Cat Smile

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When the fiancee is away, Tina Foster will play. Rowr.

The playful counterpart to the Cheshire Cat Grin, often used by The Ditz, the cute Kawaiiko, or a more normal character being playful or mischievous rather than manipulative or creepy. This expression is often seen on The Gadfly, and is often a warning that they're about to pull their antics on someone. The Manga style is just more often played as cute or as crackful. They're different in that the Cat Smile rarely shows teeth (except Cute Little Fangs, if the character has them), while the Cheshire Cat Grin shows too many. Also known as "Colon Three Smile". That is, :3. There is also the "Lion Smile", also known as >:3.

The Cat Smile often overlaps with other Japanese Media Tropes and facial expressions, like Puppy-Dog Eyes for pleading or that extra dose of diabetes-flavor. Oddly, this is not usually the default expression for Cat Girls. It's fairly common to see Eyes Always Shut with a Cat Smile for characters who are more "passively" happy or a tad ditzy/confident in their shenanigans. Half lidded eyes bring the Cat Smile its closest to the Chesire Cat Grin.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

Killua from Hunter × Hunter does this frequently. Sometimes, he even gains Sprouting Ears and a cat tail.
Lupin III is a rare MALE example. When he's smiling without showing teeth◊, it's a playful, long lion smile. When he shows teeth, it's a Cheshire Cat Grin.
Mayoi Hakase from Acchi Kocchi is always seen with this.
One of Haruko's expressions in FLCL.
This is the default expression of Konata, and her cousin Yui from Lucky Star. Combined with Konata's Eyes Always Shut, her expression is more like ¦3◊.
- Akira as well, until she cuts the Genki Girl facade.
- And sometimes Yutaka has one too.
- There is a darkfic where the expression is equated to a deformation akin to harelip. It was hard to take seriously.
- And then it spread to Haruhi.
Hyakko has newspaper photographer, Koma.
Botan from YuYu Hakusho would often make this face... in pretty much every occasion too.
Ryoko several times in the Tenchi Muyo! OVAs, most notably during the "crash landing" sequence at the beginning of the series.
Hellsing: Schrodinger would do several of these, given that he's a Cat Boy
- Seras does this too in OVA 8◊.
Merle, a Cat Girl from The Vision of Escaflowne does one of these when she first sees Hitomi's pendant, and of course Merle attempts to steal it.
In the Trigun anime Vash does this when the fights are being played for laughs (reads, just the first few episodes).
- Milly gets one near the start of the seventh episode while drunk and half-asleep, claiming to have an unusual physiology including "a separate stomach just for cake and ice cream!"
Genki Girl Kana in Minami-ke almost always has one of these.
During comedic moments Fai in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- often is wearing this expression, and considering that he's been identified as "kitty" on several occasions (once using it as his alias in a race) it makes perfect sense.
- Note that "neko" is also slang for the bottom in gay relationships. Nope, no subtext here. None at all...
  - Well, it is a CLAMP manga, after all...
  - And he ends up taking in Kurogane's fluids... OK, the fluid is blood, and it is due to a special form of vampirism, but still subtext.
Tina Foster from Ai Yori Aoshi (pictured above) does this from time to time whenever she's feeling a little...frisky around Kaoru.
Cardcaptor Sakura: Kero's default expression. Unless he's mad.
Nyoron Churuya-san: Churuya, the Super-Deformed fan-character version of Tsuruya from Haruhi Suzumiya, has this as her only facial expression, nyoro~n.
Unsurprisingly, Train does this in his sillier moments in Black Cat.
Used almost constantly by Dark-Skinned Blond Mahya Blythe in Mai-Otome. Strangely, it's Akane who winds up in a Cat Girl costume, and she never uses the Cat Smile.
This is the default expression of Magic Knight Rayearth's Mokona. If he/she/it isn't smiling like this, it's a sign something serious is about to occur (especially in the manga.)
This is how Ken Akamatsu draws Kuu Fei in Mahou Sensei Negima!.
- In her case, it's more signifying her naivete or complete lack of understanding.
- Nagase Kaede as well, who also sports Eyes Always Shut as well
Lotte from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, typical for a genki catgirl. Image◊
Gunsmith Cats: Minnie-May Hopkins, whenever she's feeling sneaky and/or amorous.
In an episode of the Axis Powers Hetalia anime, England uses it in a slightly mean-spirited way towards America, laughing a little behind his hand.
- This also seems to be Belgium's default expression. New Zealand wears one in most of his (admittedly few) appearances as well.
Kirino Chiba from Bamboo Blade does this occasionally, when she's at her most cheerful and energetic.
Mika Inamori from Manabi Straight! has this as her only expression. Along with the way her ever-present ribbon looks, it may point to a certain design motif.
Default facial expression of Neco-Arc in Tsukihime. Arcueid pulls this off herself on occasion. Surprisingly, Shiki manages this as well in the manga. Although it's very subtle, to his credit.
Rosette from Chrono Crusade makes this expression occasionally.
- And Shader, the Cat Girl Demon has this expression almost constantly.
Strengthening her Cat Girl image, Kana of Saki has a cat smile that rarely goes away.
Shinobu of Ninin Ga Shinobuden spends about half an episode perpetually doing this while dressed as a Cat Girl.
Rumi and Sakaguchi from The High School Life Of A Fudanshi tend to have this type of smile when they're really happy.
