Animals in Anime

[Evaldas]

Hey all, I was hoping I could draw from your wealth of knowledge of Anime.  I would like to do a few art pieces focusing on some animals in Anime. I am definitely doing to do some kitsune type foxes. But my knowledge base for animal in Anime is rather short (Princess Mononoke, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Full Metal, Ruroni Kenshin, Inuyasha...just to name some of the few I know). Know some of the basics for Japanese mythical creatures, but not enough to do much with it.

So here is where you guys come in: what would make some great art drawn from Anime?

[EveofAbyss]

Wolf's Rain is just one that comes to mind, I'm sure there are more.

[MichaelEvans]

Lets see... one of the characters in Spirited Away was actually a dragon, and there were lots of people that got turned in to pigs.  I'm not sure if demons count as animals (well, I just counted a dragon too, but that's something people once thought was an animal.), however there were also quite a few demons in it.

Yu Yu Hackashu (sp IS wrong) comes to mind as well, most of the demons in it would could be considered animals or at least different.

Besides those you have pets and things from various anime... but I don't think that's what you were looking for.

A counterpoint, thinking of demons, might be Digimon.  I'm sure all those monster/animal things were based on some portion of Japanese culture, some (many?) based on their mythology, but others based on the more modern perception.  It may also be helpful to see how various animals/mythologies are represented in various genera of Japanese animation/manga.  Everything from little boys/girls up through older dudes and ladies.

[superjaz]

as for old japanese storys there was one with snails, and a noh play that had a ghost cicada

[cupcake_abuser_zooshi]

I've heard of this one that's all about dogs. I don't remember what it's called.
I think it looks kind of silly. The dogs constantly have their mouths gaping open. And I've seen a clip where the main dog does this weird flip thing into a giant bears neck, and the bears' head gets blown off.
But it seems to have a decent sized fan-base.

[goatchild]

If you're looking for specifically anime animals, the Obligatory Cute Thing is a frequent of most shojo anime. Just google Tsubasa's Mokona or DNAngel's Wiz. There's also a good deal of dragons, cats, wolves, and kitsune as you've mentioned. As for mythology, it seems to me that the shojo anime tend to have more mythical creatures than shounen, such as Fushigi Yugi, the manga for Yami no Matsuei/Descendants of Darkness, and Cardcaptor Sakura. I could be wrong though. I hope you find what you need! ^^

[Briar]

Well, I dunno if you are looking for overly cutesy things, but there is this one anime, I think it's called Panda ko Panda, but I could be wrong (it's close to that at least), and it's about-yep, you guessed it- pandas. It's really adorable. I think it's an older Studio Ghibli anime.

[Evaldas]

Well, I am not necessarily looking for anything cute, but I won't say no either. I am just looking stuff I could look into for some inspiration. Though I will draw the line at anything like Pokemon and such...cause well, that's a comment for another time. 

Thank you so far for all your comments and suggestions. I look forward to hearing what else can be suggested.

[TomtheFanboy]

Geeze guys....

OK, have you heard of Tanuki? the Japanese shape changing badgers/raccoons?
Very Japanese.
The Ghibli film Pom Poko is ALL about them and their struggle to survive in modern Japan.
That is very good material for you.

Another animal, one that doesn't seem to be featured as muchin anime, is the tengu. The shapechanging Ravens. They liked to pretend to be buddhist monks or priests in the mountains.

Hope this helps.

[totemo_oishii]

Did anyone mention the penguin from Evangelion?

[Nroseseeer]

pretty much any Miyazaki is a good source for animals, some weird some cute like the fox-squirrel in Nassuca. Avatar also has some interesting creatures in it including a sabertooth-moose-lion, a platpusbear, a gaint flying bison, and the craziest of all.... a bear. (joke in the series)

[Evaldas]

Did anyone mention the penguin from Evangelion? 

Yay, Penpen! One of the few things that didn't leave me thinking WTF.

[Pie Row Maniac]

There's a pregnant cat in Godanner

[totemo_oishii]

I think there was a flying squirrel in Saint Tail.

[wolfy2491]

There's a kitsune in Tactics.

[Daxe]

Why has no one mentioned every almost every character in Ranma 1/2