Unusual Ears

Soval: What is their fixation with our ears?

T'Pol: I believe they are envious.

— Star Trek: Enterprise, "Cease Fire"

In Speculative Fiction and Mythology, it is not surprising to see characters with non-standard ears. Having non-human ears is a common way of indicating that a character that otherwise looks mostly human is Not Quite Human, whether it be an alien, supernatural creature or human significantly modified through magical or pseudo-scientific means. Unusual Ears are particularly popular in Speculative Fiction television and film, where they are used as a relatively cheap way of making Rubber-Forehead Aliens. Pointy Ears are by far the most common type, having been associated with everything from demons and magical faeries to Vulcans. In Japan, the ability to hear extremely well is called jigokumimi, which translates to "hell ears".

In Japanese Manga and Anime, cat ears (nekomimi, which is sometimes used to mean Cat Girl.) and other types of animal ears (Little Bit Beastly) are particularly popular. Expect some Furry Ear Dissonance. Another common anime ear type is "antenna ears," which can be seen primarily on Robot Girls.

Subtropes

• Animal-Eared Headband - Fake animal ears worn as a costume
• Cat Girl - Cat-eared person
• Ear Fins - Fins on the sides of the head where ears would be
• Ear Wings - Wing-like ears
• Ears as Hair - Ears used in place of hair
• Expressive Ears - Ears used to signify mood
• Furry Ear Dissonance - Disconnect between artistic portrayal of animal ears and actual animal ears.
• Little Bit Beastly - People that look mostly human but have actual animal ears (other than cat ears or costume ears)
• Pointy Ears - Pointed ears
• Robot Antennae - Otherwise-lifelike androids with metal fins on the sides of their head in place of ears
• Sprouting Ears - Unusual Ears that appear temporarily, often for comedic effect and intended to be symbolic of personality traits rather than indicating actual ears.

