Haircolor issues in Bleach

[Sergelia]

Hi. *waves* I'm sorry if this is a duplicate; however I just couldn't help but notice, and I really wanted to see what you peeps think. So... bear with me on it, please!

So, I was re-reading the early chapters of Bleach yesterday (just what kind of a dork DOES that? I wonder) and was smiling fondly at the great, non-complicated friendships and relationships. Right now I miss the Tatsuki - Orihime dynamic like crazy, I miss all those little Karakura quirks and its lighthearted humor. So... when examining why I liked the simplicity of those little bonds, I noticed something weird. It might just be some kind of pattern on Kubo's part, but... is it really?

#1 --- Tatsuki Arisawa and Orihime Inoue
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c8/Tatsuki2.JPG/200px-Tatsuki2.JPGhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/23/Orihime.jpg/250px-Orihime.jpg
The most glaring example. The dark haired tough girl and the brown-orange haired sweetie.


#2 --- Karin Kurosaki and Yuzu Kurosaki
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e8/Karin_Kurosaki_%28Bleach%29.jpg/180px-Karin_Kurosaki_%28Bleach%29.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/Yuzukurosaki.jpg/180px-Yuzukurosaki.jpg
Obvious, isn't it? Basically a younger version of Tatsuki -- Orihime, except that Yuzu can actually cook. And cries more than Orihime did in the beginning.

#3 --- Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Bleach_mizuiro.jpg/180px-Bleach_mizuiro.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/90/Keigo_Asano.jpg/250px-Keigo_Asano.jpg

#4 --- Ryō Kuneida and Michuru Ogawa

5# --- Isshin Kurosaki and Masaki Kurosaki

6# --- Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/30/Rukia_as_a_prisoner.jpg/180px-Rukia_as_a_prisoner.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/90/Ichigobankai.png/180px-Ichigobankai.png

7# --- Momo Hinamori and Kira Izuru
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Hinamori.jpg/250px-Hinamori.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Kira_izuzu.jpg/200px-Kira_izuzu.jpg

8# --- Sentarō Kotsubaki and Kiyone Kotetsu



And there are more, like captain Unohana and her lieutenant Isane, Hinamori and Hitsugaya, some would even say Nanao and Shinsui, then Orihime and Ishida during the SS arc... oh, you get the point. Black hair + light hair. Almost all the time.

Matsumoto is obviously an exception as her two most prominent relationships are with Hitsugaya and Gin, both of which are very white-haired and as such can not be applied to Kubo's little pattern. Then you have Ikkaku and Yumichika, for all the obvious reasons. :D Not to forget the only two Shinigami marriages known to us - the black haired Kaien and Miyako, as well as Byakya and Hisana.

Kubo seems intent on this. Let's take Orihime, for example; in the beggining arcs, she hangs out mostly with Tatsuki. In SS, she goes around with Uryuu. And now in the HM arc, she spends most of her time in unhappy Ulquiorra's company. See it? You do. Ahkay.

Sorry for not including all the images. I've been awake for 19 hours and I'm very tired, so I just took them off Wikipedia. I'll edit it when I find some time to search for better ones.

About this thread:
Yeah, I was just bored, and I needed to rant about something for a little while, to vent. Sorry for halfspamming, I know this is literally pointless. ^__^

Sergelia

[Ness]

Haha, yeah. I think hair color matters on characters in any story. Dark hair and light hair together seem to complete each other, like how Yin-Yang is. It seems to me that whatever couple that has the same darkness/lightness color didn't work out, like someone died or someone has been taken away... Like GinxMatsumoto, KaienxMiyako, and ByakuyaxHisana.

[debbiechan]

LOL, I once saw a whole page of orange head and black-haired couples somewhere with someone saying SEE, Ishida and Orihime must happen.

The anime colors some characters differently. Matsumoto is a blond for Kubo--and orangehead for Perriot Studios. Hime was supposed to have brown hair in the manga but Kubo has been drawing it orange for a long while.

As for couples, I'm sometimes guilty of looking at characters and matching up aesthetically pleasing ones in my head. "Spark" and "Charisma" are what determine my ships, but if they look good together--all the better!

[SiSL]

I don't think there is any special relations in hair colors with exception of being ordinary human colors to create some diversion between characters.

Orihime's hair color is BROWN and there can be lots of shades of brown not just wood color. You can't say it is orange compared to Ichigo's.

[Shannon]

Like Ulquiorra and Orihime. <3
And Hitsugaya and Hinamori. Ha.
Wow. Never really noticed.

And Urahara and Yoruichi.
But then Shunsui and Nanao?

