History Bifauxnen / AnimeAndManga

* Actually a plot point for the GirlsLove manga ''Manga/GokujouDrops''. Turns out a boy Komari made a childhood promise with years ago [[spoiler:was her current squeeze Yukio]].

* ''Manhwa/BoyOfTheFemaleWolf'' features [[HugeSchoolGirl Eun-soo Cha]], who passes as a very attractive and hilariously vain ("You dare hurt my beautiful face!?") boy and gets into fights -- the difference is she does it 24/7 (going to school as a boy was one incentive to move in with her mom). Her [[FreudianExcuse reason]] is that she sees women as frivolous and weak -- her mom [[ParentalAbandonment effectively abandoned]] her when she married a guy from overseas; her grandma [[spoiler:recovered from a serious illness only to die suddenly, yet another abandonment]], and all those schoolgirls fawning over her doesn't help either.

* ''Manhwa/HesDedicatedToRoses'' features [[{{Meganekko}} Choi Ida]], who masquerades as [[BoisterousBruiser Choi Yodah]] in order to vent the frustrations of being under the thumb of [[ManipulativeBitch Manipulative]] RichBitch Mimi. As Choi Yodah she accidentally attracts a female bully after rescuing her and a {{Bishounen}} named Naru because [[spoiler:she resembles his dead little brother]]. [[PlotHole If Ida's so poor and her room so small, where did she get and stash all those flashy male clothes? And where did she get them to begin with, or is Asian fashion that androgynous?]]

* ''Manhwa/LoveInTheMask'': The heroine is a bodyguard to a wealthy girl and had to become a boy because "a female bodyguard wouldn't be taken seriously" (despite living with her charge there's no chance of BodyguardCrush since they're LikeBrotherAndSister). Apparently it's not too successful since a character who only recently returned to Korea and never met her promptly addresses her with a female honorific and asks if everyone in the entire school is blind.

** Utena in the series is a very downplayed example. She wants to embody her idea of a [[PrinceCharming "prince"]], is generally tomboyish and athletic, and [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer has a lot of female admirers]], but she dislikes actually being identified as masculine. Thus her choice of attire is a mix between feminine and masculine, wearing a modified boy's uniform with red shorts and having long hair.

* Tomo from ''Manga/TomoChanIsAGirl'' can easily be mistaken for a guy because she dresses and acts in a very boyish manner (in spite of having BoobsOfSteel), though she can look quite stunning when made up in more feminine clothing. In fact, her ChildhoodFriend Junichiro actually ''did'' think she was a guy until middle school when he saw her wearing a skirt...granted, before that he'd seen her going into girls' bathrooms and '''still''' didn't put it together, but in hindsight he fully admits that it was SelectiveObliviousness.

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** Itsuki Myoudin from ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure''. Justified because she had to take over her family's business, and her older brother Satsuki (who [[DudeLooksLikeALady looks like a girl]], oddly enough) is sick, so she believes she has to dress like the opposite gender. And her disguise was so convincing, EvenTheGirlsWantHer. She looks much more feminine as Cure Sunshine, however.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'':
** Believe it or not, Sakura Kinomoto pulled this off at least once. Most noticeably in the ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' SchoolPlay where she was cast as the Prince and donned a boyish outfit ''really'' well.
** An earlier anime episode had a minor character called Yuki Tachibana, who disguised herself as a boy in her attempts to undo the vandalism done to her father's painting of her. For a while, she had everyone fooled. [[GenderReveal Then the hat came off after Sakura captured the Clow Card that was responsible for the vandalism in question]], revealing Yuki's long hair.

* ''Literature/HalfPrince'' has a variation. The main character is a girl who takes on the role of a male in a virtual reality MMORPG, very few people see through the disguise, and what few do only manage to do so after she gives herself away.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'': Ennis is a partial case, being obviously female but prone to dressing and carrying herself like a man in a time period where that didn't often happen. The real Bifauxnen however is Ricard Russo, who's more often taken for a cute little boy than a teenage girl by characters ''and'' [[ViewerGenderConfusion readers]].

* ''LightNovel/ByTheGraceOfTheGods'': in vol 5, Eliaria Jamil meets Michelle, who quickly becomes part of her training squad and friend group. Michelle keeps her hair short, wears boy's pants with girl's shirts and in a later scene is mistaken as a boy by some jealous boys who think she's 'hogging all the girls'. Michelle tells Eliaria her hair and clothing is simply a matter of practicality (she's a magical researcher who spends lots of time doing physical things like crawling around on the ground and grinding up crystals). In fact, she actually lost all her initial friends in her first weeks at the academy when she revealed she ''wasn't'' a crossdresser.
* Kaoru Sayanomiya of ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'' is a powerful miko, head of the Tokyo branch of the History Compilation Committee, and heir to her powerful family. Her only flaw is her tendency to wear men's clothing, even at formal events where she's known to be a woman. Many of her female classmates have fallen in love with her and she makes no effort to correct them on her gender or discourage their attempts to win her over.

* ''LightNovel/FamiliaChronicleEpisodeLyu'': While undercover at Orario's largest casino, Lyu Lyon dresses up as a young male Elf noble with Syr as her escort and easily passes through without arousing suspicion. Bell and his companions only recognized her because the former is a regular at the Hostess of Fertility along with their prior adventure together in the Dungeon and the latter were once beaten by her.

