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File:Kamina Shirtless Scene 2.jpg

A real man doesn't need a shirt!

Cquote1

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

Right Said Fred explains this trope
Cquote2


If your favorite show happens to include an attractive male in its main cast, the chances are high that he's going to wind up losing his shirt [1] sooner or later. It may be gratuitous, and it will almost certainly bring the Squee, but it will also be temporary. Eventually, Mr. Fanservice will replace his shirt, and you'll have to resort to rewinds and freeze-frames if you haven't gotten your fill.

Unless, of course, the object of your Perverse Sexual Lust is this guy.

The Walking Shirtless Scene isn't the dude who gets the most frequent or gratuitous Shirtless Scenes. In fact, he's the guy who has no Shirtless Scenes, because that would imply that he ever wears a shirt to begin with. The Walking Shirtless Scene is, instead, the dude whose default attire involves parading around half-naked. His Limited Wardrobe is so limited, that it doesn't even include a shirt - or if it does, he seems physically incapable of buttoning it. And even if he does have an Unlimited Wardrobe, every outfit would have the singularly shared trait of lacking anything that covers the upper torso.

As you might guess, fangirls love him. And sometimes guys, as well.

For non-Fan Service-y examples of shirtless Funny Animals/Civilized Animals, see Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.

For obvious reasons, at least in many Western cultures, this is a male-exclusive form of Stripperiffic-ness. The closest you can hope from someone without a Y chromosome (unless they're an Funny Animal or Civilized Animal) is some Absolute Cleavage, Godiva Hair or a Walking Swimsuit Scene.


Examples of Walking Shirtless Scene include:

