History Main / ImplausibleHairColor

* Lampshaded, and even deconstructed, in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Although some of the [[EasternZodiac Members of the Zodiac]] have dark brown or black hair, others have hair ranging from red/orange to blonde, and a few of them have grey or white hair (always corresponding to their [[AnimalMotifs animal forms]]). Unlike most manga and anime where no one comments on Japanese characters having unusual hair colors, other characters ''do'' notice, with most adults [[MistakenForDyed suspecting that they dye their hair]]. It's even worse with other students--nearly ''all'' of the cursed Sohmas with such unusual hair colors (except Momiji, who seems to be able to get away with having blond hair due to being [[ButNotTooForeign half German]]) got teased, or even bullied for it, as kids. Most of them were able to get through it relatively unscathed, but poor [[ElectiveMute Kisa]] was traumatized by it, being bullied by her classmates for having naturally golden hair [[SupernaturalGoldEyes and eyes]]. The most hysterical lampshade would probably be when the student council president demands that Hatsuharu shows him physical proof that his black and white hair was his natural hair color...and Hatsuharu complies by dragging him into the nearby bathroom, heavily implying that his "proof" was showing the president his ''pubic hair''.

When colorations become humanly impossible or impossible in real life, we have WorldOfTechnicolorHair for inhuman hair colors like blue, AmazingTechnicolorPopulation for skintones and AmazingTechnicolorWildlife for truly impossible colorations in other animal species.

* ''Manga/MidoriDays'' has plausible brown or black for all characters except the leads, blond Seiji and greenheaded Midori. However, Seiji having brown hair in flashbacks implies that he dyes it, leaving Midori the only character with an impossible hair colour. Her real body has hair a darker shade of green. (By the way, the Japanese word for green is "[[MeaningfulName midori]]".) Seiji may be a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18567_6-japanese-subcultures-that-are-insane-even-japan_p2.html yankii]]. Anyway, in many anime, having blond hair for a male Japanese character would be a short cut to saying "[[DelinquentHair This guy here is a delinquent!]]"

* In the epilogue of ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'', Naruto and Hinata are shown to have an infant daughter who inherited her paternal grandmother's red hair, something that is noted as being strage in-universe (not to mention impossible in real life since her mother's side of the family only has shades black, brown, and blue).

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' has Chiyo, who is a redhead. Most of the other characters have black hair, though, which makes this at least at a little more plausible than the other examples. Natural Japanese red-heads ''do'' exist, but they are extremely rare, and no one brings attention to Chiyo's hair color even though it's something the cast should notice as outlandish, even if it is plausible. Then again, she's also a ChildProdigy who [[GradeSkipper started high school at the age of ten]], which is also extremely rare.

* Eriko Christy from ''VideoGame/Illbleed'' has violet hair, while her friend Michel's hair is dark green. The latter could just be dyed, but same as with the aforementioned Ayane, Eriko is shown to have had purple locks as a young girl, implying that it's her natural color.

* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'': Kasumi is a natural redhead, and Ayane has purple hair.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' has Chiyo, who is a redhead. Most of the other characters have black hair, though, which makes this at least at a little more plausible than the other examples. Natural Japanese red-heads ''do'' exist, but they are extremely rare, and no one brings attention to Chiyo's hair color even though it's something the cast should notice as outlandish, even if it is plausible. Then again, she's also a child prodigy, which is also extremely rare.

When colorations become humanly impossible or impossible in real life, we have AmazingTechnicolorPopulation for skintones and AmazingTechnicolorWildlife for truly impossible colorations in other animal species.

When colorations become humanly impossible or impossible in real life, we have YouGottaHaveBlueHair for hair and fur, AmazingTechnicolorPopulation for skintones, and AmazingTechnicolorWildlife for truly impossible colorations in other animal species.

** Do Jou, Ken, and Jianliang have black hair stylized to [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair appear as blue]], or is it outright dark blue/indigo? We may never know.

