History Manga / PetshopOfHorrors

* HasTwoMommies: Sorta; Leon's been [[PromotionToParent promoted to parent]] in regards to Chris, and D is Chris' babysitter with an ambiguous relationship with Leon.

* OffModel: Matsuri Akino [[http://i.imgur.com/rxWZX.png cannot draw horses]].

* ContemplateOurNavels: Don't get D started, whatever you do. You'll be there for ''years''.
** [[spoiler: Leon gets a serious case of this illness at the end of the manga.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Volume 10, D suffers from it [[spoiler:after getting shot by Vesca Howell and falling into a river; [[XanatosSpeedChess grandpa saves him by summoning visions of extinct species to motivate him once more to fight]] [[HumansAreBastards against humankind]]]].

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: The setting is in Chinatown of Los Angeles, but the original manga and anime has people speaking Japanese. In one case, Leon is able to get beer from a vending machine, which ''does not'' exist in America.

* CoolPet: D has Q, and arguably every single pet in the series is a CoolPet of some sort!
** [[spoiler: Q is not his pet. Q is his grandfather the ''real'' Count D.]] But he doesn't know that. Neither do we, until the end.

Creator/{{Tokyopop}}'s translation of the first few volumes [[CutAndPasteTranslation added swears, mistranslated many names and sound effects, included many typographical errors, and generally altered the source material]]. After four volumes, a new translator was hired, who ''immediately'' asked the manga's fan translation community on Yahoo Groups for help. As a result, the remaining six volumes of the series have a more accurate translation, although they, too, are riddled with flaws and egregious mistranslations. Much of the manga's text is also full of untranslatable jokes: D's speech in Japanese often states one thing in hiragana (ex. "innocent bystanders"), but something ''quite'' different in kanji (ex. "mere mortals"). Finding an annotated fan translation is still highly recommended to fully enjoy the series.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: Tokyopop's earlier English volumes seems to be a rather loose adaptation of the Japanese original, with dialogue often being ''completely rewritten'' for no good reason, sometimes [[DubInducedPlotHole inducing plot holes]] (see below at DubInducedPlotHole).

* AllMythsAreTrue: Unicorns, {{Kitsune}}, Phoenixes, and Vampires all exist in the [=PSoH=] universe, not to mention the fact that the pet shop's animals appear and talk as humans.

* AdultFear: D's pets seem to bring this out in more than a few stories:
** In "Daughter" two parents, the Langfords are mourning the loss of their child Alice to [[spoiler: drug addiction that Mrs. Langford enabled]]. When D offers them a ReplacementGoldfish claiming it's a rabbit, Mrs. Langford sobs and insists that it's Alice brought back to them. In the anime this is taken further, where they thank D for bringing Alice back to life.
** Karen's parents were brutally murdered, and the trauma left her with psychosomatic blindness. [[spoiler:It's revealed she was in denial that her own uncle committed the crime to inherit their fortune and wants her out of the way as well]].
** In another story, a girl sees her family fighting all the time, only settling down when getting a pet that pleases all of them. This makes her upset, and she keeps begging for them to stop arguing. It turns out that [[spoiler: the "girl" is a ghost dog, and her original family left her and drove off a cliff]]. In the fire that ensues, D has to remind the family that at least they are all alive and have each other, though [[spoiler: he [[BlatantLies couldn't save]] their pet.]]
** Chris's situation. He blames himself for his birth mother's death and feels that his adopted sisters do as well, which is why Leon takes him in, despite not having a child-friendly apartment until D cleans it. Chris also can't talk, although thanks to D he can communicate telepathically with Leon and with the animals in the shop. ThereAreNoTherapists, though there is magic.
** In one manga chapter a woman kidnaps Chris and Count D, meaning to kill them in revenge for Leon killing her criminal husband in self-defense. Leon lies to the officer that [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he doesn't remember that day]], but he confronts the woman and says that if she wants to kill him, then go ahead, but leave Chris and D out of it. D is only able to stop her by revealing [[spoiler: that she's pregnant and would be a criminal mother as well if she went through with it]].
** One mother, who had an abusive parent [[spoiler:whom she murdered in self-defense]], was scared of doing the same to her daughter, and would take it out on the family pets. (In one case she did let a bird go before she could do damage.) D mentions that abuse is cyclical, and that the mother was to be pitied more than feared. [[spoiler:Her husband then faces the reality that their child Julia is going to become abusive to animals as well, not because of abuse, but because ItRunsInTheFamily]].

