Fashionable Asymmetry: Difference between revisions

** A lot of shinigami accessorise their uniforms according to this trope. The king of this trope is Yumichika (both before and after the time-skip), but also included are (before the time-skip) Byakuya, Chojiro, Isane, Renji (in bankai), Nanao. After the time skip: Rukia, Ikkaku, Shinji, Uryuu.

** Several arrancar display this as well, but mostly in mask-fragments. Justified with Ulquiorra, who has something you could call bangs above his left eye, because of that stupid half-helmet he wears.

* Several of the Cloths in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', most notably the Aquila Cloth, whose upper body has an armored (left) and unarmored (right) side .

* Many characters from ''[[One Piece]]'', including the main casts have significant bits on their left side which range from minor things like earrings, combovers and tattoos to a [[Hook Hand]].

** Karin has hair that is long and straight on her left side, but short and unkempt on the other.

** Killer Bee has a mark like an ox horn on his left cheek, mirroring {{spoiler|the Eight-Tailed Ox that he is host to, which is missing the end of its left horn}}.

** Temari wears two stockings: before the [[Time Skip]] the right one goes up from her sandals and ends just below her knee, and the left one goes from above her knee into her skirt. After the [[Time Skip]], however, she starts wearing matching ones.

** The title character has that [[Useless Accessory|functionless]] spiral tie thing his pre-[[Time Skip]] outfit has on the left shoulder.

** Guren (anime only) of the Three-Tailed Beast arc wore a green [[Badass Longcoat]] with a long left sleeve and a short right sleeve. Probably due to the fact that she was (from what the troper can gather) predominately right-handed and the Crystal Style Jutsu she used would have torn up the clothing she wore when she activated Crystal-Arm-Blade-Mode.

** She may wear essentially normal clothing, but one has to wonder how long it takes Setsuna to get her hair to look like that. Even after Chao [[Slipknot Ponytail|takes her hairband away]] her hair [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v28/c256/10.html still doesn't match!]

** Ku Fei gets this when she takes one glove [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v29/c261/16.html off her party outfit].

* [http://animewriter.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/im-ready-for-anything.jpg Kanata's] haircut in ''[[Sora no Woto]]''.

* With the same haircut, Lain of ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''.

== Literature ==

* In [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' stories, asymmetrical beards are cultivated by upper-class Wunderlanders as a fashion statement (specifically, the statement "I have the free time and money to cultivate this bit of elaborate grooming").

* High-ranking Seanchan servants in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series shave the hair off half their heads, then braid the other half. This symbolizes their dual nature (lower-class people have full heads of hair; nobles have mohawks or shaven heads).

* In ''Talon of the Silver Hawk'', in the ''[[Riftwar Cycle]]'', Tal spends a few pages mentally mocking high fashion in the kingdom of Roldem, which, at the moment, includes a jacket specially designed to be worn on one side and slung over the shoulder like a cape on the other. He, quite frankly, thinks it's ridiculous... but not half as ridiculous as some of the other things he's seen there, like a woman [[Fan Service|whose only upper body garment was a necklace so huge it very nearly kept her completely covered.]]

== Video Games ==

* It's become so deeply associated with ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' that fashionable asymmetry is now considered the norm with JRPG's. Their outfits tend to be so busy (see picture), you can't help but wonder how long it takes to get into or out of them. How does [[Too Many Belts|Lulu]] go to the bathroom? While people seem to think pretty much entirely [[Tetsuya Nomura]]'s fault, [[Yoshitaka Amano]]'s clothing was never big on symmetry either. People blame Nomura because his were the first designs to keep their details in the games. Despite ''Final Fantasy'' getting so much flak for this, it's something of a [[Dead Unicorn Trope]], as most ''Final Fantasy'' games have perfectly symmetrical clothing. Only ''FF10'' and ''FF7'' have much asymetry, and ''FF7'' doesn't have much, mostly armored bits and shields. ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', curiously, tends to avert this, as everyone's clothes are generally practical and symmetrical.