* Lampshaded, and even deconstructed, in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Although some of the [[EasternZodiac Members of the Zodiac]] have dark brown or black hair, others have hair ranging from red/orange to blonde, and a few of them have grey or white hair (always corresponding to their [[AnimalMotifs animal forms]]). Unlike most manga and anime where no one comments on Japanese characters having [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unusual hair colors]], other characters ''do'' notice, with most adults [[MistakenForDyed suspecting that they dye their hair]]. It's even worse with other students--nearly ''all'' of the cursed Sohmas with such unusual hair colors (except Momiji, who seems to be able to get away with having blond hair due to being [[ButNotTooForeign half German]]) got teased, or even bullied for it, as kids. Most of them were able to get through it relatively unscathed, but poor [[ElectiveMute Kisa]] was traumatized by it, being bullied by her classmates for having naturally golden hair [[SupernaturalGoldEyes and eyes]]. The most hysterical lampshade would probably be when the student council president demands that Hatsuharu shows him physical proof that his black and white hair was his natural hair color...and Hatsuharu complies by dragging him into the nearby bathroom, heavily implying that his "proof" was showing the president his ''pubic hair''.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': About half of the main cast falls under this trope to some degree, a smaller number have completely plausible hair colors, and a few [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair have colors that do not occur anywhere in nature]].

** Brown hair: Aizen, Masaki, Keigo, and Starrk all have relatively light brown hair. Chizuru has mahogany brown hair in the manga ([[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unnatural red]] in the anime). Sado's hair color is justified on the grounds that he's part Mexican. Starrk may also get a pass as it's never really made clear just what race he or any of the other arrancar are supposed to be.

* ''Manga/SoulEater'' has a variety of hair colours ranging from the implausible to the [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair impossible]]. An example of the former would be Maka's hair, in that her mother is suggested to be Japanese and her father has bright red hair (worth noting that the other Japanese women do have black hair). Maka's own hair is more a light brown or blonde.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Mikuru is a bright redhead, possibly as a clue that she's from [[TimeTravel a time in the future]] when Japanese people with naturally bright red hair apparently exist. YouGottaHaveBlueHair characters are, for the most part, aliens (Yuki, [[spoiler:Asakura and Kimidori]]). Tsuruya's green RapunzelHair is still a mystery, but it's possible that it could be a stylized black hair.

* Other than the [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair purple/blue/pink/green-haired]] characters in ''Manga/YamadaKunAndTheSevenWitches'', we have fair-haired Shiraishi and strawberry blond Rika - in an entirely Japanese setting.

* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'': Kasumi is a natural redhead, and Ayane has [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair purple hair]].
* Every girl in the original arcade of ''VideoGame/TheIdolmaster'' has dark brown or black hair. Except Yayoi, whose hair is red with no explanation. Later, when the game was ported to the 360, some of the girls' hair became dark blue (like Chihaya) or dark purple (Azusa), but that can be considered stylized black, while the brown haired girl's hair lightened. Then, they introduced Miki, who has...blonde hair. Turns out, she dyes it. When Idolm@ster 2 came out, they added Takane, whose [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair silver hair]] remains unexplained.

* Misty and Lorelei from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' stand out with their red hair. Most other characters in the games either have black hair, brown hair, or [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair stylized colours]] that resemble those colours. The exception is Lt. Surge, a blond but explicitly American character. Being naturally red haired and Japanese is possible, but rare. Future ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games give characters whatever hair colors they please.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': On the world of Remnant, people honour the memory of a terrible global war that sought to suppress individuality and artistic expression by naming children after colour associations and letting people express their personalities through clothing styles, hair dyes, and other forms of artistic expression. As a result, a number of characters have hair colours that may or may not be natural, but which are nevertheless unusual, sometimes in hue, sometimes due to ambiguous ethnicity, where any unnatural tints are entirely down to hair dye used on natural hair colour. Note that characters with impossible hair colours are found under the YouGottaHaveBlueHair trope, but their hair colours will also be due to hair dye.

