Playful Cat Smile

When the fiancee is away, Tina Foster will play. Rowr.

The playful counterpart to the Cheshire Cat Grin, often used by The Ditz, the cute Kawaiiko or a more normal character being playful or mischievous rather than manipulative or creepy. This expression is often seen on The Gadfly, and is often a warning that they're about to pull their antics on someone. The Manga style is just more often played as cute or as crackful. They're different in that the Playful Cat Smile rarely shows teeth (except Cute Little Fangs, if the character has them), while the Cheshire Cat Grin shows too many. Also known as "Colon Three Smile". That is, :3. There is also the "Lion Smile", also known as >:3. Starting from The New '10s, UwU^note for satisfaction and OwO^note for surprise became the prominent ways of expressing the Playful Cat Smile.

The Playful Cat Smile often overlaps with other Japanese Media Tropes and facial expressions, like Puppy-Dog Eyes for pleading. Oddly, this is not usually the default expression for Cat Girls. It's fairly common to see Eyes Always Shut with a Playful Cat Smile for characters who are more "passively" happy or a tad ditzy/confident in their shenanigans. Half lidded eyes bring the Playful Cat Smile its closest to the Cheshire Cat Grin.

We have an emoticon for this on the TV Tropes Forum, parsed with "[[waii]]".

A subtrope of Manga Effects. Compare Sideways Smile, another kind of sneaky smile characterized by being face-splitting and having the eyes obscured that is viewed from the side profile.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Ai Yori Aoshi: Tina Foster does this from time to time whenever she's feeling a little...frisky around Kaoru.
• Bamboo Blade: Kirino Chiba does this occasionally, when she's at her most cheerful and energetic.
• Berserk: Isma, one of Guts’ later companions dons one of these smiles when she turns into her Merrow form.
• Black Cat: Unsurprisingly, Train does this in his sillier moments.
• A Certain Scientific Railgun: Kuroko often has this expression, usually just before planning something perverted. This usually involves her Onee-sama Mikoto.
• CLANNAD: Youhei Sunohara has one whenever he's in one of his lighter moods.
• Cowboy Bebop: Edward has one when she looks up at Spike while telling him that Jet asked her to take care of his bonzai trees.
• Denki-gai no Honya-san: Kameko has a perpetual cat smile. Fittingly, she's one of the more sly members of the cast.
• Digimon Adventure: Gatomon. And as implied from her name, it's a literal cat smile. However, it also serves to visually reinforce that she's mischievous character.
• Durarara!!:
  • Kururi Orihara has one when she's looking for Kasuka from the TV broadcast.
  • Izaya also gets in on the action when taunting Anri. Exaggerated in the Minidura parody manga where he's almost constantly doing this.
• In the horror manga Emerging, Mori surprises Onotera with one of these while he's raging about Japan's lack of preparedness for a major disease outbreak... he's even further surprised when she starts gushing over the possibility that she could get a chance to study a disease as rare and deadly as Ebola...
• Ghost in the Shell:
  • Togusa in Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor. He expresses this to gloat his seniority and experience over his newbie partner Azuma, whose overconfidence ended up angering a woman they were transporting home.
  • The Fuchikoma occasionally sports one while being mischievous. An impressive achievement, considering it lacks a mouth.
  • Batou tends to have one whenever he's in a good mood, and even Aramaki, of all people, sports one now and then when he's really sticking it to a political opponent.
• Gunsmith Cats: Minnie-May Hopkins, whenever she's feeling sneaky and/or amorous.
• Hayate the Combat Butler: Ayumu Nishizawa sports one in episode 37 in the first season while gloating that she has a photo sticker with Hayate.
• In an episode of the Hetalia: Axis Powers anime, England uses it in a slightly mean-spirited way towards America, laughing a little behind his hand.
• The High School Life of a Fudanshi: Rumi and Sakaguchi tend to have this type of smile when they're really happy.
• Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers: Kaoru sometimes sports one, especially when she's mischievously peeping on Yuu and Hitomi having a cute moment together.

and a cat tail.