* Protagonist Ryougi Shiki of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' is a subtle example, as there are few extraneous characters to comment on her handsomeness. In the first chapter, every phrase concerning her was [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns written so that her actual gender was not mentioned]] until the second-to-last line. This probably has to do with her (originally) having two personalities, one male and one female. Though by episode 4 (chronologically 2) [[spoiler:SHIKI (the male personality) sacrifices himself in the Void for Shiki (the female personality) to live on, wakes up from her coma, and gaining the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]].

* Halfway through the series ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}'', the protagonist Kodaka Hasegawa was surprised to find out that his long forgotten male childhood friend "Sora" was Yozora Mikazuki, who was actually a female.

* Interestingly, another Itsuki is assumed to be this at first in ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', but the title character quickly decides that "for now, he looked male".

* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' plays with this deliberately, as [[spoiler:the title character]]'s gender isn't made explicit to the audience for a couple of episodes. [[spoiler:Kino]] seems to be designed as an "everyman" (well, a woman) who everyone can identify with to some extent.

* Both Yayoi and Lin from ''LightNovel/{{Kurenai}}''. It's no wonder that they always end up fighting each other.

* Kaoru Daichi from ''LightNovel/LadiesVersusButlers'' is both Akiharu's roommate and a girl crossdressing as a boy. Given what type of series this is, this makes for some awkward tension.

* ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'': Rei Hasekura is a subversion. She happens to be a KendoTeamCaptain, tall, and short-haired, but this is the extent of her boyish qualities; [[{{Moe}} her short, delicate-looking]] ''petite soeur'' Yoshino is the actual tomboy of the [[MoeCouplet pair]]. Rei also tends to wear male (or at least male type) clothes when out of uniform, though this could be due to having difficulty find clothes in her size.

* ''Literature/StrawberryPanic'': Amane Ohtori ("the Prince of Spica"), as well as her [[PsychoLesbian predatory]] EvilCounterpart Kaname. In an amusing irony during the manga, Amane is almost railroaded into pairing up with Kaname for the Etoile contest, under the logic that her fangirls would be [[YaoiFangirl less upset about that kind of setup]]. The light novels add yet another bifauxnen, Makoto Kusanagi.

* Interestingly, another Itsuki is assumed to be this at first in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', but the title character quickly decides that "for now, he looked male".

* ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs'': Rei Hasekura is a subversion. She happens to be a KendoTeamCaptain, tall, and short-haired, but this is the extent of her boyish qualities; [[{{Moe}} her short, delicate-looking]] ''petite soeur'' Yoshino is the actual tomboy of the [[MoeCouplet pair]]. Rei also tends to wear male (or at least male type) clothes when out of uniform, though this could be due to having difficulty find clothes in her size.

* ''LightNovel/StrawberryPanic'': Amane Ohtori ("the Prince of Spica"), as well as her [[PsychoLesbian predatory]] EvilCounterpart Kaname. In an amusing irony during the manga, Amane is almost railroaded into pairing up with Kaname for the Etoile contest, under the logic that her fangirls would be [[YaoiFangirl less upset about that kind of setup]]. The light novels add yet another bifauxnen, Makoto Kusanagi.

* The entire main cast of ''Manga/AiOreLoveMe'' is made up of girls who look like men.. Well, most of the main cast. The one boy, Akira, [[DudeLooksLikeALady looks like a girl]].

* Momoe from ''Anime/WonderEggPriority'' is a deconstruction; her androgynous looks result in her being a ChickMagnet, but she actually has a complex about how masculine she looks since many girls tend to see her as a substitute for a boy rather than an actual girl.

* Oscar from ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'' is the archetypal example, more or less cribbed from the ''otokoyaku'' (boytype) role of the real-life Creator/TakarazukaRevue performers. ''The Rose of Versailles'' just happens to be one of their most famous performances.

** Utena in the series is a very downplayed example. She wants to embody her idea of a [[PrinceCharming "prince"]] and is generally tomboyish and athletic, but she dislikes actually being identified as masculine. Thus her choice of attire is a mix between feminine and masculine, wearing a modified boy's uniform with red shorts and having long hair.

* During the ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' episode "The Witch's Maw", Claire pulls this off by wearing a figure-concealing cape, pulling her already-short hair back, and [[VoluntaryShapeshifting lengthening her vocal cords]] to deepen her voice. The voice of her thoughts [[VoicesAreMental remains the same]], however.

** Although, this (like basically every other gender-based trope in the series) is PlayedWith a bit. While Kashima's appearance is textbook Bifauxnen, the only time she fits any part of the personality profile is when she's [[InvokedTrope doing it on purpose]]. Her real personality is [[CompetitionFreak competitive]], [[GenkiGirl energetic]], [[KiddieKid immature]], and possessed of [[CaptainOblivious stunningly bad social awareness]] and [[InsaneTrollLogic very strange thought processes]].

** In ''Anime/AdolescenceOfUtena'', Utena's appearance is [[TomboynessUpgrade significantly more masculine]]. She wears a more typical boy's uniform (a black and white suit with [[NiceHat a matching hat]]) and appears to wear her hair really short (it's actually CompressedHair, since official sketches show that she's hiding most of her hair under her hat - but then a few shots actually have it short ''without'' the hat on, so go figure). One of the major characters does not realize Utena is female until he's halfway into a fight scene. Her differing tastes in clothing in this continuity is not given any specific explanation.

** In ''Anime/AdolescenceOfUtena'', Utena's appearance is [[TomboynessUpgrade significantly more masculine]]. She wears a more typical boy's uniform (with full pants) and appears to have shorter hair (it's actually CompressedHair, since official sketches show that she's hiding most of her hair under her hat). One of the major characters does not realize Utena is female until he's halfway into a fight scene. Her differing tastes in clothing in this continuity is not given any specific explanation.