History Main / UnusualEars

** [[PettingZooPeople Animal youkai]] often have ears reflecting their animal nature:

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Kyoka Jirou's Quirk gives her elongated earlobes, ending in jack plugs. She can extend and plug them into objects to catch extremely faint sounds or channel the sound of her own heartbeat into them in the form of powerful vibrations.

* In the "extra chapter" of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', Hinagiku gains [[http://img35.tx.us.mangafox.com/store/manga/708/267.0/compressed/echp267.1pg02.jpg donkey ears]] (Though they look much more like kyuubi ears). Something similar happens when Arthur of the current series ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' gains donkey ears.

* The Catian in ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties''

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfics ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11989539/1/Hakkōna Hakkōna]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12023508/1/Kaitō-Kokoro Kaitō Kokoro]]'': When Kiku is in his true [[spoiler:nekomataneko form, in addition to having human ears, he also has cat ears.]]

* The members of the Lesser Fellpool race in the ''StarOcean'' series have ears like this.

* Mariel and her [[{{Expy}} Expies]] in the ''{{Wild ARMs}}'' games (an elw) have long, floppy, furry ears.

In Japanese Manga and Anime, cat ears, (''{{nekomimi}}'') and other types of animal ears (''{{kemonomimi}}'') are particularly popular. Expect some FurryEarDissonance. Another common anime ear type is "antenna ears," which can be seen primarily on {{Robot Girl|}}s.

* One of the most unusual sets of ears in fiction is the Roggenrola line from {{Pokemon}}. You see those indentations that look like eyes? They're ears.

In Japanese Manga and Anime, cat ears, (''{{nekomimi}}'') and other types other types of animal ears (''{{kemonomimi}}'') are particularly popular. Expect some FurryEarDissonance. Another common anime ear type is "antenna ears," which can be seen primarily on {{Robot Girl|}}s.

* LittleBitBeastly - People that look mostly human but have actual animals ears (other than [[CatGirl cat ears]] or [[AnimalEaredHeadband costume ears]])

* AnimalEaredHeadband--Fake animal ears worn as a costume
* CatGirl--Cat-eared person
* EarWings--Wing-like ears
* EarsAsHair--Ears used in place of hair
* ExpressiveEars--Ears used to signify mood
* FurryEarDissonance--Disconnect between artistic portrayal of animal ears and actual animal ears.
* LittleBitBeastly--People that look mostly human but have actual animals ears (other than [[CatGirl cat ears]] or [[AnimalEaredHeadband costume ears]])
* PointyEars--Pointed ears
* SproutingEars--UnusualEars that appear temporarily, often for comedic effect and intended to be symbolic of personality traits rather than indicating actual ears.

* Yomi of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' has ''six'' long, [[PointyEars almost goat-like]] ears. It is revealed in a {{flashback}} that [[spoiler:he once had only two ears like this, but after losing his sight, he grew another four ears in compensation]]; he is a demon, after all. His son Shura also has similar ears (though only two).

* AnimalEaredHeadband - Fake animal ears worn as a costume
* CatGirl - Cat-eared person
* EarWings - Wing-like ears
* EarsAsHair - Ears used in place of hair
* ExpressiveEars - Ears used to signify mood
* FurryEarDissonance - Disconnect between artistic portrayal of animal ears and actual animal ears.
* LittleBitBeastly - People that look mostly human but have actual animals ears (other than [[CatGirl cat ears]] or [[AnimalEaredHeadband costume ears]])
* PointyEars - Pointed ears
* SproutingEars - UnusualEars that appear temporarily, often for comedic effect and intended to be symbolic of personality traits rather than indicating actual ears.

* Yomi of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' has ''six'' long, [[PointyEars almost goat-like]] ears. It is revealed in a {{flashback}} that [[spoiler: he once had only two ears like this, but after losing his sight, he grew another four ears in compensation]]; he is a demon, after all. His son Shura also has similar ears (though only two).

