Too much of her brainpower goes into keeping that cowlick up.
"What the hell is going on with that hair? Everything else about him is fine, but that single strand of his hair is defying all laws of gravity. You could tie him to the end of a rope and use him to catch fish."
Ahogenote (literally idiot hair) refers to the noticeable slim forelock of hair that sticks straight up from a character's head. Originally a hairdresser term for the "stupid hairs" or cowlicks that will not comb down, it later mutated into a reflection of a person's intelligence. Thus Idiot Hair suggests that a character is stupid, naïve, or strange. (This suggestion is usually accurate, but not always—sometimes a serious character just has funny hair.)
Even if a character is not specifically stupid, naïve, or particularly odd, the ahoge also usually represents a general mischievous quality about them in general. Goes hand in hand with the Playful Cat Smile. It can also be used to show that Something Else Also Rises.
Idiot Hair is not to be confused with the two-stranded antennae-style hair, popularized by Love Hina or Ah! My Goddess. It isn't about idiot heirs, either.
Can be Truth in Television, as people with cowlicks
can attest to.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In act-age, Kei's long, askew strand of hair emphasizes her quirky and slightly naive character, while creating a contrast with her "cool beauty" appearance. It's a family trait too, as both her late mother and her siblings sport a similar one.
- Athena from ARIA has one, though she's more of a space case than an outright idiot. Akatsuki also has one.
- Yuu "Nana" Nanami of Asteroid in Love has a tuft of hair that goes straight up the top of her head, and she's a Comically Serious character who is often lacking in common sense.
- Bakemonogatari: Main character Koyomi Araragi, as well as his sisters Karen and Tsukihi, have prominent cowlicks, but Koyomi's is the tallest. While personality-wise he's more of a downplayed case, since he does occasionally act the fool but is generally a Deadpan Snarker, his ahoge is notable in the anime adaptation for being very expressive during several scenes; it forms question marks when he's confused and he blushes through it in episode 13. In episode 1 of Nisemonogatari, it even forms the kanji for love.
- Kotoishi Naru from Barakamon. She's a silly and carefree 6-year-old Genki Girl.
- Asta from Black Clover has a strand sticking up from his spiky gray hair, which perfectly fits with simple-minded, energetic personality.
- In Blue Drop, Mari's chemistry teacher Yuuko puts up her hair in this fashion to cheer Mari up. She also does it to Mari herself, much to the latter's delight.
- Bocchi the Rock!: Inverted with Nijika, since she has one of these but she's the most intelligent (or at least most reasonable) member of the band. Her idiot hair is usually drawn as a yellow triangle, leading fans to refer to her as "Dorito". Her older sister Seika also has the same triangular idiot hair, but she's also an inversion since she's generally a responsible adult.
- Kururu and Hororo in Bottle Fairy, but it's more about not knowing human's customs, and the other two aren't better at it either, and when all four combine into one girl, she gets one that goes all around her head
- Red Blood Cell AE3803 in Cells at Work! has one, perfectly fitting her adorably awkward personality and tendency to get lost in the blood vessels. Curiously, this has led some fans to believe that she may in fact be an abnormal sickle cell! Even her tongue, which screams with her whenever she freaks out, has one, and certain scenes in episode 8 show her standing out stuck in a mass of red blood cells thanks to her ahoge drawn BIGGER than it looks up close.
- Her counterpart in Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, Red Blood Cell AA2153, has a similar ahoge, though he tends to be more competent and serious than her.
- Kosukegawa in Change 123 has expressive idiot hair. It was also used at least once for the Something Else Also Rises trope.
- In Crimson Grave the two heroes go dungeon-exploring with a treasure hunter whose expressive ahoge is apparently smarter than she is. It always points in the direction she should go, and she follows it without realizing.
- Miku and Zorome from DARLING in the FRANXX: they even sword-fight with their Idiot Hairs while arguing!
- DieBuster: Main heroine Nono has a noticeable cowlick, which fits her naive and clumsy personality. It even stays in place (with a slightly more angular shape) after she goes into Buster Machine mode.
- In Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, one of the characters, Yoshi, didn't start out with one, but gained one that grew to comedic proportions◊ that no one ever comments on.
- Yumeji from Dream Eater Merry. Merry, after falling out of a tree onto him (again), recognizes him by the "antenna".
- Suzuna from Eyeshield 21 will suddenly develop it whenever another character's romantic subplot is brought up. It then homes in on them like radar.
- Hanajima from Fruits Basket grows one and uses it as an antenna when she's using her psychic powers.
- Several characters in Fullmetal Alchemist have this, although it's almost never indicative of their intelligence.
- Ed is the most obvious example. He can be seen invoking this trope in one scene after he gets out of the shower in episode 29 of the Brotherhood adaptation, in which he sticks up his hair before putting on any clothes. He probably does this because of how short he is.
- It also seems to be one of many traits PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!, as every single Armstrong has this (even Olivier, but she grew it out to make it not stick up).
- In episode 8 of Granblue Fantasy, Lyria's idiot hair guides Katalina, Lyria, and Vyrn to find the others as it points the direction towards Gran.
- Shiki Nanaya from Hana no Miyako has a rather long and slightly curled one. She's not really an idiot, but she's definitely a bit off-kilter.
- Haré and Weda in Haré+Guu. Weda isn't really an idiot but acts irresponsible and care-free because it's a more fun way to live life and to avoid facing her issues. Haré is pretty smart and the show's Only Sane Man, but this frequently causes him to run around like an idiot out of stress since he's the only one who can't go with the flow.
- Interesting to note: Weda's mom has no ahoge. Weda has one. Haré has two. Weda's second child Ame has three. We can only imagine what Haré's own kids might look like.
