A cute little pet sidekick whose emotions and reactions are closely synchronized with their keeper. The pet serves the function of the traditional
zany from the
commedia dell'arte, aping their human's reactions, and frequently revealing attitudes that the main character may be keeping hidden.
Not to be confused with a
Morality Pet.
Mons may act in this role, especially the main character's.
Examples:
- Guvava from Macross 7 (→ Mylene)
- Rufus from Kim Possible (→ Ron)
- Film example: Salacious Crumb from the Star Wars films (→ Jabba; for those who don't recognize the name, he's the little "Oh, OHH hohohohohoho!" guy)
- Q-chan, a holograph resembling a floating blob, from Vandread (→ Misty Cornwell)
- Nanomachine from the Galaxy Angel Gameverse (→ Vanilla)
- Videogame example: Alice's dolls in the Touhou series.
- Also, the dog in Fable II can be trained to act like this.
- Disney Animated Canon examples:
- Abu from Aladdin (→ Aladdin)
- Rajah, also from Aladdin (→ Jasmine)
- Meeko and Flit from Pocahontas (→ Pocahontas)
- Pocahontas is interesting because the villain, Ratcliffe, also has one, a pug named Percy, who does a Heel Face Turn and joins the good guys.
- Djali from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, who was actually from the original book (→ Esmerlda)
- Pegasus from Hercules, who is also a mythic character, but not originally from the Hercules mythos (→ Hercules).
- This happens in other "Disney-like" animated films too:
- Although it would be in the worst taste to refer to them as pets, Dæmons in the His Dark Materials trilogy often serve this purpose.
- Webcomic example: the cat on Ian's head in Mac Hall.
- Xiao-Mei from the manga version of Full Metal Alchemist (→ Mei-Chan, to the point that Xiao-Mei also mimics the girl's movements)
- Puu from Yu Yu Hakusho (→ Yusuke). Well, he IS a representation of his soul...
- Maya from Azumanga Daioh, though he shows up much later in the series than most (→ Sakaki)
- Cupil from Skies Of Arcadia, who also acts as an Empathic Weapon (→ Fina)
- Chester in College Roomies From Hell (→ Dave). Of course, he does have half of Dave's soul, making it a Justified Trope.
- Happens in the Pokemon anime a fair deal, but the Mime Jr. species is particularly notable - its very nature means it exactly duplicates the gestures and expressions of its owner. The fact that one of the main charcters happens to own one helps show this.
- Boogie-kun from Karin (→ Anju) clearly reflects his master's thoughts, even the ones she resents having.
- Old Lace from the Runaways comics is telepathically bonded to Gert and after her death to Chase.
- Margarite's snake in One Piece.
- Also, Chimney's Bunny/Cat thing whose name I forget.
- Boota from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
- Pretty much the entire concept of Familiars from "Dungeons and Dragons"
- Melpo in Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo. (→ Syrup)
- 07Ghost takes this trope to a whole new level: Not only is Burupya Teito's certified empathy pet as he is also Mikage's incarnation. Thus making this cuter than cute dragon a mix of pet and best friend, bonus points for the Heroic Sacrifice involved
