Anime hair color

Hair color in anime is a different beast altogether. Even traditionally Japanese anime characters can have hair of any color, even colors that don't traditionally appear on any real human! Like with manga, assigning different hair colors to different characters allows the viewer to recognize which character is which. Hair color has also traditionally been used to indicate some part of the character's personality. A character who is feisty and hotheaded may be given red hair to emphasize these aspects of his or her personality; red hair can also indicate spirit possession, as it does with Ranma's female form. Many male main-characters will have black hair to emphasize their traditional nature, distinguishing them from their friends who have many colors of hair; Tenchi, Ranma and Ash are good examples of this. Many blondes are either vain and conniving or completely airheaded. Serena from Sailor Moon would reflect the air-headed part of this, while Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena is completely spoiled and whiny. Characters with special powers or origins may have the oddest hair colors of all to reflect their extraordinary nature. Many of the women in Tenchi Muyo are powerful aliens; it would be odd for Ryoko, a bizarre and powerful character, to have hair like that of any real woman on Earth!

Ranma is normally a black-haired male; in his enchanted female form, his hair is bright red.		Thousands of young Pokemon trainers can identify with Ash.		Serena shows off her playful and ditzy side.		Nanami is a very scheming, controlling character.		Ryoko's oddly colored hair reflects her supernatural nature.

One of the more unusual traits of Anime and Manga is the varied and often unnatural hair colors. While the trend was probably introduced one day by a bored colorist, it's taken on an casual symbolism in its own right, informed by the culture it developed in. While I think the symbolism is still fairly consistent, there are certainly no hard and fast rules. Take my interpretations with grain of salt.

Here is a summary of what I've gleaned from browsing the web, extensive conversations with other fans, and by own brief career in fandom:

color		notes
"naturalistic" colors	black	neutral. generally positive connotations -- keep in mind that this is the normal hair color in Japan; all other hair colors are "unnatural" in that culture, and consequently somewhat suspicious.
	blonde	this hair color has two diametrically opposite interpreations, although which one applies in a particular case should be relatively clear. obvious power and intelligence. often calculating and self-serving. ditzy and immature. accident-prone. in either case, blonde-haired characters usually mean trouble.
	brown	nothing screams "I'm a stock character" like having brown hair. there are of course exceptions.
	red	in women, red hair generally connotes a brazen, confident character -- often having special abilities. male characters with red hair tend to be quiet and humble, but skilled fighters.
	grey	grey hair usually connotes a character with a hidden power that will be revealed later in the series. these characters are usually very intelligent and often (although not always) evil.
	white	on younger characters, full, white hair gives a sense of dignity and style. on older characters, it may just mean they're ... well, old.
"exotic" colors	blue	likable characters. shy, sweet, smart, funny. one notable exception is the Kento of Samurai Troopers (sometimes translated Ronin Warriors), who is the exact opposite. Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion might be another example. She's shy, but at least outwardly doesn't display most of the other characteristics.
	green	these characters are usually good at heart, but misguided. Seen in an antagonist, it often means the character will defect to the side of the "good guys" by the end of the series. Sympathetic characters (good guys) tend to be rogueish but good-hearted. Mononoke Hime didn't really divide most of the characters into a "good guys" and "bad guys" (with some exceptions), but I think this interpretation can still be applied to San in an oblique sense.
	pink	generally only seen in female characters, girls with pink hair are cheerfully cute, often to the point of being downright obnoxious (as if you needed hair color to pick up on that).
	purple	your guess is as good as mine; there just aren't that many examples to work from. characters tend to be upbeat, but other than that, it's hard to generalize.

It must be emphasized that the color of a character's hair doesn't necessarily mean that they will always behave like other characters with the same color of hair, or that they won't have completely contradictory aspects of their personality. Assigning Touga fromRevolutionary Girl Utena the same personality as Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion would be a very simplistic mistake, even though they both have long, bright red hair. Hair color is not an accurate reflection of the person - it just indicates what color the creator thought best suited the character. Also, as the general cliches regarding hair color have settled and become more common, many anime creators have played with the sterotypes, using them to confuse and surprise viewers. For example, Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakurawould seem to be a very traditional character; her hair is long and black, and she is unfailingly proper and polite. It would seem that there is nothing about her that would keep her from being a model young Japanese lady. However, she is in love with her friend Sakura - a very non-traditional feeling!

Touga from Utenais a very cold, calculating character...		...while Askua from Neon Genesis Evangelion is a very emotional, outgoing character.		Tomoyo fromCard Captor Sakura seems very traditional, but has a few very unexpected qualities.

There is no one set of rules for each color of hair, despite the valiant efforts of many fans to categorize them. Yet though there are no set meanings for each color of hair, it does have symbolic value and should be recognized as such.