- Hayate the Combat Butler subverts this. He has an Idiot Hair at the back of his head. In keeping with that, he is sometimes an idiot (say, dealing with the girls), and sometimes hyper-competent.
- Kyoko in Heat Guy J to show her innocence. (i.e. she's one of the very few characters that doesn't come from a dysfunctional family and didn't experience loss of a friend or family member).
- Shimoda the Angel from Heaven's Design Team has a curly lock on top of his hair that sticks up whenever he's shocked, scared, or gets a Divine Approval. Quite fittingly, he's a Naïve Newcomer Butt-Monkey whose primary role in the manga is to ask questions about the designers' projects and why certain animal features do or do not work.
- In Hetalia: Axis Powers, several characters have them.
- And it seems some of these idiot hairs have meaning, representing several places (America's is Nantucket, Korea's is supposed to be Seoul, Austria's is Mariazell, etc.)
- Several pictures of Roman Empire show that he has several idiot hairs and that they may have been passed on to his descendants (Both Italy brothers, Greece, and possibly Egypt.)
- The Italy brothers are mirror images of each other. North Italy's is on his left side while South's is on his right.
- One comic revealed that they get flustered when people touch them because they're erogenous zones for them.
- The Principality of Seborga has a curl similar to North Italy's, but it has a more rumpled and bent appearance.
- When North and South Italy's curls overlap, they form a heart. See here.
- Greece has one that splits into two on the top of his head. The ends curl round in the style of an Ionic column.
- Korea has one too. It's sometimes drawn with a face.
- According to the notes, it's his soul, not Seoul. Hence the face. Stealth Pun?
- Austria, normally The Stoic, will sometimes express emotion through his ahoge.
- Taiwan has the longest of any known country, which seems to fit with her being the only girl with one.
- America and Canada both have them.
- It's no surprise that they both have one, being 'brothers' (or as related as a country can be). What is interesting is how different they are. America's is short, thick, and curves back over his hair. Canada's is long, thin, has a loop, and falls forward in front of his face.
- Australia has two. AND England's eyebrows.
- Norway's floats.
- He also a strange dot◊ that floats alongside his idiot hair.
- He also a strange dot
- Turkey's splits into two at the nape of his neck.
- Not only that but in the few times Italian and Austrian citizens are represented, they have the very same ahoge style of their respective countries.
- Miki's relative Akiko in I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying and Metsuko ni Yoroshiku has idiot hair that not only floats upwards in blatantly disregard of gravity, it continuously wriggles in the air like a snake. It's also about 2 1/2 feet long making it more of a side ponytail than a single hair.
- In the manga adaptation of Inukami! Youko's idiot hair pops up from time to time, usually when she's acting like a ditz.
- The eponymous Iono from Iono the Fanatics also has one. She's not really an idiot, but she's a lesbian Bunny Ears Queen who is very much led by her hormones.
- Ixion Saga DT: Princess Ecarlate grows one in her "hyperactivity period".
- She can grow up to three, and horrible things happen if she does. So naturally, it happens.
- Jubei-chan has two characters with these. When engaged in a shouting match at one point, they came close enough for their Ahoge antennas to actually do battle with each other.
- Three characters, including both main characters, have ahoge in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar. It is played straight with Sugar but it's subverted with Saga, who likes to keep to schedules and only appears to be an idiot because no one else can see season fairies.
- Lucky Star:
- Konata Izumi has a noticeable strand of hair that always sticks up. While she's more Brilliant, but Lazy than an idiot, her grasp on reality can be questionable at times due to how much of an Otaku she is. In one instance, the Hiiragi twins don't realize Konata was standing right next to them until she takes off her hat and reveals her idiot hair.
- Konata's older cousin Yui Narumi also has a thin strand of hair that always sticks up, which fits her goofy, flighty personality.
- Macross Frontier: Ranka Lee has one as well, to go with her Expressive Hair.
- Tamaki, the local ditz in Magic of Stella, always have three of more strands of hair flying out.
- Slightly ditzy Bridge Bunny Amy of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha had one pop up on her head. Chrono responded by trying to comb it down with a hairbrush and a can of hairspray while wearing his usual stoic expression. Both of their children inherited it.
- This is actually very common among the cast of Lyrical Nanoha, though very few of them actually fit the personality type.
- Nikaidou from March Comes in Like a Lion is the only character that has one. It's lampshaded when his appearance reverting from a slightly more realistic style due to an Art Shift; it swings right back up from his bangs during the one-panel transformation.
- Many, many characters from Medaka Box, including the titular heroine. Particular styles seem to run in the family.
- Chiaki Minami from Minami-ke is an inversion; she has a noticably round tuft of hair that always sticks up, but she's a Little Miss Snarker and not an idiot.
- The appropriately ditzy Miki Motokura of 'Mo-Retsu! Boin Sensei (yeah, it's that kind of manga) has the side-oriented ahoge'' similar to the Italies. A Live-Action Adaptation reproduces it faithfully.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Lunamaria Hawke's ahoge is really quite subdued. Some have suggested that it's a Mythology Gag reference to the commander antenna possessed by Zeon mobile suits in the Universal Century timeline; Luna's ZAKU Warrior doesn't have one, so she got it instead.
- Sumi in Moetan has this, and it overlaps with Expressive Hair, changing shape to represent her feelings (such as a heart, a sweatdrop, and many more.)
- Papi from Monster Musume has this, to no one's surprise.
