Neat Freak: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Jesse''': Joey, it's finally happened. He's cleaning liquid soap.

'''Danny''': Don't be silly; I'm just cleaning my rubber gloves.

 

 

A character who has some sort of obsession with cleanliness as a character trait. It may be a sign of their dedication, obsessiveness, or perfectionism. Generally they'll be one of the few main characters to complain about neatness, unless someone ends up [[Covered in Gunge]] or something extremely messy.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Not a main character, but Kimblee in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' (manga only characterization) wears a white suit all the time, and gets upset with a soldier for being blown up while talking to him, not to mention the small amount of blood spatter that ends up on his pristine suit. Kimblee's barking mad.

* Eiichirou from ''[[Baby Steps]]'' eats from both sides of his lunch box to keep the sides even, freaks out over the possibility of his food touching, and takes ''two'' sets of notes in class: a pristine "master" copy, and a second that he doesn't mind lending out to his less tidy classmates.

* One chapter of ''[[Franken Fran]]'' has a woman, raised in extremely sterile circumstances, recruit Fran in an attempt to wipe out cockroaches. She freaks out at the merest hint of contamination. The experiment does not go as planned...

* In the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' manga Sailor Jupiter is shown to be this, at one point spending two days cleaning her apartment.

* As is obvious once you get a glimpse of his meticulously clean, almost-empty apartment, Barnaby from ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' does not appreciate clutter. He keeps only the bare minimum furniture; one chair, one small table, one bed etc., and the only "unessential" objects in the living room (the one room we see properly) are a laptop, a television (both of which he uses to research his parents' murder), a family photo and a toy robot (a birthday present from his parents). He also dislikes the thought of anyone visiting his place, worrying that they'll make a mess.

* Nami Yamigumo of ''[[Silent Möbius]]'' is the AMP's resident neat freak. Unfortunately for her, most of her teammates are the exact opposite. This is played up in comic [[Omake]] strips.

* Charles and Ray Beams in ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' keep their ship impeccably clean at all times. {{spoiler|One of the first signs of Ray's breakdown after Charles is killed is the fact that the ship has been utterly trashed. Things just get worse from there.}}

 

== Film ==

* M-O from ''[[WALL-E]]''. "FOREIGN CONTAMINANT"

* Jacques the French cleaner shrimp from ''[[Finding Nemo]]''.

** Gurgles may also count. He appears to be more of a germophobe than an actual Neat Freak, but when they're deliberately making their tank dirty, he's the most distressed by it. Jacques, aside from some small difficulty fighting his cleaning urges, isn't overly stressed.

 

== Literature ==

* Hercule Poirot, though more obsessed with tidying than cleaning.

* Han Qing-yao from the ''[[Ender's Game]]'' sequel ''Xenocide''.

* Carnifex from the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series.

* [[Cold Comfort Farm|Flora Poste.]] ("I cannot ''endure messes''")

* Mr. Standish from ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'' is an eccentric variant: a clutter-averse man who keeps his phone, intercom, and personal ornaments sealed up inside his desk, leaving every horizontal surface in his office absolutely bare. The picture frame on the wall is empty, and he has to open a desk drawer every time he wants to check his notes.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* [[Monk|Adrian Monk]] from his titular series has this as his premise. One episode has him unable to concentrate on a crime scene because a nearby cop's socks don't match.

* Odo in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]].'' Dax likes to move everything in his office over by an inch to drive him nuts.

*** Hey! They're on a starship; a large one but still a starship. It's a closed environment. Anything that spills and gets left out eventually gets into everything and there are some really high-tech gadgets all over the place that could be adversely affected by being gummed up. It may be that there are some small robotic cleaner-uppers? (a la the Death Star's teeny little droids <ref>Actually used to lead troops through the labyrinth that was the Death Star</ref>) tidying things up but it just makes sense that the entire crew is selected for ([[WMG|maybe even bred for]]) and certainly uber-trained for a high level of cleanliness.

*** Not to mention that it's a military vessel and such standards are usually enforced rather strongly in any navy, sea or space.

* Jamie on ''[[MythBusters]]'' shades into this at times. One of his trademarks is his always-spotless white shirt.

* Claireparker from ''[[Pixelface]]''. In "Reset", she explains that because everything in her game is so dirty and broken, she feels compelled to keep the console as neat and perfect as possible.

 

== Video Games ==

* One of Geary's two personalities in ''[[Crash Bandicoot|Crash Nitro Kart]]'' is this.

* In ''[[The Sims]] 2'', Sims with a high Neatness score will be bugged by messes more than other Sims. The same goes for Sims with the Neat trait in ''[[The Sims]] 3''.

 

== Visual Novel ==

* In the ''[[Yarudora]]'' game ''[[Sampaguita]]'', the heroine, Maria Santos, ''really'' loves to do the cleaning (even though the protagonist's flat isn't at [[Trash of the Titans]]-level messy): several scenes show her happily and diligently cleaning the flat, and [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|she abhors cockroaches]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* Abner of ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' is highly mysophobic and [[Super OCD|OCD]], to the point of wearing a surgical mask and gloves as a preventive measure.

* [[Cheshire Cat Grin|Joey]] [[Eyepatch of Power|Von]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Krause]] from ''[http://mortifer.smackjeeves.com/ Mortifer]''. It's probably OCD, as he really hates being touched as well. {{spoiler|This also figures into the plot: a throwaway line from "William" ("How they expect me to work in this filth is beyond me") about his perfectly clean office is a clue as to his ''real'' identity...}}

 

== Web Original ==

* Voldemort in ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'', as revealed in his and Quirrell's [["I Am" Song]].

* ''FakeScience.org'' offers an [//fakescience.org/post/612703527435911168/ Easy Hand Washing Guide], descent-into-madness version.

 

* Petunia from ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' qualifies, especially considering that dirt in one episode [[Driven to Suicide|drove her to suicide]].

* Samson from ''[[Camp Lazlo]]''.

* Chuckie from ''[[Rugrats]]'' is shown to be this way, which is Tommy's breaking point after spending a week with him in one episode. Chuckie ends up taking it to a major extreme in another episode, where he dons a germ-proof "suit" and attempts to force the babies not to play anything to keep clean. Tommy and the twins quickly get him out of that phase.

* Alfred in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]''. When he and Bruce briefly visit some run-down movie-store, Alfred tries his finger on the counter, reproachfully looks at the dirt it comes up with and then proceeds to wipe the counter clean (well, cleaner) with a cloth.