Hot-Blooded Sideburns

Don't get too close — you might poke your eye out.

"Now go... And never mock my sideburns again!"

— Mikuni, Duel Masters

Hot Bloodedness isn't reserved just for people. It can be applied to many things — hair, for example. Large sideburns, muttonchops, or earlocks are a variation on the beard, giving a character an especially grizzled appearance.

In the East, a short, fiery pair of earlocks is typically found on passionate Super Robot pilots and Sentai team leaders. While they don't have to be huge (though they usually are), they are always spiky and noticeable. Usually, they're paired up with some equally fiery eyebrows for added effect. In its inherent association with Super Robot shows of the 70s and 80s, this is also a form of Seventies or '80s Hair, and its appearance on female characters to show how badass they are has nearly died out (but not fully, as Hibiki Tachibana shows). Its modern appearance on male characters is often in Homage to these earlier heroes.

In the West, larger sideburns and muttonchops have been considered fashionable during various times in history, including the 19th century, early 20th century, and the 1970s. Like Manly Facial Hair, the extra hair conveys strength and masculinity, indicating that the character is a hot-blooded and powerful individual. In modern times, particularly large muttonchops are considered retro or "scruffy," so expect wearers to be more than a little irreverent and wild.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Everyone created by Go Nagai. Everyone. Yes, even Cutey Honey. Let's just say that there's a reason this trope was originally known as Go Nagai Sideburns.
  • Kouji Kabuto from Mazinger Z.
  • Tetsuya Tsurugi from Great Mazinger.
  • Duke Freed and his sister Maria Grace from UFO Robo Grendizer.
  • Akira Fudoh from Devilman. And then his Violence Jack incarnation.
  • Ryo Utsugi from Demon Lord Dante.
  • Hiroshi Shiba from Kotetsu Jeeg and Kenji from the sequel.
  • The titular heroine from Cutey Honey wears a female version of this: she has short side locks with a certain square shape as Honey Kisaragi, but they turn into somewhat longer, messy wild locks that really simulate sideburns as Cutey Honey.
• Pretty much every single Super Robot pilot from the good ol' days. In the 70s, this was mostly because it was a pretty popular hairstyle, but by the '80s it pretty much became a pre-requisite of being a badass pilot. The most iconic example has to be Ryoma of Getter Robo (Which, in a bit of irony, was not written by Go Nagai as is widely believed, but by Ken Ishikawa. He just pitched the concept, although he was a heavy influence on the art style). Armageddon Ryoma, pictured here, sports a pair so huge that they probably warp space-time.
• Robot Romance Trilogy:
  • Hyoma Aoi from Combattler V also sports a fine pair.
  • And the sideburns of Kenichi Go from Voltes V are bigger.
  • The third pilot of the Nagahama Trilogy, Kazuya Ryuuzaki from Daimos also counts. In fact, a domestic robot comments his hair is absolutely unruly and he only combs it down if he is going to meet a girl.
• EVERY SINGLE ONE of the five main Bronze Saints in Saint Seiya. Seiya himself is one of the most iconic hot-blooded characters in anime and has the bushiest ones. So bushy, they poke out of his tiara-helmet!
• Every single member of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Condor Joe being the most hot-blooded.
• Ronin Warriors has a few characters with these. Ryo's are pretty low key, but Syu/Kento's more than make up for them.
• Gai Daigoji of Martian Successor Nadesico sports a pair of chops that nearly rival Ryoma's, though clearly as an homage to Getter Robo. And Gai probably got the idea from Ken Tenku of Show Within a Show Gekiganger 3.
• Meito Anizawa (aka Anime Tenchou) from Lucky Star, who befittingly is a parody of Hot Bloodedness.
• Not one to let a Super Robot homage get past them, Lyrical Nanoha has Zafira sporting these in his human form.
• Hikaru Ichijou from Super Dimension Fortress Macross (aka Rick Hunter from Robotech) is occasionally drawn with a small pair of these, depending on which installment you're watching. Other times, he merely has a small, straight whisp of hair in front of his ears.
  • His mentor Roy Focker sports a very strong pair of sideburns, as befits his status as an Ace Pilot.
• Yuji Kaido from Blue Gender
• Black Jack from well, Black Jack, has a pair of these so thick that while Tezuka sometimes forgets to properly draw his hair, body, nose, eyes, and sometimes even his facial scar, he's never forgotten the sideburns.
• Taiki Kudou from Digimon Fusion. Daisuke Motomiya from Digimon Adventure 02 looks like he has the start of some potentially epic ones.

