So is Naruto a Kitsune? I’m really not sure how to qualify him. If he is then let’s pretend I put him at number 1. Naruto’s nine-tailed demon fox introduced me to the concept of Kitsune in a rather skewed way but since they have become one of my favourite Yokai.
In any case, let’s keep this simple. Let’s stick to characters that are more clearly defined as Kitsune. These are tricky wiry multi-tailed fox spirits that I happen to really like. Even though some of them are surprisingly gloomy.
Let me know if you agree with me.
5. Pyo – The God of Highschool
Ok, so technically Pyo is also possessed by a Kitsune rather than being one himself but hey, it was my favourite part of The God of Highschool. Pyo’s Charyeok is the Nine-Tails Guardian and he has powers such a fox rain (which is kind of ironic considering the traditional power of foxfire).
Although the anime didn’t delve into it too much, there is clearly a blend of classic Chinese legends happening in the background of the story and the fox spirit has an important role to play. I like the blending of mythology just adds just a bit of depth that I appreciate.
4. Mugetsu – xxxHOLiC
At first, it isn’t obvious that the tiny, feisty and loving pipe fox is in fact a majestic Kitsune, even though his tiny pipe fox form is considered the superior one.
xxxHOLiC actually features a number of Kitsune and they have different forms. Maybe there are different Kitsune species. However, Mungetsu is the one that looks the most traditional to me, with his facial markings and nine tails. This said the little fox at the restaurant is also adorable!
I really liked the added little bit of lore that a Kitsune’s favourite food is fried tofu but if they eat too much they get lazy and fat and need to go on a cleanse. I just really liked the idea for some reason.
3. Ginji – Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits
Ginji would be the quintessential Kitsune if he weren’t so timid and quiet. I guess it can be difficult to out mischief an Ogre God but it’s like Ginji isn’t even trying!
Nevertheless, he does stand tall in a world filled with demons and the traditional setting and costumes of Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits just make him all the more Kitsune-like.
Does that make any sense? Not really. Well I like kimonos!
2. Soushi – Inu x Boku SS
Potentially the titular Inu, Soushi is everything you want in a Kitsune. OK, he’s more everything I want. In human form, he’s all suave, silver-haired, suit-wearing and helpful. The perfect if a little persistent butler. In Kitsune form, he’s a traditional outfit-wearing, katana-wielding powerhouse! And both are pretty easy on the eyes.
It seems that Soushi started out as much more of a trouble maker, in keeping with his Kitsune heritage but has grown to be devoted and reliable. Well, at least in comparison with the rest of the Inu x Boku crew. Those guys are all nuts!
On an unrelated note, I was thinking of starting to collect the manga but the only volume 1 I manage to find was 85$. That’s a touch steep.
1. Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Is Kokkuri-san my favourite anime Kitsune? Maybe. I sure like him a lot and he fits all the traditional requirements. And I say him but Kukuri-san actually changes gender at will. They aren’t all that worried by social impositions, or biological ones either.
I also really like Gugure Kokkuri-san as an anime and I feel like it flew under a lot of people’s radar so I like to talk about it whenever I can. I would love to see more of this show.
I did look for the manga but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. In fact, the only reward I got for my troubles is the discovery of a fanservicy Kokkuri-san body pillow cover that I can no longer unsee no matter how much I try. Phooey!
There you have it, 5 of my favourite kitsunes. I just noticed there aren’t any girls. I was thinking of Halo for instance but apparently, she isn’t a kitsune but a fox harvest diety which is completely different? And a lot of the fox girls I happen to know are either fox girls or comfort spirits. I’m probably watching the wrong shows.
Do you guys have a favourite Kitsune? Please tell me who it is! Also where I can watch them!
Oh yay ! You added Kokurri san ! I loved that show and he was best kitsune ! I also have a spot for Karama from Yu Yu Hakasho
I watched YuYu recently and he definetly deserves a spot
*Feverishly adding animes to watch to the list* LOL And lt me also raise my voice for Gintama even though someone beat me to it.
“Fox Rain” is one of the powers of Kitsune in Japanese lore. It is rain that falls from a clear blue cloudless sky. If I’m remembering correctly. Seems like it tends to fall on outdoor weddings.
Western mythology has a female fox shape shifter, often seen in tales such as “The Wild Wife” or Woods Wife.. A man meets a beautiful woman in a forest, marries her, she runs off later back to live in the woods and he gets a glimpse of her in fox form, or he sees her in fox form and she runs away because of it. Sometimes leaving a fey-touched child behind! You have to be a bit of a fairy/folk tale enthusiast to have run onto them. But of course, it struck me because I like Kitsune so much…
Yes! Mugetsu and Kokkuri-san. Thank you!
I haven’t seen too many others besides the ones you listed (and Naruto of course), but I can give a shout-out to Yukikaze from Dog Days.
I have never heard of Dog Days. There seems to be a lot of animal girls in it.
Yeah, it’s an isekai-like where there are kingdoms of dog-people, cat-people, squirrel-people, etc. A kid from our world gets summoned to fight in a war on behalf of the dog kingdom against the cat kingdom, only the “wars” are basically just glorified sporting events where no one actually gets hurt. So it’s mostly just a fun action-comedy romp. Yukikaze’s allied to the dog kingdom and she’s the only kitsune in the show (or at least the only named one).
Unfortunately Dog Days just got pulled off Crunchyroll a couple months ago because Aniplex took their license back, so there isn’t anywhere to stream it legally right now.
