Why Japan Votes on Ponytails in July
July 7 is Ponytail Day in Japan. The date doubles as Yukata Day, and the Japan Ponytail Association chose it because ponytails pair naturally with the yukata, Japan's casual summer kimono. To mark the occasion, Japanese anime news site Anime Anime brought back its "best ponytail character" reader survey for the first time since 2024, collecting 351 responses between June 11 and June 18, 2026. The voter pool split nearly evenly between men (about 45 percent) and women (about 55 percent), with readers 19 and under making up roughly 30 percent and thirtysomethings another 25 percent.
A Color-Coordinated Ribbon Beat a Sailor Guardian
Kazuha Toyama (遠山和葉) has been a fixture of Detective Conan's supporting cast as the childhood friend of Osaka's teenage detective Heiji Hattori. Her father heads a division of the Osaka Prefectural Police, and she holds a second-dan rank in aikido herself. Voters kept returning to the same details in Anime Anime's write-up: the ribbon that ties her ponytail, whose color she changes to match each outfit, and her Kansai-dialect back-and-forth with Heiji. Several respondents said her appearances are the episodes they wait for.
Second place went to Makoto Kino (木野まこと), who transforms into Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon. Fans noted that the high ponytail suits her tall, athletic frame, and more than one respondent said she was the first ponytail character they ever encountered. The comments also nodded to her softer side; the Guardian who excels at raw power is also the one who cooks and gardens.
Maki Zenin (禪院真希) of Jujutsu Kaisen took third. Born into the prestigious Zenin clan with almost no cursed energy, she fights at close range on physical skill alone. She wears her hair short in the Culling Game storyline, but voters remembered the ponytail she had as a Jujutsu High first-year in Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Her run in the TV anime's third season, The Culling Game Part 1, sent plenty of fans back to that earlier look.
Umamusume Puns and a Mystery Precure in the Comments
Below the podium, the field got crowded. Gintama's Tae Shimura and Assassination Classroom's Toka Yada tied for fourth. Puella Magi Madoka Magica's Kyoko Sakura and My Hero Academia's Momo Yaoyorozu shared sixth. Haruhi Suzumiya, Demon Slayer's Kanao Tsuyuri, and Sound! Euphonium's Natsuki Nakagawa finished in a three-way tie for eighth.
The reader comments went further afield. Kanao drew praise for the side-gathered ponytail framed by her butterfly hair ornaments. One Umamusume: Pretty Derby fan voted for Tokai Teio on pure etymology: the word ponytail comes from a pony's tail, so a horse girl whose hair bounces as she runs felt like the obvious pick. A Sound! Euphonium reader pointed out that fans call Natsuki "Ponytail Senpai" for her unfussy tied-back style, adding that protagonist Kumiko, who usually wears her hair down, ties it up for competition day.
One vote even went to a character nobody can fully identify yet. Cure Eclair, the light-blue-ponytailed mystery Cure of Star Detective Precure!, earned support while the show keeps her civilian identity under wraps. Four candidates are in the running: Eliza Kurusu, Shiruku Ieiri, Kurea Hoba, and Rei Kaneda.
Anime Anime's editors spotted a pattern across the results: cheerful, active characters and battle-ready fighters dominated the ranking, since a ponytail that swings with movement reads especially well in action scenes.
Looking Ahead
The Cure Eclair mystery resolves almost immediately. Star Detective Precure! episode 25, airing July 19, 2026 in Japan, reveals who she really is, so at least one ponytail on this list is about to make news of its own. As for Maki, her Culling Game era is easy to catch internationally; Jujutsu Kaisen streams on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu. Anime Anime is already collecting votes for its next reader survey, a "funniest anime" poll open through July 25, and its 2024 ponytail ranking is still up for anyone curious how the field has shifted.