Shirtless Scene: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

The most common form of [[Fan Service]] for women and gay men. A [[hunk]]y 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]].

"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 trope is among the [[Always Male]] tropes because... [[Nipple-and-Dimed|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 [[Limited Wardrobe|everyday attire]] is conspicuously lacking a shirt, he would be a [[Walking Shirtless Scene]].

 

== Advertising ==

* The Diet Coke Hunk (from the infamous commercial featuring an office-full of women leering at a shirtless construction worker) is pretty much the epitome of this trope.

 

 

* Of course, the ultimate example of this trope has to be Kenshiro from ''[[Hokuto no Ken]]'', who manages to [[Clothing Damage|burn off his shirt]] by the power of [[Badass|sheer]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesomeness]] almost every episode, conveniently right before handing that episode's main villain [[Finishing Move|the beating of his life]], yet mysteriously always [[Magic Pants|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). [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Hell]] also pulled this at the end of ''[[Mazinkaiser]]'' for seemingly no reason, and despite being a very old man.

* ''[[Shaman King]]'' villain Hao wears a poncho but he is shirtless.

** Faust goes through his introductory fight mostly shirtless, but bar [[Fetish Fuel|certain]] [[Creepy Sexy|demographics]], it's much more [[Squick]].

* The Captain from ''[[Hellsing]]'' has [[No Shirt, Long Jacket|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.

* 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. {{spoiler|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 [[Naked on Arrival|completely naked]].

** 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 ([[Made of Iron|of course it doesn't affect him at all]]) and Abel goes into [[Say It with Hearts|fanboy mode]] at the sight of him, complete with [[Luminescent Blush]].

** 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.

** Zaraki gets to show off his chest when he {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|Shows up to help fight Yammy.}}

** 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 {{spoiler|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.

* ''[[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 [[Bishonen|fairly good looking]] in his [[Badass Longcoat]], but when he gets his first shirtless scene, it turns out he's so cut up, [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|scarred]], and shot to pieces that he looks like Frankenstein's monster underneath.

** 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 [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/rosario_vampire_season_ii/v05/c018/ 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 [[Squee|heard for miles around]].

** Hidan, after a fight, has his Akatsuki uniform half ripped up, making all his appearances later on be half-Shirtless Scenes. Apparently Kakuzu was [[Miser Advisor|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.

* Gateau Mocha from ''Bakuretsu Hunters''.

* Sōsuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' gets a few of these. Once near the beginning, when he [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|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 [http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg127/SeitenTaiseiKira/ThisWillBeMe.jpg blurry picture (possibly a hallucination?) of himself, shirtless and restrained].

* 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.

** Xanxus has a 99% chance of being shirtless every time he appears in a non-plot related picture. [[Sarcasm Mode|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.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Judas has a few, usually with water keeping it from being more than just shirtless.

 

* ''[[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.

* Neal Adams would draw [[Batman|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 ==

** Accidentally subverted in ''New Moon''. [[Fan Nickname|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.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|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?"

** Though saying that, he doesn't seem to mind Myrtle looking at him when he's underwater with her.

** Related: Daniel Radcliffe played a mentally atypical boy in the play ''[[Equus]]''. One scene calls for him to <s>ride a horse naked</s> 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 (film)|Spider-Man]]'' films.

* The ''[[Mortal Kombat (film)|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]]".

** 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.

** 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]].

* ''[[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. ([http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/gable1.asp 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.

** 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.

* 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.

* The Chosen One in ''[[Kung Pow]]: 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.

* Parodied in ''[[Walk Hard]]'' when Dewey and Darlene had sex for the first time. She didn't know he was so buff.

** This same gag was used in ''[[The Naked Gun]] 2''. No ''way'' was [[Leslie Nielsen]] really that ripped...

* In ''[[Dead Poets Society]]'', Neil gets a Shirtless Scene at a very... [[Driven to Suicide|weird moment]].

** In fairness, doesn't like nearly every student get one earlier in the film?

* 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 [[Escape From L.A.|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.

* The entirety of ''[[Cool Hand Luke]]''. Good Lord.

* [[Will Smith]]'s character Del Spooner in ''[[I, Robot (film)|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 [[The Hangover|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 [[Catapult Nightmare|a rather intense dream]] shirtless and sweaty, which [[Distracted by the Sexy|kinda detracts from the drama of the scene]].

* 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 [[Go-Go Enslavement|strip Sam to his shorts]] before fitting him with a gridsuit.

{{quote|'''Darcy:''' You know, for a crazy homeless person, he's pretty cut.}}

* 1/3rd of ''[[Youth in Revolt]]'' has [[Michael Cera]] shirtless.

