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Characters / The Helpful Fox Senko-san

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Main Characters

    Senko 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senkooctet_stream.png
Voiced by: Azumi Waki (Japanese), Kristen McGuire (English)

The eponymous demigod fox who decides to pamper Nakano to prevent his darkness from engulfing him. She had initially had a master that greatly resembled Nakano hundreds of years ago only to lose him in some unknown circumstance.


  • Adorable Fluffy Tail: Her big and fluffy tail is pretty much a big part of the series image, especially how soothingly soft and cushiony it feels to Nakano, who takes every opportunity he can to pet, squeeze, and stroke it to ease his stress, much to Senko's constant reluctance given how ""stimulating" it is to have her tail fluffed.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Most of the senior inari refer to her as "Sen".
  • Amnesiac God: It's eventually revealed that she's the leftover conscience of a malevolent hate-filled nine-tailed kitsune, which had escaped from being petrified by the other kitsune that tried to stop it. The caveat was that she retained none of the memories of her original self, and only learned about it shortly after her beloved master took her cursed hatred into himself.
  • Angry Cheek Puff: Senko puffs her cheeks when annoyed as a Character Tic, which shows off how immature and childish she is despite being a 800-years old Asian Fox Spirit.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: A Flash Back revealed she fell down from a cliff and injured herself, only to be helped by one of Nakano's ancestors. As a result, she feels obligated to pampering him to help relieve his stress from work, and also watched over him when he was a child, guiding him back to his grandmother after he got lost in the woods.
  • Can't Have Sex, Ever: Sora states that she is unable to satisfy Nakano's deeper desires.
  • Character Title: She's the titular "helpful fox".
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Gets upset when Shiro and later Sora tease him, and suggest they could "pamper" him in other ways Senko couldn't or doesn't want to. Senko gets upset at Nakano after Sora teases him while visiting his apartment, and he teases her about it. That night, dinner consists of a single fried fish and a bowl of rice, which Senko mentions recalling how it was one of his least favorite dishes.
  • *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": One of the more frequent situation that shows her natural age is her back going out if she overexerts herself.
  • The Determinator: She would stop at nothing to make Nakano's life a little better.
  • Enemy Without: It's later revealed that the curse on Nakano's bloodline is actually the result of his ancestor taking into him the grudges and hatred of Senko's original self, with said curse being a way of keeping said hatred sealed in order to prevent it from reuniting with her and returning to it's hate-filled destructive ways.
  • Fantastic Arousal: Her tail is her erogenous zone. She has the tendency to make suggestive sounds whenever Nakano strokes it.
  • Has a Type: Chooses to pamper Nakano because he was the type of guy she was into and due to him being the descendant and possible reincarnation of a man she loved in the past.
  • Living Legend: Suzu, a young fox who is just beginning her training as an inari, mentions that she's heard many tales about Senko, and idolizes her. Of course, she doesn't realize the person she's saying this to is Senko herself.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: Hasn't come up yet, but Senko seems unconcerned by it due to reincarnation being a likely scenario.
  • My Instincts Are Showing: Will sometimes act like a fox.
  • Nature Spirit: A harvest spirit, to be exact.
  • Nice Girl: Senko is always a doting figure.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Despite looking like a 12-year-old child, Senko is actually 800 years old. She even acts her chronological age frequently. In a later chapter, another inari comments that she looks like she's gotten younger since the last time they met (around 50 years ago), though Senko denies it.
  • Supreme Chef: Shiro has concerns about how Senko has been handing her mission, but admits that she's a better cook and that her ohagi in particular is on another level. She specializes in Japanese food, but she's capable of improving a Western dish like cheese gratin using Japanese ingredients after making it in the conventional way only once.
  • Technologically Blind Elders: Senko's one weakness is her inability to understand modern technology, even treating the vacuum as if it were alive.
  • Verbal Tic: "Uyan" when she's happy or shocked. The English version translates this as "Eeep!". She also has a tendency to end statements with "nano jya."

    Kuroto Nakano 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sayawaki_02_22.jpg
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Aaron Campbell (English)

A regular salaryman who one day met Senko when he was returning home from work. He is the center of Senko's pampering.


