History WesternAnimation / TurningRed

* PassingJudgment: During the intro, Mei's attempt to do a cartwheel on the sidewalk ends up with her falling over and the contents of her back spilling out resulting in everyone in the vicinity staring at her.

* MooseAndMapleSyrup: The film takes place in Toronto, Canada,[[note]]Toronto's the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest-populated city in Canada[[/note]] and is directed by a Canadian who grew up there, so naturally, it is filled to the brim with Canadian references. To start, there are plenty of shots of the CN Tower and 4*Town[[note]]the film's fictional boy band with a Canadian member[[/note]] is scheduled to perform at the [=SkyDome=][[note]]today known as Rogers Centre[[/note]]. A Daisy Mart convenience store is a recurring location. The distinctive Toronto Transit Commission [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Light_Rail_Vehicle CLRV streetcars]] are seen frequently as are Canadian mailboxes and Ontario license plates. There is mention of hosers, Celine Dion, loonies and "Grade 8"[[note]]as opposed to 8th grade[[/note]]. Mei wears a maple-leaf shirt to bed, wears a toque with a maple-leaf design to school, has a Canadian flag pin on her bag and has a Canadian flag sticker on her flute case. Ming sets a box of Tim Horton's Timbits (donut holes) on the table for breakfast; they also turn up at a party. Other foods like poutine, bagged milk, ketchup chips, and maple syrup also show up. Mei's school (named after Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson) features Canadian flags flying at its entrance, a classroom with a large Canadian flag on the wall, a music classroom with the first 4 bars of the national anthem on the wall, a French classroom, a beaver as its mascot and an announcement board stating that it's Canadian Indigenous People's History Month. Period-accurate Canadian money[[note]]though with different designs on the coins[[/note]] is seen. Background characters are seen wearing clothing with maple leaves, Canadian flags, or referencing loons. Ming has a moose bobblehead. Sports teams referenced include the Toronto Blue Jays[[note]]a blue jay appears outside the [=SkyDome=][[/note]], the Toronto Raptors[[note]]Tyler wears a jersey matching the number and colour scheme of Vince Carter[[/note]], and the Toronto Maple Leafs[[note]]a stuffed bear of Carlton, the Toronto Maple Leaf's mascot, appears[[/note]]. A FictionalCounterpart version of the ''Creator/MuchMusic'' logo appears. Phone numbers are seen that use the "416" area code. A billboard ad for Air Canada is seen. Even the 3 opening trash receptacles and automated parking meters are accurate to Toronto. At one point, Ming (who is voiced by the very Canadian Sandra Oh) says "Soorry" in her Canadian accent. Finally, the only person to actually say "Eh?" in the movie, though, is the guy at the [=SkyDome=] ticket booth.[[note]]"Eh?" is actually pretty uncommon in urban Toronto, being more of a suburban/rural exclamation.[[/note]]

* {{Animesque}}: The film pays a lot of homage to anime, as the director is an anime fan. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X453lkZHHME There are a good amount of cartoony and exaggerated anime expressions]] on the characters' faces, like sweat drops, sparkly eyes, {{Cat Smile}}s and rivers of tears. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5_PAdIQk8 Also, Mei draws a boy she is crushing on in an anime style in her sketchbook.]] Fittingly, the movie takes place in the early 2000s, when anime was enjoying a revival of popularity in North America.

* EatTheCamera: The camera zooms into Abby's mouth as a transition during the montage of Mei at school.

* [[MooseAndMapleSyrup]]: The film takes place in Toronto, Canada,[[note]]Toronto's the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest-populated city in Canada[[/note]] and is directed by a Canadian who grew up there, so naturally, it is filled to the brim with Canadian references. To start, there are plenty of shots of the CN Tower and 4*Town[[note]]the film's fictional boy band with a Canadian member[[/note]] is scheduled to perform at the [=SkyDome=][[note]]today known as Rogers Centre[[/note]]. A Daisy Mart convenience store is a recurring location. The distinctive Toronto Transit Commission [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Light_Rail_Vehicle CLRV streetcars]] are seen frequently as are Canadian mailboxes and Ontario license plates. There is mention of hosers, Celine Dion, loonies and "Grade 8"[[note]]as opposed to 8th grade[[/note]]. Mei wears a maple-leaf shirt to bed, wears a toque with a maple-leaf design to school, has a Canadian flag pin on her bag and has a Canadian flag sticker on her flute case. Ming sets a box of Tim Horton's Timbits (donut holes) on the table for breakfast; they also turn up at a party. Other foods like poutine, bagged milk, ketchup chips, and maple syrup also show up. Mei's school (named after Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson) features Canadian flags flying at its entrance, a classroom with a large Canadian flag on the wall, a music classroom with the first 4 bars of the national anthem on the wall, a French classroom, a beaver as its mascot and an announcement board stating that it's Canadian Indigenous People's History Month. Period-accurate Canadian money[[note]]though with different designs on the coins[[/note]] is seen. Background characters are seen wearing clothing with maple leaves, Canadian flags, or referencing loons. Ming has a moose bobblehead. Sports teams referenced include the Toronto Blue Jays[[note]]a blue jay appears outside the [=SkyDome=][[/note]], the Toronto Raptors[[note]]Tyler wears a jersey matching the number and colour scheme of Vince Carter[[/note]], and the Toronto Maple Leafs[[note]]a stuffed bear of Carlton, the Toronto Maple Leaf's mascot, appears[[/note]]. A FictionalCounterpart version of the ''Creator/MuchMusic'' logo appears. Phone numbers are seen that use the "416" area code. A billboard ad for Air Canada is seen. Even the 3 opening trash receptacles and automated parking meters are accurate to Toronto. At one point, Ming (who is voiced by the very Canadian Sandra Oh) says "Soorry" in her Canadian accent. Finally, the only person to actually say "Eh?" in the movie, though, is the guy at the [=SkyDome=] ticket booth.[[note]]"Eh?" is actually pretty uncommon in urban Toronto, being more of a suburban/rural exclamation.[[/note]]

