History Main / Kappa

** ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' had a goofy but dangerous Kappa as the first foe of the Kakurangers, and the one who actually kickstarts the plot. Adapted as Parrot Top for ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.

Creatures in other regions similar to kappa include the Chinese ''Shui Gui'' ("water monkeys"), as well as the Phillipino [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siyokoy_(Philippine_mythology) Siyokoy]] (a monstrous type of goblin-like [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merfolk]] which is also said to kidnap and eat children that walk nearby the rivers it lives in). The third disciple of Tripitaka, Sha Gojyo, in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' is often represented as a kappa, though the actual tales depict him more as a river-dwelling oni (and in the original Chinese version, it was a river of ''sand'').

* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': The turtles are mistaken for these in the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII third live-action movie]], where they are transported to feudal Japan by means of a magical scepter, as kappas generally resemble humanoid turtles.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': An early issue features a story called simply "Kappa", which referenced most of the distinct aspects of the legend.
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* ''VideoGame/ChampionIslandGames'': the Kappa make up Team Green, one of the four teams the player can join. They mostly talk in PokemonSpeak, but if the player joins team green, it's revealed they are also capable of normal speech.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' kappa are a bit different, basically being an entire civilization of aquatic {{mad scientist}}s. They do have the ability to control water, but generally aren't terribly adept at magic, and the only named kappa character is known more for her missiles and cloaking device. As per usual for the series, they're depicted as mostly human-looking girls with [[WorldOfTechnicolorHair blue hair]] whose only kappa-like characteristics are [[MeaningfulAppearance overstuffed green backpacks evocative of shells and brimmed caps evocative of beaks and domed heads]]. How friendly they are to humans depends on which canon sources you focus on.

* In ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'', examining So Sejima's koi pond at one point has Date act like a dork and blurt out that he's just seen a kappa; his AI partner Aiba is unphased, [[SarcasmFailure saying So is so rich that him owning a kappa isn't unusual]]. If you examine the pond again, an unseen voice asks for some cucumbers.
* ''VideoGame/{{Musya}}'' has a gigantic kappa boss in the waterfall stage. It's somehow red-skinned, for reasons unknown.
* ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'': Kappatchi, a character exclusive to the {{licensed game}} ''64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World'', is a green-colored Tamagotchi with the round water bowl head characteristic of the species. You can obtain it by winning a game with Mametchi or Ginjrotchi.
* Diablo-lookalike ''VideoGame/ThroneOfDarkness'' features Kappa as enemies: "Lesser Kappa" are small, fast water monsters closer to the original depictions, while "true" Kappa appears as [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever gigantic, roaring reptilian monsters]] with huge shells and snake-like heads with sharp fangs. They can easily tear through low-level characters.
* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'': Kamezaki [[SpeciesSurname Kappa]] and his brother are a pair of humanoid Kappas. Nobody believes kappas exist for real until they see them.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDDtv9g7u1g This]] ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fan video (Spanish sub [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToVBPePYzTI here]]) has a cute, [[VillainDecay chibified]] kappa as featured in the games. ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzmBFT4dt1A This]]'' fan video is something more traditional... and frightening.
* ''VideoGame/PetSociety'' has a few Kappa-related items - a poster with small amount of info on Kappa, a Kappa plushie, and a Kappa mask.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Hellboy|Animated}}: Sword of Storms'' Hellboy fights a Kappa that has been preying on a nearby village. A villager who had been bribing the kappa with cucumbers tells Hellboy to beat the Kappa by spilling its water. Before that, the villager also asks Hellboy's name so he can write it on a cucumber to save him.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': Kappa are mentioned in "What Scared Sue Ellen?" as one of the creatures Sue Ellen thinks might be living in the woods, and she has an ImagineSpot about she and her friends being confronted by one. Buster tricks it into bowing and spilling the water in its head by [[LookBehindYou pretending to spot a five-dollar bill]].
* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'': Kappas appear as staff at a motel in a Season 2 episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': Dendy is revealed to be a kappa in "No More Pow Cards". The plot of that episode is that [[FantasticRacism kappa don't have Pow Cards of their own because they are considered monsters that could never do anything heroic, when in reality they were just dislocated by urbanization and the stories of them drowning people were just unfounded rumors]]. She and K.O. go to the Pow Card factory to make the master computer recognize kappas.\\
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Dendy is an interesting case in that, while her parents resemble traditional kappas, she herself looks pretty human, having a very pale green for her skin color, a subtle beak and webbed feet. However, it's revealed that the more prominent physical features associated with kappas grow and appear as juvenile kappas reach maturity. In the third season episode "You're a Good Friend, K.O.", she reveals that her bowl is growing in, which she had been hiding under a beret. In the series finale, "Thank You For Watching The Show", her head bowl has gotten bigger and her skin greener as a young woman in her 20s. Given her parents' ages, it's likely she will resemble a full kappa in her 30s or so.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'': A kappa makes up one of the variety of yokai living in the underworld.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Ludo Avarius is based on a kappa, though it's not so obvious during the first season as his bowl is covered by [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset his skull helmet]]. He and his family also share traits with birds, even being able to fly with their webbed "wing arms" (except Ludo because he's too short), muddying the connection more. ''Literature/TheMagicBookOfSpells'' specifically refers to his race as "kappa".

