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File:Lost Shirtless Scene.jpg

AAAHH! MY ESTROGENS!

Cquote1

"I'm too sexy for my shirt,
Too sexy for my shirt,
So sexy, it hurts!"

Right Said Fred"I'm Too Sexy"
Cquote2


The most common form of Fan Service for women and gay men. A hunky man (real or animated) goes shirtless or wears a revealing top that shows off his pectorals. Saves the crew a fortune in wardrobe (or ink) for Mr. Fanservice.

A less fleshy version of this is giving the man a button-up shirt with the top buttons undone, the rest of them available for unbuttoning at the call of his love interest or his leaving the shirt totally unbuttoned. Also a practice of slender Bishonen in Japanese media, especially Yaoi Guys. Western shows may play around with this by having the female characters ogle the "pool boy".

Despite applying mostly to young, hairless types such as Bishonens, some men will occasionally sport a Carpet of Virility. Of course, their pants will always stay on. (Well, almost always...)

"Beefcake" poses for male performers probably date as far back in human history as skimpy outfits for female performers. One of the standard props of certain kinds of "Strongman" performers in circuses and such is a "tear-away" shirt that can be pulled off during a performance and then easily sewn back together in between shows.

This type of gratuitous semi-nudity is also called a Shirtless Jackman Scene, named after muscular Australian actor Hugh Jackman whose film contracts allegedly contain a clause that demands the presence of at least one shirtless scene, even when the plot does not require it. It's not proven, but the majority of the films he has appeared in are strong evidence. Legend has it that some people are not able to recognize him with his shirt on, and X-Men (2000) established him as the pioneer of the early-2000s's generation of topless male actors.

This trope is among the Always Male tropes because... well, you know.

See also Shower of Angst, Slipknot Ponytail, Man in a Kilt, Wet Sari Scene, Forging Scene, After-Action Patchup, and Lingerie Scene. If the character's everyday attire is conspicuously lacking a shirt, he would be a Walking Shirtless Scene.


MOD NOTE: We have an entire category filled with tropes about complete nudity. There's no reason to try to brute-force cram those examples onto this page, which is not about complete nudity. Please put examples on the correct pages to begin with.


Examples of Shirtless Scene include:

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Anime and Manga[]

  • Of course, the ultimate example of this trope has to be Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken, who manages to burn off his shirt by the power of sheer awesomeness almost every episode, conveniently right before handing that episode's main villain the beating of his life, yet mysteriously always re-acquires it in the following episode.
  • Kouji Kabuto from Mazinger Z pulled this sometimes, specially late in the series (the episode where Erika showed up comes to mind). Dr. Hell also pulled this at the end of Mazinkaiser for seemingly no reason, and despite being a very old man.
  • Dante of the animated Devil May Cry series gets this too every so often, but the first example is in the first episode—at the end, Dante comes out of the back wearing nothing but pants, toweling his hair off and dripping water. The fangirls rejoiced.
  • Jin near the climax of Samurai Champloo. Complete with his unwoven hair blowing gently in the wind. Cue fangirls fainting.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: A favorite coveted screenshot among fangirls is of Kaiser waist up in the shower.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!!: Malik Ishtar has several scenes where he strips off his shirt in front of everyone (though it's actually a plot point—he's showing the tattoo on his back), prime material for his fangirls.
  • Shaman King villain Hao wears a poncho but he is shirtless.
  • Kaito from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. This site has a whole section on his increasingly improbable shirtless scenes in the manga.
  • The Captain from Hellsing has no shirt on under his coat, as revealed in the 82nd chapter.
  • At one point in the later arcs of Revolutionary Girl Utena, this particular trope becomes obsessive, affecting every Bishonen on the series and possibly merging with Yaoi Guys and getting to the point of Fan Disservice in some cases.
    • Hilariously parodied in the OP for the Sega Saturn game, where the first thing that Akio and Touga do is to open their shirts and show off their chests, much to Saionji's embarrassment.
  • Major Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist enjoys randomly taking off his shirt to show his musculature. He's so diesel, he could fuel a semi for a trip across mainland China. He does it so often and suddenly, to everyone else's dismay, he's a definite parody of this trope.
    • Even lampshaded in his fight with Scar in the manga and Brotherhood.
    • Edward too has had his share of scenes showing off his torso (and automail arm), beginning with the first chapter.
      • Ed even gets an outdoor shower scene in the anime, and a majority of his concept artwork shows him pulling or ripping his top off in some fashion.
    • Alphonse gets a shirtless scene in the fan game Bluebird's Illusion. Ed "accidentally" walks in on him showering.
    • And Roy Mustang also showed his abs for a particularly dramatic comeback after being thought dead. He's even more ripped in the anime version of this scene.
    • Ling had a shirtless dramatic entrance (popping out of a manhole) in the manga.
  • Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu gives us some completely unnecessary shirtless scenes of Koizumi. They even drop the Super-Deformed thing to make their point.
    • In the original, the second iteration of Endless Eight has Kyon shirtless at the beginning. It's the Fanservice Episode of Season 2!
    • Itsuki himself also gets some... attention in the same arc.
      • Mostly of a different kind, considering he was wearing some sort of skimpy black speedo.
  • Ouran High School Host Club gives all the male characters in the club plenty of opportunities to take their shirts off. The club's website once featured a picture of Haruhi shirtless which, naturally, turned out to be photoshopped.
    • And let's not forget Kyouya's scene in episode 8
  • In a hilarious example, Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier bumps into Alto for the first time (who was shirtless at the moment), and immediately focuses on his face instead, mistaking him for a very beautiful girl.
  • In Vision of Escaflowne, Van Fanel can grow wings from his back, destroying his entire shirt every single time they're used.
  • Yu Yu Hakusho: Almost all of the main characters (and many of the Big Bads) have multiple scenes in which his shirt is ripped up in the midst of battle. Well, except the Bishonen (Kurama) with the largest fan club.
  • Hisoka, the Enigmatic Lovable Traitor of Hunter X Hunter, gets two completely naked scenes: first a shower scene, then later a scene in which the protagonists find him bathing in a lake (with some conveniently placed speech bubbles). These are also the only times we get to see him without his Facial Markings (okay, face paint) and Improbable Hairstyle.
  • Texhnolyze begins with a shirtless Ichise staring at himself in the mirror. No, it's not meant to be enticing.
  • Pretty much the entire male cast of Gintama and one female, though she's hiding it, go shirtless in its 7th ending theme. A subversion exists in the same ending as Prince Hata, who looks much like Dragonball Z's fat Buu, not only appears shirtless, but is wearing only a fundoshi.
  • Hosaka in Minami-ke is prone to going shirtless for little reason with little provocation. There's even an eyecatch of him in one of his shirtless moments.
  • Weiß Kreuz: Glühen features plenty of shirtless scenes in its OP. And Youji's outfit is a mix of shirtless and Badass Longcoat.
  • Both Setsuna and Allelujah in the second ED of Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
  • Whether it be a result of the massive Clothing Damage that afflicts the men of Dragonball Z (maybe if Videl and Android 18 channeled their ki/energy into their bodies instead of making their clothing Nigh Invulnerable, they would be able to hang with the guys in combat?), good old fashioned shower/bath scenes, shirtless training, when someone gets serious, or the odd homoerotic nude visualization of a deceased comrade speaking from beyond the grave, the ratio of shirtless scenes to scenes in which any given character wears a shirt are around 50-50.
    • 18 had Clothing Damage at one point early on, too—just not enough to reveal anything.
    • And yet, to the dismay of fangirls everywhere, never once did Future Trunks go without. I think this may be the first instance of a vagooblock in anime.
  • Occurs twice in the second anime season of Slayers; the first when Gourry and Zelgadis are healing from an attack from a pair of demons raiding Princess Amelia's castle, and the second when said pair's covers are blown during the Once a Season cross-dressing episode. It turns out that the Lady Land kingdom they had infiltrated (hence the disguises) is full of men that had also hidden their genders, and increased the shirtless count, including the princess Zelgadis had been falling for. Ouch. Gourry is also seen shirtless in an early scene of the Slayers Premium movie.
    • Valgaav, the Big Bad from the third season, takes this Up to Eleven with the Walking Shirtless Scene trope — the closest thing he wears to a shirt is a flimsy top that exposes his midriff.
    • A very humorous promotional spread for the Uncancelled fourth season, illustrated by the man who drew the illustrations in the light novels, has Gourry and Zel as this again, this time in flimsy swimwear. Xellos and Wizer Freion are in on it also.
  • Almost as soon as he shows up on screen for the first time in episode 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kaworu Nagisa ends up stripped butt-naked along with Shinji Ikari in a shower scene. He was only around for one episode so he had to make up for lost time somehow, right?
    • Rebuild took this even further: until he donned his plugsuit for the first time when Zeruel was attacking, he was a Walking Shirtless Scene. In fact, only one of them qualifies for this trope since in the other, he's completely naked.
  • Abel Nightroad of Trinity Blood certainly gets his share of shirtlessness. Also, Brother Petros spends the entire fifth volume of the manga without a shirt. Is he ripped? Oh my, yes.
    • Hugue has also been sans shirt more than once, revealing a LOT of scars (said scars haven't deterred the fangirls in the slightest).
    • Lampshaded early on in the manga, when Tres' clothes get turned into swiss cheese by machine-gun fire (of course it doesn't affect him at all) and Abel goes into fanboy mode at the sight of him, complete with Luminescent Blush.
Cquote1

Abel: I think that... Tres... you are so HOT!
Tres: I don't understand what you mean.

