Cute Kitten: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Fluttershy''': I think this widdle puddy tat has your name written all over it! Yes he does...

'''Kitten''': Mew! ''*nuzzles Rainbow Dash and generally looks adorable*''

 

... Admit it, how long did you spend looking at the picture to the right before you started reading this article? Looking at the picture with automatic Bambi eyes setting in, with brain geared to [[Cuteness Proximity|"Such wee small biddy kitties?]] [[Tastes Like Diabetes|Whosa cute kitty? Sleepy kitty."]]

 

Contrast with [[Cats Are Mean]]. (Except when [[Cute Is Evil]], in which case they go hand-in-hand.)

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctZxEcNUi_I This Nexus S 4G Advertisement. Featuring a cameo of Nyan Cat!]

* There was a commercial with live kittens as office workers.

* Every advert for cat related products, such as cat litter (one UK advert involved a white kitten searching the house for the litter tray with a child-like voice over) and cat food. They're also going to be on some of the packages of said products (especially for food that's specifically designed for kittens).

* [http://youtu.be/z0hq4bBnYIM This advertisement for Sauza Tequila], in which a fireman (who has just rescued a kitten from a burning building) teaches you how to make a margarita. With the kitten's help.

 

* [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s "Astro Cat": In a world where Astro Boy is just a cartoon show, a bullied Astro Boy obsessed kid is forced to take his little tomcat away from home. When a group of aliens disguised as humans accidentally run over him and his pet cat, they try to cover it up by healing both the boy and cat up and erasing their memories of the event. However, because they have never seen a cat before, they unwittingly give the near-death tomcat all the powers of Astro Boy based from their readings of the injured boy's memories. With the ability to speak, lift heavy objects and fly, Astro Cat spends the rest of the series saving his sweetheart, Mink, or his owner from danger, both mundane and supernatural.

** Subverted by one of Astro Cat's enemies, Mephisto, a devil-like feline with supernatural powers who's lived since Egyptian times, who attempted to make Mink his bride.

** ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid]]'' later increases its usage of [[Rule of Cute]] by introducing Asteon, Einhart's Device which Hayate, Rein, and Agito made in the form of a snow leopard kitty.

* In the twelfth episode of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', Giroro takes a liking to a white kitten he finds in the rain (the [[FUNimation]] dub gives her a name—Miss Furbottom). She goes on to become a recurring character.

** Also, MISAKA. Aw, she's taking care of the kitty and {{spoiler|oh shit [[Mood Whiplash|Accelerator just ruptured all her veins by making her blood flow backwards]].}}

* Mikoto Minagi from ''[[My-HiME]]'' has two pet cats that follow her around.

* A black cat named Amy in the opening of ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. Other than a drama CD, [[Covers Always Lie|she doesn't exist anywhere else.]]

** [http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Amy According to the PMMM wiki], Gen Urobuchi admits that he was not aware of any cat and that he was surprised when he saw it at the storyboard of the OP. Amy was never part of the original storyline as she was fabricated by SHAFT for the OP of the Anime to mislead viewers and fans with a [[Red Herring]]. However, SHAFT approached Urobuchi for the Drama CD and asked him to include the cat in it, so Urobuchi accepted and she was included in the drama CD. {{spoiler|Amy is actually the reason why Madoka was a [[Magical Girl]] in the third timeline; her wish to Kyuubey was to save the kitty's life when she was seriously injured.}}

* While not a kitten, [[Naruto]] gets help from an adorable cat named Ishi in completing the first step of the [[Sphere of Destruction|Rasengan]].

 

== Comic Books ==

* Ruffles the Rage Cat (known in canon as Dex-starr) uses this to his advantage by being a) aggressively adorable and b) adorably aggressive. Then he blows your head off with his [[Green Lantern|Red Lantern]] powers. His [[Start of Darkness|tragic]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|backstory]] just makes him more desire-to-hug inducing.

* The (not so) pious Helene (a story by [[Wilhelm Busch]]) has one. Though the trope gets subverted when [http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/gutenb/wbusch/helene/bilder/helen703.gif her cat and] [http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/gutenb/wbusch/helene/bilder/helen705.gif another one (a tom)] first [http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/gutenb/wbusch/helene/bilder/helen704.gif kill Lene's canaries] and then wreak havoc in the house.

