History Main / HumanityEnsues

* Subversion in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': most animals don't care much about being turned into humans (or even other animals, for that matter.) The creatures conquered and captured by the Musk Dynasty, however, are justified in their hostility by virtue of being naturally aggressive, powerful beasts that take issue with being domesticated in the first place; the rage they express after being [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting dunked in the Spring of Drowned Girl]] and locked in the form of women comes less from the shock of being human than from simply wanting to rip their captors a new one. Played for laughs in the backstory of the Japanese Nanniichuan arc, where a traveling monk created a Nanniichuan outlet in Japan and threw all the naughty foxes that were plaguing a specific precinct into its water... only for them to come out as equally naughty men, so the people were if anything worse off than before.
** In the second NonSerialMovie, ''Nihao, My Concubine'', the TravelingLandmass of Togenkyo has a unique magical spring on it that transforms any living creature it touches into a human man, regardless of species or [[GenderBender gender]]. Animals turned into human men by its touch remain a LittleBitBeastly in appearance, and vary in intelligence; {{the Dragon}}s of the film consist of a monkey-man named Sarutoru, a rooster-man named Toristan, and a dog-man named Wonton, and whilst Sarutoru and Toristan are highly intelligent and fully civilized, Wonton is the group's DumbMuscle. The BigBad also demonstrates the spring's power by pouring it on a coconut crab, which in classic Ranma 1/2 fashion doesn't even seem to realize it's become human.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', Shrek gets turned into a human after drinking a potion. Unlike most examples, he's perfectly fine with it, (even though he'd ''much'' rather be his regular ogre self) since he [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wanted to make Fiona happy]] by [[ChangingYourselfForLove giving her the]] PrinceCharming she'd always dreamt of.

*** Sunset Shimmer is also a pony turned human, though she's had a lot more time to practice acting like one by the time of the film. In contrast to most examples, she seems to prefer her human form after spending so much time as one, having no interest in permanently returning to her home dimension following her HeelFaceTurn.

** This happens to Nanny Ogg's horrible cat, Greebo. Normally, he's ugly and foul-smelling, but when transformed into a human (in ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'' and ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}''), it is claimed that "His left eye glittered with the sins of angels, and his smile was the downfall of saints (female ones, anyway)." He has been described as looking evil in an interesting sort of way, like a pirate who really understands the term of "Jolly Roger", or a romantic poet who gave up the opium and tried red meat. In fact the best brief descriptions are that:

** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Granny's evil sister Lily also did this to a wolf, partially anthropomorphising it to fulfill the Big Bad Wolf role in a living fairytale. This is treated as a monstrous act, because predator minds having to [[CarnivoreConfusion think like a human drives them insane]] and makes it impossible to live as either a wolf or a human. In the end a woodcutter gets called in for a MercyKill. (This doesn't apply with Greebo because cats have enough poise to pull anything off.)
** In the same book [[spoiler: The Sisters who guard Emberella are actually snakes, and the PrinceCharmless she's supposed to marry is a frog]]. Granny darkly comments that Lily was always good at ''making'' friends.

[[folder:Pinball]]

** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': One NPC from the ''Carnival'' supplement is a former snake familiar of an evil wizard, whose master used to turn her into a sexy elf for "companionship"; gaining her freedom when she joined the Carnival, she now works as a snake-charmer and dancer. The other is either a leopard who turns into a man, or vice versa: he's not sure which.

* The end of Website/GaiaOnline's poorly-named "Demonbusters" event has the central demigod characters stripped of their powers and reduced to mortality. Subsequent events feature them trying to return to being deities, to no avail.

* SCP-1575 of ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' is a magical fountain which turns any animal that drinks from it into a human. Unlike most examples of the trope, BodyHorror is involved.

* [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} Inkling]] Meggy Spletzer from ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' ends up turning into a human at the climax of the Anime Arc. [[spoiler:In order to stop Francis, she allows Axol to drain all of her ink to power up his magic pen, Inkweaver, to draw something that can defeat Francis' [[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super Saiyan Blue Goku]]. She survives, but loses everything about her Inkling self aside from her voice. And she loses ''that'' in the climax of the Website/YouTube Arc, where a remote command from the [=YouTube=] Master Control Remote switches her language from Inkling to English. According to the creators, Meggy's humanization was planned from the beginning]].

* [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inkling]] Meggy Spletzer from ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' ends up turning into a human at the climax of the Anime Arc. [[spoiler:In order to stop Francis, she allows Axol to drain all of her ink to power up his magic pen, Inkweaver, to draw something that can defeat Francis' [[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super Saiyan Blue Goku]]. She survives, but loses everything about her Inkling self aside from her voice. And she loses ''that'' in the climax of the Website/YouTube Arc, where a remote command from the [=YouTube=] Master Control Remote switches her language from Inkling to English. According to the creators, Meggy's humanization was planned from the beginning]].

