Today I want to talk about Kokona's hair. Sorry, Instructor Kokona. But to avoid repetition, I will refer to the fine lady as Kokona.
Kokona has long two-tone hair that, if it weren't curved at the end, would easily touch the ground. Her hair is mainly gray, but near the ends it becomes black, as well as her having a black strand of hair down the center. This also applies to her ears, which have darker ends as well. Something else about her ears is that they're known to move around- while this is true for most animal-eared students, Kokona is known for this because she tends to move her ears a lot, especially compared to other students. It seems that she typically flaps her ears whenever she's happy, but she also slightly lowers her ears when she's pet in her memolobby. There is also her bangs, which also have these dark ends to them, implying that's just how long that part of her hair can naturally grow. These are the same hairs she grabs whenever she is given a headpat in the cafe. The interesting thing with Kokona's hair length is that whenever she's interacting with her funiture, you can see her hair just barely not touch the ground. Her hair is also mostly straight, but near the ends of it, you can see that her hair is a bit messier. I'm almost positive that this is from her being an instructor, causing her hair to occasionally get brushed up on something in Plum Blossom, or pulled a bit, or maybe even simply from touching the ground. Kokona takes good care of her hair like a proper lady! This isn't something she would do out of being careless. Finally, there's the ribbon she wears behind her back. This is a situation where I really wish I had Kokona in the cafe to see the back of her chibi to verify this, but her ribbon is very long and seems to both slightly tie her hair so it doesn't drag as much, but also holds her hair in place. It's also quite fashionable and complements her outfit well like an instructor's should.
When either of the Sunohara sisters are brought up, naturally the other one is worth looking at as well. It's not Shun's day today, so I won't analyze it as rigorously, but I will point out that the Sunohara sisters are a rather obvious allegory for Yin and Yang- Kokona's light hair being yang, and Shun's dark hair representing yin. It's not just that they have different hair, but also that both of their hair lightens/darkens. There's also an interesting thing going on with their clothes- Shun's ties and Shanhaijing lanyard hangs on green, while Kokona's hangs on red. Unfortunately, I don't know what symbolism could be there, but it is certainly worth pointing out. Maybe it's representative of their eyes? Shun does have eyes that shine like an emerald's, while Kokona's are like a piece of amber. It's also interesting how the two instructors have opposite styles to one another- Kokona is more likely to reach for the stick instead of the carrot, but she can relent and show a sweet side of her, whereas Shun reaches for the carrot first, her stick mainly meant to be used only when necessary... Maybe Kokona's dislike for carrots is more than just her being picky?
Kokona takes very good care of her hair! I said it before but I will say it again, her hair shines in light, meaning it's certainly healthy. Kokona's hair can certainly be brushed further so that it's perfectly smoothed, but this would be too much effort for anyone to maintain for an extended period of time. She's very good with her hair, and a good example to follow. Her hair almost certainly smells like a dessert- I wouldn't be surprised if it smelled like a nice cake, or a fruit orchard, like strawberries.