* Urumi Kanzaki from ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' has blond hair and MismatchedEyes (one blue and one brown). Justified as her being [[ButNotTooForeign half-Japanese and half-(white) American]]. The characters Jun and Kaoru Kamata, and their friend Natsu, from ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'' are also blond-haired ''hafu'', though Jun and Natsu are delinquents, for whom dyed hair wouldn't be unusual.

* Lampshaded, and even deconstructed, in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Although some of the [[EasternZodiac Members of the Zodiac]] have dark brown or black hair, others have hair ranging from red/orange to blonde, and a few of them have grey or white hair (always corresponding to their [[AnimalMotifs animal forms]]). Unlike most manga and anime where no one comments on Japanese characters having [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unusual hair colors]], other characters ''do'' notice, with most adults [[MistakenForDyed suspecting that they dye their hair]]. It's even worse with other students--nearly ''all'' of the cursed Sohmas with such unusual hair colors (except Momiji, who seems to be able to get away with having blond hair due to being [[ButNotTooForeign half German]]) got teased, or even bullied for it, as kids. Most of them were able to get through it relatively unscathed, but poor [[ElectiveMute Kisa]] was traumatized by it, being bullied by her classmates for having naturally golden hair [[SupernaturalGoldEyes and eyes]]. The most hysterical lampshade would probably be when the student council president demands that Hatsuharu shows him physical proof that his [[MulticoloredHair black and white hair]] was his natural hair color...and Hatsuharu complies by dragging him into the nearby bathroom, heavily implying that his "proof" was showing the president his ''pubic hair''.

* Most characters in ''Anime/YuriOnIce'' have realistic hair colors, and any cases of MulticoloredHair are obviously due to hair dye. The exception is Victor Nikiforov, who has silver hair despite being only 27, and flashbacks show that his hair was silver even when he was younger.

** Natsuhi has MulticoloredHair that starts out as light brown, goes to brown, and ends with (you guessed it!) red.

* In UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}}, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_heifer red heifer]] is a cow with a pure red coat -- the presence of even two black hairs disqualifies it -- that has special significance in ritual purification.

* ''Manga/MidoriDays'' has plausible brown or black for all characters except the leads, blond Seiji and greenheaded Midori. However, Seiji having brown hair in flashbacks implies that he dyes it, leaving Midori the only character with an impossible hair colour. Her real body has hair a darker shade of green. (By the way, the Japanese word for green is "[[MeaningfulName midori]]".) Seiji may be a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18567_6-japanese-subcultures-that-are-insane-even-japan_p2.html yankii]]. Anyway, in many anime, having blond hair for a male japanese character would be a short cut to saying "This guy here is a delinquent!"

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Red-haired half-Japanese Nanase Kitsune.

* ''Film/MyLifeAsADog'': Manne is the closest thing Ingemar has to a friend but Manne has an unusual genetic trait. His hair is green. It's not bright green. It's a natural blonde hair that has somehow gotten a slight shade of green mixed in due to genetics. This makes Manne as much of an outsider as Ingemar.

* In ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'', the three children of King Robert Baratheon all have blond hair, even though Robert is dark-haired and every other child ever born to a Baratheon and Lannister (all of the Lannisters are blond, including Robert's wife Cersei) has had dark hair. [[spoiler:The children are later revealed to actually be the offspring of the queen's brother Jaime. Cersei hated her husband and hardly ever slept with him, but had carried on [[{{twincest}} a sexual relationship with her twin]] from childhood.]]

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Many characters have technicolor hair shades; in-universe this is a phenomenon simply called "mysterious hair colors", where people have unusual hair colors that doesn't line up with their genetics. It could be related to magic, or it could be something else entirely. The topic is treated with a figurative shrug.

