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Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Really Big Cats.
Just the thing for dealing with Rodents of Unusual Size, but be wary of Canis Major. Subtrope of Animals Not To Scale and/or Cute Giant.
This trope is about cats that are exceptionally larger than is the norm for their species. For the standard "lions and tigers" variety of big cat, see Panthera Awesome. Fictional Cat Folk species do not count for this trope, however big they may be.
The name is a combination of Mega- from Greek megas, meaning large or great, and Neko from the Japanese word for cat. It should not to be confused with Meganekko (two Ks, one word), which is about how bespectacled girls are cute. However, do compare with Cute Kitten. If this trope and Meganekko do overlap, she'll be a Funny Animal, Genius Bruiser and Cute Monster Girl.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- The pictured cat's time as Nanoha's mount proved to be short-lived, as it was quickly defeated by Fate in her first battle against Nanoha in one of the most tragically hilarious boss battles in the series.
- Got upgraded to a Panthera Awesome that could grow wings in The Movie. It was probably a good thing that Fate went on the attack this time.
- A student film in Kimagure Orange Road has 'Jingorojira', a Godzilla-sized version of Jingoro, the Kasugas' much-suffering housecat. (Actually the New Year's Day Special)
- Kotatsuneko from Urusei Yatsura and Maomolin the Bakeneko from Ranma ½ are both huge ghost cats.
- From Azumanga Daioh: Chiyo-Dad!
- Kamisama, the wacky, color-changing, vending machine-dwelling, King of All Cosmos cat-thing with a Verbal Tic from Pani Poni Dash!.
- Cait Sith in the ARIA series. As a King of Cats, it only makes sense he's more than human-sized.
- Tasuke is attacked by one in Mamotte Shugogetten as a trial by a newly-awoken spirit.
- Saber Leomon and Bancho Leomon are Mega leveled Neko Digimon. Regular old Leomon does deserve a mention though considering he's taller than most adults.
- Other digimon examples include the tiger Deva Mihiramon, Lynxmon, and DinoTigemon, to name a few.
- The Cat Bus from My Neighbor Totoro, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. In Japanese folklore, cats, like tanuki, can change shape at will - so the Cat Bus is an ordinary cat who got bored and decided to spend some time being a bus. As you do.
- In the short film/sequel Mei and the Kittenbus, the titular kittenbus is about the size of a child's toy car— just big enough to hold Mei
 ◊— but we also find out that there are cattrains◊ and what can only be described as a catliner.◊
- Kyaa from Please Save My Earth, the giant cat-like alien companion of Shion's adoptive father, named after the scream people let loose upon seeing him for the first time. (Shion uses Kyaa as a bed at one point.)
- Kirara from Inu Yasha. Spends most of the time at normal cat size, but gets big enough to ride when needed.
- In Battle B-Daman, Armada is a cat who appears to have his eyes closed all the time, whatever that means in anime. He's pudgy, which is set off somewhat by his head being about a third of his body, and he's tall in relation to the more humanoid characters.
- In Shinzo (Mushrambo in Japan), Kutal is a cat creature who also has that type of eyes. His height isn't a whole more than his companions', but he's quite rotund. Then there's his leonine hyper-form, which is much less bulky and much more badass.
- Cardcaptor Sakura episode 31, a cat enlarged by the Big Card (playfully) attacks Syaoran and Meiling. It returns to normal once Sakura seals the aforementioned card.
- In Ultra Maniac, episode 7: 'Gigantic Pets', a magical growth-portion makes its rounds at the school. Among the 'victims' is Sakura's familiar, the usually-tiny kitten, Rio. By the time the girls realize what's happening, he's eye-height with them, and still growing. By the end of the episode, it can barely fit in the gym-hall.
- In general, ridiculously huge cat-like monsters are often used in the role of a Monster of the Week. Examples can be found in Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Blue Seed, and probably in other series.
- Kuma in Sketchbook. When one of Sora's friends mentions coming across the bear-like cat, Sora corrects how big his head width was. Yeah, he's a big kitty (but still manages to beat Mike in a height superiority contest).
- The tank in Those Who Hunt Elves gets possessed by a cat spirit. Just pause for a moment to consider the behavior of a tank that thinks it's a kitten...
- Under that same concept, one Ranma Saotome when he's been bugged by a cat that little bit too long..
- Naruto has the two-tailed beast Matatabi, who is a giant nekomata (a two-tailed cat)
- Nagasarete Airantou has Taiga and Shima-tora, the Northern and Southern leaders, both giant two-tailed cats.
- The Bakeneko of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. Unlike most of the examples on this page it is not cute.
- RIN-NE has Rokumon the black cat, who sometimes is one of these. Let's just say Rumiko Takahashi seems to love this trope.
- The demonic cats sent by Emperor Ganishka to Vritannis to terrorize the denizens in Berserk.
- Nekomaru from Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken.