Fujimura Taiga (Tiger) does this a lot in Fate/stay night.
Togusa from Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor. He expresses this to gloat his seniority and experience over his newbie partner Azuma, whose overconfidence ended up angering a woman they were transporting home.
- The Fuchikoma occasionally sports one while being mischievous. An impressive achievement, considering it lacks a mouth.
- Batou tends to have one whenever he's in a good mood, and even Aramaki, of all people, sports one now and then when he's really sticking it to a political opponent.
Koyuki from Sgt. Frog wears this smile nearly as often as Konata does.
- Tamama also does this too...that is, until something ticks him off.
Keiichi's sister Megumi in Ah! My Goddess maintains this as a default expression, though it's a subtle curve rather than a complete alteration of human anatomy.
Otaku Erika Karisawa from Durarara!! often sports one of these.
- Kururi Orihara has one when she's looking for Kasuka from the TV broadcast.
When the animation in Fullmetal Alchemist is Super-Deformed, Alphonse's helmet can appear to have one of these.
This seems to be Furuya's default expression in Sankarea.
Kanda Yuusuke from A Devil and Her Love Song :3
Edward from Cowboy Bebop has one when she looks up at Spike while telling him that Jet asked her to take care of his bonzai trees.
Ayumu Nishizawa sports one in episode 37 in the first season of Hayate the Combat Butler while gloating that she has a photo sticker with Hayate.
- Hayate also gets one in episode 39.
Its practically the default smile for titular heroine, Index, from A Certain Magical Index. And she smiles a lot.
- Likewise for Last Order
Rokuna from Mon Colle Knights.
Ryoga from Ranma ½ does this a couple of times in the episode where he's possessed by Maomolin the ghost cat.
Koko from Jormungand has this as a frequent expression.
Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica wears this expression at all times, even when something unspeakably horrible is going on.
In the horror manga Emerging, Mori surprises Onotera with a Cat Smile while he's raging about Japan's lack of preparedness for a major disease outbreak... he's even further surprised when she starts gushing over the possibility that she could get a chance to study a disease as rare and deadly as Ebola.
"Chimp" Sarutobi from My Bride is a Mermaid has a constant cat, or in this case, chimp smile due to his admittedly ape-like appearance and behavior.
Pokémon:
- In episode "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion" Misty does this briefly while making a snarky comment.
- Pikachu has this as his default expression.
- Cilan, but only in Pokémon Adventures. Sun in the SM arc sports this too.
Yui Hirasawa in the K-On! Omake.
Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon gives one to Luna in Episode 31 when she playfully mocks the latter's words of wisdom from earlier at the start of the episode.
- She sports another one in Episode 107 when she finds out that Chibiusa has a crush on one of her classmates in her art class.
Alister Agrew in all incarnations of Last Exile, being much more playful and mischievous that it would be suggested by her outward appearance, constantly sports it when no one's looking.
The Idolmaster - The Futami Twins do this sometimes.
Shinji Koganei of Kuroko no Basuke sports the Cat Smile constantly in a rarer male example.
Neko from K has this as her default facial expression, given that she's a cat or can at least morph into one, it's appropriate.
In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Misato does this during her trademark habit of screaming and shuddering after downing an entire can of beer in one go.
- In Rebuild of Evangelion, newcomer Mari◊ is prone to this as well. When she's not fighting, at least. When she is, she sports a different kind of smile...
Gatomon from Digimon Adventure. And as implied from her name, it's a literal cat smile. However, it also serves to visually reinforce that she's mischievous character.
Youhei Sunohara from CLANNAD has one whenever he's in one of his lighter moods.
Sasuke Tsubaki from Sket Dance in his cat costume has it as a fixed expression.
Blair from Soul Eater often sports this expression when she's in a good mood or seducing Soul, this also alludes to her Cat Girl status.
Sawatari Makoto shows off her cat smile many times in the 2006 anime version of Kanon, usually whenever she's getting ready to prank Yuichi. This is also the default expression of her pet cat, Piro.
Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun often has this expression, usually just before planning something perverted. This usually involves her Onee-sama Mikoto.
In Naruto, Deidara has one at one point.
- Surprisingly, Hanabi Hyuga sports one in The Last: Naruto the Movie, as she teases her older sister Hinata about giving her red scarf to Naruto.
I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying has Hajime whenever he's really happy
Kameko of Denki-gai no Honya-san has a perpetual cat smile. Fittingly, she's one of the more sly members of the cast.
Dee from Sunday Without God sports this expression when she's feeling particularly mischievous or whimsical, and sometimes even has a Cute Little Fang to go with it.
In chapter 21.1 of Ojojojo, Haru of all people does this when she realizes that Akane has a crush on Chris.
Tobisawa of Ao No Kanata Four Rhythm not only does the cat smile but has a tendency toward cat naps and meow puns.
Nanami from Dog Days does this on occasion, quite appropriate since she's the chosen hero for a kingdom of cat people.
This is practically a trademark for Bkub Okawa, as illustrated in Pop Team Epic.