  • Chick Magnet: Despite being so devoted to work he feels there's no hope for romance, he's got quite the knack for attracting women all of whom are supernatural beings to boot. He's got the attention of three kitsunes, with Senko being absolutely devoted to him, Shiro finding him to be a fun guy to play with, and Sora considering him an entertaining target to sexually tease. He's also got his kouhai Fukudo who is a tanuki, to whom he was such an amazingly helpful and kind sempai to that she ends up getting a crush on him.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: He's been so consumed by working at his company, shortly after he decides to quit his job, he still wakes up early and gets ready to go to work, despite the fact he doesn't need to anymore.
  • First-Name Basis: His mother is the only character to address him by his given name.
  • Identical Grandson: Several flashbacks show Senko interacting with a man who looks exactly like him in Japan's distant past. It is eventually revealed that the man is indeed Nakano's ancestor, and that Nakano may also be his reincarnation.
  • Manly Tears: Senko encourages a drunken Nakano to let it all out when he confides in her about his work problems.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The miasma that represents his stress and exhaustion seems to actually affect the world around him from time to time. It is eventually revealed that the miasma is a real thing, and not just a visual representation of his stress.
  • Mistaken for Pedophile: He has an Imagine Spot of him being arrested because of Senko. It happens again when Yasuko interrupts and mistakes him for trying to attack a young girl. In the manga, he doesn't have an imagine spot, but does initially think that people will assume he's kidnapped a little girl and forced her to cosplay.
  • Nice Guy: He's genuinely nice, to the point that he often feels quite guilty about having Senko pamper him without him doing anything in return.
  • Only Sane Man: Mainly level-headed to all of the supernatural phenomena going on.
  • Perma-Stubble: He's always drawn with at least a little five o'clock shadow, contributing to his generally worn out appearance.
  • Salaryman: He is one, working for a so-called "black company", which is basically a sweatshop in a corporate setting.

Kitsunes

    Shiro 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c40d6574f148eac588c1191eecb57a33.jpg
Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese), Kristin Sutton (English)

A fellow demigod fox and Senko's acquaintance. She decides to pamper Nakano as well... until she realized that he is fascinated with her tail.


  • Adorable Fluffy Tail: Nakano is fascinated by how fluffy it is.
  • Big Eater: Loves Senko's cooking, particularly her ohagi (a sweet made of rice [glutinous and non-glutinous] and red bean paste).
  • Blue Blood: Suzu comments that she must be from a very noble bloodline to have become an inari at such a young age.
  • Gamer Chick: Will usually be seen playing video games at Yasuko's place
  • Genki Girl: She is more energetic and unpredictable than Senko is.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite her immaturity, she still displays a fair amount of skill from time to time, including being a better artist than Yasuko.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: From time to time she does show she cares about the people around her and does want to help where she can.
  • It's All About Me: She loves to brag about being a "great demigod" and basks in the worship accompanying the title.
  • Lazy Bum: Would prefer to play video games and eat snacks all day.
    Shiro: (After finding out Kouenji can cook but doesn't want to) What a bum.
    Kouenji: I don't want to hear that from you!
  • Mundane Utility: Uses her mind reading ability to cheat at video games.
  • Odd Friendship: With Yasuko. Apparently they bonded over video games.
  • Stealing the Credit: She will often claim full credit for something despite barely contributing anything to the task.
  • Sweet Tooth: She will add sugar to anything.
    Kouenji: She has absolute faith in sugar.
  • Telepathy: Her clairvoyance allows her to read the minds of people around her. This sometimes comes back around to bite her, such as the time when her attempt to read Nakano's deepest desires caused her to flee in terror when she discovered just how much he wanted to fluff her tail.
  • Troll: She loves to invoke a reaction from Nakano due to her exploiting her clairvoyance.
  • Uniformity Exception: Including the ones who appear in the background of some chapters, she's the only kitsune depicted who doesn't regularly dress in traditional Japanese clothing.
  • Womanchild: Despite being nearly as old as Senko, she doesn't act her age. However, she's actually considered exceptionally young for an Inari (or at least looks young), as Suzu comments that she must come from a noble bloodline to have become one at such a young age.

    Yozora/Sora 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yozorasewayakikitsunenosenko_sanfull2495921.png

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (English)

  • Adorable Fluffy Tail: Four of them, in fact, and every bit as fluffy as Senko and Shiro's.
  • Ambiguously Evil: She seems to have some ulterior motives. Her words of warning have something to do with an immortal like Senko having to take care of a mortal like Nakano despite the inevitability of the latter's mortality.
  • Brutal Honesty: Doesn't sugarcoat mentioning to Senko that Nakano will die someday much like his ancestor did. Despite that, Senko says she still wants to pamper him.
  • The Gadfly: Teases Senko about her being unable to allow Nakano to indulge himself, or how she was unwilling — or unable — to "pleasure" him.
  • Impossibly Low Neck Line: The top of her kimono goes so far past her shoulders, yet even when moving her hands around it stays on, that the only plausible way it does so is via magic.
  • Irony: Despite being Senko's superior, she is shorter than Nakano.
  • Magical Barefooter: As the oldest and thus most magically skilled kitsune in the story, she doesn't bother wearing any form of footwear since she can just teleport wherever she wants rather than needing to walk on harsh ground.
  • Marshmallow Hell: Her proper introduction to Nakano involves him obliviously resting his head on her generously big breasts, the softness startling him.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Her appearance is designed to be very alluring, with an Impossibly-Low Neckline showing off her impressively big chest, the bottom of her kimono fully parted to show off her completely uncovered legs, her hair draped over one eye to act as Sultry Bangs, and all of this emphasized by her being a Shameless Fanservice Girl.
  • Shameless Fanservice Girl: Aside from her rather revealing outfit, she doesn't seem to mind doing more to "pamper" Nakano if he really wanted to. She also didn't seem to mind Nakano accidentally bumping his face into her boobs.
  • Sultry Bangs: Her hair is styled to drape over her left eye, complimenting her seductive attire.
  • Tranquil Fury: She was greatly displeased by Shiro using her beach without her permission, and while she never deviated from her usual gently teasing attitude, she placed Shiro into a cage as punishment to express her true feelings.

