Kitsune in popular culture

Embedded in popular folklore as they are, kitsune have made appearances in many contemporary Japanese works. A few Western authors have also made use of the kitsune legends. In anime, kitsune are sometimes depicted in a manner similar to non-furry catgirls, usually as female, seductive, and fond of alcohol. Specific depictions of kitsune include:

Kitsune in anime and manga

• In ×××HOLiC, Watanuki eventually acquires the Kudakitsune (pipe-fox-spirit) which first appears as a furry serpent but later morphs into a more traditional Kitsune (with nine-tails).

• The series Crescent Moon by Haruko Iida and Stuart Hazleton has a demon fox named Misoka Asagi as the unofficial leader of the Moonlight Bandits.

• The digimon Renamon and her Digivolved forms from the third season of the Digimon anime (known in Japan as Digimon Tamers) were inspired by the kitsune.

• Shippo from InuYasha. As a nod to the shapeshifting abilities sometimes attributed to kitsune, Shippo is capable of taking many forms through use of a green leaf on his head, in the manner of the tanuki.

• Ryutarō from Pom Poko.

• A shapeshifting kyūbi no kitsune named Sakura is one of the main characters of the anime/manga series Hyper Police.

• The spirit of a kyūbi no kitsune, called the Nine-tailed Demon Fox (Kyūbi no Yōko), was sealed within Uzumaki Naruto, the main character of anime/manga Naruto. Naruto has fox-like whiskers on his face and has a prankster personality. Naruto also has his eyes closed most of the time giving him the fox like appearance.

• A kitsune named Yōko (a common Japanese feminine name, but also another word for a kitsune) is one of the main characters of the anime and manga Tactics.

• Shuichi Minamino — the human alias of Kurama, a main character of Yu Yu Hakusho — is the reincarnation of a kitsune thief named Yōko Kurama.

• Konno Mitsune of Love Hina is almost exclusively referred to as "Kitsune" due to her sly prankster nature, her fondness for alcohol, and her almost always closed eyes, which make her appear fox-like.

• In Rurouni Kenshin, Takani Megumi is nicknamed "Kitsune" and even portrayed as one in some episodes by Goro Fujita (Hajime Saitou).

• In the series Angel Tails (Tenshi no Shippo) there are two kitsune: Akane is a young benevolent guardian spirit, while her mother seeks to become a nine-tail fox and throw humans into a pit of fear.

• The Pokémon known as Vulpix (Rokon in Japanese) and Ninetails (Kyukon) are based on the Kitsune legend. The "evolution" of Vuplix into Ninetails is a direct parallel to the change in color and abilities when a fox gains its ninth tail after a thousand years.

Kitsune in computer and videogames

• Two Pokémon, the Vulpix and the Ninetales, are derived from the mythical nine-tailed fox.

• Additionally the Pokémon Eevee and its evolutions also posess Kitsune traits of different elements. Espeon also bares a second tail.

• The SNES/Super Famicom game Shadowrun features a female shaman named Kitsune. She can transform into a fox, which is also her totem animal, and is an extensive magic user.

• In some Legend of Zelda games, Keaton is a yellow 'ghost fox.' In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, we get to see a mask that is based on the kitsune. Also in the latter game, a real kitsune appears, though this character was renamed to Keaton for releases outside of Japan.

• In Mega Man X Command Mission there is a set of secret bosses named OneTail through NineTails, and each looks like an anthropomorphic fox with the described number of tails.

• In Mega Man Zero 3, there is an enemy names Kyuubit Foxtar, who is a perfect portrait of one of kitsune's trickeries; He is male (officially stated by Capcom and Inti creates, the companies that make Mega Man Zero series), but appears so feminine that people formerly mistook him as female, and even until today some people still refuse to call him a 'he'.

• In Ragnarok Online, the kitsune is featured as a powerful monster called a Ninetails and as a boss named Moonlight Flower. Also featured in Ragnarok Online is a head gear known as the Kitsune Mask.

• Miles "Tails" Prower, the sidekick of Sonic the Hedgehog, is a two-tailed fox.

• In Bioware's game, Jade Empire, Fox Demons such as the Forest Shadow have multiple tails and are acknowledged as notorious tricksters

• In the Touhou series of games, Ran Yakumo, a nine-tailed fox, is the extremely powerful boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom's Extra stage, and also one of Yukari Yakumo's shikigami.

• In the Animal Crossing series of video games, Crazy Redd, a kitsune, sells rare items, but also sells common items for sky-high prices.

Kitsune in comics and graphic novels

• Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters is a short story featuring a kitsune protagonist, lushly illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.

• One of the two main characters of Andi Watson's comic Skeleton Key is a transplanted kitsune with a sweet tooth named Kitsune.

• An issue of the Psycho Circus comic book, starring the members of the band KISS as cosmic beings, featured a story where a feudal-era samurai is trapped in a traveling circus populated by kitsune.

• Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo features a female fox character with the stage name "Kitsune," who is a trickster and master thief.

Kitsune in literature

• The story of the nine-tailed fox is told by Shuri Kurogane in Ran, Akira Kurosawa's epic retelling of King Lear.

• The protagonist of Kij Johnson's novel The Fox Woman is a kitsune named Kitsune.

• Fantasy author Mercedes Lackey introduced kitsune characters into her Serrated Edge novels.

• Jon Courtenay Grimwood's sf/police procedural/Gothic horror/thriller novel 9tail Fox uses the kitsune as a critical plot element — one gives a murdered Chinese SFPD detective a second life to investigate his own death.

• Larissa Lai's When Fox is a Thousand includes a marvelous retelling of the kitsune legend from the fox's point of view.

Kitsune in roleplaying and card games

• White Wolf Game Studio's Werewolf: The Apocalypse roleplaying game features a race of shapeshifting fox-people known as the "Kitsune". These are two versions. The first version being the kitsune who follow the pre-corrupted Wyrm of Balance, have magical powers and are immune to silver. The second version being the kitsune who were created by Luna amongst other changes and expansions on kitsune society and paths, in Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East.

• In "Skinchangers," a book from White Wolf Game Studio's newer World of Darkness setting, Kitsune are again seen. They appear as a collection of varieties of different fox spirits renowned for their talents as tricksters. They are separated into the obedient servants of Inari who only trick those who deserve it (Inari Seha) and the cruel tricksters who defy their patron (Inari Kihar). There are four varieties of kitsune: kitsune ka (which remain in fox form), kitsune unu (which take on humanoid form), kitsune sedu (spirits that Claim mortals in similar manner of other spirits, and are almost invariably Inari Kihar), and siten uzu. The siten uzu are notable in that they do not possess mortals but still reside in a human's body. Almost always Inari Seha, they 'hide out' in a human for some reason (usually to escape pursuers) for the length of the mortal's lifespan. As compensation, the human is allowed to draw upon a measure of the kitsune's power. The book provides rules for siten uzu as player characters.

• In the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, the kitsune appear in the Champions of Kamigawa block as a race of noble, plains-dwelling anthropomorphic foxes. Several different kitsune characters are mentioned by name on the cards and in the fiction based on the cards, including the legendary fox cleric "Eight-and-a-Half-Tails."