Comic Books

Ocelotina in #4 of Empowered (see p155, you may miss it)
In Superman #338, Supergirl does the cat smile when Brainiac hits himself with his shrinking ray and disappears.

Fan Works

A Crown of Stars: In chapter 64, after playing in front of a crowd Asuka kissed Shinji, informed him that he and she had a date with a bed right now and grinned a grin “would have done credit to a Great White shark.”
Advice and Trust: Asuka displayed a very playful, smug and self-satisfied grin after being kissed by Shinji in front of all their classmates in chapter 8.
Evangelion 303: Asuka wears one when she is feeling real naughty (usually with Shinji). Some examples hereand here.
In Children of an Elder God, Asuka smirked wickedly after kissing Shinji for first time.
Ghosts of Evangelion: Asuka has a huge scary grin when her daughter Ryuko receives a prize for her musical accomplishments:
Far from looking bored, in this picture Asuka had a maniacal grin on her face, holding her daughter in a headlock while she flashed the camera a V sign with her other hand.
X-Men: The Early Years: In "Can't Fight This Feeling", Hank and Bobby grin mischievously when they decide to ruin Warren and Candy's make-out session.
"What should we do?"
"We could always go bother Warren and Candy in the parking lot?" Hank suggested, an evil gleam in his eye.
Bobby grinned maliciously. "Oh! This is going to be the best birthday ever."

Opal Koboi from Artemis Fowl is often described as grinning like a cat.
In The Mortal Instruments, Clary often likens Jace's smile to that of a cat, adding that it comes of as mischievous.
In Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman describes The Marquis de Carabas in very feline terms and at one point mentions him "grinning like a tiger that has spotted a lost child."

Role Playing Games

Tom from Ruby Quest does this occasionally, especially when he has a Covert Pervert moment.

