TRAPS
Literally
this means a device to capture wild animals, poachers or enemies. But there is
another meaning to TRAPS and this one is from Anime Terminology.
Traps
in anime means a boy that looks like a girl rather than a boy. Vice versa there
is also a Reverse Trap which is the counter-part of the Trap which is a girl
that looks more like a boy rather than a girl. A common term for this in
layman’s term is Androgynous, having a physic that can give other people a hard
time to determine if a person is a boy or a girl, in real life these people who
have these physics are commonly mistaken for being a homosexual mostly male
homosexuals who wants to achieve a feminine body and not a masculine body which
is often what males achieve in their teens and early adulthood where their
bodies start to fully develop.
In
anime these Traps are often the ice breakers of the series or the ones that
just want to put more confusion in the story. There are anime series where the
Traps are the main characters for the series rather than just being in the
background and supporting the other characters in the series.
In
my list there are some notable Traps and Reverse Traps that dates back to early
80’s anime series or maybe older.
The
Traps or Reverse Traps are often crossdressing characters
At
first, I was not aware of the term Trap or even the word anime when I first
encountered the first Trap in one series that I have watched titled Patalliro!
Saiyuki. The notable trap in the series was Maraich Juschenfe. Basically, the
character designs for the anime were seemed too feminine and during that time I
thought Maraich was a female character who fell in love with a male character
named Jack Barbarosa Bancoran until around year 2000 I found out that Maraich
was a male character as well. Maraich was not the main character for the series
but rather someone who can be either a villain or a supporting character for
the main character.
Maraich Juschenfe
Maria
Holic another series that has a crossdressing Trap but as a main character for
the series. The main character who pretends to be a female student due to the
circumstances of their family. He has a twin sister who is in a similar
situation enters an all boy school and pretends to be a male student. Vice
versa he pretends to be female and both of them must avoid getting caught and
their secret must never be exposed. A family inheritance is at stake and the
condition for who will inherit it will be decided on who will be able to
graduate without anyone finding out their secret.
Mariya Shidou
Princess
Princess, this anime is about a school where students are exclusive for boys.
Since the school has no girl students the moral of the school has been
fluctuating. In order to keep the moral of the students up they have a program
known as the Princess Program where three students are chosen to become
Princesses. The three chosen students are to dress as females, this program is
no secret to all the students except for those who are new to the school. The
male students know that the princesses are also male students whose mission is
to raise the moral of their schoolmates. The program chooses three students or
just to fill the three slots for the duty, graduating students or those who
have bodies that has started to become too obvious to be male are replaced with
someone whose body is more feminine or less developed to that of the male. The
weird part of this series is that even though all the students are aware that
the three Princesses are also males they are still head over heels with all
three members of the Princess group.
Princess Princess
HAPPINESS!!!
An
anime that was aired in 2006 with 12 episodes and 1 OVA in 2007. The anime is a
mix of magic, fantasy, romance and comedy. The series follows two main
characters Yuma Kohinata the main male character and Haruhi Kamisaka the main
female character who can use magic. The trap in this series is one of the
supporting characters that helped mold the series and the main characters. The
name of the trap in this series is Jun Watarase, also HE is the most beautiful
female in the series. The real female characters in the series does not even
mind that they have been defeated by a male student when it comes to beauty and
figure.
Jun Watarase
BAKA
TO TEST
This
is another series where the trap character is not a main character but rather a
side character much like Jun Watarase in Happiness. Hideyoshi Kinoshita is the
trap in the series but he is not one who is willing to become a trap or be
treated differently from the males. In this series he has been considered as a
UNIQUE character wherein the character Hideyoshi has been made as a GENDER in
this series. One scene here when a group was on a trip and was about to change
for bathing the girls entered their change room and the boys entered their own
but when it came to Hideyoshi he was given his own HIDEYOSHI room to change his
clothes. This was one of the comic relief for the series making Hideyoshi so
unique and a character that can stand between males and females because of this
stature and built. He also has a sister with whom he looked very similar to
except for their hair styles.