• I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying has Hajime whenever he's really happy.
• The Idolmaster - The Futami Twins do this sometimes, mostly of the smug variety. And THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls has Cat Girl Miku Maekawa sporting this expression, often with Cute Little Fangs. But the one who sports this smile the most is Genki Girl Kirari Moroboshi, who is almost never seen without it!
• In/Spectre: Kuro Sakuragawa does this frequently when she's feeling smug or happy.
• Kanon: Sawatari Makoto shows off her cat smile many times in the 2006 anime version, usually whenever she's getting ready to prank Yuichi. This is also the default expression of her pet cat, Piro.
• Alister Agrew in all incarnations of Last Exile, being much more playful and mischievous that it would be suggested by her outward appearance, constantly sports it when no one's looking.
• Love Live! Sunshine!!: The eccentric, wealthy half-Japanese and half Italian-American Mari Ohara has this as her default expression. The times she doesn't wear it tend to fall under O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
• Lucky Star:
  • This is Konata's default expression, fitting with her playful nature and her tendency to be The Gadfly (especially towards Kagami). When her eyes are shut, her expression is more like ¦3◊.
  • Konata's cousin Yui also has one by default, fitting with her Genki Girl personality. Her younger sister Yutaka will sometimes have one as well, though not nearly as often.
  • Akira tends to sport a cat smile whenever she's putting on her Genki Girl facade, but it disappears when she shows her true colors.
• Lupin III is a rare MALE example. When he's smiling without showing teeth◊, it's a playful, long lion smile. When he shows teeth, it's a Cheshire Cat Grin.
• Magic Knight Rayearth: This is the default expression of Mokona. If he/she/it isn't smiling like this, it's a sign something serious is about to occur (especially in the manga.)
• My Bride is a Mermaid: "Chimp" Sarutobi has a constant cat, or in this case, chimp smile due to his admittedly ape-like appearance and behavior.
• In Naruto, Hanabi Hyuga sports one in The Last: Naruto the Movie, as she teases her older sister Hinata about giving her red scarf to Naruto.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: This is how Ken Akamatsu draws Kuu Fei. In her case, it's more signifying her naivete or complete lack of understanding.
• In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Misato does this during her trademark habit of screaming and shuddering after downing an entire can of beer in one go.
• Ojojojo: In chapter 21.1, Haru of all people does this when she realizes that Akane has a crush on Chris.
• Pokémon: The Series: In the episode "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion", Misty does this briefly while making a snarky comment.
• Pretty Cure:
  • In KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode: Crispy! The Mille-Feuille of Memories!, Cook has this to go with her cutesy look, despite being the Big Bad.
  • In the first episode of HuGtto! Pretty Cure, Kotori has one of these while she annoys Hana.
  • In the opening of Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure, Princess Elle has one of these while drinking from her bottle.
• Sailor Moon: Usagi Tsukino gives one to Luna in Episode 31 when she playfully mocks the latter's words of wisdom from earlier at the start of the episode.
  • She sports another one in Episode 107 when she finds out that Chibiusa has a crush on one of her classmates in her art class.
• Soul Eater: Blair often sports this expression when she's in a good mood or seducing Soul, this also alludes to her Cat Girl status.
• Sunday Without God: Dee sports this expression when she's feeling particularly mischievous or whimsical, and sometimes even has a Cute Little Fang to go with it.
• Trigun:
  • In the anime, Vash does this when the fights are being played for laughs (reads, just the first few episodes).
  • Milly gets one near the start of the seventh episode while drunk and half-asleep, claiming to have an unusual physiology including "a separate stomach just for cake and ice cream!"
• Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-: During comedic moments, Fai often wears this expression, and considering that he's been identified as "kitty" on several occasions (once using it as his alias in a race), it makes perfect sense.
• Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: The titular protagonist sports one quite often when she's being particularly mischievous towards her senpai. Her younger sister Yanagi also smiles this way whenever she finds something worth teasing.
• Merle, a Cat Girl from The Vision of Escaflowne does one of these when she first sees Hitomi's pendant, and of course Merle attempts to steal it.

Asian Animation

• Careless S. from Happy Heroes sometimes makes this smile when he's content.
• In the Simple Samosa episode "Makkhi Makkhi!", Samosa's smile morphs into this shape when he gives Laddoo Havaldar a hug.

Comic Books

• In Superman (1939) #338 Let My People Grow!, Supergirl does the cat smile when Brainiac hits himself with his shrinking ray and disappears.
• In Supergirl story arc Who is Superwoman?, Alura In-Ze's chief of security and secretary -Thara Ak-Var and Lyra Kam-Par, respectively- are having an argument which lasts until Alura tells Thara off. Lyra leaves the room, but not without first turning around and giving Thara a cat-like "You're in hot water now" smirk.

Fan Works

• Advice and Trust: Asuka displayed a very playful, smug and self-satisfied grin after being kissed by Shinji in front of all their classmates in chapter 8.
• In Children of an Elder God, Asuka smirked wickedly after kissing Shinji for first time.
• A Crown of Stars: In chapter 64, after playing in front of a crowd Asuka kissed Shinji, informed him that he and she had a date with a bed right now and grinned a grin that "would have done credit to a Great White shark."
• Evangelion 303: Asuka wears one when she is feeling real naughty (usually with Shinji). Some examples hereand here.
• Ghosts of Evangelion: Asuka has a huge scary grin when her daughter Ryuko receives a prize for her musical accomplishments:
  Far from looking bored, in this picture Asuka had a maniacal grin on her face, holding her daughter in a headlock while she flashed the camera a V sign with her other hand.
• X-Men: The Early Years: In "Can't Fight This Feeling", Hank and Bobby grin mischievously when they decide to ruin Warren and Candy's make-out session.
  "What should we do?"
  "We could always go bother Warren and Candy in the parking lot?" Hank suggested, an evil gleam in his eye.
  Bobby grinned maliciously. "Oh! This is going to be the best birthday ever."

Films — Animation

• Turning Red: Abby frequently sports this expression when she gets excited. One good example is when Mei is on the phone with Ming fooling her into thinking Mei is joining an after school "Mathletes" club.