* Downplayed but simultaneously [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] and PlayedForDrama in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''[=/=]''{{WesternAnimation/Castlevania}}'' crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12849210/1/Lord-of-the-Castle Lord of the Castle]]''. The character in question, Alucard, is already [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] due to being a {{Dhampyr}} with his father being [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Dracula]], but an encounter with [[GreatGazoo Mr. Mxyzptlk]] ends up turning him completely human. In doing so, Alucard loses his regenerative powers (which served as his immune system) and ability to sustain on blood (essentially leaving him starved), which leads to his organs failing and needing urgent medical attention; thankfully, he is saved when Superman is able to trick Mr. Mzyxptlk into banishing himself, undoing all the damage done to the world and turning Alucard back into a dhampyr. Simultaneously, though, [[spoiler: him being human left [[EldritchLocation Castlevania]] without a lord, leading to [[TheBaroness Carmilla]], [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Cornell]], [[HornyDevils Magnus]], and [[SinisterMinister Shaft]] escaping from Hell, and with the aid of [[TheDragon Death]] (who takes after his game portrayal of Dracula's [[UndyingLoyalty loyal]] servant instead of the animation's portrayal of him as the GreaterScopeVillain), intend to kill Alucard and bring Dracula back to life]].

A non-human character in a series, often an animal, is turned into a human. The major difference between this and PinocchioSyndrome is that the transformed character doesn't ''want'' to be human. Such changes are, more often than not, involuntarily forced upon them, like the inverse of a BalefulPolymorph.

* Katy the cat in ''The Fantastic Adventures of Manga/{{Unico}}'' wants to be a witch, so the kind-hearted little unicorn transforms her into a human girl (complete with cute outfit!). Katy doesn't believe Unico transformed her, so he returns her to her original form and refuses to make her human again because she's selfish (well, she ''is'' a cat). After Katy saves the life of the old woman she thought was a witch, Unico changes her back into a human.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' there is a hidden Easter egg. If you go into the northwestmost house in Kakariko village, there's a vase which has a Cucco ([[CallARabbitASmeerp basically an in-universe chicken]]) hiding under it. Part way through the game you get the "Magic powder" item. If you sprinkle it on this Cucco then it turns into a woman and complains about the shift. The effect is reset when you leave the house.
** The Cucco-turned-woman also gives a hint about the town's statue being not quite what it seems.

** [[spoiler:Ryoji]] is probably a better example for P3, as [[spoiler:Aigis]] never actually physically turns human - she's just a case of HumanityIsInfectious.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', Shrek gets turned into a human after drinking a potion. It's also revealed that [[spoiler:Harold, Fiona's father, got turned into a human from a toad by the Fairy Godmother]].

* Fairy tale characters such as Gus (the mouse from ''Cinderella'') and [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ariel the mermaid]] appear in ''Series/OnceUponATime'', where they transform into humans from their respective species.

** Luna the cat is shown capable of attaining a human form in every permutation of the franchise. In TheNineties [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]], she turns into an adult human briefly in the ''S'' Movie, which was based on an arc in the manga where she also attained human form. In the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]], she does so more than once, as do her fellow cats Artemis (her lover) and Diana (their child). In ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon'', however, her human form is that of a young child.

* This happens to an [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Alpha Beowolf]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12783735/1/RWBY-A-Grimm-fate RWBY: A Grimm fate]]'' due to a combination of liquid Dust and petals from Ruby Rose's [[SuperSpeed Semblance]], and [[PainfulTransformation it is]] [[BodyHorror not pleasant]]. It is PlayedWith, however, since he is turned into a wolf [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], but Blake questions this, since while real Faunus have only '''one''' animal feature, he retains his ears, fangs, claws, and tail in Faunus form. Given that [[AnimalisticAbomination Grimm]] hunt down humans, he does not take his new form well. When found by [[BigGood Ozpin]], he is given the name Fenrir Lupus, and they later find out that if his new Aura is depleted, he will be able to turn back into his [[SavageWolf original body]].

