Are you a fan of white-haired anime characters?
In anime, white hair isn’t the most common color. According to various reports, the most common are black (the natural hair color for East Asian people), brown, and blonde.
But white is often a popular choice for anime characters (especially if you include shades of grey, silver, or combinations of white and other colors). White hair can make a character stand out.
And while white hair typically signifies age in real life, anime characters don’t have to be old to have white, gray or silver hair.
Let’s take a look at the most popular white-haired characters.
List of Most Popular White-Haired Anime Characters
- Kakashi Hatake, Naruto
- Satoru Gojo, Jujutsu Kaisen
- Kanna Kamui, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
- Jiraiya, Naruto
- Mirajane Strauss, Fairy Tail
- Tengen Uzui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Inuyasha, Inuyasha
- Kanade “Angel” Tachibana, Angel Beats
- Sakata Gintoki, Gintama
- Toshiro Hitsugaya, Bleach
10. Toshiro Hitsugaya, Bleach
In Bleach, Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya leads the 10th Division (or “Squad 10”) of the Gotei 13. He’s a serious commander, especially in contrast to his lieutenant, the easy-going Rangiku Matsumoto. Hitsugaya is also quite young by shinigami standards.
He investigated Aizen’s death, and was also quick to suspect that Gin Ichimaru was up to no good.
Hitsugaya merchandise at Amazon includes this hoodie:
9. Sakata Gintoki, Gintama
In the weird and silly alternate history world of Gintama, Gintoki is the perfect protagonist.
Given his past as a samurai swordsman, one might expect a brave and epic Edo/ Meiji transition period hero. Nope.
Instead, Gintoki is a lazy and goofy “odd jobs” man. Gintama isn’t a historical drama, but a comedy parodying both Meiji Era Japan and modern pop culture. And Gintoki fits right in to the series’ “Boke and Tsukkomi” dumb guy/ straight man routines.
We found some Gintoki keychains at Etsy:
8. Kanade “Angel” Tachibana, Angel Beats!
At the beginning of Angel Beats!, Yurippe declares Angel to be the presumed villain of the series. After all, Angel opposes Yurippe’s Haruhi Suzumiya-esque rebellion. And she has very villainous-looking blades. She’s also the Student Council President, and those are always enemies in school anime series.
But, as the series continues, it’s becomes clear that Yurippe is wrong about the quiet, mysterious, and seemingly emotionless girl.
Amazon offers several figurines of Angel:
7. Inuyasha, Inuyasha
In Rumiko Takahashi’s fantasy-adventure manga and anime series Inuyasha, one of the ways that you know that Inuyasha is a half demon is his white hair.
The human characters all have typical black Japanese hair (except for the ones old enough to have grey hair). But Inuyasha’s hair is more like a long, white mane of unruly hair.
It’s also worth noting that during the New Moon, Inuyasha temporarily loses his demonic powers and transforms into an ordinary human. As a human, Inuyasha has black hair, just like Kagome.
The white hair is part of his demon heritage. Inuyasha’s half brother Sesshomaru also has white hair. And on the rare occasion that we see their dog demon father, he also has white hair.
The Inuyasha items at Crunchyroll include this blanket:
6. Tengen Uzui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
This boastful and brash demon slayer is certainly memorable, and that’s probably on purpose. In his own words, Tengen Uzui likes things to be flamboyant and flashy.
He is the Sound Hashira, which makes him one of the best. But he also hides some insecurity behind his loud exterior. Somehow, this flashy guy is also a ninja.
Putting his hammy personality aside, his abilities really are worthy of the elite hashira title, which is another reason why he shows up on a lot of these lists.
Check out this flashy Tengen Uzui Nendoroid at Amazon:
5. Mirajane Strauss, Fairy Tail
In Fairy Tail, Mirajane is the older sister of Lisanna and Elfman Strauss. (Yes, she is older than the hulking giant Elfman.)
All three of these siblings are Fairy Tail wizards, they all have white hair, and they all use “Take Over” transformation magic. In Mirajane’s case, she can take the power of a demon.
But despite her huge power, she more typically appears as a magazine centerfold model, or guild bar waitress, or a singer. She’s polite, sweet, kind, and motherly — which is a rarity at the guild.
Amazon has this Mirajane hanging wall scroll, among other things:
4. Jiraiya, Naruto
Male characters in Naruto tend to have some wild hair. And Jiraiya is no exception.
Why does Naruto’s mentor have such wild, white hair? For one thing, he is based off of a character from Japanese folklore. The original tale of Jiraiya was made into a kabuki play. And Naruto’s Jiraiya has a lot of kabuki elements in his overall appearance.
Jiraiya’s hair also serves as a weapon.
And finally, it is interesting that multiple generations of heroic Naruto characters have unruly hair — Jiraiya taught Naruto’s father, who taught Kakashi, who finally taught Naruto himself.
Amazon has Funko Pop Jiraiya figures, like this one:
3. Kanna Kamui, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Technically speaking, Kanna Kamui’s white hair has a definite lavender/ purplish-pink tinge to it. But you wouldn’t keep this cute and adorable dragon off of your list, would you?
As a young dragon living on Earth, Kanna initially had a strong sense of curiosity and innocent wonder about the human world around her. But over time, that confusion seems to have worn off somewhat. Her general personality is that of a quiet, playful, and soft-spoken little girl. She also has a mischievous side to her.
If you like cosplay, Amazon has Kanna Kamui outfits:
2. Satoru Gojo, Jujutsu Kaisen
Satoru Gojo may act like a cool, lackadaisical, and kindly teacher. But he’s also an extremely strong jujutsu sorcerer.
As a teacher, Gojo trains Yuji Itadori on how to use his cursed energy — by watching movies.
Just like Naruto’s Kakashi has to keep one powerful eye covered, Gojo needs a blindfold for his Six Eyes ability.
Amazon has a lot of Satoru Gojo figurines, including this Nanoblock one:
1. Kakashi Hatake, Naruto
Kakashi, a.k.a. the Copy Ninja, started out as the stereotypical mysterious, calm, and cool ninja — which made him the perfect foil for the rambunctious, obnoxious, and unpredictable Naruto.
On the other hand, his interest in Make-Out Tactics shows that he’s more than just a stoic statue.
Of course, Kakashi really does have some amazing shinobi talents. He also has the powerful sharingan eye.
Kakashi just gets cooler when we learn his tragic backstory. All of these factors make him a frequent favorite among anime fans.
BoxLunch has a lot of Kakashi gear, including this lanyard:
Conclusion
To make this list, I compared various online anime lists. These lists didn’t agree with each other, but many of the same names showed up on all lists.
As with previous lists, I also factored in popular cosplay choices. If you like a character well enough to dress up as him/ her at a crowded anime convention, that must mean something.
Finally, I trusted my gut feeling to eliminate some online choices which seemed a bit odd to me.
Did I make the right choices? Let us know in the comments.
