Emotionless Girl Narrator

Straight: Lucy never smiles, laughs, or cries. Exaggerated: Lucy's face is frozen solid, and she always talks in monotone. Downplayed: Lucy shows noticeably less emotion than other characters, but on a few occasions she's shown to be Not So Stoic.note Justified: It's the only way Lucy can control herself. If she emotes, bad things happen. She has a tragic traumatic past, and she suppresses her emotions so that she will not be hurt again. Lucy has a mission to complete and can't afford to let her emotions get in the way. Lucy has been trained to act this way and is afraid to drop the charade for fear of consequence. She suppresses her emotions because she thinks that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. She comes from a culture where both males and females are expected to refrain from showing emotion. Lucy is a robot of the non-ridiculous kind. Or she has brain damage that has erased her ability to feel emotions. Or she is a Sociopath. Or she's soulless. Or she simply has Droopy Syndrome. Or her face is paralyzed, preventing her from making any expressions. Lucy is autistic and has trouble expressing her emotions. Inverted: Hysterical Woman Lucy is a Hot-Blooded Genki Girl whose fiery passion and strength of conviction cannot, will not be denied! Fred is an incredibly excitable and loud guy who overreacts to everything. Gender Inverted: Lars never shows any sort of emotion. The Stoic Subverted: The emotionless girl bit is all a front. When she meets a new friend and gets to know them well enough, Alice opens up. Sugar-and-Ice Personality Defrosting Ice Queen Double Subverted: ...then they die, and Lucy goes back to the way she was. She was consciously trying to be expressive, but eventually decided that it didn't work for her and settled back into her comfortable patterns. It turns out she is actually a Stepford Smiler. Parodied: Lucy's friends all try to get her smile or laugh at something. Lucy's friends challenge her to a Staring Contest. One of Lucy's friends tries to get her to laugh by tickling her.

And to add to that, she's extremely ticklish but would probably be averse to anyone trying it on her, leading to Amusing Injuries for the ticklers. Zig Zagged: She goes through this trope, Yandere, Sugar-and-Ice Personality, and Tsundere all in a matter of minutes. Lucy is a Mood-Swinger who fluctuates between cold and emotionless and boundlessly energetic. Averted: Lucy smiles and laughs at stuff. Enforced: ??? Lampshaded: "Lucy, did you just... make a facial expression?" Invoked: Lucy: "Getting all emotional only gets in the way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job that needs to be done." Exploited: Lars asks Lucy to serve as an announcer for his news channel (the only one remaining) during the apocalypse. Because she's so emotionless, she's able to report mass death and destruction and deliver instructions to survivors without batting an eyelid. Her lack of panic calms viewers, but also unnerves them. Defied: Lucy fakes a smile. Discussed: Lars: "You know, Lucy, you seem very cold and unfriendly. What's up with that?" Conversed: "I'm in a staring contest with Yuki Nagato!" Implied: Lucy, though known as very professional, isn't shown emoting outside work. If that's how she naturally is or just how she's behaving at the time is uncertain. Deconstructed: Lucy is viewed as creepy. Therefore she has no friends and people avoid her, unnerved by her deadpan attitude in the most inappropriate moments. An "origins" episode of a TV show or superhero comic shows that a ton of nasty stuff happened to Lucy in her life, and that she's very angsty about it. She suffers from depression and has attempted suicide in the past. She has emotions, deep down, but she cannot process them well around others, and forcibly closes off her heart and mind to even her closest friends, fearing what they'll think if she shows her true self. Lucy deliberately suppresses her emotions (by magical or medical means) because she's Ax-Crazy when she allows herself to feel them. Lucy was born without any emotional capacity, and it alienates the hell out of her (both in-story and the viewers) due to the fact that she doesn't have ''any'' emotional reactions to scenes that generally invoke intense feelings, such as the violent murder of her grandmother, or her heartwarming reunion with her long-overseas father. When others call her out on her apathy after her mother dies, she responds by innocently asking in her perpetual Creepy Monotone "Why should I feel anything?" Reconstructed: She decides to seek some therapy, and while she doesn't turn into a ball of smiles, she gets better, and is now more able to relate to others and have other relate to her. Played For Laughs: Lucy is unfazed by the bizarre goings-on around her or causes embarrassing situations for other characters. She walks in on her friends changing to ask what they want to eat, walks across the rickety Rope Bridge without a second thought, and asks the giant monster where the nearest grocery store is. Lucy is The Comically Serious. Played For Drama: Lucy really wants to experience emotions, but because she's a Barrier Maiden, she can't risk showing them without potentially causing massive destruction. Characters around her aren't necessarily aware of this fact, and constantly try to cheer her up or otherwise make her emotional.

