"You are the unwanted criminals, the animalistic beasts, the inhuman freaks, you are the societal rejects left behind by the rest of humanity. The outside world can't reach you in here!"
— Mr Dittatore, Animali Academy principal
Characters in Zoo Academy
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The Students
Characters attending Animali Academy as students. Charlie Hokkaido
Official Charlie reference
"But I'm hungry..."
A half dog half wolf Bifera. He's a student at Animali Academy and is the younger brother of Acid Hokkaido. He's naive, lovable, and needs to have all sugar kept away from him. Charlie somehow sees the best in everyone and refuses to be afraid of people unless they give him a reason to, he's also smarter then he acts and knows how bad the world he lives in can be. He is also somewhat invulnerable to physical harm.
- Big Eater: He loves to eat, especially anything sugary. And Coco's sandwich of course.
- Children Are Innocent: Even with his Hidden Depths Charlie is very innocent. He doesn't quite understand at students like Hitoshi can be dangerous and that thinking that Biferas are better than humans can lead to serious consequences.
- The Cutie: Charlie is super cute.
- Expressive Ears: His ears move with how he's feeling, i.e. folding down when upset. This fits seeing as he's a dog.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Charlie's golden fur/hair coupled with his kindness make him a dead ringer for this trope. He's a rare male example.
- Hidden Depths: He understands that Acid is trying to protect him from humans and that humans can be pretty awful.
- Idiot Hair: Charlie has a single curl sticking up from the top of his head.
- Incompatible Orientation: With Aracia. Fans started shipping them but it turns out they're both gay.
- Little Bit Beastly: He isn't as beastly as some of the other Bifera. His only noticeable animal features are his dog ears, tail, and paw pads.
- Little Brother Is Watching: Yuuki thinking him and Charlie are better than humans because they're immortal leads Charlie to almost start thinking it to.
- Made of Iron: He shrugs off being thrown into a wall and being picked up by his head. Nothing you can do to this puppy with hurt him.
- The Nicknamer: 'Milk Man' and 'Doughy Boy' are just a few of his nicknames for other people.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents don't seem to be around, and being humans it's safe to assume they abandoned Charlie and his brother Acid.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: It fits even more seeing as he is an actual puppy. Or at least 20% puppy.
- Ship Tease: Subverted. He's just friends with Aracia and them holding hands is just a friendly gesture.
- Straight Gay: In one of his profiles he's stated to be gay, and the first Zoo Academy Q&A implies he has crushes on Dhoe and Hitoshi, but he doesn't act camp at all.
- Super-Toughness: Charlie is able to withstand the force of being slammed into a wall without feeling any pain.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The tiny guy to Aracia's huge girl.
- Youthful Freckles: Charlie has many freckles and his appearance makes him look younger than he is.
Hitoshi Kosaka
Official Hitoshi reference
"What brings you to hell?"
A human criminal and student at Animali Academy. Many other students fear him for his bad reputation, but can be a sweet guy if you can manage to get him to show his soft side. He loves cute things like Hello Kitty and struggles with his racial identity. Acid warns Charlie to stay away from him because he's dangerous. He does the best in art class and somehow can touch Fire without getting burnt.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ash, a female giraffe Bifera, has a huge crush on Hitoshi.
- Ambiguously Gay: He cross dresses, wears his best friend's shirt, and Lucas cracks a joke about bad things happening to 'guys like him' in prison.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: According to Acid he does the best in art class, with each of his pieces holding deep meaning, but he slacks off in every other class.
- Color Motif: Red for passion, intensity, anger, and flames. All of those things are associated with Hitoshi.
- Curtains Match the Windows: Red eyes and red hair.
- Dark and Troubled Past: We haven't seen it in comic yet but there have been hints dropped that Hitoshi's past wasn't the happiest.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Hitoshi was seen multiple times before his introduction.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Lots of people are crushing on Hitoshi and most of them are guys.
- Guy Liner: Hitoshi wears a lot of eyeliner.
- Fiery Redhead: Even though his red hair is unnatural, Hitoshi fits this trope very well.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be mean but he seems to have a softer side.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Hitoshi doesn't seem to have many friends despite his financial status.
- Pet the Dog: His first interaction with Charlie shows us that despite looking intimidating he can actually be very sweet.