Advertising[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
    • Kamina. As one of our own has put it: "Kamina has no shirt. Kamina NEEDS no shirt." The one time he did doesn't count due to the local Lotus Eater Machine -- also the Kamina with a shirt was a blatant fake.
    • Simon for the entirety of the Lordgenome arc and the final battle against Anti-Spiral.
    • The manga lampshades this in an early Yonkoma, pointing out that Leeron is the only one of the cast that actually wore a shirt at that point in the story. You Don't Want to Know why that is, or at least that's what Simon decides.
  • The anime-exclusive villain Valgaav from the third season of Slayers: first half of series: flimsy top that exposes most of his chest and all of his midriff. Second half: no shirt. And in a flashback of him in his past: no shirt. Seriously, he's allergic to shirts.
  • Bear from .hack//Sign.
  • Ryota Kajiki/Mako Tsunami from Yu-Gi-Oh!, which The Abridged Series naturally lampshaded ("I like that he doesn't wear a shirt"). Back when Yami/The Pharaoh was... well, alive, he also was one—along with pretty much everyone in Egypt. Odd, considering how much sun there was.
    • Truth in Television; the fact that it was so sunny was precisely why shirts would be impractical (you would overheat to quickly in them, and robes weren't always practical or acceptable). Sunburn wouldn't be a problem.
  • One Piece
    • This is the reason Portgas. D. Ace got so much extra screentime in the anime. There's also Whitebeard, Luffy, Marco, Mihawk, Eustass, Mr 1, Franky... the list goes on!
    • Franky gets bonus points for only wearing a speedo on his bottom half.
    • Also Hannyabal and Blackbeard.
    • Let's not forget Smoker, who walks around in an open fronted jacket. For added fun, when he forcibly has his body switched with that of his female subordinate, he decides to keep the look.
  • Bleach
    • Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, whose finely sculpted abs draw about as much attention as his blue hair. He might as well not be wearing a shirt at all with the amount of coverage it provides (and that's before the Clothing Damage strikes). After his Heel Face Turn in the last arc, however, he does wear a (pretty tight) one.
    • In later manga chapters/episodes, the fans are treated to Kensei Muguruma who has an open shirt to expose the 69 tattooed on his finely sculpted abs. Tite Kubo is a sadistic bastard.
    • In the (filler) Zanpakuto Strange Tales Arc, the spirit manifestations of Rur'iro Kujaku and Kazeshini are constantly shirtless.
    • Avirama doesn't wear a shirt, or anything else on his upper body for that matter, save for a pair of Detached Sleeves.
  • Fairy Tail
    • Natsu's shirtless vest isn't exactly concealing.
    • Gray, who is prone to unconsciously stripping down to his underwear, is an even better example. Leon does the same.
  • The eponymous Chrono of Chrono Crusade is this whenever he's in his true form.
  • Van Fanel from the Vision of Escaflowne TV series is not a case of this, despite a certain race-related ability that renders shirts unusable. Movie Van, on the other hand, sees the futility of such clothing and instead chooses to parade around half naked—and for that, we thank him.
  • Naruto
    • Both Sasuke in Part II (who is lean, but moderately muscular) and the Raikage (who is utterly freaking ripped) have very open shirts, and the latter takes his off completely when fighting.
      • Sasuke actually has a functional reason for his not-shirt; it's so his Cursed Seal form's wings don't rip his clothes every time he uses them as they erupt from his back. When Itachi removes this ability, Sasuke reverts to more standard clothing.
    • On the other hand, Zabuza doesn't wear anything on his upper body but the strap of his sword holster and some arm-warmers (except for some flashbacks to when he was still with the Mist Village and he wears a standard flak jacket).
    • Utakata, the container of the Six-Tailed Slug (believe it or not he's a Bishounen) wears his kimono half open, revealing his chest and, if it weren't for his strategically placed soap-container, much more.
    • We see in a flashback that Hanzo use to fight shirtless because he can release poison from a venom sac he implanted in his abdomen and clothes apparently make it hard to release it.
    • And let's not get started on Hidan, who can't be troubled to wear a shirt or button up his cloak all the way.
  • Sanosuke Sagara from Rurouni Kenshin is a lean, mean, shirtless fighting machine!
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • Both Greed and Ling in the manga and Brotherhood wear vest/jacket-type things that nevertheless leave their chests and tummies nice and visible. Foreshadowing?
