Henneko: The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat (Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko) is a 2010-2018 light novel series written by Sou Sagara and illustrated by Kantoku, published by Media Factory under its "MF Bunko J" imprint. It also has a manga adaptation illustrated by Okomeken, which was serialized in Monthly Comic Alive from 2011 to 2018, and a spring 2013 anime adaptation directed by Youhei Suzuki and produced by J.C. Staff.
Youto Yokodera is a second-year high school boy and member of his school's track-and-field team with lots of fantasies going on in his head — perverted ones, that is. Unfortunately, he's not good at expressing his thoughts. One day, his equally perverted best friend comes to school suddenly transformed, having rid of his perverted streak, a miracle he attributes to a statuette of a frowning cat. Through further research, Youto discovers that the "Stony Cat" has the power to transfer personality traits on an Equivalent Exchange basis.
One day, as he makes his offering to the "Stony Cat", wishing to be more honest with his emotions, he meets Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi, a first-year girl who also wants to make a wish: to be more mature and less overly emotional. Together they make their wish, and the next day they discover that the "Stony Cat" works wonders. All too well. Much to their surprise, Youto became too candid with his thoughts, while Tsukiko becomes completely unable to show her emotions. Finding that they didn't like the results of their wish, Youto and Tsukiko work together to find the recipients of their lost personality traits and reverse their wishes. Add to that Azusa Azuki, a second-year transferee who has gained Youto's deadpan facade, and Tsukiko's older sister Tsukushi, the beautiful but stern captain of the track team known as the "Iron King", and you have one wacky melange.
For viewers living in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the anime is available on Crunchyroll under the name Henneko - The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat.
Tropes found in Henneko: The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat:
- A-Cup Angst:
- Azusa. Youto's attempts to point it out doesn't help much either.
- Tsukiko also suffers a bit from this. She starts scratching up Youto's porn DVDs while berating his preference for "well-endowed women", but pauses the moment it's hinted that his taste have changed, and inquires precisely how they have changed. For reference, of course. And in episode 10, she does some "house cleaning" in his room, marking boxes X to dispose of, and O to keep. The boxes marked X have magazines full of busty women, while the box with an O has petite girls on the covers.
- All Men Are Perverts: And Youto takes it to a whole new level! He joined the track team entirely because the swimming pool is next to the track, and he does squats for hours as an excuse to peek at all the cute girls in swimsuits as well as cleaned all the floors in the school just so it would give them a reflective shine to look up skirts.
- Alliterative Name: Youto Yokodera, Tsukiko and Tsukushi Tsutsukakushi, and Azusa Azuki. It's almost as if Sou Sagara (also alliterative) is fond of it.
- All of the Other Reindeer: The reason Azusa transferred to Youto's school. Subverted, as her schoolmates wanted to befriend her but tried to do it the wrong way (pulling a prank on the sensitive Azusa without considering the consequences).
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Tsukushi is mostly known for her very stern disposition.
- Amusing Injuries: After Youto does some Friendly Tickle Torture to Tsukiko's foot for a while, she kicks him in the face, and in the next scene a bruise in the shape of a foot can be seen on his face.
- Animal Motifs: Tsukiko is likened to a cat, while Azusa to a dog. They even sprout their respective "tails" while having a Battle Aura "duel" against each other.
- Balanced Harem: Although Tsukiko seems to have a slight lead, it seems none of the other girls interested in Youto have any plans of backing down by the end of episode 12.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The entire premise of the series.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Although Youto's actions towards Azusa does get a bit extreme at times, he does genuinely do nice things to help her out, which causes her to gradually fall in love with him.
- Between My Legs: A shot used frequently, usually of Tsukiko or Tsukushi.
- Big Eater: Tsukiko, who's frequently seen with various kinds of snacks in hand.
- Blank White Eyes: Several characters display these from time to time.
- Blood from the Mouth: Played for Laughs in episode 6, when Tsukushi attempts to seduce Youto. Every time she winks at him after saying something suggestive, a sound effect of something heavy being hit plays, and he looks away as if being smacked hard by her words.
- Blue with Shock:
- Azusa in episode 5 while angrily yelling into her phone while waiting for a call from Youto.
- Youto in episode 6 when he starts wondering if Tsukushi is attempting to seduce him herself so as to draw attention away from Tsukiko.
- Boyfriend Bluff: Azusa tells her two friends in episode 5 that she's totally dating Youto when they ask her about it.