- In the first episode of season 3 of UFO Princess Valkyrie, Cat-Eared Maid-Chief Sanada-san breaks out a Mecha-Mega Neko in order to fight a Brainwashing Meganekko. She counters by giving it a gigantic pair of glasses, thus turning it into a Mecha-Meganekko-Mega-Neko. Perhaps a borderline example, but too awesome not to mention.
- Nyanko-Sensei from Natsume Yuujinchou is quite portly in general, being occasionally referred to as a 'pig-cat' - and when he jumps out of Sleep Mode Size, he's a huge dog. But the point where he really turns into this trope is in episode 12, when he comes into contact with a curse-mark that screws his powers up. His Sleep Mode Size shrinks to the size of a teacup, making him hilariously cute, but when he attempts to assume his 'true' form, he instead winds up as... a severely overweight cat the size of a small elephant.
- The villain of the third arc of Jinrui Wa Suitai Shimashita uses a large number of blob monsters to turn into a giant housecat at one point. This Makes Sense In Context. Slightly.
- Kaen of Cat Paradise is a nekomata who's at least ten feet tall. He's apparently able to make himself smaller at will, but only exhibits this once before becoming monstrous. On another note, Musashimaru can potentially grow to several stories with the help of his owner's Power-Up Food.
Comic Books
- Adrian Veidt's genetically modified pet Bubastis in Watchmen, a large pink lynx.
- The ''Lovely Angels'' have Mughi, their technician/partner/pet: He's essentially a huge alien puma with a sharp mind, claws that can tear through hullmetal, and mental command over the electromagnetic spectrum thanks to his facial tentacles. (He also has an addiction to bad soap operas, according to Warren and Ellis..)
- Rock Jaw in Jeff Smith's Bone.
- Explored in the The Sandman short story "Dream of a Thousand Cats": According to Dream, cats were initially on top of the food chain, towering over humans like they now tower over rats. Humans changed this by simultaneously dreaming of a world where they were at the top. The cat protagonist then goes off to try to convince a thousand cats to turn the world back into what it was—but have you ever tried to get that many cats to all do the same thing?. The story ends with one kitten dreaming of that world... but no need to worry, since it's implied she's the only one.
- Franco-belgian comic Mélusine has the titular protagonist face at one point a giant black cat. Makes even more sense if you consider his assistant is superstitious and actually afraid of black cats.
- One Italian Donald Duck comic had Donald's pet tomcat Tabby (who had appeared in a few comics before, usually as a foil to Fethry) drink a mysterious growth serum and grow to be bigger than a tiger. Interestingly enough, Tabby did not return to his normal size at the end of the story, and has not appeared in any comics since then.
Fan Fiction
Film
Literature
Live Action TV
- The Star Trek TOS episode "Catspaw" featured a Sufficiently Advanced Alien who turned herself into a giant cat. Unfortunately, the drama was ruined by low budget special effects fail. The "giant" cat was very clearly just a regular house cat that was stuck in a box made to look like one of the hallways. It didn't help that we'd already seen her in regular-sized cat form - played by the same cat.
- The Goodies had Twinkle a.k.a "Kitten Kong".
- An episode of Uncle Mortys Dub Shack has giant kittens terrorizing the city, and are just too darn cute to do anything about.
- The enormous cat in a Monty Python's Flying Circus animated segment which defeats the Killer Cars by walking on two legs. In a spectacular Reverse Funny Aneurysm, the cat looks very familiar to anyone who's spent time on certain Imageboards. Yes, that's right: the Killer Cars were defeated by Longcat's Siamese cousin.
- The Smilodon Dopant in Kamen Rider Double. Unlike the other Dopants, who are human when untransformed, the Smilodon Dopant's true identity is a cat.
- Oversized black felines were featured on Monsterquest, which concluded that the investigated sightings were either escaped pet leopards, jaguars returning to their historical range, or ordinary housecats mistaken for giants due to a lack of nearby objects to show perspective.
- Steve French in Trailer Park Boys.
- In a parody of Super Sentai's Transforming Mecha tradition, the White Racer from Gekisou Sentai Carranger has Radiecar Robo, a car which transforms into a Mega Neko.
- The Stephanie Harrington books have hexapumas, truck-sized six-limbed tiger things native to the planet Sphinx.
Music
- The rather Surreal Music Video for MGMT's "Time To Pretend" features a few Mega Neko, including one with a person riding it.
- A parody of "My Grandfather's Clock", "My Grandmother's Cat" tells of an overfed feline that grows to tiger-like proportions and attempts to eat its owner.
- Shonen Knife's album Genki Shock includes a song called Giant Kitty (though apart from the Title Drop the lyrics suggest it's really normal sized).
Toys
Video Games
Web Comics
- Otilia in Girl Genius eventually comes to inhabit the body of a giant, mechanical cat. Here is her appraisal of it.
Web Original
Western Animation
Real Life
- While not as huge as some of the fictional examples, Savannah Cats are pretty big as far as pet cats go.
- The Maine Coon breed is generally considered to be the largest domestic cat breed, with some weighing in at over 25 pounds and 4 feet in length.
- Ligers are so huge that they are even taller than humans when they stand up. This pic speaks it.◊
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