    • In Chapter 104, after Father absorbs God, he ends up looking just like Hohenheim. Specifically, a half-naked, teenage Hohenheim. And he spends the next several chapters like this too. Quickly turns into Fan Disservice after Hohenheim's countermeasure strips him of the souls needed to comfortably contain his new power, causing unsightly, bulging veins to pop all over his body.
  • Jack Rakan of Mahou Sensei Negima generally wears his shirts open, if he wears one at all.
  • Several Digimon characters. Technically, nearly all the Digimon, but this actually becomes relevant with the more human-shaped ones like Leomon, Weregarurumon, etc.
  • Creed from Black Cat has his chest constantly exposed due to the ridiculously gay interesting clothes he wears. And when he's not a Walking Shirtless Scene, it's because he's butt naked.
  • In the manga Shaman King, HoroHoro's battle outfit is just shorts and a long, sleeveless, unbuttonable coat, but he tends to spend a lot of time sporting only bandages and his boxers. When he's not having a bath with all the other guys wearing only a towel. On another hand, Ren is a repeat offender (bathes completely naked even with other people), Hao is shirtless under his poncho and Yoh's uniform shirt is always unbuttoned, but they're not as bad.
  • Johnny Rayflo of Vassalord. Also seems physically incapable of buttoning up his PANTS.
  • Crow of Deadman Wonderland occasionally wears a coat, but doesn't seem to want to button it up. Thankfully.
  • Deville of Huckebein from Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force, whose outfit consists of boots, pants, a strip of cloth hanging off from his shoulders, and nothing else.
  • Shichika from Katanagatari. Upon removing him from his secluded island home, Togame took him to a clothing store in hopes to do away with his ragged, half-naked state. He somehow left the store with an outfit that covers even less.
  • Takamatsu at the end of episode five in Angel Beats!. He never puts it back on. He continues to serve this purpose for the rest of the season; sometimes it's commented on, sometimes this trope is just accepted and he is ignored.
  • Meryem the humanoid chimera ant king in Hunter X Hunter. And Uvogin.
  • Bertuccio and Baptistin in Gankutsuou.
  • Youji Kudou in Weiss Kreuz Gluhen. His "mission clothes" include a Badass Longcoat that he can't be damned to fasten, and even in his street clothes, seems to like leaving his top four buttons undone.
  • Several characters from Sakigake!! Otokojuku wear their uniform jackets unbuttoned with no shirts beneath.
  • South Carolina of The Statetan-Project never wears shirts or shoes. Even during the Civil War. Seriously. Apparently this exposure works very well, since a certain Virginian can't keep her eyes off of him...
  • Blair becomes this in Soul Eater, when she and the main cast go into the Book of Eibon and get gender flipped in the Lust Chapter (obviously, spoilers).
  • In Wild Rock, the young men of both clans never wear shirts. Emphasized further by wearing necklaces, arm warmers, loincloths and leg warmers, all which just serve to frame their bare torsos.
  • Marco Owen in King of Thorn. He loses his shirt fairly early on and never bothers to replace it, thus giving us a good view of all the tattoos he got whilst in prison. And later, all the scars he's gotten as a result of his fight with one of the Zeus Race/dying/being resurrected.
  • Gunnm: Zekka's outfit consists entirely of boots, pants and a vest that he is physically unable to button, all leather. Toji's gi is also always much too loose on his chest. Largely justified in that not only are both epic level martial artists, but in that settings about 90% of population are Hollywood Cyborgs, so they don't need clothes in the first place.
  • The lack of Brock from the Pokémon Special manga is preposterous. He's shirtless just like the original sprite of the game.
  • In the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman original series, Joe Asakura wore a rather skin-tight shirt. In the OAV, however, he wore leather pants and jacket, but no shirt.
  • Galo Thymos from Promare spents half the movie shirtless, fittingly as he is a Kamina Expy.
  • Nanatsu no Taizai has Ban (Fox's Sin of Greed) wearing a short leather jacket that leaves his lovely-sculpted torso on display.
    • Escanor (Lion's Sin of Pride) tends to wear a shirt and a vest at night, when his Nice Guy side reigns. During the day, however, his mix of Sexier Alter Ego and Split Personality kicks in - he gains quite more muscle and loses the shirt.