MEDIA EXAMPLES

Ah... and Mm... Are All She Says: Tanaka used to be unable to smile, to the point that one of her friends made a bet with another that he could get her to laugh or cry before middle school graduation. He failed, though she does eventually become a much happier person. Kanade Tachibana, the titular Angel of Angel Beats! is, at least on the surface, an example of this. She's quiet, and impassive seeming even when dishing out violence or receiving grievous injury. She has emotions, but she rarely shows them. Attack on Titan: Annie Leonhart. It's not that she lacks emotions, it's just that she doesn't care about the world around her. When Armin (correctly) suggests that she's the female Titan, however, she smiles, and it is rather unsettling, to say the least. Mikasa cares about others, but usually acts aloof. She really is emotional, but has issues with showing her emotions. Kazuo Kiriyama from the Battle Royale manga is an Emotionless Boy. He was rendered incapable of emotion when he was brain-damaged at the age of six (since birth in the original novel) and is described in-story as a sociopath. Add to this his phenomenal analytical ability and intelligence and you've got a very tough match-up. Reincarnated Griffith from Berserk is a rare male example. Lacking empathy, Griffith shows no emotion, sans a soft smile that is meant to be more unsettling than endearing. R. Dorothy Waynewright from The Big O. She's an actual Robot Girl. On at least one occasion, she expresses relief on never being programmed with emotions, although arguably she didn't need to be — she demonstrates disgust, loyalty, nostalgia, and numerous other emotions, just not at what a human would call full intensity. Sometimes her actions suggest she's far more emotive than she lets on but holds back because it annoys/unnerves Roger. Ran-Mao from Black Butler is Lau's bodyguard and shows little-to-no emotion. Eve from Black Cat and pretty much any character dubbed by Brina Palencia. She appears to be a specialist at playing monotonous and emotionless girl characters and gets typecast as such. Secre Swallowtail/Nero from Black Clover is almost always calm and apathetic, rarely emoting and contrasting her with the more expressive Asta. It's understandable due to her past trauma, but she does show emotions occasionally around the Black Bulls after formally joining them as well as during more serious moments. Nemu, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Lieutenant in Bleach. No matter how horribly he treats her, she never reacts. Mad Scientist Kurotsuchi CREATED Nemu. His "daughter" is really just an Opposite-Sex Clone. In the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie, Syaoran's mom is usually this, though she does become a Defrosting Ice Queen around Sakura. Carlos Santana in Captain Tsubasa is a male example. He became this due to his adoptive father's upbringing to raise him into the "perfect" player, to the point he even was nicknamed "The Soccer Cyborg". Thankfully, he slowly grows out of this after he falls to Defeat Means Friendship at Tsubasa's hands. Fiore from Chrono Crusade, although it's hinted throughout the series that she may not be as emotionless as she claims—and her relationship with Joshua is a partial reason. Yin, July and all other dolls from Darker than Black play this straight as empty, programmable shells, though the dolls seem to slowly regain emotions (and free will) as the series progresses. Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure: D fits this until the final battle. She's actually frightened about showing emotion. Mischa from Endride is a child assassin who was brainwashed not to have emotions in order to turn her into a better killing machine. Even after being defused, she barely displays more emotion than quiet jealousy and mistrust. Eureka from Eureka Seven. The girl is literally close to emotionless since her birth until she met her destined partner Renton and gradually fell deeply in love with him. Although 3 years ago she did experience her first emotion which is "surprise" when she realized she orphaned the three children she would later adopt. The entire premise of Expressionless Face Girl And Emotional Face Boy. Kashiwada is a stoic girl who is unable to make facial expressions to signify how she felt. As such, her classmate Oota becomes obsessed with trying to invoke a response from her. Maria, manager of the Hakushuu Dinosaurs in Eyeshield 21 was originally a Sugar-and-Ice Personality. Sadly, her relationship with team captain Marco has