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Xing Youye

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  • Badass Decay: Early on, Dog risks his life to rescue a girl from a trio of criminals, and fights off an armed opponent long enough for The Cavalry to arrive. Since then, Dog's primary role in the series is comedic, often at the expense of his comfort and/or dignity, and his only other attempt at heroism failed miserably.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Panther. Many viewers admire her energetic personality, attractiveness, growth from Damsel in Distress to Action Girl, and find her relationship with Dog cute. Many others are repelled by her selfish tendencies and, even more, instances when she abused Dog (often unprovoked and never treated seriously by author); they argue that Panther and Dog's relationship is neither cute nor healthy, and that Dog - who nearly died protecting Panther, and would give his life for her anytime - deserves far better.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • You may disapprove Cat Mom's parenting methods, but the scene where she wakes Kitten up by pulling him by his tail and footballing him into another room will make you laugh nonetheless.
    • That one time Lioness gets Slapstick treatment. It's rather brutal and she didn't deserve it in the slightest, but it's hilarious if only for how unexpected it is. The scene was building up towards her finally meeting her elusive crush, and this is what she got instead.
  • Crossover Ship: a minor example, Rooster x Jane Doe from Zenless Zone Zero. They were both in the same episode (though their paths didn't cross) and beaten up multiple Mooks each. Some viewers, apparently failing to recognise that Jane is a guest character, asked if she's going to become Rooster's significant other.
  • Designated Monkey:
    • Xing Youye loves bullying Lion. To get Lion on the receiving end of various humiliating jokes, author frequently ignores character development that Lion went through and/or makes him say or do something utterly stupid, so that imminent humiliation wouldn't seem unwarranted or so that it could happen in the first place. Other characters go out of their way to ensure Lion ends up being as pathetic as possible; thus, Jane Doe had zero in-story reasons to waste time and effort on tying him up, gagging him and stripping him naked. In his personal story, Lion is targeted by nonsensical, unreliable, time- and money-consuming, low-revenue scam solely because he has to suffernote ; when he attempts to bring scammer to justice, author doesn't let him - for the final chapter of his own story arc, Lion is exclusively a Butt-Monkey. Also, at one point Lion got raped with a billiard cue; it's treated as another instance of slapstick that Lion brought on himself.
    • Dog also qualifies. He frequently gets the same treatment as Lion (yes, he was also present at end of "Worth Moving Forward" and didn't fare any better), and on top of that, his Panther blatantly disrespects him, despite owing him life. Every single time she physically abused Dog is presented as funny, even when Dog did nothing to deserve it. It wouldn't be as glaring if Lion and Dog's best episodes didn't show that they're both sympathetic and capable; yet in many of their appearances, they're nothing more than Butt Monkeys and Straw Losers.
  • Escapist Character:
    • Rooster is World's Strongest Man with an incredible physique, who instantly curb-stomps any bad guy. Also a man with a strong moral compass who has protected others countless times, and changed not a few lives for better. Also a prospering self-made businessman. Also a great guy to be around, is respected by everyone who knows him, has a lot of friends who look up to him, and a loving family (seen very briefly). Last but not least, Rooster has achieved inner peace and is shown to be not bothered by anything.
    • Lion has grown into one while simultaneously being a Loser Protagonist (he shifts between the two opposites as plot demands). He is charismatic and sociable; has demonstrated an impressive skillset and (after he quit smoking) equally impressive athletic prowess; has loyal friends, and perhaps most importantly, enjoys a healthy relationship with girl of his dreams, with clear prospect of starting a family. He didn't become any less of Butt-Monkey, though - if anything, he's getting it even worse than before.
  • Growing the Beard: Several episodes can be seen as milestones.
    • The famous subway episode is not technically the first, but it's where show truly starts. It's the first to have plot and conflict; it introduces Lion and Dog, thus completing the core of the main cast; last but not least, it establishes Rooster as a Memetic Badass and protector of the weak.
    • The episode where Dog saves Panther from kidnappers, and its direct sequel - flood episode. While these two episodes didn't exactly set the course for the show as whole, they have elevated it above mere Gag Series, showing both genuine dangers, and genuine heroism of ordinary people (as well as Rooster), and showcasing Xing Youye's ability to tell a serious dramatic story.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Not a few interactions between Lion and Dog. It's always Played for Laughs, but it happens often enough to make one wonder if author ships them with each other, rather than with their respective girlfriends.