Cquote2
  • Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the squicky Mad Scientist of Bleach actually gets a shirtless scene. Showing that he might not be that squicky after all... though one should bear in mind that this occurred after he had reduced himself to a puddle of sludge. Not to mention that his back was turned and(in the manga, but not the anime) his ears had been surgically removed.
    • That didn't change anything.
    • Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, the general of the Gotei 13, invariably strips to the waist before using his shikai. For dramatic purpose this reveals an ungodly amount of scars, plus a more muscular figure than the protagonist has, despite being older than the latter's country of origin.
      • In the third movie, he literally jumps out of his shirt before delivering an attack.
    • Ichigo often has such moments during fights.
    • Zaraki gets to show off his chest when he gives Ichigo one free attack before they fight. He's also stripped to the waist in the Hueco Mundo arc after fighting Nnoitora, or however his name is spelt.
      • He also shows up shirtless when he Shows up to help fight Yammy.
    • Chad also gets the less fleshy version most of time, but given that he's the embodiment of the Latino stereotype... Yeah.
      • Even Uryuu has a couple of shirtless scenes, one when he is trying to escape from his father, and one when his father restores his powers. He's pale, but somehow remarkably well-built. (He's an archer, after all.)
    • Ulquiorra gets a few shirtless scenes as well. Apparently the fangirls were not disappointed.
    • In an omake, a few members of the Shinigami Women's Association went to great lengths to get one of these out of Ukitake. Yay!
    • Not to mention in Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra, Round 2, when Ichigo got his ass kicked so hard that his Super-Powered Evil Side took over. Almost all his clothes got blasted off, leaving him with only a little more than half his pants.
    • Resident bishie Grimmjow is pretty much a walking Shirtless Scene.
    • Indeed, pretty much every male in Bleach has a well sculpted chest [dead link] that will be revealed when his shirt is removed.
  • Outlaw Star's Gene Starwind nearly matches Innocent Fanservice Girl Melfina in the number of times they've gone topless. Considering that the latter pilots the ship naked...
  • Subverted in Trigun. Vash the Stampede is fairly good looking in his Badass Longcoat, but when he gets his first shirtless scene, it turns out he's so cut up, scarred, and shot to pieces that he looks like Frankenstein's monster underneath.
  • Just going to show that Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is incapable of doing anything halfway, we have the fight scene in episode 20: Simon and Viral. Prison bathroom brawl. Wearing nothing but ridiculously tiny towels.
    • And of course Kamina is shirtless all the time. So often that the presence of a shirt-wearing Kamina in Simon's Lotus Eater Dream immediately indicates that some weird shit is going on.
    • Let's not forget the bath episode, with everyone staying naked for a good 6 or 7 minutes, leading Viral to call the gang "naked monkeys" for the first half the series.
  • Chrono Crusade has several moments, although most notable is probably the fact that Joshua almost never keeps his shirt fully buttoned (basically only when someone forces him to so he'll be presentable), and Chrono in his true form only wears a jacket that does not cover his chest.
  • We get several shirtless scenes for Fakir in Princess Tutu; somewhat Justified because he has a plot-relevant birthmark on his chest, but also usually with an obvious fanservice factor as well. Mytho also has one scene where he has his uniform shirt unbuttoned in the second season—a tip-off that something is very odd, because normally he wears the shirt fully buttoned... but without pants.
  • Vampire Knight has quite a few of these. Then again, given the large quantity of vampire cuties it may not be all that surprising.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha fans disappointed in the lack of nekkid Erio Transformation Sequence in the anime worry not, the supplementary manga gives him one (albeit, just one panel).
  • Probably the only straight example of fanservice in the Black Jack OVAs is from the titular doctor himself, in an entirely gratuitous Pool Scene in the fourth episode... Oh, and the Shower Scene in the first. And a Hot Springs Episode (which, incidentally, takes place near a beach). Kind of a pattern there.
  • Since most of the cursed men in Ranma ½ shed their clothes when transforming (as they turn into animals), they all get Shirtless Scenes with astonishing regularity. The exceptions are Genma (because hardly anyone would want to see a stocky old man naked) and Ranma (whose girl curse means he gets to keep his clothes on during a transformation... usually).
    • In the manga, what's funny is that Ranma's girl side gets far more Shirtless Scenes than his male side ever does.
  • Dragon Saint Shiryu from Saint Seiya seems to enjoy stripping off the upper half of his armor when getting serious with an enemy. The better to show off his huge... Power Tattoo.
  • Happens surprisingly often in One Piece with the most prominent example being Ace, where practically every scene he's in turns into a shirtless scene. Also happens with mostly with Luffy, Zoro and Franky. A notable example for Zoro occurred during the Drum Island arc, where he spends a good portion of the crew's time there wandering around without a shirt on.
    • Parodied when a woman's baby messes Zoro's shirt, so the mother yanks it off to clean it for him. Before she explains why she stole it, he angrily accuses her of being a pervert.
    • After the timeskip, Zoro signifies that he's getting serious by stripping off his coat in addition to donning his bandanna.
  • During Tsukune's fight with Moka's father near the end of Rosario + Vampire Capu2, he gets his shirt blown apart when the residual vampire blood in his body starts working again.
    • This happens a few times in the second season of the manga, mostly in the Sun arc but he is first shirtless on the frontpage on the 18th chapter probably just to show how badass he has become, and well, it worked.
  • Naruto spends a good few chapters shirtless and covered in oil in Naruto Shippuuden. Sasuke has a brief shot in a movie trailer drenching himself under a waterfall. It was rumored that the fangirls could be heard for miles around.
    • Even long before that, Naruto spent a good part of his Wind Chakra training shirtless which was even well featured on a chapter cover!
    • Hidan, after a fight, has his Akatsuki uniform half ripped up, making all his appearances later on be half-Shirtless Scenes. Apparently Kakuzu was too much of a tightwad to give Hidan money to get another one.
    • Not just Hidan. Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu and Pain go shirtless at one point in time as well.
    • Then we got shirtless Danzo (who was also bleeding profusely and had his arm reduced to a stump at the time), which could not be more Fan Disservice.
    • In some anime only scenes and a filler episode, we get to see Jiraiya in the hotspring with his chest completely bare. We also get to see this in the manga, but by that point, he has a huge scar obscuring most of chest.
    • Also, people tend to forget this, but Gaara's older brother Kankuro also had a shirtless scene in episodes 11 and 12 of Naruto Shippuden as well as the manga. After he was poisoned by Sasori, he was immediately rushed to a hospital room where he is shown topless as well as not having his hood and face-paint on. He was shown to be very well-built and toned (and he even gained some fangirls as a result!)
  • Pokémon Special required Red to use his shirt to tie down a steering column on an airship while he went to defuse one of Carr's Forretress bombs. Since he cast off his jacket prior to his battle with Giovanni, this trope is the result of these desperate measures.
    • And he manages to stay that way for over half a saga.
  • Several Digimon across all of the Digimon shows (and games) have humanoid bodies, and are usually, if not always, shirtless. Weregarurumon and Leomon are prime examples. Now, if only they'd get more screen time, and Leomon would stop dying!
    • In a less Furry Fandom example, in Digimon Savers, there are a few male gratuitous shower scenes (but not angsty) as well, from both male main characters. It was known by some as Digimon Fanservicers due to this.
  • Kanda from D.Gray-man periodically updates the readers as to the expansion of his chest tattoo. You know, in case they were worried about it.
    • Allen, too, gets a shirtless scene or two, most recently to show off the scar from shoulder to hip he accidentally gave himself. Fangirls go completely insane.
  • Gray from Fairy Tail goes shirtless, pantsless, socksless... he's not into clothing.
  • The four Bishounen boys from Perfect Girl Evolution (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge) frequently go shirtless, causing MASSIVE nosebleeds. Mostly from Sunako.
    • Yes, there was a naked Furo Scene involving all four of them. The fangirls peeping in on them didn't stand a chance.
  • Many of the characters in Eyeshield 21 have shirtless scenes after practices and times like that. Mizumachi just likes stripping down to his shorts and waving his shirt around (he used to be a swimmer, which might explain it). Ootawara on the other hand turns it into Fan Disservice by often losing his pants (and sometimes everything else) and farting a lot.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima occasionally gives Negi shirtless scenes. It's less Squicky than one would expect, as he's usually magically aged into a teenager when they happen.
    • Like, for example, teenage Negi vs. Jack Rakan in a shirtless battle worthy of the Tenkaichi Budokai.
  • One episode of Soul Eater featured Soul trying to cheat on a test by hiding cheat sheets in his clothes, and then being strip-searched by the teacher when he caught him. Soul spent the rest of the test in only his boxers, much to the glee of the fangirls.
    • Soul actually gets Shirtless Scenes fairly regularly after he gets his scar.
    • Later, Stein of all people gets one. He's unfairly ripped, in case you're wondering.
    • Also, Black☆Star. Besides having awesome biceps he's also BUFF when you see him shirtless with just a towel over his shoulders after training.
    • In perhaps the most gratuitous example, Free is shirtless for his illusionary fight with Death the Kid. He's wearing a shirt in the scene immediately before and puts it back on immediately after, and there's no obvious reason why he took it off just to fight. (By the way, he's in his Wolf Man form most of the time, which may detract from or enhance the effect, depending on your preferences.)
  • Gateau Mocha from Bakuretsu Hunters.
  • Sōsuke from Full Metal Panic! gets a few of these. Once near the beginning, when he tackles the teacher down the stairs thinking she was a terrorist and ends up having to have his back bandaged up due to the wounds from it. Another time is when he gets so tired and lacks sleep to the point where he passes out—before he passes out, however, we're treated to a blurry picture (possibly a hallucination?) of himself, shirtless and restrained.
    • In addition, the dust jackets of the manga include pictures of the cast in skimpy bathing suits. Not wanting to isolate the female audience, these bits of fanservice include Kurz and Sôsuke
  • Ryo from Ronin Warriors goes shirtless for a good two or three minutes at the beginning of episode 20, after he awakens from a Catapult Nightmare.
  • Until a significant way in Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn ripped his shirt and pants off every time he activated his attack, leaving him in just his boxers while he fought. Also, near the beginning of the TYL arc, both him and Gokudera are shirtless in the middle of a forest at night. Brrr.
    • And then there's Tsuna, naked save his boxers, handcuffed in Spanner's bed, alone with him... Fetish Fuel anyone?
    • Xanxus has a 99% chance of being shirtless every time he appears in a non-plot related picture. This is obviously only done to show us the plot-related scars on his chest.
    • During his battle with Belphegor, Gokudera wore his shirt completely unbuttoned and hanging open with nothing covering his torso save for a lot of bandages.
    • Ryohei is embodiment of this trope, 'cause he gets more Shirtless Scenes than any other character. And he's quite hot.
    • And don't forget about the latest Katekyo Hitman Reborn OAV where we get a veryyy veryyy looong extra bonus screentime focused on Hibari Kyoya's chest in an Onsen. The day it was released, many fangirls died from bloodloss.
  • Few fans of Darker than Black will forget November 11's Naked First Impression with Mao, and not just because it was funny. Hei's civilian alias Li on the other hand is a textbook case of the "partially buttoned shirt" variant, as he seems physically incapable of having more than three buttons done at any given time. No wonder every woman in sight falls for him.
    • Li's partially unbuttoned shirt is Lampshaded in the OVA (and was then immortalized as a Memetic Mutation) in the form of two in-universe women fixating on his collarbone, which is often noticeably visible because of this trope.
  • Nono from Gunbuster 2 gets one in the first episode when she gained Heroic Resolve by ripping her shirt off, because she took the "Topless" part a bit too seriously.
    • Actually, if you look carefully at that scene, her clothes were stuck to the barbs of the monster. Ripping them off was clearly the only option. Her dialogue after the battle does show that she took the term "Topless" literally, though, by claiming that she had become one.
  • England from Axis Powers Hetalia gets one when he takes a hot bath in Japan's house. The scene was amped up for Fan Service effects in the anime rendition, adding a bit of Ship Tease when his host is nonplussed at his nudity—yes, the same guy who was scandalized when his partners paraded around without shirts. Germany has a pretty hot Shower Scene in the Manga also.
  • When Yume from Somedays Dreamers meets her magic instructor Masami for the first time, he is completely shirtless, leading to a very flustered reaction for the poor girl. Of course, that Masami's best friend Kera opened the door being practically shirtless as well doesn't help matters.
  • Fushigi Yuugi's hunks and some of their cousins in other Yuu Watase manga.
  • Umineko no Naku Koro ni gives Kanon, a very feminine Bishounen servant, a shirtless scene. Then he removes a bandage covering a stab wound on his chest and PUTS HIS FINGERS IN IT. What do you expect? This is When They Cry.
    • There's another Fan Disservice example at the end of the second arc when Battler briefly gives up. Beatrice chains him up and parades him around naked.
  • In The Violinist of Hamelin, everytime Hamel transforms into a Mazoku he bursts out of his clothes. In the anime, his signature black outfit even seems to somehow grow back everytime he changes back. In the manga, Drum attacked the human army with giant spikes that shot out of the ground... and somehow managed to rip both Clari and Trom's shirts off without causing them too much damage otherwise.
  • Date Masamune gets one in the Sengoku Basara anime, possibly to balance out his Walking Shirtless Scene rival Yukimura. He's also injured and bandaged. It's great!
  • In the manga Rose of Versailles, Andre gets a shirtless scene when he changes out of his rainsoaked uniform as Oscar walks in on him. Cue Oscar being all indignant and flustered.
  • The second opening sequence to Toward the Terra has Keith taking off his shirt for no explainable reason, while the first has him completely naked (that one actually makes some sense if you really think about it, but let's face it, Why would you?).
  • Johnny Rayflo of Vassalord, so much so he qualifies as a Walking Shirtless Scene. Expect at least one panel or page dedicated to showing off his lack of a shirt.
  • This has a tendency to happen to Randel (from Pumpkin Scissors) while he's in a fight, to the point that he's almost a Walking Shirtless Scene. It's decidedly not meant to be fan service, though.
  • Saiyuki's protagonists do this quite a bit (particularly the 'older' three) and then there's Kougaigi who's a Walking Shirtless Scene for the first anime (he's got a jacket though which is just odd).
    • Kenren sort of counts in Gaiden too.
  • After he gets injured for the first time in Hyakujitsu no Bara Klaus makes a bit of a habit walking around with only bandages on his torso. Coincidentally, his shirt also seems to be the only clothing that comes off during sex.
  • Eiri Yuki of Gravitation gets this; the opening picture for this trope used to be of him (from a NSFW doujin).
  • Van of Gun X Sword gets a few shirtless scenes. What's really interesting is that in flashbacks from before his fiancee's death, he seems to be a Walking Shirtless Scene. Maybe that's why Elena agreed to marry him?
  • Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 — Kurenai no Tsuki has a scene with five of the Hachiyou[1] shirtless, cleaning up. A few minutes later, Nozomi stumbles upon a shirtless Masaomi (with Female Gaze in play). Luminescent Blush ensues.
  • Cherry Juice: These happen frequently with the male lead Minami, including on the very first page of the manga. This is a mixture of both Mr. Fanservice, and Author Appeal for the female Mangaka.
  • This happens a bit in Rurouni Kenshin, though canon-wise, it happens the most during the Kyoto arc. Most memorable would be when Sanosuke fights his ex-teacher Anji (Sanosuke throws his shirt off while Anji's explodes due to sheer rage and power), and later when Kenshin gets his blown off by one of Shishio's gunpowdered sword attacks.
  • In the first season of Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato Wildstar does hard physical exercise to angst. In a later episode, affably evil Desslok is in his bath and learns that a general has returned. He stands and the camera focuses on his chest... and stays there for about five seconds. This fails as fanservice immeasurably, however, as Desslok (going by this screenshot) has no nipples.
  • During episode 20 of Black Butler, Sebastian is arrested and chained up in some kind of torture room. And the first thing the creepy Torture Technician does is rip his shirt, giving us a nice shot of his abs. And many fangirl Squee's were heard.
  • Yoshimori from Kekkaishi gets a few shirtless scenes in the anime. His kekkai training was used as an excuse on both occasions in episodes 8 and 42. Episode 42 even included a scene in which he removed his kekkaishi robe with rapid fire precision.
  • Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (aka Wild Tiger) has a prolonged Shirtless Scene in the ninth episode of Tiger and Bunny. Being significantly older than most anime protagonists or superheroes has not made his Heroic Build any less heroic. He then gets another prolonged shirtless scene in episode thirteen, which ends with, well, this. It should come to no surprise that Tiger and Bunny fans love Wild Tiger.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni's Keiichi has a FULL EPISODE of wearing nothing but a speedo.
  • Crim in .hack//SIGN gets a full shirtless scene later in the series.
  • Guts from Berserk has these all over the place. The best come in volumes 9 and 10.
  • Happens a surprising amount to Inuyasha, usually after taking off his outer kimono and giving it to Kagome.
    • This happens most notably during his fight with Goshinki. After sustaining serious injuries the previous episode, he spends most of the episode running around in his undershirt at most. Then Goshinki breaks the Tetsusaiga, and while he's still in shock slashes him with enough force to tear his shirt to ribbons. He gets better, unlocking his demon blood and carrying out the rest of the fight with no shirt on and much focus on his abs.
  • In Saint Beast, Judas has a few, usually with water keeping it from being more than just shirtless.

