Detached Sleeves

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An outfit with sleeves that aren't attached to a top. Usually they're strapped onto the arm close to the shoulder and allowed to flow freely around the wrist— therefore, they are not gloves, more like arm-warmers taken to the flowy extreme. Sometimes, however, these sleeves are very tight and feels like a detached tight clothing, but the concept is still pretty much the same. Common in Anime & Manga, as well as fantasy works influenced by Japanese culture.

The appeal of detached sleeves may be related to that of Zettai Ryouiki and Bare Your Midriff, in which a bare space between the two clothed areas (the shoulders and/or armpits in this case) were given central focus.

Compare Anti-Gravity Clothing and Opera Gloves.

Examples of Detached Sleeves include:

Anime & Manga

• Renamon in Digimon Tamers. In fact, that's the only item of clothing she wears.
• A number of characters, including Ino Yamanaka, Sasuke Uchiha (pre-timeskip), Zabuza Momochi and Killer Bee in Naruto.
• Hanyuu in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Rika as well, when wearing the miko outfit.
• Code Geass
  • Kallen and Villetta.
  • As well as C.C. and Cornelia in R2.
  • Suzaku's piloting outfit in the final few episodes of R2 boasts skintight shoulders.
• Princess Tutu has detached, puffed sleeves as part of her Magical Girl outfit.
• The gloves that Chrono in Chrono Crusade almost always wears actually look closer to detached sleeves on the rare occasion we see them without being covered by his coat.
• Rider from Fate Stay Night.
• Setsuna Subaru from Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars.
• Cure Berry in Fresh Pretty Cure.
• Mahou Sensei Negima
  • Kyoto Arc Big Bad Chigusa Amagasaki and her Onmyou Mage outfit.
  • For a short time, Negi is also sporting them.
• Subaru in .hack Sign.
• Sheena from Pokémon Arceus and The Jewel of Life.
• Soul Eater
  • Blair when she's in human form.
  • Let's not forget Tsubaki either.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Vi Vid
  • Corona's Barrier Jacket.
  • In Chapter 19.5, Shamal wears an outfit with detached sleeves.
  • Micaiah's Barrier Jacket. This, among other features of her Barrier Jacket, makes her give off the appearance of a Miko.
• Zarbon from Dragonball Z.
• Irvine from Zoids combines this with Fashionable Asymmetry. One side has a detached sleeve, the other has a shoulder strap like overalls. Plus pointless armbands.
• Ichika's Sun Djinn costume in Uta Kata combines this trope with Giant Poofy Sleeves.
• Cooro from +Anima has these.
• Amu Hinamori from Shugo Chara has this when transformed in Amulet Spade and Amulet Diamond. Also Kairi Sanjou when transformed in Samurai Soul.
• Hime Chen Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri's Natsuki Sasahara when she becomes Kaguya Hime, complete with Zettai Ryouiki.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Mami, Sayaka, and Kyouko's Magical Girl outfits. Has a one-to-one match with Zettai Ryouiki, oddly.
• Rin from Infinite Stratos wears them.
• Tsume from Wolfs Rain does this with black leather.
• In Black Blood Brothers Cassandra Jill Warlock wears an outfit that appears to consist of a tight black bodysuit and black arm-warmers.
• Several of the Seven Ghosts in Claymore wear these. The dress that Clare wears while in disguise in Rabona also has them.
• General Cloud Nine from D Gray Man has a variation.
• In Saint Beast, Judas, Rey and Luca have sleeves/arm wraps that are separated from the rest of their uniforms.

Comic Books

• X-Men
  • A common feature in Emma Frost's innumerable Stripperiffic outfits, but let's be honest: there isn't a single Stripperiffic trope that hasn't had Emma Frost's incomparably busty shadow cast over it.
  • Ms. Marvel as well.
• Karolina of Runaways did in the beginning, when her powers were revealed.

Films -- Animation

• Wallace of Wallace and Gromit appears to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt under his vest, but a scene in The Wrong Trousers, in which he is dressed by a series of robotic gizmos, revealed that it's actually a pair of standalone sleeves. This was meant as a gag, but has been repeated in more recent films.
• Kida's dress at the end of Disney's Atlantis the Lost Empire. However, we never see the armband she wore as a princess under the upper portion of her left sleeve.

Films -- Live-Action

• There was a really crazy example of this in The Fifth Element: Bruce Willis in a tank top and detached sleeves. They appear to be some kind of futuristic bandage.
• Balthazar sports a pair of detached sweater sleeves worn over a long-sleeved shirt in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
• There seems to be quite a fashion for these in Old Republic of a Galaxy Far Far Away....
• Quorra in Tron: Legacy. In fact that's the only real flesh she shows (besides her face).
• Rocket in Sucker Punch appears to have detached leather sleeves joined to the body of the outfit by thin straps. Goes with the Animesque feel of the movie.
• In School of Rock, a guitarist in Battle of the Bands takes this to the logical extreme by wearing sleeves and no shirt.

Live-Action TV

• Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer wears these in her first appearance, and a few times afterwards.
• Real occasionally wears some pretty tight ones on Real Chance of Love.
• Degrassi features this twice during its tenth season. Fiona, rich enough to always be on the absolute cutting edge of fashion, has an outfit with the typical flowing sleeves hanging from her elbows on down. Wesley, a middle-class nerdy boy, at one point in time sports double arm casts.
• Brittany from Glee invokes this look by wearing leg warmers on her arms after she foolishly wears a tank top in the middle of winter ("No one taught me how to read a calendar!").