- Broken Bird:
- Both Tsukiko and Azusa have underlying issues, such as wanting friends, which Youto attempts to help them out with during the series.
- Also Tsukushi concerning the loss of their parents.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Tsukushi is really driven by her love for Tsukiko. As in, she wants to marry her. It's not known whether the latter repays it in kind, is repulsed, or something else.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Tsukiko ends up drunk by smelling alcohol.
- Captain Oblivious: Tsukushi completely doesn't see something suspicious with Youto doing squats next to the swimming pool window, accepts his claim of having an Evil Twin without question, thinks that two sisters can get married in Massachusetts... the list goes on.
- Though in the case of Youto's twin it could be argued that she's just using it as a convenient excuse to not feel guilty over loving him, as, in her own words "Tsukiko doesn't care about the younger Yokodera".
- Cast from Lifespan: The cat-god in Tsutsukakushi household brings good fortune to the family, at the cost of their lifespan. Makes you wonder why Tsukiko's parents died in an accident...
- Chivalrous Pervert: When push comes to shove, Youto's advances for the heroines are more for their benefit than his.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Tsukushi, of all people, is this, once revealed to possess incredibly absurd thought processes.
- Club President: Tsukushi to the track and field team of which Youto is a member.
- Cooldown Hug: Youto does this to Azusa (who is possessed by the Stony Cat) to stop her from removing Emi, taking her First Kiss along the way.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of the Blu-Ray collection depicts Tsukushi and Tsukiko as CatGirls, blushing and snuggling in a suggestive manner. This scene never happens in the series. Only one of them is ever depicted as a Cat Girl, in a fantasy sequence, the two don't have a sexual relationship, and on top of that Tsukiko shouldn't be able to blush anyway.
- Covert Pervert: Youto, pre-wish.
- Interestingly, Tsukushi and Mai are prone to this as well. The former stealing his pictures and rubbing up against them later at home, and the latter saying some incredibly perverted things while in the presence of others.
- Even Tsukiko isn't above this trope. In the anime, she wears Youto's T-shirt and gets caught by him. Later in the light novel, she runs into Youto and covertly sniffs him, calls it "to replenish my energy", every day after school.
- Credits Running Sequence: Both Youto and Tsukushi in the opening.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Tsukushi gets one in the opening song after Youto admires her bouncy attributes.
- Cuteness Proximity:
- Youto towards a 6 year old Azusa on the bus in episode 11. Although he only looks at her, it's enough to get Tsukiko mad at him.
- Tsukiko herself does this to a 6 year old Youto moments later after criticizing older Youto for gawking at Azusa.
- Dancing Theme: Tsukiko in the ending does one with both her pre-wish and post-wish personalities.
- Date Peepers: Tsukiko does this in Episode 2 when Youto takes Azusa out on a date.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Youto's wish of being able to say what's on his mind turns into this when his wish comes true.
- Distracted by the Sexy: When Youto is talking to Tsukushi in episode 6 while she's doing sit ups, her unusual groaning every time she does a sit up causes him to wonder why she makes that noise, and not pay attention to what she's saying.
- Deconstructor Fleet: Almost every character is a straight-up deconstruction of their face-value character tropes, with a good deal of themes about the true self and the masks people wear in society, and it spares little detail in showing the complications of being an Emotionless Girl, a Lovable Sex Maniac or even a Tsundere.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Tsukiko tends to bite Youto from time to time, usually when he's dragging/carrying her somewhere. Tsukushi also tends to beat him up as well.
- Driven to Suicide: Played for Laughs in episode 8, when Tsukushi sees Youto near the edge of the school roof. She tells him not to jump, then grabs him from behind and German Suplexes him away from the edge, believing he was going to jump off. He immediately dismisses it.
- Dynamic Entry: In episode 6, after Youto inadvertently wishes to see Azusa in her bikini, she pops out of nowhere and falls on top of him.
- Emotionless Girl: Tsukiko, post-wish. Sort of an Exaggerated Trope and a Deconstruction; she literally can't express emotions, which she finds very irritating.
- Equivalent Exchange: The nature of the Stony Cat's personality-swapping powers. To be able to remove an unwanted personality traits, there must be another wisher who wants said trait, and vice versa.
- Faceless Masses: Unusually, they sometimes interact with a non-faceless character. In Episode 2, Tsukushi drags some of them, who happen to be truant members of the track team.
- Flash Step: Youto does this in episode 8 after spotting Azusa watching him from a short distance away. He then suddenly appears right next to her in the next scene and grabs her to prevent her from running away again.
