History Main / EasternZodiac

** The third film, ''Animation/MoonCastleTheSpaceAdventure'', features the rabbit as its animal by featuring the goats helping Wandi the rabbit and his sister, Queen Luna, to save their home planet of [[MoonRabbit the moon]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' featured the [[MacGuffin Talismans]] of Shendu -- a collection of 12 small stone tablets that represented animals of the Chinese Zodiac, each with a different magical power that could be used by anyone who holds them. When the Talismans are destroyed in Season 3, their respective powers transferred into actual individual animals. They are:
** Rat: [[AnimateInanimateObject Reanimation]].

** Tiger: [[LiteralSplitPersonality Balance]].

** Monkey: {{Shapeshifting}}.
** Rooster: [[MindOverMatter Levitation]].

** Pig: EyeBeams.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': 12 of the 18 Kwami from the Chinese Miraculous Box are based on animals from the zodiac.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12437841/1/Power-Rangers-Zodiac-Force Power Rangers Zodiac Force]]'', a fusion story between ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', Kim and four of her friends become a team of Power Rangers with a Chinese Zodiac theme: Kim being the Red Dragon Ranger, Monique being the Yellow Serpent Ranger, Josh being Blue Ox Ranger, and Tara being the Pink Rabbit Ranger.

** Rooster: [[MakeMeWannaShout Sonic scream]]

* In ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' The main protagonist Wei Shen has to collect the statues of the zodiac in order to unlock new fighting techniques leading up to the final move known as Dim Mak. His Kung Fu instructor Sifu Kwok had the Rat statue and revealed that the other statues were stolen by a former student of his. The player must find the other 11 statues scattered around Hong Kong and going on a date with one of the girls named Tiffany Kim will reveal their location on the map. There is also a DLC mission called The Zodiac tournament which is a parody of the movie ''Film/EnterTheDragon''. While on the island the player will have to collect all 12 fire opal animal statues scattered around the island. Each statue tells you about the different fighting styles. Collecting all 12 fire opal statues will reward the player with the Muay Thai and MMA costumes. Another expansion from the game is The year of the Snake in which Wei Shen must stop an evil cult known as the Snake clan from blowing up Hong Kong before the new year.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[spoiler:Later seasons will reveal Kwami based on animals from the zodiac. The second season episode "Sapotis" briefly showed the 12 Miraculous of the Zodiac animals in storage.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Mousehunt}}'' has a [[http://mhwiki.hitgrab.com/wiki/index.php/Lunar_New_Year Lunar New Year]] event for every year it's been running, and adds a Costumed (Animal) Mouse corresponding to the current year's zodiac animal for the event.

* Jane Lindskold's ''Literature/BreakingTheWall'' trilogy has thirteen family lines representing the EasternZodiac and the Cat. The characters subvert some of the details noted above, such as the current Tiger and Dragon being ChildhoodFriends. Pearl, the current Tiger, is initially hostile to a second Tiger when he appears, but she eventually warms up to him.

* The various animals of the eastern zodiac are the subject of the earlier ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' movies. Creator/CreativePowerEntertaining was originally going to make films for all 12 of the animals in the zodiac, but stopped doing so after the seventh film.[[note]]While the eighth film, ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfDunkForFuture'', features tigers as the rivaling team against the goats and was released in 2022, one of many Years of the Tiger, the zodiac motif is not a primary focus.[[/note]] Specifically, the animals represented by the films are as follows:

** Litten: The whole family works as the Tiger, though particularly Incineroar. The Leopard Cat, the first of the Tiger decans, is a smaller striped cat both Litten and Torracat might be closer to. It's worth noting that in the Viatnamese and Gurung zodiacs, the Rabbit is replaced with the Cat, which is also a closer fit for Litten in particular.

For tropes on the animals themselves, see:

The above listed is the Chinese Zodiac, and this is the one most familiar to most Western and Eastern audiences alike as well as being the original one, but other Eastern zodiacs exist. The Korean and Japanese are functionally identical to the Chinese Zodiac, with changes primarily in nomenclature. The Vietnamese zodiac, however, replaces the rabbit with the cat (a pity [[Manga/FruitsBasket Kyo]] wasn't born there), and the Thai zodiac replaces the dragon with the naga.