Comic Books[]

  • The Sandman's title character, goth pretty-boy Morpheus, frequently went shirtless. Indeed, one of his most frequently seen items of clothing is an ankle length robe that nevertheless exposes his skinny but toned midsection, allowing him to present the image of the authoritative King of Dreams while still providing the expected fanservice. And people think Sandman's biggest selling point was its sophistication.
    • Not to mention that he's buck-naked in his first appearance.
  • The actual number of times this has happened to various superheroes is too many to list, especially including characters with nothing but shirtless scenes (Namor, Hulk, etc.). It's safe to say that every male hero and villain has had one of these. Except the Blob, of course.
    • This website covers a lot of instances in which Superheroes are uncovered from the viewpoint of someone into men. Remember that around half the world is attracted to men.
  • Among others, Elf Quest's main protagonist Cutter's everyday outfit does not include a shirt.
  • Bruce Banner in every adaptation of The Hulk always has his clothes conveniently ripped away when he transforms, meaning that when he turns back into Bruce we get lovely scenes of him wearing nothing except for a pair of baggy purple shorts which he has to hold up to stop them falling down. Of course, his trousers never tear off completely.
    • Well, sometimes they do, especially in the Ultimate universe.
  • Michael Turner apparently received constant requests to show Ian Nottingham with his shirt off.
  • Neal Adams would draw Bruce Wayne shirtless in the cave, although he usually had a lot of bandages covering him. Additionally, Adams popularized the "pants and mask without a shirt, cape or belt" look.
    • Neal Adams was also the first person to draw Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul, who is a Walking Shirtless Scene half the time. Naturally, the first Batman and Ra's fought, they were both shirtless.

Films[]

  • Cam Gigandet in Twilight and, soon, Robert Pattinson in New Moon.
      • As some may not know Cam was taking his shirt off earlier in Never Back Down
    • Also, Taylor Lautner in New Moon. Notice the insane amount of squealing that comes from the female audience.
      • Ok, that video was taken down; but This Troper went to the opening of New Moon in her hometown, and the Squees were so bad in the first Shirtless Scene that someone had to shout DOWN YOU LADIES!
    • As the Spoony One says in his review of the movie, its biggest draw was Native American muscle.
    • Accidentally subverted in New Moon. RPatz with his shirt off is hideous enough to make small children cry. Seven miles away from the theater.
    • Seems that every guy in New Moon got a case of the missing shirts.
      • The curse. You mean "the curse of the missing shirts." [1].
    • Lampshaded in Eclipse when Edward and Bella meet Jacob, only to find that he had driven there shirtless, leading Edward to ask "Does that guy own a shirt?"
  • Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This qualifies because in the book Harry sinks until his entire body up to his neck is underwater so Myrtle can't sneak a look at him. In the film, he's not so prudish, but does make an effort to cover his more delicate regions with bubbles. Censor Steam meets Hand or Object Underwear!
    • Though saying that, he doesn't seem to mind Myrtle looking at him when he's underwater with her.
    • There was also an audible response from certain members of the audience when he strips to his underwear to retrieve a sword in a frozen pond in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
    • In Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 after the trio escape from Gringotts and fall in a lake, Ron and Harry promptly strip off their shirts to change into drier clothes. Unfortunately for the straight males/lesbians in the audience, Hermione does not do the same.
    • Related: Daniel Radcliffe played a mentally atypical boy in the play Equus. One scene calls for him to ride a horse naked strip onstage and stay that way until the end of the play.
  • Tobey Maguire has gotten quite a few of these in the Spider-Man films.
  • Comes up several times in Stomp The Yard. The training sequence that occurs just before the climactic championship faceoff ends with the hunky protagonist and his equally ripped team members jogging up a mountain in nothing but their shorts. When they reach the top, the team stands on the peak staring off into the sunrise for a good couple of seconds, almost as if to give the audience a moment to fully enjoy it.
  • The Mortal Kombat movie featured a lot of shirtless men, most notably Liu Kang.
  • Casino Royale gave us more than enough of Daniel Craig's massive pectorals, massive shoulders, and complete lack of neck. He's also completely expressionless. Daniel Craig is often called "Casino Royale's Bond Girl".
    • Not to mention his instantly-legendary walk out of the ocean in those little blue swim trunks. Blatant, blatant Fan Service.
    • Craig is not the only James Bond to do it. All the others (except possibly Dalton) did too.
  • During the climax of 28 Days Later, Cillian Murphy is topless and bloodstained. Of course, this is comparatively a blessing, because he also gets completely naked for no good reason in other scenes.
  • Reign of Fire has a few of these. Matthew McConaughey willingly takes his shirt off twice-the second (and last) time being when he throws himself at a dragon, which eats him. Though the amount of protection provided by his shirt against the dragon's teeth is debatable, he nonetheless had little reason to take it off apart from showing off his tattoos.
    • It's urban legend that Matthew McConaughey is contractually obligated to take off his shirt at least once during each movie.
    • In Surfer, Dude he chose to be a Walking Shirtless Scene.
  • Speaking of Reign of Fire, let's not forget Christian Bale's shirtless scene
  • Help! has a scene in which The Beatles, taking refuge in a bathroom, get attacked by a hand-dryer that conveniently sucks up most of their clothing, George's shirt in particular. And that's not even getting into the part where Paul shrinks and his clothes don't...
  • Film and stage performers were doing the shirtless scene long before the invention of television. The ur-example of modern times has to be Clark Gable in the 1934 film It Happened One Night. Gable's rugged good looks and rough charisma had already made him a star. Here, he is wearing the standard garb of an early 20th century middle-class male: white shirt, suit, tie, and fedora. When he "takes it off" in a motel room in front of Claudette Colbert, the audience learns that, beneath those mundane clothes, Gable is... not wearing an undershirt. Gable in an unbuttoned shirt with his buff, manly chest showing has been claimed to have caused sales of men's undershirts to crash in America. (Snopes doubts it.) It allegedly took World War II and/or the acceptance of T-shirts as outerwear for the T-shirt industry to recover.
  • In the film featured in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Future War", the male lead takes off his shirt while he's about to kill the a bad guy near the end of the film. This is so strained and awkward that one can't help but think he would be better off waiting until the evil cyborg about to kill him was disposed of...
    • He tugs on it for a second or so while making a constipated face.
    • Not quite as awkward as the headbutt-induced Clothing Damage.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean 2 had its fangirl-drool-inducing scene with a shirtless Orlando Bloom getting flogged.
    • Well, until the flogging started for most, I'd assume.
    • Also, there was a brief shot of a shirtless Jack in the third film, during the Davey Jones' Locker sequence. Turns out he's got some really impressive tats.
  • The beach-volleyball scene in Top Gun. Bonus points as this scene was completely gratuitous.
  • Both combatants of the climax fight of the martial arts movie Undefeatable suddenly turn the whole scene into a Shirtless Scene for no reason at all mid-combat by tearing their shirts off in a hilariously inappropriate over-the-top macho manner while growling bestially. The Narm this causes must be seen to be believed. (TROPER'S WARNING: NSFW and probably not good for your sanity either.)
  • Robin Williams in The World According To Garp, The Survivors, Moscow on the Hudson, The Best Of Times, Club Paradise, Hook, Mrs. Doubtfire (in a case of Fan Disservice), Fathers Day, and License To Wed (more disservice).
  • In Way of the Dragon before their iconic showdown at the Colloseum, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris both take off their shirts and then start pulling off martial arts stances. Not one to be outdone, Bruce Lee starts cracking his back and shoulders which also helpfully causes his pecs and delts to pop out.
    • Actually every single Bruce Lee movie has at least one of these, and we would be sorely disappointed if there wasn't.
  • In Working Girl, Harrison Ford gives his stenopool an eyeful when he changes shirts without closing the blinds on the glass separating his office from theirs.
  • Disney's Swiss Family Robinson has the four Robinson men — including the youngest son — shirtless several times throughout the film. Fritz and Ernst almost go into Walking Shirtless Scene territory during their time exploring the island.
  • In the movie Picnic (1955) and the William Inge play it was based on, Hal's willingness to be shirtless, especially in mixed company, marks him as both more virile and lower-class than his college roommate.
  • In The Long Hot Summer, the director decided to take advantage of Paul Newman's impressive physique to make the in-story heroine visibly uncomfortable. Didn't make her too uncomfortable in real life, however.
  • The Chosen One in Kung Pow! Enter the Fist: Enter The Fist rips off his shirt in one particularly odd arm-move at the start of the movie.
  • In the end of Kung Fu Hustle, Sing's use of his ultimate fighting move turns the shirt he was wearing into shreds.
  • Obligatory in each installment of the Transporter franchise. In the second one, he fights shirtless and covered in oil; in the third, he fights a group of Mooks while using first his jacket, then his tie, then his shirt as Improvised Weapons, then proves Genre Savvy enough to have a back up suit, which he puts on while the woman he's transporting claps.
  • Lucky Number Slevin has Josh Hartnett spend a large portion of a day wearing nothing but a towel. Convenient that the gangsters had time to spare for a chat, but not enough time to let the poor guy get dressed.
    • Not that anybody's complaining about that particular plot hole...
  • The Monkees' film Head features a long (and awesome) scene with Micky Dolenz shirtless in a desert; also a scene with Davy Jones as a boxer fighting Sonny Liston.
  • Lord of the Flies: Most of the boys are shirtless.
  • The Drover in Australia apparently showers by taking off his shirt, soaping up, then dumping a bucket of water over his head.
  • Shua gives us a nice one in Sky Blue.
  • In Mulan, Shang takes his shirt off just before the Training Montage for apparently no reason other than Fan Service. The gratuitousness of this is Lampshaded by Yao: "I'll get your arrow, prettyboy. And I'll do it with my shirt on."
    • The scene was deliberately added by the production team in order to give Mulan some Fan Service to look at.
  • The sixth rule of Fight Club is "No shirts, no shoes."
  • Parodied in Walk Hard when Dewey and Darlene had sex for the first time. She didn't know he was so buff.
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine took this to an extreme, which was much to the delight of Hugh Jackman fangirls. During a dramatic escape scene, not only does he erupt from a tank of water completely shirtless (and indeed naked) (muscles + dripping water...) but he then proceeds to escape, running and fighting his way out of the building. Viewers get a lovable full-body shot (in which censorship is barely provided by his leg from a mostly-side-shot) when he jumps off a waterfall.
    • Hugh Jackman again, in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006). A quite unexpected and totally gratuitous shirtless scene. He's in the bedroom pondering about some magic trick, while his girlfriend is fully clothed.
  • In Dead Poets Society, Neil gets a Shirtless Scene at a very... weird moment.
    • In fairness, doesn't like nearly every student get one earlier in the film?
  • The film adaptation of The Outsiders had two gratuitous shirtless scenes: One is Dally in the hospital, laying in his bed after stating that "The nurse gave him a dress but he didn't want to wear it" and a strictly Fan Service moment of Sodapop getting out of the shower, just barely after he got a Modesty Towel on.
  • Youngblood Rob Lowe walks to the locker room wearing a towel which drops to the floor and Cynthia Gibb gets an eyeful.
  • Parodied by Chris Farley in Billy Madison.
  • The 1936 Flash Gordon film serial has many, many scenes with Flash shirtless (or nearly so), especially while fighting, being whipped/tortured, or working up a sweat olive-oil coating. Basically, the whole series seems built on pulp sci-fi, Yellow Peril, and multiple varities of Fan Service.
  • In Escape from New York, Snake is stripped to the waist before engaging in a Blood Sport with a huge guy (you also briefly glimpse him shirtless in the sequel), revealing the upper part of a large cobra tattoo on his stomach. Makes you wonder what the rest of the tattoo looks like...
  • Yul Brynner in The King and I and The Ten Commandments. A shirt can never contain his awesomeness.
  • Will Ferrell seems to almost insist that every movie he is in have some shot of him shirtless, at best. In worst case scenarios, he's flaunting around in wet bikini style briefs. Always assume you will see the latter in a movie starring him.
  • Used to great effect in American History X. In the flashbacks showing Derek Vinyard during his stay in prison and his time as a gang leader he is often shirtless or in a tank top to show off his Nazi tattoos. During the scenes set in the present and after his renouncing of his Nazi ways he's always wearing a shirt that hides the tattoos, which combined with the different haircut and the usage of black and white in the flashbacks disassociate him from his past. After he tells his story and officially rejects his former gang he steps out of the shower, the audience sees his tattoos and the disassociation is shattered, driving home the point that no matter what he does in the future he will always have been a skinhead, will always be that man and will always carry the scars of his past.
  • The entirety of Cool Hand Luke. Good Lord.
  • Tim Allen has a shirtless scene in Galaxy Quest. Of course, like most of the film, this is meant to lampoon Star Trek (where Kirk frequently went topless). In case it wasn't totally obvious to everyone, Alan Rickman Lampshades it at the very end of the scene when he comments "I see you managed to get your shirt off."
  • Will Smith's character Del Spooner in I Robot has two which were a blessing to fangirls (and some boys) since he was in probably the best shape of his career. And don't even get this troper started on the Shower Scene...
  • If it stars Bradley Cooper, there will always be a reason for him to take his shirt off.
  • Only after Sendhil Ramamurthy had joined It's A Wonderful Afterlife, Gurinder Chadha wrote a completely gratuitous shirtless scene for his character. "When I signed up for the movie, that scene was not in there. My mother was thrilled: Can't you keep your clothes on in something?"
  • In Equilibrium, Preston (played by Christian Bale) wakes up from a rather intense dream shirtless and sweaty, which kinda detracts from the drama of the scene.
  • Much like the above scene, in Revenge of the Sith Anakin awakes from his first nightmare of Padme, and he's well... shirtless and sweaty... needless to say, it kinda made the public forget about Padme.
  • The original Tron gives us Jeff Bridges taking his shirt off when he walks into his office with his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend (who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend). Other than "Flynn was really working up a sweat from playing video games," no explanation for shirtlessness is given.
    • And given a Fan Service Shout-Out in the sequel when Alan shows up to tell Sam about the page. Of course, Sam does explain it by saying he smells "like jail." There's a second where the Armory Sirens strip Sam to his shorts before fitting him with a gridsuit.
  • Most of the male cast of Exit to Eden. Extra points to Paul Mercurio who's naked all throughout one scene.[2]
  • Thor gets a wonderfully long and gratuitous shirtless scene that made for great trailer fodder.
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Darcy: You know, for a crazy homeless person, he's pretty cut.

