10 May 2009

Ahoge

Finishing off an old post before heading back into the mud...

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Nekomimi Shana and her huge ahoge on her head

Ahoge (アホ毛), aka silly hair or foolish hair, is a lock of hair that sticks out on an anime character's head.

It is a visual cue to identify/symbolise silliness, clumsiness, carefreeness or other similar character traits. A lot of characters (usually girls) have them across a lot of series, so I will just list a few examples here:

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Saber from Fate/Stay Night


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Konata Izumi from Lucky Star


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Shana from Shakugan no Shana
(Different hair style and attire but it's still Shana there)

Other characters that have ahoge in the series include loser Yuuji and Ogata.

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Nakajima Subaru (right),

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And Reinforce II from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, showing different shapes of ahoge

Other characters such as Vita and Caro have them too.


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Furukawa Naigsa from CLANNAD

Nagisa's ahoge is usually known as "hair antennae", as she has more than one lock of hair and are like those antennae of an ant. Her parents have them as well (i.e. hereditary ^^;)

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Yukine (right) has an ahoge too - nearly forgot about hers too.


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Minami Chiaki from Minami-ke

Chiaki's is rather special as it is shaped rather differently, and moreso it can move as if it's alive... o_O


Ahoge are not limited to girls only; guys can have them too (loser Yuuji was briefly mentioned above):
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Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, the ahoge can be seen on him and his chbi version on the club ^^;


There are too many characters with ahoge, and I may have even missed some from the anime series I have mentioned above (do tell me if I do). Do you like characters with ahoge, or is it something that hasn't bothered you much?

I feel that while ahoges can sometimes be insignificant as a physical cue to character apperance, they sometimes do add some characteristics and become part of the character. Imagine seeing Nagisa without her hair antennae for example, one may think that something missing around her (if you know what I mean).


Oh and an omake to finish off:
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Konata door hanger, from げんれい工房

All anime screencaps are from Random Curiosity

8 comments:

  1. Its not that a Ahoge makes or breaks a character but sometimes it helps to give them an identity.to be honest i never really gave any serious thought about ahoges ^^

    The weirdest Ahoge ive seen so far must be from Najimi of Akikan fame.Hers is just huge!

    And as far as I know Sabers ahoge is kinda special too.After all thats one of the differences between regular Saber and Alter Saber

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  2. ahoge are cute! but they are not a must-have. It adds a little more character to the... character ^^;. You missed a really good one though, but I'm not sure if you know her... Ignis from Jingai Maikyo (not an anime) ^^;

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  3. Chiaki ahoge is the weirdest one I've seen. It moves on it own and that's telling me it has a mind of it's own. 0_o
    Nagisa without her hair antennae?

    I'm not getting ur joke. I'm missing something here.

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  4. Hmm yeah ahoge is not something I pay attention to too much. I do like it if they have it... There was a really cute Saber and Shana duel on one of the image board sites, and it's a duel between their ahoge XD

    I have heard that ahoge is usually for airheaded characters? Of course that's not always true, it's just because the first word is "aho" which means "dumb" or something in Japanese. Oh and don't forget Ken Akamatsu's characters (Love Hina & Negima)... I think all of his characters have ahoge XD

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  5. Haha! I didn't even know there's a vocab for that XD

    Given that I haven't watch many anime, the 'best' ahoge I've seen is on Lunamaria from SEED Destiny. While others are pointing downwards, hers points up instead, totally unaffected by gravity or wind. XD

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  6. Hehe, this is an interesting post. I didn't know what ahoge was before. Cool!

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  7. Though I am a girl, I SHOULD HAVE AN AHOGE T_T. Lol.

    I love ahoge XD

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  8. @ Blowfish:
    I think you've put the wording better than I have - ahoges tend to give the characters identities and characteristics. They are usually just minor details that normal viewers/readers won't care too much about, but it's still nevertheless interesting to point out.

    I haven't watched Akikan!, but I did read that Najimi's ahoge is pretty wild, and it moves according to her mood ^^;

    The fact that Alter Saber lacks an ahoge is interesting, because it kinda hints that she is a serious character compared to the normal one.

    @ Z:
    Ahoges are indeed like some kind of add-ons to the characters that add a bit of life to them. I have heard of Ignis as I have seen a figure or two of her somewhere before, but didn't know that she's got an ahoge (and a huge one too!).

    @ Optic:
    Chiaka's ahoge is surely mysterious... It leaves a lot of people to wonder about its existance o_o;;

    Sorry that part's not supposed to be a joke; I was just trying to say that Nagisa won't feel like Nagisa to me if she doesn't have her hair antennae all of a sudden orz.

    @ Lightning Sabre:
    lol a duel Saber and Shana's ahoges?! I got to see that some day! XD

    Ahoges are often for airhead characters, but other characteristics related to them include clumsiness and carefree like. They are for characters who are not dead serious in general.

    I haven't watched either Love Hina or Negima (don't bomb me for that orz), but I've found out that both main female characters have ahoges there ^^

    @ Ngee Khiong:
    Lunamaria has an ahoge?? *Goes and checks*

    I really didn't notice that lol XD Maybe her ahoge blends in with the rest of her hair when viewed head-on so I didn't notice it, but I can see it on side views (definitely noticeable on figures). Her ahoge seems to change in direction though; I've so far seen pictures and figures of her having the ahoge going upwards, downwards, and even sideways! XD

    Good find there. You're definitely a dedicated Gundam fan XD

    @ M12:
    Glad you like the post. It's an interesting insight (ish) into such little details on characters~

    @ zenical:
    lol you can make yourself a temporary ahoge on a windy day, if not how about making one using hair wax? ^^;;;

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