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Hair Contrast Duo
aka: Hair Contrast Couple
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A duo (often a romantic couple) whose contrasting hair colors signify their opposing world-views. Said hair colors are usually blond and black or dark brown, but it can just as well be red and black, or blond and blue—the important bit is the contrast. Their respective personalities are then typically defined as follows:
- The fair-haired partner is the "good" one: younger, bright, hopeful, enthusiastic, naive, helpful, innocent, tends to follow the rules
- The dark-haired partner is the "bad" one: older, moody, testy, serious, cynical, often relishes in Angst and their Dark and Troubled Past, tends to break the rules and snap
The two of them oftentimes have a shaky and volatile relationship due to their great difference in temperament and worldview. The Fair-haired partner often has to push at the Dark-haired partner to even get the relationship going in the first place. There's often a reason lurking in the Dark-haired partner's past to explain their hesitance, be it a failed relationship, abuse from their family, or simple shyness. Other times, the Dark-haired partner is just testier and not necessarily angsty. They may just be easily frustrated with their hyperactive partner's antics.
Ultimately, however, the Opposites Attract.
This is particularly a staple in lesbian romance fiction, where common pairings include a "good blonde" and a "bad brunette". A common inversion found in recent works features a slightly altered setup:
- The Blonde becomes an (implied) Phenotype Stereotype, who, while still cheerful and clueless, gains traits like frankness, openness, inventiveness, and ignorance of proper etiquette
- The Brunette becomes an (implied) Proper Lady, who, while still moody and cynical, becomes more reserved, well-mannered, and manipulative
Compare the Seme and Uke dynamics in Boys' Love Genre genre and the One Head Taller rule of thumb to recognize them. Also compare Red Oni, Blue Oni. Contrast Betty and Veronica, which is about romantic rivals with opposite personalities and physical traits, while this trope is specifically about duos/couples, not Triang Relations.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- As noted above, couples with contrasting hair colors are extremely popular in the Yuri Genre:
- The title characters of Dirty Pair have very contrasting hair colors (red vs blue). They don't quite fall into the yuri category above, but are still Heterosexual Life Partners who do get shipped together in many fanfics and several hentai doujins.
- Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon: she's the perky blonde and he's the aloof dark-haired guy.
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS starred the Hot Blooded blue-haired Genki Girl Subaru and the careful, analytical red-headed Tsundere Teana, who also formed a Tomboy and Girly Girl duo and are currently the most blatantly lesbian couple of the franchise.
- In Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi's a Deadpan Snarker Bifauxnen who's very down to earth, while Tamaki is melodramatic, hyperactive and often comes up with Zany Schemes for the Host Club. Though in the anime, at least the romance aspect is only one-sided on Tamaki's part.
- Heterosexual Life Partners Kotetsu and Barnaby from Tiger & Bunny completely invert the character dynamics associated with their hair colors (with the exception of age, as the former is about ten years older than the latter). Blond Barnaby is the troubled, socially isolated Ice King, while brunet Kotetsu is the idealistic, energetic and impulsive Messiah who eventually manages to gain his friendship and trust.
- Naruto and Sasuke in part 1 of Naruto play this trope relatively straight, especially at the beginning of their rivalry: light-haired Naruto is hyperactive and impulsive, while dark-haired Sasuke is cold and calculating.
- K-On!: Mio (black) is graceful (most of the time) while Ritsu (light brown) is brash.
- Lucky Star: Yutaka (pink) is cute and childish, while Minami (green!) is cool and mature.
- Heartcatch Pretty Cure: Inverted: Tsubomi (pink) is introverted, while Erika (blue) is extroverted.
Literature
Live-Action TV
Video Games
Visual Novels
Web Comics
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