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6 Smarties with Blue Hair

by Lynzee Loveridge,

One of the first things new fans notice that sets anime apart visually from western animation is the non-standard hair colors. Western animation might dabble in this, especially if the character is supposed to be rebellious, but most characters stick to blonde, black, brown, or red. These eye-popping hair colors work as visual cues to suggest certain personality types. Blue, for instance, is correlated with cool and intellectual but also characters that can never catch a break.

6. Rei Ryūgazaki (Free!) Before Rei became the Iwatobi Swim Club's butterfly stroke champ, he was a member of the school's track team. He takes an astute approach to athletics by turning the sport into an equation of angles and percentages. This approach is in complete contrast with someone like Haruka where swimming is an emotional experience. His quest for beauty and perfection doesn't work initially, and Rei struggles to maintain any momentum without sinking. His dedication to his friends sees him through instead of reliance on his analytical mind, and he eventually can do more than just the butterfly stroke.

5. Ami Mizuno (Sailor Moon) Ami Mizuno, a.k.a. Sailor Mercury, is probably the most well-known blue-haired genius. She boasts a 300 IQ, top-level national test scores, and is a skilled swimmer and chess player. Her favorite hobby is, obviously, studying and trying to convince her friends that they should too. Her role when the group is fighting evil is primarily tactical, but mostly due to the show's format and target audience, that mainly involves scanning things with her visor and mini-computer. I imagine if the show was aged up, Sailor Mercury would be much more sleuth-y.

4. Tabitha (Zero's Familiar) Tabitha embodies the quiet, solitary type among the student mages at Tristanian Academy of Magic. She usually has her nose in a book and is highly skilled in both wind and water spells. Underneath her stoic exterior is a girl plagued by tragedy but also full of resolute strength. Tabitha has recovered rare artifacts and defeated vicious monsters entirely on her own merit from a young age. Her uncle, determined to re-enact Hamlet, sends her on increasingly dangerous missions in the hope that she'll fail and die. She hasn't, though, and instead has grown only more formidable in her magic.

3. Bulma (Dragon Ball) Bulma is the daughter of Capsule Corporation's lead scientist and is herself an inventor. Her intellect is often overlooked for her sometimes childish personality and vanity. Don't underestimate her, however. At the age of 16, Bulma invented the radar that detects the Dragon Balls locations but arguably her most important invention is a Time Machine. In the far future, Bulma spends most of her time completing the device which allows her son to travel to the past to defeat the Androids and prevent Goku's untimely demise. The item's creation plays a key role in preventing the Earth's destruction at the hands of Cell.

2. Hōka Inumuta (Kill la Kill) Inumuta earned his spot in the Elite Four (and on this list) for his genius hacking abilities. His prized possession is his laptop and the data contained within. He first put technology to work for him in middle school when he hacked into public records and rewrote the data so he could live on his own. His next target was the Revocs Corporation, owned by Satsuki Kiryūin's family. He was able to hack into the company and send their stocks spiraling towards collapse. He was caught, but Satsuki employed him instead of throwing him to the dogs. As an Elite Four member, Inumata keeps a watchful eye on Ryūko.

1. Shiro (No Game, No Life) The 11-year-old Shiro is a genius in many fields, be it linguistics or logic, and she can recall any and all things she's ever read or experienced. Perhaps more surprising is that despite her massive intellect, Shiro doesn't attend school. In fact, she rarely leaves her room. Instead she latches onto her step-brother Sora, a fellow hikikomori NEET, and spends all her time playing video games with him. Shiro's mastery of 280 different games comes to their advantage when the duo are pulled into the world of Disboard. The two quickly win a war simulation game and are crowned royalty of Elkia with plans to continue winning and reign over the entire world.

The new poll: Who's your favorite vampire hunter?

The old poll: Rei or Asuka?

  1. Asuka Sohryu Langely 34.7%
  2. Rei Ayanami 26.4%
  3. Neither, Misato obviously 22.2%
  4. Megane girl is best girl, Mari Illustrious Makinami 8.0%
  5. (none of the above) 8.8%


When she isn't compiling lists of tropes, topics, and characters, Lynzee works as the Interest Editor for Anime News Network and posts pictures of her son on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee.

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