I consider Kitsune spirits anything fox related, mult-tailed or not so I’m surprised I didn’t see the Kogitsune from Natsume, but I saw your explaination.
Honestly, my favorite is still the Kitsune spirit from Flying Witch. It’s just a fox spirit that totally looks and acts like a fox, but shows up at a magical cafe and orders fox so they must be magical! (Not sure where you can watch Flying Witch tho these days legally.)
Oh yeah, I needed a way to widdle down the list because there are so many awesome fox characters
This is true, gotta draw the line somewhere. Does this mean we’re going to get a Top 5 Fox characters post later on? lol
I probably will – hey any excuse to post pretty fox boys and fox girls…
I will be eagerly awaiting the pretty fox boys and girls post!
sweet!
Flying Witch is still on Crunchyroll. Probably HiDive/VRV too, since it was a Sentai license. Though I bought it on Blu Ray as soon as I could, so I haven’t really paid attention to the streaming options in a long time.
Tomoe!Tomoe!..
In the vein of ‘grumpy but caring’ fox spirit characters one of my favs is Gintaro from ‘Gingitsune’ which I think is on Crunchyroll.
Another fav is Hakumen no Mono (from ‘Ushio & Tora’ – I know it’s on Animelab but not sure if that automatically also means Funimation).
Both go on the list! Thank you! This is awesome
Cool! Hakumen no Mono doesn’t get as much screen time as Gintaro in their respective shows but she’s a menacing force.
I’d like to re-watch ‘Gingitsune’ one day, it’s got a relaxing slice of life feel.
I see you didn’t include the little Fox from Natsume.
I was fully expecting Kokkuri-san but was getting worried when I arrived at spot 2 that I might have been wrong.
Af for gender, there’s a show which I haven’t seen much of, Wagaya no Oinari-sama, in which the resident kitsune is so old that they’ve forgotten their original gender and they have two human forms which they shift between.
Horo is a harvest deity, but she’s a wolf, not a fox. That’s why the show isn’t called Spice and Fox. Though that would be interesting in its own right.
Last season’s Kemono Jihen had an entire Kitsune faction. Kon, the resident fox girl, had good chemistry with the main character Kabane. Two completely socially inept characters bonding in a sort-of romantic way, but they’re so clueless that they’re not the least embarrassed, just confused. I doubt I’ve ever seen anything like their (very few) scenes in anime. It was oddly adorable.
There’s a show about foxgirls running an onsen inn, Konohana Kitan. That was pretty cute and had some really outstanding episodes (while being mostly okay otherwise).
I think the best foxgirls are still the cast from Otome Youkai Zakuro (well, they’re halfspirits, under the tutelage of the only full-kitsune Kushimatsu, but still…). A show that could use more attention now and then. (Crow has reviewd it.)
There are so many foxes in anime, it’s easy to forget a few.
There are a lot of foxes. I thought the little fox Yokai in Natsume was a fox yokai rather than a Kitsune. I’m only going by tail count. There rae so many cool foxes
Don’t the tails grow with age? I heard kitsune won’t have more than one tail until they’re at least 100 years old. To me, the tails have never been more than a status symbol, or a sign that you’re dealing with an old and powerful fox. But they all start out with one. Am I wrong?
You know, the lore I read was quite inconsistent and sometimes made a distinction between nine tailed kitsune and just kitsune spirits. I do think they all get stronger and wth more abilities but I didn,t see anything about the tails growing with time. That doesn’t mean it’s not part of the lore though.
I am not sure if he counts.. but Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho!
He doesn’t look like a Kitsune normally.. but he is a human with a fox spirit soul.. and he has a fox form which is kinda his true form! So he is more fox than Naruto at least!
I also really like Izuna from No Game No Life, I just fell in love with her design!
I think Kuruma is a Kitsune, I also watched that after writing this post…
Isn’t Izuma a werefox. Like a human fox hibrid? I didn’t know she was a kitsune at all, I should rewatch the show
As far as I know she is called “beast-folk” so in the technical sense she might not be a Kitsune… but her tails, the way she handles herself, the fact that she is quite a bit of a trickster, living in the more japan themed part of the world.. I’d say she basically is a Kitsune.
Kind of like “Flugel” are just angels under a different name, or imagine if we saw a green skinned warrior race in there with tusks.. and they call it Warrior-Folk.. we’d still know it’s kinda an Orc. So I see Izuma as a Kitsune.
Kurama is better though! 😛
Wait.. izuma has more than one tail? I really have to see it now!
Wait.. izuma has more than one tail? I really have to resee it now! I honestly didn’t remember her having multiple tails or being a trickster and a troll.
She has one tail.. sorry for saying tails!
I think she was pretty tricky in her game.. and she has the whole Kitsune charm going on for her.. I at least see her as a Kitsune! I might be wrong though XD
I really enjoyed Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss. I watched it on Hulu, but that was five or six years ago, so I am not sure if it is still available there. Great article — so many pretty fox-boy yōkai! 🌸
I actually watched Kamissama Kiss maybe a week after completing this post and I was kicking myself!
If you still have a kitsune itch, there’s Ran Yakumo from 東方Project ─ she makes a cameo in the Fantasy Kaleidoscope anime, which you can watch on YouTube, since technically it is a dōjin anime. There are professional voice actors and high-tier animation production, so it is a treat to experience.
Interesting. Kitsune itches are the best to have!