Basic Trope: A romance between members of different species.
- Straight: Bob, a human, falls in love with Alice, a werewolf.note
- Exaggerated:
- Bob falls in love with a dog.
- Bob finds his own species unattractive, so he practically always falls in love with creatures who aren't a part of his species.
- In a work with Loads and Loads of Races, Bob is in a polygamous relationship with at least one member of each species.
- Downplayed:
- Nancy, who is half goat demon, looks and acts almost completely human. She appears and behaves so much like a normal human that, Bob, her fully human boyfriend, did not believe that she was part goat demon for years after they started dating.
- Bob, who has been forcibly transformed, meets Alice, and now there's these nagging feelings that won't go away...
- A sentient iPhone falls in love with a sentient android phone.
- Justified:
- Alice never revealed to Bob she's a werewolf, and Bob has no reason to suspect Alice isn't human.
- Alice is a werewolf who can shift into a human form whenever she wants and she has her romantic moments with Bob while she is human.
- Bob has a thing for werewolves.
- Bob is a zoophile.
- Bob loves Alice no matter what she is.
- Bob and Alice are both sexual deviants.
- Bob and Alice are of very closely-related species.
- Inverted:
- Bob falls in love with another human who is the same race, and as close to him in appearance as possible.
- Bob hates Alice for being a werewolf. Alice likewise hates Bob for being human.
- Subverted:
- Alice is thought to be a werewolf due to a humiliating incident and fish being her Trademark Favorite Food, but she turns out not to be one after all.
- Bob propositions Alice, who turns him down, citing an unwillingness to date a man without tusks.
- Double Subverted: In fact, it turns out that Bob was the werewolf, and mistook her for a member of his own species.
- Parodied: Bob has been known to romance some pretty strange things, in fact he was once seen with a female sea turtle singing "Younger Than Springtime" before being arrested for harassing wildlife.
- Zig Zagged: Though the audience suspects either Alice or Bob is a werewolf, the audience never finds out who, if anyone, is a werewolf.
- Averted: Bob is not seen in love with anything but his own species.
- Enforced: It's an Urban Fantasy series with different morals about dating, and werewolves were introduced through Bob's relationship with Alice.
- Lampshaded: "Um... Bob... most people try to only romance people of their own species, you know."
- Invoked: The females of one species are designed to be sexually attractive to the males of another species (or multiple other species), either for reproduction or to serve as a hunting lure.
- Exploited: Knowing his love for werewolves, Emperor Evulz sets up Bob with Alice to both distract him and have Alice relay information regarding Bob.
- Defied: "Yuck, I don't wanna date a werewolf!"
- Discussed:
- The happy couple take the time to work out cultural differences, overcoming biochemical barriers, and managing mechanical differences between Tab A and Slot B.
- An interested third party who has researched both species offers some helpful advice on managing cultural differences, and warns of any activities that would normally be safe if Bob was dating a human, but could be potentially dangerous or painful under the circumstances.
- Conversed: "Why do humans and non-humans keep falling in love in these books? You'd think the dietary concerns would be enough to keep them from having anything meaningful."
- Implied: Bob tends to pay attention to the females of other species more than their males, making sure to always give the ladies his information.
- Deconstructed:
- The differences between Bob and Alice's species threaten to tear them apart, literally. Bob stumbles upon Alice, who has transformed fully and isn't in control of herself, and is attacked by her.
- Their anatomies may be compatible, but their biologies are not. A miscarriage by Alice puts a lot of strain on the relationship.
- Bestiality Is Depraved
- Bob is a sexual deviant and falls in love with Alice, an alien from the planet klintar 5, who just so happens to also be a sexual deviant and is able to return Bob's feelings. They attempt to mate, but biochemical barriers cause chemical reactions, as the fluids produced by each set of reproductive organs cause irreparable damage to the other.
- Bob's family highly disapproves of his relationship to Alice, leading them to disown him.
- Alternatively, Alice's family disapproves of her marrying a non-werewolf.
- Alice's children end up having many birth defects. Alice and Bobs' genes did not merge in a way as sightly as they expected. Instead of being werewolves or having a few animal traits, the children end up as a disturbing middle ground with ingrown "fur", a warped face, bones that do not fit with their skin, and many more conflicting features. Despite doing nothing wrong, the kids and Alice get abandoned by Bob as soon as they are born. Alice is now stuck as a single mom with kids that are in constant pain. As the children develop, they try to become good people and help society, but people start running from them in absolute fear. Despite the many setbacks, this does not sway them. The town slowly warms up to the children as the wolf kids' monstrosity is proven to merely be skin deep. Bob is eventually arrested for child abandonment and his children become accepted members of society.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob, after dating enough dangerous creatures, expected this to happen at least once, and came prepared. After the incident, Bob still loves Alice.
- They adopt... a child of a third species, who has a similar romance once they grow up.
- Alice is human enough that people who meet her know the difference between her and actual animals, so Bob is spared accusations of bestiality.
- Bob and Alice decide to have an open relationship, or otherwise have no sexual contact. They still love each other, after all.
- Bob or Alice finds work that is sufficient to support them, and they're able to have a loving relationship.
- Bob volunteers to be turned into a werewolf, if it means gaining the blessing of Alice's family. Her family, touched by his commitment to their relationship, give their blessing without Bob actually turning into a werewolf.
- Played For Drama: Bob's family highly disapproves of his relationship with Alice, to the point that they hire a werewolf hunter to kill her.
- Played For Laughs: Alice comes with many a Furry Reminder, such as fetching the newspaper every morning and curling up in Bob's lap, all of which he treats as if it were a normal part of married life.
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