• Subverted in Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Argo Gulski has the largest Hot Blooded Sideburns and eyebrows, but is the calmest cast member. Not to say that G Gundam doesn't also play this straight (See: Kyoji "I stole my hair from the 70s" Kasshu, Chibodee Crocket and Master Asia). Although it's interesting that the reigning king of Hot Bloodedness himself is conspicuously missing such epic sideburns.
• Jamil Neate, the Amuro/Char/Bright Composite Character from Gundam X, has a rather impressive set of sideburns himself. He's kind of a subversion, as he's more The Stoic than Hot-Blooded. Except when he overcomes his piloting phobia and returns to the battlefield.
• Guy Shishioh from The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar sports a pair made of batteries. By pulling on them, he temporarily gains a huge boost in speed and agility, as well as turning gold. Pulling on them and headbanging, what's more.
• Leiji Matsumoto is a bit fond of this look. Interstella 5555, for example, has these on about half of the main cast. Susumu/Derek of Space Battleship Yamato doesn't normally have them, but he looks like he does when he puts his helmet on.
• Kagura from Azumanga Daioh, despite not being so Hot-Blooded, is a Boisterous Tomboy that sports a pair of Nagaideburns. Likewise Fuuka Ayase from Yotsuba&!.
• An omake of Kekkaishi features prototype designs for the main character, one of which sports a rather magnificent set of Hotblooded Sideburns.
• Heinkel Wolfe of Hellsing. Her (or is it his?) partner Yumie's might normally be considered too long to be true Nagaideburns but their sheer fieriness, not to mention her psychotic berserker rage Hot Bloodedness, are more than enough to make them count.
• A common trait in characters designed by Kazuhiko Shimamoto. You might recognize him as the character designer for Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Anime Tenchou.
• Mikuni from Duel Masters. They are so noticeable, the third season dub renamed his character "Johnny Coolburns".

• In a villainous example, Full Metal Panic!'s Gates sports a pair of these. He seems to believe they afford him some sort of protection. Just before he dies in the final episode, he fiddles with his hair and muses that maybe he had it trimmed a little too short.
• You would think that a story in the first love genre, specifically Hatsukoi Limited would not have something like this. You'd be wrong; Gengoro Takei has these as well as the required Hot Blood.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kyojuro Rengoku’s are so extreme in that his long side-burns actually look like flames due to how his hair is styled and colored like fire.
• Lordgenome from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who's so badass his sideburns point sideways. It's probably because he might have been based off of Gendo Ikari, whose sideburns extend all the way to his beard like Lordgenome, and who might or not fit this trope too.
• Everyone in the movie and OAV designs of Ranma ˝. While the manga art gives them only thin lines to separate the ear from the cheek, and Atsuko Nakajima's early anime designs made them slightly more noticeable, her revamped designs for later seasons, movies, and OAVs blew up their sideburns into enormous puffs of hair with intricate detail.
• The Rose of Versailles: Lady Oscar François de Jarjayes. She's got the sideburns. While usually calm, threaten anyone she likes, and she turns as Hot-Blooded and dangerous as anyone else on this list.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Gozaburo Kaiba's 'burns◊ are only matched by his Big Ol' Eyebrows and his mustache.
  • Judai Yuki from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is too young to grow sideburns, so his character design has thick locks of hair falling in front of his ears that mimic the appearance of these kind of sideburns.
• Takashi Kawamura from The Prince of Tennis. He's not that Hot-Blooded tho, mostly a Nice Guy... most of the time.
• Jouji Gouda from Akane Maniax, though he's an Affectionate Parody of Kouji Kabuto and Go Nagai characters in general.

• Charles Beams from Eureka Seven.
• Impulsive, tomboyish Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena has them; see this image, for example.
• Kunio Okawara in Gundam Sousei has a mean pair. He's not, however, even closely comparable to Yoshiyuki Tomino in his hot-bloodedness, and Tomino is entirely bald.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Age gives us Second Generation!Woolf..
• Space☆Dandy sports a pair of particularly impressive ones to go along with his pompadour.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • Lithuania has this hairstyle but he's such a sweet, patient Nice Guy that he could be the ultimate aversion - except◊ for◊ when he's not◊.
  • Greece, similarly. He has prominent, fiery earlocks, but he's usually laid-back to the extreme. Unless you're Turkey.
• Subverted with Hoover Kippenburg in the Area 88 manga. Hoover has long sideburns that fall past his face, but he's one of the most level-headed pilots at Area 88.
• Ban Keiji and Itsuki Myoudouin of HeartCatch Pretty Cure! have these kinds of sideburns. While they are quite hot-blooded, their manliness can be questioned as one draws doujin of the Pretty Cures and the other is actually a girl.
• Franky from One Piece weaponized his. His "Franky Triangle Jacker" consists of him plucking off his sideburns and throwing them like sharp boomerangs.
• Hibiki Tachibana from Symphogear has quite the pair of these, and is proudly Hot-Blooded enough to rival any Go Nagai Protagonist. She's also a massive tomboy to boot.

