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Because there’s nobody better to show us how to style our hair like an animated high school girl than a real-life high school girl.

With almost 20,000 subscribers and over 30 million views on her YouTube channel, Ayano is one of the most popular schoolgirls in Japan. Aged 17, and in her final year of high school, the Nagano-based student has been delighting viewers with beauty tutorials for the past couple of years, but it’s one of her latest videos that’s proving to be her most popular, racking up more than three-quarters of a million views in just three weeks.

The reason for the clip’s popularity is the fact that it provides an easy how-to guide for recreating the hairstyle of Mitsuha, the female star from one of Japan’s highest-grossing animated movies ever, Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. Let’s take a look at the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prRWsVl4nhg

To recreate the look, Ayano recommends using the following: a hairbrush; a hairclip; some small, smooth hair ties; bobby pins; hair wax, hairspray; and finally, a red braided cord, which is a central part of the movie’s touching storyline.

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After leaving a few whispy strands of hair to frame the side of your face, separate the hair into three parts, tying the middle section into a high ponytail, before plaiting the remaining sections into two twin tails. Then, after gently loosening the top of the plaits, incorporate them up into the ponytail with hair ties.

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Next, take the long length of hair and wrap it around the ponytail, securing it in place with some bobby pins. This will leave you with the two short plaited sections showing, which you can then release to create a short, thick ponytail.

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After that’s done, all that’s left to do is wrap the braided cord around the ponytail a couple of times, before tying it into a long bow at the top. This can be hard to do on your own, so Ayano suggests getting a friend to help you out with this part if necessary.

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▼ To see just how well this look compares to the original, check out Mitsuha’s hairstyle in the trailer for the movie below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRfHcp2GjVI

One of the things we love about this cute up-do is that you don’t have to be a schoolgirl to wear it. Whether you’re going out with friends, or even looking for a summer style for the office, the neat look is a great way to add some anime style to your everyday!

Source, Images: YouTube/ayanonono