Comic Books[]

  • Gary / Wolf-Man in The Astounding Wolf Man has an exceptional number of these scenes. Certainly a source of Fan Service for some. I guess one of the side effects of lycanthropy is Clothing Damage.
  • Mike Grell's costume for the Legion of Super-Heroes' Cosmic Boy, aka the "Cosmic Corset".
  • Any number of Loin Cloth-wearing barbarian heroes, most notable of whom is Conan the Barbarian. Averted in the original Conan stories, where he usually wears armour or clothing appropriate to the environment.
  • DC Comics' Hawkman, most of whose costumes leave his whole chest bare except for a logo and some bondage-y leather straps to attach his wings.
  • Like Hawkman, Martian Manhunter usually wears nothing on his chest except crisscrossing red straps.
  • Navis from Sillage spends the entire first album wearing nothing but a loincloth, making her a female example, at least temporary.
  • Namor McKenzie a.k.a. Sub-Mariner. Always almost naked unless we count his iconic green speedo. And in Marvels, he wears nothing. Fanboys AND fangirls love him.
  • Rogue, and for that matter all GIs, in Rogue Trooper aren't even given shirts when sent into battle. Justified in that the Norts have scanners specifically designed to detect Souther armour, so going shirtless gives them a stealth advantage. Still, you'd think some sort of breastplate would increase their ability to kill enemies.
  • The Hulk. Not Bruce Banner, though.
  • In the graphic novels, Hellboy rarely wears a shirt under his Badass Longcoat. The animated films and live-action movies give him one more often.
  • Sally Frickin Acorn from Sonic the Hedgehog. It is most notable when she is drawn by Spaz or Steven Butler.
  • Sgt. Nick Fury, in his days with the Howling Commandos, almost never had a uniform shirt that made it through an adventure intact.
  • Seems quite natural, albeit not universal, among the aquatic Wavedancers of Elf Quest. In the first book of the Original Quest, all grown male Wolfriders wear what amounts to open-to-the-belt, sleeveless shirts, apart from Cutter and Redlance, who wear open, short vests instead. Rayek of the Sun Folk has it down to an elaborate collar. The fashion has become less ubiquitous with later costume changes, but remains popular.

