Level 0: Normal Animal: completely non-anthropomorphic and thinks and acts completely like the actual animal species he/she/it happens to be; very often intelligent, but not portrayed in the same way as Intellectual Animal intelligence
Examples: general consensus of real life
Level 1: Intellectual Animal: usually completely non-anthropomorphic but clearly has thought processes; may talk to each other, but humans won't understand them unless they can understand animal language or if it can be learned; largely to pretty much thinks and acts like the actual animal species he/she/it happens to be; can walk and run on two legs*; can be both two legged and four legged*** or almost always be quadrupedal
Examples: the Watership Down cast, Blue from Blue's Clues, Pluto, the animals in Lady and the Tramp, and the animals in Krypto the Super Dog
Examples that overlap with Levels 3 (civilized animals) and/or 4 (funny animals): Snoopy from Peanuts, Garfield, Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, and Gromit from Wallace and Gromit
Level 2: Talking Animal: can talk and be understood by humans; can walk and run on two legs*, but usually completely non-anthropomorphic and largely to pretty much thinks and acts like the actual animal species he/she/it happens to be; can be both two legged and four legged*** or almost always be quadrupedal; can either be speech impaired or not
Examples: Scooby Doo, Martha from Martha Speaks, Paco from Maya And Miguel, The Cat from Coraline, and Alex the African Grey Parrot (real life example)
Level 3: Civilized Animal or Rabbits in Waistcoats: usually thinks and acts partly like a human and partly like the species he/she/it happens to be, even if he/she/it can't speak; can either think and act more like a human or more like she/he/its respective species; can wear clothes, can live in houses, and are often depicted walking and running on two legs*, but have largely to completely non-humanoid, or feral-type bodies** and occupy their species natural role in the ecosystem; can be both two legged and four legged*** or almost always be bipedal*; may either live on the fringes of human society or not; intermediate level between Talking Animal and Funny Animal
Examples: Peter Rabbit, the Redwall books, Little Bear, Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH, Alvin and The Chipmunks and The Chippettes in the two live-action movies, and The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (The Disney animated version of him is on the verge of being a Level 4.)
Examples on the verge of being Level 4s (funny animals): Franklin, Daffy Duck, and the animals in The Wind in The Willows beside Mr. Toad
Level 4: Funny Animal: often to nearly always thinks and acts like a human being, even if she/he/it can't speak; usually lives in a house and often wears clothes; could be replaced with a human and the plot would be largely to nearly identical, but still have at least something of the physique of the actual animal species (in other words, a largely to completely non-humanoid body**), even when wearing clothes and walking and running on two legs*; can be both two legged and four legged*** or almost always be bipedal*; seldomly has humanlike breasts
Examples: Porky Pig from Looney Tunes, Brian Griffin from Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, Mr. Toad, and Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
Examples on the verge of being Level 5s (semi-furries): Goofy, Dudley Puppy from T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Babs Bunny from Tiny Toon Adventures
Level 5: Semi-Furry or Semi-Humanoid Animal (62.5-77.5%): mostly to nearly always thinks and acts like a human being, even if she/he/it can't speak; basically an animal's head, tail (if the species or character has one), skin, fur, feather, or scale coloring and pattern, and feet stuck on a furry (feathered in the case of birds and scaly in the case of reptiles) mostly to completely human-from-the-waist-up body that has mostly to completely nonhumanoid legs; could be mostly to completely humanoid from the waist down with or without humanoid arms instead; usually feature pawpads and/or claws of varying degrees but can feature bare palms and/or fingernails; feet can be either digitgrade, unguligrade (standing on a hoof), or plantigrade; feet are usually more animal-like but can be more human-like in basic shape; sometimes to somewhat frequently has humanlike breasts; intermediate level between Funny Animal and Furry
Examples: Arnold The Pit Bull from Tiny Toon Adventures, Rebecca Cunningham from Tale Spin, and Gadget from Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
Examples on the verge of being Level 6s (furries): Cleo from Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats
Level 6: Furry, Humanoid Animal, Jujin, or Kemono (30-62.5%): nearly always thinks and acts completely like a human being, even if she/he/it can't speak; basically an animal's head, tail (if the species or character has one), skin, fur, feather, or scale coloring and pattern, and even feet stuck on a furry (feathered in the case of birds and scaly in the case of reptiles) human body; may either feature pawpads and/or claws of varying degrees or bare palms and/or fingernails; feet can be either digitgrade, unguligrade (standing on a hoof), or plantigrade; feet can be more animal-like or more human-like in basic shape; usually has humanlike breasts
Examples: Minerva Mink from Animaniacs, the Star Fox cast, Rouge The Bat and Sally Acorn, most of the anthropomorphic animals from Arthur, and Kitty Katswell from T.U.F.F. Puppy
Level 7: Animaloid Human, Animal Person, Petting Zoo Person, or Gijinka (17.5-30%): has a completely human body and at least mostly human face, but has the animal's ears, nose, bill, or beak, and tail (if the species or character has one), skin, fur, feather, or scale coloring and markings; sometimes just have human skin, but still have the animal's markings and coloring; may either feature pawpads and/or claws of varying degrees or bare palms and/or fingernails; birds can have digitigrade bird feet like real birds or plantigrade feet like humans, but the legs are basically human legs; feet can be more animal-like or more human-like in basic shape; intermediate level between Furry and Animal Attribute Human
Examples: Buster Baxter's parents and a few of the other anthropomorphic animals from Arthur, and Alvin and The Chipmunks and The Chippettes in the cartoons
Level 8: Animal Attribute Human, Animal Attribute Person, or Kemonomimi (17.5% or less): a person with animal characteristics most often the ears and tail of the respective animal species (a.k.a. the 10% variety); some may have additional features, such as abilities, claws, paws, horns, fangs, and instincts, but otherwise completely human; catgirls (or nekomimi) are the most common examples
Examples: Son Goku from Dragonball, Inugami Kotarou from Negima, Wolf from 10th Kingdom, and Pinocchio when he has donkey ears and a donkey tail (He's still a puppet then, but...)
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Notes
* Note that all birds and all other theropod dinosaurs are supposed to walk on two legs, so bipedalism isn't indicative of anthropomorphism for them at all whatsoever.
** The term "feral" refers to any animal character who is largely to completely non-humanoid in general and has a largely to completely non-humanoid body, whether they stand on two legs* or not. Ferals range from Level 0 (normal animals) all the way to Level 4 (funny animals), but usually refer to Levels 0 (normal animals), 1 (intellectual animals) , and 2 (talking animals) that prefer to stand on all fours*.
*** Many Intellectual Animals (Level 1) and Talking Animals (Level 2), and Civilized Animals (Level 3), and Funny Animals (Level 4), even Semi-Furries (Level 5), are designed to at least theoretically be just as much bipedal as quadrupedal*, and vice versa. Some prefer to be on two legs*, some prefer to be on four legs*, and some are just as comfortable both ways.
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Terms for Anthropomorphic Animals in Manga and Anime
Gijinka: "humanoid, personification, or anthropomorphic" in Japanese
Jujin: "therianthrope" in Japanese
Kemono: "beast" in Japanese
Kemonomimi: "animal ears" in Japanese
Nekomimi: "cat ears" in Japanese
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The cats in Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron fit either in Level 5, Level 6, or in between.
ReplyDeleteLevel 5: T-Bone and Razor
Between Levels 5 and 6: Commander Ulysses Feral
Level 6: Callie Brigs, Ann Gora, and Lieutenant Felina Feral
What levels do the Carl Barks style humandogs* (which Barks called Dognoses or Dogfaces) prevalent in Disney works like Barks' and Don Rosa's comics, Duck Tales, Goof Troop, a Goofy Movie, and An Extremely Goofy Movie but also show up a few classic Lonney Tunes and MGM cartoons and the earlier John Stanley Woody Woodpecker gag pages from 1947 belong in?
ReplyDeleteI personally think they range from being funny animals (like Goofy and Max), to being semi-furries, to being furries, to being gijinka (like Peg and Roxanne).
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* I personally call those humandogs "pogs" or "polves" and think of them as a fictional subspecies of grey wolf, hence my third name for them, "Canis lupus homininis."
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I have a stuffed dog named Spot. His bark sounds like "woh". You can tell what he's saying from his inflection and how many times he barks. Me and my brother Shaan used to go on imaginary adventures with him when we were preteens. http://i.imgur.com/x7kj7ho.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vuuvJqP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/zKNPyEK.jpg
ReplyDelete