TV TROPES MEME (Edited 3-9-11)
BI THE WAY / IF IT'S YOU IT'S OKAY
Basically anything with Raikou, or later with Yoite in the anime. Since he seems embarrassed by Saraba's flirtatious lady cleavage, it seems Gau isn't simply gay, though. (This is an interpretation since it's not openly discussed, maybe making for a case of AMBIGUOUSLY GAY)
Yoite's position in this just makes it more awkward since Yoite is secretly HERMAPHRODITIC. (Or more appropriately "intersex".) Unlike in most animes however, this isn't used as fetish fuel, but rather just explains Yoite's super-traumatic past at the hands of his family. Nobody within canon aside from his "doctor" figures even know, and the reaction is pity more than anything.
In hometrail, this has yet to come out really all that clearly thanks to Gau's gut shouting of his heterosexuality. (OR, as of the truth-telling event, some of them do, in the most frenetically casual coming-out ever.)
He doesn't know about Yoite, and therefore assumes he's a gay crush, too. As of the truth event, Yoite at least knows that Gau considers him to be handsome and probably likes him, though. Gau for his part thinks he's been mostly-rejected, though. (Not that this keeps him from starting an entirely one-sided hostility triangle rivalry with Blaine. Though he also acknowledges that he thinks Blaine's handsome, too, making it...rather weird all around.)
BLOOD BROTHERS
Mm. Sort of. Raikou and Yoite have both saved his life and he's extremely devoted to them, even if it's not always exactly brotherly. (Due to UST and Ho Yay.)
In hometrail, Gau and Yoite actually refer to one another as "Otouto-kun" and "Nii-san" (Little brother and big brother respectively.) despite the fact they're both sixteen seventeen, and Gau's only younger by two months. This is less awkward than it sounds because of the japanese tendency to refer to very close friends as family members. (Like respectfully calling older women Oba-san, "auntie" or such...)
Since Raikou isn't around at hometrail, Yoite's particularly fallen into this role for Gau moreso than is canon.
BRIDAL CARRY
Raikou does this to Gau canonically, after Gau jumps off a building, hurling smoke pellets to bring him his katana. He's caught, and carried around like this for most of an otherwise serious battle. It's supposed to be funny, but most of the interactions between Gau and Raikou are pretty funny. (Raikou even breaks out some genre savviness in one arc, stating that he's been a frivolous humor character lately. Though that's probably because Gau's in a coma, and Raikou tends to smile hardest and be his most ridiculous when he's one step from sociopathy.)
CASUAL KINK
Gau and Raikou have a constant cheerfully gentle sadistic/masochistic relationship. Any time they're together and Gau's ready to mouth off about something, Raikou might serenely endure it in the background for a bit, but soomer or later, a dish comes flying through the air and decks Gau in the back of the head, or Raikou punches him in the face, or there's a sleeperhold ready and Raikou drags him back to his seat. Gau also cooks, cleans, files paperwork, and stores all files between them, and really seems to love it. If it's a ship, their dynamic makes them subvert and blur a lot of the standard, contrived Seme/Uke type personalities.
What's really funny is the double standard on Gau where he usually assumes a HETERONORMATIVE CRUSADER role with other people, but has such a blatant kink when it comes to Raikou. (See gray-and-gray morality below.)
Anything in hometrail relating to talking with Neil McCormick (who's an active hustler) seems to end up stuck in this hypocritical whirlpool with Gau. He actually worries for Neil, and even goes so far as to give him condoms, but still can't help but lecture him obnoxiously any time Neil does something flashy out of fear of being outed from his TRANSPARENT CLOSET (See below.) After the werewolf/vampire event, though, Gau desperately talks about him as "not being a predator". (Though this isn't taken as a positive phrasing choice by Neil.)
CLOTHING SWITCH / SHIP TEASE
A lot of Gau's clothing is too big for him, and at one point, he's wearing Raikou's jacket. They also have little touches like matching butterfly pins, though...Raikou's fashion sense is seriously horrible as is.
Just about anything relating to Gau's irrational obsession with Raikou falls under the ship tease label or some variety of screaming gay, but it's implied they share clothes. Though this might be just because they live together, it's...rather stretching when you take into account all the other little hints they like to give.