* PropheticNames: Possibly unintentional, but "Leon" pretty obviously means "lion," and the character shares a lot of traits with the king of the beasts. In a sidestory, he even reflects that it'd be great to be a male lion, lazing around all day and having a harem of lionesses...
** It's intentional--the author even writes in one author's notes that her image of Leon is a skinny male lion who is separated from his pride. Also, in "Dragon" D goes starry-eyed at hearing his name, and later refers to him as a lion he's taming.
*** This "taming" reference is lost for anybody with the {{Creator/Tokyopop}} version of the manga; it's simply ''not there''.
** [[SchmuckBait Don't]] search up the meanings of the characters that make up Wu-Fei's name. [[SchmuckBait Don't]] link his surname to the history of China. Call him [[FanNickname Taizu]] instead, and forget everything else!

* ASpotOfTea: D is fond of afternoon tea and pastries. Usually he and Leon have their discussions over tea.

* MismatchedEyes: Count D has one gold and one violet eye. This may be an indicator that he's a supernatural being.

* CelibateHero: D, for [[{{Asexuality}} obvious reasons]].

* {{Masquerade}}: [[spoiler:Count D and his family, along with the animals]].

''Pet Shop of Horrors'' is a {{Horror}}/[[SpeculativeFiction Fantasy]] {{josei}} manga by Matsuri Akino. Despite the title, the manga only rarely focuses on horror, instead slowly building up the relationships between its characters in a magical setting. The four-episode anime adaptation produced by Madhouse chose to focus largely on the horror, and re-imagined four chapters from the manga series.

** One mother, who had an abusive parent [[spoiler:whom she murdered in self-defense]], was scared of doing the same to her daughter, and would take it out on the family pets. (In one case she did let a bird go before she could do damage.) D mentions that abuse is cyclical, and that the mother was to be pitied more than feared. [[spoiler:Her husband then faces the reality that their child Julia is going to become abusive to animals as well, not because of abuse, but because it's InTheBlood]].

* YourCheatingHeart: Most obviously in ''Delicious'', and it's a really convoluted example.

* HairDecorations: Xiao Fua. Lao-Tai Wei makes her put a flower in her hair for her visit to D so she wouldn't "look like a damn street urchin" when she went to bribe him. It worked.

''Pet Shop of Horrors'' is the story of a peculiar shop in the Los Angeles Chinatown, and the clients that visit it. The store's proprietor is an effeminate and sinister man only known as "Count D". He sells both normal animals and mythical creatures to people who visit his DysfunctionJunction. These animals and creatures can appear human to clients who are searching for something in life -- a pet to help them get over the loss of a child, for example, or to cope with unrequited love. Count D uses his pets to teach their human caretaker a lesson, making them sign a contract stating they'll take good care of their new friends. Almost inevitably, they don't. The outcome is rarely pleasant, although some stories (especially those involving pets given to children) do have very heartwarming endings.

** Chris's situation. He blames himself for his mother's death and feels that his sisters do the same, which is why Leon takes him in, despite not having a child-friendly apartment until D cleans it. Chris also can't talk, although thanks to D he can communicate telepathically with Leon and with the animals in the shop. ThereAreNoTherapists, though there is magic.
** In one manga chapter a woman kidnaps Chris and Count D, meaning to kill them in revenge for Leon killing her criminal husband in self-defense. Leon lies to the officer that [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he doesn't remember that day]], but he confronts the woman and says that if she wants to kill him, then go ahead, but leave Chris and D out of it. D is only able to stop her by revealing [[spoiler: that she's pregnant and would be a criminal mother as well]].

* AnimeChineseGirl: The Kirin chooses this form. It's approriate, considering the Kirin is a Chinese mythological creature. While many other "pets" look like adults, the Kirin looks like a young girl with bound feet, wearing a lavishly ornate outfit, flowered headdress, and imposing makeup.

