Whether you’re an Anime fan or simply love brightly coloured hair, you can’t deny that Anime has inspired and has had a huge impact on crazy colours becoming more mainstream. As we’re seeing pastel and neon wigs becoming more popular because of celebrity exposure, it’s important to note where that inspiration is actually coming from.

As a way of reflecting each character’s individual personality, Anime has always used extreme hair colours for characters, from ‘Naruto’ character Sakura and her

pink pastel hair, to Kirigakure’s half yellow, half red ponytail from ‘Blue Exorcist’

 

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Because of that, Anime-inspired wigs have also become a vital part of Comicon, an annual event where people can dress up as their favourite Anime characters, and Cosplay culture, overall. The trend of rainbow and pastel-inspired wigs that we’ve seen on the likes of Nicki Minaj in videos like ‘Trollz’ and Cardi B in ‘WAP’, have long since been a staple within the Cosplay community. Whether it’s dressing up like ‘Bulma’ from Dragon Ball Z and wearing her famous sea-green hair or cosplaying as Usagi from ‘Sailor Moon’ with yellow-blonde pigtails, wearing Anime-inspired hair has always been a form of creative expression and empowerment for cosplayers around the world. Adopting the bold and bright wigs of Anime have also helped minority groups to feel more confident in their portrayal of shows wherein darker skin tones are usually underrepresented.

 

 

 

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 She’s previously been labelled as “dressing like an Anime character”, so it only makes sense to talk about the iconic rapper Nicki Minaj, and her love for Anime-inspired hair. Not only has she referenced Asian culture many times throughout her music career, but she’s also adopted ‘Harajuku Barbie’ image as one of her alter-egos. A sub-culture within Japan with a huge Anime-inspired style, Harajuku girls are notable for their bright pink wigs, doll-like clothing and ‘kawaii’ apparel. We’ve seen Nicki adopt this style countless times, from catwalks and even to her ‘Pink Friday’ album cover. So much so, that her trademark looks of pink neon and pastel wigs with fringes have become a staple for those attempting countless recreations, from YouTube videos to Halloween looks. She’s also referenced the culture in videos like ‘Super Bass’, ‘Your Love’ and ‘Chun Li’.

While she’s toned down her look over the past few years, Harajuku-pink remains a firm staple in Nicki’s wig closet, notably her pink braided wig in ‘Motorsport’, and her strawberry-pink look in Miami in early 2020

 

 

 

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Another trend-setter who’s cited Anime as a hair influence is ‘WAP’ artist Megan Thee Stallion. Megan has always been outspoken for her love of Anime, citing ‘My Hero Academia’ and ‘Soul Eater’ as her favourite shows to watch.

She’s also been honest about how her hairstyles are a direct inspiration from these shows. In fact, she even admitted that her hair and makeup team will pull looks together based on these characters for whatever mood she’s in.

Back in 2019, we saw the ‘Hot Girl’ artist showing her love for Anime with a seafoam green wig inspired by Dragon Ball character Bulma. Calling herself ‘Bulma Snow’, the look trended on Twitter and even saw FUNimation, a notable dubbing company co-signing the look. “Love the style!”, the company wrote, with a cutesy gif of Bulma attached.

Later that year, she reaffirmed her love for ‘My Hero Academia’ by cosplaying as the main character, or ‘Todoroki Tina’ as she calls it. Adopting the hair of this character, a half-white half-red frontal wig, the look went viral with many Anime fans applauding her for giving a sexy, confident take of the show, and also resulted in countless recreations and artworks dedicated to Megan and her love of Anime culture.   

Inspired by Anime? Look out for our ‘Luna Ombre’ lace wig inspired by Sailor Moon dropping later on this month. If you can’t wait till then, why not try our new Lola pony in the shade ‘Platinum’ for instant, true Sailor Moon vibes.  Follow us @plshairlondon for more inspiration!