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in: Trope, Duo Tropes, Hair Tropes, Hair Contrast Duo

Hair Contrast Duo

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A duo (often a romantic couple) whose contrasting hair colors signify their opposing world-views. Said hair colors are usually blond and black or dark brown, but it can just as well be red and black, or blond and blue--the important bit is the contrast. Their respective personalities are then typically defined as follows:

  • The fair-haired partner is the "good" one: younger, bright, hopeful, enthusiastic, naive, helpful, innocent, tends to follow the rules
  • The dark-haired partner is the "bad" one: older, moody, testy, serious, cynical, often relishes in Angst and their Dark and Troubled Past, tends to break the rules and snap

The two of them oftentimes have a shaky and volatile relationship due to their great difference in temperament and worldview. The Fair-haired partner often has to push at the Dark-haired partner to even get the relationship going in the first place. There's often a reason lurking in the Dark-haired partner's past to explain their hesitance, be it a failed relationship, abuse from their family, or simple shyness. Other times, the Dark-haired partner is just testier and not necessarily angsty. They may just be easily frustrated with their hyperactive partner's antics.

Ultimately, however, the Opposites Attract.

This is particularly a staple in lesbian romance fiction, where common pairings include a "good blonde" and a "bad brunette". A common inversion found in recent works features a slightly altered setup:

  • The Blonde becomes an (implied) Phenotype Stereotype, who, while still cheerful and clueless, gains traits like frankness, openness, inventiveness, and ignorance of proper etiquette
  • The Brunette becomes an (implied) Proper Lady, who, while still moody and cynical, becomes more reserved, well-mannered, and manipulative

Compare the Seme and Uke dynamics in Boys Love genre and the One Head Taller rule of thumb to recognize them. Also compare Red Oni, Blue Oni. Contrast Betty and Veronica, which is about romantic rivals with opposite personalities and physical traits, while this trope is specifically about duos/couples, not Triang Relations.

Examples of Hair Contrast Duo include:


Anime and Manga[]

  • As noted above, couples with contrasting hair colors are extremely popular in the Yuri Genre:
  • Promised Neverland (Yakisobu no Neverland): A popular ship in both anime and manga is NorRay, (Norman x Ray). True to the quote, "Opposites attract," the "yin and yang duo," are opposite to each other. Norman, a boy with neat white hair, is calm and mostly on the happy side, whilst Ray with somewhat messy black hair, is often described as "emo," or "moody, and gets angry more often." These two are seen as the smartest boys in Grace Field Orphanage, and still are up until now.
  • The title characters of Dirty Pair have very contrasting hair colors (red vs blue). They don't quite fall into the yuri category above, but are still Heterosexual Life Partners who do get shipped together in many fanfics and several hentai doujins.
  • Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon: she's the perky blonde and he's the aloof dark-haired guy.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S starred the Hot-Blooded blue-haired Genki Girl Subaru and the careful, analytical red-headed Tsundere Teana, who also formed a Tomboy and Girly Girl duo and are currently the most blatantly lesbian couple of the franchise.
  • In Ouran High School Host Club, Haruhi's a Deadpan Snarker Bifauxnen who's very down to earth, while Tamaki is melodramatic, hyperactive and often comes up with Zany Schemes for the Host Club. Though in the anime, at least the romance aspect is only one-sided on Tamaki's part.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners Kotetsu and Barnaby from Tiger and Bunny completely invert the character dynamics associated with their hair colors (with the exception of age, as the former is about ten years older than the latter). Blond Barnaby is the troubled, socially isolated Ice King, while brunet Kotetsu is the idealistic, energetic and impulsive Messiah who eventually manages to gain his friendship and trust.
  • Naruto and Sasuke in part 1 of Naruto play this trope relatively straight, especially at the beginning of their rivalry: light-haired Naruto is hyperactive and impulsive, while dark-haired Sasuke is cold and calculating.
    • To a degree, Naruto and Hinata - he's loud, hyperactive and impulsive (though less so as the story advances) whereas the blue-black-haired Hinata is a soft-spoken Yamato Nadeshiko who must develop her inner steel and looks up to Naruto because he always tries his best.
    • Sasuke and Sakura also kinda toy with it. Sakura has pink hair that is stawberry blonde in some illustrations, and she's deeply and painfully in love with Sasuke.
    • In the Boruto sequel, the siblings Boruto and Himawari Uzumaki invert it as well.
  • K-On!: Mio (black) is graceful (most of the time) while Ritsu (light brown) is brash.
  • Lucky Star: Yutaka (pink) is cute and childish, while Minami (green!) is cool and mature.
  • Common in Pretty Cure seasons with two protagonists. Nagisa and Saki (orange and light brown) are the outspoken tomboys, while Honoka and Mai (Shiny Midnight Black and dark purple) are calmer and more elegant. On the other hand, Heartcatch Pretty Cure inverts this and Suite Pretty Cure averts it.
  • Inverted in Fruits Basket: brown-haired Tohru is Very Good, whereas red-haired Kyou isn't actually bad but is very rough around the edges.
    • Arisa and Saki subvert it as well: the blond Arisa fits in as she's a former delinquent girl, but the dark-haired Saki is quite the Strange Girl. Both girls dearly love Tohru, however.
  • Yui and Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi play with this trope. Both are good girls, but brunette Miaka retains most of her good cheer and optimism, while blonde Yui becomes broken and angry.
  • Inverted with Serge and Gilbert in Kaze to Ki no Uta. The former is dark-haired, but a pure-hearted optimist despite the racial bullying he's faced for being half-Romani. The latter is blonde and incredibly fucked up due to the sexual abuse he endured as a child.