:D:D:D:D

[Geta Boshi]

I think maybe a coincidence but If we overanalyze it you are correct black n white ( not colors, contrast ) as in yin and yang

[Zelos]

lol, thats pretty cool you noticed. i never did XD maybe or maybe not a coincidence, but theres nothing to say youre wrong :D so its cool to have fun with it. kinda related, but i know with my own characters when i write, i pay attention to hair colors and eye color and sometimes they carry "hidden" meanings that arent said. dunno if thats what's going on here, but i know i do it >.<

[furato]

But then Shunsui and Nanao?[/COLOR]
Nanao would invoke Seireitei Statute article 23a about the prohibition of fraternising between officers above 20th seat in the same division, and Shunsui will fall into the loving arms of Ukitake Jyuushirou, who believes in the same hair colour = doomed couple theory so much, he contracted a disease that turns his black hair white on purpose to have a chance at Shunsui's true love.
(SHIPWARRRR!! XDD)

Speaking of hair colours, I miss the days when Orihime's hair is actually brown. Comparing the vol 27 and vol 3 covers, Orihime's hair of late is closer to orange though not as bright as the anime colouring.

[Sergelia]

I know Orihime's hair is originally brown, but I'd feel silly if I posted a picture of her with *orange* hair and then say it's brown, neh? xD Besides, even if she's definitely been referred to as "That brownhaired girl" in the early chapters, just look at Ness's avatar and try telling me Kubo didn't decide to play along with anime and turn her into a *cough*carrot*cough*.


@Ness - But don't forget Isshing and Masaki! She's dead, isn't she, and she had brown hair. >__> But yes, I noticed that 99% of the tragic relationships are those that don't follow the goddamn Bleach haircolor rules. Like... ChizuHime, that's very tragic.
Yeah... *hides*

@Furato - I totally did want to post Ukitake and Shunsui up there as well *dances* But... No shippwars here, ey!

@SiSl - definitely possible. I actually don't think there is any real *meaning*... however you cannot deny that it's a pattern used on Shinigami as well, not only on humans. Maybe it's the old "we complete each other 11" or something. Ahwell.

[SiSL]

Heh, you are right. May be it is to make sure which one is who when looked from behind ;)

Kubo plays with his characters a lot. There is ZERO similiarity between Ichigo at Chapter 1 and Ichigo at chapter 280 or Orihime at Chapter 3 and Orihime at chapter 280. Both almost completely changed as facially, along with Kubo's art even till the point, I'm greateful to anime started with latter art of characters rather than initial art. They were awful remmants of Zombie Powder.

Anyway, point here is: Change is unavoidable when necessary. (Wicked example of Ulquiorra's hole position)

And as for hair colors, I still think they are just random generic human colors, with less of blondes (like most Eastern people), in the end, you can't give much of a color feeling in a black/white printed paper, yet make characters that are close to each other a bit more distincted shading than each other.

[debbiechan]

Speaking of hair colours, I miss the days when Orihime's hair is actually brown. Comparing the vol 27 and vol 3 covers, Orihime's hair of late is closer to orange though not as bright as the anime colouring.

I prefer brown-haired Hime. The text says "brown-haired girl" but the vol. 3 covers looks a little on the reddish spectrum, wouldn't you say. I usually compromise and refer to her as the girl with "ginger" hair but that sounds a little too trying-too-hard.

[Guildenstern]

Byakuya/Hisana. >_>; COUNTER! >:O

This reminds me of the shippers waaaaaaay back in the day on some godawful Yu Yu Hakusho forum arguing bitterly that Kurama/Botan was GONNA HAPPEN because his red hair and her blue hair looked SO GOOD together. Granted me many hours of amusement surfing during work. And by 'amusement' I mean 'beating my face against the keyboard'. XD

Pick a colour for Orihime's hair please, Kubo, and make it a cute one. >_<b Also I kinda wish he'd kept the longish look Rukia's hair had in the first couple chapters. It was cute and she could put it up in little buns. Also Ichigo's cute "This is SPARTAAAAAA" buzz cut.

(Does anyone know what all this 'Tanabata' stuff is about?)

[Random Hollow]

Kubo plays with his characters a lot. There is ZERO similiarity between Ichigo at Chapter 1 and Ichigo at chapter 280 or Orihime at Chapter 3 and Orihime at chapter 280. Both almost completely changed as facially, along with Kubo's art even till the point, I'm greateful to anime started with latter art of characters rather than initial art. They were awful remmants of Zombie Powder.


yeah that is right, the earlier style wasnt too good, the faces were...sorta odd... they werent very well defined, it got better as the manga went forward tho and that is a good thing.

[Nocturne]

Kubo plays with his characters a lot. There is ZERO similiarity between Ichigo at Chapter 1 and Ichigo at chapter 280 or Orihime at Chapter 3 and Orihime at chapter 280. Both almost completely changed as facially, along with Kubo's art even till the point, I'm greateful to anime started with latter art of characters rather than initial art. They were awful remmants of Zombie Powder.
Well, Kubo did say he found both Orihime and Ichigo hardest to draw and that was back in 2004. He also said he had to practice drawing Orihime more as she will become more important to the story. I do like the changes he's made for all his characters though.