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  • 1/3rd of Youth in Revolt has Michael Cera shirtless.
  • The opening credits of the 1993 film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothingfeatures much of the male cast washing up before meeting with Leonato and his household.
  • In Walk Like A Man, there's a deleted (?) scene where Colleen Camp is in the backyard being pampered by two smooth chested, blonde and buff young men while three other smooth chested, blonde and buff guys next door look on.
  • Sabastien Guy doesn't wear a shirt for longer than 10 seconds in Close Enough to Touch.
  • In the movie of Pride and Prejudice when Darcy has a bath. Areas below the waist are conveniently hidden.
  • The film of Master and Commander has one midshipman going shirtless while in sickbay. And there's Dr. Maturin going shirtless as he operates on himself to remove a bullet.
  • It seems that Salman Khan is contractually obligated to remove his shirt in every film he stars in, a trend that began with his very debut film Biwi Ho To Aisi. While his shirtless moments in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (among many, many others) are fondly remembered, he achieved memetic infamy with his shirtless scenes in Dabangg (where he removes his shirt via a "Growing Muscles" Sequence that could make The Hulk smile) and Bodyguard (where he gets his shirt removed by a watercurrence in a sequence that has to be seen to be believed.)

Live Action TV[]

  • Pretty much the entirety of the Xena episode "Old Ares had a Farm". Mmmmm, yes...
  • A classic TV example is William Shatner as Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series. This was so common an occurrence in the series that the spin-off trading card game actually included an official "Shirtless Kirk" card.
    • Spock got one, too, in "Patterns of Force".
      • And he never, ever got one again.
    • Sulu got one in "The Naked Time".
    • Poked fun of in Galaxy Quest when Jason, an obvious stand-in for Kirk, manages to lose his shirt during a battle, leading to a Lampshade Hanging where Alexander snidely tells him, "I see you managed to get your shirt off."
    • Also parodied in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", where William Shatner specifically tears his shirt before getting into a fight due to the power of the trope in Star Trek fandom.
    • I'm pretty sure the "Shirtless Kirk" card was a joke in InQuest, along with other cards based on various classic Star Trek moments.
    • I would like to present this for your consideration.
  • Jack Bauer from 24 gets a few of these and even spends an episode in season two naked.
    • Near the end of Day 4, Tony Almeida. Hello.
  • Common for Chris Meloni as Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Olivia Benson once walked into "the crib" as he was changing out of a ripped shirt and commented, "I like that shirt." More likely she enjoyed seeing it off.
  • Smallville: Tom Welling has not only gotten his fair share of shirtless scenes as Clark Kent but wet T-shirt scenes.
    • His shirt comes off, too, after he's so conveniently thrown in a furnace and all his clothing is burned away. There were a few shirtless scenes with Michael Rosenbaum as well, which were most definitely appreciated.
    • Let's not forget about hot-Doomsday, I mean, DAVIS stabbing himself in the chest (which apparently requires shirtlessness...)
    • Is there any male character on that show that hasn't had a shirtless scene?
  • Quite a bit of Hex, apparently. Some of the male cast members manage to take them on and off every other scene.
  • Jesse Metcalfe as John Rowland on Desperate Housewives.
  • Super Sentai has a good amount of shirtless scenes in every series as well as its American counterpart Power Rangers.
  • While Mortal Kombat Conquest focuses mostly on female-based fanservice, there are a number of shirtless male scenes. Shang Tsung doesn't even wear a shirt, he just goes around in a vest most of the time.
  • Heroes: Peter Petrelli and Sylar are infamous for this; they've been seen without their shirts on at least once every season. They even got one together in season three (fine, so Sylar was wearing an undershirt, but close enough to count).
    • Every major male character has gotten at least one shirtless scene (save for the Haitian, depending on your definition of 'major'). Teasers for Season 3 that included a shot of Mohinder's bare torso were met with fangirlish screams of, "About damn time!"
    • Hiro gets a shirtless scene in season four when he steals a t-shirt in order to cover up the hospital robe.
  • At one point, the titular character in the British TV series Sharpe attempts to improve his squad's firing rate. For some reason, he removes his shirt for this.
    • For some reason? He does it to show the soldiers the whip scars on his back which attest he came up from the ranks and has no pretentions on being better than them — that he knows exactly what they are going through and isn't demanding anything he hasn't done himself.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
    • Spike during the last two seasons. Sometimes even his pants came off. James Marsters has, in fact, referred to his costume in season six as "pretty much a sock." Lampshaded by the First Evil (using Buffy's appearance) when she uses Spike's blood to open the Seal. "She" mentions that the original plan was to use Andrew, "but you look better with your shirt off."
    • Angel didn't wear a shirt at all during the third season.
    • In "First Date" Xander gets a shirtless scene. And he wears nothing but a red speedo in "Go Fish".
    • Oz is shirtless for a good amount of time in "Wild at Heart".
  • Angel
    • In "Rm w/a Vu" Angel comes to the door of his apartment wearing a towel and nothing else. In the episode commentary by writer Jane Espenson, she notes, "I put that scene in there because, frankly, I knew there wouldn't be a woman on the planet who wouldn't enjoy seeing David [Boreanaz] shirtless and dripping wet." The series is absolutely full of shirtless scenes for the titular hero.
    • The season 5 episode "Hellbound", where Spike ends up naked.
    • Lindsey goes shirtless during the fight scene in "You're Welcome". For no apparent reason, while making a penis euphemism.
  • Parodied in Trailer Park Boys, where Randy is always shirtless, despite being hairy and overweight.
  • Joss Whedon points out how happy female viewers probably are about Simon Tam's shirtless scene in the commentary of the "Objects in Space" episode of Firefly.
    • Of course, one can't forget the time Malcolm Reynolds spends completely naked in "Trash", either.
    • And Jayne Cobb is shirtless at the start of 'Jaynestown'.
    • In commentary for The Movie, meanwhile, he apologizes for having Mal only shirtless in one scene and then only showing him from his neck up for most of it.
  • Supernatural had Sam show up in just a towel in "Hell House". Good times.
    • Because the writers are twisted, the shapeshifter taking Dean's form in 'Skin' takes his shirt off (Fantastic!) and then takes his skin off, with his teeth falling out, turning it into Fan Disservice.
    • Before Supernatural, Dean was on Dark Angel and had at least one of these... which got turned into a YouTube montage with the Hell House scene.
    • Recently, Castiel got a very quick shirtless scene. He lures four angels who are about to kill him, and opens his shirt revealing Blood Magic Angel-Be-Gone sigil, using it to banish the four angels and himself. Doubles as CMA.
    • The third episode of season six opens with Sam working out with no shirt on. It's so distracting that the prostitute he just slept with nearly walks off without him paying.
  • Turk, Dr. Cox, and The Todd have gotten Shirtless Scenes in Scrubs. So has JD, but his chest isn't as delicious.
    • In S8 he has a couple, in one instance repeating a fantasy with him and Turk but with the shirtlessness reversed, explicitly (when dream Turk questions this) because he has been working out a little.
    • Cox's case is Lampshaded by Jordan:
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Jordan: We all got it, you love your body. Now put a shirt on.