    • Speaking of girlfriends, Lioness and Panther are so affectionate towards each other that they're easily mistaken for yuri couple. Bonus points for the only words Lioness ever spoke to Dog: "Tonight, your girlfriend is mine!"
  • Intended Audience Reaction: "Worth Moving Forward" Story Arc can be very frustrating, as it puts Lion through Humiliation Conga, "rewards" his good deeds with a middle finger to his face, and ends in Anti-Climax, with Lion still not having found a job. However, if we assume that it's Kafka Komedy and is meant to make you feel frustrated...
  • Iron Woobie: the sheer amount of bullshit Lion has to put up with sometimes brings him down, but he refuses to stay down. Visualised in his "vs inner demons" episode: while Rabbit and Panther are saved by those they value the most, Lion takes on his inner demon by himself.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: face it, if you are invested in the series, you're watching it for Rooster's action scenes, or Lion and Lioness' romantic subplot, or maybe for both.
  • Memetic Badass: Rooster, and his first moment of badassery indeed turned into a meme.
  • Misaimed Fandom: quite a few fans who admire Rooster for his strength don't seem to understand that he never uses it to "assert dominance". In fact, Rooster despises such behavior, and his famous beatdowns of other characters are only his response to them bullying others. Strong sense of justice is integral part of Rooster's character, every bit as important as his might; he should never be seen as "coolest dude who beats up whoever he wants".
  • Narm Charm: the episode where Dog and Panther (almost) break up features tropes that are often considered overused (Gray Rain of Depression and Race for Your Love). Overused or not, here they work exactly as intended.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Blond Penguin could really be a perfect antagonist for Lion. With his money, connections and two cronies always at his side, someone as petty and vindictive as him both acts as Foil to Working-Class Hero Lion, and forces Lion into position of an underdog. Now viewers both root for Lion, and are intrigued to find out how exactly is he going to prevail. Alternatively, Blond Penguin could go through Character Development, end up on Lion's side and realize how meaningless their conflict was. Alas, neither happens: after the second confrontation with Lion, Blond Penguin is absent from the plot until the epilogue, where he resurfaces to get a very underwhelming comeuppance that feels like author just filled a checkbox.
    • Lioness in "Worth Moving Forward" starts with offering Lion her support right when he needed it, but afterwards only gets passive cameo appearances. Then she tries to contact him after he's been scammed, but Lion doesn't answer her call as he has an emotional breakdown. At this point she could (and would) come to Lion in person and reassure him that everything will be alright - but instead she disappears from the subplot without a trace. To a lesser extent, trope applies to Lioness outside of this subplot - throughout 2025, her interactions with Lion are too brief to really leave any kind of emotional impact.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • Rooster is suggested to be a sort of Big Brother Mentor to Lion (and, to lesser extent, Dog), but this idea isn't elaborated upon - instead, Rooster tends to reduce his friends to StrawLosers whenever he is featured in an episode. Then again, we never got to see the exact moment when the ex-delinquents befriended Rooster.
    • The long-awaited meeting of Lion and Lioness left viewers satisfied, but somehow author missed an opportunity to show Lion's reaction when he learns that "Strong Litte Star" he's been playing with is actually his dream girl, and not Gay Gorilla as he assumed.
    • In "Worth Moving Forward", Lion falls victim to a very unreliable scam that involved giving him a job in a bubble company. This left some fans guessing if there's more to Goat's scheme than just employing a guy for a small chance that said guy, after learning about Goat's alleged financial troubles, willingly "lends" more money that Goat has already spent on him. Alas, there's no bigger picture, the scam really is that flimsy.
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: Lioness plays Long Hair Is Feminine trope to its fullest; ironically, this makes some viewers point out that female lions don't have manes, therefore, she must be biologically male. It's done to poke fun at other viewers... probably.
  • Watch It for the Meme: many Japanese and Korean viewers learned about the series because of "ranking meme"; great many more have seen "ranking meme" but don't know there's a whole animated series.

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