---

Examples

Anime & Manga

• From UFO Princess Valkyrie, while not exactly ears, the princesses of Valhalla all have wings on their heads that they can apparently control. Additionally, the various alien races seen throughout the series often have their own ear types.
• Everyone in Loveless is born with nekomimi and a tail, and loses them once they lose their virginity.
• Nekoko in Destiny of the Shrine Maiden has cat ears (and a tail) due to experimentation by unscrupulous scientists/doctors.
• All of the cat-people in Mahou Shoujo Neko Taruto (also have tails).
• Aisha Clanclan and all of the other Ctarl-Ctarl in Outlaw Star. Though the shape and position have jigokumimi aspects too, perhaps intentionally.
• Merle, Naria, and Erya from The Vision of Escaflowne.
• Koma in Shrine of the Morning Mist.
• Nya Nia from Tower of God.
• Dejiko and Puchiko from Di Gi Charat.
• The Cheshire Cat from Miyuki-chan in Wonderland.
• While not actually ears, the Diclonius in Elfen Lied have horns that look like nekomimi.
• Neneko in Yumeria wears a hat designed to look like nekomimi.
  • Do we ever see her head without that hat to know if it's just the hat or if she has nekomimi?
• Four of the five heroines from Tokyo Mew Mew: Ichigo/Mew Ichigo (cat), Bu-ling/Mew Pudding (monkey), Zakuro/Mew Zakuro (wolf) and Berii/Mew Berry (rabbit).
• In .hack//Legend of the Twilight, an event prize is a set of Moe fetish items, including cat ears; Shugo begins to idolize the programmer, while the girls are mortified.
• The Medicine Peddler of Mononoke has pointed ears, in a setting where no normal human character does. This is only one of many unusual things about him that people just don't seem to notice.
• In FLCL, the main character, Naota, sprouts nekomimi for an episode. Of course, they prove to be nothing but part of a monster slowly emerging from Naota's head.
• Ropponmatsu 2 from Excel♡Saga has cat ears, and their unusualness is immediately noted by Iwata in the anime in the most spectacular fashion: "They're just offensive. If you have the energy to wiggle those nasty things, why don't you chew peanuts with your eyes and eat spaghetti through your nose, you offense to God?"
• Catherine from Gintama. She's neither cute nor sexy, though.
• Ikuto from Shugo Chara! gets cat ears and tail when he character transforms with Yoru.
• Niea and the other aliens from Niea_7.
• Mint from Galaxy Angel has goat-like ears. In the videogame continuity it's revealed they're symbiotic organisms native to her planet, which attach to people and give them the ability to read minds.
• Schroedinger from Hellsing is a catboy with feline ears.
• All the girls in Otome Youkai Zakuro have these ears. Of course, they are fox spirits.
• Everyone in Dog Days has these or dog ears (with a few other animals thrown into the mix) except Shinku.
• Yomi of YuYu Hakusho has six long, almost goat-like ears. It is revealed in a flashback that he once had only two ears like this, but after losing his sight, he grew another four ears in compensation; he is a demon, after all. His son Shura also has similar ears (though only two).
• Kagome Higurashi's first act upon seeing Inuyasha, sealed and stuck to a tree? Messing with his ears. The first thing Kagome's mother says when a dog-eared boy busts into Kagome's house to drag her back to the feudal era is not "Who are you?" or "Where are you taking my daughter?" or even "Why are you dressed like that?" It's, "Your ears; are they real?" whilst reaching up and touching them. As does Kagome's little brother; it appears to be something of a family thing.
• Several characters in Kamisama Kiss qualify. For starters, Tomoe has fox ears and a lot of gods and demons also seem to have elven-looking ears.
• Chii and the other persocons in Chobits have "ears" that open up and contain electrical connectors.
• Hayama Akito from Kodocha occasionally sprouts leopard ears (and tail) for comedic effect.
• Meirin and Tamamo no Mae in Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito have fox (kitsune) ears and tails.
• Almost everyone in Utawarerumono has animal or demon ears of some description, including cat, lion, wolf, rabbit and some rather strange wing-ears.
• Liliruca Arde in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?. Her head has a pair of fur-covered ears and a tail behind her back.
• The Harpie Ladies in Yu-Gi-Oh! usually have jigokumimi-type ears. However, when Harpie's Feather Duster is played, they sprout extra wings and get winglike ears.
• A quick indication of someone being a familiar in Lyrical Nanoha is the existence of furry animal ears where human ears would usually be found.
• Kuon of Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever naturally has fox ears, being a kitsune.
• Solty from SoltyRei has long, pointy ears/antennae that are the same color as her hair.
• In Last Exile, some members of the Guild (Dio and Luciola are most prominent) have slightly pointed ears. They're normal-sized, just...pointed at the top.
• Romulus from the 1 + 1/2 Nekutai doujinshi sports a pair of wolf ears, hidden under his hat. It holds true for basically all the werewolves after their first transformation, including Remus.
• In Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Kotaro, being half-inugami, has a pair of pointed ears sprouting from his head which he can somehow fold beneath his hair.
  • In the Magic World arc, large part of Magic World population have some unusual ears: jigokumimi, cat ears, sheep ears... Wearing fake cat ears becomes an effective disguise, not a decoration.
• In the "extra chapter" of Hayate the Combat Butler, Hinagiku gains donkey ears (Though they look much more like kyuubi ears). Something similar happens when Arthur of the series Merlin gains donkey ears.
• The Catians in Cat Planet Cuties have both kitty ears like the picture at the top of the page as well as normal human ears. This adds to the in-universe perception of how much they just look like humans who are cosplaying.
• Eneru of One Piece has earlobes that hang down to his chest with heavy earrings. This is to invoke the appearance of a hindu deity.
• In Monster Musume most of the Cute Monster Girls of the cast have odd ears. Miia's are pointy and scaly, Centorea has horse ears, Mero's ears look like fins, and it's ambiguous whether Suu even has ears at all.
• My Hero Academia: Kyoka Jiro's Quirk gives her elongated earlobes, ending in jack plugs. She can extend and plug them into objects to catch extremely faint sounds or channel the sound of her own heartbeat into them in the form of powerful vibrations. She can also use them as regular earbuds.
• A manga story based on Tamagotchi depicts Yumemitchi with abnormally stretchy ears that she uses to catch a ball and as wings to fly with. This is the only time in the franchise that she demonstrates this (makes sense, as this specific manga story is All Just a Dream).