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  • Strangely, there's a scene with Gordon Ramsay putting his shirt on in almost every single episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. He really doesn't have the build for it.
    • MANY people harbour a Perverse Sexual Lust for Gordon Ramsay. You either get it or you don't.
      • It's the excessive confidence (the same excessive confidence that compels him to take his shirt off so often, as a matter of fact). Gordon Ramsay definitely calls out his own name during sex.
    • The title sequence of Ramsay's The F Word is a protracted sequence of Gordon taking off his civilian shirt and putting on his chefs coat, showing off his bare chest in the progress. Ramsay's definitely a fan of this trope.
  • Mork in the Mork and Mindy episodes "Mork's Seduction", "Mork In Wonderland", and "Putting The Ork Back In Mork". He also wore a Denver Broncos Cheerleader uniform in "Hold That Mork", which isn't totally shirtlessness, but it doesn't cover a lot of his torso...
  • Ryan Atwood, in The OC. That dude has big arms, for an alleged 16-years-old, so half his wardrobe is, naturally, tank tops.
    • Also done in the second season with DJ the pool boy. And then in season three with all of those surfer guys. Okay, pretty much anyone Marissa was ever involved with, except (fortunately) Oliver and (unfortunately) Alex.
  • In the Doctor Who new series, in order: The Ninth Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness, Elton, Mickey Smith and the Tenth Doctor have all had one.
    • Lest we forget John Simm's Master in End of Time (the writers made sure to get every bit of Fan Service out of him as they could. Shirtless, bondage, and cross-dressing all in two episodes.)
    • And Davros, to an extent.
    • Heck, the Eleventh Doctor got one straight away. I'm with Amy. I sure as hell do not want to look away.
    • Rory got a very nice shirtless scene in "The Curse of the Black Spot"......bout time too.
    • From the old series, Turlough in "Planet of Fire" (Peri's first appearance).
      • Though he's not so much shirtless as trouserless...
    • Television Without Pity recapper Jacob lampshades Elton's Shirtless Scene:
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He stands, arms akimbo, a... hell of a lot easier to take with his shirt off.

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    • Heck, the Third Doctor gets a shower scene in his first episode.
    • The Fourth Doctor comes very close to getting a shirtless scene in 'The Deadly Assassin'. He spends the entirety of the episode wearing a loose, low-necked, partially see-through white shirt, which gets torn, dirt-stained, blood-stained, AND soaking wet while he's in the mind matrix world. Alas, he is never seen completely without it. Not even when he's being TORTURED for Pete's sake. Geez, they passed up a lot of good oppurtunities in that episode.
    • Peter Davison sort of got one in 'Mawdryn Undead'. Although it turned out it wasn't actually Fivey. It was Mawdryn, who had somehow managed to take Fivey's form.
    • Eleven gets another in "The Lodger."
    • In the Made for TV Movie, Eight has three scenes where you get to see his chest. His smooth, pale, hairless, well-muscled chest... The second one is rather Fan Disservice-y, though, what with involving something on the possibly milder end of Body Horror, though. Oh, and Seven has one too, but... eh, no thank you.
  • Captain Jack Harkness again in Torchwood, along with Ianto: Jack in both "Small Worlds" and "Adrift," Ianto in "Adrift." Technically, both are naked in "Adrift," but there are some conveniently placed plants.
  • Still along BBC lines, Merlin just doesn't seem to be Merlin these days without Arthur popping up shirtless at least once every couple of episodes.
    • Case in point: "The Lady of the Lake" in season 2, where the future king is quite stunningly naked, save a towel, for the sake of a bath which he never takes and which serves the plot in no very obvious way.
    • Arthur can't seem to lock/unlock his dresser drawer with a shirt on.
      • In 3x08, Arthur beats all his records, showing up shirtless at five seconds in! It's pretty much the first thing you see. He also had a shirtless scene in the previous episode.
        • It has reached the point where Colin Morgan and Bradley James are now mocking the gratuitousness of this on the commentaries.
    • And in season 3 we met Gwaine. Wibble.
  • And let's not forget the scene in Grey's Anatomy where Dr Mark Sloan, AKA Mc Steamy, walks out of, appropriately, a cloud of steam, wearing the smallest amount of coverage possible to avoid the censors. Fan Service if ever there was one.
    • One episode in the sixth season features a plot for Alex Karev that seems designed mostly to have him shirtless for most of the episode.
  • Plenty of Lost guys have gotten this: Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin (who is absolutely ripped by the way!)...
    • An excellent example from the Lost season 4 finale: jumping out of the helicopter and swimming to shore apparently knocks Sawyer's shirt right off.
      • And don't forget Desmond being naked after the hatch implodes... and who doesn't seem to know how to work his shirt buttons when he is wearing one, like Linc from Prison Break.
  • the Battlestar Galactica remake features some truly spectacular ones, most notably Lee Adama's towel-dropping scene. Helo had a nice one late in season three.
    • Subverted in the season 3 opener "Occupation". Though Fat Apollo does seem to have a few fans.
    • Apparently yet another favorite trope of actor Jamie Bamber, who has a handful of these sprinkled across his TV appearances as well as in a print ad for PETA.
    • Used dramatically in other as the elder Adama studies his surgical scar and (now healed) bullet wounds in the mirror.
  • In one scene in The IT Crowd, Jen tries to distract an office full of women by telling them that a builder outside the window has taken his shirt off, "just like in ads" (a reference to the Diet Coke Hunk). It's true—but the builder is not hunky.
  • Chris Barrie went to the gym for his two shirtless scenes in Red Dwarf series 5. Craig Charles also gets a few, which are definitely Fan Disservice.
  • The Middleman: When Sensei Ping prepares for battle, his shirt spontaneously flies away from his body, apparently propelled by sheer badassery. The fact that the Middleman himself is in a bicep-baring tank top by that point just makes the scene all that more delightful.
  • Dr. Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1 winds up completely naked following de-ascension from a higher plane of existence—not even once, but twice.
    • Teal'c is also seen shirtless in later seasons once Junior (his symbiote) is gone and the freaky symbiote pouch has disappeared.
    • And there was that time when Colonel Mitchell was handcuffed to a bed wearing only his boxers...
    • Even Jack O'Neill managed to be shirtless once.
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Vick's Chip", the ladies are treated to resident Derek Reese having a shower scene.
  • In House, we get at least one shot of Hugh Laurie shirtless per season.
    • Chase also had one.
    • Foreman, too. C'mon, Wilson! What are you waiting for??
  • Jason Stackhouse of True Blood spends most of his onscreen time naked. Even when he wears clothes, the shirts almost never have sleeves.
    • There's also Bill, Eric, and Sam, who have all gone butt-naked at some point in the series.
    • Not surprising, considering Alan Ball is openly gay.
  • Tom Selleck had regular shirtless scenes in Magnum, P.I..
  • Lucas North of Spooks in first episode od season 7.
  • Several of the male characters of Veronica Mars get a shirtless scene: Weevil, Cassidy ("Not Pictured"), Sheriff Don Lamb,...
    • Let's not forget that moment in "Welcome Wagon" when Dick Casablancas, wearing only Union Jack underwear and a balaclava, dances with a blow-up doll dressed in a French maid's uniform.
  • Sanctuary had a very nice one with the male scientist protagonist, Will, where he strips to his skivvies so the Invisible Girl won't feel self-conscious when she has to take off her clothes to become invisible and complete a task. "Why would a scientist be that ripped?"
  • Happens at least Once an Episode in Noah's Arc.
  • Robin Williams in the PBS Great Performances production of Seize The Day. Probably not intended as Fan Service, but compared to shirtless Jerry Stiller...
  • Robin Williams as The Frog Prince in the Faerie Tale Theatre production of... The Frog Prince is naked when he transforms back into a man, covered only by a Modesty Bedsheet.
  • Thanks to his womanizing ways, Barney Stinson gets his fair share of these scenes. Hell, one episode (episode 10 of season 4, for those of you taking notes) is all about getting naked. (Since he's played by Neil Patrick Harris, it's very much appreciated.)
  • All of the adult male cast members on The Electric Company appeared shirtless at one point or another. Even Bill Cosby.
  • In Chuck, the minor character Devon (better known as Captain Awesome) is regularly shirtless, apparently because that's how the character wants to dress. For Halloween, we saw him costumed as Adam, in flesh-colored briefs with a large green fig leaf. Chuck himself is rarely shirtless, which is probably because the actor is better built than the character.
    • We do finally get an extended shirtless Chuck sequence in the third season.
    • Every spy love interest for Sarah goes shirtless at some point: Bryce and Cole at least have the injury excuse. Shaw walks around in a towel just because.
  • Danny Blue from Hustle used to appear shirtless on a pretty regular basis (as well as going completely nude a few times). It also happened a couple of times with Mickey Stone, including a scene in season 3 which featured both boys being dropped off in the middle of London completely naked — perhaps unsurprisingly given their respective track records of onscreen nudity, Mickey was the first one to find himself something to wear
  • This Moment of Zen from The Daily Show has Jon Stewart, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert all posing shirtless for the (imaginary) new reality show Temptation Pitch. Colbert has also done multiple shirtless scenes on The Colbert Report and appeared totally naked in Strangers with Candy.
  • Archer & Tucker in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Desert Crossing", but in their defense it was a desert world.
    • Archer, Tucker, Reed, and Mayweather run around in their skivvies on that show A LOT.
    • Pretty much every decon scene deserves a mention. Except for the one in "Bounty" with Phlox. Squick.
    • Bakula loses his shirt on a very, very regular basis. Liquification of those attracted to the male gender occurs.
  • And Quantum Leap has Scott Bakula shirtless in every other episode, as well.
  • The opening of Kamen Rider Kiva.
  • Craig Horner gets into a lot of shirtless action (well, not like that) as Richard Rahl on the Legend of the Seeker TV series. Probably for good reason.
  • Gibby in iCarly. He shows up without a shirt, or removes in his scenes more than he ends up with it still on. It does not matter where it is. School. A party. A restaurant. On a live webshow. The shirt comes off. Rawr. Played straight with some of the guys Carly dates, such as Griffin in one of the extended episodes, using a motorcycle accident as an excuse.
  • Watch any episode of COPS. Chances are at least one of the suspects will be shirtless.
  • Many home improvement shows where the carpenter works without his shirt on.
  • Anthony Ainley, better known as The Master, had a very brief one in the BBC series Out Of The Unknown episode "Welcome Home".
  • Ballard in Dollhouse has had several quite extended such scenes (a show on the brink needs all the help it can get), including a fairly pointless scene of him sparring in a boxing ring in the re shot pilot, which did little else but show he is ripped. It is worth pointing out Ballard is played by Helo from Battlestar Galactica and really rocks the shirtless look.
  • In one episode of Pushing Daisies, Ned is shown shirtless, with the justification being that he and Chuck are bringing Chuck's bees back to life and it's efficient to just pour the dead bees on him.
  • Both Demetri and Mark have gotten shirtless scenes in FlashForward. The fangirls are not complaining one bit.
  • On Average Joe Shirts vs. Skins basketball and dodgeball were played. The Joes were always the Shirts team and the Hunks were the Skins team.
  • On the local news during a heat wave, young lean and muscular shirtless men with smooth, hairless chests are sometimes among those asked how they deal with being outside during a heatwave. Case in point: during a heatwave in the summer of 1992 during the 5:00 broadcast, Washington D.C. general news reporter Wendy Rieger did a Vox Pops interview with a shirtless, twentysomething male who was playing soccer on the National Mall. He told her that the black shorts and T-shirt combo he was wearing matched perfectly but that the shirt was soaked through as he worked up a sweat, so it had to come off. Rieger then slid a suggestive finger along his near-smooth chiseled chest and told the strapping young man she thought that his black shorts-and-sweaty bare chest combination was a good style for him by saying that "It looks like you're well matched here."
  • The "Toni's Boys" episode of Charlie's Angels features a feminist commentary about shirtless scenes. In one scene set at a male strip club, male Angel Bob Sorenson is asked by Jade Allen, the owner of the strip club to take his shirt off. Which he does while Kris Munroe eyes him like a hungry lioness.] While watching a male stripper rehearse, she asks Kris "I think it's time for us ladies to have something yummy to look at. Don't you think?" "Mmmm!" was Kris' answer.
  • Eliot from Leverage goes shirtless in the boxing episode. TNT.com, while listing their top 10 Leverage episodes, includes the shirtlessness as a reason for "The Tap-Out Job" making it.
  • Parodied in Just Shoot Me. Maya dated a guy who liked to take off his shirt a little too much. She finally breaks up with him when she found him shirtless in public. Turns out he just saved a little girl who fell into the sewer.
  • Also parodied on The Man Show. The no shirt guy Needusattention Showumnipplus
  • Every episode of the Soap Opera Passions was full of shirtless scenes.
  • Became something of an art-form on Robin Hood. Every single male cast member (except, tragically, Will Scarlett) had a shirtless scene. Of course, this was a double-edged sword: although Robin, Guy and Allan had their shirts off, so did the Sheriff, Little John and Tuck; as did Much, though Your Mileage May Vary in that instance. Equally artistic were the reasons for their shirtlessness: most of the time it was because the men were getting tortured or tied up in some way, though there is a priceless scene in which Guy is putting on armour over his bare skin.
  • Captain Grisham got several shirtless scenes in Queen of Swords, one of which was used in the opening credits montage.
  • Bo and Luke Duke often appeared with their shirts off on The Dukes of Hazzard.
  • Brian Kinney of Queer as Folk adores the living hell out of this trope. He goes shirtless and pours a whole bottle of water on himself in slow motion twenty minutes into the pilot episode. In fact, there doesn't seem to be a single character on the show who hasn't gone shirtless, or even full frontal, at some point — including Emmett's 70-something-year-old boyfriend.
  • On one episode of Match Game '73 McLean Stevenson didn't wear a shirt.
  • The Abercrombie & Fitch employees sketch on Mad TV
  • Hercules gets several of these during the series, but is exemplified in an episode in a later season, with both the Girl of the Week and a cross-dressing Iolaus (playing another character) watching the hero do some heavy lifting, then douse himself with a bucket of water, filmed in slow motion and deliberately sexy camera shots, all to a nicely-done song called "Hunk O' Herc".
    • Even as a teenager, Hercules got one shirtless scene. And he wasn't the only one. Iolaus (played by the lovely and talented Dean O'Gorman) had at least three, and Jason (played by the equally-if-not-moreso lovely and talented Chris Conrad)...well, it's easier to find episodes where he isn't shirtless, really.
  • In Skins, at least in the first season every guys have shirtless scene. So Yeah...
  • Justin Russo of Wizards of Waverly Place gets one in the Wizards On Deck with Hannah Montana crossover.
  • Very frequent on Dante's Cove — even when people aren't having sex, they have a tendency to leave their shirts unbuttoned or off altogether (possibly justified by the tropical setting), and Adam only actually seems to wear a shirt three times, twice unbuttoned. Lampshaded by Grace once.
Cquote1