- Forgotten First Meeting:
- Tsukiko and Youto actually met a year prior to the story's beginning, but she was wearing an oni mask at the time.
- Youto has this with everyone in his harem. Episode 12 reveals that as a 6-year old, he sacrificed his memories to Tsukushi in order for her to have had some happy memories with her mother, who likely passed away a short while later. Turns out that he was afflicted with Laser-Guided Amnesia as a result of his wish, and any girl he doesn't stay in frequent contact with, and subsequently becomes a memory to him, causes him to forget.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: During episode 12's Eye Catch, it displays every prominent character throughout this show. If you pause it, you can see that Tsukushi has a body pillow of Youto, while Mai has one of Tsukushi.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: Youto does this to Tsukiko to make her overcome her emotionlessness with laughter. And because he's a pervert. It doesn't work, but it does make her bite him in retaliation. He does it again in episode 10 when she tries to hide in his hugging pillow.
- Genre Blind: Everyone:
- Youto doesn't realize the affection of anyone towards him to the point that he appears a total idiot, wishes something from a deity he should have realized is a jackass already, doesn't interfere with the making of what is essentially a curse and after being freed from his initial wish wishes for something from the cat god again.
- Tsukiko wishes to be less emotional, then realizes it doesn't work as expected. Rather than continue her search, she simply accepts how it is even though she know it only brings trouble. Then she wishes for something from the cat god which isn't even something she wanted. And THEN she mutters a wish, only to be heard and immediately granted.
- Azusa mutters a wish which nearly gets her raped, then makes a wish to be someone else - and immediately gets possessed.
- Tsukushi doesn't believe in the cat god's powers, gets proven wrong right off the bat and then... nothing. She also doesn't realize that Youto tricked her, or doesn't want to accept it, even though he tries to convince her multiple times. Also, neither she nor Youto ever consider the idea of making a wish for a second Youto who can stand in as his younger brother to satisfy Tsukushi, even though somehow everyone wishes for all sorts of inane things.
- Gone Horribly Right: As a close relative of Be Careful What You Wish For, this trope is to be expected, but it still fits since the way most of the wishes backfire is by going much farther than intended.
- Gratuitous English: Some of the episode titles, such as "Goodbye My Home" and "Someday My Family."
- Hero-Worshipper: Youto idolizes (and quotes) Oscar Wilde, arguably one of the most famous Real Life perverts.
- Humanizing Tears: Azusa in Episode 3, after Youto finally helps her confront her personal demons, showing that beneath her haughty facade she's just an emotionally fragile kid.
- Hypocritical Humor: In episode 11, Tsukiko accuses Youto of being a paedophile after bumping into a young Azusa on the bus. Shortly afterwards however, they run into 6 year old Youto, and Tsukiko immediately rushes at him, and later puts her shirt over his head.
- The Immodest Orgasm: In episode 6, Youto and Tsukushi talk while he's holding her feet and she's doing sit ups. Every time she comes up, she lets off an arousing grunt, which causes Mai to come over and accuse him of being a pervert.
- Innocently Insensitive: The two "bullies" who forced Azusa to change schools are actually anything but. It just happened that their pranks, meant to be friendly overtures, rubbed the sensitive Azusa the wrong way, and it wasn't until Youto confronted them about it that they realized the consequences of their actions.
- Insane Troll Logic: Tsukushi's plan to marry her sister. While she is correct that Massachusetts does allow same-sex marriage, incestuous marriage is prohibited there, as is everywhere else, as other characters point out, and the strained relationship it would cause does not cross her mind at all. Besides, Tsukushi has zero English skills (she can't even write the alphabet even though learning English in Japan is mandated by law).
- Tsukushi has actually taken the incest issue into account, but her solution for that is even less logical than the rest of the plan, since it involves putting on a Jerkass front to push Tsukiko away and dissolving their familial bonds so they're free to marry, which not only won't pass legal muster in any country but is hurting her sister and taking their relationship further away from what Tsukushi actually wants.
- Jackass Genie/Literal Genie: The Stony Cat. Youto's friend asks to be less obsessed with shallow, perverse things; it makes him try to give away all his worldly possessions. Youto reacts by asking it to remove his facade, and he completely loses the ability to control what he says. Tsukiko asks to be less outwardly emotional and becomes completely expressionless. Later, Youto asks it to remove his shame, so it steals his underwear (though that's actually a side-effect since it takes a physical object as "payment" for each wish).
