Over the course of its lengthy run, the Bleach manga/anime franchise added all kinds of fun details for fans to pick out, including nuanced details about the protagonist himself, Ichigo Kurosaki. Some characters nicknamed him “berry boy” since his name sounds like the word for “Strawberry,” and “Ichigo” also sounds like “one five,” hence the number 15 often appearing for this character. Then there’s the matter of Ichigo’s distinct orange hair, another charming detail that has inspired fans’ imaginations.
Ichigo’s vivid orange hair has prompted some fans to nickname him “carrot head” over the years, but the character’s odd hair color isn’t just a visual quirk. Ichigo’s hair color is what connects him to the most beloved part of his family tree, and it also made him more sympathetic to his best friends, Chad and Orihime Inoue. On a meta-level, Ichigo’s orange hair has inspired intriguing yet false fan theories, and it also made Ichigo part of a classic shonen trend with some sensible restraint.
Anime Hair Colors and Styles Can Represent Different Character Attributes
The Likeliest Answer is That Ichigo’s Haircolor Is a Genetic Trait
The in-universe reason for Ichigo Kurosaki’s unusual hair color is the simplest one possible: orange is his natural hair color. His hair has always grown in that color, including in his childhood, which fans saw in brief flashback sequences of his youth. Ichigo sometimes has to explain that to people who think he dyed his hair orange to get attention. In fact, Ichigo’s unusual hair color has the potential to get him into trouble, since Japanese schools generally have strict rules about students’ appearances, from personal accessories and jewelry to hair dye. That context alone makes it clear that Ichigo is a special and different kind of person, even when spiritual powers aren’t factored in.
There are two more in-universe theories about Ichigo’s hair color. One is that this hair color is a genetic heirloom from his late mother, Masaki Kurosaki. Ichigo was incredibly close to his mother, as the most heartfelt flashback sequences showed, and their hair colors were roughly similar. The exact shades may have differed, but Ichigo’s hair was more like his mother’s than his father’s jet-black hair, and neither Karin nor Yuzu have hair like this, either.
This also seems logical, considering Ichigo inherited Quincy powers from his mother, while his younger sisters did not. All those things combined to make Ichigo Masaki’s true heir, though Ichigo didn’t have the full picture for some time. He knew about the hair color similarity, but learning about their shared Quincy powers would have to wait. Their shared hair color served as the first major hint that the mother/son bond meant more than it seemed at a glance.
Ichigo’s unusual hair color also made him more sympathetic to people his age who suffered from bullying. Unfortunately, it’s not just schoolteachers who disapprove of students who stand out — other kids sometimes take issue with this, too. It’s a grim fact that bullying happens in Japanese schools, targeting students who stand out, and that made Ichigo Kurosaki a prime target. He couldn’t help having orange hair, since it was entirely natural, but it still looked unusual. This led his classmates to bully him in middle school. Ichigo endured that abuse and eventually learned to fight back, but his anti-bullying strategy didn’t remain a selfish thing for long.
Ichigo befriended both Chad and Orihime Inoue because they also experienced bullying, albeit for different reasons than hair color. Orihime was picked on because of the length of her hair, making Ichigo feel protective of her. When he stepped in to save Chad from bullying, it struck a lifellong bond between them. Chad was strong, but was a pacifist, so he wouldn’t stand up for himself. Ichigo was a different story. He clobbered the bullies, and from then on, he and Chad were inseparable. Ichigo knew what it was like to be mistreated just for being different, and as a sensitive and humanitarian person, he couldn’t idly stand by as his classmates faced abuse.
Ichigo Kurosaki’s Hair Color May Have Inspired the Franchise’s Name
Bleach’s Name Inspired Many Fan Theories
With such an unusual and non-intuitive name, the Bleach manga/anime franchise prompted fans to think up a few theories on how author Tite Kubo named his shonen creation. One theory was that he named it after Nirvana’s first studio album, since Mr. Kubo has a distinct love of music. Another theory that has since been debunked is that Bleach was named after Ichigo Kurosaki dying his black hair a lighter color, or bleaching it. After all, Ichigo’s widower father, Isshin, and his younger sister Karin, both had dark hair.
The Bleach franchise actually got its name because that was a fine inverse for the original intended title, BLACK. BLACK was meant to reflect the robes Soul Reapers wore, since Tite Kubo based his entire story around the desire to draw death gods wearing black outfits. However, a name like BLACK was too generic, so Kubo did the inverse with Bleach, and the name stuck.
Ichigo’s Orange Hair Fits a Popular Shonen Trend
An Orange-Haired Hero in a Black Outfit Can Catch Anyone’s Eye
On an even more meta level than the fan theories of Bleach‘s name, Ichigo Kurosaki’s hair color has meaning in the larger world of action shonen series. It’s no secret that the world of anime is packed with colorful, dazzling character designs with unusual hair colors/styles and flashy outfits. Dragon Ball’s Goku going Super Saiyan turns his naturally dark hair golden, while the unique style and color Yugi Muto’s hair defies any and all logic. The difference is that some anime protagonists have hair that looks more like a gimmick, while other characters have hair that’s unusual enough to stand out but still tame enough to not be dismissed as “weird anime hair.”
This may be subjective, since fans love the tall, pointy yellow hair of a Super Saiyan warrior, or simply can’t imagine Yugi Muto with any other style. That said, depending on a character’s design and the author’s own tastes, too much anime hair is a bad thing, while tamer designs deliver better results. Fans might divide the hair of anime heroes into three categories: those with “normal” hair with no anime ritz or glamor, semi-wacky hair that may be any color of the rainbow, and outrageous hair like Yugi Muto. The first type may work best for realistic or slice-of-life series like Horimiya, while the third category is where duelists and Super Saiyans are often found. That leaves the middle category, the one Ichigo Kurosaki belongs to thanks to his orange hair.
This can be referred to by fans as the happy medium, since Ichigo Kurosaki’s hair is exotic enough to have that classic shonen vibe also being tame enough to not look like parody or distract viewers from the rest of Ichigo’s design in Bleach. With orange hair, Ichigo’s visual design is sufficiently strong to mark him as the protagonist, and it helps that his orange locks contrast with his black Soul Reaper robes. That also makes him similar to Orihime while contrasting with Uryu, Chad, and Rukia. After all, Ichigo isn’t the type to go wild with exotic hair and accessories — he has tamer tastes, being just colorful enough to feel unique and little more.
Fans may say something similar about other shonen characters from the original “big three” and more recent titles, too. Naruto Uzumaki may be a ninja, but he still wears a colorful outfit and has a crown of spiky yellow hair meant to symbolize his extroverted and energetic personality. There’s also Yuji Itadori who, as Jujutsu Kaisen‘s protagonist, is effectively Ichigo 2.0. Like Ichigo before him, Yuji is a punk teenager with light-colored hair and supernatural powers, except his hair is pink rather than orange. Izuku Midoriya in My Hero Academia does this too, having green hair that stands out without looking completely ridiculous. In fact, that green hair is worked into Deku’s name, with midori being the Japanese word for “green.”