Comic Books

• Wonder Woman (1987): The kreel have Pointy Ears with large incised helixes.

Fan Works

• Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfics Hakkōna and Kaitō Kokoro: When Kiku is in his true nekomataneko form, in addition to having human ears, he also has pointy cat ears.

Film — Animation

• The title character of Shrek, along with other ogres, has trumpet-shaped ears that point 45 degrees up. They're considered iconic enough to be included in the logo.

Literature

• Spice and Wolf: Holo's human form is that of a teenage girl with wolf ears, the color of which matches her hair and reflects her true form's fur coloring.

Live-Action TV

• Star Trek, with its Rubber-Forehead Aliens, has many.
  • Vulcans and Romulans, of course, go under Pointy Ears.
  • Ferengi ears are a major part of their identity. They are huge^note so large, they have to have bones to support them and roughly equivalent to Brass Balls (men have bigger lobes than women, and good businessmen are complimented on their lobes), as well as erogenous zones.
  • The Vorta from Deep Space Nine have long, thin ears from their chin to their crown.
  • Neelix and other Talaxians in Voyager have larger and thinner ears than humans.
  • Phlox, from Enterprise, has ridgey ears. This is the least unusual feature of his anatomy.
  • Star Trek: Picard. Played for laughs when Narek mocks his sister, a Romulan Deep Cover Agent disguised as a human with Magic Plastic Surgery.
    "That ridiculous disguise. Round ears. You look like a plucked wakak."
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Hell's Bells", we see visions of Xander's supposed future. In these visions, his vision-daughter is sporting a pair of clearly non-human floppy ears, indicating that she's part-demon.

Tabletop Games

• In the LARP campaign set "Isole Del Cielo" (Island of the Sky), some races have Unusual Ears. Dremmach have furry ears, while Arno have big, pointed ears, with big earrings. Those are needed to calibrate the magic perception sense, so that Arno can feel a single kind of magic, instead of every kind at the same time (that would be uncomfortable). Underworld LARP has Savar and Wolven (cat and dog/wolf people respectively) who wear unusual ears as part of their costume.

Video Games

• Bunny Must Die: Bunny has both bunny ears and cat ears as a result of a catular power plant explosion. She's less than happy about it, too.
• Antenna ears, cat ears, floppy pig and bear ears, and most other things you can staple to the side of your head are available in City of Heroes/Villains. The normal human ears only "go away" if you hide them.
• Felicia from Darkstalkers.
• March and Salsa in Eternal Sonata both have pointy ears, and this is really the only thing that indicates that they are Not Quite Human, other than that March mentions that she's "never known the agogos to approach a human before."
• Fran from Final Fantasy XII (and all viera in the various Ivalice Alliance games) has rabbit ears.
• Apparent in some later Fire Emblem games:
  • Cat, tiger, lion, and wolf Laguz in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn have ears like the animals they can turn into.
  • Taguel in Fire Emblem: Awakening sport rabbit ears. Fittingly, they can turn into rabbits to fight.
  • Fire Emblem Fates has kitsune, who sport fox ears and can turn into foxes, as well as Wolfskin, who sport wolf ears and become werewolves.
• True to form, Gaia Online has a tremendous variety of ear accessories for your avatar to wear.
• Klonoa has long, rabbit-like ears that actually add a gameplay element—they let him hover briefly, just enough to reach that next ledge.
• Beastmen of the Lunar series have these. The women of the species do, too, but usually they tend towards daintier Pointy Ears.
• Mega Man: All of the Reploids in Mega Man Zero and cyborgs in Mega Man ZX seem to have these strange white headphone-like things instead of human ears, which is strange, considering that the Classic series had proper ears, despite being much less advanced. Certain Robot Masters tend to have these ears, such as Metal Man and Turbo Man.
• Cute Monster Girls Nei and Rika from the Phantasy Star series.
• One of the most unusual sets of ears in fiction is the Roggenrola line from Pokémon. You see those indentations that look like eyes? They're ears.
• Serilly from Puyo Puyo is a mermaid with little fins on the sides of her head where ears would be.
• The members of the Lesser Fellpool race in the Star Ocean series have ears like this.
• Touhou Project:
  • Animal youkai often have ears reflecting their animal nature:
    • Ran has fox ears, which she wears a hat over.
    • Chen and Orin both have cat ears, Orin in addition to a pair of human ears.
    • Nazrin has mouse ears.
    • Tewi, the fairies in Eientei, Reisen, Rei'sen, and the moon rabbit army all have rabbit ears.
    • Mystia, oddly enough, has feathered Pointy Ears that look like wings. She's a sparrow and wouldn't normally have external ears.
    • Toyosatomimi no Miko from Ten Desires has her hair shaped like animal ears.
  • Narumi has oversize ears, reflecting her origin as a jizo statue. Interestingly, fellow uplifted jizo statue Shiki Eiki doesn't have noticeably unusual ears, possibly due to differences in the way the two came to life (Narumi became a youkai thanks to the magic of the Forest of Magic, while Shiki received enough faith to become a god).
• A few characters in Trinity Universe: Kanata (dog), Tsubaki (fox) and Miyu (cat).
• Mariel and her Expies in the Wild ARMs games have long, floppy, furry ears.
• The Rehda in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim have long, outward-pointing ears and fox-like tails. Some of them dismissively call humans "Small-ears", as well.

