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alt title(s): Cute Little Fang 
She's a vampire. Don't you just want to give her a hug?
Glistening white triangular tooth Open up a can of tomato juice I've got a fang I've got a fang — They Might Be Giants, "I've Got A Fang"
Simply put, a character's protruding teeth are played for unconventional cuteness.
Most often, as suggested by the trope name, the character sports enlarged canine teeth. For maximum cuteness, at least one fang will be visible at all times, even when the character's mouth is closed. This seems to indicate, generally, a character who is mischevious, slightly hostile, or a trickster — without actually being a bad guy.
Cute Little Fangs are pretty much a standard feature of Cat Girls and many other Petting Zoo People. Ugly Cute characters tend to have these as part of their unconventional brand of cuteness.
Usually limited to comedies. Does not normally apply to Western-style vampires (they do have fangs, but not the endearing kind).
May be related to traditional Japanese supernatural monsters such as oni, who are usually depicted with tusks or fangs meant to look rather comical instead of outright frightening. (This is explicitly the case in Urusei Yatsura, where a number of characters are Ancient Astronauts versions of oni and other supernatural creatures.)
This trope is also Truth In Television. Many baby animals of the carnivorous persuasion sport cute little fangs. In a stranger case, some Asian people inherit a physical trait known traditionally as "Tiger Teeth", a genetic quirk that results in elongated eye teeth. One troper can definitely vouch, as the members of the troper's family habitually sport two sets of tiger teeth (one on the top row, one on the bottom). This is particularly common in Japan (due to a common genetic quirk), where they're known as "yaeba", and typically considered cute.
Viewers who are unable to appreciate the cuteness here may refer to this as a "snaggletooth".
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Nanako in Amazing Nurse Nanako
- Komugi in Nurse Witch Komugi
- Ryoko in Tenchi Muyo.
- Mihoshi too. Oddly their common ancestor Washu (Ryoko's mother and Mihoshi's great-great grandmother) doesn't have them, though.
- This troper would beg differ; Washu's fangs just are less pronounced. Indeed, it would seem that every non-human, non-Juraian has some kind of fangs, and usually at least slightly pointed ears. Curiously, Washu had pointed ears in the old OVA, but not in the new.
- Lum, Jariten and others from Urusei Yatsura.
- Ryoga from Ranma 1/2. In fact, one reading of "Ryoga" is "Good Fang". These are apparently genetic, as seen when girl-Ranma convinced him she was his sister by wearing fake teeth with her flimsy disguise.
- The eponymous character from the manga and anime Inu Yasha sports these, since he's descended from a dog demon.
- Merle from Vision Of Escaflowne.
- The remarkably dangerous Puma sisters in Dominion Tank Police.
- Leo from "Beast Master"
- Excel from Excel Saga may be a subversion, as any danger that Excel poses is more because of her general incompetency than from her personal formidableness (of which she has none).
- Evangeline A.K. McDowell in Mahou Sensei Negima, given hints about the future plot of the story, may be a rare Western vampire who gets the Cute Little Fangs treatment.
- Asuna has them as well, though they're only occasionally visible.
- Beside, Evangeline isn't a western vampire. She comes from the west, yes, but is in fact a shinso class vampire.
- Risky, the apprentice shinigami in Omishi Magical Theater Risky Safety.
- Cyberdolls Sara and Mami in Hand Maid May.
- Lime from Saber Marionette J and its sequels sometimes seems to have a Cute Little Fang, but it's hard to be sure — it's clearly a tooth, but it's far more rounded and blunt than the usual anime fang.
- Tina from Ai Yori Aoshi.
- Kiba Inuzuka in Naruto
- Suigetsu is a borderline example. While he has one triangular shark-like tooth that sticks out of his mouth while it's closed, that's what all of his teeth look like.
- Naruto himself has them to varying degrees in the first few stages of his Kyuubi transformation. Four-tailed and further take a different route.
- Tsuruya from Suzumiya Haruhi, whose Fan Nickname is LOL Fang-tan. In a noteworthy variation, the fang actually gives her a speech impediment *
The fang causes her to mispronounce certain words; it has nothing to do with her sing-song style of speaking . Which just makes her that much cuter.
- Daikuji Ayu from Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien.