Fan Works[]

  • Voldemort in A Very Potter Musical. Once he's reborn you can understand why he wanted to get his body back so much.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog is this in a lot of fanart. Technically, he's this in canon, but it's a lot less noticeable or sexy.

Films — Animation[]

  • Tai Lung of Kung Fu Panda is perpetually shirtless, which certainly counts as Fan Service for the Furry Fandom. Granted, the combination of thick snow leopard fur and all the sweat-inducing kung fu training would seem to make a lack of a shirt a given (he was even shirtless in flashback as a cub!), and we also get treated to shirtless Po for the entire movie. (Which for some people is Fanservice, for others FanDisservice.) But this walking CMOA certainly seems to have the right to parade around half-clad.
    • To further illustrate the point, note that in the Kung Fu Panda "Warrior's Guide" (a blatant reference to the various guidebooks to Star Trek and Star Wars), on the pages devoted to Tai Lung, arrows point to him to call attention to his "broad shoulders" and "bulging biceps".
  • Apparently, Aladdin couldn't afford buttons for his vest. Or a shirt. Or nipples. The Genie also is completely shirtless.
  • In the first Lilo and Stitch movie, Nani's love interest David doesn't put on a shirt until the epilogue, and even then only because it was snowing.
  • Tarzan, especially when the title hero is an adult man.
  • Baby Herman from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a non-Fan Service-y example.
  • Mowgli from The Jungle Book is another non-Fan Service example.


Films — Live-Action[]

  • The ironically-named "Shirts" in The Sasquatch Gang is always bare-chested. His brothers and father are also bare-chested—first thing his father does when entering the house is to remove his shirt.
  • The male cast of 300.
  • Achilles from Troy. Pantsless, too.
  • Twilight
    • How many stills are there out there of Jacob Black/Taylor Lautner with a shirt on? Or any of the other male actors playing werewolves in that movie, for that matter?
    • According to Chester A. Bum, they all suffer from The Curse of the Missing Shirt.
    • Lampshaded in Eclipse, where Edward asks: "Doesn't he own a shirt?"
    • Lampshaded as in Valentine's Day, where the character played by Taylor Lautner is offered a new shirt, starts changing shirts but stops less than halfway through saying that he doesn't want to take his shirt off in public.
      • Originally, the film was going to have a scene where his character simply walked into school and took his shirt off. Lautner rejected that for being overly blatant Fan Service.
  • In Surfer, Dude Matthew McConaughey chose to be shirtless throughout. He doesn't wear much on top in Reign of Fire, either.
    • His penchant for shirtlessness is mocked by Matt Damon.
    • And has made him a byword for shirtlessness amongst the Riff Trax crew.
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"Aw, this vest is just weighing me down!"