 

== Fan Works ==

* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7208415/1/The_Adventures_of_James_Vega_and_Sergeant_Whiskers The Adventures of James Vega and Sergeant Whiskers,] a [[Mass Effect]] story done as a takeoff of a forum meme postulating that Vega likely owns a cat.

 

== Film ==

* Now who can forget Jonesy in ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]''? Not even the xenomorph can resist thinking the cat is cute.

* ''[[The Spirit (film)|The Spirit]]'' establishes that the main character likes cats, and The Octopus the villain pretends like cats and introduces us to a cute kitten, Muffin, "his favorite" who he then proceeds to... melt to death.

 

== Literature ==

** Nanny Ogg's possibly demonic tom cat Greebo, on the other hand, found an encounter with her [[Beware the Nice Ones|somewhat disquieting, to say the least.]]

** Death, who is normally dispassionate about his job, has a soft spot for cats and gets really upset when he has to collect a bunch of kittens at once because someone drowned a sack of them in a rain barrel.

{{quote|'''Susan''': I wonder what happened when the man who did this met [[The Grim Reaper|my grandfather]].

'''Lobsang''': Would he have met your grandfather?

** And of course, fan artists will always fall back on this trope when it comes to drawing chibis.

* In the ''Cat Who'' series of books by Lillian Jackson Brown. There is a cast of several Kitties, but the main stars are the Psychic cat Koko, and his partner Yum Yum.

* Subverted by Umbridge in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''. Just because she likes (moving!) pics of kittens, this doesn't mean she's one of the [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|good ones]].

* In ''Whispering Nickel Idols'', Garrett acquires a bucketful of kittens whose very presence seems to radiate feelings of happiness, contentment, and party-time good cheer. It turns out that they're {{spoiler|disguised lesser avatars of a goddess of merriment and the night}}.

* Subverted by the kitten trees in ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Cetaganda]]''.

** Only one of his stories features the helpful moon-cats. Another features the same cats in a creepier context, where they eat a couple of cat-haters to the bone for revenge of killing a kitten.

* In ''[[The Witch of Blackbird Pond]]'', Hannah's cure for sad children is blueberry cake and a kitten. It never fails.

* ''[[Letters Back to Ancient China]]'' has the narrator/protagonist often talking about his Shiao-shiao and how misses her.

 

* In an episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'', after the guest star psychiatrist told JD about "Takotsubo cardiomyopathy" (broken heart syndrome), where the heart muscle weakens due to emotional stress, JD wonders how he's supposed to treat emotions. Cue an [[Imagine Spot]] where he dumps a box of kittens over a patient having a heart attack ("Get the kittens! Stat!") and then [[Yes but What Does It Do|lists the possible side-effects of kittens]]. Namely, allergies, tiny scratches, and erectile dysfunction.

** Just to make you go "Awwww!", here's a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ1mYHWlnNA link].

** Stewart tried using pictures of cute kittens as a form of [[Brain Bleach]] on the segment about [http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-7-2010/pope-opera cover-ups of child molestation in the Catholic Church]. They didn't take.

** Not even Professor Butterscotch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP9vQl-YcDE\] can keep John from losing it over the bank bailouts.

* ''[[The Closer]]'' provides a possibly deliberate example in introducing Joel, Brenda's new kitten, given that the case the episode revolves around is particularly draining emotionally.

* Orange Kitten and Periwinkle of ''[[Blue's Clues]]'' are of the [[Talking Animal]] variety.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6x91utqJo Mimsie], the adorable kitten in the MTM Enterprises [[Vanity Plate]].

* ''[[Animal Planet]]'' uses footage of kittens at play as the "half-time show" for its annual ''[[Puppy Bowl]]''.

* Data's cat, Spot, in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. Possible subversion swinging back towards a straight play when Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome causes her to de-evolve into an iguana and then have a litter of perfectly normal kittens.

* [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]: Crow had a tendency to exclaim "Kitties!" with delight whenever a kitten showed up in a movie...or any kind of cat...or, well, pretty much any animal at all, especially if it happened to be deadly.

* ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]: The Hamster Wheel'''s "[[Australian Politics]], as told through [[YouTube]] videos of cats" segments play on this.

 

== Music ==

* In the song ''Wretch'' by the Canadian band Protest The Hero, there is meowing at 3:31.

* "Jakdo" by pinknruby has purring most of the way through. The band made a stop-motion animation of the first 30 seconds featuring the sleeping cat and some scrunched up paper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyY9Y7XUCRU

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** It's something of a [[Running Gag]] among the fandom that the World Eaters are less psychotic in their downtime. [[Memetic Mutation|And that Kharn is a hell of a guy.]]