Hideyoshi Kinoshita
ROBOT
GIRLS Z
Robot
Girls Z is a series from 2014 based on the super robots made by Go Nagai and
given forms of females. Among all the characters in the series there is one
character from the enemy group whom was based on Minerva X the female version
of Mazinger Z in the classic series run of the Mazinger series. Well since the
characters in the series are all females and the Minerva X was supposed to be
the female version of the Mazinger, they end up making it into a TRAP the only
male character in the entire line up of the series. Minerva X does lewd stuff
for the Z-chan.
Minerva X
BLEND
S
A
series that came out in 2013 with 12 episodes following the main character
Maika Sakuranomiya who has a very sadistic aura even though all she wants is to
show her cheerful side. She works part time in a café ran by a foreigner named
Dino. He has a fetish when it comes with anime girls in which I think was the
trigger why he wanted to run a café as a business in Japan. He ended up having
5 waitresses to work in his small café with different personalities which
perfectly blended on what he always wanted. Except for one waitress who at
first wanted to be a popular idol and wanted to make the café her starting line
but in the end, it was more than that. Hideri Kanzaki who wanted to be a top
female idol was a MALE. Too cute that all members of Stile café was surprised
by his secret.
Hideri Kanzaki
ASSASSINATION
CLASSROOM
Assassination
Classroom is an anime series which came out with 2 seasons which aired on 2015
and 2016 with total of 48 episodes including OVA. The series came out with a
game and a film as well as a live action film. In the series the main character
is not a trap but rather a very good-looking male that can be used to disguise
as a female student in some situations. With his small and female like physique
combined with the beast that thirst for blood within him it became clear that
he can be a perfect assassin if he chose to be one. The character is Nagisa
Shiota.
Nagisa Shiota
RE:ZERO
An
insane anime series that came out in 2016 with 25 episodes. The main character
was suddenly transported to another world while buying some stuff at the convenience
store. After being transported to another world he also acquired the ability to
return to life once killed and repeat the same sequence until he finds the
right path for him to continue. But he is not the trap here the trap is later
introduced in the series and he is Felix Argyle a Beast Human. He wears clothes
that can easily tell that he is a female instead of a male character.
Felix Argyle
FATE/APOCRYPHA
One
of the series from the Fate Series Franchise, this series came out in 2017 with
25 episode, similar to the Fate/Night series there are seven chosen mages to
become masters but there is a twist in this series, it has become a team battle
of two factions. Seven masters and seven heroes for each team and one of the
heroes summoned is the trap. Astolfo a hero based on a fictional hero from
France. He does not wear female clothing but from how his clothes are shown in
the series it does show that he female. In the series he is one of the heroes
summoned by one of the mages to become a pawn in a game where two sides with
seven heroes battle it out for the Holy Grail. He became famous to the fans of
the Fate series as well as to those who are into characters who look more
feminine rather than masculine.
Astolfo
GET
BACKERS
An
anime series from 2003 with 49 episodes where the title itself is almost
literal to the story of the series. Two characters named Ginji and Ban are a
duo of what seemed to be detectives that can be hired to retrieve items that
has been taken from the one who requests their services. The trap in this
series is one of Ginji’s former teammate of Ginji when he was still part of a
group known as Volts. Kazuki Fuuchouin who at first glance would be thought of
as a female due to his outfit and personality.
Kazuki Fuuchouin
HIMEGOTO
A
series from 2014 with 13 episodes and this series is filled with traps all over
the place. Main character Hime Arikawa who was first seen what seemed being
harassed by two men in black, he was rescued the student council president. It
was later revealed to the student council that he was a male dressed in female
clothing. He was later forced to cross dress in order to repay the student
council after his family’s debt was paid in full. At first hesitant but later
on loved what he was doing. He is not the only crossdressing trap in the series
there are two or more characters in the series that are male crossdressers.
Hime Arikawa
NARUTO
Naruto
one of the longest running anime series that I know. Aired since 2002 up to
2007 with total of 220 episodes for the first run when he was just a ninja in
training and later for the Shippuden series in 2007 to 2017 with 500 episodes
with a total of 720 episodes in total plus some movies to boot. For those
Naruto fans they all know that there are some possible traps in this series but
one stands out and that is Haku the partner of Zabuza. Naruto thought Haku was
a female when they first met, heck I also thought that was a female character
until they revealed that he was a male.
