There are a lot of unique fashions that are either created or enriched by Japan’s anime subculture world, like the “Absolute Zone” look, or shimapan, or the trend of building cat ears into everything. Then there’s “twintails,” the kawaii hair style sported by dozens of anime characters and popular Japanese idols these days. According to the Japan Twintail Association (yes, this exists), this unique hairstyle started showing up as a “charm point” for characters in the early 1980s with shows like Himitsu no Akko-chan and Dr. Slump, but really took off with 1992’s iconic Sailor Moon, which officially introduced the concept of moé — characters specifically designed so that viewers couldn’t help but become obsessed with them. Now the twintail look is everywhere, and we couldn’t imagine characters like Azusa from K-On!, Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun and Hatsune Miku without their elegant twintails trailing along behind them. The hair style is regularly worn by cute Japanese idol groups like AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z, and check out this photobook if you’re a twintail fan. We even have a new Twintails Tribute T-shirt you might want to check out.
“Twintails” have become an icon of Japanese subculture.