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  • Holbrooke (Mark Wahlberg) in Date Night. Might be an Actor Allusion, as in his rapper days, Mark Wahlberg often performed shirtless and appeared in Calvin Klein ads.
  • In many Bruce Lee movies, the only times his torso was fully covered was when he was in one of his disguises. This suggests that his chest is more distinctive identification than his face.
  • In The Thief of Bagdad, Abu's default outfit is a loincloth. Ahmad, the male lead, wears an open vest for most of the movie, but it can't really compare.
  • In The Mummy 1999, after Imhotep is fully regenerated, he wears first a loincloth with an open robe over it, and then just the loincloth.
  • Sabastien Guy in Close Enough to Touch. Technically, this counts because his shirt doesn't stay on for longer than 10 seconds in the film.
  • Judging from the pilot, Max's cheating boyfriend Robbie on 2 Broke Girls is this, earning the nickname "Jersey Shore" from Caroline.
  • Rocky of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • Beach Babes 2: Cave Girl Island
  • The title character of John Carter. Throughout the whole Mars experience, he's almost always shirtless for no particular reason.
    • No in universe reason. In the books, he was bare-ass naked. Anything more and the fangirls would have revolted.


Live-Action TV[]

  • Randy, of Trailer Park Boys, never wears a shirt. Sadly, this is Fan Disservice.
  • The entire male cast of Spartacus: Blood and Sand (except John Hannah), but especially the title character. When it comes to this TV series, being a Starz series and all, there's even a female version of this as some brief scenes in Batiatus' Household show some servant girls whose attire has obviously them being topless in a non-erotic context i.e. as they go about their duties. This TV series LIVES on this trope.
  • Captain Awesome on Chuck.
  • Played for laughs in the 1986 soap opera parody mini-series Fresno, where one character was literally named in the credits as "The Man With No Shirt". The IMDB lists him as "Torch", and he was played by Gregory Harrison. At one point, Torch goes back to his room to get a fresh white T-shirt; he doesn't put the new one on, just carries it in one hand, as he did the previous one. At a costume ball, he is a bare-chested centurion, and is surprised that one of the female characters—perhaps Carol Burnett's--recognizes him so easily despite his face-concealing helmet.
  • Angel, all throughout the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are very few episodes where we don't see any of his bare torso at all. Likewise, the presence of clothes, much less a shirt, is questionable for Spike throughout season 6.
  • Pretty much all the male characters in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena count because those vests don't cover anything... and the fangirls are grateful.
  • Robin of Sherwood is always wearing a half-open shirt.
  • The male Feeders of Vaal in "The Apple" episode of T.O.S.
  • The no-shirt-guy (Needuss Attention Showum Nipplus) who finds any excuse to go without a shirt and show off his muscular, hairless upper body was featured in the Museum of Annoying Guys on The Man Show.
  • The father in Friday Night Dinner is constantly shirtless.
  • From Dancing With the Stars: Maskim Cherkovskiy when doing the paso doble with Erin Andrews.
    • I see your Maksim Chmerkovskiy and raise you a Derek Hough, dancing the lambada with Joanna Krupa.
  • Jack and Sawyer in Lost, almost every episode in ALL seasons.
  • Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones. Never seen without his admirable pectorals on display.
  • Vaughn on Community.
  • Leto II from the miniseries Children of Dune is always either shirtless or wearing his shirt half open.
  • Axl from The Middle is too lazy to wear anything but his boxers most of the time.
  • One guy in the Psych episode "Shawn and the Real Girl" never wore a shirt, though he did once partly cover up with a tuxedo jacket.
  • Vladimir Putin in Saturday Night Live pretty much never wears a shirt.
  • Hawaii News Now: Beginning at the 55 second mark, this segment about the Spartan Race becomes one.
  • Ryan Lochte while being interviewed on Extra.

Sports[]


Music & Music Videos[]


Theater[]

  • When it's played by a male performer, the Firebird/Red Bird's costume in Mystere leaves the chest exposed. And from there it is spoofed within the show when the clown Brian Le Petit encounters him—as soon as the bird has danced off, Brian mockingly mimics the dance and opens his shirt for a quick moment (that Brian is a Cool Old Guy just makes this funnier).


