One-Punch Man proved that hair is not needed to become a famous anime hero, but it can help. For years, it seemed like anime went hand-in-hand with characters donning rather unusual hair. Casual viewers quickly come across characters with hair colors ranging from pink, blue, and green. Sometimes, it's a stylized version of a real color, like how red hair is designed as literally red.
But that's just the start. Anime can have characters with multiple hair colors, hair in physically impossible shapes, and hair that can magically change its appearance, just like that. But, no matter what, it's usually treated as natural.
10 Ran Mouri (Detective Conan) has a large unicorn-like spike of hair that seems to sprout from the top of her head
Generally, hairstyles are relatively realistic in Detective Conan, to the point where a character with blonde hair, Fusae Campbell Kinoshita, was explicitly bullied over it during her childhood. But Shinchi's love interest Ran's hair has one interesting quirk.
Ran's long brown hair isn't too unusual until one notices the large unicorn-like spike of hair that seems to sprout from the top of her head. And much like Mickey Mouse's ears, it doesn't seem to change shape despite what angle the viewer is seeing her from, almost as if it has a mind of its own. It almost makes Shinchi's gravity-defying cowlick look normal.
9 Lum Invader (Urusei Yatsura) was originally given iridescent, rainbow-colored hair & it actually seemed to shift colors
The world of Urusei Yatsura is no stranger to strange hair. For example, Princess Kurama, the half-human princess of a race of crow-like aliens, has a black hair base that breaks off into two green wing-like structures on each of the sides of her head.
But Lum herself might have the most unique hair out of all the characters, at least according to the early manga illustrations, as she was originally given iridescent, rainbow-colored hair and it actually seemed to shift colors. Unfortunately, the anime settled on making it green, likely to make it easier on the animators, and the manga adopted it as well.
8 Yasuhiro Hagakure's (Danganronpa) hair looks like an attempt at dreadlocks, but somehow ended up shaped like a sea urchin
With this video game and anime franchise, Yasuhiro Hagakure is a big name in Japan's fortune-telling community and it makes sense. One look at him and he's kind of hard to forget. His hair looks like an attempt at dreadlocks, but somehow ended up shaped like a sea urchin.
He claims his hair is natural, but, considering he seems to live in his own little world, it's possible that should be taken with a grain of salt. He also claims to rarely wash it and treat it with fabric softener. Despite its size, the hair is surprisingly malleable enough to stuff inside a helmet.
7 Chibiusa's (Sailor Moon) buns are designed to look like rabbit ears
Sailor Moon is filled with famous hair-styles. Usagi's iconic "odangos" are based on a real hairstyle, having origins in the Chinese "ox horns" hairstyle, with creator Naoko Takeuchi having admitted to wearing her hair like this during her college days. And Sailor Mercury's short blue cut is so famously tied to the character that the Dic dub nearly named her "Blue," and that's not getting into how it's sometimes colored green.
Chibiusa's hair, however, takes her mother's hair to the next level. Her buns are designed to look like rabbit ears (after all, she's the "little rabbit of the moon"), although some fans mistake them for horns or yams. Her two pigtails also seem to mimic the shape of a heart. Older versions of Chibiusa, like Wicked Lady and Princess Lady Serenity, usually wear hair similar to Usagi's, but keep the "rabbit ears." That's not getting into the fact that her hair is pink, despite having a blonde mother and black-haired father. That said, her unusual hair puts her right at home with the Sailor Quartet.
6 Yadamon (Yadamon) can transform her hair into a massive pair of butterfly wings
Yadamon is a little witch who has been banished to the human world due to mischief, only for her to get in more mischief in her new surroundings.
Her green hair is already pretty unique, but what makes it really unique is what she can do with it. She can transform it into a massive pair of butterfly wings, best seen in the opening while she's flying on a vacuum cleaner.
5 Sunny's (Toriko) long hair comes out in strands of blue, green, pink, & white
Sunny refuses to associate with anything ugly and is obsessively vain, so it stands to reason he couldn't have just one hair color; his long hair comes out in strands of blue, green, pink, and white.
Unlike most examples where viewers aren't really supposed to question the unusual hair, Sunny also has a reason for his unusual hair: they are sensory organs, with each color being able to detect various stimuli.
4 Ragyo Kiryuin (Kill La Kill) has white hair that breaks off into wings, similar to Princess Kurama's
Multicolored hair is not too unusual in the Kill la Kill series. After all, Ryuko Matoi has both red and black hair, but Ragyo Kiryuin seems to really take the cake.
Evil matriarch Ragyo Kiryuin, who plans on enslaving humans, has white hair that breaks off into wings, similar to Princess Kurama's. However, there is one marked difference: her wings are rainbow-colored. In a flashback, she was once shown being capable of styling it.
3 Senku Ishigami's (Dr. Stone) spikes seem longer than his own head, not to mention his asymmetrical bangs
The world of Dr. Stone usually aims at realistic hairstyles, and occasionally points out that contemporary hair care products don't really exist anymore, but Senku's spikes seem longer than his own head, not to mention those asymmetrical bangs.
Exactly what color it was supposed to be in the manga is complicated, as it's been colored as blonde, white, and green. The anime, however, seemed to go with combining white and green to create a "fading color" look. It also somewhat makes his hair resemble a cross between green onions and leeks.
2 Yugi Muto's (Yu-Gi-Oh!) hair is implied to be both genetic & connects him to the Pharoah, who had similar hair
Not only is Yugi's hair an unusual shape, but it's also literally tri-colored. The base looks mostly black, with red or magenta frosted tips, and blonde, lightning-shaped bangs. As Yami Yugi, he also obtains blonde highlights, although some fans believe these are just his bangs standing up.
To make things even weirder, his hair is implied to be both genetic (his grandfather has a similar hairstyle, that's even implied to have been tricolored in his youth) and connects him to the Pharoah, who had similar hair, as well. Both of which imply his hair is somehow both naturally like this and supernaturally induced.
1 Franky's (One Piece) hair can change into anything
Hair is simply powerful in the One Piece universe. After all, Brook's afro managed to survive death itself. After a time-skip, Franky reconfigured his body, but his crowning glory is his controllable hair. Essentially the Gumby of the anime world, it can change into anything. It's been a cannon, stag beetle jaws, cat ears, a bear head, a hammer, and even a whale.
At times he's even transformed it into hairstyles actual humans would have, like a mohawk, an afro, or a pair of braids. He even once dyed his hair cherry blossom pink.