left her in this state, and she only begins to recover after his defeat. Riza Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist has a reputation in her military unit as being coolly competent — to the point of being slightly terrifying when she feels the need to lay down the law. She most definitely has emotions but it takes a fairly extraordinary situation to draw out anything other than polite, brisk, and slightly sardonic behavior from her. Miyabi "Professor" Oomichi of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class is extremely subtle in her expression of emotion, but her friends seem able to pick up on her emotions sometimes: during the yaminabe arc, there's a panel with a closeup of Miyabi's face looking stoic as ever, yet Tomokane can tell she looks happy. Also, the reader can see an expression of sadness — mostly in the eyes — when she realizes that the chick she had been caring for had fallen silent. Vanilla from Galaxy Angel. Used in the anime to comic effect. In the games, her story arcs deal with her coming to terms with expressing emotion. In Goddess Creation System, Xiaxi specifically takes this attitude to intrigue the crown prince by never reacting emotionally to anything, which he finds fascinating. She claims to be a Daoist sage in training and coupled with her emotionless attitude it gives her a slightly inhuman feeling to the people around her. The catch is that this is just a facade she uses in the imperial palace: When she meets people she knew before entering it, she reverts back to a completely different and equally fake attitude. The Gods Lie: This is how Rio Suzumura initially comes across to Natsuru and their classmates. She always has a stoic demeanor at school, and when Natsuru asks her if she can take care of an abandoned kitten he found, her reaction is to accept as long as he pays her a specific "rent" for the service. As the two of them bond, Rio starts showing more emotion with Natsuru...and he eventually finds out just why she was so emotionally reserved and frugal. The cyborg assassins in Gunslinger Girl, as a result of the use of drugs and conditioning they're emotionally stunted. Beatrice is more emotionless than the others. Triela is even surprised when another cyborg dies and she feels very little emotion about it. Invoked with extreme prejudice in the case of Henrietta, when her deteriorating emotional state caused the Agency to, for lack of a better expression, 'reset her to factory settings'. She's the perfect assassin again, but her personality is little more than a robot soldier. Hanaukyō Maid Team: To varying degrees, Grace, Konoe, and Mariel all act in an emotionless manner at times. Grace does it because she's suffering from a split personality, Konoe because she's been trained as a security maid, and Mariel because she's been brainwashed to be the perfect maid for her master Taro. Ai Enma from Hell Girl. Subverted in that she does have emotions, but she must repress them to carry out her atonement for the revenge she carried out on the villagers who buried her alive. Or else, she'll wind up in Hell. We first see it when she snaps before Hajime towards the end of the first season, and it's not a nice sight to behold. I'm Gonna Be an Angel!: In the first season, Silky is an emotionless puppet under Dispell's control, merely repeating whatever he says. In the second season it gets subverted, as it turns out that it was Dispell who was really a puppet and Silky's real personality emerges which is an exact opposite of the term 'emotionless'. Kanna from Inuyasha most certainly fits this trope, as she was created to be emotionless so that she would be undetectable by any trace of Demonic Energy or Scent. In fact, the translation of her name quite literally means 'void'. By the end, it is subverted as she actually has emotion as her heart can feel. Child Soldier Jonah from Jormungand displays these tendencies, likely due both to the trauma of seeing his parents killed in a bombing when he was a small child, and all the violence and strife he has witnessed since. Toyama Sachi from Jubei-chan. In the dub, she is referred to as "the strange, emotionless girl" once. Karin's little sister, Anju, in Karin. Although Anju is more the 'doesn't emote but is certainly feeling a lot' type, rather than truly unemotional: Anju: I'm not crying. Bge: Yes, you are. Your voice doesn't crack. Tears don't fall. But all the same, you're crying. Key from Key the Metal Idol seems to be emotionless initially, claiming to be a robot, but is eventually revealed