- Kanan's dead husband Sou from My Dead Husband Won't Stop Bugging Me has a strand of hair that sticks up, which is one of his more distinguishing characteristics apart from his green hair. When he reincarnates as a bug, his insect body also has an ahoge.
- Nagasarete Airantou: A bit of Misaki's hair stands up when there's a youkai nearby.
- In the Naruto epilogue, Naruto and Hinata's children Boruto and Himawari are both shown to have a small ahoge on their head, though Himawari sometimes has hers pulled up into a single pigtail.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
- Asuna has one of these in her hair, and she's a member of Class 3-A's "Baka Rangers" clique for the students who consistently get the lowest grades.
- Yue Ayase has one running across her head, and is also a member of Class 3-A's "Baka Rangers". However, she's actually very smart, just really lazy.
- Nodoka also has one, but she's ranked something like 23rd in her grade of over 700 students.
- Chisame Hasegawa also has one, and she's the only class member without a Weirdness Censor.
- A more straight example is Nagi "
Five, Maybe Six Spells TopsThousand Master" Springfield, Negi's missing father. Not to mention Negi himself, who is "an idiot in reverse" due to overthinking, and his obliviousness about girls.
- Horus from Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God has a single curled strand of hair sticking out of his head (presumably modeled after the double crown he's often depicted as wearing in Egyptian art), fitting his naive and somewhat clumsy personality.
- From One Piece Lulu, one of the Galley-la foremen, generally has a straight "spike" of hair sticking out of his head at a random direction. When he tries to push it down, it just pops back up again somewhere else and can get extra-ridiculous when it sticks out of his mustache or the back of his hand, and it eventually spreads to other people.
- Marguerite is a more typical example, with a few stray unruly strands of hair.
- After his upgrade, Franky can grow his hair in any style he wants.
- The Skypiea Arc combines this with Idiot Crows, as the Strawhats' dial-boat Karasumaru has one carved into its crow-shaped figurehead.
- In an SBS, Oda drew gender-swapped versions of the Eleven Supernovas. Fem!Luffy has a strand of idiot hair for obvious reasons.
- Rufus Barma in PandoraHearts. Break actually calls him "ahoge."
- Himeko from Pani Poni Dash! is given the nickname "Ahoge", for both mentioned reasons. Her cowlick even moves around of its own accord.
- In episode 3, Becky briefly gets one, and she gets so frustrated with hers that she rips Himeko's cowlick right out of her head. This causes her normally Genki Girl personality to avert to one of somber depression, only able to weakly utter "Maho" until a replacement is found.
- Place to Place has the main couple have ahoges. Neither of them are exactly idiots, but Io's known to be a bit... dense.
- Ahiru/Duck in Princess Tutu has an ahoge roughly as tall as her head. This has botched a few of her attempts at stealth. Small birds have been spotted sitting on it and pecking it.
- Emma from The Promised Neverland has a rather ironic one. A volume extra implies it has a mind of its own, and can dodge scissors. ETR3M8 even dubs her "Antenna".
- Kazumi of Puella Magi Kazumi Magica has one. It doubles as a witch detector. Airi also has one, in her original appearance.
- The Quintessential Quintuplets:
- Male lead Fuutarou Uesugi has two of these, but subverts it by being a Straight-A student instead of an idiot. Apparently it's because he lets Raiha cut his hair and she always makes him this hairdo.
- Itsuki has one as her distinctive trait. Doubles as Expressive Hair as it droops when she's depressed or standing up when she's nervous or excited.
- Takei Hisa of Saki. There's also Touka and her expressive idiot hair.
- Lucy of Servant × Service is actually born with one. Yutaka loves grabbing it. Hers is also expressive.
- Fuyuki in Sgt. Frog, who's something of a genius in geography and the paranormal. Not Keroro, Fuyuki.
- In the closing credits for episode 231 it's hinted that NPG bodyguard Yoshiokadaira Masayoshi has been hiding one under his helmet.
- Tiara of Shamanic Princess has a strand of hair that extends up, then sweeps across her face. She does not fit the character type at all, but her design may be an artifact of an earlier stage of the series' development. In the beginning, it wasn't planned to be as dark as it ended up.
- Pretty Cure:
- Cure Beat/Ellen from Suite, who grows an ahoge in Cure form that somehow makes guitar noises when flicked.
- Miyuki in Smile PreCure!. When she turns into Cure Happy, she grows another!
- Homare/Cure Étoile from Hugtto! has one that occasionally wiggles around to form different shapes depending on her mood. Humorously, she is one of the most serious members of the Cures.
- Not only does AΩ Nova of Space Patrol Luluco have an idiot hair, he has a hole in his space helmet so it can poke out. Luluco's Girlish Pigtail also turns into a Nonoesque one when she becomes Trigger-chan.
- In Taboo-Tattoo, the eccentric elderly samurai Tsugio Kobakura has a single dark ahoge sticking up from his otherwise bald head, something the other characters find highly amusing. This appears to be a family trait as his granddaughter Makoto, a.k.a. Cal Shekar the vice-commander of Brahman, also sports one.
- Lala of To Love Ru, fittingly enough.
- Plucky Comic Relief Seidou Takizawa, from Tokyo Ghoul. He has a single lock sticking up, which adds to his youthful appearance (and personality) in contrast to his sharp-dressed coworkers.
- The protagonist of Witch Watch, ditzy Cute Witch Nico Wakatsuki, has a big curly lock sticking out from the top of her head.
- Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou: Koyomi have one and fit the ditzy and energetic personality type. However, both Misa and Yumiko also have idiot hair. The former is more level-headed, even though she has a carefree attitude, and the latter doesn't fit the character type at all.