Other

    Yasuko Kouenji 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yasuko.jpg
Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese), Hayden Daviau (English)

A university student who's an aspiring manga artist. She is Nakano's next-door neighbor who initially grew irritated from all of the noise going on in his room.


  • Beautiful All Along: When she ditches the tracksuit, lets down her hair, and dresses up for events, she's clearly a lovely young woman. Nakano doesn't recognize her without her glasses and wonders who this beautiful student might be.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Can't see a thing without her glasses.
  • Cuteness Proximity: She can't help but squee with joy at how cute the demifox girls are.
  • Genki Girl: When something she likes catches her eye she can barely contain her excitement.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Tries to call the police when she believed that Nakano was attacking Senko, but later rants that Nakano was lucky to get Senko first because she'd be all over her.
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Outright states she would take Senko if she wasn't with Nakano.
  • Odd Friendship: With Shiro due to their shared love of video games.
  • Otaku: She is a huge fan of maids, to the point where she gives a maid outfit to Senko as thanks for the latter giving her lunch and cleaning up her apartment unit.
  • Pen Name: Publishes her work under the name "Jazz-ko".
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: She figured out that Shiro and Senko were real demifox girls and not just girls playing cosplay at some point, but kept it secret as she believed that if she revealed she knew they would have to leave.
  • Skipping School: She hasn't been to her university in so long no one recognized her when she went in a different outfit.

    Fukuda (SPOILER WARNING) 

A new employee that works with Nakano. She's actually a tanuki.


  • Accent Slip-Up: When she gets home, she's revealed to actually speak a completely different dialect naturally, with her using a more normal one at work. The English translator turns it into her having an Irish/Scottish accent.
  • Country Mouse: She came from the mountain to the city because she wanted to live with humans, but her lack of experience with human society leaves her socially awkward.
  • Mundane Luxury: When she leaves the Black Company and just happens to find herself in Nakano's new job, she cries tears of joy with how the employees leave on time, thinking it was only a myth.]
  • The Nose Knows: She is able to tell that Nakano is aware of the other realm because she can smell it on him.
  • Ship Tease: She clearly has a crush on Nakano. She even ends up wanting to ask him out for a lunch date. When she discovers Senko considers herself his wife and mother, she says she wouldn't mind being his lover, something Senko very much does mind. Fukuda then says she'd be willing to be his pet.
  • Tanuki: It's revealed at the end of the chapter she is introduced in that she is a Tanuki, with her true form being that of an actual Japanese raccoon dog.
  • Technically Naked Shapeshifter: It turns out her clothing is part of her human transformation and vanishes when it ends, meaning she's technically always naked. Nakano learned this after she passed out at work, but kept it to himself since asking her about it would basically qualify as sexual harassment.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can make herself look like a human. Though it does seem to take some energy to keep up as she feared changing back to normal if she overworked herself at her job. Which does happen in a later chapter.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's basically impossible to talk about anything besides her introduction without revealing the fact she's a tanuki.

    Yotsutani (SPOILER WARNING) 

Nakano and Fukuda's supervisor at their new company.


  • Birds of a Feather: After her True Sight abilities are exposed to the cast, she develops a platonic bond with Nakano over their shared love of cute and fluffy things like kitsune ears and tails.
  • Cuteness Proximity: She finds Senko to be very adorable and calls Fukuda's ears cute.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: Her True Sight allows her to see even the Invisible to Normals newbie kitsune and Nakano's curse cloud, and easily peers through even the best disguises by Senko, but due to how most people would see her as a weirdo if she stated the truth, she never let any of them know this. She eventually turns into a normal Secret-Keeper about the kitsune after accidentally exposing herself to Suzu and having an honest chat with Nakano.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She comes off as in a bad mood but she is actually a nice person.
  • True Sight: She is able to see things normal people can't, such as the dark cloud around Nakano and Senko's ears under her hat.

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