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/SummerDaysWithCoo'' tells a story of a boy who befriends a kappa.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Like most other types of yōkai, kappa turn up occasionally:
** Kagome's grandfather presents her with "the mummified hand of a kappa" as a birthday gift. Kagome, unimpressed, gives it to her cat before her grandfather can finish explaining the significance.
** When Kagome saves a boy from drowning early in the series, a villager impressed by her swimming skills takes it to mean she's a kappa.
** And an actual living kappa appears as a servant of Chokyukai the boar demon as part of a parody of the ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. The kappa looks roughly like a turtle that walks upright, and is introduced as Sa Gojyo, but has no lines and doesn't otherwise follow any of the traditional folklore associated with kappa.
** Inu Yasha once tried to get information from some kappa, but they turned out to be almost TooDumbToLive.
* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'':
** Karasuma once dressed up as a kappa. It's also a pun, since "kappa" is slang for "rain coat" (which is the ''exact'' function of said costume, complete with leaf-shaped umbrella). He even once lent said costume to Tenma once when she was stranded in a bus stop due to heavy rain.
** Tenma mistakes Harima for a kappa after he saved her cat from drowning.
* ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'': In one episode, the classes went camping and discovered some kappa building a rocket.
* ''Manga/{{Emyulamp}}'': In "Pia Lamp", Piari, a young witch-in-training, hears that in order to pass an upcoming test, all familiars have to speak human-language. So she takes her cat to drink from a spring that will grant him human speech, only to find it guarded by a kappa, who looks mostly like a bishounen with spotted skin who attacks people using the plate on his head.
* ''Manga/NatsumesBookOfFriends'' and its sequels - anytime Natsume is near a body of water he's likely to find a kappa who's lost the water from its bowl.
* ''Manga/DororonEnmaKun'': A kappa called Kappaeru is one of Enma's sidekicks. The name "erogappa" indicates he's a bit of a lech.

* ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'': Sha Gojyo is supposedly one -- Goku has been known to shout "Erogappa!" ("pervy kappa") at him in arguments. This is probably just a nod to the character in the original ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' which ''Saiyuki'' was based on, since Gojyo has nothing in common with kappas in terms of looks nor behavior. (Since it's canon that Gojyo's father was a youkai, it was long assumed that he must have specifically been a kappa and that explained the nicknames; but this has been disavowed by WordOfGod.)
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'': In one episode, a kappa appears to England and laments how so few people believe in him nowadays.
* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', during the Konatsu arc, Ranma and co. join forces with Konatsu to take down his evil stepfamily. While fighting them, the stepfamily keeps dressing up to assume battle forms, with Koeda (one of the stepsisters) dressing up as a Kappa at one point.

* In ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'' the Orb of Darkness is inhabitated by two kappa. The first one, Kerokichi is a small, kind and nerdy ButtMonkey who provides expositions and wants someone to play with. His brother Kerosuke is apparently the son of a kappa and Godzilla. Not only is he huge and breathes fire, but he's amazingly strong. Besides that his typical bald head is really hard.
* ''Anime/{{Karas}}''' first episode pits the titular protagonist against a gigantic cyborg kappa capable of summoning the spirits of its many victims to aid it in battle. And no, cucumber bribes are ''not'' a deterrent, as a gimmicky TV crew finds out the hard way.
* ''Anime/PuniPuniPoemi'' has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by a kappa as the thief of Poemi's scooter. He shows up a few minutes later sporting a banner that reads "Water Sprites Are #1!"
* ''Kappa no kaitaka'' tells the story of a man who tries to raise one as a pet.
* ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'' has Tohno. The cute, cartoonish variety. Her presence never fails to point out the gaps in the main character's WeirdnessCensor.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Two Keronians are mistaken for Kappa -- Dororo, when he is found stuck in a boar-trap, [[spoiler:and an early Keronian soldier, who befriended Omiyo the Ghost Girl nearly a hundred years ago]].