DARK AND TROUBLED PAST
Everyone in Nabari has one. XD
Gau's implied to be from a single-parent family, and his mother is murdered absolutely senselessly when he's thirteen. Despite his youth, his stature, and the reality that it mght very well kill him, Gau goes after her murderer, and is in the process of being beaten to death in an alleyway in the middle of winter when Raikou intervenes and saves him, bringing him into the world of Nabari, where they work together killing people within their organization who use ninjitsu for crime. (Not exactly a typical lifestyle for most sixteen-year-olds.) It's only really implied in discussion between Raikou and Raimei, and probably is about the worst you can get with a mundane life. Some of the pasts in Nabari are worse, though.
At hometrail, Gau's told his roommate, Finn, a fragment of his super angst past, though he's occasionally quite open about the fact he's a "member of wakachi", or a killer of criminals. (Or people like Zhou Yu notice that he carries around a weapon.) When he does talk about it, though, Gau's exceedingly casual about it, and generally doesn't see the big deal.
DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION
If nobody in Nabari was so messed up, where would the incentive be to master a technique that manipulates reality according to the wishes of the weilder, I wonder? (Moral: greed is pretty weird.)
GO OUT WITH A SMILE
See "TOO DUMB TO LIVE"
Subverted, but when Gau's been slashed through the chest, and he's making his speech to Raikou about reconciling with his sister (while stroking shock!faced Raikou's cheek no less), it sure looks like Gau's going to be a minor character death. ("You're family! Put aside your standings and your customs. Can't you just be brother and sister?") Turns out he's just put in a coma for a whole arc--three months.
(This in some ways ends up being a CRADLING YOUR KILL for Raikou, who's previously portrayed as this pink-haired sadist, but breaks down crying after Gau loses unconsciousness, debatably KILLING THE MORALITY PET. It's revealed in the next scene as Raikou looks on and talks with his sister, that he idealizes Gau for his sense of justice after all... Though it turns out Raikou doesn't do a turn to the good guys and goes on living within Kairoushuu, pursuing a cure for Gau.)
FAN BOY
Canon for Raikou in a big way. But Gau's got pretty much two settings. Either he hates your guts and can't believe you'd do anything right ever, or he's praising you and supporting your every gesture of genocide.
For hometrail Most noticeably for Rookie. Also, to some extent for Finn (due to roomie bonding), Sergeant Weller, and Simon Simmon himself. (Becuase he has organizational skill.)
Also, to every female ever. (Especially Anathema.)
FOOD AS BRIBE
Right, so...you're in your self-induced coma after you jumped the shark in front of your best friend's sword, and the emo kid with superpowers that you kept picking on for being taciturn comes along and uses his life force to save your life and bring you back? Apologizing would be awkward. Thanking him seems rather obligatory. So what do you do?
You bake him a CAKE. And not just any cake, but a special vanilla-scented cake even a kid with no taste buds can appreciate and find "very sweet." (In Yoite's typical quiet doubletalk.)
Just about any time Gau wants to talk to someone or apologize in hometrail he doesn't actually do so in words. He does so in interpretive baking. (Or sewing if it's for Anathema and girls will therefore be impressed.) Yoite gets cakes. Everyone with a tongue gets cookies. Finn gets grilled cheese sandwiches...etc. Gau's natural bribery is either food or housework. He tries to make friends the same way, too, so keep an eye out: If there's cake, Gau's trying to talk to you.
FOR GREAT JUSTICE
Oh Gosh. EVERYWHERE.
Gau rants about justice and uses it as his argument for why everything he does is always right. (Even when it really isn't.) He does this so frequently it even irritates his own teammates--except for Raikou, who apparently finds it comforting since his interior compass feels pretty shaken due to his NOBLE DEMON problem. He's still something of a mascot for everyone, though, and somewhat of a MORALITY PET--especially to Raikou. Though Gau's justice!crush is a real nuisance, he tends to get privately envied by the more world-weary "adults" in his canon for how ardently he believes that the world can be saved. Kazuho, Yukimi's sister seems to find it downright cute, in fact.