- Real Men Wear Pink: He loves Hello Kitty and other cute things. But don't tell anyone, he's got a reputation to keep up.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The hot headed Red Oni to Fire's (ironically enough) calmer Blue Oni
- Same-Sex Triplets: Hitoshi and his brothers (Hikaru and Hiroyuki) fall into this trope.
- Smoking Is Cool: He is often seen smoking and seems to think it's cool.
- Ship Tease: With Fire. He wears Fire's shirt and asks him to stay after yelling at everyone else to leave. He also almost gets one with Suzu but is Subverted by the author saying that he was just holding her sleeve (though it might still be possible).
- Troubled, but Cute: Hitoshi has a troubled past but many people have crushes on him.
- True Art Is Angsty: Hitoshi's art comes from his tortured soul.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to his dad Hitoshi used to be a kind and open kid up until the age of 8.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: He's seen wearing a Hello Kitty inspired dress (complete with wig and little bows) in the Zoo Academy Halloween poster.
Dhoe Dailey
Official Dhoe reference
"Grunt."
A reindeer Bifera and a student at Animali Academy. He's Charlie's best friend and one of the strongest characters. The staff at Animali Academy have labeled him dangerous for his uncontrollable strength and anti-social behavior, forcing him to wear an orange band showing that he's dangerous. Luckily, Dhoe is a pacifist and hates all forms of violence.
- Affectionate Nickname: Charlie calls him Doughy Boy.
- Ambiguously Brown: Dhoe's nationality is only listed as Canadian so his race is up to the reader.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Him and Charlie fall into this trope. With Dhoe being the big guy and Charlie being the little guy.
- The Big Guy: He's 7'1!
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the strongest characters so you might not want to get on his bad side, if you can mange to provoke him that is.
- Color Motif: Brown for strength and surprisingly, comfort.
- Gentle Giant: He's huge but also against all forms of violence and hate.
- Not So Stoic: He's shocked when Charlie says Hitoshi was nice to him.
- Shrinking Violet: He's very shy. So shy that he doesn't talk unless he has to.
- The Stoic: Dhoe doesn't talk. He only communicates through gestures and grunts.
- The Voiceless: See The Stoic above.
Fire
Fire in official promotion art
"I think you mean hot bro. Like physically hot."
A Utrumque Animali Academy student who is the physical embodiment of fire. He's a new student and him and Hitoshi are very close. Due to being the embodiment of fire he burns whoever he touches and burned the arm band they gave him when labeling him as dangerous. He's friendly and kind most of the time but has a temper.
- Ambiguously Gay: He is very close to Hitoshi and even wears his shirt at one point.
- Batter Up!: His trademark item is a baseball bat.
- A Dog Named "Dog": He is the physical embodiment of fire so of course his name is Fire.
- Dumb Jock: Fire loves baseball and isn't the smartest guy around.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Before his introduction he was seen multiple times with Hitoshi.
- Elemental Hair Colors: His sticking up red hair that happens to catch on fire sometimes fits perfectly into the fire category of this trope.
- Fiery Red Head: Fire's hair is literally on fire. But he's also somewhat easy to anger, despite being a sweet guy.
- Improbable Hairstyle: Though this isn't the worlds best example his hair does stick up on its own.
- Flaming Hair: Fire's hair is literally on fire.
- Nice Guy: Fire is very sweet, he waves at Charlie, kindly greets Gabe, and generally is just a friendly and nice guy to be around.
- Playing with Fire: Fire is the literal embodiment of fire.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Hitoshi's red and the red to his brother Ice's blue.
- Ship Tease: With Hitoshi. He's seen wearing Hitoshi's shirt and after Hitoshi yells at everyone to leave him alone he tells Fire to stay.
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The Woobie: No one can touch Fire without him burning them and it really effects him.
Gabriella Montes
Gabe's first speaking appearance in the comic
"Did someone say spicy!?"
A human (and criminal) Animali Academy student and Hitoshi's frenemy. She is the leader of the Flavor Trio and Lucas's girlfriend. Despite being mostly uncaring she can be a loyal friend and is very smart. Her greatest loves in life are spicy foods.
- Action Girl: She is very strong and isn't afraid to show it. Word of God says she'd win a fight with Hitoshi who apparently did something horrible to get into Animali Academy.
- Big Eater: She eats like a pig.
- Deadpan Snarker: "Gee Tosh, like you treat your's any better."
- Friendly Rivalry: The author describes Gabe's relationship with Hitoshi as this.