to be a severe case of emotional repression prompted by merely being convinced and, as a result, convincing others that she is a robot when she is, in fact, a human to prevent her potent extra-physical abilities from awakening. Fate in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Fate actually does have emotions, but keeps them suppressed as a defense mechanism against her mother's insane demands and even more insane punishment for failure. Although she recovers later, Fate remains quieter and more reserved than the rest of the Improbably Female Cast, albeit also considerably more sensitive. Lutecia in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Likely a result of Jail's experiments and/or of growing up without her mother. She becomes more emotional by Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid. The youngest Combat Cyborgs- Otto, Deed and Sette- also count. Deed doesn't even change expressions while asking Wendi to get her hands off her breasts, and when she and Otto don't react as Wendi celebrates her victory over one of the Einherjar installations, Wendi gets annoyed and complains about having to be in the same group as them. The youngest, Sette, is almost completely devoid of emotions to the point of seeming robotic, and Tre tells her to put some life into her daily routines. Ruri from Martian Successor Nadesico. Though she's far cry from being actually emotionless - just emotionally repressed, and sometimes not even that - her voice never seems to reflect her emotions, making her always sound like she just doesn't care. This is a big part of why she used to be the Trope Namer for the Little Miss Snarker. Mother in Mother Keeper is this, though she is a computer so it's understandable why. Lila from Najica Blitz Tactics showcases many characteristics of this trope, being an Artificial Human, although she can fake emotions to some degree if needed to achieve a certain goal (like seducing men). Later in the series, she starts to genuinely warm up toward the protagonist though. Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Asuna was emotionless in the backstory. She was still emotionless upon arrival, but ten years of being bugged by Ayaka taught her emotions, albeit mostly emotions regarding irritation. Zazie Rainyday is emotionless to the point of Cute Mute. Although she speaks up in the endgame of both the first anime and the manga, she still shows very, very little emotion. The manga makes you think she's showing a playfully humorous side- but no, she isn't. That's her twin sister. She herself is still mildly altruistic, infuriatingly mysterious, and as emotional as a dead yak. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Rei Ayanami was intended to be depicted as an emotionless, creepy child to deconstruct the Yamato Nadeshiko archetype that many otaku seemed to love, showing that a person with that behaviour would be very disturbing in real life. Ironically, she became a fan favorite. Anyway, Rei displays emotions every so often. Much like the "Spock eyebrow", the subtle hint that Rei is actually having an emotional reaction is if she bothers to make eye contact with something, which she normally doesn't do. Mai from Nichijou rarely shows emotion. It's notable when she laughs, which she does one time in the first volume/episode because of a piece of squid remaining in Yuuko's hair. Parodied in a chapter of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!. After watching an episode of an anime (strongly implied to be Haruhi Suzumiya), Tomoko decides to become an emotionless girl so people will try to get close to her and break through her shell. Unfortunately, nobody notices, and in the next episode of the anime, she sees the same character displaying emotion and everyone liking her better. Kirika from Noir acts emotionless, but hides deep concern about her apparent amnesia. She becomes truly emotionless when her memory is restored. Now and Then, Here and There has Lala-ru, although she does start to emote more as the story progresses. Kyouka Amamiya in Not Lives rarely emotes at all, and Mikami thinks that it's almost like she's being 'controlled by a program'. Sabrina (or Natsume in Japanese), the Psychic Gym Leader from Pokémon Red and Blue, appears as an Emotionless Girl in Pokémon: The Series. In the first episode in which she appears, she has that trademark creepy blank stare and a doll who sits on her lap and does all the talking for her. She beats Ash easily, then lets her doll "play" with him and his friends in her dollhouse. Later, the