- Madarame from Genshiken, though "cute" might not be the word. The fangs emphasize his snake-like qualities.
- Fuu from Samurai Champloo gets these when particularly angry.
- Mara, the demoness from Ah My Goddess, has these; in her case, they seem to emphasize that she's less dangerous than she looks — the series is primarily a romantic comedy, and so she would be out of place if she were a real danger. Plus they let her make a vampire joke in the TV series.
- Makoto of Kanon, an early clue to her fox origins.
- Mew Ichigo of Tokyo Mew Mew.
- Hiyori Sarugaki of Bleach is often teased about her prominent little fang by fellow Vizard Shinji Hirako, and later by Ichigo, at which she promptly lampshades this by saying the fangs are one of her charms.
- She has a fang and buck teeth, and it makes her even funnier. This troper is sad by her dental similarity.
- Hakufu and Chouhi from Ikki Tousen.
- Satoko Hojo from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni.
- However, her fang is hardly noticeable in the first season, and even in later seasons it's often not seen. However, when it is, she's as much of a loli as Rika.
- It's seen in most of her sound novel poses, both the remakes
 ◊ and originals.
- Umineko No Naku Koro Ni has tiny fangs all over the place. Battler, Jessica, Maria and Beatrice (among others) have them.
- The Slayers is fond of these in a couple places. Non-humans in human guise generally have them (Xellos, Filia, and Valgaav), but perhaps the only real humorous application of them is Lina herself, where they range from the "cute little fang" variant to worryingly noticeable◊.
- Gourry got them on occasion, in the third season (TRY) of the anime. This troper is also fairly sure that Amelia got them on occasions throughout the anime.
- Ayano in Kaze No Stigma
- Mikoto from Mai-HiME...also a quasi-Cat Girl.
- Kuroi-sensei and Misao from Lucky Star.
- Misao, like Tsuruya, also has a bit of a speech impediment.
- Delmo in Cosplay Complex possesses them, even though she is a bunny girl. Apparently rodent teeth are not as cute though.
- Sapphire in the Pokemon Manga.
- And a good deal of the first-evolution Pokemon, in fact. Some of them retain their fangs into their evolved forms, where they are... slightly less adorable, as an understatement would put it.
- Horo from Spice And Wolf, but hers are permanent and natural since she's a wolf spirit.
- In human form, anyway. In her natural form it's more a case of More Teeth Than The Osmond Family - as anyone who's seen the mouth of an even completely ordinary wolf can tell.
- Ohka the female werewolf in .hack//Legend of the Twilight.
- Kiyal, one of Kittan's three sisters in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, has a fang. She's the most feral of the three.
- Haruko from AIR has them, even though she is generally depicted as a nice person, albeit with some issues.
- Kuro from Kodomo No Jikan sports some fangs to emphasize her feral nature.
- Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier when she's singing. Understandable, being one-quarter Zentraedi.
- Arf and Agito of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The former is a wolf-girl, while the latter is a demon-girl.
- Ramia from the Pretty Sammy series.
- Liru and Pachira from Magical Pokaan, being a Werewolf and western-style vampire respectively.
- Haruko Haruhara in FLCL has these in the baseball episode (possibly others).
- Hazuki from Moon Phase.
- Pai from 3x3Eyes. Very cute.
- Train Heartnet, the titular Black Cat.
- Anzai Nobuyuki seems to stick these (or rather a single fang projecting over the bottom lip) on his main characters, especially when they're drawn in a more humorous fashion. It's really noticable on Ginta in MAR. There is no logical reason given for why they have them.
- Tomomi Shirakawa of the hentai title Princess 69 has this. It's most prevailent when she smiles mischieviously and the "camera" is shown close to her face...
- Due to Dragon Slayer magic, Natsu and Gazille have fangs, though not really cute. Luxus' fangs are even less cute.
- Sugar Sugar Rune: The main characters, Chocolat and Vanilla, are witches who have these.
- Daisuke “Beast” Inuki from the yaoi manga My Beast has very pronounced fangs on his lower jaw. These usually make him look more intimidating, but in a few scenes they look very cute.
- Seras in the Hellsing manga and OVA, at least whilst she's not going psycho. And when she is...
- Umisho's Maaya is almost an Expy of Mayu from Ai Yori Aoshi, but she also borrows Tina's fang (and swimming skill).
- Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugi. You can see his fangs just about every time he opens his mouth.
- Most of the female characters in Rosario+Vampire sport Cute Little Fangs.
- Why hasn't the girl in the picture, Karin, been mentioned?
- You just did mention her.
- Both Giroro and Tamama of Keroro Gunsou have these, but Tamama's are really only shown when he's angry. Curiously enough, they're both frogs, so why do they have teeth in the first place?!
- Most species of frogs have a row of maxillary teeth on the roof of their mouths. It's mainly to hold their prey while they swallow it whole. They don't have lower teeth, but the cute fangs trope is justified.
- Lala's sister, Nana, from To Love Ru usually has one ridiculously cute fang showing which makes her even more ridiculously cute.
- Saki has Yuuki sporting one these, because she's the resident Genki Girl, and Kana sporting another one of these, because she has that entire Cat Girl schtick going on.
- Tamako, the main character of Battle Club, has one of these.
- Abel of Trinity Blood has them sometimes; not too much of a surprise given that he's an (uber powerful) vampire.
- Sapphire from Pokemon Special.
- Vash from Trigun shows two at times (prompting This Troper's younger sister-in-law to dub that face "Kitty Face").
- Eri from School Rumble.
- Ray Kon from Beyblade. As well as the rest of the White Tigers team.
- The eponymous Niea from Niea_7 has them, likely because she is an alien. Still, other aliens in the show seem to lack them.
- Elise from Sky Girls has these. She also wears short, sharp-looking bunny ears to complete the effect.
Comic Books
- Nightcrawler also has them in the comics, depending on the artist.
- Wolverine and Sabretooth also have them in some adaptations and when drawn by some artists, though describing any aspect of those two characters as 'cute' is a real good way to have one's lifespan drastically shortened.
- Many characters in comics drawn by Adam Warren.
- Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl
Live Action TV
- This is a fleeting example, but in the Angel episode "Smile Time", when puppet-Angel switches to puppet-Vampire-Angel to deliver the battle-ending set of attacks, the puppet naturally has fangs. And the fangs are definitely cute and little, but not actually little relative to the cute little mouth.
- The Adipose creatures in the Doctor Who episode "Partners in Crime" have one of these.
- Then there's Cat in Red Dwarf, with his enlarged canines. Of course, he ''is'' a cat, so...
Newspaper Comics
Real Life
- Everythings Cuter With Kittens
- Known as "yaeba", "double tooth", in Japan; where it is fairly common, and typically considered cute and attractive. Due to crowding resulting from small, narrow jawbones, one or more canine teeth are pushed forward of the rest of the teeth. Many believe it to be the origin of the "Catgirl" look. See the Yaeba Superstar page for more examples. As western-style dentistry becomes more popular, straightening teeth and removing yaeba is also becoming more common.
- This Troper couldn't help but laught at the Invisaline ad at the bottom of that first link.
Tabletop Games
Video Games
- Midna from The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess possesses a set of tiny fangs, one of which shows through her lips when her mouth is closed.
- Sora's Halloween Town costume in the Kingdom Hearts series.
- Most demons in the Disgaea games. Just to drive the point home, nearly all of their Team Attack portraits show them off.
- While the in-game model of Ratchet doesn't have noticeable fangs of any sort, he mysteriously gains them in the European advertisements. In the third game, his girlfriend Sasha does have them in-game.
- Female orcs and trolls in World Of Warcraft always have small but visible tusks...and definitely have the option of being rather pretty. Although draenei also have decidedly sharp teeth—and the females, at least, are attractive—said teeth aren't visible when a character has their mouth closed.
- Night elves have fangs too, which is one of the reasons some followers of Warcraft lore think they're descended from the trolls (the fangs being residual tusks). Like with the draenei, though, you can't see them when their mouths are closed, which is most of the time. (Blood elves appear to have lost their fangs.)
- The Goombas in the Super Mario Bros series. Though they were "evil" at first, there more recent appearances come off as cute and their tiny fangs only further push the point.
- Played more straight with Goombaria and Goombella of the Paper Mario series, having only one small fang pointing out.
- Bowser Jr. sports a single, tiny fang in the upper corner of his mouth. He has two fangs in Super Mario Galaxy, although, oddly, he goes back to having only one in every other game.