Audio Plays
- Exit Tunes Presents ACTORS has this on a few of its characters—the most obvious example being orange-haired Hinata—however, while he may not look the part, he is in fact calmer and more capable than most traditional examples of this trope.
Comic Books
- Fantasio from Spirou & Fantasio has eight stray hairs which pop up on top of his head.
- It's more curled than sticking straight up, but every incarnation of Superman has a very distinctive hairdo, though it's more indicative of his staunch optimism than idiocy.
- Tintin has one.
- Franco-Belgian comics character Titeuf. All his hair is Idiot Hair, which is sometimes representative of him, sometimes not.
Fan Works
- Danganmon has six different characters who sport visible ahoges, not just the main protagonist.
- Danganronpa: Another Chance: During the climax of Chapter 1, Hiyoko goes through an Important Haircut when she chops her ponytails off while trying to stop the execution. This leaves her with much shorter hair and a strand that sticks up stubbornly on top.
- Danganronpa: Losers Reunion: While getting ready in the bathroom in her new room, Sayaka notices she's got a strand of hair that refuses to stay down, like every other protagonist of the main series.
- Danganronpa Re:Programmed gives Chihiro one as part of their being upgraded to the protagonist, while canonical protag Makoto loses his.
- In the sequel, Danganronpa 2: Re:Captured, Mahiru similarly gets a stubborn strand of hair sticking up from her part. Unlike Makoto, Hajime gets to maintain his signature lock as the Deuteragonist. Hiyoko also gets one when she temporarily takes over as the POV character while Mahiru is incapacitated in Chapter 3; she successfully pats it back down into place at the end of the chapter.
- I Told You, I'm Psychic!: Sayaka gains one following the first trial to symbolize her promotion to protagonist.
- The same thing happens to Mahiru in the sequel, Picture Perfect! Amusingly, in that case the change in hairstyle is attributed to Hajime temporarily spending time in her body during a "Freaky Friday" Flip.
- K.R.D. Chronicles: As a Series Fic of Danganronpa Continuations, the trilogy is prone to giving ahoges to important characters:
- Danganronpa: Memento Mori: Kaori, as the protagonist, sports an ahoge. To highlight how much of a Heroic Wannabe he is, Daigo also has one, and to set him up as an Aloof Ally to them both, Ren has one too.
- Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: Reiji has the distinctive Danganronpa protagonist ahoge. The same goes for Homura, an important side character.
- Danganronpa: Paradise Lost: Main protagonist Daisuke has an ahoge as per tradition. Junpei has an ahoge as well to highlight his status as Daisuke's foil.
- Vow of Nudity: While she didn't originally have one (due to the limitations of the author's modeling software), Fiora was later given this to represent her cheerful-yet-mischievous catlike personality.
Films — Animation
- Taran has one in the animated adaptation of The Black Cauldron. Considering his disposition, it coincidentally fits perfectly.
- The Road to El Dorado: Main characters Tulio and Miguel both have one of these, befitting their personalities as a pair of mischievous con-artists and Those Two Guys.
Films — Live-Action
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg is given a cowlick (called a wimpy sprig in the Movie Diary) to imitate his book counterpart's three strands of hair.
- The Little Rascals: In the Our Gang shorts, Alfalfa's trademark is his hair: a part down the middle and a big old cowlick sticking up in the back.
- Kyoami in Ran; being the Court Jester to Lord Ichimonji, this makes sense. Subverted in that (like most jesters), he's actually very intelligent, using his humorous facade to speak (horrible) truth to power.
- There's Something About Mary, as seen here. There's also something a bit more to that one, though.
Literature
- A Certain Magical Index:
- Last Order, the youngest of Mikoto Misaka's clones, has a very prominent cowlick (though she denies that it's an ahoge in volume 15), which fits her odd personality. Her 20,000 Sisters (+ 1) don't, though, at least not now. Mikoto herself had one when she was little, and if you look closely, that particular piece is still drawn distinctly on her hair in the present, it's just slicked down onto the rest of her bangs (this is especially obvious on her Nendoroid figure, where it is removable).
- It turns out to be an inherited trait, as shown in the A Certain Scientific Railgun anime, where Misuzu (Mikoto's mother) springs one the moment she hears about the mysterious guy Mikoto may or may not be interested in.
- In Chrysanthemum, the Alpha Bitch Victoria has a large cowlick with a star decorated on the top.
- Emilia from The Devil is a Part-Timer! has one, though she subverts the trope in that, while she is most definitely in no way stupid, she can be clumsy and paranoid at times, even if she is technically a Hero.
- Halkara from I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level has this, as she is frequently making mistakes such as mixing up poisonous and edible mushrooms and getting thrown in prison for accidentally knocking out the Demon King.
- The Light Jar: In a flashback, Nate's mum unsuccessfully tries to smooth a tuft of hair on his head in preparation for her boyfriend Gary moving in.
- In Maximum Ride, The Gasman (or Gazzy for short) is described as having a cowlick. In the manga adaptation, he has hair sticking up in the front of his head.
- In the Memoirs of the Duchess of Abrantès, Lavallette is characterised as the fool among Junot's friends, and is constantly struggling to bring down four or five outstanding strands of hair, so noticeable indeed that they each had a name.
- Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!:
- Nyarko herself has a very large one; since she's Nyarlathotep, it's prehensile to act as a stand-in for a tentacle. It's also a Malign Deity Radar, in addition to being able to form complex shapes like kanji and an at-mark (at least in the anime adaptation). Rather than outright stupidity though (she graduated top of her class and went to a prestigious university), it reflects the fact that she's The Ditz.
