Since the most recent arc of Bleach, a number of characters have gotten new hairstyles, many of them seemingly odd compared to what had come before them. “Why does their hair look so much worse?” That feeling seems to be pretty prevalent among readers of Bleach.

While I agree that a number of the hairstyles just don’t quite look right, I think it doesn’t just have to do with Tite Kubo phoning it in. Allow me to explain right after this SPOILER CUT.

Here we have Rukia’s hair from throughout the series, from Chapter 1 to Soul Society to Hueco Mundo all the way to her most recent appearance and the new do. It doesn’t really appear to change much up until the last image, but I think what’s so striking about the change is that Rukia’s hair has gone from being heavily stylized to simply being stylish. Rukia’s new hair seems to behave a little more like real hair and a little less like that of a manga character, the frayed tips getting closer and closer to “strands” of hair instead of chunks.

I think this trend is more visible with a character whose hair has undergone more changes over time.

Bleach: The story of Orihime’s increasingly luxurious hair.

Rukia’s old hair was almost iconic. The shape of it was as much a part of her character as was her lack of drawing ability and striking eyes. Orihime on the other hand never had a particularly distinct hairstyle; all it really needed was length. As such, I think Kubo was able to play around with it a lot more, and I think it shows his move towards more “realistic” hair. Rukia needed a time-skip for it to happen without it being too jarring, whereas for Orihime her hair was never well-defined enough for it to need a flash forward to change.

Check it out with more characters, even Ichigo! I think you’ll see what I mean.