Grace: Aren't you with that other one, now? The one that says "dude" and appears not to own a shirt?

Cquote2
  • Flash Gordon (1950s TV series). Steve Holland (as the title character) always had a mandatory scene every episode where he'd enter the cabin of his rocketship while still changing his shirt, revealing a well-muscled chest.
  • The Vampire Diaries must have a "one shirtless scene per episode" clause in, um, all of its male actor's contracts. Because the two male leads are played by the gorgeous, hunky, and ripped Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, this is very much appreciated by the large female fanbase. Damon and Stefan aren't the only ones running around sans shirt on the show either; Elena's younger brother Jeremy (who is suspiciously ripped for a ostensible sixteen-year-old) is frequently shown shirtless, as is her good friend Matt. And most male characters run around in tank tops when not completely shirtless. This troper is grateful for the scenes, as they kept her watching until the show grew its beard and became more than just eye-candy and melodrama.
  • Georgie gets one in the Davy Crockett mini-series, when Indians capture him.
  • So You Think You Can Dance began to embrace this trope with Season 3 contestant Pasha and it has since become a staple in subsequent seasons. Lampshaded in earliest instances by judge and exec. producer Nigel Lythgoe with jokes about costume department issues/budgets.
  • John appears shirtless a few times in Farscape to the delight of fangirls.
  • Britains Got Talent featured a martial arts duo called Strike in its second series, who took their shirts off during their audition and went rippy in their semi-final and final performances. Amanda Holden got reduced to fangirl level.
  • The teaser of the The West Wing episode "The Crackpots and These Women" features a handful of sweaty male staffers playing basketball with the President. It's notable that while Toby and Bartlet are dressed in humorous alumni sweatshirts to underline their interactions in the scene, Charlie happens to be in a nearly transparent t-shirt, and Josh in a ratty wife beater which reveals the most Perverse Sexual Lust-inducing arms ever sported by an overworked political operative.
  • Glee has Puck and now Sam, who seems to have more shirtless scenes than regular ones.
    • Not that anyone minds seeing Sam shirtless in nearly every scene. Though the director seems to tone his shirtless=ness down in recent episodes.
    • Finn and Will also had shirtless scences in the Rocky Horror Glee Show. Curiously, Kurt has yet to have one.
    • And now we also have Blaine, taking a shower after boxing.
  • Tons of them in Charmed.
  • All of the 3 male leads in Life As We Know It get one at some point.
  • Zack has a few in Accidentally on Purpose
  • In Californication, it would be quicker to list the episodes where David Duchovny doesn't take his shirt off.
  • Michael Woolson [dead link] in the Made for TV Movie Vows of Deception. Much to Cheryl Ladd's delight.
  • Kwame Mensah from Tinsel showed us just what he'd been hiding all those scenes he spent in the wheelchair. Yum!
  • 10 Things I Hate About You is full of gratuitous shirtless scenes.
  • On Dancing With the Stars, Maskim Cherkovskiy when dancing the samba with Erin Andrews.
  • In the premiere episode of Melrose Place, the first thing Billy does after moving in is to take his shirt off and Allison likes it.
  • Jeff from Community, and to a lesser extent the rest of the study group, have found themselves stipping down in some rather bizzare situations. Possibly the wierdest was being involved in a game of pool that to prove a point was being played naked.
  • M*A*S*H regularly showed characters in the showers, depending on the actor this was either Fan Service or Squick
  • Lois and Clark had a few through the series. Clark once answered the door of his apartment wearing nothing but a towel.
  • On soap operas, male characters are required to work out shirtless.
  • Agent Pete Lattimer on Warehouse 13 will accept more or less any excuse to take his shirt off. Get in a fight? Oops, all the buttons gave way. Dangerous VR video game? I'm playing the gladiator! Learn your new colleague his gay? Strip off so he can enjoy the hotness. Body-swap with your female partner? We get to see him walking around half-naked holding his hands over his nipples.
  • The new Teen Wolf series on MTV has taken shirtless-scenes past gratuitous and into pure art-form. Every episode, hell, every scene, there are better than even odds that one of the male stars (who are all ridiculously attractive) will take their shirts off. If you made it into a drinking game, you'd have alcohol poisoning by the end of the first episode. And you'd probably be paralytic before the first break.
    • Derek Hale seems to get it the most. Every episode gives us either Derek shirtless flexing, Derek shirtless working out, Derek shirtless captured, Derek shirtless injured, or Stiles using Derek shirtless to goad a gay character into helping him. When the Argent family of werewolf hunters capture him, the very first thing they do is remove his shirt, for no apparent reason. Although he is played by Tyler Hoechlin, and that's probably reason enough.
    • Indeed, Stiles is the only male character to have kept his shirt on for the entire first season. But the producers have promised that we'd get to see Stiles' abs in season two.
  • Several scenes in the first few episodes of Terra Nova have Jason O Mara taking of his shirt. As a result, I have nicknamed the Jim Shannon character as Abs-daddy
  • In the "Friends or Lovers?" episode of Wings, Joe has one.
  • Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy gets these from time to time.
  • The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries: Hoooo, brother, where to start? Luckily, both male stars had great bodies for it:
    • Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom: Frank Hardy (aka Parker Stevenson) walks into the room fresh from the shower, clad only in a towel.
    • Life on the Line: Frank strips off his shirt inside his trailer.
    • Sole Survivor: Joe Hardy (aka Shaun Cassidy) spends most of the episode in a sweat-jacket unzipped halfway down.
  • Lou Diamond Phillips gets one of these at the end of an episode of Psych. At first the scene is played as an Imagine Spot of O'Hara, who has been ogling the guy throughout the episode, fantasizing but then we see that the character is actually walking around with his shirt off.
  • The Wild Wild West gave Robert Conrad so many shirtless scenes, they showed up Once Per Episode for a while in the second season.
  • Elimidate: Paige takes Bill's shirt off.