- It seems to be a trait all Nyarlathotepians share. Both her brother Nyar-o (who is Book Dumb), and her cousin Nyarue (who is not said to be dumb, but gets nervous easily) also have one.
- Hasta from the same series has the twin antenna version, but he's neither stupid nor especially ditzy.
- Yamagi Noriko's design from Project NRI gives her an ahoge. According to her, she has been teased about it in the past.
Noriko: Um... It wasn't. Don't worry. That's the first time anybody's ever said it was cute, though. Usually I get 'why is it up like that?' or 'haha, Noriko, are you a unicorn?'
- Noriko's example could be a subversion of the trope because Noriko is a brilliant mathematician and one of the more level-headed characters in the story.
- Secrets of the Silent Witch: Inverted with main character Monica Everett; she has a prominent strand of hair that always sticks up, but despite her lack of social skills she's highly intelligent, being a skilled mage who's also Good with Numbers. Instead, it mainly serves as Expressive Hair in the anime adaptation to indicate how nervous she can get.
- The eponymous character of Shakugan no Shana has a prominent cowlick; she's certainly not an idiot, but she can be very hot-blooded and impulsive, and Yuji is almost always the better tactician.
- Milim Nava from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has a single large strand that curls around and makes it almost look like she has a halo. She is the Cloud Cuckoolander of the series, even though she is one of the most powerful characters in the story.
- To Kill a Mockingbird has Dill Harris, who is described by Scout as having a cowlick that sticks up in the center of his forehead "like duck-fluff." It's one of the first things that Scout notices about Dill when she and Jem first meet him. Dill is also described as to be a "curiosity" to Scout and called "stupid" by Jem, although Dill is rather wise beyond his years.
Live-Action TV
- This is the equivalent of a bad hair day for Saki in Engine Sentai Go-onger. To be fair, her personal policy is summed up with two words: "Smile Smile!"
- Kamen Rider:
- Whenever Ryotaro gets possessed by Momotaros in Kamen Rider Den-O, a strand of red hair would appear, and it sometimes literally stands out from the rest.
- Sento Kiryu of Kamen Rider Build gets this and too ahead of himself/too excited at the same time. He is usually a serious character but has these funny bouts.
- Baku Yorozu of Kamen Rider ZEZTZ, at least in his dream self has a cowlick coming out on one side. He tries to comb it down on several occasions, but it ends up popping back out, much to his annoyance.
- Recurring SCTV character, Ed Grimley, which Martin Short later reprised for Saturday Night Live and the animated The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley spin-off.
- Schemer's curl in Shining Time Station could count. His nephew Schemie has one to match.
Stand-Up Comedy
- Josie, played by Rikki Fulton, in the Scottish double act Francie and Josie◊. The Other Wiki says "Josie is the more intelligent one of the pair", but there wasn't really much to choose between them, and Josie was the one who Cannot Tell a Joke.
- Paul Reubens' Pee-Wee Herman character in The Pee Wee Herman Show, who was later bowdlerized and toned down into a more family-friendly character for Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem:
- Coco, the seller of Minty Cakes in Skopp City, has a large ahoge strand from her red hair that's facing up.
- In the Mysterious Console DLC, Ayane's hair is shown to have slightly grown an ahoge strand sticking upward.
- Heart Aino from Arcana Heart has heart-shaped ahoge. Just guess what kind of character she is.
- BlazBlue:
- Makoto Nanaya. She's an interesting example, as she has two strands of Idiot Hair and acts like an idiot, but further character review reveals that she's actually rather intelligent and even competent at her job.
- Nu 13 and Lambda 11, though neither are idiots per se; Lambda was an "empty shell", while Nu only spoke like a ditz when talking with Ragna, a very scary ditz.
- Carl Clover also has an ahoge beneath his hat, most typically seen during the Academy days. Like Makoto, he's not an idiot; unlike her, he doesn't pretend to be one.
- Emilie from CrossCode has one, though with her only being seen as an avatar it’s difficult to tell if she actually has this hairstyle. Her theme is even the French, Valse d’Ahoge, a.k.a Waltz of Ahoge.
- Disgaea:
- Adell from Disgaea 2; while he can use his head, he just likes to take the straightforward approach more.
- Almaz from Disgaea 3, for a similar reason.
- Dragon Quest IV: Even though he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist and not at all an idiot, Psaro the Manslayer has a quite a long ahoge near his forehead...
- Ensemble Stars!:
- Kanata, of the "unusual" variety.
- Tori, reflecting his childish nature.
- Sora, reflecting a childish personality and also possibly reflecting on his intelligence.
- One of the portraits for the Medic class from Etrian Odyssey has just this strand of idiot hair. And while there's no actual personality given to her (or any playable character) in-game, official comics from the game creators portray her as a bit of a ditz.
- In Fate/Grand Order, Jeanne Alter has one as the main design difference between her and Jeanne. This helps to imply that she's far more of a goofball than her counterpart.
- Final Fantasy:
- The Fighter/Knight's sprite in Final Fantasy I on the Dawn Of Souls GBA remake.
- Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics, and Marche from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
- A frequent design feature of Golden Sun characters, especially playables, and it means nothing about their intelligence. In fact, it tends to show up more on brainier characters, as the more conventionally dumb ones usually have spikey hair instead. Alex has an ahoge, as does Kraden.
- Elphelt Valentine from Guilty Gear. She is a Cute Clumsy Girl who often tries and fails to be traditionally feminine. She also goes around proposing marriages to everyone she meets, even those who clearly are not interested.
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: Tammy has a visible cowlick on all three of her portraits and is one of the less academically gifted members of Sol's peer group. Choosing to study with her in an early interaction causes Sol to lose a Reasoning point and they see plenty of her if they work as a tutor for the colony's struggling students.