** Nightmare/Siegfried reaches new heights of this in ''Soul Calibur 2''; one of his alternate costumes is his partially corrupted self, missing most of the armor but still having the giant monster-arm, one gold (pupiless) eye and one blue eye, and having a raised arc of flesh identical to the arm across his shoulders. Note that one arm is bigger than the other because that's the arm Soul Edge possessed, which is why it's different from the rest of his body. Ditto with the eye. It's not fashion, it's plot-related!

** Certain costumes from Talim and Xianghua include leggings of different lengths.

** Not to mention Savyna, who wears one thigh-high boot and one regular boot.

* Rita from ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' has one a long boot and white stocking on one leg, and a short boot with a red-and-yellow striped sock on the other leg. She even gets a costume where she wears a long black pantaloon-thing (held up by what appears to be half a garter belt) on one leg and merely a shin-high red stocking under normal black shoes on the other. The really asymmetrical part, though, is that her pantaloon is on the leg that's usually bare, and her bare leg is the leg that's usually covered by her long stocking. It's honestly kind of disorienting if you've been using her original costume all game.

* David Nassau, Marquis of Athlum wears a coat like this in ''[[The Last Remnant]]''. One side is green while the other is red, representing the colours of Calapeleis, Athlum's sovereign city.

* The fifth patch for ''[[Spore]]'' has allowed asymmetrical creatures, costumes, and vehicles. Whether the creations are fashionable depends on the viewer, but it is likely [[Sturgeon's Law|90% of those creations won't be fashionable with anyone]].

* In all ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' games, Jak from wears a single plate of armor on his left shoulder. It presumably protects him from having his friend-turned-[[Mix-and-Match Critters|ottsel]] digging his claws into his flesh, though he wore it prior to having a passenger in the [[Parrot Pet Position]]. Also almost always part of his outfit are a three-strap bag and uneven goggles.

* The gunner armor in ''[[Monster Hunter]]''. Most have heavy armor on the left side, and little to no armor on the right side. Justified in that fighting a giant, fireball spitting wyvern, one would want to protect the side facing the monster, while the little armor on the other side justifies Gunner armor's universally lower defense.

* ''[[Eternal Sonata]]''

** Claves wears only one stocking (on her right leg), as well as sporting a claw-like gauntlet on her right arm.

* ''[[Touhou]] Project''

* Maeda Keiji from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', who is rather eccentric to say the least, wears [http://media.photobucket.com/image/maeda%20keiji%20sengoku%20basara/Prince-Of-Wei/Basara%20Renderz/Keiji.png an almost completely asymmetrical outfit] that would make any ''Final Fantasy'' character proud.

* ''[[Fallout]]''. One-sleeved leather jackets (Mad Max-style) seems to be the norm. When you finally do find a jacket with both sleeves still on, the game remarks that you might make a fashion statement with that one....

* ''[[Dragon Age]]''

** Armour is asymmetric in the one way that actually makes sense. The left, or shield, side is heavier (more armour plates, bigger pauldron) to facilitate defense, and the right is lighter to increase mobility and make attacking easier but has a heavier gauntlet since the forearm would be vulnerable while striking.

 

== Visual Novels ==

 

 

* ''[[Last Res0rt]]''

** Daisy Archanis and her one bionic leg.

* ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures]]'': [http://www.missmab.com/Cast/regina.php Regina] has one skeletal wing which she hasn't regrown because she thinks it "looks cool"; [http://www.missmab.com/Demo/Leader05.php Clan Leader Taun]'s ceremonial armour covers her left arm completely, but leaves her right arm completely bare; [http://www.missmab.com/Demo/Leader14.php Quoar] and [http://www.missmab.com/Cast/abel.php Abel] are [[Mismatched Eyes|heterochromatic]], considered a good omen; and [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Abel_12.php Cindy] has a third eye [[Eyes Do Not Belong There|on the palm of one hand]], apparently as a result of her parents being exposed to too much magic.

* ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'' example: The uniforms for the followers of [[Path of Inspiration|Angelo's Kids]] look this way. Angelo himself wears a pimped out version that makes him look like a mashup of Super Dave, [[Michael Jackson]], and someone from [[Kingdom Hearts]].