Video Games

Pascal from Tales of Graces does this from time to time, mostly when she's trying to "touch" Sophie or playing matchmaker between any of the party members.
- While her Fujishima artwork and ingame model don't display one, most of Rose's in-game artwork (from both Zestiria and Tales of Link among others) shows her with a cat smile by default
The Civilian's character portrait in Castle Crashers.
Etna from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is shown to have this face very often. It could also be said to be her default face.
There is a stuffed headcrab toy that has this expression.
- Headcrabs don't even have faces!
Minato, of all people, gets one after Yukari tells him and Junpei not to look up her skirt during their monorail mission in the manga adaption of Persona 3.
NOVA, the comet from Kirby Super Star that grants wishes, has its mouth shaped like this.
- This is also Chef Kawasaki's default expression. In Super Star Ultra (but not plain old Super Star), he has this smile in each one of his animations, even after you beat the mustard out of him.
In Katawa Shoujo, Shizune is seen using this expression several times.
One of Satori's expressions, from Touhou
Mad Scientist Cat Girl Kokonoe from BlazBlue, for obvious reasons.
- Ditzy, distracted Cat Girl Taokaka occasionally has this face.
- In a similar vein, squirrel girl Makoto Nanaya will sometimes have this expression plastered across her face. Sometimes, combined with very large, glistening Puppy-Dog Eyes.
Acerola, the Ghost trial captain from Pokemon Sunand Moon is often seen sporting one
Super Robot Wars Compact 2: Excellen Browning. Especially in the Inspectors.
Recette from Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale displays a subtle one in the pause menu.
Some of the Podoboos in Yoshi's Island. raocow has taken to calling the latter "Catoboos" as a result.
Porings and their kin from Ragnarok Online.
Chocolat of Solatorobo does it most often, despite being a Caninu (dog person). Elh also does one once or twice, though any Felineko is likely capable of it.
Lampshaded in don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story when Nolan asked if this kind of face is even posible. Akira shows him that it is, but the player never sees it.
In Team Fortress 2, the world inside the Pyro's eyes contains a cat, a dog and a hamster with these.
The protagonist of They Bleed Pixels smiles like this every time she transforms. Depending on your viewpoint, it's either oddly cute or incredibly eerie (particularly given that as a human, she's a Perpetual Frowner.)
9-Volt from WarioWare. Also his mother 5-Volt in Game & Wario.
Duke Crabtree from Ambition has this expression.
Data from Mega Man Legends has a constant one.
Demonoid!Akira from Shin Megami Tensei IV also has this as his default expression.
In Undertale:
- Muffet has this as her default expression.
- Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel have one occasionally, likely as a consequence of their facial structure.
- Undyne, of all characters, makes one a few times.
Karen from Arc Style: Baseball!! 3D has it, but she's not the only one. You can make your custom characters sport this smile too. There's even a variation where the smile is much wider.
The Starcatchers sport one in Insaniquarium.
Nev:3, the resident Cat Girl of Atlas Reactor. The :3 stands for both her test number and this trope.
Particularly happy Miis will sport such smile in Miitopia.
Almost all your squids in Squid Ink sport one such smile, not just Catamari (who's a Mix-and-Match Critter between a cat and a squid). The only squid who appears to lack one is Griffin until he gets the ability to temporarily turn visible.

Web Original

JESUS CHRIST, IT'S A LION, GET IN THE CAR!
- 0>:3
  - WHAT?! JESUS CHRIST IS A LION?! WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!
  - Clearly this is a The Chronicles of Narnia style metaphor.
  - Don't be silly. It's obviously Saint Mark.
I am a lion, rawr!
=3
The Nostalgia Critic has a tendency to do this whenever he's trying his best not to laugh. Lookit the cute dimple!
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series did it in "Seto Kaiba vs. The World"

Web Animation

An original from Happy Harry Toons from Newgrounds called "Hot Na'vi Sex" features Neytiri sporting an excellent one of these towards the middle of the animation.
Catbug's default facial expression.
RWBY: Neon Katt. She's basically Nyan Cat without the ears and the Pop-Tart. Blake herself even does one in Volume 4
Eddsworld has it as part of a running gag where Edd (or his Distaff Counterpart) does it after asking a threatening character if he can call them by a cutesy nickname, as seen in "Hello Hellhole", "Moving Targets", and "Mirror Mirror".