- Nikki, a Catgirl player character from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. The manual lampshades this by measuring her height with and without it (5'1 and 4'9, respectively). Her Leitmotif is called 'Stupid Hair Saga'.
- Tita Nium, from Otomedius features an ahoge and a spacey personality. The ahoge itself might not actually be an ahoge, though. It moves on its own...
- Futaba Sakura from Persona 5 has a single strand of hair that sticks up.
- Marona in Phantom Brave, to match her Pollyanna optimism.
- Pokémon:
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Starly has an ahoge which develops into a heavy crest as it evolves.
- Your Pokémon Gold and Silver and Crystal rival, Silver, also gains one in the remakes. Oddly, he is the series Jerkass and anything but naive even after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Aaron, the Elite Four member, has one and it's freaking huge.
- In Pokémon Black and White, Deino has an ahoge, and its evolved form Zweilous has two per head. They're blind and navigate by bumping into things, according to the Pokedex. Zweilous is also known for picking fights with itself.
- Fuecoco, the Fire-type Starter Mon from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, has an ahoge made of fire. Its Japanese name, Hogēta, even sounds a bit like "ahoge". Its evolution, Crocalor, replaces this with a fiery sombrero.
- Exaggerated with Ivor in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, who has a grand total of four cowlicks on the top of his scalp, and his bangs fly off to the sides. While his heart's certainly in the right place, he's still got all the intellect of a sack of bricks.
- In Poker Night 2, Ash has this, too. It's also jiggleboned.
- Brian of Quest 64 has one of these. We can't tell what, if anything, it indicates about his personality, though.
- Chairperson/Iincho from Rival Schools. Though not really dumb as far as intelligence goes, she did "learn" Karate over a very short period of time and without any actual training, and it shows.
- Johnny Garland from Shadow Hearts: From the New World has this. Oddly, he tends to lampshade various bizarre events the party comes across, but inherent weirdness of Shadow Hearts world means that he ends up being the naive one of the group.
- Similar to Heart above, Skullgirls has Hubrecht, an NPC who is a member of the Cirque des Cartes; He's a strange mix of Mr. Heart and Heart Aino, down to the heart-shaped ahoge.
- The (canon) female Reyva from Soul Nomad & the World Eaters has a large one, although she's not particularly stupid.
- Sarah Jerand from Star Ocean: The Last Hope has an especially swirly and feminine version. Considering her personality makes one wonder if "bird brain" would be considered an ethnic slur.
- Story of Seasons:
- The main characters from Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and Harvest Moon: Animal Parade have these, except for Kasey who has Hair Antennae.
- Celia from A Wonderful Life and DS. While she isn't dumb, she's a bit of a cloudcuckoolander.
- Street Fighter: Dan Hibiki has a similiar forelock to his "student" Chairperson/Iincho.
- The eponymous protagonist of SUGURI has an ahoge on her hair, although unlike the others on this list she is most certainly not stupid, making this a subversion.
- Saki from the same game also sports one.
- Super Mario Bros.: Both Mario and Luigi sport matching cowlicks under their hats, fitting their silly and cartoonish natures.
- Tales Series:
- Emil Castagnier from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
- Milla Maxwell from Tales of Xillia and its sequel has a really long one. It's her crowning glory and she swishes it like a cow's tail.
- Team Fortress 2's Medic has a prominent curl in his hair, although it kind of looks like he styled his hair that way on purpose (it pulls double duty to cover for an obviously retreating hairline and to evoke that Superman look). It's even jiggleboned in "Meet the Medic". He's intelligent, but that doesn't mean he knows what he's doing.
- Rue from Threads of Fate (1999) has this sort of hairstyle, revealed only when he takes off his hat.
- Demon-goddess Shinki from Touhou Kaikidan ~ Mystic Square has a small ponytail high on her head, which is often joked to be an ahoge by the fandom.
- Marina Wulfstan from Valkyria Chronicles has this. She's a Cold Sniper though.
- Cole from World's Dawn has one. He's not stupid, but he is a rather free-spirited artist.
Visual Novels
- Ace Attorney:
- Ini Miney when she takes off her hat◊ in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All.
- Apollo takes pride in his horn-shaped hair on his forehead that he styles every morning. Other characters often take note of it, and it's Parodied in Dual Destinies when Jinxie Tenma think's he's a demon because of his hair. When she takes off her hat, Trucy also has a similar pair on top of her hair, but it's Downplayed. Makes sense, since they are siblings.
- Eustace Winner has a question-mark curl on his hair. It even changes into an exclamation point shape when he's surprised! Like Apollo, Word of God says that it's not natural either; he styles it that way every morning.
- Phoenix Wright himself developed an ahoge in Dual Destinies.
- Ini Miney when she takes off her hat
- Orpha and Aselia in Aselia the Eternal - The Spirit of Eternity Sword. The first is a genki girl loli driven entirely by id and the latter is an Emotionless Girl Cloud Cuckoolander with a questionable grasp of reason when her character gets flashed out.
- Danganronpa:
- The series loves to gives its protagonists this. Started off by Makoto Naegi in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, it's continued by the main characters of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Hajime Hinata and Kaede Akamatsu and later, Shuichi Saihara, who keeps it under his hat, have it as well. It's become so synonymous with the role that it becomes outright symbolic as the series goes on, noticeably in Ultra Despair Girls where Makoto's younger sister Komaru - briefly appearing in the first game with normal hair - has become the protagonist and suddenly sprouted one, also true for returning character and Deuteragonist Touko Fukawa (though in the latter case it doubles as part of her new disheveled appearance), and in V3 the aforementioned Shuichi only removes his cap and makes his idiot hair visible after he takes up the protagonist mantle for good. In Danganronpa Zero, Ryoko Otonashi lacks one but Yasuke Matsuda has it, and in Killer Killer, Takumi Hijirihara sports it as well.