Music[]

  • "Younger Men" by K.T. Oslin:
Cquote1

Woah, look over here
We got a cute little ol' runner to the right
Blue shorts, no shirt
Whoo! You're looking good darling
That's right, stay in shape

Cquote2


Music Video[]

  • Most Boy Bands, to some extent.
  • Marky Mark, shirtless, pants-dropping, early 90's white rapper extraordinaire. He was the face (er, torso) of Calvin Klein for a while, eventually became an Oscar nominated actor—What?!?
  • Usher.
  • 50Cent.
  • LL Cool J.
  • Manowar [2]
  • Joe Loeffler from the band Chevelle has apparently never done a video with a shirt on.
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers... constantly.
    • Pfft! Shirtless? They used to go on stage naked all the time.
      • And on the cover of Rolling Stone.
  • Akon
  • Eminem
  • David Gahan of Depeche Mode
  • Brandon Boyd of Incubus. The video for "Drive" is especially notable for its many low-angle shots of his abs.
  • A good number of rock drummers, as flailing one's limbs is far easier without fabric. Those who do wear shirts generally don't wear anything longer than t-shirts. Averted with Jazz drummers more often than not due to the different technique.
  • ZP Theart, formerly of Dragon Force (video game), often goes shirtless onstage.
  • Bobby Blitz of Overkill is frequently seen shirtless on stage, and for a 50-year-old man, he's absolutely ripped.
    • Ditto for Geoff Tate of Queensryche, who likes to go onstage in a leather jacket with no short underneath. Ye-ow.
  • Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello tends to go shirtless at all of their concerts.
  • Country singer Kenny Chesney appears without a shirt in his music videos and his bus and billboard advertisements.
  • Henry Rollins of Black Flag as a young man, and still today.
  • In video the for his one-hit wonder "Rico Suave", Gerardo didn't wear a shirt.
  • The video for "Connection" by Elastica shows the band being surrounded by naked male models.
  • The video for her debut single "What Made You Say That?" has Shania Twain frolicking on the beach with a barechested, musclebound love interest.
  • Gorillaz' 2D went topless in the "Dirty Harry" music video, and Murdoc wanders around shirtless a lot of the time. It's debatable whether either or both of them are Fan Service or Fan Disservice, though ...
    • The was certainly Fan Disservice to be had for the old "Rock The House" music video, with Murdoc sporting some serious skin and not-so-serious physique.
      • The aforementioned video also featured him batting away projectiles via groin-thrust, so Your Mileage May Vary.
  • The 1992 MTV Video Music Awards
  • Sting spends some time bare-chested in the video for 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'. While there's two different 'sets' (classroom, random romping area), the shirtless scene is during a classroom segment.
  • Gackt's YFC tour has him pulling off his tie then ripping off the white sleeveless shirt. Then resumes to go shirtless for the rest of the concert. Why? Does it really matter?
  • The first guy's shirt is totally unbuttoned in the video for "As If" by Sara Evans
  • The video for "As Long As You Belong to Me" by Holly Dunn.
  • The men in the video for "Let's Get Physical" by Olivia Newton John
  • The video for "Hangin' In" by Tanya Tucker.
  • The video for "Indian Disco" by Jasmine.
  • From Australia's Got Talent: Dylan Yeandle while singing this cover version of "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones.
  • Axl Rose was known to do this quite often in earlier years.
    • As was Slash.
  • Robert Plant. So much Robert Plant.
  • Sid Vicious rarely "performed" with a shirt on.

Sports[]

  • 2007 World Men's Champion in figure skating Brian Joubert has a tendency to wander around shirtless backstage at competitions, and ESPN has a tendency to include a clip of it in their broadcasts of every competition he's in. These days they even lampshade this piece of fanservice turned Running Gag, with comments such as "And there's your obligatory shot of Brian Joubert shirtless," or montages like this one. He may claim that he takes the top of his costume off just because he likes to, not because he wants to show it to everyone, but when you consider he's deliberately posed shirtless for magazine photos and the state of even further déshabillé he's appeared in on TV in his native France, one must wonder...
  • Boxing of every sort.
  • Wrestling of every variety. At least they wear more clothes now than they used to! Of course, women weren't involved in that kind of thing. That would just be obscene!
  • The Ultimate Fighting Championship has violence for the straight guys and beefcake for everyone else. Just like the good old days of Ancient Greece and The Roman Empire! They don't sell Ultimate Fighter sweat as an aphrodisiac, though...yet.
  • The Beautiful Game sometimes has the customary jersey switch after the game, as well as celebrating goals by pulling one shirt over the head from the front (though the rules forbid that in big games). And of course, at the end of the game, players are sweaty and tired, so the shirt comes off pretty easy.
    • Which infamously leaked over into the women's game in 1999, on the biggest stage. Yes, straight males can occasionally get something out of this trope.
  • The beach and water versions of most sports, such as volleyball, wrestling, polo, and the like.
  • Swimming.
  • The practice of Shirts vs. Skins is still around, though not quite as common as in the past. Shirts vs. Skins is a method of distinguishing between two teams in a game. One team takes off their shirts, and is therefore called the skins, while the other team keeps their shirts on.
  • In 2003 England's rugby team introduced new skin-tight strips — but early on when the design hadn't been perfected yet, every match saw at least one sweaty muscle-bound rugby man with his shirt hanging off him in true Shatnerian fashion. It was fantastic.
  • The all male Davinci Body Series workout videos have each of the participants including the instructor performing in the nude.
  • Men's tennis.
  • Fairly common in the Running community, due to chafing. Among trail runners, it's also to avoid getting entangled with tree branches.


Theater[]

  • The Aerial Straps act in Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. Also has an aura of Twincest.
  • Cassius from Julius Caesar, ecstatic about the conspiracy to kill Caesar, bares his chest to a thunderstorm one night and, according to the script, appears with his shirt unbuttoned. As the manipulative Cassius could easily be considered the villain- and is also described as being quite lean- this can cause some happiness among female Shakespeare geeks.
  • Riverdance
  • Chris in Miss Saigon has two. He's post-coital in one scene and pre-coital in the other, so it's not as gratuitous as most examples.
  • Terrible Advice, a black comedy play by Saul Ruibinek of 'Warehouse 13' fame, featured a certain Scott Bakula in nothing but board shorts for the first 15 minutes. Ummm.


Video Games[]

  • Shiki Tohno in the sequel/fandisc of Tsukihime is shirtless in one possible evening scene at the mansion. He addresses the three female occupants of the house while toweling off his hair, and they are all appropriately stunned by the almighty Tohno Gland. Akiha even apologizes for something in her daze.
  • Sephiroth, the Big Bad of Final Fantasy VII, goes shirtless for the game's final showdown, a one-on-one duel with his nemesis Cloud. Although the low polygon count destroys the point of even bothering with it.
    • The polygon count was higher in that battle than any of the real ones and, well, I guess Your Mileage May Vary. Sephiroth also appears "naked but but obscured by something weird from the waist down" in the cutscene where he gains the Black Materia. Which may actually be justified rather than just censorship if you consider his ultimate One-Winged Angel form. Which also had no shirt, but that version really had a tiny polygon count.
    • The Square Enix store in Japan has a life size statue of Sephiroth frozen in materia set into the floor. Cue drooling
    • Also, in the prequel Crisis Core, a member of Sephiroth's fanclub mentions how much she'd like to see him "stripped to the waist."
      • And then there's Zack's shirtless beach scene in Crisis Core, complete with invisible armour and materia slots.
    • On the other hand, if the Play Station 3 remake of FFVII ever comes to fruition, that shirtless fight scene will be rendered with today's hyper-realistic graphics. Damn.
    • Sephiroth goes shirtless in his alt costume in Dissidia. Careful not to drool on your PSP.
      • Sephiroth also goes shirtless in his alt costume in Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. Rendered better than in FFVII, but obviously not as good as Dissidia.
  • In similar fashion, the first Kingdom Hearts game's Final Boss also goes shirtless after he somehow merged with a gargantuan Heartless battleship for the final battle of the game.
    • Both he and Sephiroth wear trenchcoats with no shirt underneath (though Sephiroth wears what looks like a leather daddy harness), making every scene a shirtless scene for them. Their final boss forms just take it a step farther.
    • On the side of good, Sora does as the natives do when in Atlantica and loses the shirt along with his legs when he becomes a merman. It's the one redeeming point of said level.
    • Ventus is, for some reason, shirtless in his Awakening. It becomes Squick when you realize that Master Xehanort is the one who probably undressed him, and he was about eleven.
  • The boys of Final Fantasy X, save for Auron, don't need shirts or armor to ward off magic attacks or bladed implements! Oddly enough, the most dressed guy is the undead one, for all the good proper equipment did him!
    • An especially odd-looking case is Seymour, who wears some sort of robe that is open almost to his crotch, displaying some very bizarre and unsexy tattoos, although this is just the icing on the cake to some.
    • The sequel also gives us Brother, who never wears a shirt, and an optional scene features shirtless Buddy getting a massage from a Hypello.
  • Snow, from Final Fantasy XIII.
    • Who gets the hyper-detailed rendering mentioned above, and has random freckles, moles, little bumps on his aerolas and erect nipples. Oh, Square, you cocktease.
  • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening begins with Dante shirtless and just coming out of the shower. He remains shirtless for the first stage, and you can unlock an alternate costume that lets you play the entire game with this character model.
  • The title character from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time begins the game fully dressed and apparently wearing some sort of leather armour. As the game progresses, his clothing is torn off or used for bandages bit by bit until he is just wearing his pants.
    • Additionally, the bulk of The Two Thrones is just one long shirtless scene.
  • Gage/Trak from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin constantly goes shirtless. Under a leather jacket. He also has blue hair, is aloof and near-mute, and is a Bishonen.
  • At the end of Metal Gear Solid, Liquid—who spends most of the game wandering around, outside, without a shirt, in the middle of Alaska—removes Solid Snake's shirt. This is because Snake's padded sneaking suit functions as armor, maybe not so much to bullets but certainly against hands and feet.
  • Link in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess strips down to his skivvies during his sumo training. He's ripped under that tunic.
    • His opponent, however, is not.
  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas gives players the option to dress CJ however they wish... that includes stripping him to his underpants for a nearly completely nude shootout with cops and rival gangsters! Is the block hot or is it just me?
  • The players can dress characters of either gender in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind in whatever they please or in as little as they please...and I do mean whatever! (Okay, so human females get the perma-bra treatment there.) The hero can take down Big Bad Dagoth Ur in nothing but a gauntlet and what look to be burlap undies. Now that's mightiness!
    • In fact, Dagoth Ur himself doesn't wear much other than a loincloth and an Aztec mask. Again, though, the low polygon count detracts from the Fan Service.
    • Don't forget everyone's favorite improbably ripped old bald guy, Caius Cosades.
  • In Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, the very first look the player gets of Kian the Apostle is in a Shirtless Scene pitting him against other burly shirtless men. Note that only the playable male character is introduced this way. Zoe is in her underpants, though.
  • Ramsus, a white-haired villain from Xenogears, apparently sleeps in speedos.
    • With a nekkid Miang in the bed behind him. Wonder what they were up to...
  • Mortal Kombat might be known for its Stripperiffic ladies, but there's plenty of Fan Service for those who prefer outies. Sub-Zero. MK 3. Yum.
    • For the furries, try Reptile's alternate costume in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, called "Jungle Man". He wears little more than a loincloth and a skull-shaped chest plate.
  • T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger is a PS 1 game where the main character is a shirtless male kung-fu tiger. Most of the characters in the game are shirtless males, some more built than others.
    • Meanwhile, females are a rarity in this game, appearing only as a boss character or two.
  • It is possible, in Tales of Symphonia, to complete a mini-quest that gives you swimsuit outfits for four members of the party. Involving no shirts for the guys, of course.
    • Except for the one that would look best shirtless. Regal gets no love.
    • What about Kratos? He doesn't even GET a swimsuit outfit ..!
      • If Kratos were shirtless, your console would explode from the sexy. So, it's not because they don't love us, it's because our technology can't handle it.
  • In the Bloody Roar games, several fighters go shirtless. For the furries (talking only about Beast forms from here on), Yugo and Gado go shirtless in most (all, in Gado's case) of their costumes in the first game. Yugo has an open vest in Beast form in the second game, but still no shirt, and Beast form Bakuryu goes shirtless. Gado keeps his clothes on, however. After the second game, Yugo keeps his clothes on, but Shenlong now goes shirtless, and Reiji, who's shirtless in both Human AND Beast forms, comes into play.
  • When Capcom released Ace Attorney snapshots, how much do you want to bet one of those featured shirtless Edgeworth?
  • The Krauser boss fight in Resident Evil 4. At the start of the battle, he is wearing only a bandolier (on account of Leon slicing a bit of his shirt open in an earlier cutscene, and him inexplicably opting to ditch the said shirt as opposed to bearing with the tiny tear), and as the fight progresses, he ends up losing the bandolier for no real reason as well. Basically, the whole fight is a strip show.
    • There is also a brief gratuitous shirtless Wesker scene in Resident Evil 5 in the last boss battle against him, albeit his bare chest is overcome by the gross tendrils of the Uroburous virus a few seconds thereafter.
  • No More Heroes gives you the option to have Travis shirtless, and you can unlock shirtless with tattoo after beating the game. Strangely you don't have the option to go around with no jacket. The sequel allows you to unlock the option to go jacketless, but the closest you get to shirtless is a T-shirt with a shirtless chest printed on it.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has a nice, lengthy Shirtless Scene during a flashback sequence from one of the last characters one would have expected to get one. The Black Knight a.k.a. Zelgius, who also surprisingly turns out to be quite a Bishonen under all of that armor.
    • Not to mention Volug, who, due to the wonder of static portraits, is essentially shirtless throughout the entire game. The fact that he's a mysterious loner and a wolf-man makes it easy to see why the series' female fans swoon over him. Just look at him.
  • Romancing Jacob Taylor? Heavy risk. But the priiiize...
  • In Infinite Space, Lord Roth first appears on-screen while wearing nothing but his underwear.
  • The royalty of Ayuthay in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, justified since it's an oasis kingdom and near the blistering-hot Lamakan Desert. Amiti puts on a shirt at the party's request when he joins the crew, and later takes offense when Eoleo makes a smart remark about someone from Ayuthay "actually wearing clothes".
  • In Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Stranger gets one when he is captured and his clothes are cut off, exposing him as the Steef.


