Blinding Bangs



A character with Blinding Bangs has a mop of hair that completely obscures his or her eyes -- and sometimes the whole face. The character's eyes are covered all the time, to the point we rarely, if ever, see them, and can even wonder whether this personage has eyes.

How such a character could see clearly through such a thick curtain of hair -- as is usually the case -- is most often completely ignored. A trope much more common in comics and animation than in live-action (since it's a bit hard for an actor to play while blinded by such a hairdo).

This personal appearance trope can be used to convey various things. In western works, a character with such a hairstyle is often a bit of a dumbass; you very rarely, if at all, see permanent Blinding Bangs on a personage with above average intelligence. Since obscuring the eyes also obscures emotion, the character will usually seem a bit cool-headed, if not an outright stoic. Also frequently used in Anime and Manga to illustrate a shy one -- girls with this hairstyle are called "maegamikko" or "mekakure" in Japan. Unlike the temporary kind of face-concealing hair a character might have when depressed, Blinding Bangs are usually not a sign of depression, although perpetually mopey characters might also have them.

The Stringy Haired Ghost Girl usually has these. Compare Peek-a-Bangs, which cover only one eye. Contrast with Hidden Eyes, which is usually just temporary. The opposite of Show the Forehead.

Not to be confused with a flash grenade.

Anime & Manga

 * Nodoka of Mahou Sensei Negima started with Blinding Bangs, though she switches between this and Peek-a-Bangs after the first chapter. (In some parts of the manga, she switches so often between visible eyes/hidden eyes, it looks like her hair keeps growing/shortening between panels.)
 * Urabe's eyes are pretty much always obscured by her bangs in Mysterious Girlfriend X... and it's actually one of the ways she's mysterious. When a friend does her hair and gets her bangs out of her eyes, she complains that everything seems so... bright.
 * Hazumu has this initially in Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl until he becomes a girl and his/her eyes are revealed.
 * Yūichirō in Sailor Moon has a moderate case of this (along with Perma Stubble). We get to see his eyes a lot more than most of the other characters listed here; however, he usually is shown as having Blinding Bangs. Although in defiance of the standard versions of this trope he is neither shy nor an idiot (most of the time). It's to make him look unkempt and rough to contrast with his sweet personality.
 * Belphegor in Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Not so much "shy" as "completely batshit insane". Also, his twin brother Rasiel and Pantera who works for Longchamp.
 * Hiroshi Sotomura in Ichigo One Hundred Percent. As the resident pervert, it probably helps him hide where his gaze lingers....
 * Joker from Flame of Recca usually covers his eyes with a hat, but he's got blinding bangs underneath as well. Not shy at all, although he does love to play at Obfuscating Stupidity.
 * Tensou from Inukami has these bangs, which are indicative of her shyness.
 * Ochibana Ame from Denpa Teki Na Kanojo. This leads to a Beautiful All Along moment when Juu sees her with her bangs slicked back.
 * From Naruto, young Nagato Quickly switches to Peek-a-Bangs.
 * Undertaker from Black Butler.
 * Jigen, Lupin III -- Depending On the Artist. His eyes are visible with his hat off (and sometimes with it on) during the third (pink jacket) series.
 * M1/En from Yu Yu Hakusho has Blinding Bangs. When Genkai uses her Fist of Cleansing technique to purify him, his eyes are revealed to be VERY effeminate.
 * Kiri Komori of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is known for her forelocks which either partially or completely cover her eyes.
 * Hayate the Combat Butler pokes fun at this trope for being a telltale sign of the Dating Sim protagonist (see below) when Hayate spies upon a oneshot character with the textbook appearance of such a character.
 * After five years (or a one-month hiatus in real time), Tower of God returned with its second season, in which a greatly changed Baam has this hairdo. This gives us little to no insight into his emotional state, which greatly intensifies the mystery around him and the time gap between seasons.
 * Ritsu Tainaka from K-On! is known among her bandmates for her large forehead. They don't recognize her in Episode 4 of Season 1 when she takes off her hairband and reveal that her natural hairstyle is actually this trope.
 * Kirin from Six Six Six Satan has this. Then again, there's a good reason for that...
 * Beyblade
 * Kenny from the Bladebreakers team. His hair always cover his glasses and predictably, he is the nerdy brain of the entire team.
 * Beyblade's spin-off series, Metal Fight Beyblade, gives us quite a different example in the form of Reiji. He's actually quite the sadist. We do see his eyes occasionally, but that only means more trouble for his victims....
 * Brief from Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt.
 * In Lucky Star, Kou asks Yama-san if her bangs don't get in the way, and she admits they're a little hard on the eyes. The reason she doesn't cut them is because she considers her face "hard on the eyes".
 * One Piece: Sadi-Chan from Impel Down. A huge mane of blonde hair and Blinding Bangs, emphasizing her sadistic nature.
 * Shinichi Akiyama in Liar Game features this a majority of the time. Combined with fact he keeps a distance from others, it serves to help add to his aloof nature.
 * Nihiru from Bobobobo Bobobo and Geronmino Jr. from Kinnikuman, both of whom were turned into Ringo Starr parodies in the dub.
 * The stage chief Sakura in AKB 49 Renai Kinshi Jourei has them by default, which disappear when she gets serious.
 * Luna Inverse, Lina Inverse's older sister, from Slayers, has eyes hidden by her bangs. Though it doesn't make her look that threatening, Lina is certainly scared of her.
 * Nekozawa has bangs that cover his eyes, while wearing his cloak, adding to his shady nature. One of the lackeys of the Newspaper Club has this hairstyle in Ouran High School Host Club.
 * For some reason, while this is not true in the anime, official artwork of Tenshi no Shippo depicts Goro Mutsumi with long bangs over his eyes. Though the bangs aren't as long as most on this list, his bangs and the shadow cast by them completely obscure his eyes. When Goro's father's face is finally revealed, he is shown to have such bangs as well.
 * Tenri from The World God Only Knows has thick bangs that cover her eyes initially, representing her shyness (her eyes are visible when she is being possessed by Diana). After her arc, however, she cuts her bangs.