Comic Books

• Pretty much everyone in ElfQuest. This might just be the time period (the original series was published 1978-1984), or it might be Wendy Pini being unable to draw the bases of those huge elfy ears; the few characters from the original series that DON'T have these (Skywise, Winnowill) instead have some sort of accessory hiding that particular area. Elfquest's art style (especially Siege at Blue Mountain), owes a lot to The Dagger of Kamui (which was a manga and then an anime contemporary with Nagai's heyday, though not drawn by him). SABM also has some of the biggest honking 'burns in series history. Pini must like the look though; her early Law and Chaos Elric work has these on Moonglum (Elric not so much, though she did draw him with a goatee for a few scenes).
• X-Men:
  • Though it was Depending on the Artist, Banshee was often sideburned. In the Age of Apocalypse, they were positively epic.
  • Mr. Muttonchops himself, Wolverine, is pretty hotblooded to boot.
  • Also sported by many of the male members of the Hellfire Club; an organisation dedicated to decadence (and world conquest).
• Scrooge McDuck! Ludwig Von Drake, Donald Duck's other uncle, has a pair of nice ones too. Donald himself sports a pair in the short Crazy Over Daisy.
• Teen Titans member Jericho sported really long sideburns.
• Marvel Comics' Mephisto is often drawn with some epic muttonchops and is not above pointing them out.
  Mephisto: I'm unique. I have the most luxuriant sideburns in all creation.

Fan Works

• Evangelion 303: When she does not wear her hair tied back with her hair clips, Asuka's sideburns are very noticeable. They can be seen in this scene, and they are every bit so big and fiery as Kouji Kabuto's, Ryoma Nagare or Kenichi Go.

• In the Christian Humber Reloaded webcomic, Vash's human form has these.
• Duncan McSmurf, the Adaptation Name Change version of Gutsy, in Empath: The Luckiest Smurf has them.

Films — Live-Action

• Burt Reynolds' character in Deliverance has a pair of these that are like tusks, seriously. Not surprisingly, he's the tough guy of the group.
• Gutsy Smurf in The Smurfs has some pretty long sideburns for a Smurf his age.
• "Joliet" Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers.
• Horror Express: Inspector Mirov has thick sideburns that connect to his mustache and is a firm, determined man who tries to shoot the monster, won't be deterred from important courses of action, and sometimes shows exasperation with Wells and Saxon.
• Eddie from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• In the X-Men Film Series, Wolverine has some rather prominent muttonchops to go along with his rash personality. The Perma-Stubble brings it even further.
• Dom Hemingway: The title character is prone to vulgar outbursts and sports a pair of friendly muttonchops.

Literature

• In all his official portraits (rumoured to be pretty accurate in appearance, if not the situation) COMMISSAR CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! always has a pair of pretty impressive 'burns. And quite fitting, him being largely an expy of Harry Flashman, a fictional Victorian officer, given that Victorian times were the peak of the 'burns popularity. On the other hand, Cain isn't in the least bit hotblooded (at least officially), being in fact a calm, calculating Guile Hero.
• Inverted in The Stormlight Archive, where the level-headed, jovial, pacifistic chef Rock wears long sideburns. They're a distinctive style of his people, who tend to look down on combat and prefer to resolve conflict with Drinking Contests.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • The Fourth Doctor, one of the most hot-blooded Doctors of the lot, completes his 1970s-Victorian mashup style with a long, fluffy pair of sideburns. They're even a bright fiery red, in contrast to his dark brown hair.
  • The Third Doctor, the one who was a master of Venusian Aikido and liked to scrap, also has a pretty epic pair.
  • The Tenth Doctor, passionate about just about everything, has short hair but his sideburns jut pretty far into his face.
• In Oz: When the mild-mannered Beecher takes a level in Badass, he indicates his newfound strength by growing a pair of friendly muttonchops, giving him a much more fierce appearance.
• Men's hair in the Federation of Star Trek favors pointed sideburns. Not exactly hotblooded, but slightly warm.
• The Monitor from the Arrowverse events Elseworlds and Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019) has some pretty thick sideburns, which some characters in-universe have joked about. He's not very hot-blooded, though he is very powerful.
• The Goodies: Graeme Garden had the hair (our page on '70s Hair describes his sideburns as "two hamsters clinging to his cheeks"), but rarely had the hot-blooded personality to go with it (he usually played straight man to passionate and bearded Bill Oddie and campy and clean-shaven Tim Brooke-Taylor).