- Girl Posse: She's the 'leader' of a mean girl gang nicknamed the flavor trio.
- Gossipy Hens: Gossiping is one the favorite activities of Gabe's mean girl squad.
- In-Series Nickname: Everyone calls her Gabe.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Gabe is the most popular human girl in school and she can be rude and uncaring, but once you get to know her she's a true friend.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Her and Hitoshi are always arguing but they're good friends.
Aracia Paukoobraznyy
Official Aracia reference
"How can you be mad at that face!"
A spider Bifera student at Animali Academy and Spyder Paukoobraznyy's younger sister. Despite looking scary to those to don't know her, Aracia is very sweet and trusting (unlike her brother). She is good friends with Charlie and loves Spiderman and other comic book superheroes.
- Animal Eyes: Aracia has spider eyes like her brother.
- Animal Motifs: Spiders of course. She even likes Spiderman.
- Arachnid Appearance and Attire: Aracia is part spider and wears a dress with her spider limbs sticking out and a spider web pattern on it.
- Big Eyes, Little Eyes: Aracia has two large eyes and six smaller ones.
- Official Couple: With Deeliah.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She always seems to have her head up in the clouds.
- Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder: Despite being a Cloudcuckoolander herself Aracia often has to take care of her alcoholic brother Spyder.
- Cute Monster Girl: She's part spider and very very cute.
- Dude, She's A Lesbian: Aracia's sexuality was reveled after fans started shipping her with Charlie (a boy). Turns out Aracia has an adorable girlfriend named Deeliah.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: With brown hair and grey skin gothic Aracia fits this trope well.
- Girlish Pigtails: Aracia's twintails really show off how girly she is.
- Hidden Depths: Even though she looks scary Aracia is actually very sweet and kind. Though people who don't know her are still afraid of her.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Aracia is a very feminine lesbian.
- Meaningful Name: Aracia sounds a lot like arachnid.
- Perky Goth: Despite being goth Aracia is very energetic.
- Ship Tease: Subverted. Her holding hands with Charlie was just a friendly act, same with her calling him cute. She's got a girlfriend already.
- Spider Limbs: In Aracia's mid section she has two sets of spider limbs. Yes those are limbs.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The huge girl to Charlie's tiny guy. He barely comes up to her hip.
Coco
Official Coco reference
"Yeah so cute. Fucker I said you could have a bite."
A cat Bifera student at Animali Academy and Charlie's friend. He's a transgender male and doesn't think very highly of himself. He loves cats and often feeds the stray ones that come to visit his apartment.
- A Day in the Limelight: The first chapter of Zoo Academy is focused on Coco.
- Ambiguously Brown: Coco's ethnicity is completely up to the reader. Even he doesn't know what race he is! Though he 100% isn't white.
- Animal Eyes: He has cat eyes, fitting seeing as he is a cat.
- Animal Motifs: Coco is very cat like, including having autism a disorder often associated with cats.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: This is because he's transgender and doesn't pass very well.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Not being able to eat lunch sets him off really bad.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: He often cares for stray cats and happens to have a special interest in them. Not surprising seeing as he is a cat.
- Little Bit Beastly: He is part cat and has the same features as most 20% Biferas do.
- No Social Skills: Coco has a hard time making friends.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Coco's real name is unknown, he gave himself the name Coco because his parents never told him his name.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents forced him to live in an apartment by himself and never speak to him. It's because he's a Bifera. He really misses them and even has a drawing of what he thinks they look like on his fridge.
- The Woobie: Chapter 1 shows us how miserable Coco's life is. His parents abandoned him (and he can barely remember what they looked like), he thinks his friends don't care about him, he feels useless and weak, and life is cruel to him.
Yuuki Hokkaido
Official Yuuki reference
"Rough day? Me too."
A husky (dog) Bifera student at Animali Academy and Charlie and Acid's cousin. He's a prostitute and member of Hitoshi's band Tattoo Parlor Quintet. Despite him being a little rough around the edges, he's a good guy who loves his cousins dearly. Yuuki has healing powers but isn't immortal.
- Anti-Role Model: Played With. Despite not being the best role model, Yuuki truly does want what's best for Charlie.
- Establishing Character Moment: When Yuuki finally gets introduced he's laying on a couch covered in bleeding stab wounds smoking a blunt.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: If it wasn't for his healing factor Yuuki would be dead from the horrible wounds he constantly gets from his job.