Comic Books

 * In the comic book version of Le Donjon De Naheulbeuk, the Dwarf wears a helmet fully covering his eyes, and even without it he still has Blinding Bangs to hide them. Later albums reveals it is a generic feature of the dwarf race.
 * Animal, Go-Go and Animal. Definitely the western, dumbass version.

Comic Strips
"Sarge: (hat covering his eyes) Here's half his problem right here."
 * Eva Rose, the neighbor girl whom the title character from Lio has a crush on, has Cousin Itt bangs.
 * Beetle Bailey
 * Beetle Bailey would count. His eyes were shown exactly once, when it was still a college strip. Lampshaded in a strip: the Chaplain tells Sarge to see things from Beetle's viewpoint. The following frame:


 * Beetle's old but since disappeared army buddy Bammy had these, making him a little like Beetle in having eyes that are never shown.
 * Chip Flagston from Hi and Lois. He's canonically Beetle Bailey's nephew, although this is almost never mentioned.

Films -- Animation

 * One of the scarers from Monsters Inc. is a green tentacled monster who for some reason has his face completely covered by his long, shaggy purple mane.

Literature

 * In the Discworld novel Soul Music, wizard student Skazz has a hairdo that completely covers his head -- with only the tip of his nose hinting which way he's facing.
 * Helen Haras-Uquara from The Homeward Bounders has apparently been cultivating blinding bangs for most of her life, to the extent that the main character is convinced that she has got her back to him.
 * BlazBlue: Phase Shift 1, one of the prequel novels to the fighting game series, has a protagonist with this hairstyle, Kazuma Kval. Hazama has a blinding fedora in some official artworks.

Live-Action TV

 * Cousin Itt from the various versions of The Addams Family is certainly the Exaggerated Trope of this. It is unsure whether he actually has eyes... or a face... or anything under all that hair, yet he has no trouble seeing.

Music

 * Noodle of the Gorillaz band has Blinding Bangs after her age shift to teenager. Before that, she had Eyes Always Shut. (Intermediate pictures between the two phases do show a gradual change.) Maybe she still has some by phase 3, but it's hard to tell since she's usually wearing a mask.
 * Slash from Guns N' Roses can occasionally cover his face with his wild hair.
 * Great White guitarist Mark Kendall is often referred to as "Cousin It", due to his stage persona of keeping his face hidden completely behind long hair.
 * One of the most popular examples: Crissie Hynde of The Pretenders, with her signature look of bangs trimmed right at eye level.

Puppet Shows

 * The Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show has bushy eyebrows covering where his eyes should be, making a him a combination of this trope and a non-scary version of Eyeless Face.

Video Games

 * Shermie from the The King of Fighters series always has her eyes completely covered by her bangs. It's more than a little creepy, especially when you consider that she spends all her time hanging around Cheerful Child Chris.
 * Shigure from Suikoden V is another example. Lampshaded when one of Oboro's notes mentions that Fuyo wants to "fix" his hair.
 * Lowen from Fire Emblem 7 (i.e. the first one to come to the West) is an example. We never see his eyes. And yet it's revealed in support conversations that he's actually not bad at cooking. How can he cook without seeing? How can he fight without seeing? We will never know.
 * Venom from Guilty Gear wears his hair like a literal veil and has a creepy painting of an eye superimposed on it. However, depending on the artwork, sometimes you can see a small portion of his face by looking around the hair-veil (but sometimes not), and it does flip up and leave his face completely exposed and visible in his in-match falling animation.
 * Layer, one of the three members of Mission Control in Mega Man X 8. Her eyes can be seen while she blushes (especially when around Zero, to whom she is a Hopeless Suitor).
 * The bassist in Guitar Hero 3 has Blinding Bangs and a massive beard that covers everything but his nose.
 * Capcom artist Edayan seems to always have at least one character like this, as Roberto Miura from Rival Schools and Cracker Jack from Street Fighter EX have their eyes perpetually covered by their hats.
 * Pokémon: Piloswine, Ralts, Woobat, and Litwick (over one eye). Deino and Zweilous would be this, except they have no eyes to cover, hence justifying their Hustle ability (increases Attack, lowers accuracy).
 * Bebedora from Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits has a large hat covering the top half of her head. Sometimes it goes up a little, and it looks like she has no eyes at all!
 * The Soldier from Team Fortress 2 has these, in a way -- his helmet obscures his eyes from almost all angles.
 * Kuroda Kanbe from Sengoku Basara has two small bangs that seem to be permanently attached to his eyes.
 * Baby Eoleo in Golden Sun: The Lost Age has an always-confused look that's only amplified by the bangs in his face. Awwwwww! He grew his hair out and tied it back by Dark Dawn.