Webcomics[]

  • Twice Blessed gave us both Cade and Pella shirtless-ness for Christmas.
  • Silent Hill: Promise: We first meet Borje right after he's come out of the shower. It's quite distracting, both for Vanessa and the readers.
  • After Kit rips off the dress that was hampering her fighting, Nigel of Fey Winds also gets his first shirtless scene here... with Lampshade Hanging, of course.
Cquote1

Sid: Why did Nigel take off all HIS clothes, too?
Larina: I... don't know. Solidarity?

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Sarah: I need some way for Robyn to get a lot of water up there, the fat shade is too big to be broomed.
Robyn: I could use my shirt.
Sarah: Don't be silly. Maybe there is a bucket lying around or something.
Robyn: Yeah, that wouldn't look like a convenient coincidence AT ALL. Seriously, I could take off my shirt and use that.
Sarah: That's fanservice! I need to not do that!
Robyn: It's not fanservice, it's LOGIC. (takes shirt off) SHIRTLESS O'CLOCK!
Sarah: * sigh* ;_;

Cquote2
  • This scene from Harkovast, where Ki first appears. Mind you, the Ano-Chee and Junlocks never seem to wear shirts at all!
  • In DMFA, Abel remains shirtless about 85% of the time.
    • In Abel's Story, it's played for laughs:
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Mink: (grinning)...Oolong got your shirt again.
Abel: BUGGERING HELL!

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Web Original[]

Western Animation[]

  • Sprinkled liberally throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Prince Zuko's have been treated with the least subtlety since the Agni Kai sequence in the third episode that had the fangirl favorite stripped to the waist and fighting a duel to the death with Zhao, complete with impressive flexing, posing, and dramatic sweating. A shot in the Beach Episode actually included a huge flock of white birds passing behind him as he throws away his shirt, complete with blushing fangirls and floating hearts.
    • Sokka gets a few, including one when helping to forge a sword, which means plenty of sweat.
    • In the Final Battle Ozai takes his (ridiculously intricate) clothes off at the start, and Aang's are ripped off through the fight.
      • Ozai goes so far as to gratuitously incinerate his clothes as he throws them away.
    • Aang actually becomes a Walking Shirtless Scene for most of season 3.
    • Justified for Aang and Zuko in that, for many moments, they're in the middle of a firebending lesson. It's probably easier to learn when your clothes don't catch on fire... plus, it's hot!
  • In Samurai Jack, Jack gets the top part (and sometimes the bottom) ripped off his Kimono in a fair few episodes... this often coincides with his hair coming out of its topknot. See: episode XXIV pithily titled, "Jack is Naked."
    • Parodied in this comic.
  • Groundskeeper Willie. Ned Flanders. But mercifully, never at the same time.
  • Caleb gets at least one of these in WITCH, much to Cornelia's unbridled glee.
  • Danny Phantom: "Eye for an Eye". Vlad. Shower Scene. Fangirl squeals.
    • Same episode. Danny. Shower Scene. COMPLETELY NAKED. LOUDER squeals.
  • Ben and Kevin get one in the Ben 10 Alien Force episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
  • Abyo from Pucca would rip his shirt off everytime he appears like the Bruce Lee expy he is.
    • And just for laughs.
  • Batman the Animated Series. Bruce Wayne exercising in nothing but a pair of shorts. 'Nuff said?
  • The Backyardigans: During the episode "Legend of the Volcano Sisters", the three boys were practically shirtless, to match the Hawaiian setting. Also, during "Heart of the Jungle", practically 10% of Tyrone's chest is covered when he is wearing his Tarzan costume.
  • In Code Lyoko, the boys get a few such scenes, especially Ulrich. Most notable is the Getting Hot in Here moment in "New Order", or the opening of "Bad Connection" where Ulrich is wearing just a Modesty Towel in the hallway (Aelita and Yumi at least pretend to be looking away).
  • Raimundo is shirtless in exacactly three scenes but there are still dozens of forums dedicated to those couple seconds with some very creepy comments on the pictures.
  • In Bravestarr, according to commentary for the pilot movie, they specifically had a scene of Bravestarr shirtless for the ladies in the animation department. Filmation would have probably have done this a lot more, if so many of their heroes weren't already Walking Shirtless Scenes.
  • Done for comedy rather than fanservice in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, where Robotnik gets far and away the most Shirtless Scenes. He's been depicted nude a few times, too, and he was in a bikini for a brief instance in "Hero of the Year", to highlight his narcissism.
    • (reads the "nude" part) ...WHAT!!?!
      • In "Sonic Gets Thrashed", "Zoobotnik" (although in that case he was at least in a bath), and a couple of others.
  • Done for comedy and Fan Service in every episode of The Fairly OddParents that features Juandissimo, who tears his shirt off with only his bulging pectoral muscles, then eventually regenerates it with magic, seemingly for the sole purpose of doing it again.
  • Family Guy: News anchor Tom Tucker in Meg's fantasy in "The Kiss Seen 'Round The World" (also a spoof of the infamous "pool scene" in Fast Times At Ridgemont High).
  • King of the Hill: John Redcorn.
  • An episode of Jimmy Two-Shoes has Molotov without his shirt on for a scene with no in-story explanation. The actual explanation was probably to highlight his strength over Jimmy.
  • The fight between Shane and Killbane in Galaxy Rangers episode "Mindnet."
  • Jonny Quest TOS. Johnny and Race got to be shirtless quite a lot during the series. Dr. Quest and Hadji also doffed their tops a few times.
  • In episode 3 of Young Justice, Aqualad is shirtless while swimming. He doesn't put his shirt back on until the end of the episode, which pleased many fangirls.
    • In episode 9, a berserk amnesiac Superboy tears off his shirt before going on a rampage.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door: Numbuh 4, or Wally Beetles, despite being 10 years old, has quite a few moments where he's seen shirtless. Though those moments had enough poularity that quite a few fan artists like to draw him shirtless very often, and even sometimes poking fun at those moments.
  • Recess: T.J. Detweiler (despite being nine years old) was given a shirtless scene in "The Big Prank", when he has to be King Bob's "fanner boy", leaving him walking around in nothing but his boxers and hat. Considering that he's underage and pretty chubby, it's most likey considered Fan Disservice
  • In the "This Year's Model" episode of Daria, during the open modeling class, Claude from the Amazon Modeling Agency has the boys take their shirts off and then instructs the girls to rub the boys' naked chests.


Real Life[]

  • Buff Naked Butlers provide shirtless guys for Parties and events in the UK
  • Vladmir Putin engages in this occasionally, and may have a few fangirls of his own.
  • Mussolini tried it too.
  • The tabloids enjoyed doing this to Tony Blair in his time as Prime Minister, as he's actually quite good looking until he reveals his giant man boobs.
  • Then there's that famous picture of Obama...
    • A September 2009 issue of Newsweek cover featured a Sarah Palin photo that presented her in a less-than-presidential way. Palin and many Newsweek readers were pissed, one who's comment was published in a later issue of the magazine; he asked whether Newsweek would choose to feature a picture of a shirtless Obama"... and they did exactly this, about 20 pages over.
  • There is a Boston University hockey fan who goes by "Sasquatch" who fires up the crowd by removing his shirt and dancing to "Iron Man". Of course, one doesn't get the name "Sasquatch" if you have a smooth chest and a six-pack...(link, mercifully pic-free).
    • At a hockey game? And here I thought the Green Bay Packers' "Bikini Girls" were insane...
  • Matthew McConaughey hardly ever wears a shirt. Exquisitely mocked by Matt Damon on David Letterman: "Ah, Mr. Soderbergh! Today's scene I think would be a good opportunity for me to take my shirt off." If there weren't already three quotes up top, this would be perfect.
  • Bear Grylls from Man Vs.Wild finds an excuse to take off his shirt, and sometimes his pants, in just about every single episode, sometimes multiple times per episode. Yes, even in arctic conditions.
    • And, to keep it in the Discovery Channel family, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. Here he takes a mudbath. Shirtless goodness starts at 4:30
    • MythBusters has indulged in this as well. Every single male MB has appeared stripped to underwear/swimtrunks at least once on the show. (Not counting at least three episodes where Jamie goes shirtless but has pants on.)
  • DMX would remove his shirt towards the end of his concerts, to the delight of the female fans.
    • Fat Joe's infamous MTV beach concert.
  • This picture of Robin Williams from The Seventies. Kinda a case of sexiness Values Dissonance, at least for most people.
  • In most college towns, you know it's spring when you see shirtless boys running about and if you're driving being careful not the crash into something...
  • The majority of modern gym classes in your average school will require students to change into a different uniform. While the uniform itself usually has a shirt, the boys will generally be shirtless for at least a little while changing.
  • Ask Nathan Gunn, American baritone, the very definition of "barihunk". Also, you can try Simon Keenlyside or Rod Gilfry.
  • In Rio de Janerio, it's very common for guys to go without their shirts. The shirtless guys are very popular at parties and nightclubs and are always surrounded by friends and girls.
  • 2Pac did this a lot.
  • It's very common for gay bars and clubs to employ shirtless bartenders and to hold "go shirtless" nights.
  • Some men consider going without a shirt to be a lifestyle and actually live it. here and here [dead link]
  • Edward Norton seems to have a topless scene in most films he stars in... American History X, Primal Fear, The Incredible Hulk. Not that anyone is complaining...
  • Andrew Martinez a.k.a The Naked Guy strolled around the campus on UC-Berkeley nude. Except for a pair of sandals.
  • The greeters at Abercrombie & Fitch.
  • Soccer star Christiano Ronaldo usually has his shirt off when photographed.
  • Many people have speculated that there may be a government mandate requiring Will Smith to remove his shirt in every movie. No one seems to have a problem with it, either.
  • Gay Pride parades
  • During the 18th and 19th centuries when duelling was popular among gentlemen, some of them noticed that your chances of surviving a fight were better if you didn't get shreds of dirty cloth in your sword cuts or bullet wounds, so they would duel shirtless (and in at least one case, nude).
  1. Kurou, Hinoe, Benkei, Yuzuru and Kagetoki
  2. Which is a completely different trope.
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