- The second, much larger Stony Cat is even more of an asshole. Tsukiko would like Youto to be closer, so it steals his house and puts all his possessions in a spare room of her Big Fancy House. Episode 7 takes it one step further. It floods the house so they can stay together. Azusa makes a slightly perverted comment and it nearly subjects her to Black Comedy Rape. And when Tsukushi gets upset and rants about how she wants to destroy everything... well, you can probably guess. It wasn't her wish. It was Tsukiko's.
- This trope becomes a prestige at volume 11 of the light novel. After when 8-year-old Tsukushi wished she would be a good mom exactly like her mom, the Stony Cat god granted her wish. As a side effect, Tsukushi would die early due to illness, in the EXACT way of how Tsukasa-san died.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The "Iron King", the track team captain, is Tsukiko's older sister Tsukushi.
- Loners Are Freaks: Azusa seems to be suffering from this, and her attempts at acting like a Rich Bitch is an attempt to keep people away from her.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Youto, post-wish. Deconstructed, as he finds it rather disturbing.
- Love Confession: Tsukushi gives a rather awkward and long winded one to Youto at the end of episode 7.
- Love Hurts: When Azusa sees Tsukushi kiss Youto at the end of episode 7. She tries to console herself by saying she knew this was coming, and that it's not his fault, but it still causes her to run away.
- Lover Tug of War: Between Azusa and Tsukushi (with Youto's arms as the rope) in Episode 6.
- Male Gaze: Used quite a bit in the opening credits along and used regularly in the show.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Youto is hit with this in episode 6 after Azuza makes a wish where he would play with her belly button.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Played for Laughs in episode 10. When Tsukiko says she wants to talk to Youto about something at his house, he sees her doing some "house cleaning" in his room. He then sees her straddling "Barbara-san", his hugging pillow, and she stabs it, while disemboweling its cotton innards to hide inside of it.
- New Transfer Student: Azusa
- Nose Bleed: Youto suffers from one in episode 6 when Tsukushi unravels her kimono somewhat to give him a better view of her chest.
- Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Youto drags Azusa out her house this way. Amazingly, her mother sees this and cheerfully sends them off... she's lucky he had noble intentions.
- Red Baron: Tsukushi as the "Iron King".
- Schmuck Bait: Youto tells Tsukushi that the pervert stuff going on is actually caused by his younger, identical twin brother. She believes it at face value, and this becomes a Running Gag whenever she sees him doing perverted things. He's always shocked that she still believes it.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Gender-flipped. Youto becomes literally shameless when he wishes for the Stony Cat to take away his shame (and his underwear). It's about the only wish in the series that works as intended without backfiring horribly.
- Shout-Out: In episode 6, you can see a DVD case with Iwai and Kiri.
- Slave to PR: How pre-wish Youto felt about his nice-guy facade.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Several characters do this occasionally, such as Tsukiko when Youto attempts to ask Azusa out.
- Talking in Your Sleep:
- Tsukushi does this in episode 5 shortly after beating up Youto. She mutters Please, Don't Leave Me to Tsukiko and sheds some tears while Youto attempts to get out of the futon he was tied up in.
- One of Azusa's friends does this in the same episode, telling her not to go to Hokkaido.
- Tempting Fate: Tsukasa, Tsukiko's mother, starts saying that she doesn't have that much time left. In the middle of that sentence, Tsukasa falls over with a bad fever.
- Thanks for the Mammaries: Youto does this to Tsukushi in Episode 2 after the latter shows up at the arcade where he was taking Azusa and Tsukiko out on a date.
- And again in episode 7, with him on top of her on a bed, even. Of course, given that the storehouse had just collapsed around him, he wasn't precisely in a position to enjoy it...
- Those Two Girls: Morii and Moriya, the two girls from Azusa's old school.
- Tsundere: Azusa, post-wish.
- Unwanted Harem: Youto develops one by the end of episode 7, when Tsukushi mentions that both he and she need a family, and that Tsukiko wouldn't mind just being his little sister. As Youto tries to confirm what she's trying to say, she kisses him.
- Wham Episode:
- At the end of episode 4, Youto's house is missing. Episode 5 reveals his stuff was moved inside Tsukiko's property. And there's a huge Stony Cat in there...
- In the end of episode 10, Tsukiko wishes to go back into the past, which causes a bunny speaking in the cat god tone/voice, to grant it. Youto seems to manage to grab her hand right before she disappears, and he vanishes along with her.
- Wham Line: Azusa delivers one at the end of episode 7.
