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Discover 8 iconic anime characters with uncommon phobias. Explore how these fears impact their personality as well.
Phobias and fears are common themes in anime that add depth to characters. By showing a different side of a figure’s personality, influenced by an object or a situation, it helps create memorable moments. While anime often uses the phobias of characters for humorous situations, there is an equal amount of informative representation and serious addressal of the topic.
Hence, here are 8 iconic anime characters with uncommon phobias.
1) Guts – Fear of Being Touched
Guts is a figure of tragedy, having faced loss ever since his birth in Berserk. While he puts on a facade of strength and resilience, he is still scarred internally. This is caused by his grim upbringing, resulting in a fear of being touched.
Even as a child, Guts was fighting on a battlefield. He was raised in a mercenary band and forced to fend for himself. Guts faced heavy abuse at the hands of his adoptive father, Gambino. Along with this, viewers were shocked to see him suffer an even greater violation at the hands of Donovan.
This experience and the betrayal by his father, who sold him to Donovan, took a permanent place in Guts’ heart. Hence, the protagonist is extremely fearful of anyone who comes close to touching him. He instantly reacts with violence in such situations. While Guts does slowly get over the phobia with the help of allies and Casca, remnants of his trauma always linger.
2) Levi – Fear of Uncleanness
Levi is considered humanity’s strongest soldier, fearlessly facing off against the strongest of Titans. However, even this battle-hardened soldier has his peculiarities. Levi hates dirty surroundings, always obsessing over-cleaning.
He is described as a “clean freak” by those around him and is meticulous about hygiene. At the same time, there is a strong reason for this aspect of his character. Levi was raised underground, surrounded by filth and disease. This made him long for a clean home growing up. Hence, what started as an innocent desire soon turned into a fervent quality.
3) Death the Kid – Fear of Asymmetry
Despite being the son of Death, Death the Kid has one standout trait in Soul Eater — repulsion against asymmetry. This bizarre condition affects him every day, where he obsesses over perfect balance and symmetry.
Death the Kid gets visibly uncomfortable and sick whenever he sees asymmetry in his surroundings. This even goes as far as distracting him during battle, where he would avoid destroying anything he deems perfect. While his fear can be comedic, it also adds layers to his otherwise confident and powerful persona.
4) Tsunade – Fear of Blood
Fans might be shocked to find that the brash and powerful Tsunade suffers from hemophobia, a fear of blood. This is an extremely uncommon condition for someone in the world of Naruto, particularly Tsunade. As a medical ninja who has seen plenty of battlefields, viewers may wonder how she got the phobia in the first place.
Unfortunately, the circumstances of Tsunade gaining this fear are tragic. During the Third Shinobi World War, the ninja was present during the death of her lover, Dan. Making matters worse, she was unable to stop his blood loss. This caused long-lasting trauma, making her freeze up at the sight of blood.
While Tsunade retired soon after, she was brought back to the ninja world by Naruto’s perseverance. She eventually overcomes this fear during the fight against Orochimaru when attempting to protect the protagonist.
5) Kyuubei Yagyuu – Fear of Men
Gintama is one of the funniest anime ever, and a major reason for this is its distinctive cast. Kyuubei is a major contributor to this, known for her intense and aggressive nature. Her cold demeanor only ever breaks when she comes into contact with men.
There is no proper explanation for the cause of this phobia, with hints of her being bullied as a child and her confusion over her gender. Nevertheless, Kyuubei instantly panics and gets violent whenever a man touches her.
However, this doesn’t seem to apply to people she respects. She willingly caught Gintoki, possibly showing a sign of trust and comfort in him.
6) Komi – Fear of Communication
Komi is the protagonist of Komi Can’t Communicate, where the entire series revolves around her fear. As the name indicates, Komi suffers from extreme social anxiety and fear of communicating with others. Despite wishing to make friends and share enjoyable conversations, she ends up being overwhelmed.
However, with the appearance of Tadano, her life drastically changes. Sensing her true personality, Tadano helps her step out of her shell. He patiently supports and empowers her, letting her experience the beautiful world of friendship. Therefore, Komi’s phobia might look comedic, but her overcoming it is extremely inspiring.
7) Josuke – Fear of Turtles
The protagonist of Diamond is Unbreakable, Josuke Higashikata, is a hotheaded yet kind man. With his Stand and relentless nature, he is an impressive figure who faces extremely strong antagonists.
This is what makes his phobia even funnier. In direct contrast to his personality, Josuke has an irrational aversion to turtles. He runs away from the mere presence of them, leading to several hilarious scenes.
8) Sugar – Fear of Long Noses
Similar to Josuke, Sugar’s phobia is also used in a funnier context. Fans surmise that Sugar might be the only character in all of anime to have a fear of long noses, and the reason for this is hilarious.
During a confrontation between Sugar and Usopp, this antagonist fed the Straw Hat an extremely spicy grape. The intense heat caused Usopp to react with a horrifying expression, which unintentionally instilled fear in Sugar. In particular, she became terrified of his most distinctive feature — his long nose.
This trauma persisted, with her fainting later in the series at Usopp’s presence and also fearing a long-nosed soldier.
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