<p>This is nothing unique to all-out. This is infact so common in Anime that Tv Tropes has a page dedicated to it.</p>

<p>You've been warned, TV Tropes link - <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeHair" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Anime Hair</a>. Take a look at the image of Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh.<br>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vLwnG.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vLwnG.jpg" alt="Yep, Thats his real hair"></a></p>

<p>Find below the excerpt from TV Tropes</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Usually, the most important characters of the story will have wild spikes or a cool-looking hairdo in order to stand out among the crowd. It also helps to create a distinctive silhouette that will stand out in branding, media, and merchandise. It may be one or more different colors that don't appear naturally in real humans (blue is a popular choice). Sometimes the hair appears semi-transparent, with the character's eyes visible through it, although this presumably represents hair fine enough that it isn't completely obscuring, rather than anything outré. Anime Hair is very common among protagonists of anime/manga for the Shōnen (Demographic), although the trend seems to be headed to more plausible styles: compare Son Goku's hair to Ichigo's.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-26T16:30:30.207Z
Thanks for the link to the TV Tropes article. It calls out over 30 *anime hair* styles, including hair antennae. I am aware that wild hairstyles are common in anime, but I think it rare in reality based shows. Consider just sports genre -- Is there anyone in *Haikyuu!!* whose hair is as unrealistic as the 4 I mentioned? *Days!*? *Free*? *Cheer Boys*? Heck, in *Yowamushi Pedal*, Midousuji Akira's hair is the most normal thing about him. Thus I think *All Out!!* stands out in this regard.
RichF
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-26T16:42:57.193Z
@RichF This is more of a Confirmation Bias. From the Sports Genre, I can immediately think of Kuroko No Basuke or Eyeshield 21. *"Not that uncommon"* doesn't mean that  it is universal. As you correctly notice that sometimes authors try to keep the characters realistic and avoid the hair styles/colors. Also if you read the quoted part from TV tropes, it does mention, "*although the trend seems to be headed to more plausible styles: compare Son Goku's hair to Ichigo's*".
Arcane
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-26T17:08:18.877Z
Not so much confirmation bias as those are the sports anime I've watched (oh, also *Yuri on Ice*). Checking, I can't see that any [Kuroko No Basuke characters](http://kurokonobasuke.wikia.com/wiki/Characters) have unrealistic hair. The only one that stood out to me was a completely bald teenager. I agree with your major point (+1d) that wild hair is common in anime. My point is that *All Out!!* is unusual, mixing a very realistic scenario with a few unrealistic hairstyles. Also, its two MCs, Gion and Iwashimizu, have relatively normal hair.
RichF
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-26T09:37:15.137Z
2017-02-26T09:37:15.137Z
Arcane
<p>I would wager that these hair styles have no basis in reality, and are meant to give the viewer an opportunity to <em>remember</em> these characters as they factor into this anime.  In that vein, I'd say it's worked; you can identify each of these characters by name, and they stick out in your mind.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-25T23:23:24.527Z
I appreciate the reply. As far as character names go, [I cheated](http://all-out.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Characters).  I'm not good with Japanese names. Heck, I'm not even that good in remembering English names. You are right, though, that the styles help me remember who is whom.
RichF
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-25T23:14:16.173Z
2017-02-25T23:14:16.173Z
Makoto
<p><em>All Out!!</em> is a sports series about high school rugby. The teams are large, so there are many characters. I understand that the mangaka and character designers want to make each character stand out. They do a great job here. But a few stand out much more than others, due to what I think of as <em>fantasy hair</em>:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/AwXiT.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/AwXiT.jpg" alt="4 All Out!! characters with &quot;fantasy hair&quot;"></a></p>

<ul>
<li>(ULC) Oharanu Etsugo -- "antennae hair", two small hair groups sticking straight up</li>
<li>(URC) Ebumi Masaru -- "anchor hair", two somewhat bigger hair groups sticking left and right from bottom of his head. He also stands out due to eyes often wild and almost constantly angry expressions.</li>
<li>(LLC) Ise Natsuki -- "horn-hair", they even manage to stick out of his helmet! (Rugby helmets have holes; his holes must be magically located.)</li>
<li>(LRC) Sekisan Takuya -- "ribbon hair", curly ribbons of hair at various angles</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Are any of these styles something a Japanese teenager would actually wear?</strong> (Are some of them even possible?) Except for someone from another team commenting that Sekisan has really wild hair, these fantasy styles are treated as normal looks. The styles definitely help the characters stand out. With three tall blonds on the team, it is nice that two of them have unique appearances. <strong>Is blond hair fairly common among Japanese teenagers?</strong></p>

<p>The strange thing is that the series is reality based; no-one has a beyond-human-capability ability or genius move. For example, another series might have a character grow up on a dairy farm, and now he has an unbreakable grip on the rugby ball due to 10 years of milking a dozen cows twice daily by hand. In <em>All Out!!</em> there is nothing but tough training and a great coach.</p>

<p>It is just ... it's just ... the fantasy hair, man.</p>

<p>related: <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/5650/name-of-hair-style-with-one-strand-sticking-upwards">Name of hair style with one strand sticking upwards</a> and <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22498/is-there-a-reason-for-the-hair-of-death-hair-style">Is there a reason for the &quot;Hair of Death&quot; hair style?</a></p>