* In the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' roleplaying game ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', some of the werewolves originated as wolves. These, though as intelligent as the others, usually find shapeshifting [[TransformationTrauma less than pleasant]] and make use of it only for special purposes. Some factions, such as the human-hating (and all-wolf) Red Talons rarely take on human shapes at all.
** This was also part of the backstory for the changelings of ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming''. With the encroachment of Banality and a severe decrease in all-around belief, the faeries who were unable to make it back to Arcadia bound their souls to human bodies. A changeling generally goes through a normal childhood until their fae soul goes through "Chrysalis," at which point they begin to perceive the world of the fae and start recalling information about their past lives.
** In the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' {{spiritual successor}} ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', those humans who were taken and turned into Beasts and Elementals have a hard time adjusting back to being human again. The Beasts have a hard time thinking non-instinctively after being animals for so long, and the Elementals have trouble relating to other people after spending so long as flames or trees.
** And again with the old World of Darkness, in ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'', demons who'd escaped from the Abyss had to take empty bodies (the brain-dead, the severely insane, and the recently dead) to remain on Earth. This actually grounded a lot of them and made them less demonic, seeing as they were experiencing human emotion and sensation for the first time after millennia in a featureless abyss.
* More or less applies to a couple of [=NPCs=] from the ''Carnival'' supplement for ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''. One is a former snake familiar of an evil wizard, whose master used to turn her into a sexy elf for "companionship"; gaining her freedom when she joined the Carnival, she now works as a snake-charmer/dancer. The other is either a leopard who turns into a man, or vice versa: he's not sure which.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' has rules for playing a character who can shift between human and an animal form. The main drawback to such a character isn't the hefty investment of character generation resources, it's the fact that such characters are supposed to be played as animals that turn into people, not people that turn into animals, which makes justifying why they're hanging out with a bunch of gun bunnies in a smelly city sprawl rather than climbing trees a bit difficult.
** For an NPC example, there are the Great Dragons, which can freely shift between human and dragon form. For example, Lofwyr, the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of the German MegaCorp Saeder-Krupp, is known as "Hans Brackhaus" in his human form.

** A very old spin on OurWereBeastsAreDifferent in ''D&D'' is the existence of "beastweres"--shapeshifters that begin as intelligent magical animals but can transform into partially and/or wholly human forms. These are sometimes referred to as "therianthropes" in contrast to "lycanthropes" (any werebeast of the conventional humanoid-to-animal model), and their naming convention is always done as (animal)were. The oldest of these is the wolfwere, but other versions include the jackalwere (which eventually surpassed its predecessor) and the TabletopGame/{{Maztica}}n coyotlywere.
** The origin of the Rakasta (CatFolk) in the ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'' setting is based on the Aesop's fable above, about the cat transformed into a woman. [[NotHisSled In this version]], however, instead of turning her back into a cat when she shows her nature, the gods decide to split the difference and turn both husband and wife into the first Rakasta.

* Subversion in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': most animals don't care much about being turned into humans (or even other animals, for that matter.) The creatures conquered and captured by the Musk Dynasty, however, are justified in their hostility by virtue of being naturally aggressive, powerful beasts that take issue with being domesticated in the first place; the rage they express after being [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting dunked in the Spring of Drowned Girl]] and locked in the form of women comes less from the shock of being human than from simply wanting to rip their captors a new one.

* Gorilla Grodd's first appearance in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' ends with him being turned into a human after his devolution tech is put in reverse, [[SnapBack though he's a gorilla again in later episodes]].

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the ''Heroes for Hire'' incarnation of the ComicBook/WhiteTiger was an actual tiger, transformed into a human being. She eventually chose to be changed back into a tiger as being a human was too confusing for her.
* Happens quite frequently in ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', mostly because Fables who are nonhuman (or at least don't look human enough) are forced to live in a secluded area called the Farm where they can't leave. As a result, Fables try to save up to buy a glamour spell to give them human appearances. Snow White helps give Bigby the ability to turn into a human with a lycanthropy-stained knife. There is also the case of Colonel Thunderfoot, a rabbit who is turned into a human by the angry mother of a rabbit who dies after Thunderfoot leads the troops into an unwinnable battle. She tells him he can only change back from this "hideous form" if he can find a female rabbit that loves him regardless. By the end of the chapter, his chances look rather bleak.

** ''Fanfic/TheDresdenFillies'': The third story, ''Great Power'', has Twilight turn the Mane Six and Spike into humans in order to travel to Chicago. Things go [[HilarityEnsues wrong]] almost immediately -- among other things, they kept [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair their original hair colors]] (explained away as hair dye) and Spike's slitted dragon eyes (explained as contact lenses).

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Blair is introduced as an apparent witch (it's ambiguous how different from humans the WitchSpecies is in this universe), but later reveals herself to be a cat who can transform into a {{Catgirl}}.[[note]]And if her cat ears are hidden under her hat, you wouldn't know she's not human except for her [[FurryReminder catlike behavior]].[[/note]]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:"Are you a dog?" "I think so, but [[FaeriesDontBelieveInHumansEither I have no idea]] [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals what you are]]!"]]-]