* Quick indication of someone being a familiar in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' is the existence of furry animal ears where human ears would usually be found.

* [[PettingZooPeople Animal youkai]] in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' often have ears reflecting their animal nature:
** Ran has fox ears, which she wears a hat over.
** [[CatGirl Chen and Orin]] both have cat ears, Orin in addition to a pair of human ears.
** Nazrin has mouse ears.
** Tewi, the fairies in Eientei, Reisen, [[ReplacementGoldfish Reisen II]], and the moon rabbit army all have rabbit ears.
** Mystia, oddly enough, has feathered PointyEars that look like wings. She's a sparrow and wouldn't normally have external ears.
** Toyosatomimi no Miko from ''Ten Desires'' has [[AnimeHair her hair]] shaped like animal ears.

* One of the most unusual sets of ears in fiction is the Roggenrola line from {{Pokemon}}. You see those indentations that look like Eyes? They're ears.

* In the ''{{Beetleborgs}}'' episode "Buggin Out", Flabber sprouts these when he goes through stage 2 of turning into kombat gnat.

* Kagome Higurashi's first act upon seeing ''Manga/InuYasha'', sealed and stuck to a tree? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbf3D5wUAvs Messing with his ears]]. The first thing Kagome's ''mother'' says when a dog-eared boy busts into Kagome's house to drag her back to the feudal era is not "Who are you?" or "Where are you taking my daughter?" or even "Why are you dressed like that?" It's, "Your ears; are they real?" whilst reaching up and touching them. As does Kagome's little brother; it appears to be something of a family thing.

* Neneko in ''Anime/{{Yumeria}}'' wears a hat designed to look like nekomimi.\\ Do we ever see her head without that hat to know if it's just the hat or if she has nekomimi?

* In the "extra chapter" of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', Hinagiku gains [[http://img35.tx.us.mangafox.com/store/manga/708/267.0/compressed/echp267.1pg02.jpg donkey ears]] (Though they look much more like kyuubi ears). Something similar happens when Arthur of the current series ''Series{{/Merlin}}'' gains donkey ears.

In SpeculativeFiction and {{Mythology}}, it is not surprising to see characters with non-standard ears. Having non-human ears is a common way of indicating that a character that otherwise looks mostly human is NotQuiteHuman, whether it be an alien, supernatural creature or human significantly modified through magical or pseudo-scientific means. UnusualEars are particulary popular in SpeculativeFiction television and film, where they are used as a relatively cheap way of making a RubberForeheadAliens. PointyEars are by far the most common type, having been associated with everything from demons and [[TheFairFolk magical faeries]] to [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans]]. In Japan, the ability to hear extremely well is called jigokumimi, which translates to "hell ears".

[[folder:Real Life]]
* One of Japan's bullet trains, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastech_360 Fastech 360]] has pairs of yellow air brakes that [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4621217.stm extent outward from the top]], earning it the nickname "Nekomimi Shinkansen". A [[MoeAnthropomorphism moe anthropomorphic]] mascot exists, a CatGirl called Fastech-tan whose yellow ears match the Fastech's air brakes. Models of Fastech-tan have been sold with the approval of East Japan Railway Company.
[[/folder]]

* And the blue Andorians from ''Franchise/StarTrek'' have some expressive antenna for ears.
** Actually, they have ears too, although the antennae could be used for indicating mood and perhaps another mode of communication among Andorians, like we use hand gestures and other forms of body language as we as spoken language

* All of the Reploids in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' & cyborgs in ''MegaManZX'' seem to have these strange white headphone-like things instead of human ears, which is strange, considering that the first ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' had proper ears, despite being much less advanced. Certain Robot Masters in ''Mega Man'' tend to have these ears, such as Metal Man and Turbo Man.

* The Dogsians in ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties''

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Odd of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' gets cat ears added to his Lyoko avatar in Season 4.