** A fanwiki for it, Lexicanum, [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cat has an entry for cats in the fourth-first millenium]. An example is an Astrophat's pet cat, who is described as being killed along with the entire planet's population after the planet it lived on was hit by [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Exterminatus]].

 

== Video Games ==

** Telma's cat is a very plot important kitty.

*** Remlits from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'' also count, but only during the day. [[Cats Are Mean|At night...]]

* In ''[[Castlevania]]: Order of Ecclesia'', there are cats hiding in some areas. Upon picking a cat up, it will go back to the village. Normally you can't do anything with them (aside from [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|hitting them to make them freak out]]), but if you have a particular glyph, you can transform into a [[Catgirl]] and talk to them to get some hints. Also, the cats are all [[Theme Naming|named after various ingredients]] (like Soybean, Flour and Tofu), which makes them all the more cuter.

** Not to mention that holding the stylus on the screen while one of the cats is present will cause a toy mouse to appear, allowing you to tease the cats with it and make them jump after it.

* Several kitties in the ''[[Pokémon]]'' series, though getting into the evolutions will take too long. Meowth, Skitty, Glameow, and Purrloin are the proper kitten Mons.

* The resident [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]]s of ''[[Tokimeki Memorial|Tokimeki Memorial 2]]'', [[Born Unlucky|Miyuki Kotobuki]] and [[Broken Bird|Kaori Yae]], have positively adorable scenes revolving around cats: you can see in Childhood Mode a young Miyuki with her kitten Mii-chan in the front pocket of her dungarees, playing with her; and Kaori has a post-[[He's Back|She's Back]] scene where she finds and happily plays with a kitten, serving as a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]]. In addition, Kaori has a beautiful [[Image Song]] named "Tsukiyo no Koneko" ("Moonlight Kitten").

* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series has Blaze.

* An enigmatic black cat makes an unexplained appearance early in ''[[Ghost Trick]]''. {{spoiler|Turns out that cat is Sissel's ''real'' corpse, animated by another ghost's powers. At the end of the game Sissel rearranges the timeline so his body (currently a young kitten, since this is ten years before his death) was pierced by the Temsik meteorite shard rather than Yomiel, and he is adopted by Jowd's family. [[Living Forever Is Awesome]], but it's extra awesome when you're an adorable kitten.}}

* In ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'', doing an extra side quest can result in the library being filled with cute cats. {{spoiler|You just go back into the past and give the little girl there a kitten. Back to the future, and bam. The place is filled with it's descendants.}}

* ''[[Something|Something Else]]'': Cat Beach has the gimmick of collecting 75 kittens for a giant cat before he allows Luigi to move onto the next level. The cat even does a cute smile at Luigi when Luigi completes this task.

 

== Web Comics ==

** More recently, [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]] pondered the unintended consequences of sending a kitten to college. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/27/ The other students would never accept him. He would always be an outcast.]

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' has Mr. Scruffy. In a stick figure comic, his presence never fails to add a sense of levity to the scene.

* Mike is killed and one of their own is missing. What will make the [[CRFH]]'s day better? [http://crfh.net/d/20080416.html This.]

* Random kitties go [http://rufftoon.deviantart.com/art/Avatar-Finale-6-5-Epilogue-46688187 here.]

* ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'': "[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/extras/ps000032.html Pose with a little white cat because] SHIT JUST GOT CUTE."

** Another MSPA example, this time actually in canon and from ''Homestuck'': [http://images.wikia.com/mspaintadventures/images/b/b3/Mutie.png Vodka "Mutie" Mutini]/Dr. Meowgon Spengler

* When the mad scientist of ''[[Narbonic]]'' has her superintelligent gerbils begin their [[Genre Savvy|inevitable]] rebellion against their creator, she sends in a cute kitten named [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9818 Sir Pounce]. The gerbils' human intelligence causes them to [[Cuteness Proximity|coo and aww]] over the kitten even as he eats them one by one. After his death, Sir Pounce is spotted in Hell.

{{quote|"You can't sentence Sir Pounce to eternal torment!"

* ''[[Wooden Rose]]'' [http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter2/50.html Oh, aren't they darling?]

* ''[[Supa Bigu Man]]'' [http://www.interversecomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=feat&id=13&Itemid=36&limitstart=35 here].