- Healing Factor: Yuuki has only not died because he can heal quickly. It comes in handy when his clients try to...dispose of him.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Yuuki really is a nice guy and being a prostitute hasn't affected that.
- Little Bit Beastly: Just like his cousin Charlie he has dog ears and a tail.
- Major Injury Under Reaction: He doesn't really seem to mind being stabbed, all he wants is his money.
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: In his Establishing Character Moment Yuuki is bleeding very heavily from many stab wounds. That ammount of blood loss is almost comedic, but he doesn't seem to care.
- Smoking Is Cool: He often smokes weed.
- The Twink: He's thin, pretty, youthful, and most importantly, gay.
- Shirtless Scene: The second time you see Yuuki is with his shirt off. Though the fan service of the scene is almost completely erased due to the fact he's bleeding from multiple stab wounds.
- The Stoner: Yuuki loves to smoke weed and is often high.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Yuuki has only been seen wearing a shirt once.
Trickie
Official Trickie reference
"Honk"
A clown student at Animali Academy. They're missing their right arm.
- Ambiguously Brown: Under all the make up Trickie is brown but we don't know what race they are.
- Ambiguous Gender: We don't know Trickie's gender yet, all we know is that they're a clown.
- Ambiguously Human: They're just...a clown.
- Black Comedy: Trickie is known to pull mean and dangerous pranks on people.
- The Voiceless: Trickie hasn't spoken yet.
Lucas White
Lucas getting pushed by Kiki
A human (and criminal) student at Animali Academy. He's Gabe's boyfriend, the most popular guy in school, and has endless admiration for celebrity Hollywood Heights.
- The Bully: He picks on just about everyone.
- Celeb Crush: Lucas is completely obsessed with celebrity Hollywood Heights.
- Cool Shades: Lucas wears two pairs of cool shades.
- Dumb Jock: He's not very bright and happens to like sports.
- Jerk Jock: He shoved Coco into a locker and makes jokes about Hitoshi getting raped in prison.
- Kick the Dog: Shoves Coco into a locker for no reason other then he's a Bifera.
- Major Injury Under Reaction: Hitoshi stabs him in the side and all he says is "boy the fuck".
The Teachers
Characters working at Animali Academy as staff members. Acid Hokkaido
Official Acid reference
"It's a human world Charlie, even in a school made just for us humans still rule."
A wolf Bifera and a teacher at Animali Academy. He's the older brother of Charlie Hokkaido and older cousin of Yuuki Hokkaido. Acid cares deeply for his younger brother and wants to protect him from the cruel world they live in, even if that means being harsh at times. Even though he's easily angered he wants his students to do well and for his brother and cousin to live a good lives.
- Anger Born of Worry: His outburst of anger at Yuuki was only because he was scared that Charlie could get hurt repeating what Yuuki was saying.
- Big Brother Instinct: Acid wants only to protect his little brother Charlie from harm. He also wants to make sure Yuuki doesn't get hurt further from his job.
- Covered with Scars: He has multiple scars. The most notable one is a very large one over his eye.
- Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder: To Yuuki and Charlie both.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Yuuki not shutting up about how Bifera with healing powers are better than humans quickly made him angry.
- Little Bit Beastly: Like his younger brother, Acid only appears to have ears and a tail, though he does have long claw like nails.
- Manly Gay: Acid is no stereotype or twink.
- Meaningful Name: The nickname Acid comes from his favorite color, neon green.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: We don't know Acid's real name.
- Only Sane Man: Out of the Hokkaido family he is definitely this.
- Parental Abandonment: Him and Charlie's parents left them at some point.
- Papa Wolf: A somewhat literal example seeing as Acid is actually part wolf. He might not be Charlie's dad but he sure acts like it.
- Stern Teacher: He seems to be this judging by the way he reacts to class outbursts.
- Younger Than He Looks: Acid is actually only 24 despite looking much older.
Spyder Paukoobraznyy
Official Spyder reference
"Lateness gets you detention in dark hell room you know."
A spider Bifera and science teacher at Animali Academy. He's Aracia Paukoobraznyy's older brother, though Charlie had a hard time making that connection. He created the robot Zashchita and is way too overqualified to be a teacher at Animali Academy. His English isn't very good and he drinks vodka in class.
- The Alcoholic: He's seen drinking vodka a lot and Word Of God says he's an alcoholic.
