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In real life, if your bangs are so long as to cover your eyes, then you would find it difficult to see clearly whatever is in front of you. However, in anime and manga, the characters often have long bangs that (can) cover their eyes. Why do they use this kind of design?

The following are some examples.

Romm from Mieruko-chan enter image description here

Yuusuke and his dad from Koi to Uso enter image description here

Vladilena from 86 enter image description here

Michael
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    https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindingBangs ? https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EyesOutOfSight ? – BCLC Aug 15 '22 at 14:10
  • Apparently there is a term for this: [mekakure](https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E3%83%A1%E3%82%AB%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AC). though it just literally means "hidden eye(s)". – sundowner Aug 17 '22 at 07:02

3 Answers3

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One thing anime characters will typically have are exaggerated characteristics which I'm sure we've all noticed. The animator does this to focus on their personalities rather than making them look realistic. Like when you see a person with long unkept hair, they're typically unpredictable/wild, or bangs that cover their entire face, they're typically shy or hiding something.

munroeka
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Besides the 2 tvtropes links I gave: Link 1, Link 2...

I can't speak for partial covers for Romm from Mieruko-chan, but as for full covers like Yuusuke's dad from Koi to Uso:

Eyes are said to be windows to the soul, and the way we recognise others is through their eyes, so the lack of eyes suggests

I think the bangs are to cover up the eyes to

  1. Case 1: de-emphasise the character's/characters' importance either to the reader/viewer or to another character/s or

  2. Case 2: to show how such characters are viewed by other characters.

Obviously for Yuusuke and Yuusuke's dad, it's case 1.

Here are 2 examples from Kaguya-sama s2 but instead of bangs, they just don't have eyes:

1

S02E06 re Miko Iino and the elections

Initially, Miko doesn't see the others' eyes. I view it as that Miko sees them as arbitrary haters but then later comes to realise their were Miko's (political) fans.

enter image description here

enter image description here

In this case, I guess it's just Case 2.

2

S02E11 re Yuu Ishigami and the cheerleading team

Initially Yuu Ishigami doesn't see the members of the cheerleading team with eyes. I view it as that Yuu doesn't really see them yet as colleagues/friends but then later does when they see how supportive they are.

enter image description here

enter image description here

In this case, I believe it's both cases given how some of the characters play bigger roles in s3.

BCLC
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1

Another answer:

I've even heard about cases in hentai (not that I've necessarily watched. I've just heard) where the male protagonist's eyes are usually covered so as to be an avatar/a placeholder for the viewer. See for example:

  1. YandereDev explains why hentai protagonists don't have eyes

  2. why does every hentai protagonist looks like this?

BCLC
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