GREY AND GREY MORALITY
Mm...Just a trope all through Nabari, so it needs its own note.
Gau's no exception even though he (debatably) looks to be and talks like a "white" more than anyone in the series. But he ends up being a subverted INCORRUPTIBLE PURE PURENESS. His sense of justice includes killing people, after all, and his scale of morality is inescapably biased in favor of those he likes, and against those he dislikes.
While he's the show's big screaming idealist, he doesn't even stick with Kairoushuu once it becomes clear they intend to drop Yoite and leave him for dead after using him as their Kira master. He clearly has greater devotions to his friends than to his ideals, no matter how strong his ideals are to use the shinrabansho to save the world and protect the innocent. (Subverting a lot of his rules-heavy morality tropes a little in the process.)
While good-leaning, and well-meaning in his own way, he can be extremely petty thanks to his temperment, and his immaturity. Enough that he gets to be a little grittier than most characters under the idealist label, and maybe a little more realistic as a character.
Obviously, this is a reason I took him on. I like that kind of thing. But debatably, this is also me being overly interpretive.
HEEL FACE TURN
Gau and Raikou actually leave Kairoushuu to fight for Yoite and Miharu. Later they band together with Raimei to re-form the Shimizu samurai clan as a neutral party intervening in the world of Nabari, whereupon they get pretty much beat up on by everyone, and have scenes involving hair accessories and (in Gau's case) working at convenience stores and showing off your wrapping paper skill. Though this ends up being actually useful when he eavesdrops on some members of another ninja clan, and the clan ends up making the discovery that red and blue are the same both rival clan leaders have been working together from the start and totally manipulating everyone, and all the heel turns were okay after all.
HIDE YOUR GAYS
Mm...I want to be as fair with this as possible.
There's a bit of mild debate on whether or not Nabari counts as a shonen-ai manga. in Anime commentaries, Brena Palencia (the voice of Miharu) even cheerfully starts off after a long pause, "So...we're gay ninjas."
Yoite and Miharu are really the main focus of the plot. Add in Yoite's gender ambiguity, and things just get even more confusing. It could be seen as young friendship and opening up due to character development, or first love. But nobody's really ever sure despite all the blushing and scarf-giving, and superhuman ninja presence-sensing going on.
Raikou and Gau similarly get a lot of serious tension and fanservice, but nothing really definitive ever actually comes out. They live together and have whole slews of fanservice tropes working for them, but nothing;s ever really certain.
It's just one of those things that it's hard to tell on, and you can't really play without making a call.
Because it's almsot impossible to find people who RP who don't ship Gau and Raikou if they play one or the other, (or Yoite and Miharu, also), headcanon makes the call for the case of serious UST IF IT'S YOU IT'S OKAY BI THE WAY muddle as above. (That said, in the anime, Gau and Yoite have their moments, and even Gau and Raimei, too, so maybe with respect to this guy, it's just Gau being Gau, plus the cultural differences making hand-holding etc. in Japan not the same as hand-holding in America. See "Tender Tears" anyway, though.)
HO YAY
Everywhere with Gau and anyone else. (Oh gosh, yes.)
All over the place with Raikou, as mentioned, and quite a bit in the anime in particular with Yoite, though not exclusively since Gau gives up a life in Kairoushuu to "help save Yoite". (With Raikou's assent, of course.) Though due to Gau's initial adverse reaction to Yoite, this might have started out as FOE YAY even though they're technically on the same side.
The Ho Yay with Raikou happens to such an extent that it's actually debatable whether or not Nabari no Ou interprets them as the overt shonen-ai pairing. There's hand-holding, the bridal-style carry, clothing swappage, and even a few mentions of the dynamic between them by other characters as "love", not to mention the lighthearted S&M dynamic between the two of them.
While some interpret both Raikou and Gau as bisexual characters (more usually Raikou than Gau, or Gau when relating to Raimei), or characters wrapped up too tightly in UST to make a move on one another, they're never interpreted as exclusively straight by anyone with eyes.
