History Main / ImplausibleHairColor

* With current Japanese culture being quite Western-inspired, it's not uncommon for Asian girls to dye their hair. Also, Asians (especially Koreans) can have light brown/dark blonde hair, although it's very rare.

** It's definitely not red--It's more of an auburn or even sienna (some kind of "warm" brown), and by book three, it sometimes looks like a darker, more ordinary brown.

** It's definitely not red--It's more of an auburn or sienna, and by book three, it sometimes looks like a darker, more ordinary brown.

** There seems to be a trend with red hair: Both Battler and Ange share the same dark red hair color, but their parents have different hair colors (might be disputed, since Battler's mother isn't ever described in detail). Eva is a FieryRedhead, and Maria shares the brown-red hair color.
** Kyrie has white hair, which [[{{UnusuallyUninterestingSight}} no one questions]]. Note that her skin tone is the same as the other women, so she's probably only a WhiteHairedPrettyGirl, or her hair turned white ''really'' early.

This trope shows up mostly in Asian works, since hair colors other than black or dark brown are still quite rare there, but is by no means limited to that part of the world. A black character with blonde hair would be a good example.

** To be fair, 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.

* Allen Walker of ''[=~D.Gray-Man~=]'' has naturally white hair. However, this is justified as it's the result of intense psychological trauma, his original hair color being brown.

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

* Mai and Ayako from ''GhostHunt'' are redheads, while Takigawa has brown hair. (John Brown is Australian and blond.) It is implied, at least in Mai's case, that she dyed her hair.

* ''{{Digimon}}'' has hair colors that naturally occur on humans (except for a few, like purple-haired Miyako/Yolei of [[DigimonAdventure02 season two]]) but for an all-Japanese cast, we're talking a whole lot of blond, red, and brown heads.
** The blonds, Yamato and Takeru, are [[ButNotTooForeign partly European]], so that at least is reasonable.
** Do Jou and Ken have stylized black hair, or is it dark blue/indigo?
** Let's not forget the Digimon Emperor and his spiked hair which is not one but TWO shades of blue!

When hair colors become humanly impossible, we have YouGottaHaveBlueHair.

[[AC:Anime & Manga]]

** The blonds, Yamato and Takeru, are [[ButNotTooForeign partly European]], so that at least is reasonable.
** Do Jou and Ken have stylized black hair, or is it dark blue/indigo?

** In the manga, Kyo's homeroom teacher prevents him from skipping class by threatening him with a box of black hair dye.

* Early artwork of Yuki's boyfriend in ''WanderingSon'' had him with blond hair, while everyone else in the manga has realistic colors. The next volumes clear it up, giving him brown hair.

* The Kanto region of ''{{Pokemon}}'' had realistic hair colors, anime AdaptationDyeJob aside; the one blond was explicitly an American. Misty however is a red head with BlueEyes. She may not be Japanese by descent, but no series has made any mention of it.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

[[AC:Webcomics]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* On ''AvatarTheLastAirbender,'' Suki has red/auburn hair despite practically the entire [[TheVerse Avaverse]] being an Asian FantasyCounterpartCulture.

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Some anime characters have hair colors that are possible, but very uncommon for the setting, like blond and orange in feudal Japan. This is when the show is realistic, but the writers don't want all the characters to have boring black hair.

A few anime keep all characters within the normal Japanese hair color range, i.e. black or dark brown. This is only for shows that deliberately choose only those colors, like ''WelcomeToTheNHK''. More common than everyone having literal black hair is having all characters with non-Japanese hair colors explicitly have dye-jobs or otherwise be foreigners or supernatural, [[JustifiedTrope justifying this trope]]. These still go under plausible hair as long as the justification is plausible. Having recessive blond hair when only one of the parents or grandparents is of European ancestry is not. (To a lesser extent, this trope can also apply to Midwestern American or northern European characters having very dark hair.)

* Actually pretty common in Live Action Television as well, especially in family-based Dom Coms. Since hair color is almost never considered when casting, a lot of times you'll have Implausible Hair Color between parents and their children. For example, in ''Reba,'' the blond Brock and the redhead Reba had the blond Cheyenne, the redhead Kyra, and the dark-haired Jake.

* In ''TheIncredibles,'' blond Bob and auburn-haired Helen have two sons with blond hair, Dash and Jack-Jack. However, Violet has ShinyMidnightBlack hair. Fans [[EpilepticTrees speculate on this]], wondering if Violet dyes her hair, or if perhaps it's just a side-effect of the mutation that gives her her superpowers.

* Sage/Seiji Date in RoninWarriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers is blonde yet [[AllThereInTheManual explained to be from the prominent Japanese Samurai family of Date Masamune]].

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''SketDance'' in the MatchmakerDotCom plot arc, where Himeko and Bossun become e-mail sweethearts without knowing it. Since Himeko told Bossun through e-mail that her hair is dark (and it's otherwise blond), when they are about to meet each other for the first time, she dyes her hair black to keep the masquerade. When Bossun (not knowing why she is at the meeting place) asks her why she dyed her hair, she answers that it's none of his business and that it's anyway unnatural for a Japanese to have blond hair.

*** Most Albinos don't have red eyes

* The Kanto region of ''{{Pokemon}}'' had realistic hair colors, anime AdaptationDyeJob 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.

* The Kanto region of ''{{Pokemon}}'' had realistic hair colors, anime AdaptationDyeJob aside. 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.

* Sage/Seiji Date in RoninWarriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers is blonde yet [[AllThereInTheManual explained to be from a prominent Japanese Samurai Date Masamune family]].

* Almost every character in "{{Saiyuki}}" making the Chinese have rainbow hair and the Western foreigners have silver hair when they're only 19 years old.

* ''VisionofEscaflowne'' has Hitomi Kanzaki, who has light brown hair and green eyes.