viewers find out she had a rough childhood and reacted by stuffing all her emotions into her doll (who represents her childhood self) and having no mercy on the trainers who come to visit her. Ash teaches her to laugh again and by the end of the second episode she's a normal girl (well, with psychic powers). In Pokémon Adventures, she almost qualifies as one, but still cracks a smile or a glare every once in a while. A rare male version of this trope: Mytho from Princess Tutu, who is literally emotionless, thanks to a spell that shattered his heart. When he's first introduced, he constantly has a blank look on his face, has no opinions about anything, and does whatever other people tell him to do. As the shards of his heart are returned to him, he slowly regains his emotions and free will. Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica starts out as this. She never smiles, has a completely toneless voice, and acts like she's made of stone when Mami dies and Sayaka turns into a witch. It is subverted as we find out that she invoked this trope on purpose after watching her friends die again and again while stuck in her "Groundhog Day" Loop. She went from being a Shrinking Violet with glasses and a heart condition to a coolheaded stoic in a desperate attempt to finally save Madoka from her terrible fate. Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena is a variant on the Emotionally Repressed Girl, in that she is effectively anesthetized by the circumstances of her... very complicated connection to her brother. Tomoe Yukishiro from Rurouni Kenshin plays this for tragedy, since she couldn't show her fiancé Akira how happy she was when they got engaged, so he thought he wasn't good enough for her and went to search for his fortune to Kyoto... where he got killed. Kurasuma from School Rumble speaks in a monotone and tends not to show emotion. Shinigami Trilogy: Himeka, a Devil in Plain Sight, basically Mandy (specifically Bleedman's teen version). She may have been terminally ill but thanks to a love-struck Grim Reaper she will rule the world with an iron fist. Shiori from Tamako Market initially appears this way, due to her inability to express her feelings. However, she manages to overcome this by becoming friends with Tamako the end of Episode 3. Time of Eve: Half of the robots in-series (the female half) qualify, most notably Sammy and Akiko when they are outside the eponymous cafe. They transform into a Shrinking Violet and a Genki Girl, respectively, when given the opportunity to express their emotions. However, behaving like humans in public would draw unwanted attention, and they are very good at suppressing their feelings. Yami from To Love Ru, although she has shown the barest hint of emotions other than "I hate ecchi people" on occasion. Vera Linus, in Veritas, generally shows no emotion except when dealing with something that has to do with Lightning Tiger, the guy who taught her the meaning of "fear". Shiori of Wasteful Days of High School Girls is always seen without much affect nor emotions, and this is why she is given the In-Series Nickname of "Robo". In Wild Rose, because Mikhail's full-body markings manifest whenever he feels emotion, his mother raised him to feel nothing so he could pass for normal. As a result, he doesn't even understand what separates "loved ones" and strangers from each other. Bernt is a less severe example, simply being the utterly unflappable butler. Ininia from Witch Hat Atelier is a very pretty but very creepy child who does not show any emotion other than an ice cold stare. Even though she likes to heal and help people in a technical sense, nothing shown had even registered as a mild surprise from her. This is further highlighted when she is paired with Coustas who is, personality wise, the direct polar opposite of her. Given that Ininia is an apprentice of a Brimmed-Hat witch, whatever she was forced to learn would have been so horrifying that she became numb or preconditioned towards forbidden magic. Suou from World's End Harem presents herself as someone with a lack of varied expressions beyond her deadpan face, only focused in her job to make Reito initiate the mating process with many women (including her) to repopulate the human race after billions of men died due a virus, however when confronted by others about Reito’s lack of cooperation she seems to hold some loyalty towards him and when seducing him she tries to put on a smile, which makes Reito see Erisa on her sometimes; almost veering into Sugar-and-Ice Personality territory.