This dynamic can initially, be interpreted at first as Gau being a STALKER WITH A CRUSH but during his coma arc, Raikou breaks down in weeping, and refuses to even weild his sword after hurting his "only friend", and he makes it quite clear that he admires Gau, if not as much as Gau admires him, then at least considerably close. (Miharu even asks if it would be best for him to learn the wish-granting shinrabansho technique to save Gau, but Raikou replies along the lines that he needs to suffer because he "definitely doesn't want to lose" Gau.)
This additional trope though, goes some way towards explaining why Gau is overeager with housework, paperwork, and virtually anything that makes Raikou's life easier, even if it pushes him into badgering and belittling other characters (ie: Yukimi) over things like personal mess, "What if Raikou-san were to slip and hurt himself?!" (Initially Yoite, too, since he supposedly takes great offense to Yoite not speaking back to Raikou on their first meeting, and from there badgers him on everything from his team dynamic to his fashion sense. "It's only autumn! What's with that full-on winter getup?!" Because everyone knows it's a great idea to make fun of the assassin's warm up suit.)
HEROIC SACRIFICE
Quoted from the site itself: "Gau throws himself in front of Raikou's attack to simultaneously save Raimei from it, and atone to Raikou for telling her the truth about the Shimizu clan's annihilation."
In the anime, he does this also for Yoite, risking his life to try to break him out of a prison cell on his own. (And failing, and needing to be rescued by Raikou. AGAIN.) He routinely seems to throw himself into danger without thinking, especially since he's an inherent ONE HIT POINT WONDER.
(Though that's more a gaming trope, any time Gau gets hit by anything from Nabari, he's down and out for the count. This seems to be a way to point out that he's an outsider and the seriousness of the weaponry or skills within Nabari, but...Gau's also built pretty scrawnily even for a normal person.)
HETEROSEXUAL LIFE PARTNERS
Self explanatory with Raikou, They work and live together, even if it's in a tent out in the woods. Of course your mileage may vary on the heterosexual bit into straight out UST (Or in even further instances, they're seen as a sub-couple to the "Official Couple" to Miharu and Yoite from those who see the series as a subtle shonen-ai series, which...is again, a point of real debate.)
Quite often the interpretation of the two is laden with EVERYONE CAN SEE IT, since Raikou and Gau are rather more overt in their fanservice. (See clothes-swapping and the whole bridal-carry thing...)
HONOR BEFORE REASON
Dude, Gau practically wrote the book on this. Plus he stays with the Shimizu clan (Raimei and Raikou) when they decide to fight literal immortals. (Which predictably, doesn't end well.) Also, see the bit about him jumping in front of his best friend's sword to keep the promise Raikou made to raise his sword against him if he told anyone his secrets? (A shining instance of Gau's characteristic LAWFUL STUPID, and I GAVE MY WORD)
Gau does this whenever his personal feelings don't get in the way and make him unreasonable to people, anyway...
In canon, Yoite's initial meeting of Gau is accompanied by a particularly eloquent shutdown of his ranting, accompanied by the silent threat of him raising that (literally) killer pointer finger of his, "There is no justice in those who talk of justice. We don't need you meddling in Yukimi's way of doing things." (See Foe Yay under Gau's Ho Yay problem in regard to Yoite.)
In hometrail, he tends to get in a lot of arguments with the more rational and cunning Zhou Yu on this subject, though Zhou Yu tends to interpret Gau's motives differently, and probably thinks he's a stupid, masochistic moron. (Somewhat rightly so.)
HOT BLOODED
Gau and Raimei (Raikou's little sister) both suffer from this. As the trope points out in the Nabari section "predictably their first meeting escalates into a shouting match." While Raimei is more the cheerful Genki Girl, Gau's the conventional rage boy. He actually has the nickname "Tenpa-kun" in the japanese, relating to the word "tenparu" or "to blow a fuse". Yukimi particularly likes to call him this every chance he gets, and Gau takes great offense to this, calling him "Chickenhead-san" back every time.
Like the trope dictates, Gau WILL say the cheesiest, most passionate lines with a straight face. Sometimes the reaction is awe. Other times people think he's an idiot. (Debatably: rightly so.)