Pinball

• Wolverine's trademark chops are prominent on Stern Pinball's X-Men, especially in the Wolverine Limited Edition table.

Podcasts

• Magnus Burnsides The Adventure Zone: Balance is the most reckless and physically-inclined member of the party, and Depending on the Artist, sports an impressive set of sideburns (despite Travis, his player, noting that he has a full beard.)

Professional Wrestling

• Gentleman John Ungatt Lynx from Prairie Wrestling Alliance has sideburns that almost reach his chest.

Theatre

• Subverted in Our American Cousin by Lord Dundreary, especially as played by the iconic Edward Sothern, who had long sideburns that he grew long and combed out to frame his lower face. The outlandish look became known in 1860s culture as "Dundrearies." Dundreary is anything but virile: he's effete, foppish, and also a dolt.

Video Games

• Both good guy Katsuya Suou and one of the major villains sport these in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and we do see that even in Innocent Sin they both had a pair of these as well.
• Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon: Raidou Kuzunoha XIV. His sideburns are so ridiculously long and pointy that they haven't been able to escape being joked about in fanart, fanfiction, or even their own game.
  • Kazuma Kaneko seems to have some giant sideburn fetish or something. His character designs for the older Persona games and Digital Devil Saga have some pretty large ones. Including Elly and Ulala... not even the women are spared.
  • In fact, one possible conversation while recruiting demons has one personality type ask if he could pull off Raidou's awesome sideburns to impress girls.
• The King of Fighters subverts it twice with teenage soldier Leona Heidern and Mighty Glacier Maxima. The former is an emotionally repressed Little Miss Badass. The latter is a stoic, well-mannered Cyborg, The Lancer and Foil to his Jerkass partner K'.
• Disgaea 2's Adell has a pair large enough to obscure his ears entirely, probably to hide the fact that they're pointed.
• Disgaea 3: Mr. Champloo, complete with the personality to match.
• Played for humor in one Super Robot Wars Yonkoma where Shinji grows sideburns like Kouji in an attempt to make himself look tougher. (Did it work? Judge for yourself.◊).
• Xaldin from Kingdom Hearts II has some rather large sideburns. Parodied to hell and back in this legendary fic.
  He is easily recognized by his muscular frame, his sharp blue eyes, his braids (don't ever call them dreadlocks; do you know what you have to do to your hair to get dreadlocks?), but most people instead choose to pick him out by his sideburns, which are rumored to think and act independently of him.
• Quite a few characters in Sengoku Basara have these, including Yukimura, Keiji, and Toshiie. The real winner is Hideyoshi, though: he has sideburns on top of his sideburns.
• BlazBlue's Hot-Blooded Ninja Bang Shishigami has them, but since he's partially a Captain Ersatz of Ryoma, it's to be expected.
• Ippongi Ryuuta and Doumeki Kai from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan sport some magnificent, Hot-Blooded sideburns.
  • There are a lot more than that. There are at least seven who have them in the series. This includes girls and Agent J.
    • Though really, it's to be expected, considering so much of this series is a blatant, campy shoutout to the very concept of hot-bloodedness.
• Due to a bit of Off-Model, one of Arcueid's sprites in Tsukihime has Nagaideburns and (more obviously) Nagaibrows.
• Rival Schools has Hayato Nekketsu (yes, his last name means ''HOT BLOODED'') who sports quite an impressive pair of Nagaideburns.
• Resident Sexist Pig Ninja Andrew◊ of Vanguard Bandits has some pretty nice sideburns of his own. But the real master of the Go Nagai style here is the mighty Duke Logan◊.
• Endou from Inazuma Eleven achieves this effect with two long locks of hair, one hanging down each side of his head in front of his ears. Each one curves forward a bit before ending in a spike. They're not exactly sideburns, though, in that they seem to only be attached to his head at around forehead height, since they flap around a lot whenever he moves. Another example is Rococo, whose locks curve around behind and under his ears, then end in a spike that somehow points up toward his eyes.
• Team Fortress 2: The very hot-blooded Soldier has a miscellaneous drop that gives him an epic sideburns-mustache combo that also comes with a pipe. And now, with the Mutton Mann, everyone else (except Pyro and Spy, who both wear head-covering masks) can get in on the awesome sideburns action.
• In Theme Hospital, having these (known as 3rd-Degree Sideburns) is considered an unwelcome affliction.
  Cause - Wistful longing for the 1970s.
  Symptoms - Big hair, flares, platforms and glitter make-up.
  Cure - The Psychiatry staff must, using up-to-date techniques, convince the patient that these hairy accoutrements are rubbish.
• Papers, Please: When identity supplements come into play, the description field will sometimes say "killer sideburns" (and they are indeed very impressive looking).
• The Legend of Zelda: Link has them in A Link to the Past (at least in the artwork) The Wind Waker (and all other games using the Toon Link design, though not as noticeable in-game due to the 2D/primitive 3D graphics), Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild.
  • Ganondorf also sports a pair in Ocarina of Time, and the equivalent costume in Hyrule Warriors turns them into certifiable mutton chops. Averted in The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and his main outfit in Hyrule Warriors, where he has a standard Beard of Evil.

