History Main / MotherlySidePlait

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This can be explained by the fact that mothers have less time to spend on their appearance than other women. Since the makers of a show probably don't want to make their characters ugly, one way to demonstrate motherhood is to give her a low-maintenance hairstyle. [[{{Housewife}} Housewives]] (most likely to be the mothers of young children) also need a hairstyle that's going to stay out of the way when they're doing housework and cleaning up. This may or may not come with an apron to further emphasize their motherhood. Since the hair is only tied up loosely, it creates a soft, relaxed, gentle appearance. Putting the hair over the shoulder allows you to see her hairstyle from the front, while also providing a slight element of FashionableAsymmetry.

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* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'': Akasaka's wife, Yukie, has one of these, and quite an impressive one.

* In ''Manga/Alice19th'', Frey and members of his northern european Lotsan group, having this sideplaited braid is mandatory. [[spoiler: Eric has one, too, but cuts it off when he turns to the [[FaceHeelTurn dark]] side.]]

* In ''Manga/Alice19th'', Frey and members of his northern european Lotsan group, having this sideplaited braid is mandatory. [[spoiler: Eric has one, too, but cuts it off when he turns to the [[HeelFaceTurn dark]] side.]]

* In ''Manga/Alice19th'', Frey and members of his northern european Lotsan group, having this sideplaited braid is mandatory. [[spoiler: Eric has one, too, but cuts it off when he turns to the [[HellFaceTurn dark]] side.]]

* Zael's mother in ''TheLastStory'' wears a braided side plait.

* Nei'kalsa of ''{{Drowtales}}'' is shown [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4498 with this]], which serves to emphasize her role as a mother figure to Sarnel (who's actually her brother). Especially since WordOfGod clarifies that she's pregnant in that scene so will soon be a mother for real.

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* ''[[Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story]]'': During her down-time, Mami Tomoe is once shown wearing her hair this way (normally she has MegaTwinTails). Fitting, given her current relationship with Kyouko as a surrogate parental/figure MagicalGirl mentor.

* ''[[Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story]]'': During her down-time, Mami Tomoe is once shown wearing her hair this way (normally she has MegaTwinTails). Fitting, given her current relationship with Kyouko as a surrogate parental-figure MagicalGirl mentor.

This can be explained by the fact that mothers have less time to spend on their appearance than other women. Since the makers of a show probably don't want to make their characters ugly, one way to demonstrate motherhood is to give her a low-maintenance hairstyle. [[{{Housewife}} Housewives]] (most likely to be the mothers of young children) also need a hairstyle that's going to stay out of the way when they're doing housework and cleaning up. This may or may not come with an apron to further emphasize their motherhood. Since the hair is only tied up loosely, it creates a soft, relaxed, gentle appearance.

Mostly an anime trope: One good way to show how sweet and caring a mother is, is to depict her with her hair tied in a loose plait or ponytail and put on her shoulder. For some reason, this detail immediately tells the audience, "Hey, this mom has to be nice and gentle!"

* Louise in "VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe", who took care of her husband's apprentice Erk from childhood (and reminded them both that they had to do things other than study).
* Barrett from "Video/RuneFactory4", has his hair in a long braided side plait, as to show he's good with kids,(has some of his own and a teacher), when he fell asleep one day in class his students braided his hair. When he woke up, seeing this he decided to keep it! Awww!

* As a part of her [[spoiler: post TimeSkip]] AdrenalineNakeover, Anna Stephanie from Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner lets her hair down from its initial TomboyishPonytail and styles it like this. She's not exactly a mother, but at this point of the series she's shouldering lots of responsabilities [[spoiler: as TheHeart of LaResistance]].

* Trisha Elric, the mother of the two protagonists of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', depicted above. In the [[BabiesEverAfter epilogue]], [[spoiler:Winry]] sports a similar plait, but not on the shoulder.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Kasumi Tendo]] often wears her hair this way, along with an apron. While she may only be the eldest daughter of the family, [[TeamMom she handles the domestic duties of the Tendo household]]. It becomes even more the case when [[spoiler:it's revealed that [[ParentalSubstitute she's filling in for their deceased mother]].]]

* The protagonists' mother Mrs. Takakura from ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum''.

* ''[[Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story]]'': During her down-time, Mami is once shown wearing her hair this way (normally she has MegaTwinTails). Fitting, given her current relationship with Kyouko as a surrogate parental-figure MagicalGirl mentor.

* Louise in "VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe", who took care of her husband's apprentice from childhood (and reminded them both that they had to do things other than study).

* ''[[Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story]]'': During her down-time, Mami is once shown wearing her hair this way (normally she has MegaTwinTails). Fitting, given her current relationship with Kyouko, which is a surrogate parental-figure MagicalGirl mentor.