Music

• Very common as part of the character design for Vocaloids voicebanks.
• Worn by Brian Molko of Post-Punk Revival band Placebo in the official video of "Pure Morning."

Sports

• It's fairly common in basketball to wear long armbands, as seen with players such as, Kobe Bryant, Melo and Lebron James. E.g Here.

Tabletop Games

• Ameiko Kaijitsu is illustrated wearing these in the Jade Regent Pathfinder Adventure Path.
• From Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Ib, Crowned by the World Chalice sports a standard pair to complete her Shrine Maiden getup. She briefly lost them as the World Chalice Priestess and during her time as Knightmare Corruptor Iblee, but regained them after her brother built her an automaton body to host her soul as Galatea, and again after she's properly revived as the World Chalice Justiciar. She lost them again however, in her final form as Lib the World Key Blademaster.
  • Crusadia Arboria sports a pair of the "tight" type.
  • Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto combines this with Fashionable Asymmetry by having the sleeve only on her left arm.
  • Noellia sports these during her younger days as the Revealer of the Ice Barrier.
  • Members of the Allure Queen archetype sports different types of these.
  • Fortune Lady Past sports a pair.

Theater

• Mimi wears detached sleeves in the "Out Tonight" number from Rent. Presumably, this is how she can be a stripper and still hide the fact that she has track marks on her arms.

Video Games

• Star FOX: A rare male variant, Wolf O'Donnell has leather-like detached sleeves in his Super Smash Bros. Brawl appearance.
• Alicia in Bullet Witch.
• Touhou has Reimu Hakurei (pictured) and Sanae Kotiya.
• Disgaea:
  • Flonne in the original Disgaea
  • Rozalin in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
  • Asuka (as well as all Ronin-type characters) in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice.
• Final Fantasy
  • Yuna in Final Fantasy X.
  • Thief Rikku and Songstress Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2.
  • Rydia (grown-up version) in Final Fantasy IV.
  • Terra in Final Fantasy VI, as well as Celes in some Amano art and the PSX renders.
• Soul Calibur
  • Xianghua.
  • Ivy's P2 outfit has these in IV.
• World of Warcraft: Various armors frequently have bare shoulders. You generally won't notice it without specifically looking.
• The Professor and Dancer classes in Ragnarok Online.
• Vyse in Skies of Arcadia. Fina and Moegi, as well.
• Kaguya Nanbu from Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier. Lamia Loveless also has this in her clothing.
• Guilty Gear
  • Anji Mito wears a hakama and two detached sleeves, but no top at all.
  • From the same series, Jam Kuradoberi.
• Castlevania
  • Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.
  • Maria's outfit from Castlevania: Judgment as well.
• BlazBlue
  • Noel Vermillion
  • Also Litchi Faye Ling. Unlike Noel, sometimes she used those sleeves to attack.
• Timer in Pop'n music.
• Nikki from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. It seems it's part of the standard female school uniform to use detatched sleeves. It appears there are only a few girls that don't use them, like Jess.
• Princess Lian the Heavenly Lily from Jade Empire.
• Aero from Mega Man Legends 3
• Aqua in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.
• Shino and Atoli in .hack//G.U.
• Tales of the Abyss
  • Anise has partially detached sleeves. They're connected to her shirt at the armpit, but the shoulders are open.
  • Also Tear (completely detached in her case).
• Tales of Symphonia
  • Sheena has detached sleeves, although she wears long black sleeves underneath them.
  • Presea, Zelos and Seles Wilder have them, too.
  • In Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, we have the protagonists Emil and Marta who also wear detached sleeves.
• Fire Emblem
  • A distinctly weird example in that the sleeves aren't detached exactly at the shoulders: Nephenee in Path of Radiance
  • Mia also has these in Radiant Dawn.
• Rhyth from Jet Set Radio Future has these. They're see-through too, oddly enough.
• Female Shepard's "colony" casual outfit in Mass Effect 2.
• Samurai Warriors: Seen in Okuni, as well an appearance option for a customized character.

Web Animation

• In Girlchan in Paradise, Kotomaru's shirt (or lack thereof) is just sleeves, and nothing else.

Web Comics

• Zola and Sleipnir in Girl Genius.
• This art page from Megatokyo.
• Both Meji and her mother from Errant Story.
• Reasonably common in Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures, especially with backless shirts for winged characters. Abel demonstrates.
• Caprice from A Miracle of Science.

Web Original

• Xandra from Neopets sports sleeves that are half-detached.

Western Animation

• SpongeBob SquarePants. Made even weirder by the fact that his shirt is also part of his pants.
• Code Lyoko
  • Aelita has puffy detached sleeves in her first Lyoko avatar.
  • Yumi also wears this in the first episode for the school party, along with Zettai Ryouiki.
• Huntik Secrets and Seekers: Sophie Casterwill rocks this look when she's in her standard outfit.
• Legion of Super Heroes: Triplicate Girl had these for a while in the second season.

Real Life

• Occasionally used in dance and ballet costumes for freer movement of the shoulders, while still being showy.
• The sleeves on women's kimono (and other traditional Japanese clothes) are unattached underneath. Men's sleeves are sewn shut. This is might be the ultimate source of this trope's prevalence in Japanese works, and why a good amount of characters who exhibit this trope are females.
• Gowns worn by medieval women were often designed with separate sleeves that would be laced to the gown. When you read about a lady giving her knight a sleeve as a token, she simply unlaced a sleeve to do so, instead of taking scissors to her dress.