<tropes><all-out>
What's with the fantasy hair?
# What's with the fantasy hair?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-02-25
*All Out!!* is a sports series about high school rugby. The teams are large, so there are many characters. I understand that the mangaka and character designers want to make each character stand out. They do a great job here. But a few stand out much more than others, due to what I think of as *fantasy hair*:

[![4 All Out!! characters with ](https://i.sstatic.net/AwXiT.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/AwXiT.jpg)

* (ULC) Oharanu Etsugo -- "antennae hair", two small hair groups sticking straight up
* (URC) Ebumi Masaru -- "anchor hair", two somewhat bigger hair groups sticking left and right from bottom of his head. He also stands out due to eyes often wild and almost constantly angry expressions.
* (LLC) Ise Natsuki -- "horn-hair", they even manage to stick out of his helmet! (Rugby helmets have holes; his holes must be magically located.)
* (LRC) Sekisan Takuya -- "ribbon hair", curly ribbons of hair at various angles

**Are any of these styles something a Japanese teenager would actually wear?** (Are some of them even possible?) Except for someone from another team commenting that Sekisan has really wild hair, these fantasy styles are treated as normal looks. The styles definitely help the characters stand out. With three tall blonds on the team, it is nice that two of them have unique appearances. **Is blond hair fairly common among Japanese teenagers?**

The strange thing is that the series is reality based; no-one has a beyond-human-capability ability or genius move. For example, another series might have a character grow up on a dairy farm, and now he has an unbreakable grip on the rugby ball due to 10 years of milking a dozen cows twice daily by hand. In *All Out!!* there is nothing but tough training and a great coach.

It is just ... it's just ... the fantasy hair, man.

related: [Name of hair style with one strand sticking upwards](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/5650/name-of-hair-style-with-one-strand-sticking-upwards) and [Is there a reason for the "Hair of Death" hair style?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22498/is-there-a-reason-for-the-hair-of-death-hair-style)
**Tags:** tropes all-out
---
## 2 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2017-02-26. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
This is nothing unique to all-out. This is infact so common in Anime that Tv Tropes has a page dedicated to it.

You've been warned, TV Tropes link - [Anime Hair](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeHair). Take a look at the image of Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh.  
[![Yep, Thats his real hair](https://i.sstatic.net/vLwnG.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/vLwnG.jpg)

Find below the excerpt from TV Tropes

> Usually, the most important characters of the story will have wild spikes or a cool-looking hairdo in order to stand out among the crowd. It also helps to create a distinctive silhouette that will stand out in branding, media, and merchandise. It may be one or more different colors that don't appear naturally in real humans (blue is a popular choice). Sometimes the hair appears semi-transparent, with the character's eyes visible through it, although this presumably represents hair fine enough that it isn't completely obscuring, rather than anything outré. Anime Hair is very common among protagonists of anime/manga for the Shōnen (Demographic), although the trend seems to be headed to more plausible styles: compare Son Goku's hair to Ichigo's.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2017-02-26): Thanks for the link to the TV Tropes article. It calls out over 30 *anime hair* styles, including hair antennae. I am aware that wild hairstyles are common in anime, but I think it rare in reality based shows. Consider just sports genre -- Is there anyone in *Haikyuu!!* whose hair is as unrealistic as the 4 I mentioned? *Days!*? *Free*? *Cheer Boys*? Heck, in *Yowamushi Pedal*, Midousuji Akira's hair is the most normal thing about him. Thus I think *All Out!!* stands out in this regard.  
> **username_1** (2017-02-26): @RichF This is more of a Confirmation Bias. From the Sports Genre, I can immediately think of Kuroko No Basuke or Eyeshield 21. *"Not that uncommon"* doesn't mean that  it is universal. As you correctly notice that sometimes authors try to keep the characters realistic and avoid the hair styles/colors. Also if you read the quoted part from TV tropes, it does mention, "*although the trend seems to be headed to more plausible styles: compare Son Goku's hair to Ichigo's*".  
> **username_0** (2017-02-26): Not so much confirmation bias as those are the sports anime I've watched (oh, also *Yuri on Ice*). Checking, I can't see that any [Kuroko No Basuke characters](http://kurokonobasuke.wikia.com/wiki/Characters) have unrealistic hair. The only one that stood out to me was a completely bald teenager. I agree with your major point (+1d) that wild hair is common in anime. My point is that *All Out!!* is unusual, mixing a very realistic scenario with a few unrealistic hairstyles. Also, its two MCs, Gion and Iwashimizu, have relatively normal hair.  
---
### Answer by username_2 on 2017-02-25. Score: 2
I would wager that these hair styles have no basis in reality, and are meant to give the viewer an opportunity to *remember* these characters as they factor into this anime. In that vein, I'd say it's worked; you can identify each of these characters by name, and they stick out in your mind.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2017-02-25): I appreciate the reply. As far as character names go, [I cheated](http://all-out.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Characters).  I'm not good with Japanese names. Heck, I'm not even that good in remembering English names. You are right, though, that the styles help me remember who is whom.  
---
