And yet, he's a damn good sheepdog...
A character with Blinding Bangs has a mop of hair that obscures completely his or her eyes — and sometimes
the whole face. The character's eyes are covered all the time, to the point we rarely,
if ever, see them, and can even wonder whether this personage
has eyes.
How such a character could see clearly through such a thick curtain of hair — as is usually the case — is either completely ignored or heavily lampshaded at every turn. A trope much more common in comics and animation than in live-action (since it's a bit hard for an actor to play while blinded by such a hairdo).
This
personal appearance trope can be used to convey various things. In western works, a character with such a hairstyle is often a bit of a dumbass; you very rarely, if at all, see permanent Blinding Bangs on a personage with above average intelligence. Since obscuring the eyes also obscures emotion, the character will usually seem a bit cool-headed, if not an outright stoic. Also frequently used in
Anime and
Manga to illustrate a shy one — girls with this hairstyle are called "maegamikko" in Japan. Unlike the temporary kind of face-concealing hair a character might have when depressed, Blinding Bangs are usually not a sign of depression, although perpetually mopey characters might also have them.
Compare
Peek A Bangs, which cover only one eye. Contrast with
Hidden Eyes, which is usually just temporary.
Not to be confused with a
Flash Grenade.
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Examples
Anime & Manga
- Fermet in Baccano! has this.
- Kato from Genshiken.
- Nodoka of Mahou Sensei Negima started with this, though she moved to Peek A Bangs after the first chapter. She's still sometimes drawn with this during more comedic moments.
- In some parts of the manga, she switches so often between visible eyes/hidden eyes, it looks like her hair keeps growing/shortening between panels.
- Urabe's eyes are pretty much always obscured by her bangs in Mysterious Girlfriend X... and it's actually one of the ways she's mysterious. When a friend does her hair and gets her bangs out of her eyes, she complains that everything seems so... bright.
- Hazumu has this initially in Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl until he becomes a girl and his/her eyes are revealed.
- Yūichirō in Sailor Moon has a moderate case of this. We get to see his eyes a lot more than most of the other characters listed here; however, he usually is shown as having Blinding Bangs.
- Belphegor in Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Not so much "shy" as "completely batshit insane". Also, his twin brother Rasiel.
- Hiroshi Sotomura in Ichigo 100%. As the resident pervert, it probably helps him hide where his gaze lingers....
- Ascot from Magic Knight Rayearth.
- Tsukiyo from Sketchbook.
- Inori from Hyakko.
- Joker from Flame of Recca usually covers his eyes with a hat, but he's got blinding bangs underneath as well. Not shy at all, although he does love to play at Obfuscating Stupidity.
- Tensou from Inukami! has these bangs, which are indicative of her shyness.
- Ochibana Ame from Denpa Teki Na Kanojo. This leads to a Beautiful All Along moment when Juu sees her with her bangs slicked back.
- From Naruto, young Nagato alias Pain, to hide his Rinnegan pupils until The Reveal. Quickly switched to Peek A Bangs.
- Nihiruda Yō, leader of the delinquent gang from High School! Kimengumi.
- Tuff from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!.
- Zenzo Hattori from Gintama.
- Faye Shoafuu from Rust Blaster.
- Kuroki from Blazer Drive.
- Undertaker from Kuroshitsuji.
- Luna Inverse from Slayers.
- Luchs from Saber Marionette J (although she sometimes is presented with Peek A Bangs or none at all).
- Jigen, Lupin III.
- Kyusaku Natsume, All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku.
- Kirin from 666 Satan has this. Then again, there's a good reason for that...
- How Did We Miss This One? Sunako from Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge... up until her Important Haircut.
Comics
- Does Beetle Bailey count? His eyes were shown exactly once, when it was still a college strip.
- Animal, Go-Go and Animal
.
- In the comic book version of Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk, the Dwarf wears a helmet fully covering his eyes, and even without it he still has Blinding Bangs to hide them.
