Discussion Main / ImplausibleHairColor

I think this article has to be fixed, it contains lots of scientific inaccuracies. Actually, it's impossible for them to have this hair. Brown hair is a combination of eumelanin (black) and pheomelanin (red) pigments, it originated in Europe just like blonde/red hair, blue/green eyes. Those East Asians you meet either dyed their hair or are half-caucasian. If Japanese people had brown hair, their skin would be lighter (tanned less) AND since they would be able to produce pheomelanin and lack pigment in general, they'd have red and blonde hair. Science. Almost all East Asians have black hair from birth. But a great number of them, more than a half, dye their hair brown today. I've been to Japan and saw lots of people with brown hair with black roots, which suggests that apparently it's dyed. And when I went to school, there were many Asian kids and ALL of them had black hair. And also teachers. Trust me, it's impossible for pure-blooded Asian to have brown hair. The exceptions are really rare mutations.

Exactly how implausible is brown hair in anime/manga?

So light as to verge on red or blond is pretty obviously implausible without a justification like dye. However, I've met enough East Asian people with natural dark or even medium brown hair that it's easy to accept almost all shades of brown as reasonable artistic license.

Clipped this entry, the series explicitly doesn't take place in Japan or any other real place.

• The Kanto region of Pokémon had realistic hair colors, anime Adaptation Dye-Job aside; the one blond was explicitly an American. Misty, however, is a red head with Blue Eyes. She may not be Japanese by descent, but no series has made any mention of it.