Visual Novels

• Len in Tsukihime as well as a handful of other non-human characters such as Seven/Nanako.
• The Chiesters in Umineko: When They Cry have bunny ears for some reason.

Webcomics

• In 9th Elsewhere, the Muse people have feathered-wings ears.
• Faith from Alone in a Crowd is a Cat Girl.
• In El Goonish Shive, Grace's squirrely form has pointy, fuzzy ears. Catalina also gets the ability to become a catgirl, with the requisite kitty ears.
• In the Homestuck End of Act 5 flash, upon ascending to God Tier, Jade gains a snazzy pair of dog ears to go with near omnipotence and immortality.
• The cast of Karin-dou 4koma are primarily youkai, so there are plenty of characters with ears to match their type, be it animal ears or some variant of Pointy Ears.
• Osborne from Monster Pulse has a left ear that can detach and transform into a monster.
• In My Roommate Is an Elf Jacinda and her mother have cat-like ears. Sebastian has droopy ears that resemble a dog's.
• All characters in Ruby Quest have these, corresponding to the characters' Animal Crossing counterparts. It's often the only way they can be told apart, due to the simplistic art style.
• In Terinu, instead of ears, every Galen has four to seven thin tines of bone like piano keys on either side of their skull.

Western Animation

• Odd of Code Lyoko gets cat ears added to his Lyoko avatar in Season 4.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Galardonians have tube-like ears.
• A minor one in Total Drama, but the way Izzy's ears are drawn is upside-down compared to the other characters.

Antennae

Anime & Manga

• Nuku Nuku from All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku.
• Chachamaru and Chachazero from Negima! Magister Negi Magi. In Chachamaru's case, most people don't seem to take enough notice of it to figure out that she's a robot.
• Rag from Astro Boy.

Live-Action TV

• In the Beetleborgs episode "Buggin Out", Flabber sprouts these when he goes through stage 2 of turning into kombat gnat.
• The blue Andorians from Star Trek have some expressive antennae in addition to regular ears. According to Star Trek: Enterprise, their function is to help with balance, suggesting they're the Andorian equivalent of the human vestibular system (the "inner ear"). In the Deep Space Nine Relaunch novels, they also detect electrical fields.

Video Games

• Multi from To Heart.
• The protagonist Quote and Curly Brace from Cave Story. However, they're very hard to see and so it comes as a surprise when you find out that your character, Quote, and Curly Brace are robots from the surface.

Webcomics

• Averted in Megatokyo, where the android Ping has normal-looking ears with big plastic earrings that contain connectors and LCD's.

---