- Though this isn't entirely exclusive to protagonists of the series, with Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair sporting one among his absurd bedhead, likely to further his resemblance to the aforementioned Makoto. He also briefly becomes playable during Chapter 4's investigation, and he does still serve as one of the most prominent characters in the story.
- Taken further in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, in which Rantaro Amami, K1-B0, and Miu all sport prominent ahoges (although Miu has two strands, owing to her subtle bunny theme, and skewing toward Hair Antennae as a result). The former two turn out to be more than a coincidence with some of the endgame reveals regarding the killing game's true nature. Rantaro is a survivor and possible protagonist of the 52nd killing game, while K1-B0 is the audience-controlled in-show protagonist of the 53rd, aka Danganronpa V3. K1-B0's idiot hair also turns out to be a Justified Trope which takes the trend of the "protagonist hair" to its logical conclusion, by doubling as an antenna that allows the audience of the killing game to control his actions through user polls.
- Naturally, the trend is lampshaded and parodied several times throughout the series, such as in certain conversations in Ultra Despair Girls, and in a chalkboard Easter egg in V3 featuring Monokuma sporting a ludicrously large one while asking "Can I be the protagonist now?" It's as funny as it sounds.
- Averted in the fangame Danganronpa Another: despite being the protagonist, Yuki Maeda lacks an ahoge. Why? He was the villain all along.
- In Eroge! Sex and Games Make Sexy Games, Nene, the (tiny) president of the main Eroge company, has a droopy one.
- Fate Series:
- Saber in Fate/stay night. A non-indicative one for the most part, but for God's sake don't make her remove it like what Gilgamesh did; she'll turn into Saber Alter.
- Fate/Nuovo Guerra seems to have made this a family trait of sorts. Her 'son' has it, and so does her father (both are summoned as Saber-class Servants too). The latter's profile even lampshades it.
- Probably notable, is that due to the serious nature of the series, the canon stories themselves never points out her ahoge; however, like Akiha's small bust size, the fandom likes to play with it.
- Lampshaded in Fate/Grand Order in the "Saber Wars" event (which deals with Saber trying to deal with her various expies), where the unique currency is "Artorium", which is just the ahoge common for all Saber-knockoffs.
- The Fruit of Grisaia: Michiru has one of these, which corresponds well with her equally ditzy personality, Yuuji manages to convince Michiru that her idiot hair, which he calls Charlie, is cat repellant, as it turns out, it's quite the opposite.
- Hatoful Boyfriend's Sakazaki Yuuya's faux-human appearance comes with two ahoges. He's far from stupid, but rather easygoing and flirtatious, and kind of the Butt-Monkey. In the manga, he seems unhappy about getting one to help differentiate him from the other two white fantail doves.
- Hisao, the protagonist of Katawa Shoujo has a prominent ahoge. His personality does not correspond with his hairstyle, however.
- In Kira☆Kira, both Kirari, and the crosdressing Shikanosuke have one.
- Komari from Little Busters! has one and is the naive type.
- Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! has at least three: Momoyo, Koyuki, and Tatsuko.
- Gabriel in The Many Deaths of Lily Kosen has one, although the usual connotations are Averted - he's easily the most responsible and level-headed of the cast.
- Yukino in My Girlfriend Is the President has a rather large one AND a smaller one right next to it. It pulls double duty as Expressive Hair as well.
- Handicapped Badass Snake, from Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a massive subversion. He's certainly the most intelligent of the characters, particularly book-smarts-wise.
- From School Days, both Sekai Saionji, whose ahoge pretty much speaks for the entire cast, and Makoto Ito have one. Sekai's is larger and much more noticeable, and Makoto's is on the back of his head.
- Asaga has a large ahoge in Sunrider Academy, which occasionally acts as Expressive Hair and emphasizes her ditzy, Genki Girl personality. Her main universe counterpart, who is not a ditz and originally did not have an ahoge, gains a small one thanks to Art Evolution in Sunrider Liberation Day (though it’s inconsistently applied; it shows up in the CGs, but not on her sprites).
- In TRianThology ~Sanmenkyou no Kuni no Alice~, all students (and non-students) we ever see on-screen except for one in Academy Love Adventure have one. Starting with the main character Ibito, his friend Hidaka, Ichou, and the girls Noriha, Yukina, Hinata, Hinako, Miho, and Karen.
- Yo-Jin-Bo has Bo, whose hair is otherwise sleek and well-behaved, except for one strand that always hangs in his face. However, he's arguably one of the smarter guys.
Web Animation
- Basics in Behavior: Atleast half of the characters have ahoges on top of their heads to not make the heads look empty.
- Bee and Puppycat's Bee has one of these.
- Happy Tree Friends: Russell has a curly one under his hat.
- RWBY: Penny has a single curl of hair sticking upwards from the top of her head. She is an awkward person with a strange way of talking and poor social skills. She latches onto Ruby when Ruby says 'see you around, friend', nobody having ever called her 'friend' before. She's a very high-quality and classified combat robot.
Webcomics
- Irya from Bits Fair has a giant idiot hair sticking out, in addition to having a hairstyle that looks like a pattypan.
- M.R.R.'s Clean Zone has the curvy, redhead bartender Caramel having this...tho it seems more esthetic in this case than most examples.
