The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

is Yoko's hair colour naturally red?

if so, then the colour her mom wants her to dye to is black? because red is unconventional, etc

if it's NOT natural, then it makes sense that whenever she dips her hair in water, red colour gets discharged, like it's dyed. but then AFTER her bath, her hair's still red!

I'm confused @_@!

Her hair is naturally red.

In the summer when the sun is scorching, it becomes lighter, almost a brownish color, but looks very unnatural. The pool thing just means that it looks dark when it's wet.

During the winter time, when it's cold, the hair becomes a darker, thicker red. Her hair color is constantly changing and her parents don't like it because people doubt her natural hair color and it is very unconventional. In Japanese society, those who stand out are shunned. Well not so much these days, but this story was written in 1992 :-p

Man... good thing they dont see some of the hair styles that are around now-a-days. It is kinda cool how everythign about her keeps changing though.

TenAJs - if you're referring to when Yoko bathes while in the 12k world, and there are a couple scenes where the water turns red but her hair still appears red.... That confused me too. ^^; I interpreted that to mean that she had dyed her hair brownish to escape being identified as a specific kaikyaku. Or something. It didn't look all that different to me, so I wondered why her hair was "bleeding"...

oion wrote:It didn't look all that different to me, so I wondered why her hair was "bleeding"...

I never really saw the difference between her old and new selves... I just thought that she'd lost her braids, and suddenly everyone couldn't recognize her, like Superman and Clark Kent. -_-

The bleeding of the hair in the water WAS due to the fact that she died her hair brown to avoid capture.

As Tentei said, there are many differences between old an new self.
Voice, eyes, face, complexion.

(Thanks, Shinkun.. thought so... )

But in terms of her changed appearance overall, another thing that sometimes tripped me up was the fact that different character art styles are used in the series. Like in ep9, the first half is *gorgeous* and very obviously different from the later character design style in the same episode, hair color aside. (I played that ep so many times to see the differences in hair, face shape, eyes, mouth, etc.) Of course, I wonder why the studio has done that, but perhaps they contracted overseas work on the animation to save money? Dunno.

OR, they coulda gotten lazy and decide they'll half ass the job. good thing our gods aren't lazy

JK is not low budget. The animation is done very nicely IMO

Actually, I had a totally different take on her hair color. In Japan, Youko's hair was naturally dark. She dyed it red herself, which was somewhat of a scandal. Other students were gossiping about it, and her mother was pestering her to go to a salon and have it dyed back to her natural color.

When she lands in the 12 countries, she shed her Japanese appearance, and gained her REAL one, which actually does have red hair. The reason you see red dye coming off in the bath is because there is red dye in her hair from when she was in Japan. But the dye coming out has no effect, because her hair is red for real now, so she looks that same.

I think 12ktp's translation of the novel (first book/chapter/page - found elsewhere on this site) explains her hair changing color better, as well as Shinkun's explanation. Her hair is naturally red, but changes color slightly in different conditions so it looks like she got highlights or something. Yoko never got around to dying her hair in Japan, though; the dye and bleeding reference therefore was in the 12k world and Yoko was hiding herself from capture. Originally I thought it was that Yoko dyed it red in Japan, too, and her mom wanted her to dye it back, but I changed my mind around ep9. ^^;

I compared screenshots in ep9 and did see a difference, finally. (LOL) It would've been better if Yoko dyed it black - but of course I wonder where in 12k-land she got any dye in the first place.

oh mighty Tentei...
Emmbee's speculation's valid in my book ...given that s/he hasn't seen the latest episode released.

Hmm. Maybe I need to rewatch some of the early episodes again. As if I had time! (School... bleh.) I still think my theory could be true. Do they actually say she dyed her hair brown to avoid capture? Maybe I just don't remember that. Also, I thought the dye in the wayer was red colored, not brown.

As for showing her with red hair as a child, I would think this would be so we would know it was Youko. I never thought her appearance changed that drastically, yet Asano and Sugimoto did. I assumed that we saw her from the beginning mostly in her "true" form, while the people around her saw her Japanese appearance.

After all, actually having the character totally change appearance after a few episodes would likely confuse viewers, especially if they missed the show it happened in. Which is why I think they show child Youko with red hair instead of black. So we're not like, "Hey, if that's Youko as a child, why doesn't she have red hair?"

Interesting how the anime format causes visual complexities the novel can avoid.

Well I mean even in like ep 3? or ep 4? Something like that, Youko, Sugimoto, and Asano are in the woods, and Youko was complaining to Asano of how her father always told her to be a nice little girl and that girls shouldnt be able to beat boys in sports and that she should wear a skirt while running in a race.. etc.. remember...? Well, in that flashback, you see little-girl Youko with red hair ><

ack don't remember that flashback having shown little-Yoko :/


/me has a weird attachment to fictional redhead characters
They're so cool!
and with Yoko kicking youma butts, that's a bonus++++!!!

I finally got to see the early flashback - missed seeing several early eps (part of 3, and 4-5 or something).... also relates to some of my other Qs in the other thread, too, probably. Now it all makes sense! eh, or something.

Yeah, Takki said in some episode (I forgot exactly which, and I can't check because I'm not at my computer right now =p), if Youko would like to dye her hair. And Youko smiled and said yes, because they had to evade capture on the way to the city where Takki's mom owned an "inn" or something like that.

But I think the fact that Youko has naturally red hair is clear in the anime, especially with the first dialogue between Youko and her mother. After all, her mother wouldn't want her to dye her hair red in the first place (it's almost a sin to stand out, as Shinkun said ^^;). *would find more exact quotes and stuff but can't right now.

btw, I think red(dish) hair may occur naturally in the Asian population, but is very rare and may be more related to sun exposure (likewise there is brown hair, occasionally curly hair). Certainly not the kind of red that Yoko has, anyway.

and REWATCH them ^_~
there's so much foreshadowing!