What’s With Handsome Anime Guys Wearing Masks?
If you see an anime character who’s always in a mask, you know he’s absurdly handsome under there. What’s with that and why do we love it?!
Have you ever noticed the trope of the weird mask-wearing anime dude? As far as you’re concerned he doesn’t even really have a face until one day he takes the darn thing off and holy cow look at that absurdly handsome man! It’s a weirdly specific trope that turns up again and again, and yet none of us have tired of it. Most recently Demon Slayer has given us a second mask-wearing handsome anime dude. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. So let’s take a moment and appreciate some of anime’s favorite mask-wearing handsome dudes.
Gojo Sensei
With the mask? The school’s least respectable teacher. Without the mask though? Those are some beautiful shoujo eyes right there. His eyes are pretty key to his powers so Gojo Sensei tends to keep them covered up.
Kakashi
One of my favorite things about this character’s masking is that isn’t even a good reason for it. Series creator Kishimoto Masashi has said that Kakashi was initially designed with a mask because it felt right for the mysteriousness of a shinobi. And within the canon of the show it’s to make sure people don’t notice his nose bleeds. Which if you’re familiar with other anime tropes… well, you know.
Inosuke
Inosuke was raised in the woods by boars and when the boar who raised him died he took their head and decided to wear it as a tribute. I know, I know, but try and unpack that all at a different time. So Inosuke acts like an absolute maniac and somebody says “were you raised by wolves?” he’d likely say “No, boars,” without a bit of irony. But despite being a literal feral child of the woods, he has the beautiful face of a fairy tale prince.
The last two picks may be spoilers for recent episodes of ‘Demon Slayer’ and ‘One Piece’ respectively. If you aren’t caught up on these shows, proceed with caution.
Hotaru Haganezuka
Full disclosure: I couldn’t remember this character’s name because he’s relatively new. So I typed into Google Image Search, “Demon Slayer Swordsmith Handsome Guy,” and it worked.
Not pictured are the positively rippling arm muscles he’s using to sharpen a sword in the second picture. On one hand, we all know that the inhabitants of the swordsmith village don’t actually look like their masks and wear them in order to protect their identities. Y’know, because they live in a terrifying world full of literal demons. But on the other hand, it’s so hard to detach their identities from their masks that on the rare occasion we get a glimpse of a face, it’s surprising to see that they don’t look like total goofballs. Or, in Haganezuka’s case that they’re probably the most beautiful person in a five-village radius.
King
Every show has an antagonist; One Piece has a thousand of them. But sometimes, a show has a villain that makes you say, “Oh hey, tell me more about team baddie. I’m listening.” Though to be honest, there are a lot of great villains that fans unironically love. King’s mask hides his Lunarian heritage.
Who is your favorite mask-wearing anime handsome dude? Are there any other similarly specific anime tropes that you enjoy seeing pop up? Can you think of any characters who should make keep their masks on, if you know what I mean? Let us know in the comments!
Ja ne, adventurers!