- Several Consolers characters have these, like Sony, Square Enix and Apple. But like some Hetalia characters does Atari have a floating one.
- Ennui GO!: Izzy Pritchard's Hyper-Competent Sidekick Renee has a big cowlick that sticks up like an antennae, as a way to reflect her fastidious and occasionally mischeivious personality not that she's an idiot. In fact, It Runs in the Family since her mother and younger sister share the same hairdo.
- Quite common in Fiyora Nya, with Ayako and Kyuuke probably being the most obvious examples.
- While it isn't on a specific character, the website Gaia Online has an equippable avatar item known as the Idiot Hair (specifically modeled after the Hetalia ahoges).
- Played for Laughs in Girl Genius in an interlude where Agatha tries to bring her three idiot hairs from the top of her head under control with increasingly violent and crazy means.
- I'm the Grim Reaper: Scarlet has one, and while she isn't stupid, per se, she is noted to be a little dense at times, especially when it comes to people.
- Most characters in Knowledge Is Power, with the exception of those whose hair is too uniformly short (like Colin) or long (like David) for it to make any sense. This extends to Ironychan's other webcomics as well, although it wasn't as obvious in Get Medieval (Irony-Chan).
- The titular character of Kurami has a fairly prominent cowlick. She's not an idiot, per se, but she is only a few months old.
- Medic Pics: The artist has a noticeable spike on top on his afro hair. His Student and Artist split personalities also do, in the shape of an 'S' and an 'A' respectively.
- Ménage à 3, having a manga-influenced art style, uses this visual motif occasionally, but apparently mostly to indicate surprise rather than stupidity or weirdness, as here.
- Queen Juno from Princess Chroma has a single green lock that hangs in front of her face, usually subtly but exaggerated when she's hurried and unkempt. Subverted in the sense that Juno is far from stupid, though she is more laid back than the other royals.
- Questionable Content: Melon, an AI whose personal oddities are a regular topic of discussion among her friends, has a single upwards-pointing tuft in the middle of her green hair. In one case, it's initially absent but reappears after she snorts the robotic equivalent of a Gargle Blaster. In another strip, when she gets refitted with longer hair after a fire-related accident, Faye and Bubbles discuss how something's not right about it but they can't quite work out what, until it "poings" up.
Melon: Ooh, my wifi signal just got stronger!
Bubbles: Fascinating. - Sleepless Domain: Outrageous Apple, the smug jokester member of Team Outrageous, has a small tuft of her bright red hair perpetually sticking out to the side. As a result, her hairstyle ends up rather appropriately resembling an apple, with the ahoge as its "stem".
- Astyr Kaedermos from Sombulus has a perpetual bent strand of hair sticking out.
- Se-Eun Ham from Surviving Romance has one. Fittingly she's known to be extremely gullible.
- The main character of TwoKinds, Trace Legacy, who also has blue hair! This character fits the exception of the rule in that he's not technically stupid. It's humored at in this picture that it's the source of his magical powers.
- Matt from White Dark Life has a large crescent of hair sticking out from the top of his head. According to supplementary materials, it actually saps up some of his intelligence sometimes.
- Two of his children, Saru and Ne, also have his exact hairstyle, though Ne purposefully tries to copy it.
Web Original
Western Animation
- Rudy Tabootie from ChalkZone has one, but he's more Book Dumb and naïve than actually stupid.
- Something of an inversion: everyone in Cyber Six has huge, thick forelocks of hair which are perpetually hanging in front of their faces. If you started selling hairpins in Meridiana, you could probably make millions.
- In the Family Guy short "Li'l Griffins", Quagmire gets one for the rest of the episode in a Something Else Also Rises moment after seeing Lois.
- The Fairly OddParents!: While not an idiot, but just a baby, Poof has one dark violet idiot hair that grows back a few seconds after it is trimmed.
- Gravity Falls: Cowlicks are a trademark feature in the Pines.
- Invader Zim: Dib's is a borderline example◊, but he's not stupid... relatively.
- Luan Loud from The Loud House actually has two strands of idiot hair, though she's less stupid and more so a Plucky Comic Relief.
- In the original animesque version of Miraculous Ladybug Marinette had a large, expressive idiot hair on her head. When the cartoon was switched to an All-CGI Cartoon, they removed it.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Unlike her pony counterpart, human Rainbow Dash has two hairs on the back of her head that stand up.
- In The Owl House, the Golden Guard has one of these under his mask, though unlike most examples, it's a bit wavy. It seems to be a familial feature, as it's shared with both the man he was cloned off of and that man's brother (when he was younger), who Hunter knows as his uncle, Emperor Belos. He's actually very book smart, but has no concept of how to interact with people outside of a mission context.
- Penny Proud from The Proud Family actually sports a small bit of hair sticking up in her hairdo.
- In Puppy Dog Pals, Bingo and Rolly's owner, Bob, has a cowlick, most of which sticks up in the front of his head, fitting his rather eccentric, excitable and goofy personality. He is far from being an idiot, as he is very smart, being a successful inventor and creative industrial product designer.
- Teen Titans Go!: Beast Boy has one hair that perpetually sticks out even when he makes the effort to gel his hair down to look dapper.
Real Life
- While one's hair doesn't have an effect on one's intelligence in real life, notorious crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried deliberately tried to cultivate idiot hair in an attempt to play up the trope of an Absent-Minded Professor or Ditzy Genius to get people to buy into his scheme. He has been quoted as saying "I honestly think it’s negative EV for me to cut my hair. I think it’s important for people to think I look crazy". This approach was heavily scrutinized during his trial, with prosecutors even examining his attempts at using idiot hair to craft a folksy non-threatening persona.
