Must-See Anime for Kitsune Fans (2024)

Kitsune anime is a subgenre popularized by the famous nine-tailed fox in Japanese folklore. Given the mystery surrounding its supernatural existence, aesthetically pleasing character designs and otherworldly personalities in pop culture, many are drawn to this mystical being that can shift between human and fox. This makes it one of the most ubiquitous mythological creatures in anime.

Many might recognize a certain nine-tailed take on the kitsune, but the anime it hails from isn't the only one with the mystical foxes. There are numerous shows that have their own take on the concept, interpreting the animal in a variety of ways. From cute fox children to dangerous demons, these iterations of the kitsune legend make the creature out to be far more than just sly.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on February 7, 2024: The kitsune is one of the most recognizable aspects of Japanese mythology and folklore. That's showcased in numerous anime, with some of these being prominent action-adventure shows. The best kitsune anime interpret the concept in different ways, putting each aspect of its characterization on display. When it comes to accurately portraying the mythological fox, anime is easily the best medium to handle it.

10 Kamisama Kiss Features a Playful Yet Possessive Kitsune

Kamisama Kiss stars the broke and homeless Nanami, who's suddenly approached by a mysterious man named Mikage. He offers her a place to live and she quickly accepts, not realizing the implications behind the offer. Mikage is the Earth Deity of Mikage shrine and he transfers his godly role to Nanami after she takes up residency there. Not only does she suddenly become the shrine's land god, but she inherits a temperamental fox yōkai named Tomoe as her familiar.

As a kitsune yōkai with abandonment issues, Tomoe doesn't trust Nanami and actively tries to make her life difficult, so she'll leave the shrine. He initially refuses to become her familiar and escapes to the supernatural world to partake in lazy debauchery while leaving Nanami to fend for herself. However, Nanami is grateful to finally have a home and takes her new godly duties very seriously. As Kamisama Kiss continues, Tomoe's wild and defiant personality lessens as he learns to respect Nanami and agrees to become her protective fox familiar.

Kamisama Kiss

TV-PG

Comedy

Fantasy

Nanami is left homeless after her father runs away due to debts. When she saves a man named Mikage from dogs, he gives her his house which turns out to be a shrine and she becomes the new deity.

Release Date

October 2, 2012

Creator

Julietta Suzuki

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

2 Seasons

Characters By

Tia Lynn Ballard, J. Michael Tatum, Luci Christian

Production Company

Dax Production, Dentsu, Hakusensha

9 Inu x Boku SS

Soushi Miketsukami is a nine-tailed fox spirit starring in Inu x Boku SS, another kitsune anime. Members of the SS are born of human and yōkai descent, and Soushi is the most powerful SS agent of all. As a noble kitsune, he decides to serve and protect Ririchiyo Shirakiin who lives alone in Ayakashi Kan. Soushi is a loyal and protective fox spirit who puts his life at risk for Ririchiyo without hesitation. Ririchiyo also has a yōkai form where she grows horns and summons ancient weapons.

Despite his unusual hair and eye color, he blends in well with humans by hiding his ears and tails while donning an all-black suit for everyday wear as an agent. He transforms into his full nine-tails form once a threat's detected, increasing his power and speed. Soushi can be cunning and possessive while wielding incredible power as a kitsune yōkai, but he has a calm and loving disposition when he's not provoked.

Inu x Boku SS

TV-14

Comedy

Romance

See Also

12 Best Kitsune Anime Recommendations - My Otaku WorldTop 10 Kitsune Anime List [Best Recommendations]Search Anime - MyAnimeList.net10 Best Anime Kitsune, Ranked

A socially inept girl, Ririchiyo, seeks seclusion from others to attempt to improve herself and hence moves to a building that is rumoured to house the rich and powerful, when in fact it is meant for people with supernatural ancestors

Release Date

January 12, 2012

Creator

Cocoa Fujiwara

Cast

Monica Rial , Brittney Karbowski , David Matranga , Yuichi Nakamura , Yoshimasa Hosoya , Kana Hanazawa (Japanese)

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

David Productions

Number of Episodes

12 +OVA

8 Kurama Qualifies Yu Yu Hakusho as a Kitsune Anime

In the classic anime Yu Yu Hakusho, Yoko Kurama starts the series off as a villainous fox youkai. Despite this, he's reborn as a human named Shuichi Minamino, and the reincarnated fox demon comes to love his human mother. From there, he eventually transitions into an ally for Yusuke and the others, not to mention one of series' most popular characters.

Kurama is able to still transform into his demonic form, with shape-shifting showing up in his other powers and attacks. The Yoko Kurama form is far more powerful than the mortal form of Shuichi. Kurama also bears fox ears and a tail, making the series' kitsune anime status more obvious.