The only thing that keeps Gau from being the THE DETERMINATOR is his lack of physical strength and constitution. He literally folds under any physical offense, though he refuses to yeild to anything less and will browbeat anything and anyone.
This extends to all emotions, and canonically leads to cases of Raikou literally pulling the WHAT AN IDIOT card. (Especially in the four-panel comic where Gau willingly chooses a piece of sushi covered in wasabi just to meet Raikou's expectations of his lack of intelligence and devotion. Masochistic Gau can be seen streaming tears and declaring "I'm so happy!")
This shouldn't need to be expanded on in hometrail since just about everyone comes up against it sooner or later. Even a triggers page won't help you here. I'm sorry.
LUMINESCENT BLUSH
Gau is a particularly expressive character, and like many anime characters of a certain type, has several moments of crowning fanservice literally fantasizing about being useful to Raikou, and having his paperwork skills appreciated. (See my swooning icon?)
Of course his boss takes that moment to walk in on him, which rather ruins it for Gau...
MASOCHIST'S MEAL
Oh Gosh...
See that bit about "What an idiot", also, Gau canonically eats Raikou's leftovers and rarely seems to eat anything else. He's this trope personified, and occasionally gets himself into ridiculous situations over this. It turns out this is a real kink in some S&M, too. Color me surprised.
Gau is called a masochist more than once in-canon, and Raikou is likewise called a sadist more than once. However, it's all by Yukimi.
(One instance involves Raikou cheerfully pulling out a feather and declaring he'll get information from killer elementary-school ninjas using tickle torture. And then he actually does.
Back again in Yukimi's defense, when Raikou falls off a balcony and he reaches back for him, Raikou pulls himself back up by unabashedly and comically pulling Yukimi off the balcony, so this could just be a VITRIOLIC BEST BUDS.)
MEMETIC MUTATION
"Gay Meguro" (Enough said.)
I seem to be the only one who's done the same for Yoite by accident, making him "Yaoite"
NONACTION GUY
A lot more in the manga than in the anime. In the manga, Raikou consistantly tells Gau to stand off to the side and out of danger. He largely complies.
In the anime, Gau has a sequence of actually fighting side by side with Raimei and Koichi with his kunai against real ninjas, but he seems largely to be getting in Raimei's way since she keeps shouting at him to move and quit being so slow. (The last episode has him learning Kendo with Raimei.)
Largely, Gau's the BUTT MONKEY, but fortunately, he has enough latent masochism in his character not to mind. Rather, he seems to enjoy being mercilessly beat on and teased by Raikou because it's attention from Raikou.
In hometrail Gau tends to want to get involved, especially with no Raikou to stop him. Usually, however, this ends badly, or ineffectively at least. (Personally, when Gau gains some semblance of actual battle-competance, I find that's a really short road to possible OOC behavior, so I try to cut back on it deliberately. As a bonus, it's often hilarious to have him fail, anyway.)
NOODLE PEOPLE
Nabari's art...just has impossibly thin limbs. :| (It kind of bothers me since I've taken about six years of art and while my proportions aren't fantastic, I can tell.)
OUR NINJAS ARE DIFFERENT
There's an "inside world" and an "outside world" in Nabari. The outside world is the normal world as it is, and the inside world is a secret one full of modern ninjas who dress in street clothes and have elemental-type powers in some cases. This likely would lead to complications and misunderstandings with students of history. (Or members of the cast of Naruto.)
PICKY EATER
Exagerrated by this player:
Gau can eat normally, but he takes special savor in eating leftovers off of the plates of those he cares deeply about. (And in-canon, he hates Shitake mushrooms.)
In hometrail this turns out to be a good thing when he's transformed briefly into a vampire. Also, it helps that his only canon-mate's bloodstream and body are drying up due to his special CAST FROM LIFESPAN KI ATTACKS.
SCARS ARE FOREVER
Gau is left with a really nasty scar from his run-in with Raikou's sword a la promise keeping.
In hometrail he's extremely self-conscious of it since most normal sixteen-year-olds don't have chest-bisecting scars, much less fresh ones, and it's bound to lead to unpleasant questions along the lines of "Why would your best friend slash you through the chest?! You actually still like this guy?!" and a lot of ranted back, defensive Gau answers.