* [http://www.tnemrot.com/?p=244 Brittany] from [[Domain Tnemrot]]. Also, [http://www.tnemrot.com/?p=243 her owner].

* ''[[Papi Nyang]]'' is all about cats and that gives us Socks, the newborn who is adorable once they start walking and talking.

* The ''Hey! Answerman'' column on ''[[Anime News Network]]'' has a flake of the week section where Answerman responds to a stupid e-mail sent to him with a cute baby animal picture. This used to be of kittens only, but now is more varied.

* Probably one of the reasons [[LOLcats]] is so popular.

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] by the fan encyclopedic wiki of ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', Lexicanum - the mentions of the species of [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cat cats] existing in [[Warhammer 40,000]] in its article is promptly followed up with the mentions of a pet cat of an astropath, who was apparently killed by the [[Apocalypse Now|Exterminatus]] of the planet it was on. [[Grimdark]].

** To say nothing of kitten-only websites such as [http://www.dailykitten.com/ The Daily Kitten], ''[http://thedailykitten.com The]'' [http://thedailykitten.com Daily Kitten], [http://kittenwar.com/ Kittenwar], and [http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com/ Itty Bitty Kitty Committee].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jKeGyUCJE He's a cat (meow) flushing the toilet!]

* [http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/02/15/ume-neko-moe-assassin/ Ume: Neko Moe Assassin] is a series of videos of a little kitten doing what he does best, which is... well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|being cute]]. Being very very cute.

* [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] has an adorable "death kitty" named Boo that he unleashes on some of the games he's reviewed.

* On /b/, every Saturday is "Caturday" and there will be at least one thread involving pictures of cats.

** In fact, cats serve as /b/'s [[Morality Pet]]s. They absolutely ''hate'' those who abuse kittens, as seen by their efforts to bring Kenny Glenn and Cheyenne Cherry, who did just that [[For the Evulz]], to justice.

* I've heard of cats perched on shoulders, but I've never heard of cats perched on heads. This cat is so comfortable it doesn't mind using his owner's head as a blanket while she rinses and flosses her teeth. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExZ0i04pSeY He's a cat AND a hat!]

* New [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je1leMpnNa4&feature=related Earthenware Pot Kittens] coming to a market near you!

* Every Friday night on [[Cartoon Network]], they would have a short skit called "Whiskers, the kitten that can name fruit" which was exactly what it says on the tin. I enjoyed it so much that I would look forward to every Friday night until it was pulled off the air. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRwtt85A67c Here's a collection] of all the fruits said by an adorable kitten.

{{quote|Carmilla: "No hurting the cute kitty!"}}

* Subverted by [http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2559-j SCP-2559-J] which is a gigantic oncoming mass of kittens who crushed a researcher and her assistants when they tried to open a portal to an alternate Nazi universe, but instead ripped open another dimension known as the "Plane of Infinite Kittens" which is apparently where all kittens come from. The mass of kittens, or kitten pile as it's commonly called, are proven to be invulnerable to conventional weapons and can exist without harm from extreme temperatures and pressures.

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Chuck Jones]] did a very effective series of cartoons where an adorable kitten brings out the protective, loving side of a big tough bulldog.

* Sylvester is an alley cat who gets out of the cold when Elmer takes him in - then finds his position in jeopardy when an alley kitten gets taken in too. "I can't keep you both...hahaha, baby kittens are ''so cute!''"

* Sagwa and her siblings in ''[[Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat]]''.

* Puss-in-Boots in ''[[Shrek]]'', the [[Cute Bruiser|cutest badass]] ever. He knows it and uses it to his advantage.

** "Jeepers, I'm all furry!"

* Ruff is the brains side of Hanna-Barbera's do-gooding duo of [[The Ruff and Reddy Show|Ruff and Reddy]].

 

== Real Life ==

* Some studies have indicated that having a cat "may" have limited beneficial effects on the health and well-being of people, especially older adults. Also, medical researchers have demonstrated that stroking a purring cat can lower human blood pressure and pulse rate, as well as increase feelings of peace and well-being.

* Just search for most popular [[YouTube]] videos for "Pets And Animals" and see how many you get featuring cats.

*** [[Comically Missing the Point|What, she adopted]] [[Literal-Minded|a kitten card?]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Everything's Better with Indexes]]

[[Category:Feline Tropes]]