* 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.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_tR-KYWnGs 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 [[Censor Suds|conveniently hidden]].

* The film of ''[[Master and Commander (film)|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.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* 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".

** An excellent example from the ''Lost'' season 4 finale: {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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]]''.

** 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.

* 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.

* Kwame Mensah from ''[[Tinsel]]'' showed us just what he'd been hiding all those scenes he spent in the wheelchair. Yum!

* On ''[[Dancing With the Stars]]'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPIwfU-O3xg 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.

* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' had a few through the series. Clark once answered the door of his apartment wearing nothing but a [[Modesty Towel|towel]].

* On [[Soap Opera|soap operas]], male characters are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkZeDYXyl2Y required to work out shirtless].

** ''Sole Survivor'': [[Pretty Boy|Joe Hardy]] (aka [[Teen Idol|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.

 

== Music ==

* Heck, even ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has one! And that comic has almost no love/sexual references at all. It's right [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/5p11 here], in case you want to see it. And, ladies, you do. The [[Fan Service]] is even [[Lampshaded]] in the [[Alt Text]], which reads: "Lil' bit of fan service for you ladies out there." It's much-appreciated, Doc Hastings. ''Very much'' appreciated.

* [[Mac Hall|"Hey, what time is it?" "Shirtless O'Clock." "I thought so."]]

* All too frequently in ''[[Goodbye Chains]]'', much to the pleasure of fangirls.

* Very recently, ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'' had one from Robyn...while he was splashing around in a stream...covered with authentic battle damage. It was ''entirely'' justified (he needed it to scoop water with) and the female readers are ''not'' complaining.

'''Robyn:''' It's not fanservice, it's LOGIC. ''(takes shirt off)'' SHIRTLESS O'CLOCK!

'''Sarah:''' * sigh* ;_; }}

* In [[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]], Abel remains shirtless about 85% of the time.

** In Abel's Story, it's played for laughs:

{{quote|Mink: (grinning)...Oolong got your shirt again.

Abel: BUGGERING HELL! }}

* The [[Show Within a Show|Manga In A Webcomic]] from ''[[Questionable Content]]'', ''[http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/107252.html Magical Love Gentleman]''.

** Mewsli has another during the [[Beach Episode]], and is in fact the only one because everyone else is wearing [[Old-Timey Bathing Suit|Old Timey Bathing Suits]].

* ''[[Think Before You Think]]'' has one of these in Julia's [http://thinkbeforeyouthink.net/?comic=20090912-whipped-cream whipped cream fantasy], and again at later at [http://thinkbeforeyouthink.net/?comic=20100702 the beach].

* Walter and Izor whenever ''[[Dubious Company|the cast]]'' is on a beach. Walter even sings ''"I'm Too Sexy"'' at one point. ''[[British Stuffiness|Izor]]'', however, is less than amused.

* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' had one that was actually plot-important—for one, Hanna needed to quickly write runes all over his body to fight a ghost, and two, because it revealed a ''huge freakin' scar'' that probably relates to his [[Dark and Troubled Past]] and [[Ambiguously Human|Ambiguous Humanity]] in some way.

* Danny from ''[[Zodiac Blues]]'' does this whenever he can.

* In ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]'' and ''[[Friendly Hostility]]'', Fox Maharassa occasionally does this, including one strip where he plays a tabletop game naked in order to cheer Collin up.

 

== Web Original ==

** Jonas then got a [[Spin-Off]] in the form of ''[[LG15: the resistance|LG 15 The Resistance]]''. He didn't manage to go four episodes without taking his shirt off.

* [[That Guy With The Glasses|Benzaie]] is prone to these. Also, there was that time that [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] was on pain-meds for dental surgery...

* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' [http://www.cracked.com/article_18633_the-real-reason-shes-making-you-go-see-eclipse-5Bgraph5D.html explains why so many boyfriends were dragged unwilling to see] [[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]] 3.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsSQKspCPHg Shirtless Anonymous]

** Fat Joe's infamous MTV beach concert.

* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/80sFreakLurker/Others/Shirtless.jpg 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 [[Distracted by the Sexy|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.

* [[Tupac Shakur|2Pac]] did this a ''lot''.

* It's very common for gay bars and clubs to employ shirtless bartenders and to hold "go shirtless" nights.

* [[Edward Norton]] seems to have a topless scene in most films he stars in... ''[[American History X]]'', ''Primal Fear'', ''[[The Incredible Hulk (film)|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.

* [[Manly Gay|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'').

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Always Male]]

[[Category:Partial Nudity Tropes]]

[[Category:Boys Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Turn-On Tropes]]

[[Category:Fanservice Scenes]]