Webcomics

Questionable Content:
- Marigold gets one after Hanners and Angus both call her pretty. Much to her embarrassment.
- Marigold is again seen with a Cat Smile while dancing with Angus.
- Hanners gets one when she can no longer resist her curiosity about Dora's supply of "party favors".
- Even Faye gets to do one.
Jakkai in Slightly Damned do this, as well as Kieri in bunny form. Nonhuman anatomy.
Emily in this Misfile page. Complete with cat background.
Three Panel Soul does this one in relation to headcrabs.
Aeris from VG Cats here. Of course, she's an actual cat.
In Ménage à 3, Zii demonstrates huge cat smiles after knocking Gary senseless by smushing his face in her chest and as she's trying to strip Gary.^note
Homestuck:
- "Vodka Mutini", a mutant kittie, has this face on at all times.
- Jaspersprite frequently uses the emoticon in conversation.
- Nepeta◊, fitting her cat theme, has one of these, as does her ancestor. She also types with these, but as :33, as Alternian cats (Or at least her guardian) have two mouths. (And 33 is the elemental number for arsenic — her IM handle is 'arsenicCatnip'.)
Both Racer and Mach from Bomberman Land Parody. Keep in mind that they are both biological brothers in that comic.
On page 24 of DOUBLE K, Simon briefly sports a cat smile after being rescued by Kamina.
Trigger occasionally does this in Far Out There, usually when a prank is involved.
Precocious:
- On occasion the feline kids will do a rather menacing one.
- Tiff, Bud, and Autumn (despite being a fox) here.
The Cyantian Chronicles: Tira uses this during Akaelae here, in the last panel. Which is odd, because she's a fox, not a cat!
Aggie in this strip of Penny and Aggie
Günter from Zoophobia is an interesting example, as it's simply his default mouth shape and not a blatant accent added to exaggerate his expressions.
Despite being a cat, CK from Commander Kitty never really sports one...until this piece of filler art.
In Nerf NOW!!, hypercompetitive gamer Jane sports one while plotting on how she's going to destroy her rival, Morgan, to win a bet.
Tiger from Consolers has a mouth in this shape, appropiate for his tiger-based design.
S.S.D.D: When Tessa (a fox) is faced with a fox and some kind of rabbit sporting these, she gets creeped out.
Sequential Art often has Kat Vance doing some form of this.

Web Original

In Team Four Star's Let's Play of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, they gave their player character, Puddin, one of these. Most of the copious amounts of fanart of her followed suit. Word of God is her Kamehame-nya also has a cat face at the end of the energy wave.

Western Animation

Kitten from Teen Titans makes this face at one point.
Jin from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Girl Next Door in Ba Sing Se who is NOT ZUKO'S GIRLFRIEND!
- Aang and Sokka make this face too at times.
  - And so does Toph, especially in "The Runaway" episode.
In The Legend of Korra, Bolin seems to have trained in this art.
Otto the Mr. Fixit and Genius Ditz Cloud Cuckoo Lander green robot monkey from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! does this several times.
Pay close attention to Adventure Time's Finn the Human and you'll see him make this face. Along with a plethora of other humanly impossible expressions...
In Chowder, the title character sports one whenever he gave Mung Huggies in the episode with his tongue.
James from Thomas the Tank Engine had one back when the show used sculpted faces.
In Thundercats 2011, Wily Kit and Wily Kat use this while trying to convince Lion-O to let them join him on his journey, as seen in this trailer, while Snarf does it while looking at a reflective geode.
Star Trek: The Animated Series. Not surprisingly, the Cat Folk Caitian Lieutenant M'Ress has one of these constantly.
Recess: T.J. made one in the episode "Bad Hair Day".
- This is Gus's default smile.
TaleSpin: Rebecca Cunningham's default smile.
Scooby-Doo: Velma Dinkley.
Same goes to Elsa Frankenteen and Phantasma from Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School.
Catbug in Bravest Warriors has this face perpetually, even when screaming◊.
Tends to show up a lot in the later cartoons of Chuck Jones.
Amethyst from Steven Universe has a mouth shaped in such a way to look like this.
- Once she actually starts showing genuine smiles a lot of Peridot's smiles tend to resemble this.
  - Or like >:3 this.
Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Star does this in one episode, "Cheer Up, Star".
Maz from SheZow.

Real Life

Natalie Dormer seems to sport this often in her photos.◊ She's noted that she always appears to be smirking due to her asymmetrical face when it's really in rest mode.
Christine "Moose" McGlade, known for her tenure on You Can't Do That on Television, sported a natural cat smile most of the time, which went quite well with her Deadpan Snarker persona.
Guest from the Future star Natalia Guseva smiles like a cat.
Singer/actress Tomomi Itano, formerly of AKB48, is known for her cat smile.
This was the trademark grin◊ for Clark Gable, which added to his sex appeal. So much so, when any other actor made a similar face, they could (and would) be compared to him, which could arguably make him a trope codifier for actors of his time.