** Orange hair: The manga describes Ichigo's hair as [[AllThereInTheManual 'honey']] and Orihime's as 'caramel'; in the anime, [[AdaptationDyeJob both have an unnaturally bright shade of orange]]. This is a point of characterization as most people assume that Ichigo is a delinquent who bleaches his hair, and Orihime was bullied as a child because her hair color made her stick out.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Mikuru is a redhead, possibly as a clue that she's from [[TimeTravel a time in the future]] when Japanese people with red hair apparently exist. YouGottaHaveBlueHair characters are, for the most part, aliens (Yuki, [[spoiler:Asakura and Kimidori]]). Tsuruya's green RapunzelHair is still a mystery.

* Shōyō Hinata, the main character of ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'', has bright orange hair and stands out amongst the predominantly brunet and raven-haired cast. Unlike other characters in the series his hair seems natural, as his little sister has the same tone.
* Three characters (two of them being siblings) in ''Manga/YourLieInApril'' have blond hair when their parents have dark hair. It's even more noticeable as the rest of the cast has black and brown hair.

* Chise Hatori of ''Manga/TheAncientMagusBride'' is a Japanese girl with red hair and green eyes, which along with her natural magical abilities has led fans to speculate she's not entirely human.
* Despite being set in Japan and being overall realistic, ''Manga/{{Gamaran}}'' has several characters with unusual hair color, which includes Gama (greyish-indigo hair WordOfGod implies got from his MissingMom), his father Jinsuke (white hair since youth), the Ichinose Clan (Bright red hair), Daimaru Sakon (white), Saizo (''green''), Kiyomori (blonde). The only justified example so far are the members of Rintaro's family, since they're all Dutch or half-dutch, thus their hair color is slightly more justified.

Usually, this is at least a little {{justified|Trope}}. The character might have foreign parents or MixedAncestry, or dye their hair, or something more interesting (like [[RobotHair being a robot]]). Note though that genetics can be funky. Even a distant ancestor from a foreign country can potentially justify a character having oddly colored hair or eyes (particularly blond or red hair and blue or grey eyes since those are recessive traits). Other conditions like partial albinism can also cause this: potentially giving a character lighter hair and or eyes than is normally possible for their ethnic group. Again, though this is genetic it can potentially skip generations. Other times, the reasons are left to the viewer's imaginations.

* The manga, TV series, and video game adaptations of ''Manga/{{Area 88}}'' give Shin blonde hair for no readily apparent reason, even though he's seemingly 100% ethnically Japanese. (Although the 2004 series shows he was raised in a Catholic Church-run orphanage, so some MixedAncestry is not impossible.) Ryoko also has pink hair in the OVA and TV series, while Taeko has red hair in the OVA.

* This can also arise from MixedAncestry. For example, the Afro-American activist UsefulNotes/MalcolmX earned the nickname "Detroit Red" due to the reddish tinge in his hair that he inherited from a Scottish ancestor. His friend John Elroy Sanford of ''Series/SanfordAndSon'' fame was similarly nicknamed "Chicago Red" and eventually "Redd Foxx" due to the similar colouration of his own hair.

** The blonds of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', Yamato and Takeru, are [[ButNotTooForeign part-French]], and [[Anime/DigimonSavers Touma]] is part-Austrian, so that, at least, is reasonable. The same explanation doesn't seem to be the case for the other blonds present in the series, [[Anime/DigimonTamers Yamaki]], [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Izumi]], [[Anime/DigimonFusion Kiriha, and Yuu]] (the latter of whom has a brunette sister). Izumi is implied to be at least partially Italian, so presumably one of her parents are from Italy and moved there after Izumi was born.

** The blonds of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', Yamato and Takeru, are [[ButNotTooForeign part-French]], and [[Anime/DigimonSavers Touma]] is part-Austrian, so that, at least, is reasonable. The same explanation doesn't seem to be the case for the other blonds present in the series, [[Anime/DigimonTamers Yamaki]], [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Izumi]], [[Anime/DigimonXrosWars Kiriha, and Yuu]] (the latter of whom has a brunette sister). Izumi is implied to be at least partially Italian, so presumably one of her parents are from Italy and moved there after Izumi was born.

