21969


In anime, strands of hair often disappear or stop short in front of the eyes.
I've seen this often enough that maybe there's a reason or at least an origin
of the pattern.

Why do the artists do this?

(Or do these anime characters actually have bangs?)

![Kenshin's strands of hair disappear in front of his
eyes](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PesJo.png)


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2015-02-22T05:41:53.653
19557
2015-05-30T08:30:38.837
2015-02-22T06:55:18.160
1398
8665
question
anime-production tropes
Why are the eyes in front of the hair?


Since emotions are best expressed through the eyes, they are usually made
visible even if the character has bangs or wear glasses. There are exceptions,
when the author wants to give the character a mysterious aura, or to hide the
character's emotion momentarily. However, the eyes are usually shown
regardless when it is necessary to clearly portray the determination of the
character.

Being able to see the eyes of a character is important - but why put the hair
there in the first place? This is to distinguish characters from each other.
Disallowing hair in front of the face limits the amount of hairstyles that can
be used. Also, the characters generally face the camera, meaning that they
need to be distinguishable from the front too.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/I0W6M.jpg)

Generally, if the hair isn't completely obstructing the eye or eyebrows, it
would be fine to leave out the detail on the eye, but it's become the norm in
anime so animators probably don't think twice about doing it. It also saves
having to worry about the eye looking odd when partially hidden.

[In a forum post
here](http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=19397), one user
suggests an alternative way of drawing such cases, in which the hair gradually
becomes translucent as it nears the eyes, so the characters expressions can be
seen more naturally.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FyNEN.jpg)

  1. No Transparency
  2. Transparency
  3. Gradual Translucency


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-30T07:00:55.927
21969
2015-05-30T08:30:38.837
2015-05-30T08:30:38.837
1398
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19557
answer