20 Best Anime Characters With Orange Hair 

Nothing makes you more noticeable than a mop of fiery orange hair. Orange is definitely a strange color to have. For most people with black hair, when they bleach their hair, there’s usually a weird orange phase that many dread. However, some people purposely dye their hair this color.

With such vibrant locks, it’s hard to ignore people with orange hair color. This could be one of the several reasons why manga creators like to give orange hair to characters they want you to give special attention to. Nowadays, orange hair is taken by some of the main characters.

It was also a popular color to give characters back in the 90s. This list contains some of the best characters ever to wear this color on their hair, some of these characters a lot of seasoned anime fans will recognize. Other than the 20 characters listed in this article, many other great orange-haired characters are out there.

20. Momotarou Mikoshiba – Free!

Momo might have appeared late in the anime, but that didn’t stop him from giving people something to remember him by. He is the younger brother of Seijuro and Isuzu Mikoshiba, who originally did not want to join the swim team. However, he is also incredibly talented in the water and earned a spot in Samezuka Academy’s  Swim Relay Team alongside Rin, Aiichiro, and Sosuke.

There’s a running gag in the series Free! about Momo’s love for stag beetles. He often likes to share this hobby with the friends and girls that he likes, much to Gou’s dismay. Similar to his older brother, he also developed a crush on Gou after seeing her for the first time.

19. Yuuki Asuna – Sword Art Online

Commonly just referred to as Asuna. She is the main heroine of the isekai anime called Sword Art Online. Asuna was one of the 10,000  players that got trapped in the MMORPG Sword Art Online. She was talented enough to become a guild leader in the series, becoming the head of the Knights of the Blood.

18. Gildarts Clive – Fairy Tail

Fans of Fairy Tail didn’t get to see much of this character in the anime, but he is loved by every member of his guild, even being chosen to become master at a certain point. However, he quickly gave up the title right after making Laxus a Fairy Tail member again and passing the mantle back to Makarov.

Gildarts is one of Fairy Tail’s S-Class Mages and is considered the guild’s ace. However, the 100-year quest proved too hard, and he returned to the guild with missing limbs and an unspecified organ. 

17. Gakushu Asano – Assassination Classroom

At the very least, he made up for his ways towards the end. Gakushu is the only son of Kunugigaoka Junior High School’s Chairman, Gakuho Asano. With his father being chairman of the school, it’s always been tough for Gakushu to strive for perfection. He is the Big Five leader and serves as the school’s Student Council President. For some time, he was one of the antagonists in the series.

16. Orihime Inoue – Bleach

Orihime may not be the strongest girl in the Bleach anime, but she has her own strengths and will fight and stand up for herself. Orihime is a human who resides in Karakura town. After the final battle in the manga, she settles down with Ichigo Kurosaki. The both of them have a son named Kazui.

15. Asuka Langley Soryu – Neon Genesis Evangelion

Even if there are anime fans that have never watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, they are probably familiar with the title or even some of the cover characters. People have recognized Asuka and have been collecting her figures since her debut in the hit mecha anime series. Asuka is one of the leading female characters and the Second Child of the Evangelion Project. She is the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02.

14. Pain – Naruto

Also known as Nagato, he is usually portrayed with Orange hair through the Six Paths of Pain. Pain is a member of the Uzumaki clan and one of Naruto Shippuden’s major antagonists. Pain is one of the founding members of the Akatsuki, alongside Yahiko and Konan. Originally the Akatsuki was formed to keep the peace in their city. However, after the death of Nagato, he and Konan decided to force the world into peace.

13. Nishiki Nishio – Tokyo Ghoul

Originally an enemy, Nishio eventually became a waiter at Anteiku and an ally to the main protagonist. Nishio is a ghoul who had his feeding ground taken from him by Rize Kamishiro. The CCG gave him the nickname Serpent due to his habit of researching his targets before killing them. After the events of the Rushima Landing Operation, he joined the ghoul organization called Goat and started living in the 24th Ward.

12. Loke – Fairy Tail

A big surprise to those who just found out, Loke was revealed to be a Celestial Spirit called Leo. That would explain why he’s been avoiding Lucy like the plague in the first part of Fairy Tail. As Leo, he serves as the leader of the 12 Golden Zodiac Spirits. His key is currently owned by the Celestial Spirit Mage Lucy Heartfeillia.

Originally Loke hated Celestial Spirit Mages because his key was previously owned by an abusive master named Karen Lilica from the Blue Pegasus Guild. Karen would often abuse both Loke and his fellow Zodiac spirit Aries. Due to inadvertently causing his master’s death, Loke could not return to the Celestial Spirit World.

He was eventually pardoned by the Celestial Spirit King after seeing Lucy’s resolve to rescue Loke. The Celestial Spirit King then allowed Loke to return to Celestial Spirit World, with the condition that he would serve and protect Lucy as his new master.

11. Karou Hitachiin – Ouran High School Host Club

Karou is one of two of the Hitachiin twins. He is the younger brother of Hikaru and, according to Haruhi, is the more mature and level headed twin between the duo. When the two of the twins are together, their presence just screams chaotic energy. However, when acting on his own, Karou is pleasant to be around. 

In the anime, it is unclear if Karou holds any romantic feelings for Haruhi. However, he acts as his brother’s wingman. He allowed Hikaru to go on a date with Haruhi by pretending to be sick when it was his turn to go out with her.

10. Hikaru Hitachiin – Ouran High School Host Club

He probably got higher than his brother in the ranking because he was slightly more fleshed out in the anime than in the manga. Hikaru is the older twin of the Hitachiin in the hit reverse-harem anime called Ouran High School Host Club. He belongs to Class 1-A alongside his twin Karou and clubmate Haruhi. He is counted as the “leader” twin, but in reality, he is less mature and has difficulty controlling his emotions than Karou.