Visual Novels

 * This a common feature in Dating Sims (especially those made in The Nineties) which want to show the main protagonist, but want to maintain a degree of anonymity so that the player can identify himself to the character. The Tokimeki Memorial series and its Spiritual Successor Mitsumete Knight are two good (non-H) examples of this.

Web Animation

 * In Red vs. Blue season 9, we learn that Agent South is this for one eye under her helmet. As a fan pointed out, York should resent her for it; he has only one good eye, as everyone keeps reminding him.

Web Comics

 * Mopey of The B Movie Comic has this as a definite characteristic: two large bangs cover her eyes and most of her face all the time. The mystery of her true appearance is heavily parodied in this strip.
 * Kenta from Sexy Losers -- a very NSFW comic! -- has his eyes hidden as a parody of this common trait in Hentai. When the artist did a character portrait for him, he didn't even have eyes, as the artist was too used to doing him with Blinding Bangs and couldn't figure out how they should look.
 * Subverted in Everyday Heroes, where Carrie has a huge head of hair that covers most of her face. Oddly, she wears her glasses over her hair, through which her eyes are visible. How exactly this works is not explained, but Carrie is one of the more intelligent and outgoing characters.
 * Dave Gold from Supernormal Step initially has Blinding Bangs to emphasize his lack of grooming and nineties grunge style. He tucks them into a hat later.
 * Taisei from Sakana, most of the time, sometimes you can see one eye or both. Apparently he wears his hair like that because his eyes have a naturally crazed expression, and he doesn't want to put people off.

Web Original

 * Gaia Online
 * You can have a hairdo like this, as seen here.
 * Before he was turned into that lovable clam in our Aquariums, The Overseer's hair was like this, both as a "child" and presumably as an "adult" without that large but Nice Hat of his. A bit ironic given what his name is and what he does after being turned into said clam. His doll also has a wig like this for your avatar.
 * The Monster Girl Encyclopedia: The Werebat's picture shows bangs covering her eyes. Justified, as she probably doesn't use sight at all.

Western Animation

 * Codename Kids Next Door
 * Numbuh Four's eyes are covered by his hair.
 * Mr. Wink as well. His eyes were seen far less than Numbuh Four's eyes were in his appearances.
 * Also, the tallest of the Delightful Children from Down the Lane.
 * Looney Tunes
 * Sam Sheepdog has a mop of red hair completely covering his eyes. He's still perfectly able to see, as Ralph Wolf could attest from several painful confirmations. Sam subverted this trope on at least one occasion: when the wolf looks through his binoculars, he sees a pair of angry, blood-shot red eyes staring back at him before being beaten to a pulp. And Ralph did lift those Blinding Bangs at one time, too!
 * The Abominable Snowman also has a tuft of fur that always obscures his eyes.
 * Avatar: The Last Airbender
 * Toph's eyes are seen in the series, but her entire eyes are covered by her bangs in the animated shorts and some of the comics. (It is not as if she uses them anyway.)
 * In "The Ember Island Players", both the actors for Toph and Mai have Blinding Bangs.
 * Eugene Meltsner of the animated version of Adventures in Odyssey has these bangs... and wears glasses over them. Judging from the artwork for the most recent episode album, this appears to be coming to an end.
 * Pi from Sabrina the Animated Series. His eyes are always covered by his hat, on at least one occasion his hat came off and his eyes were still covered by his hair.
 * Lou's mom's eyes in Lou are covered by her hair, even though her glasses aren't.
 * Breach from Generator Rex, over her whole face.
 * Wakfu
 * Princess Lela from season 1 episode 4, at least in her cursed form.
 * Also Chamberlain Thickdruft of the Sadida kingdom, which makes him mistake someone else for Amalia all the time, even if it's a guy. However he is unaware of this, and will accuse said person of impersonating the princess.
 * Shag from Road Rovers is another sheepdog example.
 * Big Billy in The Powerpuff Girls. And for good reason -- he briefly lifts his bangs while attending the girls' school to scare the living hell out of the kindergarten kids with his cycloptic eye.

Real Life

 * Sam Sheepdog's look is based on a Truth in Television. Many dog breeds, old English sheepdogs among them, naturally get this kind of hairfall. It's called a fau and serves to protect their eyes. Other breeds with it include the lhasa apso, shih tzu, soft-coated wheaten terrier, and Bouvier des Flandres. At least in the lhasa apso's case, they can still see because they have super-strong eyelashes that hold the fau just ahead of the eyes.