* CanadaEh: The film takes place in Toronto, Canada,[[note]]Toronto's the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest-populated city in Canada[[/note]] and is directed by a Canadian who grew up there, so naturally, it is filled to the brim with Canadian references. To start, there are plenty of shots of the CN Tower and 4*Town[[note]]the film's fictional boy band with a Canadian member[[/note]] is scheduled to perform at the [=SkyDome=][[note]]today known as Rogers Centre[[/note]]. A Daisy Mart convenience store is a recurring location. The distinctive Toronto Transit Commission [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Light_Rail_Vehicle CLRV streetcars]] are seen frequently as are Canadian mailboxes and Ontario license plates. There is mention of hosers, Celine Dion, loonies and "Grade 8"[[note]]as opposed to 8th grade[[/note]]. Mei wears a maple-leaf shirt to bed, wears a toque with a maple-leaf design to school, has a Canadian flag pin on her bag and has a Canadian flag sticker on her flute case. Ming sets a box of Tim Horton's Timbits (donut holes) on the table for breakfast; they also turn up at a party. Other foods like poutine, bagged milk, ketchup chips, and maple syrup also show up. Mei's school (named after Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson) features Canadian flags flying at its entrance, a classroom with a large Canadian flag on the wall, a music classroom with the first 4 bars of the national anthem on the wall, a French classroom, a beaver as its mascot and an announcement board stating that it's Canadian Indigenous People's History Month. Period-accurate Canadian money[[note]]though with different designs on the coins[[/note]] is seen. Background characters are seen wearing clothing with maple leaves, Canadian flags, or referencing loons. Ming has a moose bobblehead. Sports teams referenced include the Toronto Blue Jays[[note]]a blue jay appears outside the [=SkyDome=][[/note]], the Toronto Raptors[[note]]Tyler wears a jersey matching the number and colour scheme of Vince Carter[[/note]], and the Toronto Maple Leafs[[note]]a stuffed bear of Carlton, the Toronto Maple Leaf's mascot, appears[[/note]]. A FictionalCounterpart version of the ''Creator/MuchMusic'' logo appears. Phone numbers are seen that use the "416" area code. A billboard ad for Air Canada is seen. Even the 3 opening trash receptacles and automated parking meters are accurate to Toronto. At one point, Ming (who is voiced by the very Canadian Sandra Oh) says "Soorry" in her Canadian accent. Finally, the only person to actually say "Eh?" in the movie, though, is the guy at the [=SkyDome=] ticket booth.[[note]]"Eh?" is actually pretty uncommon in urban Toronto, being more of a suburban/rural exclamation.[[/note]]

* MadwomanInTheAttic: A temporary example. Mei is briefly confined to her room which is stripped to a mattress, quilt, pillow and her favourite stuffed animal. It's strongly implied that if she had not convinced her parents that she had her panda transformation under control, she would have been kept like that for a month.

* MarketBasedTitle: In Japanese, the film's title is ''Watashi Tokidoki Ressā Panda'', which translates to "I'm Sometimes a Lesser Panda".

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Miriam is quick to realise something is up with Mei when the latter wears a toque, refuses to speak and shows little emotion in the middle of a math class.

** Mei has a massive one that lasts several hours when she gets home after transforming in the middle of maths class, learns that her parents already knew about her transforms, and realises her own ancestor is responsible. She tries to self-harm herself to get rid of her panda parts, and breaks down to tears when she realises she might never get rid of it. It takes her friends saying they love her no matter what to break her out of it.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Mei runs into this in two ways: the obvious one is that she doesn't want to transform into a giant red panda instead of being an average kid. But the other is that she wants to be an ''average'' kid, having fun and doing things other than being "perfect little Mei-Mei"... and her SuperpoweredAlterEgo ''lets her do that''. As such, her CharacterArc is about being torn between the two sides of being "normal", and [[AnAesop the Aesop]] is ultimately about embracing both sides of herself.