** Artemis is half-Asian and half-white. She also has blonde hair. Artemis in the original comics [[RaceLift is completely white]]. In response to criticism from fans on Artemis' hair, it was noted that she's based on a girl the writer's know thay is also biracial and a natural blonde.

** Let's not forget the Digimon Emperor and his spiked hair, which is not one but TWO shades of blue! It's somewhat justified as it's the result of his costume in the Digital World which disintegrates upon his VillainousBreakdown, but his real hair is still an obvious indigo, so... The additional shade of blue in the Kaiser's hair was that of his dead brother Osamu, to whose reputation Ken tried to live up at that time. The Digital World is in this season said to render clothes from the Chosen Children's subconsciousness and also created Ken's Kaiser hairstyle as a whole and the wacky sunglasses after Osamu's image, so it's kinda justified in this case.

* More common than not in the modern ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games. Only three major characters (Minato, Fuuka, and Haru) have truly impossible hair (Dark blue, teal, and pink respectively); but Mitsuru, Chidori, Rise, and Futaba have red hair, Akihiko, Takaya, and Souji have white or grey hair, Ken, Yosuke, Chie, and Akechi have light brown hair, and Aigis, Kanji, Teddie, Ryuji, and Ann have blond hair (Although Aigis and Teddie aren't human, Kanji and Ryuji are explicitly dyed-with Kanji's natural color being black-and Ann has it explained as being 1/4 American). Even Koromaru the dog, an albino, is unusually colored. In comparison, there are only eight characters (Junpei, Metis, Jin, Adachi, Yukiko, Naoto, Joker, Makoto, and Yusuke) with black hair and one (Shinjiro) with dark brown.

* Lampshaded, and even deconstructed, in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Although some of the [[EasternZodiac Members of the Zodiac]] have dark brown or black hair, most of them have hair ranging from red/orange to blonde, and a few of them have grey or white hair (always corresponding to their [[AnimalMotifs animal forms]]). Unlike most manga and anime where no one comments on Japanese characters having [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unusual hair colors]], other characters ''do'' notice, with most adults [[MistakenForDyed suspecting that they dye their hair]]. It's even worse with other students--nearly ''all'' of the cursed Sohmas with such unusual hair colors (except Momiji, who seems to be able to get away with having blond hair due to being [[ButNotTooForeign half German]]) got teased, or even bullied for it, as kids. Most of them were able to get through it relatively unscathed, but poor [[ElectiveMute Kisa]] was traumatized by it, being bullied by her classmates for having naturally golden hair [[SupernaturalGoldEyes and eyes]]. The most hysterical lampshade would probably be when the student council president demands that Hatsuharu shows him physical proof that his [[MulticoloredHair black and white hair]] was his natural hair color...and Hatsuharu complies by dragging him into the nearby bathroom, heavily implying that his "proof" was showing the president his ''pubic hair''.

* More common than not in the modern ''Franchise/Persona'' games. Only three major characters (Minato, Fuuka, and Haru) have truly impossible hair (Dark blue, teal, and pink respectively); but Mitsuru, Chidori, Rise, and Futaba have red hair, Akihiko, Takaya, and Souji have white or grey hair, Ken, Yosuke, Chie, and Akechi have light brown hair, and Aigis, Kanji, Teddie, Ryuji, and Ann have blond hair (Although Aigis and Teddie aren't human, Kanji and Ryuji are explicitly dyed-with Kanji's natural color being black-and Ann has it explained as being 1/4 American). Even Koromaru the dog, an albino, is unusually colored. In comparison, there are only eight characters (Junpei, Metis, Jin, Adachi, Yukiko, Naoto, Joker, Makoto, and Yusuke) with black hair and one (Shinjiro) with dark brown.