He eventually developed romantic feelings for Haruhi. However, it took several long chapters for him to realize it. It’s possible the only reason he realized it is because Karou helped him figure this bit out.

9. Nobara Kugisaki – Jujutsu Kaisen

Nobara isn’t a girl you would like to mess with. It’s revealed that she dyed her hair orange to stay in style, especially since she’s moving to Tokyo from her small town. Nobara is one of the three first-year students enrolled in Tokyo Jujutsu High and is under the mentorship of Satoru Gojo along with her classmates Yuji and Megumi. According to her records, she is a grade 3 sorcerer but could become stronger with enough training.

She did not have much experience as a sorcerer in her old village and was shocked how low-grade curses are actually stronger in the city than in her village. Nobara is known for her Straw Doll Technique, where she utilizes her skills to cause damage to her curses through the damage she deals with her dolls.

8. Nami – One Piece

Nami is a notable female character in the anime One Piece. She acts as the Straw Pirates’ navigator and is the second member to join Luffy. This makes her the third member of the Straw Hat Pirates. She initially joined Luffy to rob from him and his crew in order to buy her village back from Arlong. 

7. Misty – Pokemon

After several changes with female leads in the Pokemon anime, seasoned fans can never really forget Ash’s first female traveling companion, Misty. Misty is a former traveling companion of Ash. She currently serves as the Gym Leader of the Cerulean City Gym and specializes in using Water-type Pokemon.

She traveled with Ash on his journey through Kanto and all the way to the Jhoto league. She eventually decided to return home to take over her family Gym. Since then, she has been making small reappearances in other seasons.

6. Chuuya Nakahara – Bungou Stray Dogs

While the creator made him lack in height, he at least got a flashy hair color and an even flashier temper. Chuuya is a member and Executive of the Port Mafia. When Dazai was still in the Port Mafia, the two of them were a team called Twin Dark. However, the two of them severely hated each other despite acknowledging each other’s abilities.

Other than Manipulating Gravity, Chuuya has another powerful ability. He is also the human vessel of a God of calamity and destruction, Arahabaki. Chuuya hardly remembers anything about his past beyond “awakening.” Chuuya eventually joined Sheep but left the group after his own organization sought to kill him. He then joined the Port Mafia.

5. Kyo Sohma – Fruits Basket

The 2019 remake of Fruits Basket has given Kyo so much justice. With the release of the new anime, his character is more fleshed out than in the original anime, and fans now get to learn more about Kyo. Kyo is cursed by the lonely Cat spirit, an outsider of the Zodiac. Because of his spirit, he is discriminated by everyone in the Sohma family.

Because of the unfair treatment, he blames Yuki for all his bad luck. This is because Yuki is cursed with the spirit of the rat. Kyo believes that the rat tricked the cat into missing the ceremony. So, it has been Kyo’s goal to beat Yuki and finally get accepted into the Zodiac Family. Kyo also has a past with Tohru’s mother. Unfortunately, he blames himself for her death.

When he moved to Shigure’s house to attend school, he slowly started to fall in love with Tohru but felt he could not be with her due to his curse. Kyo is the first of the cursed Zodiac Members to break his curse. This allowed the cat spirit to pass on, and future generations of the Sohma clan will no longer be burdened with carrying the curse.

4. Ichigo Kurosaki – Bleach

His wife was earlier on this list, but we can’t forget about Bleach’s main character, Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo is a Substitute Shinigami and the son of Isshin and Masaki. Surprisingly enough, Ichigo got bullied for his unusual hair and even got into fights up to his High School days because of the color. Since he was able to see spirits, Rukia was able to transfer her powers to Ichigo and turn him into a Shinigami to defeat a Hollow.

3. Kenshin Himura – Rurouni Kenshin

With big success from the live-action films, people have been getting back into Rurouni Kenshin. Some anime fans even started the anime for the very first time. Kenshin was known as a legendary swordsman of the Meiji Revolution. He was called the Hitokiri Battosai. After years of seemingly endless killing, Kenshin retires and decides to become a rurouni and never kill again. Before the series, he spent ten years roaming around Japan in search of redemption. He stops wandering when he ends up helping Karou with her school.

The problem is, he is called to the battlefield again. Kenshin is forced to battle, but this time he tries to ensure never to kill his opponent. His hair might look red in some shots and orange in others. In the latest OVA, his hair is depicted as orange.

2. Emma – Promised Neverland

Just as bright as her hair, Emma is said to be the smartest orphan in Grace Field House. She is part of what’s considered “Premium quality goods” in the orphanage along with Norman and Ray. Emma, despite her age, is extremely outgoing and reliable. She is also loved by all the other kids in the orphanage.

She manages to escape Grade Field with a few other orphans. Now she is looking for William Minerva, who she believes can keep them safe from the orphanage. Emma is known to pick up on things and learn things quickly.

1. Hinata Shoyo – Haikyuu!!

While there are a lot of side characters with orange hair, it seems to fit the head of a main character more. Hinata stands out not only for his skills in volleyball but also for his brightly colored hair. It’s hard to miss him on the volleyball court.

Hinata is the main character of the trending volleyball anime Haikyuu!! Hinata serves as his team’s middle blockers for most of the series and remains in his freshman year. His volleyball career seems to be going strong. By 2018 he would become a member of MSBY Black Jackals. In the 2021 Olympics, he got to represent Japan on their Men’s Volleyball team. Finally, he became a member of Asas Sao Paulo, a professional team in the Brazil Super League.