* CostumePorn: Pretty much every single anthropomorphized animal has a jaw-droppingly gorgeous outfit, sometimes based on real-world folk costumes, or designs by Erte, or pure fancy. Rich folds of embroidered cloth, ropes of pearls, elaborate hair or headdresses... it's a cosplayer's dream come true.

* DotingParent: Viciously deconstructed in "Daughter". [[spoiler:The parents lacked any will to discipline their daughter Alice and could never say no to her, not even when she became a delinquent and a drug addict. This ultimately led to Alice's death by overdose when her mother caved in and gave her more drugs instead of helping her rehabilitate... and once they take home a pet from D's shop, they prove that they ''still'' haven't learned their lesson!]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Evangeline's real death. She found out that Jason still loved Louise, even after marrying Evangeline, and threw herself off the ship.]]

* DubInducedPlotHole: In "Discovery" there's a scene where D treats Leon's wound, which Leon remembers also happening in what he assumes was a dream. That is significant, as realizing it ''wasn't'' a dream is part of Leon's final acceptance that D is not exactly a normal human. Nevertheless, in Tokyopop's "translation", Leon just remarks that D is as weird as a tattoo artist he once shacked up with--something the "translator" seems to have pulled out of their ass. Along with D apparently not remembering the "dream" in question, which is just ridiculous.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness

* GenerationXerox: D's whole family, with some pretty grim implications. All of them are mistaken for the ''real'' Count D (D's grandfather) [[spoiler: Chris eventually falls into this trope too.]]

* HasTwoMommies: Sorta; Leon's been [[PromotionToParent promoted to parent]] in regards to Chris, and D is Chris's babysitter with an ambiguous relationship with Leon.

* ItWasHereISwear: [[spoiler:When the police and the FBI raid the petshop after D has left, Leon is shocked at finding only a small storage room instead of the vast underground maze]].

* {{Josei}}
* KarmicDeath: And ''how!''

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty

* NoNameGiven: Count D's son and grandson(nicknamed D by everyone)
* ObfuscatingDisability

* PromotionToParent: Leon, to Chris.

** Chris seems to be having an ongoing one over the series after Leon takes in his kid brother and D invites Chris to stay at the pet shop. He can see the magic shop creatures and befriends them; Chris's kindness and innocence convinces D that there is hope for humanity. Even though later on Chris [[spoiler:loses the ability to see the creatures in their true form after he decides to return to a normal life, he becomes a successful FBI agent that reconnects with D's heir]].

** Also in SPSOH, a dowdy would-be novelist gets transported to success and fame by one of D's pets granting her good fortune. She even meets a wonderful man who recently underwent the same rags-to-riches journey -- with a suspiciously similar pet. The good fortune is brought to a crashing end when both her pet and her new lover die on the same day... but both she and the surviving pet are pregnant.

* UndyingLoyalty: Daisy, [[spoiler: the dog]] for her human Maggie. When Maggie fails a SecretTestOfCharacter by adopting Daisy, treating her as something to boss around and getting jealous when her family likes Daisy better, the latter saves her from a fate of joining D's children that are left in the lab.
** All of the dogs in the dog chapters, really. Dreizhen, the doberman-turned-bodyguard, takes a bullet to save his mistress [[spoiler:from her evil uncle Edward.]] Anastasia, the borzoi in SPSOH, is at first so loyal to her servant handler rather than her wealthy owner that this threatens to get her in trouble. At the end of that story, Anastasia even complies with the handler's wish [[spoiler:to save his girlfriend at the cost of his own life... then leaps off the cliff after him. She even turns him into a dog so he can be with her]]. Rudy the caretaker of a young Filipina woman’s older husband who offers to take her away from the man’s evil children from his previous marriage. When she refuses, he accepts and [[spoiler:Instead helps the man reveal he was faking his dementia and Rudy returns to his original form, a mutt puppy.]]

** All of the dogs in the dog chapters, really. Dreizhen, the doberman-turned-bodyguard, takes a bullet to save his mistress [[spoiler:from her evil uncle Edward.]] Anastasia, the borzoi in SPSOH, is at first so loyal to her servant handler rather than her wealthy owner that this threatens to get her in trouble. At the end of that story, Anastasia even complies with the handler's wish [[spoiler:to save his girlfriend at the cost of his own life... then leaps off the cliff after him. She even turns him into a dog so he can be with her]]