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If you’ve ever gone to an anime convention, you’d find yourself in a room filled with tons of different hairstyles.
And even if they’re natural, it’s always perfectly put together (or a bit over the top depending on who’s doing it…)
Now if you’re going for cute, side ponies are the way to go. So I say we check out some of the cutest characters with side ponytails in all of anime.
10. Hama-sensei
Anime: Morita-san wa Mukuchi
A minor character from the short slice-of-life series ‘Mortia-san is silent’, Hama-sensei is a trainee teacher who goes to Mortia’s school.
Her debut episode ‘Hama-sensei is a Worrywart’ gives all you need to know about her.
A little ditzy and a little unsure of herself. Something that all of us new teachers deal with.
9. Haraki Tsugumi
Anime: Mangirl!
No, this isn’t an inappropriately named show with big trans-representation; Mangirl is actually a portmanteau of Manga + Girl, not Man + Girl.
But with the show’s name explanation out of the way, you can probably guess what the show is about.
Any New Game fans out there? It’s the same show but with Manga:
Four girls.
Our girl Tsugumi is a confident tomboy with a massive sweet tooth who serves as the magazine’s head editor.
Can she, alongside her staff Hana, Aki, and Ringo make their magazine ‘Monthly Comic Earth Star’ the biggest in Japan? Well if you wanna find out (or see more of her awesome side ponytail) then you’ll just have to check it out.
Set in the seaside town of Kure during WWII, the film tells the story of Suzu, a native of Hiroshima who moves away with her husband Shusaku.
As the bomb strikes Japan at the end of the war, Suzu loses everyone and everything close to her, but nonetheless learns to survive.
Kind and compassionate, San is Suzu’s mother in law.
But unlike a typical MILs, she actually treats Suzu really well. It’s implied in the film that Susaku marries Suzu to get extra help around the house, as San has a permanent leg injury too.
At the end of the film, Shusaku and Suzu adopt an orphaned child and raise her in the Hojo household. It’s a really great watch if you’re into WW2-era anime.
7. Yan Min
Anime: Maken-ki
Like all powerful students of Tenbi Academy, Yang Min has a ‘Maken’. Which is basically a magical weapon imbued with godly powers.
However, Yan Min doesn’t necessarily go to the school.
Instead she’s a member of the mercenary group ‘Venus’ who joins the academy to hunt for an individual rumoured to be reviving the Eight-Headed Serpent ‘Yamata-no-orochi’ of lore.
Tall and beautiful, Yan doesn’t wear the Academy uniform; instead she commands the hallways in her red and black Venus gear. And a side ponytail, of course.
6. Iori Nagase
Anime: Kokoro Connect
Iori is the president of the Student Cultural Society Club.
Or is it the Cultural Research Society? Apparently the fanbase can’t agree… go to the wiki right now, there’s an unresolved vote front and centre.
What a dedicated fanbase.
Raised by an absent abusive father, and then by a single mother, Iori has grown to become exceptionally good at altering her personality to suit the needs of others.
But she’s actually a kind and caring friend who’s seen as the voice of reason and role model to all those around her.
An especially useful skill when the undecided cultural club is attacked by supernatural forces!
5. Suzuno Kamazuki
Anime: The Devil is a Part Timer
The fall of Satan from heaven is nothing like what the Bible told you.
He doesn’t actually reside in hell anymore. After a failed invasion of Ente Isla, a world beyond our own, he was defeated and escaped to modern day Japan.
But he’s not dead. And that’s something that has to be fixed.
Enter Suzuno Kamazuki (originally Crestia Bell), an inquisitor of the Church of Ente Isla.
Dispatched to Earth to gather information and eventually do away with Satan, she moves into the house next to him. But quickly realizes that he’s no longer the great demon lord that once terrorized several worlds.
She wears a kimono throughout her time in Japan due to doing all her research about Japan by watching historic drama.
This anime is also just great overall, and one of the funniest to check out.
4. Hikage Miyakawa
Anime: Lucky Star / Miyakawa Family’s Hunger
A minor character in Lucky Star, Hikage is the first of many “leasts”.
The youngest, the shortest, and apparently also the poorest of the Lucky Star cast, Hikage is a tsundere who needs a lot of love.
Though coming from a poor family, she and her sister Hinata are die hard otakus, spending what little money they have on figurines.
Hikage dreams of eating meat, which comes true when she and Hinata get their own spinoff ‘Miyakawa Family’s Hunger’ where she gets a steak in the very first episode (though it wasn’t a very good steak).
3. Lucy Heartfilia
Anime: Fairy Tail
Lucy almost needs no introduction.
The poster girl for the immensely popular Fairy Tail, she’s up there in the hall of modern anime girl fame alongside Nami from One Piece and Naruto’s Sakura.
(They are the same era right?)
Anyway, Lucy was born into the powerful Heartfilia merchant family.
But as a powerful mage from birth, she wanted to join the fairy tale guild. Confident, sexy, and loyal, Lucy is not above using what her mother gave her to get what she wants.
Yet she also knows her own worth and the worth of her friends, fiercely defending not only humans, but her Celestial Spirits too!
2. Misty
Anime: Pokémon
Here I go listing Misty on yet another list.
Will we ever stop shoehorning her into every article? Is she still a tomboy or what?
The world may never know.
But what we’re absolutely certain about is that she rocks that one-sided ponytail look.
1. Luluco
Anime: Space Patrol Luluco
Luluco’s dream is to be a normal girl living in a normal town with a normal family that does normal things.
She wants to be average.
More than just average – extremely average. Nothing special at all. Please!
But unfortunately, she lives in a city ceded to the rest of the galaxy.
Yes, her hometown of Okuburo is filled with aliens!
Her dream comes to a halting stop when her dad, a detective for the local police force, accidentally eats a confiscated drug at breakfast which turns him into a block of ice.
Cyril is a freelance writer, drama teacher and singer from Hong Kong. Growing up in East Asia, anime is literally everywhere. It’s on the streets, it’s in the malls, it’s always on TV. You’re sort of expected to know your anime stuff. Studying University in the UK, Cyril realized the rest of the world is not like that, so with his background in tow he volunteered with Animeleague’s Anime and Gaming conventions. Cyril wrote for the shortlived Shonen-World anime review site and also writes for Underground Hong Kong, a local music magazine. You can find him and the stuff he does at https://cyrilmass.wixsite.com/cyrildoesthings. Come say Hi!