Santana still accidentally runs into him in the co-ed showers and gives him a whole slew of fantastic snark on the subject. She mostly doesn't care.
SECURITY CLING
Er...Gau does this a little bit with Raikou in instances of extreme danger?
(Worse when he's being carried.)
SELF SACRIFICE SCHEME
My friend has told me that if I break my promise never to tell, he'll possibly kill me? It's worth it because even if I die, his sister will reconcile with him instead of trying to kill him. (He ends up TAKING THE BULLET for Raimei, actually "turning himself in" with the words "I've come for my punishment".)
...Expect this kind of logic with Gau.
In hometrail he does this kind of logic-thing a lot.
(Also known in Kelsey's OOC words as "He's Ayn Rand's Nightmare")
SHIP TEASE
All over the place with Raikou, as mentioned before at least half a dozen times.
And lately to some extent with Yoite at Hometrail. (Your mileage may vary--it's hard for anyone to get close to someone who can kill you with his pointer finger if you touch him and he's in the wrong mood, but they are a lot closer than normal, and Yoite tends to pass out and fall on Gau a bit.)
TENDER TEARS
Crying for yourself? That's lame. Nobody does that. However, tell the boy a story about your tragic past and how your goldfish sister hates you? Gau'll cry. And be deeply moved. And probably go off an do something nobly stupid on your behalf later.
(Headcanon translation? He's that guy who cries during romantic comedies. Gau's got a soft, gushy center. See: TSUNDERE.)
THEME NAMING
This is a bit harder to explain...
Raikou and Raimei are "Lightning" and "Thunder"--which is used when Gau's listening to Strauss Sr.'s "Unter donner und blitz" classical polka obliviously while the two fight. And though unrelated to them, Gau's name means "Spring Showers" or "Rain Shower". Raimei and Raikou's fight scene that Gau steps into in his moment of self-sacrifice is also conducted entirely in the rain, though in the series it takes place during the autumn.
Gau's meeting with Finn concerning his daughter being named "Drizzle" and his enthusiasm thereof makes rather obvious that naming in japanese is different. (He thinks it's a great name. Still does.)
THROW THE BOOK AT THEM
Quite literally. Gau saves Raikou by throwing his notebook at Yukimi's face while Yukimi's threatening Raikou with a handgun. (This is parodied later when Raikou's lets him shut Gau up by throwing his notebook at him in a display of his apparent SOFT-SPOKEN SADIST dynamic, except plus cheer and lighthearted domestic abuse when Raikou deosn't turn out to be as much of a villain as initially thought.)
TOO DUMB TO LIVE
Subverted. But barely. He ends up in a coma for three months instead. Also, it's less dumbness than really rigid sense of honor that's greater than sense of personal life value.
That said, most people know that if you deliberately break a promise to your friend who threatens to kill you if you do, that you don't run right in front of his sword and deliberately make his slashing you much too easy. Gau doesn't seem to grasp this.
More or less, in-canon, Raikou is Gau's personal, sword-weilding life insurance to compensate.
In hometrail Yoite seems to be taking on Gau's life insurance problems.
TRANSPARENT CLOSET
He cooks, he cleans, he irons your briefs, makes copies of everything in perfect triplicate, and gushes about that AMBIGUOUSLY GAY pink-haired guy whose picture is set up by his bed while blushing. Everyone knows about Gau. Even the straight guys. Gau still insists vehemently though, that he's not gay. (HAVE I MENTIONED I'M HETEROSEXUAL TODAY)
In instances where he's really called on it, he pulls the BI THE WAY card and actually gets rather subdued and sad. Turns out his housewifery is just a call for attention so that people will love him and he's ridiculously insecure. If he relaxes long enough. Otherwise he just gets shouty.
So far, in hometrail, Santana knows thanks to the truth event. Ten billion other people probably know just without the open admittance. (People who will actually have some plot point on the reveal however, might be his roommate, Finn. Yoite, for aforementioned UST. Also, possibly Neil, since there's some banter and misunderstanding going back and forth.)