Films — Live-Action

• So Close: Lynn knows her sister is planning something mischevious when she interrupts her bubble bath while sporting one of these and holding a camera.

Literature

• In The Mortal Instruments, Clary often likens Jace's smile to that of a cat, adding that it comes off as mischievous.
• In Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman describes The Marquis de Carabas in very feline terms and at one point mentions him "grinning like a tiger that has spotted a lost child."

Role Playing Games

• Tom from Ruby Quest does this occasionally, especially when he has a Covert Pervert moment.

Video Games

• Arc Style: Baseball!! 3D:
  • Ditzy, distracted Cat Girl Taokaka occasionally has this face.
  • In a similar vein, squirrel girl Makoto Nanaya will sometimes have this expression plastered across her face. Sometimes, combined with very large, glistening Puppy-Dog Eyes.
• Shinobu from Ensemble Stars! does this in some of his card art and CGs, highlighting his childish enthusiasm, excitability or mischievousness, depending on context.
• Ferdinand von Aegir from Fire Emblem: Three Houses has a mild form of this as his pre-timeskip "happy" portrait and default and happy post-timeskip portraits, although it's more due to the shape of his mouth combined with the game's art style
• Hat Kid in A Hat in Time sports one along with Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes in her famous "Smug Dance".
• Minato, of all people, gets one after Yukari tells him and Junpei not to look up her skirt during their monorail mission in the manga adaption of Persona 3.
• Chocolat of Solatorobo does it most often, despite being a Caninu (dog person). Elh also does one once or twice, though any Felineko is likely capable of it.
• Pascal from Tales of Graces does this from time to time, mostly when she's trying to "touch" Sophie or playing matchmaker between any of the party members.
• The protagonist of They Bleed Pixels smiles like this every time she transforms. Depending on your viewpoint, it's either oddly cute or incredibly eerie (particularly given that as a human, she's a Perpetual Frowner.)
• Doremy Sweet gets one of these as her default expression◊ in Touhou Hyouibana ~ Antinomy of Common Flowers. It's meant more as a smug expression than a cute one, as that game reveals that she is not just a random denizen of the Dream Land, but its ruler.
• Twisted Wonderland has Chen'ya and Cheka, both of them feline beastfolk with mischievous and sunny dispositions respectively.

Visual Novels

• Lampshaded in don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story when Nolan asked if this kind of face is even posible. Akira shows him that it is, but the player never sees it.
• In Slay the Princess, the Witch is a version of the Princess that features strong feline motifs and frequently has the catlike smile on her face to go with her mischievous, sarcastic and sassy nature. She loses it if she becomes the Thorn, but will regain it if you betray her trust again, symbolizing that she's given up hope on things improving between her and the Player, and decided to fully embrace the Witch's spiteful nature.

Web Animation

• Battle for Dream Island: Cat smiles are a favorite expression of both Naily and Price Tag, with the two bonding over their shared ability to pull it off.
• Eddsworld has it as part of a running gag where Edd (or his Distaff Counterpart) does it after asking a threatening character if he can call them by a cutesy nickname, as seen in "Hello Hellhole", "Moving Targets", and "Mirror Mirror".

Webcomics

• Trigger occasionally does this in Far Out There, usually when a prank is involved.
• In Ménage à 3, Zii demonstrates huge cat smiles after knocking Gary senseless by smushing his face in her chest and as she's trying to strip Gary.^note strips #51 and #55 respectively, not linked as they're technically NSFW
• In Nerf NOW!!, hypercompetitive gamer Jane sports one while plotting on how she's going to destroy her rival, Morgan, to win a bet.
• Precocious: On occasion the feline kids will do a rather menacing one.
• Questionable Content:
  • Marigold gets one after Hanners and Angus both call her pretty. Much to her embarrassment.
  • Hanners gets one when she can no longer resist her curiosity about Dora's supply of "party favors".
• S.S.D.D.: When Tessa (a fox) is faced with a fox and some kind of rabbit sporting these, she gets creeped out.
• In Yokoka's Quest, many characters feature a permanent or occasional cat smile (including the cats, unsurprisingly). Often leads to showing off their Cute Little Fangs.

Web Original

• JESUS CHRIST, IT'S A LION, GET IN THE CAR!
  • 0>:3
    • WHAT?! JESUS CHRIST IS A LION?! WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!
    • Clearly this is a The Chronicles of Narnia style metaphor.
    • Don't be silly. It's obviously Saint Mark.
• In Team Four Star's Let's Play of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, they gave their player character, Puddin, one of these. Most of the copious amounts of fanart of her followed suit. Word of God is her Kamehame-nya also has a cat face at the end of the energy wave.

Web Video

• The Nostalgia Critic has a tendency to do this whenever he's trying his best not to laugh. Lookit the cute dimple!

Western Animation

• In Chowder, the title character sports one whenever he gave Mung Huggies in the episode with his tongue.
• Otto the Mr. Fixit and Genius Ditz Cloud Cuckoo Lander green robot monkey from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! does this several times.
• In ThunderCats (2011), Wily Kit and Wily Kat use this while trying to convince Lion-O to let them join him on his journey, as seen in this trailer, while Snarf does it while looking at a reflective geode.

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