Yu Yu Hakusho

TV-14

Animation

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

After a teenage delinquent is killed while saving a child's life from an approaching car, the rulers of the underworld send him back to become an "Underworld Detective" investigating demons apparitions in the human world.

Release Date

October 10, 1992

Creator

Yoshihiro Togashi

Cast

Nozomu Sasaki , Shigeru Chiba , Megumi Ogata , Nobuyuki Hiyama , Yuri Amano , Hisako Kyôda , Mayumi Tanaka , Ai Orikasa , Sanae Miyuki

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

4

Studio

Pierrot

Number of Episodes

112

7 Little Fox Is a Cute Addition to Natsume's Book of Friends

Natsume's Book of Friends has several yokai, but the creature that qualifies it as a kitsune anime is Little Fox. A timid and shy kitsune child, Little Fox appears as a fox to humans and a human (with fox ears) to yokai. Due to his quiet nature, the boy is sadly picked on by his peers.

Thankfully, Natsume is nice to him and treats him differently than his bullies. This helps Little Fox grow to become a stronger, more confident person. He's one of the less crafty and resourceful anime kitsune, but he's definitely cute as a child. His clothes (which are brown) notably reflect his form as a fox.

Natsume's Book of Friends

Animation

Comedy

Drama

Fantasy

Horror

When Natsume Takashi inherits a book that belonged to his late grandmother he realizes the book is filled with the names of spirits she defeated and bound to her will. He then decides to return their names so they can be free once again.

Release Date

July 7, 2008

Creator

Kenichi Kanemaki, Sadayuki Murai

Cast

Matthew Elkins , Marisa Duran , Hiroshi Kamiya , Kazuhiko Inoue , Christopher Wehkamp , Miki Itō , Ryōhei Kimura , Hisayoshi Suganuma , Miyuki Sawashiro , Kristian Eros , Hiroshi Shimozaki , Akira Ishida , Kazuma Horie

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

6 Seasons

Producer

Tomomi Kyôtani, Reiko Sasaki, Hirofumi Sugawara, Shûko Yokoyama

Production Company

Brains Base, Shuka, Nihon Ad Systems (NAS)

Number of Episodes

74 Episodes

6 Kudakitsune Is a Less Traditional Anime Kitsune On xxxHolic

CLAMP's xxxHolic had numerous kitsune, but Kudakitsune was definitely one of the more unique. He starts off as a pipe fox spirit, resembling a sort of serpentine creature with a fox's head. It becomes bonded to a boy named Watanuki and protects him from harm, wrapping around him and defending him when he least expects it.

Along with fox magic, Kudakitsune has incredible strength and transformation abilities. Its final form is a more traditional kitsune, with the transformation being denoted by its new name of Mugetsu. Along with these powers, the anime kitsune is immortal, having the status of a low-level god.

5 The Helpful Fox Senko-san Had a Friendly Kitsune

The Helpful Fox Senko-san focuses on a normal salaryman named Kuroto Nagano who becomes fed up with his overworked life. Thankfully, he's treated to a bit of a break in the form of an 800-year-old anime kitsune named Senko. Though taking the form of a young girl with fox ears, this kitsune is incredibly helpful in his stressful life.

Unlike more mischievous anime kitsunes, Senko only wants to help Nagano. This includes cooking and cleaning for him, as well as massaging him when he's tired. This helpfulness is perhaps her most impressive feat, and she only wants her "master" to prioritize his health over work. Of course, given her magical abiltiies, she can easily make this a reality by turning his life's problems upside down.

The Helpful Fox Senko-san

TV-14

Comedy

Fantasy

The everyday life of Nakano, a salaryman working for an exploitative company, is suddenly intruded upon by the fox, Senko-san.

Release Date

April 10, 2019

Creator

Rimukoro

Cast

Azumi Waki , Jun'ichi Suwabe , Kristen McGuire , Aaron Campbell , Ayane Sakura , Hayden Daviau

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

Doga Kobo

Number of Episodes

12

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Funimation

4 Inuyasha Is a Classic Anime With a Cute Kitsune Kid

Inuyasha has everything a kitsune or yōkai fan could ask for. In a feudal era full of demons and half-demons, there are yōkai spirits of every type in this famous anime. While Inuyasha possesses the physical attributes of a typical kitsune character with his white hair and ears, he's actually born of The Great Dog Demon and not a fox spirit.