TSURIME
Okay, This I actually discovered later. The way Gau's drawn with those really exaggerated slanty-eyes is actually a trope. That said, he's the most OBVIOUS one of these I've ever seen who doesn't have permanantly shut eyes.
I'd say he's probably the "strong willed" type of this, but maybe also a little arrogant since he tends to assume he always knows best and he tries to verbally strong-arm people a whole lot... (Also, notably, his WIDE-EYED IDEALISM shows up here, too. When he's ranting, he's usually really wide-eyed, and huge-mouthed, giving him a really exagerrated facial range.)
Since he has to run into people who're portrayed with three-dimensonal icons portraying people who aren't actually pen sketches, I usually have to describe him as being very asian, and slightly bug-eyed to try to translate this feature. (Grotesquely nerdy cuteness if that's your definition. I don't like assuming a character's attractive, personally, because of variable milage. XDD)
TSUNDERE
YES. Period. Exclaimation mark.
Very much so. Gau's a classic Tsundere mix with complete JERKASS FACADE and SUSPICIOUSLY SPECIFIC DENIALS (See the transparent closet) including a lot of hemming, hawing, blushing, and claims that HE WAS JUST PASSING THROUGH. He has spontneous AND planned moments since he's impeccably organized, but predictably, both get him into trouble which...with his particular ideals makes him think whatever he was "standing up for" was righteous just because people are picking on him.
This trope pretty much sums up a lot of others from earlier.
Particularly on this list, Gau's default mood is tsuntsun, obviously, or basically anger-affectation.
In general, he doesn't shut up and so favors the Taunt off this list, or in his case, more likely, the "justice rant" where he acts as morality police. (Better hiding his closet.)
He also follows Un-Giver, Helper, and Defender roles like crazy, even if his giving is usually a little more transparent.
Gau with his dere-dere side broken through really goes to town on this.
In canon, Yoite's cake scene is the epitome of this after Yoite gives part of his lifeforce to raise Gau from a three month coma and recieves CAKE for his trouble.
"I just...wanted to thank you for saving me... *realizes he's blushing* J-JUST KIDDING! I KNOW YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T MEAN IT! THAT'S JUST THE TYPE OF GUY YOU ARE! HAHAHAAA! *awkward pause, as he turns away* Still...thank you."
In hometrail Basically anyone Gau makes friends with gets a dosage of deredere in varying degrees of militant mania to overall confusion. (Including Finn Hudson--who's largely confused, Anathema Device--who seems to think it's cute, Rookie--confused, and Sergeant Weller--who just puts him to work.)
Since deredere can also be induced by guilt, Gau's attempting it with Neil McCormick, too, with apparently less success or perhaps just general awkwardness thanks to cultural difference between an American Hustler who likes Manly Men, and a Japanese kid who seems to think making cake and ironing is a sign of manly appeasement.
Zhou Yu is getting himself a healthy dose of tsuntsun most of the time by being Chinese and mentally thinking of Gau as a dirty barbarian kid, but had a deredere breakthrough over them being vampires.
In the case of Yoite, he gets both sides of it and a rather generous helping of UST over everything. So does Blaine since Blaine's forthcoming thoughtfulness and physical attractiveness are still suspicious to Gau by reason of absolute denial of said attractiveness and overall dapperness.
Watanuki and Gau get a note to themself because their friendship bounds on the fact they're both tsundere, and share many of the same interests in addition. Naturally they both seem to think the other has a completely normal personality and means of expression. (It probably helps that they're both japanese.)
WINDMILL CRUSADER
Insofar as you can argue that Gau actually does anything for his side aside from paperwork, it turns out the whole fight between Kairoushuu and the Fuuma has been contrived and their leaders are actually working together. At this point since Gau, Raikou, and Raimei are working independantly, it's not as devastating, but the word still needs to be shouted out by Gau into Yukimi's cell phone so the others know, and immediately, the three of them run into trouble from Kairoushuu's assassin group "Kasa", and later, into trouble-by-immortals-who-want-to-die.