- Eva Rose, the neighbor girl whom Liō has a crush on, has Cousin Itt bangs.
- Wellington, from the newspaper comic Wee Pals.
- Chip Flagston from Hi and Lois.
Literature
- In the Discworld novel Soul Music, wizard student Skazz has a hairdo that completely covers his head — with only the tip of his nose hinting which way he's facing.
Live Action TV
- Cousin Itt from the various versions of The Addams Family is certainly the Exaggerated Trope of this. It is unsure whether he actually has eyes or even a face under all that hair, yet he has no trouble seeing.
Music Videos
- Noodle of the Gorillaz band has them, after her age shift.
Puppet Shows
Video Games
- Shermie from the King of Fighters series always has her eyes completely covered by her bangs. It's more than a little creepy, especially when you consider that she spends all her time hanging around Cute Shotaro Boy Chris.
- Shigure from Suikoden V is another example. Lampshaded when one of Oboro's notes mentions that Fuyo wants to "fix" his hair.
- Lowen from Fire Emblem 7 (i.e. the first one to come to the West) is an example. We never see his eyes. And yet it's revealed in support conversations that he's actually not bad at cooking. How can he cook without seeing? How can he fight without seeing? We will never know.
- Mitadake High has a character known as The Creepy Red-haired Boy, who has this hairstyle.
- Pokey and his brother Picky in Earthbound.
- Ash, Edda, Photon and Count Ten from Pop N Music (and possibly more, it is a series with Loads And Loads Of Characters).
- Maguro Sasaki from Puyo Puyo 7.
- Winfred "Big Wins" Kitaki from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney has his eyes covered by his insanely thick eyebrows until the end of the trial. His eyes are revealed to be tiny and insatiably cute.
- Hoagie, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.
- Layer, one of the three members of Mission Control in Mega Man X 8. Her eyes can be seen while she blushes (especially when around Zero, to whom she is a Hopeless Suitor).
- Venom from Guilty Gear wears his hair like a literal veil and has a creepy painting of an eye superimposed on it. However, depending on the artwork, sometimes you can see a small portion of his face by looking around the hair-veil◊ (but sometimes not◊), and it does flip up and leave his face completely exposed and visible in his in-match falling animation.
- The bassist in Guitar Hero 3 has Blinding Bangs and a massive beard that covers everything but his nose.
Web Comics
- Mopey of the B-Movie Comic has this as a definite characteristic: two large bangs cover her eyes and most of her face all the time. The mystery of her true appearance is heavily parodied in this strip.
- Kenta from Sexy Losers, a very NSFW comic!
- Rick from The KAMics.
- Pepito from Our Home Planet.
- Rika and Ruby are also borderline cases, though their eyes can usually be seen through the hair.
- Marek from Octopus Pie.
- Subverted in Everyday Heroes, where Carrie has a huge head of hair that covers most of her face. Oddly, she wears her glasses over her hair, through which her eyes are visible. How exactly this works is not explained, but Carrie is one of the more intelligent and outgoing characters.
Web Original
Western Animation
- In Codename Kids Next Door, Numbuh 4's eyes are covered by his hair.
- From the Looney Tunes, Sam Sheepdog has a mop of red hair completely covering his eyes. He's still perfectly able to see, as Ralph Wolf could attest from several painful confirmations.
- Toph's eyes are seen in Avatar the Last Airbender, but her entire eyes are covered by her bangs in the animated shorts and some of the comics. (It is not as if she uses them anyway.)
- The Big Dog from 2 Stupid Dogs.
- Duane from Home Movies.
- Molly MacDonald, the rabbit from Arthur.
- Multiple Man on Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles.
- Valhallen in the Justice Friends segment of Dexter's Laboratory.
- Eugene Meltsner of the animated version of Adventures in Odyssey has these bangs... and wears glasses over them.
- Pi from Sabrina: The Animated Series. His eyes are always covered by his hat, on at least one occasion his hat came off and his eyes were still covered by his hair.