Haku
YUYU
HAKUSHO
A
classic series from 1992 this series also got themselves a trap for an opponent
during one of their missions to rescue Yukina the twin sister of Hiei. They
come across an opponent named Miyuki who is one of the guardians of the mansion
where Yukina is being kept. Kuwabara was supposed to fight her but hesitated
since does not fight against women and was defeated. Yusuke defeated Miyuki
with one strong attack to knock her out. Yusuke was able to determine that
Miyuki was a male to note a transvestite after he groped her chest and the
jewels to be sure. Defeated and secret revealed.
Miyuki
VANDREAD
Sci-fi
battle of the sexes anime, the series came out in 2000 and 2001 with 13
episodes each season plus two OVA which are both summaries of the series run
plus some new scenes to fill some gaps from the TV series. The trap in the
series is one of the supporting characters but just like Miyuki from Yuyu
Hakusho BC or Buzam A. Calessa is a man who changed his body to look like a
female in order to infiltrate the female planet and gather intelligence to be
used against them once he returns to the planet of the males. Yup females have their
own planet and males have their own planet, watch the series. Unknowing to the
entire crew that he was originally a male one of the male captives fell in love
with BC and still confessed his love after knowing the secret.
Buzam A. Calessa BC
RUROUNI
KENSHIN
A
popular series that came out in 1996 to 1998 with total episode of 95. A movie
in 1997 a film series in 2011 to 2012, two OVA 1999 and 2001. This series also
got a live action trilogy 2012, 2014 and 2014. The series was popular world
wide that fans has been requesting for one more film. The trap in the series is
from the opponent and one of the soldiers of Shishio named Kamitari. A skilled
assassin and the secret was revealed by Yahiko after he was offered to be
trained and rejected the offer and saying “why would he be trained by someone
that will turn a guy into a girl” which shocked both Kaoru and Misao.
Kamatari
MOYASHIMON
An
anime series which came out in 2007 and 2012 with two seasons with 11 episodes
each. The main character of the series Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki has the ability
to see microbes with his bare eyes only. In the series he has a close friend
named Kei Yuki an heir to a brewery of sake later in the series he suddenly
appeared cross-dressed in black Gothic Lolita stating that he has found his
calling. A trap of his own decision.
Yuki Kei
OREGAIRU
Anime
from 2013 and 2015 with 13 episodes each season this series follows the main
character Hachiman Hikigaya a troubled teen who is on the brink of becoming an
outcast of society. One of the characters that supported the change of this
character is Saika Totsuka a fellow male student but has been most of the time
been treated as a female due to his looks and attitude.
Saika Totsuka
For
now, these are the traps that I can list down from those that I know. But there
are some traps that has really made an impact to anime viewers and has become a
stigma to most anime viewers and at the same time a nightmare to most as well. These
traps has become quite an icon to some “veteran” anime viewers specially those
who has seen and finished all trilogy of the series.
The
most infamous anime titled Boku no Pico thus the character named Pico along
with two of his companions Coco and Choco. This series is no ordinary anime as
well as this series has become a forbidden series which has been the first
title to be given to those asking “What anime can I watch” or to those
unknowing new to anime. This is a series which I can say it is up to you to
watch and you cannot blame anyone since you asked for a title. Some of those
who has seen this anime is most likely those who just want to pass on the
experience on watching the trilogy. This is not an anime for minor viewers.
Coco, Pico and Chico
The forbidden trio
Another
series is Shounen Maid Kuro. A character forced to dress up as a female due to being
in debt and in order to pay up the debt he has to work as a maid at a mansion
whom they have a debt with. This is another anime not for minors.
Kuro
These traps are just some that I know of and there are some that I have not included in this blog due to, well while drafting this blog it has become an 11 page review so next time I will be making a review on individual series from what series these traps are from.
Oh yes this review was a request by someone I know so here it is.
credits to the owners of the pictures.
