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Do you know any of a raccoon character?
Isn't what reminds you of a round stomach, short legs and arms, black mark on the face, and thick tail?
Also, the image of their personality tends to be easy-going and dumb, being strongly inspired by the characters from the folktale “Kachi-Kachi Mountain”…

The raccoon characters are widely known for such images, but their characters are unexpectedly full of variety, including female characters who are good at sports and male characters who make you want to protect them for their cuteness.

I would like to introduce the hidden charms of the raccoon characters, who are somewhat different from the fox characters, who are known to be beautiful !

Full of energy and have a high sports ability! But, little clumsy? Raccoon girl and raccoon boy

●Kagemori Michiru from “BNA”

Kagemori Michiru is the heroine from the TRIGGER's latest anime called “BNA”.
The story is set in a society where “humans” and “therianthropes” coexist.
She was living like an ordinary human, but one day, she suddenly turns into a raccoon therianthrope. The story begins when she visits the special district for therianthropes called “Anima City” as she looks for a solution.

Her appearance is exactly what a raccoon has been personified.
She has a thick, fluffy tail and round ears. She is a perfect raccoon girl with black marks unique to raccoons not only on her legs and arms, but also on her face, too!

She has an energetic personality and is good at sports. She is so good at interacting with others that she starts to teach writing to the children who she met for the first time.

Her image is also similar to that of a typical raccoon, because she easily get tricked and gets her wallet stolen, and sometimes shows her clumsiness when she gets caught by a trap.

●Watanuki Banri from “Inu×Boku SS”
The romance comedy “Inu×Boku SS” is set in “Maison de Ayakashi”, where the unique humans with yokai ancestors live together with SS (the bodyguards called secret service).

Watanuki Banri is the energetic resident of Room 1 of this apartment who self-recognizes himself as a “delinquent”. He is a 1st-year student in high school whose cross- hair accessory on his blond hair is very charming, and always wears his self-made T-shirt which says “the delinquent quotes” under his school uniform.

He is honest and single-minded, but he always spins his wheel and turns into a “small raccoon” when he gets excited.
But, he is an innocent boy who always wants to get stronger for a girl whom he loves and that makes you want to cheer for him.

Optimistic and cute! Loves to trick people and sometimes mischievous… A child raccoon character who makes you want to protect him

●Poco from “Poco's Udon World”
Poco is a child raccoon character from “Poco's Udon World”.
When the protagonist Tawara Souta comes back home in Kagawa to his udon store, he finds a boy who is sleeping in an iron pot which boils udon. Souta believes that he is a lost child, so takes care of him and decides to take him to the police, but he finds out that he is a yokai raccoon on his way. This a heartfelt family comedy where the protagonist begins to live together with Poco while trying to hide him.

He has big and round eyes and a small body of a 3 or 4-year-old boy. Poco is a cute raccoon boy who also has big round raccoon ears hidden in his curly hair and has a big tail which is as big as half of his body.

He is always smiling and energetic, but also a crybaby when he is lonely. He is so full of curiosity that he would be able to follow a frog anywhere, and he sometimes gets scold for tricking people.
He cannot yet speak words fluently, but he is a friendly child raccoon character who sometimes calls out people's names.

●Shigaraki Koyuzu from “Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs”

“Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs” is an exciting romance comedy with a little sexiness. The story follows the high school student Fuyuzora Kogarashi, who has the ability to see ghosts, visiting an hot spring hotel and spending his life with Yuuna-san and other yokai girls who live there.

Shigaraki Koyuzu is a 10-year old raccoon yokai who lives in the “Hotel Yuragi”.
Yuragi wants to get matured as soon as possible and is very interested in ladies with a nice style. She once caused a big trouble because of her interest and got picked up from “Demon Shrine” to this “Hotel Yuragi”.

Her appearance is a 10-year old girl with a small body, and has two large round ears on her head, which are unique to raccoon girls. She calls herself “boku” (this is usually for boys).
She hides her tail and ears by wearing a big hat and over-sized clothes when she goes outside.

Honest and has a strong sense of justice! A female character with a single-minded personality
●Raphtalia from “The Rising of the Shield Hero”

Raphtalia is the raccoon subhuman character from “The Rising of the Shield Hero” with the characteristics of the raccoons. She used to be a slave until being bought by the university student Iwatani Naofumi who gets summoned to another world by a book he finds in a library.

Because she got her parents killed in front of her and spent a long time as a slave, she used to be afraid of humans , but she begins to open her heart to Naofumi for his kindness and grows up to become a partner of Naofumi in the battle.

She has curly and fluffy long hair and round ears. Also, her fluffy big tails unique to the raccoon race gives kind and friendly impressions but she becomes a beautiful mature lady when as she grows up.

Raphtalia is always energetic and has a smile on her face. Her change in emotions is very easy to know. Her most appealing point is that she is a good swordsman. She is the strongest raccoon girl of the next generation.

●Ebisugawa Kaisei from “The Eccentric Family”
“The Eccentric Family” is an anime that depicts the family trouble of the raccoon families taking the shape of humans in Kyoto. The story revolves around the struggles of two noble raccoon families called Shimogamo and Ebisugawa, later involving humans and tengu.