- Animal Eyes: Spyder has multiple eyes like a spider.
- Badass Longcoat: His black lab coat doubles as this.
- Big Eyes, Little Eyes: Spyder's eyes are of varying sizes. He has two large ones and a few more tiny ones.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Spyder has grey skin and brown hair and damn is he creepy.
- Embarrassing Nickname: His sister Aracia calls him Spiderman and he hates it enough to give her detention for it.
- Gadgeteer Genius: See Smart People Build Robots below.
- Kick the Dog: In his first scene he webs Charlie to a wall. Good thing Charlie can't feel pain.
- Meaningful Name: Paukoobraznyy means spider in Russian and Spyder sounds a lot like spider.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Spyder has two sets of arms.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite having skinny arms Spyder is able to pick up the robot Zashchita who is very heavy.
- Smart People Build Robots: Due to his intelligence he was the first person to build a fully functional artificially intelligent robot.
- The Unpronounceable: No one can pronounce Spyder's name and he hates it.Spyder: I come to this country and I am forced to be learning entire language, but heavens forbid after these years you learn my name.
- Vodka Drunkenski: He's Russian and he drinks. A lot.
Mr. Dittatore
Mr Dittatore's first appearance in the comic
"All of these rules must be followed."
The human principal of Animali Academy. He hates his students for being inhuman and criminals.
- Dean Bitterman: Mr Dittatore is a jerk to every student.
- Establishing Character Moment: Yelling about how all his students are the scum of the earth really shows you what he's going to be like for the rest of the comic.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates everyone who isn't a human (but he hates his human students too seeing as they're criminals).
- Kick the Dog: In his first appearance he yells at and insults Zashchita who isn't doing anything wrong.
Scimitar Rigorous
Official Scimitar reference
"No PDA!"
The widely disliked English teacher at Animali Academy
- Animal Motifs: Snakes. He has a snake tattoo, a snake earring, and kind of looks like a snake too.
- Hated by All: Not even the other teachers like him.
- In-Series Nickname: 'Milk Man'.
- Sadist Teacher: He seems to take pleasure in giving Charlie detention for almost no reason and goes around calling his students mean names.
Richard Mallory
Mallory's first appearance in the comic
"I hope you're not that rude with the other teachers. They're not all as nice as me."
The cruel history teacher at Animali Academy.
- Fantastic Racism: Calling Coco, a cat Bifera, a 'good kitty' definitely falls under this.
- Kick the Dog: Yells at Coco and generally horrible to him in his first appearance.
- Sadist Teacher: He makes fun of Coco for being afraid of him yelling and is generally cruel to him.
Jane
Jane assessing the situation
"What's going on here?!?"
The loud lioness Bifera gym teacher at Animali Academy.
- Animal Eyes: She has very lion-like eyes.
- Cat Girl: Though she is rather manly she is still a female cat-person.
- Comical Overreacting: Despite Lucas only being stabbed a little Jane labels him as a murder victim.
- Fiery Redhead: Jane is loud and aggressive and has a mane of red hair.
- Girls with Moustaches: Jane has a beard due to her only recently transitioning from male to female. It's not Played for Laughs, it's just part of her character.
Sunny
Sunny confronting Spyder
"Call the police Jane."
Jane's teaching assistant and the health teacher at Animali Academy. She is a black panther Bifera.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Sunny sports a pair of round glasses and they make her look very cute.
- Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder: Seems to be this for Jane and possibly other teachers like Spyder.
- Deadpan Snarker: "Call the police Jane."
- Expressive Ears: Her ears move around with her emotions.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is Sunny and she wears lots of yellow. Unfortunately, her personality doesn't match her name.
- Only Sane Man: She's the only person in Animali Academy who acts and thinks rationally.
Other
Characters who aren't students or teachers.
Zashchita
Zashchita finishing cleaning
"And Zashchita!"
A robot made by Spyder to guard Animali Academy and clean. The students love him, though Mr. Dittatore treats him badly.
- Cute Machines: He's by far the cutest character in the series. Just look at his adorable face screen!
- Do-Anything Robot: There are probably no limits on what Zashchita can do.
- Robot Buddy: Zashchita is Spyder's robot buddy. He comes home with him at the end of the day, is often seen with him, and was made by Spyder.
- Tv Head Robot: His little screen looks like an older TV screen.
