.
    • Edo's new Ace Monster, Destiny HERO Bloo-D/Plasma, takes this trope up to eleven, who is always depicted with an angry expression on his face.
• Yusaku Fujiki of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is hardly seen with a non-serious expression thanks to his Dark and Troubled Past where he was kidnapped and forced to duel for months when he was 6. He has lightened up and appears to smile more after the Tower of Hanoi, but it's few and far between.

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