- Marta in Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World consistently has one in the left side of her mouth for some inexplicable reason. This troper has seen no indication of her being anything other than human. Evil sadist bitch Alice also sports a pair occasionally, but only when she's making a particularly evil face, so it may just be there for effect.
- The half-demon girl Lilica of Arcana Heart.
- The titular character in Klonoa.
- Remilia Scarlet from the Touhou series is usually depicted with these. Fitting, as she's a vampire. The 'cute' aspect is often played up in fanworks, with her maid/servant Sakuya often found daydreaming of that fang and what it can do.
- Remilia's younger sister and fellow vampire, Flandre, is occasionally shown with these as well (mostly in fan-works). Of course, given Flandre's psychosis and prospensity for destruction on a massive scale, sometimes the fangs are distinctly neither little nor cute.
- Jack Frost from the Shin Megami Tensei series (and by extension, all his other forms, such as Black Frost and Raiho.)
Web Original
- At the Super Hero School Whateley Academy there are several: Paige (a were-catgirl), Carmilla (mostly demon), Tennyo (too complicated to explain here). Tennyo's been told several times that her fangs are 'cute'.
Webcomics
- A recently introduced character Catalina Bobcat in El Goonish Shive. Along with her name and first name, it makes her a quasi Cat Girl.
- Also, Grace, when in her half-squirrel form.
- Another webcomic example is Tina from Wapsi Square, who claims her fangs are the result of botched dental surgery. This may or may not be true; Tina has an... unusual history.
- The green-skinned cleric Benn'Joon aka "Benny" in the webcomic Looking For Group. She often has one tusk-like cute little fang peeking out from her lower jaw over her upper lip, especially when she's pouting.
- In Pandect, Ice, a Dog Ace (a dog who has a soul and can also appear in human form), has slightly longer canine teeth than most humans. Of course.
- Therkla, the half-orc ninja of Order Of The Stick has cute little tusks. And yes, this troper thinks they're cute.
- Evil Vaarsuvius also has Cute Little Fangs, though because of the circumstances surrounding their appearance, they're actually quite creepy.
- So does Redcloak. *swoon*
- The (quite attractive) troll-girls in the XXXenophile story "A Beautiful Tale." Actually, in some panels, they appear to have full-on shark teeth...but the artist somehow makes it work.
- Male example: Doug from Fletcher Apts who also has Puppy Dog Eyes at times.
- The titular characters in Ozy And Millie, (though only Ozy's are only obvious when he's talking) as well as several others.
- Of course, they are anthropomorphic canines.
- The art style of Queen Of Wands has fangs as standard. On Angela they are pretty cute though.
- Numerous Earthsong character have these.
- Molly in The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob manages to be very cute even with fangs on the end of her snout.
- Florence from Freefall, a genetically engineered Bowman's Wolf, has fangs, but they only show up when she smiles. The effect is usually unfortunate.
- As cute as Florence usually is, this troper wouldn't call her fangs cute. Let alone little.
- Rufus and Melika in Terinu have fangs as well, being anthropomorphic fox aliens. Said fangs are usually just cute, at least until they get pissed off.
- Skadi from the eponymous webcomic sports one of these, although it's debatable how "cute" she is.
- Nine from Eerie Cuties.
- My Roommate Is An Elf. If you look very closely at Jacinda, you can see her small fangs.
Western Animation
- A western animation example: Beast Boy of Teen Titans, to add to his unconventional cuteness and underline his animal status (curiously, he tends to carry it over in all of his forms - even when they don't even have teeth). His comic book version initially lacked this, but eventually he was redesigned (though at least they had the decency to do so in-story) with fangs intact due to the show.
- Another Western example is Mouse from Re Boot. The fact that she has fangs is mentioned by other characters but never explained. In the end, they do indeed appear to be there solely to make her seem more dangerous.
- X-Men: Evolution gives the very dangerous Mystique fangs, as well as her less dangerous son Nightcrawler.
- Both Chowder and Panini in Chowder have them. Word Of God is they're of the same species.
- Yumi in Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi
- Arguably most of the titular Gargoyles, especially Lexington and Angela. And of course Elisa when she was briefly a gargoyle. Elisa's especially were very cute.
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