Tabletop Games[]


Video Games[]

  • Almost every Fighting Game has at least one of these.
  • Thor from Gauntlet. Oddly enough, despite wearing little except a loincloth, he resists 30% damage.
  • Sengoku Basara
    • Sanada Yukimura is far too Hot-Blooded for any shirt to handle.
    • Also Chousokabe Motochika. Because as we know, pirates don't require shirts.
    • Maeda Toshiie from the same series wears only a Fundoshi.
  • Tekken
    • Default costume of Jin Kazama.
    • Also his father Kazuya.
    • And boxer Steve Fox.
    • And human-cyborg Brian...
    • Our favorite masked wrestler King...
    • Marshal Law and his son Forrest...
    • To some extent Hwoarang... GEE!!!
    • Less arousing example: Papa Heihachi in his diapers Mawashi.
    • As of the sixth game, all male characters (except Bob) can be customized to become Walking Shirtless Scenes.
  • Kratos from God of War because HE'S THE GOD OF WAR!
  • Soul Calibur
    • Kilik, followed by Yun-Seong.
    • For any huge-guy lovers there's Astaroth!
    • Not choosing Rock over his monster clone? Tsk tsk!
    • Don't forget Maxi, either.
  • A number of characters (both story and generic) in the Disgaea (and other Nippon Ichi games) series. To be fair, it gets very hot in Hell.
  • Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. In his guest appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics A2, he gets a shirt that goes a long way to making that vest he usually wears look... less like a battle bra. He's got both outfits in Dissidia Final Fantasy 012
  • The Demi-Fiend from Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne (although a lot of his demon body is covered in runic tattoos)
  • The Glutton bloodline of Bloodline Champions never wears a shirt on their outfits. They are also fat and ugly.
  • Warcraft
    • Illidan Stormrage is always without a shirt. Even more so after he absorbed the powers of the skull of Gul'dan, which made him grow wings on his back, which means he cannot wear shirts anymore. (As this Dark Legacy Comics strip mentions in the second panel.)
    • The other Demon Hunters throughout WC3 and World of Warcraft seem to have adopted his sensibilities as well. Except, for the obvious reasons mentioned above, for the one female Huntress in WoW, not that she wears much.
    • Same thing for Blademasters in WC3 and WoW, Grom Hellscream included. Ironically, in terms of gameplay, the Demon Hunter and Blademaster had the highest armor scores out of all the Hero Units in the game.
    • Ogres not only rarely wear shirts but also wear loincloths. However most wouldn't consider this fanservice, although to a certain portion of the furry fanbase, this is indeed fanservice!
    • Liam Greymane, the son of the racial leader of the Worgen, walks around without a shirt in the Worgen starting zone.
    • Kil'jaeden, and Eredar in general, like this trope. It makes them look even more badass.
    • Garrosh Hellscream seems to have given up shirts since becoming Warchief. His shoulder guards are massive enough to make chest armor somewhat redundant, anyway.
    • Fandral Staghelm never wears a shirt either.
    • Nor does Malfurion Stormrage (must be part of the archdruid dress code), though he did wear a cloak in WC3. Admittedly, his feathered arms in WoW would probably be difficult to fit through sleeves.
  • Fire Emblem
    • Volug from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Of course, he spends a lot of time as a wolf, but when he's in his human form...
    • Another character who goes completely shirtless is Hawkeye from Rekka no Ken (released in the US and Europe as simply Fire Emblem. And that's just his character art: all barbarian-class sprite art is shirtless.
    • Also Dieck in FE6.
  • Bang Shishigami from BlazBlue reveals quite a bit of his chest and abs. Because he's just that damn manly.
  • Metal Gear Solid
    • Liquid Snake. In Alaska, no less.
    • Vulcan Raven for those who like Huge Guys.
    • Naked Snake, abiding by his codename, had an option of having him run around shirtless. Playing on the easiest settings, you could have him fanservice you the whole game through, as you really didn't have to care for either camo or stamina.
    • Peace Walker takes it a step further: Naked Snake can run around in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks.
  • The Monk classes of Final Fantasy games tend to be shirtless.
  • Final Fantasy VII
  • The Sorceress Adel in Final Fantasy VIII is somewhere between this and Nipple-and-Dimed. Though female, her bare chest was completely flat like a man's chest, and thus went completely uncensored.
  • Jecht of Final Fantasy X, Posthumous Character though he may be (sorta). If he did wear a shirt, he would of course not have been able to show off the bitchin' tattoo running across his entire torso.
    • Role is reprised in Dissidia Final Fantasy, where he's rapidly becoming a Memetic Sex God. Because damn.
    • His son Tidus is taking after him in the prequel to Dissidia. Looking good, boy!
    • There's also Kimahri of Final Fantasy X who is just a big walking piece of furry and bara fanservice. Hell, all the Ronso in this game are basically fanservice for some people.
  • Castlevania
    • Isaac in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness wears no shirt, only some odd bits of armor, nice tattoos and absurdly tight pants.
    • Cornell from Castlevania 64: Legacy of Darkness falls under this trope, even more so when transformed.
    • Possibly averted in Castlevania Judgment. He wears armor which includes an open vest, but due to the appearance of his chest, it's difficult for this troper to tell whether or not he is actually wearing chest armor.
  • Dante became this trope in the third Devil May Cry title, to the point where his unlockable outfit is, ironically, a complete lack of anything at all on his upper body. The fans took it quite well...
  • Does it count if Brad Evans from Wild ARMs 2 wears a shirt with only one shoulder strap, leaving the other half of his chest always bare?
  • Rei and Garr from Breath of Fire III.
  • ZOAH from Chrono Cross, in an almost Leather Man way.
  • Moses Sandor from Tales of Legendia.
  • The Warrior from Diablo, and Barbarian from its successor. (And probably the Barbarian from Diablo III, in keeping with the pattern.)
  • In World Heroes, we have Mudman (a witch doctor) and Captain Kidd (pirate). The latter is notable for wearing a long, sleeveless coat instead of a shirt.
