Japanese folklore is filled with animals from cats to foxes taking on human forms, and this has carried on into anime and manga. In modern anime stories, animals can become human thanks to magic, divine intervention, technology, or even reincarnation.
Sometimes, a character is introduced as a normal human, but their true nature eventually comes out. Some stories like to have a twist where a character's animal form is technically introduced first, but viewers don't realize their human form isn't a different character. Other times, their origin is brought up early on, but rarely gets mentioned to the point where it can confuse casual viewers to learn it.
10 Princess Tutu: Ahiru Is Named Duck For A Reason
In Princess Tutu, Ahiru, or "Duck," is a young girl who can transform into the magical ballerina Princess Tutu, who is tasked with finding the pieces of a mysterious prince's heart. However, the fairytale-like story proves to have quite a few twists, starting with the fact that Ahiru is really a duck turned into a human to fulfill her part in the story.
There are a few rules with the transformation. Quacking will change her back into a duck. In order to transform back into a human, she needs both her pendant and, ironically, water. Added to this, while viewers see Princess Tutu as a typical magical girl, characters inside the story see her as a giant swan.
9 All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku: Nuku Nuku Is A More Sci-Fi Take On This
Not all examples of animals becoming human involve magic. In All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Nuku Nuku was originally a cat, but after being fatally wounded, her brain was put into a schoolgirl android's body.
In her new form, she seeks to serve as a bodyguard to her former owner, a boy named Ryunosuke, whose father designed her robot body. Nuku Nuku is aware that she used to be a cat and occasionally retains cat-like qualities, especially when it comes to mice.
8 Sailor Moon: The Amazon Trio Aren't Just Named After Animals
In the '90s anime of Sailor Moon, three minions of Queen Nehelenia are introduced named Fish Eye, Hawk's Eye, and Tiger's Eye, who help search for Pegasus. Halfway through the season, it's revealed that they are actually a fish, hawk, and tiger who were granted human forms, although they themselves were unaware of this. This wasn't the case in the original manga, which had them introduced as animals and showed that they could change back if needed.
In the third movie, Badiane's minions are implied to be similar, as they change into birds upon being defeated. On the other hand, the Moon Cats, Luna and Artemis, and Rei's pet crows, Phobos and Deimos, are revealed to be the inverse of this. For most of the series, they appear to be animals, but the end of the manga reveals they originally had humanoid forms.
7 Mermaid Melody: The Dark Lovers Used To Be Sea Animals
Possibly in a nod to the Amazon Trio from Sailor Moon, in Mermaid Melody, the Dark Lovers are revealed to be sea creatures given humanoid forms. Izuru is a shark, Eriru is a ray, Maria is an eel, and Yūri is a fish. The Black Beauty Sisters were also made from anglerfishes.
While a few of the Winged Ones also similarly correspond to, and can even transform into, animals - with Fuku as a bird, Lady Bat as a bat, and Lanhua as a butterfly - it's unclear if they used to actually be these animals as well or are simply supernatural beings. On the other hand, Hippo, the mermaids' penguin mascot, is also able to transform into a human while on land, just like the mermaids themselves.
6 Soul Eater: Blair Is A Cat Who Gets Mistaken For A Witch
In Soul Eater, Blair is initially introduced as a witch, but, in a twist, turns out to be a black cat who can simply transform into a humanoid form. Normally, she hides her cat ears under a witch hat, causing her to come off as a humanoid to those who don't know any better. She also can retain her tail in this form.
Blair does benefit from a few of the superstitions associated with cats, however: she immediately comes back to life after being killed thanks to the idea that cats have nine lives.
5 Yu Yu Hakusho: Kurama Used To Be A Spirit Fox
In Yu Yu Hakusho, Kurama started out as a fox spirit who was fatally wounded and was reborn as a human known as Shuichi Minamino. He initially planned on returning to his life as a spirit fox, but grew to love his human mother, causing him to remain in the human world.
When revealing his origin, Kurama initially appeared as a fox in a flashback to his former life, where he is said to have developed powers over the many years he lived. As seen later in the series, Kurama is able to take on a form that combines both attributes, with silver hair, fox ears, golden eyes, and a tail, while otherwise humanoid.
4 Magical Meow Meow Taruto: The Characters Are A Bunch Of Pet Cats
In Magical Meow Meow Taruto, most of the main characters look like catgirls, with the occasional catboy, but this is really just for the audience's benefit, as they are actually just pet cats.
That said, Taruto herself turns out to be more than just a normal cat: she's actually a long-lost princess of a far-off kingdom, not that the other cats believe her.
3 Angel Tales: Gorō's 12 Dead Pets Are Now His Guardian Angels
In Angel Tales, Gorō Mutsumi is an unlucky young man who suddenly finds himself helped by guardian angels who are none other than the spirits of his dead pets.
His pets include Ran the goldfish, Tsubasa the parakeet, Kurumi the hamster, Yuki the snake, Mika the rabbit, Ayumi the turtle, Akane the fox, Midori the tanuki, Tamami the cat, Momo the monkey, Nana the dog, and Lulu the frog.
2 So I'm a Spider, So What?: The Titular Spider Is A Complicated Case (& So Is Shiraori)
Granted, the main character of So I'm a Spider, So What? is introduced as a spider and appears that way throughout the story, but readers are initially led to believe she used to be a human in her former life. Of course, the big twist is that her memories were altered and she was never a human to begin with: she was a simple house spider who lived in a classroom in her past life.
Complicating matters further, it's eventually revealed that the seemingly more humanoid Shiraori is also her alter-ego. Thanks to her origins, however, Shiraori is also capable of transforming herself to become more spider-like.
1 Spirited Away: The Bathhouse Workers Are Animal Spirits
In Spirited Away, Chihiro finds herself enslaved to Yubaba, an evil witch who runs a bathhouse. All of the other workers, who appear in varying humanoid forms, are actually animal spirits, notably the spider-like Kamaji.
Even Lin, who looks indistinguishable from a human, is revealed to be a "byakko" spirit, possibly a white tiger or fox, in the supplementary material. English translations changed this to her being a weasel spirit.