Webcomics

• Bro in Homestuck sports these, along with Cool Shades, a katana, and one of the most awesome STRIFE techniques ever unleashed.
  • Bro's Alpha iteration Dirk Strider also sports these but subverts the Hot-Blooded part.
• Girl Genius:
  • The Unstoppable Higgs sports a lovely set.
  • Wooster wears a more subtle one, and indeed he is more subtle in his badassery.
  • Martellus von Blitzengaard, while badass, is also a terrible person and generally hated - but he does have some rather impressive sideburns.
• Jessie, Ed's sister, sports a classic set in Between Failures.
• Visarah from Uncreation has HUGE Ryoma-style chops… and she's a woman. Definitely a Shout-Out, given the Demon Lord Dante and Getter Robo references in the comic.
• Johnny Yamamoto of Titanzer sports the customary 'burns, along with a hero mullet.
• Jason from Remus has these, although he seems to be lacking a bit in the Hot-Blooded department.
• Javert in Roommates even if he also lacking in the Hot-Blooded part (normally more Tall, Dark, and Snarky but he has a passionate side, just also high self-control, until someone angers him at least).
• Justin sports them in this El Goonish Shive sketchbook strip to herald the return of his regular sideburns in the future.
• Garrett from Crystal Heroes has them, but they look more like ordinary sideburns that stretch out far than tufts of hair.
• Shempu, one of the four ninjas in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! (who are all treated as refugees from Anime Land,) is described by Molly as a Shounen-type with "big fuzzy sideburns."

Web Original

• Tim/Masky of Marble Hornets sports killer sideburns. So does Tim Sutton, the man who plays him.
• Whenever Doug decides to grow his hair out some more, The Nostalgia Critic has a good set of these.

Western Animation

• In Futurama episode 'Reincarnation', Fry's got a pretty sharp pair of these in the animesque portion.
• Jackal of Gargoyles has these.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Admiral Zhao sports a fairly epic pair of sideburns.
  • Iroh's are pretty impressive, too, and are eventually incorporated into a beard. Spiky facial hair is a common Fire Nation trait.
• Lion-O of Thunder Cats is occasionally drawn like this. Or at least it appears so since you never see his ears.
  • Taken up a notch in the 2011 reboot, where all the Cats have wild earlocks. Panthro is given an impressive pair of muttonchops.
• Control Freak of Teen Titans has a pair of long sideburns.
• DAAAAARK HEEEEAAAARRRT from the second Care Bears movie.
• Subverted by Spongebob Squarepants. Being a Manchild, when SpongeBob puts on (fake) sideburns to make him look grown-up, the results are ridiculous.
• Keith of Voltron: Legendary Defender rocks a pair of Go Nagai-inspired sideburns to compliment his Hot-Blooded nature. Fitting as the character himself is a throwback to 70's robot pilots like Kenichi Gou and Kazuya Ryuuzaki.
• Il était une fois...: Nearly every incarnation of Le Teigneux has an impressive set of mutton chops.

Real Life

• Elvis Presley's iconic look◊ includes a large pair of muttonchops. Of course, Presley is remembered for his censor-defying hip-shaking and swaggering sex appeal.
• Muttonchops are a hallmark of the wild rockabilly musical genre, as well as its many equally wild offshoots, such as psychobilly.
• Isaac Asimov considered his defining physical traits to be his glasses, his bolo tie, and his large sideburns.
• One of Pierre Trudeau's distinguishing traits were his sideburns.
• Chester A. Arthur had some of the most pronounced ones of any U.S. President in history, to the point where it's quite possibly the thing he's best remembered for.
• As a young man, Theodore Roosevelt had these.◊
• Now, now, let us not forget the one and only Ambrose Burnside. BEHOLD! Indeed Burnside is where the term 'sideburns' comes from in the first place.

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