Ebisugawa Kaisei is the girl from the Ebisugawa family. The female raccoon yokai is rare in this anime because most of the characters are males, and she is the fiancee of the protagonist Shimozuru Yasaburou.

She has straight long hair with straight-cut bangs. She dresses like an ordinary high school student, but she rarely shows up in front of people. She is a mysterious character whose voice is the only thing the viewers can feel. She never shows up, especially in front of Yasaburou, and gives the image of a quiet girl, but actually has a super bad mouth.

She is actually kind and has a strong sense of justice, who is caught in a dilemma between two opposing families. The reason why she has a bad mouth and never shows up in front of Yasaburou is because Yasaburou turns into a raccoon when they meet each other.

They are like Romeo and Juliet that they want to see each other but prohibited…Ebisugawa Kaisei is a tsundere raccoon girl who hides her true feelings in her malicious tongue.

In the ordinary image of the traditional Shitara-Yaki! The raccoon fathers who are very human
●Shoukichi and others from Kagemori in “Pom Poko”
“Pom Poko” is the animation movie from Ghibli released in 1994, and the director is Takahata Isao, who is known for “Grave of the Fireflies”.
The story is about the raccoons who, after losing their home, the forest of Tama, due to the urban development of Tama New Town, try to stop the deforestation caused by humans by using their transformation abilities called “Bakegaku” (originally means “science”).

I believe many of you remember this anime for having the highest number of “raccoon” characters appearing in the movie.
The raccoons appearing in the movie are all unique from one another, including earnest and very raccoon Shoukichi, a radical, hot-blooded Gonta, to lazy but kind Ponkichi.

Their appearance when they are not transformed is exactly the same as Shitara-Yaki raccoon, with a round and corpulent stomach, short limbs, and spaces around eyes and limbs are painted black.

The raccoons are so lovely for being depicted very human, since the movie is a criticism of deforestation. This is an original raccoon animation filled with every charm of the raccoons.

●Shitara from “Gugure! Kokkuri-san”
“Gugure! Kokkuri-san” is a noisy comedy anime where Ichimatsu Kohina, a girl who is little geeky, interacting with several yokai including the caring yokai called “Kokkuri-san”, whom she summoned for playing “self Kokkuri-san”, and Inugami who loves Kohina very much.

Among the yokai who lives in Kohina's home, Shitara is the raccoon yokai who knows Kokkuri-san for a long time.
His appearance is a middle-aged man who looks matured and wears a monk stole and wide hat, but he is actually a useless old man.
He always carries a bottle of alcohol, loves girls and gambling, and is a self-recognized “professional unemployed” who always asks for money.
In the past, he spent all his fortune into the horse race, and made his family go bankrupt.

But he has an easygoing and optimistic personality and loves to tease people. He always jokes and is a lovely father-like character whose interactions with Kokkuri-san and Ichimatsu Hinata are funny.

Raccoon but also not a raccoon!? A “dog-like” character who is like a symbol of the anime
●Josephine from “And Yet the Town Moves”
“And Yet the Town Moves” is a human comedy set in the downtown of Tokyo, and depicts the interactions of Arashiyama Hotori, who works part-time job at the maid cafe called “Seaside”, with the people in the town.

Josephine is the dog of the protagonist Hotori.
She has brown hair and short limbs. The appearance with black marks on his limbs, face, and the end of the tail is exactly of a raccoon. She becomes happy when she is patted by the senior of Hotori's friend called “Pon-chan”.

She has a simple and familiar personality, and her clumsiness with cuteness fit perfectly with the ordinary image of a raccoon.
She is the mascot of “Soremachi” who is loved by everyone in the town.

●Konpoco from “Esper Mami”
“Esper Mami” is a sci-fi manga by Fujiko F. Fujio, who is known for “Doraemon”. One day, a female middle school student Sakura Maki awakens her superpower, and begins to help others in trouble with an Esper of justice, while having the classmate Takahata Kazuo as a coach to learn how to use her power.

Konpoco is the dog at the home of the protagonist, Mami.
Konpoco is a male, crossbred dog that looks both like a fox and raccoon, and and cries like “Phyan, Phyan”. His favorite food is aburaage, which is as same as a fox.

His personality is very human and has a strong pride, therefore, when he is called with a wrong name or misunderstood for a fox or a raccoon, he gets angry and sulky.
Also, he laughs like a human for anything, and tries to communicate with others through gestures. These characteristics are exactly like Fujiko F. Fujio's character.

But when his master is in trouble, he is brave enough to go help his master.

A total of 10 raccoon characters were introduced so far. I believe you have realized that the characters are wide in the variety from a young boy to a beautiful female swordsman.

In general, the fox characters are depicted for a nice style, sharp eyes, beautiful or handsome characters (from the image of Inari shrines in Japan), but on the other hand, the raccoon characters are mostly drawn with human-like or clumsy characteristics, including fat body, big tail, and dark hairs.
But they are also filled with many appeals like fox characters.
Optimistic, honest, energetic, and friendly raccoon characters will stay by your side forever…

Why don't you look for your favorite raccoon character?
They will give you some of their energy!