  • Try runnning shirtless scene with Contra dudes Bill Rizer and Lance Bean.
  • The Street Fighter series has several. We'll exclude the more Fan Disservicey examples for your convenience.
  • SNK is no stranger to shirtless manservice either, with Genjuro Kibagami, Joe Higashi and Shen Woo [dead link] serving as the primary purveyors.
  • The Punch-Out!! series, full stop. It would be easier to list the characters who do wear shirts. They're all professional boxers though, so it's okay.
    • Soda Popinski stands out for walking shirtless and pantless in the Russian winter.
  • You in Kingdom of Loathing. The ability to put on a shirt is a special skill available only to those who ascend under a Moxie Sign.
    • Also in Bad Moon sign, after accidentally mutilating the torso stick figures would be oblivious to, the gnomes kindly teach you to identify it for free.
  • Legacy of Kain: Kain, at least in his adult form.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene + Badass Long Hair + Physical God = Roark of Lusternia. He's fond of wandering around and expounding on his own superiority - justifiably.
  • Saxton Hale from Team Fortress 2 refuses to wear clothing on his upper body for "obvious reasons." To be fair, if you had chest hair shaped like Australia, would you hide it?
  • Final Fantasy IV
    • Yang, the Badass Bare-Fisted Monk, wears nothing on his torso for the entirety of the game.
    • In the sequel, the Man In Black actually Golbez is another such character. Mmmmm.
  • A rare female example is Jack, a.k.a. Subject Zero, from Mass Effect 2. Her entire outfit waist-up is a leather strap covering her nipples. And tattoos. Lots and lots of tattoos.
    • Also, Thane. Justified, because covering up his chest will worsen his illness
  • Ratchet and Clank: Ratchet in the first game and Size Matters.
  • Nier from NieR Gestalt, showing off how ridiculously ripped he is. Weird seeing as how he is the father of an adorable little girl and besides fighting the legions of darkness, grows watermelons in his free time.
  • Mortal Kombat has Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Jax, Sub-Zero (MK3 only), Nightwolf (MK3 only), Jarek, Kai, Reiko, and of course Goro, Kintaro, and Shao Khan. The furries get Motaro. Combine with the Stripperific likes of Li Mei, Kitana, Mileena, Jade, and Khameleon, and it's actually fairly balanced in its Fan Service.
  • The Prince of Persia, in The Sands of Time and The Two Thrones, starts out wearing a shirt, but as he acquires Clothing Damage loses it. In SoT, he tears off his sleeves one after another as they're damaged, and after falling into a hole shucks the rest of his top. In TTT, he skips the sleeves part, falls into a hole, and wakes up shirtless. From thereafter, in both games, he just runs around barechested.
  • Monkey from Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
  • Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Ayuthay seems to have "shirts omitted" in its male dress code. The guards may or may not wear armor, but neither the king nor his nephew wear anything on top. The latter, for protection's sake, dresses up before leaving the castle. Eoleo, another player character, comments that he never saw anyone from that place wear "real clothing" before.
  • This would be filled out by the bounty hunter Xenetes in Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll. Matter of fact, boldans are pretty much a walking shirtless RACE.
  • Quite a few NPCs in Rift. And one particular chestpiece style brings warrior player characters pretty close.
  • Almost every male character in the obscure PSX beat-'em-up platformer Tai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger falls under this trope, both friend and foe, including the title character himself. And that's a LOT of bare chests, considering that every character except one or two of them is male.
  • Dynasty Warriors 7
    • Sima Zhao wears a jacket, but leaves his chest bare.
    • Badass Grandpa Huang Gai, meanwhile, just wears various straps and shoulder pads on his upper torso in almost all appearances.
  • Planescape: Torment has the Nameless One, who wears only a belt and loincloth, though his gray skin and vast number of scars may make this Fan Disservice.
  • Aarbron from the Shadow of the Beast trilogy. The first two games (in which he is a beast, then a beast-man) have him in just a Loin Cloth (except for the Sega CD version of Shadow of the Beast II, which gave him a breastplate). In the third game he is fully human and wearing modern clothes, but still shirtless (the opening depicts him with a shirt, but his in-game sprites are clearly lacking).
  • All of the Qunari in Dragon Age II, apparently because they were survivors of a shipwreck and lost their armor. By the third act of the game, Merrill says she's sad that they left, because they were "easy on the eyes."
  • Bayou Billy wears an open vest with no shirt.
  • The title character of Guy Spy and the Crystals of Armageddon, spends the whole game in an open vest with no shirt (except for the Switzerland section, where he wears a coat, averting Exposed to the Elements). In one scene, he takes off the vest (for no apparent reason).

Web Animation[]

  • Given Free Country, USA's lax clothing laws (and also because it's called "Free Country"), characters in Homestar Runner are not required to wear pants (or any clothes). Strong Bad is one big Walking Shirtless Scene; he thinks it's better to show off his abs. Homestar has had his shirt removed a few times, but nobody knows if he wears pants or not, so...


Web Comics[]

Cquote1

Artie: I can't help noticing I'm spending most of this storyline with my clothes off.
Mell: Artie, you spend most of every storyline with your clothes off.

Cquote2


Web Original[]

  • Oran from Broken Saints, who is shirtless for half the series. Also, although Kamimura always wears his cloak, he never has a shirt on underneath.
  • Benzaie provides this in Suburban Knights, since he dresses as Conan the Barbarian. Cast commentary demonstrates how much he suffered to bring us this fanservice, given the film was shot during April in Chicago.
  • Same for Eight Bit Mickey in Kickassia.
  • Davey Wavey, a gay Blogger that makes all of his youtube videos Shirtless.
  • Shirtless Anonymous.


Western Animation[]

  1. Probably not in a gambling parlor
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