* ''Manga/NuraRiseOfTheYokaiClan'':
** The Nura clan's Kappa displays the power to create links between water bodies transporting between lakes.
** The second arc introduces the youkai of Tohno which includes the swamp kappa Amezou and the village leader Aka-gappa (literally Red Kappa) who is of a third, unspecified type of Kappa.

* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'': One episode has Shin's friends arguing whether the kappa is real or not, while they're standing by a body of water. Boo ends up dressing up like a kappa at one point.
* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'': One episode of the anime has Ataru being taken down to a Ryugujo inhabited entirely by kappa.
* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', an Amanto lives in a lake which [[IWillWaitForYou he refuses to leave]] until a promise to teach an ill girl to swim once she gets better is kept.
* ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'': One of the first creatures encountered by Nube is a kappa. In the author's notes, he posits that the myth may have been inspired by Jesuit priests, who have a similar hairstyle and a penchant for "drowning" people via baptism.
* ''Manga/PetShopOfHorrors'': One episode revolves around D looking for kappas.
* ''Manga/MuromiSan'''s title character is friends with a very large, muscular kappa named Kawabata-san, and she spends an episode trying to coax him and Takurou into becoming friends; Takurou is terrified at first of having his [[SoulJar butt ball]] removed.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** In the video game "Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo", Goku visits the Remote Land of Konpei, where he meets a local Kappa.
** The "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" theme song mentions a Kappa during the lyrics.
* Kappa are prominently featured in ''Anime/{{Sarazanmai}}''; the premise involves the three main characters [[ForcedTransformation being turned into kappa]] by a kappa-like creature named Keppi, who claims to be the ruler of the Kappa Kingdom.
* ''Manga/UshioAndTora'' features a Kappa who helps the hero a couple of times. Mostly humanoid, he's a timid creature who once pranked humans until he was caught and forced to promise he'll leave them alone. He owns an incredibly effective medicine he uses to save Ushio [[spoiler: and later on, Asako's life]].

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'':
** One of the RecurringExtra ayakashi that Suzu knows is a kappa named Donpa, a child-sized humanoid with a beak, turtle shell, and grass skirt that [[VerbalTic ends his sentences with -ppa]]. Rather than a bowl, the top of his head is a hairless mound that [[FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct secretes a liquid that can be turned into a]] HealingPotion, which Reo trades ''sake'' for. He can remove a human ''shirikodama'' to eat with his tongue, which is non-fatal but [[PhlebotinumInducedStupidity makes a person very foolish]]. This nearly happens to Reo twice; once when she offered it as a desperate apology, the other when Donpa was corrupted and tricked into eating a fake.
** Lu [[WrongGenreSavvy incorrectly]] thinks [[AlienFairFolk supernatural creatures are actually aliens]]. As an example, she claims kappa are actually TheGreys, likely playing on both's reputation for AnalProbing.

* ''ComicBook/{{Papyrus}}'' has a [[MisplacedWildlife very strange variation]], set in AncientEgypt. The hero encounters aggressive desert-dwelling creatures with bowl shaped heads. When bowed to, they respond in kind, the liquid spills out, and they lose their aggressiveness (and intelligence and ability to speak). Turns out they were under a curse from Sobek, which is lifted from them in the end. Not once is their similarity to kappas explained or mentioned.[[note]][[FridgeBrilliance Although it does make a bit more sense]] of their inclusion when you remembered turtles were viewed in a pretty negative light by Ancient Egyptians, even beinng asscoated with Apep and banned turtle meat.[[/note]]
* ''ComicBook/AnthonyBourdainsHungryGhosts'': "Deep" stars a Kappa that kills a chef sexually molesting his apprentices.
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* ''Series/LostGirl'': One shows up as the [[MonsterOfTheWeek problem fae of the episode]].