Whether or not this dampens Gau's love of justice is hard to tell since he gets slashed in the face by a cat-immortal after she stabs Raikou through the gut with his own sword. And I can't find scans of the end of the series. FAIL!
YES MAN
Added to and supplemented by Gau's implied canon masochistic tendencies.
And pointed out perfectly by Yukimi, "Dude, you love 'Raikou-san' and worship the ground he walks on. Who'da thunk you'd say something to rain on his parade? You guys having a spat or something?"
"... Not really..."
The fact this speech is given as Gau dilligently eats the leftovers off of Raikou's plate makes the moment just that much funnier.
He's also shown complaining about being left behind as Raikou fights with his sister, and he's sitting at home, listening to classical polkas, compiling papers on their work, and actively fantasizing about Raikou coming back. (This includes hand-holding. Thank you, Ho Yay.)
Everyone knows a character might have a canon way of doing things, but the instant you start roleplaying them, the constraints and particularities of the game let you show them in a different light. Especially in terms of their "internet usage habits".
This is the section devoted to Gau's "internet habits" in his hometrail incarnation, as such, they're largely head-canon along the lines of common sense.
HAIR TRIGGER TEMPER
So you're wandering along and find yourself a fallen emo kid in a hat, coughing blood into his gloves. You only seem capable of speaking in song, but somehow you identify with and befriend the emo loser, and, fully intending nothing at all amiss, you go out of your way to bring him singing birds, chocolate cakes, and the like because you're actually a nice guy.
...Somehow this seems to have translated wrongly somewhere along the lines because now there's this kid with porcupine hair stalking you around and glaring from the shadows.
This pretty much sums up the entirity of Gau's interactions with Blaine [Glee!].
It's not that Gau dislikes Blaine, or that Blaine is anywhere near dislikeable to begin with, he just finds him totally suspicious regardless of whether he's doing anything suspicious or not.
This also occurs to some extent with Neil McCormick [Skin Stories], Cao Pi [Dynasty Warriors] (Or anyone else Chinese), and even on initial meetings with Finn Hudson [Glee!].
The good news is, Gau's self-imposed petty rivalries and jealousies rarely last for long, and he sticks to words. (He's actually striking up a rather nice friendship with Finn.)
INTERNET DETECTIVE
Someone who knows who rooms with whom, and keeps taking role-call on the sly, stalking all posts, and referencing them and events in-caravan in the past as though you know it as well as he does? Looks suspicious, Gau... Perhaps justified in that Gau does this in his canon, too. Especially to Yukimi. (AKA: "Mr. Chickenhead.")
Unlike a lot of instances of this trope, Gau does this for positive events as well as negative ones. Save his life, and you're set for life. (As discovered by Rookie [Halo:ODST] from day one*.)
* Actually, Day Nine.
MISPLACED NATIONALISM
Because everyone knows Japan is the best, and on that thread, if you're a ninja and from Japan, then you're the BEST of the best. (Cough cough Haruno Sakura...[Naruto])
Any time one of the (Chinese) Dynasty Warriors/Romance of the Three Kingdoms people shows up and the mental tracks start mudslinging "archaic old man" and "Dirty angry eastern barbarian kid"... (Particularly with Zhou Yu. Clearly nothing helps you blame the Chinese for the past like having the Chinese past come up and sit next to you.)
Also with American characters (Like the Glee! cast) who Gau has a hard time realizing might not be carting around spurs and chaps, and pistols in their backpacks.
Subverted if you're a woman. Then he doesn't seem to care what nationality you are if you show him the slightest bit of attention.
Mutually confused up and pondered over with Bret McClegnie [Flight of the Conchords], who's from New Zealand and seems to have largely the same confusions over Americans that Gau has.
WHITE KNIGHTING
Just about everyone should recognize by now that Gau's reactions to females on willaknet are NOT his reactions to males. Apparently saving people in person isn't enough. Gau wants to save them on the internet (okay, okay, WillaKnet), too.
This tendency is particularly strong when it comes to any sort of interaction with Anathema Device [Good Omens], and was mentioned quite blatantly during the truth event.
Also: Especially with Santana Lopez [Glee!]. He's taking a real shine to her.