While Inuyasha himself may not be related to the famous fox spirit, his travel companion is. Shippō is a young kitsune whose father, a great fox demon, died right in front of him. Despite wanting to avenge his father, Shippō is too young and powerless to achieve this on his own. He soon runs into Kagome and Inuyasha and joins them on their journey to find the Shikon Jewel shards. Like the nine-tailed fox he's based on, Shippō possesses fox magic that makes him a master of tricks and deception.

Inuyasha (2000)

TV-14

Action-Adventure

A teenage girl periodically travels back in time to feudal Japan to help a young half-demon recover the shards of a jewel of great power.

Release Date

October 16, 2000

Creator

Rumiko Takahashi

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

7

Studio

Sunrise

Franchise

Inuyasha

3 Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits Is a Relaxing Kitsune Anime

focuses on Aoi Tsubaki, a college student who inherits the ability to see yōkai from her grandmother. She soon stumbles upon an Ogre at Torii shrine and feeds him because he claims to be hungry. However, the Ogre yōkai takes Aoi to the Hidden Realm and says she must marry him to make up for her grandmother's debt. Fortunately, she bargains with him and he agrees to let her work at his inn to pay him back instead. While working at the Tenjin-ya bed and breakfast in the Hidden Realm, Aoi meets several other spirits including a kitsune yōkai named Ginji.

Ginji is the young master of the inn and, like many anime kitsune, he has white hair, blue eyes, and white fox ears. His nine white tails aren't always visible, and he possesses a white fox mask to match his spirit. As a nine-tailed fox, he can transform into several versions of himself, including a child, a woman, a baby fox, and a full-grown fox. While Ginji is kind and cheerful towards Aoi, many in Kakuriyo view him as a manipulative and clever kitsune anime yōkai.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

TV-14

Fantasy

Romance

A young girl with the ability to see ayakashi is sent to another realm to repay her grandfather's debt and marry an ogre.

Release Date

April 2, 2018

Creator

Tomoko Konparu

Cast

Nao Tôyama , Emily Neves , Manaka Iwami

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1 Season

Studio

Gonzo

Production Company

Flying Dog

Number of Episodes

26 Episodes

2 Naruto Made the Nine-Tailed Kitsune Iconic Across the World

As one of the anime world's largest and most successful franchises, many don't immediately view the increasingly-popular series Naruto as a kitsune anime. However, the Nine-Tailed Beast living inside of Naruto is the series' main premise, from start to finish. Kurama is based on the nine-tailed fox of Japanese legend, making him incredibly powerful and temperamental. As the strongest of the nine Tailed Beasts, Kurama is sealed away in Naruto immediately following his birth in order to protect the Hidden Leaf. Naruto becomes the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki in his mother's place, which will change the course of his life forever.

Naruto spends his early childhood being bullied and avoided by the villagers of the Hidden Leaf, who view him as a monster due to the demonic kitsune spirit living inside him. He's originally unaware of the inner spirit as he struggles to contain and withstand the Nine-Tails' overwhelming chakra. Kurama goes on to accompany his jinchuriki in the spin-off manga and anime featuring Naruto's son Boruto and the up-and-coming ninja generation. It was in Boruto that fans said goodbye when Kurama died in battle against Isshiki in episode 219.

Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous adolescent ninja, struggles as he searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village's leader and strongest ninja.

Created by

Masashi Kishimoto

First TV Show

Naruto

Latest TV Show

Boruto

First Episode Air Date

September 21, 1999

Cast

Junko Takeuchi , Maile Flanagan , Noriaki Sugiyama , Yuri Lowenthal , Chie Nakamura , Kazuhiko Inoue , Dave Wittenberg

1 Our Home's Fox Deity Sees an Anime Kitsune Yokai Adapting to the Modern World

Our Home's Fox Deity is based around two brothers who become entangled with the world of the yokai. Unfortunately, this puts a target on their backs due to the spirits that reside in Japan. Thankfully, they free a fox entity named Kugen, who comes to protect the two from there on out.

Kugen Tenko is incredibly powerful, having all the traditional anime kitsune powers like pyrokinesis and shapeshifting. Despite her immense and useful abilities, she's constantly shocked by modern society and the many changes that have come about since she was sealed away centuries before. Though she usually maintains a humanoid form, she still freely lets her fox ears hang out on top of her head. Of course, like all kitsune anime yokai, she's extremely playful and loves food, doing anything to get a bite to eat.

Our Home's Fox Deity

Adventure

Fantasy

The Takagami family welcomes their new visitor, a fox deity, Tengo Kugen to ward off evil spirits into their daily life.

Release Date

April 6, 2008

Creator

Jin Shibamura

Cast

Saori Hayami , Takahiro Mizushima , Yû Shimamura , Yuichi Nakamura

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

Zexcs

Number of Episodes

24