* ''VideoGame/MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes'' has one sidequest where you befriend a kappa. No bowing or cucumbers necessary -- he wants to go on a tour of your school.
* ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons:''
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonFriendsOfMineralTown'' has a kappa who lives in the lake. If you throw in several Cucumbers, he'll give you an item that lets you work in the rain. In the girl version, you can marry him. He's given a more humanoid redesign in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsFriendsOfMineralTown''.
** A good number of ''Story of Season'' games have Kappas. They might be TheCameo, like the one in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'': There's an enemy based on the Kappa, which throws its ring of spikes at you. He gives Kirby the Cutter ability when swallowed.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraSamurai'', being set in a glorified feudal Japan, naturally features a couple kappa NPC's.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', the World 3 king is a kappa when transformed. Fitting, considering [[UnderTheSea the world's theme]].
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', the Yellow Switch Palace is located on a peak in Yoshi's island whose AllThereInTheManual name is Kappa Mountain. Going up to the palace involves wading through a round pool of water.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spectrobes}}'' has a monster based on the kappa. It makes the spikes ''literal,'' not just an artistic represensation of hair.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has Golduck and the Ludicolo line, both of whch are based on kappas. The Ludicolo line even has an ability called Rain Dish which is a reference to the Kappa's ability to draw power from water pooled on its head. In some Dex entries it's stated that Golduck are often confused with a kappa, while Lombre love to scare people who stand too close to a water's edge.
%%* ''VideoGame/SengokuSNK'' has Kappa as enemies.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' kappa are a bit different, basically being an entire civilization of aquatic {{mad scientist}}s. They do have the ability to control water, but generally aren't terribly adept at magic, and the only named kappa character is known more for her missiles and cloaking device. As per usual for the series, they're depicted as mostly human-looking girls with [[WorldOfTechnicolorHair blue hair]] whose only kappa-like characteristics are [[MeaningfulAppearance overstuffed green backpacks evocative of shells and brimmed caps evocative of beaks and domed heads]]. How friendly they are to humans depends on which canon sources you focus on.
* ''VideoGame/StarGladiator'': The first game has a secret fighter called Kappah Nosuke -- and yes, he is exactly what his name suggests, except he's an alien, not a mythological creature.
* ''VideoGame/LaTale'': Kappa are an early enemy. Like nearly all the enemies in the game, they are almost unbearably cute.
%%* ''VideoGame/JackieChansActionKungFu'': Kappa appears as an enemy.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': Kappas appear as enemy spell-casters in ''Guild Wars: Factions.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'': Kappas appear as a unit for the [[{{Wutai}} Sanctuary]] faction in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicVI''. They're surprisingly lethal compared to their usual portrayal in media, which is lampshaded slightly by the unit's description. They also seem to be based more on toads than turtles, able to make huge leaps across the battlefield.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts1'': The first game has kappa as enemies. It notes their hunger for human flesh, a characteristic often absent from modern works.
* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'': The final unlockable Rhythm Toy is a Kappa with a vinyl record on its head. A kappa also appears in one of ''Rhythm Heaven Fever's'' endless minigames, "Kung-Fu Ball."
* In ''VideoGame/CloudMaster'', the Round 2 boss is a kappa that shoots lightning from a forked rod.
* ''VideoGame/YokaiHunterShintaro'', befitting a game where 70% of onscreen enemies are yokai, have kappas in the Ghost Ship level, pouncing out the waters to ambush you from below.
* ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'':
** One of the {{Mascot Mook}}s from the series is a Kappa called Nogappa in Japanese and Walkappa in English. He is a SurferDude who loves sushi & pizza and thinks Kappas liking cucumbers is stereotyping. He is known for being a bit of a spaced out CloudCuckoolander.
** A more traditional kappa character also exists. He's a Classic Yokai.
** The [[VideoGame/YokaiWatch3 third game]] introduces an "American" Kappa, a hip-hop artist in sunglasses and baggy jeans.
* In ''VideoGame/SplashLake'', the kappa is an InvincibleMinorMinion, since it can't be drowned in water.

* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'': Kappa make an appearance where they are special {{Youkai}} that drop very rare loot, but tends to run away when encountered, and if they ever sneak up on the player, they can execute a very painful AssShove.
* In ''VideoGame/RiverKing: Mystic Valley'' a kappa can help you reach a new fishing area if you give it a cucumber.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManTheWilyWars'': The Robot Master Mega Water S resembles a humanoid kappa. His boss fight even has Mega Man half-submerged in water, while he stays on dry land.