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Rule #3: Longer Hair, Power Flair
Why This Rule?
No matter who it is, hair is an essential expression of anyone fictional or real. UAR #2 confirms hair plays a major role. Short hairstyles such as Pixie cuts suggest a focus on physical activity and functionality, and the same can be said about ponytails. But when the hair tie breaks and all the hair spills out, the presence of power is seen especially when on men, specifically in the shounen genre.
If you’re a fan of any 90s anime, I can guarantee you’ve seen it. In Dragon Ball Z when Goku went Super Saiyan 3, with that amazing guitar riff playing in the background, and the glowing golden mane was revealed. Ignoring the hair color change, Goku’s hair grew exponentially longer along with his power. In a different example in Ruroni Kenshin, Kenshin’s arguably stronger alter ego, The Manslayer A.K.A Batttosai, appeared against Hajime Saito when Kenshin’s hair went wild. Coincidence? Not today. Raw power is represented in lengthy locks, especially in older anime series, older stories, and even in anime today.
In the right circumstances power is equivalent to lengthier hair. Perhaps it is because there’s more of a focus on grooming or cleanliness and a much larger one on dominance and hierarchy based on the appearance alone. In other words, they stand out more. A good example of this is other land mammals. Tigers, lions, monkeys, bears, and gorillas are all strong, powerful creatures but if you’ve ever seen them shaved, they don’t give off the same dominating vibe. The physical characteristic of long, wild hair screams power. But why?
Examples & Exceptions
Examples of this rule are the above mentioned, Kenshin in Ruroni Kenshin and Goku’s SSJ3 transformation in Dragon Ball Z. Others include Sasuke’s curse mark transformation in Naruto, Yusuke’s transformation in Yu Hakusho, Eren Jaegar in Attack on Titan, Afro in Afro Samurai, Kyuuta in The Boy and the Beast, Akira in Devilman: Crybaby, most transformations and almost every timeskip arc and the character comes back with longer hair. Transformations flip the odds.
Exceptions for this rule include any characters that enters the series with long hair, such as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha from Inuyasha. Starting with a lengthy mane could mean many things - but it doesn’t directly mean that that character is powerful... like Sakura in Naruto. This rule fails even more outside of the shounen genre, like in a slice of life or drama anime.
Origins
The tale of Samson from The Bible - the man that possessed godly levels of strength through the power of his hair - is not to be ignored here, especially given it is the number one book worldwide. Long story short, Samson’s long hair, never cut since birth, was the source of his strength and when he was betrayed and it was cut, he lost all of his strength before one final display of strength for revenge (1). Browsing the internet, shorter and groomed hair for men and longer, well-kept hair for women is almost worldwide. But there are those like “The Longhairs” who sport manes with pride as a statement, lifestyle, or something else altogether (2). On another note, in Japan during the Heian period, women with longer hair were seen as more beautiful and their incredibly long hair was usually longer than how tall they stood (3)!
No matter the reason, I think it boils down to making a statement. “We don’t fit in, but that’s the way that I want to live my life, and I chose this,” they seem to say. Without living by the norm, and living with the hair that you want makes you truly your own boss - and that’s a powerful statement not just in Japan but worldwide.
Overall Judgement
Long hair and strength are closely related because of how it is perceived. Samson had it, wild animals have it, and so it’s almost intuitive! Anime is really similar. The uniformity of Japan’s society makes longer hair, especially on a male, that much more surprising. Based on how it’s received, you can almost bet that in some way that person is their own boss - or maybe the one that stands as the most powerful in the whole show. And that is what it means to go even further beyond! ~D.
Likelihood that power resides in that NEW super long mane:
100%
(And much less in realistic anime, or characters that started with long hair)
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Samson.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 24 May 2016, www.britannica.com/biography/Samson.
“What It Means to Have Long Hair.” The Longhairs, 27 Apr. 2015, blog.thelonghairs.us/what-it-means-long-hair/.
“The Standard of Heian Beauty: Incredibly Long Hair – Japan Info.” Japan Info, 11 Dec. 2015, jpninfo.com/36132.