Literature[]

  • The Time Of The Reaper: Jessica and Mel are another lesbian couple example.
  • Thais (bronze-skinned Brainy Brunette of Cretan origins) and Aegesichore (fair-skinned Power Blonde from Sparta) from Thais of Athens. Despite lots of Les Yay between them, they are really Just Friends, though.
  • Molly McIntyre's best friends in the American Girls Collection fit this to a T. Brunette Linda is practical and realistic, while blonde Susan is cheerful and a dreamer.

Live Action TV[]


Video Games[]

  • Touhou: Reimu (black) is more collected, while Marisa (blonde) is more... blast-happy.
  • Final Fantasy VIII: Fujin (female, silver-haired, cool) and Raijin (male, brown-haired, enthusiastic).
  • Final Fantasy XIII: Fang and Vanille-- whose dynamics seems to be copied verbatim from a yuri manga.
  • Tales of Vesperia has its resident Heterosexual Life Partners; blond, Lawful Good Knight in Shining Armor Flynn and dark-haired, Chaotic Good Vigilante Man Yuri.
  • Pokemon Black and White has a pair of friendly rivals, Cheren and Bianca, who fit this mold. Bianca (blonde) is sweet, bubble-headed, and thinks with her heart. Cheren (black-haired) is serious, cocky, and focused on becoming stronger.
  • Fire Emblem likes to play a bit with this trope:
    • Fire Emblem Awakening has a brother-sister version of this in Chrom (dark blue hair, serious, awkward) and Lissa (blonde and cheerful). And a possible romantic version between Lissa and the Tall, Dark and Snarky Lon'qu.
    • Toyed with in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The blond Dimitri seems to be the Good One and the blue-haired Felix fits perfectly in the Cynical/Bad one... but as it turns out Dimitri is a massive bundle of issues underneath his smile and at some point he completely and absolutely snaps, becoming one heck of a Fallen Hero. This is toned down a bit in Three Hopes, where Felix is still prickly but has mellowed out some, and while Dimitri is still a mess of a person he doesn't go off the rails.
      • Also played with for Catherine and Shamir. Catherine is a boisterous blonde who wholeheartedly believes in Lady Rhea and the Goddess, while Shamir is an aloof and cynical brunette. But Catherine has a troubled backstory of not only turning in her best friend for execution when he was implicated in a plot to kill Rhea (which she has never forgiven herself for), but she herself was a noblewoman said to have been implicated in the Tragedy of Duscur, causing her to have to run away from Faerghus and find a new home in the Church.
    • The Elusian Princesses in Fire Emblem Engage play a bit with this. Ivy is a quiet and reflective Broken Bird with dark purple hair, while her younger sister Hortensia is an energetic teenager with bright pink hair. However, Hortensia is just as troubled deep down as her sister, having been put through the wringer during the events of the game.
      • Brodian Princes Diamant and Alcryst also play with this. Diamant is a sociable and confident redhead, while blue-haired Alcryst is sensitive, shy, and has self-esteem in the negatives. However, Diamant also struggles with the pressure of being a good King after Morion's death, while Alcryst is more determined and sociable than his demeanor lets on.

Visual Novels[]

  • Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo: Mai and Reo, with Reo being the hot-blooded Tsundere with the lighter hair color and Mai being the cool and more collected dark-haired girl.
  • In Shall We Date Ninja Shadow, the heroine is a blond and gentle yet also strongwilled Bifauxnen and her boyfriends can go from redheads to brunets to white haired, etc. while also having personalities that contrast with hers. ie, the first batch of love interests include a teasing, cheerful redhaired cop (Ukyo), a blue-haired and troubled Stepford Snarker (Asagi) and a mysterious, quiet Dark-Skinned Blond foreigner (Eduard)

Web Comics[]

  • Penny and Aggie.
  • Grey Is inverts this. Black with his rash personality and quick temper has white hair while calm introspective White has black hair.

Western Animation[]

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