When manga and anime creators go to design a new character that will appeal to fans, one of the tools they have in their toolbox is hair. By assigning unique hairstyles to characters is a way that defines that character’s personality, artists can really make their characters come alive for us. I asked J-List awesome customers to share their favorite anime hairstyles, and here’s what we came up with!
The 10 Cutest Anime Hairstyles!
As with the use of oddly specific hair colors, which communicate information about the characters to fans immediately, anime hairstyles are an important aspect that defines anime characters in unique ways.
I’m a simple man: when I see a tall anime girl with long, dark hair, I fall in love. I loved the original hairstyle of Yozora from Haganai because it’s so iconic and simple.
Of course, short hair is nice, too, and there’s no better way to represent tomboyish characters quickly than by giving her this unique haircut.
Everyone loves a girl with a pure heart, and somehow this is communicated expertly with this unique look, which literally makes us view the characters as a princess. It’s one of my favorite anime hairstyles.
If you want to make your character look athletic or noble, give her a ponytail. If the girl happens to be a horse girl, give her two!
One anime hairstyle that became iconic thanks to Sailor Moon is twin-tails, and almost every anime these days will have a character sporting this cute look.
Of course, there are various kinds of twin-tails, including super long all well as short and cute, like Mei from Clannad.
If you want to communicate wealth and culture, one way to do that is with tightly coiled loops of hair, which has become known as “drill hair” among fandom. When she gets really angry, her drills can spin around!
Bangs are always a cute way to add uniqueness to your character, making her look youthful and pure.
There’s really no limit to the variations of hair out there. This kind of hair has been dubbed “air intake hairstyle” by Japanese fans because it looks like the air intake holes found on cars.
The last of the anime hairstyles we’ll explore today is the “anime mother death flag” hair, which indicates something bad is about to happen to the character in question. Don’t let your mother wear her hair like this!
Why Do Anime Characters Change Their Hair?
One odd thing many anime creators do is radically change the hairstyle of popular characters at key points in the story, to communicate that the character has gone through some important life change and is changing their hair to reflect that. While it’s certainly an interesting “charm point” that makes the character feel more real to us than if they went through the series without ever changing or evolving, I personally find myself preferring the original long hair of characters like Yozora or Hitagi than the updated short-hair versions.
Thanks for reading this exploration of the cutest anime hairstyles! What’s your personal favorite type of anime hair? Post it below, or tell us on Twitter!
What’s the single most amazing hentai doujinshi J18 Publishing has released? I’m pretty sure it’s the new Necrophilis, a collection of 5+ doujinshi that are so beautiful, you will not believe it’s hentai. Preorder this epic hardcover compilation, which is fully translated and uncensored, here!