As for the hair, I thought the significance points more to how those with different hair colors are treated differently. Orihime was bullied because of the lightness of her hair. Ichigo was considered a punk because of his hair and got into a lot of fights. He refused to dye his hair black because he didn't give a damn what people thought of his hair.

I'm surprised, Renji's not in there as he does provide quite a contrast with black hair too.

[Inuhanyou]

@Nocturne - Wasnt it the length of her hair and not the color? Because i remember the scissors and the cutting..

[debbiechan]

(Does anyone know what all this 'Tanabata' stuff is about?)

It's a Japanese (and Chinese ) festival for lovers. Really commercialized nowadays. It's based on a myth about a star-weaver named Orihime.
Expect multiple shipping posts and fanworks and stuffs for a few days.
Tanabata starts any minute.:)

[Inuhanyou]

Yea it can be either about inoue or rukia based on your prefrence..i've been hearing it alot in other fandoms recently but i first heard about it in bleach about 10 months ago and the comparisons..

[debbiechan]

Yea it can be either about inoue or rukia based on your prefrence..i've been hearing it alot in other fandoms recently but i first heard about it in bleach about 10 months ago and the comparisons..

haha. I've written close to ten (?) stories in the past couple years in which Tanabata suits the IshiHime relationship. That's the wonderful thing about symbology in a myth. You can throw it all over the place.

Uh oh. We're off topic. I don't want to be scolded but I must say that Szayel
Aporro's hair coloring was the biggest surprise yet. No, though, I can't seem as anything but a pinkette.

[Nocturne]

@Nocturne - Wasnt it the length of her hair and not the color? Because i remember the scissors and the cutting..
It's the hair color. Sora liked the warm color of her hair that's what she wore it long, but then middle school came around and she got beat up for the color. Here's the page from chapter 42:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7753/bleach050814gf6.th.png (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bleach050814gf6.png)

[Sola]

Wow nice find. Never noticed this lol.

[furato]

Pick a colour for Orihime's hair please, Kubo, and make it a cute one. >_<b Also I kinda wish he'd kept the longish look Rukia's hair had in the first couple chapters. It was cute and she could put it up in little buns. Also Ichigo's cute "This is SPARTAAAAAA" buzz cut.
SPARTAAAA? XD Well, we can say he hadn't have time for a hair cut between keeping Karakura hollow-free and keeping his grades.
Rukia's hair look quite long-ish in SS arc too, especially when she just arrived in Soukyoku and have a hair swishy bonding moment with Byakuya.

As for the hair, I thought the significance points more to how those with different hair colors are treated differently. Orihime was bullied because of the lightness of her hair. Ichigo was considered a punk because of his hair and got into a lot of fights. He refused to dye his hair black because he didn't give a damn what people thought of his hair.
And yet nobody ever commented on Chizuru's PINK hair. Pink!

[Geta Boshi]

And yet nobody ever commented on Chizuru's PINK hair. Pink!

I am extremly biased against pink Haired People thank you Naruto . But Bleach changed my thinking

Sanku Szayel : D

[Siren]

Szayel is probably one of the only manga men that could ever pull off pink hair. He totally works it. Metro? Hella-yes.

furato: lol -big time- at the swooshy hair comment XD

Anyways, nice find. Makes sense that Kubo "pairs" people with opposite hair color. I think besides personality, you need something more noticeable to make a pair mesh. Having characters (who are friends) that look alike is a little boring...for me...

[aznxenocide]

Wait, what's the relationship between Hinamori and Kira? Just cuz they're both vice captains of their feuding captains? You could say the same about Hinamori and Hitsugaya...Yuzu and Isshin...Chad and Inoue...and what about Urahara/Yoruichi? I really doubt there's anything significant in the hair colors.

[SPLENDiD 0NE]

dark hair + light hair?! :eek:

:yayulquihime love :inlove

[Sergelia]

@ aznxenocide - LoL, you are kidding right? Hinamori and Kira are old friends from the Academy, and it seemed very close to best-friendship to me. >__>
I never said it was significant, I just think it was interesting to point out. As for Sado and Inoue, they are nakama I think. Their friendship doesn't quite get the spotlight but they did spend some time together over time.

ALSO JUST TO CLARIFY:

I'm not talking "romantic relationships" here. Most of these are, at least in canon, just strong friendships (hell it was even pointed out that two of three presently known canon relationships had the same hair color). Or just people who spend a lot of their time together. Peace.

Renji and Chizuru always looked like they had similar hair color to me... Well, hers is more... pinkish, but still. Never mind. I did say there were more - Hinamori and Hitsugaya for example, as well as Rukia and Renji - but I chose just one-per-character.

Zaerapollo is as metro as they come. End of discussion.

@Splendid one - UlquiHime love indeed. *partey*