* The various animals of the eastern zodiac are the subject of the earlier ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' movies. Creator/CreativePowerEntertaining was originally going to make films for all 12 of the animals in the zodiac, but stopped doing so after the seventh film[[note]]while the eighth film, ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfDunkForFuture'', features tigers as the rivaling team against the goats and was released in 2022, one of many Years of the Tiger, the zodiac motif is not a primary focus[[/note]]. Specifically, the animals represented by the films are as follows:

* In the Music/TearsForFears song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzAd8YjLrEE Rhythm of Life (Demo)]]" [[note]]which was included on the 2020 super deluxe box set of ''Music/TheSeedsOfLove''[[/note]], it's repeated twice that Lucy is lucky that her astrological sign is the dragon.

* ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' has a new years card set themed around the Eastern Zodiac, notably featuring an increased number of cards compared to usual (four 3* cards compared to the usual two) to cover each of the animals. And unlike most gacha sets, the story is divided into a number of smaller tales rather than featuring every card character together at once. [[https://enstars.info/scout/zodiac-part-one Here is part one]], and [[https://enstars.info/scout/zodiac-part-two here part two]].

** Fuecoco: You could ''really'' stretch to fit this family as the Snake; Skeledirge ''is'' a longer reptile compared to Charizard. However, there are two much closer approximations in the extended roster: the Jiaolong, the 2nd Dragon decan, is a hornless aquatic reptile, which [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile this family's animal basis]] certainly fits the outline of. The ''third'' decan is the Fish, which this family certainly ain't[[note]]Though Paldea is also home to [[OlympusMons Chi-yu]], who might offer insight into what ''that'' Fire-type could look like[[/note]], but the Old Turkish calendar replaces the Dragon with either the Fish or the ''Crocodile''.

** For the Lunar New Year in 2019, ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' created an event themed on these twelve animals, though as the game, at that point, had only reached [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Generation IV]], they had to take more liberties than usual. In particular, since 2019 is the Year of the Boar, Spoink was the event's main Pokémon. The others were Ponyta, Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Dratini, Electabuzz[[note]]representing the Tiger, as there wouldn't be a non-Legendary Pokémon unambiguously based on a tiger until Generation VII's Litten line[[/note]], Mareep, Miltank, Buneary, Torchic, and Poochyena[[note]]representing the Dog despite it being based on a hyena, which are more closely related to felines[[/note]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' featured the [[MacGuffin Talismans]] -- a collection of 12 small stone tablets that represented animals of the Chinese Zodiac, each with a different magical power that could be used by anyone who holds them. When the Talismans are destroyed in Season 3, their respective powers transferred into actual individual animals. They are:

* ''LightNovel/JuniTaisenZodiacWar'' has a group of twelve warriors, each assigned to a zodiac animal, pitted against each other in a battle royale [[DeadlyGame death match]] where the last one standing can have one wish granted.

** Chimchar: Monkey. The second decan of the Monkey's triad (of which regular ol' monkeys are the 3rd) is the ''Ape'', which could further account for the tail-less Chimchar and the baboon-like features throughout the line (namely Monferno and Infernape's facial markings, and Chimchar's butt).

* A very easily missed one but it seems the Fire starters of each successive ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' generation are each patterned after a different animal of the Chinese Zodiac. So far we have:

** Cyndaquil: Rat ([[CartoonCreature possibly]])
** Torchic: Rooster.
** Chimchar: Monkey.
** Tepig: Pig.
** Fennekin: Dog (well, [[FantasticFoxes close enough]])
** Litten: Tiger.

** Fuecoco: Snake (okay, [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile it's a stretch]], but they're both reptiles).

** The second film, ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfTheTigerProwess'', uses the tiger as its animal by featuring a tiger named Lord Japper as its antagonist.

** The sixth film, ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfMeetThePegasus'', features a horse as its animal, or more specifically the pegasus. The goats try to create a happy ending for a fairy tale involving a pegasus prince who wants to marry a princess.
** The seventh film, ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfAmazingPleasantGoat'', uses the goat as its animal by having the main characters travelling back in time and meeting a bunch of prehistoric goats.