Please excuse me if a similar thread has been made, as I couldn't find it I have put it here.

So I was watching the anime Kaichou wa Maid-sama! when I realised - there seems to be an enormous amount of abandoned kittens, and the occasional puppy, that turn up in shoujo. The scene generally goes like this: the main male shoujo lead picks up an abandoned kitten - whereby the female lead promptly falls in - or more in - love with him. Mainly because it shows a 'kind' side to him even if the hero is a chauvanistic jerk. Of course, it dosen't always go like that but that seems to be the general gist of how the plot-device is used.

My goodness, kittens and puppies must be abandoned at an alarming rate in japan! especially as the shoujo heroine seems to spot one so often. Anyone else noticed this?

hahaha! You're right, in shojo manga there's a 70 percent chance of the protagonists seeing an abandoned pet in a cardboard box. I wonder what happens to the pet when it's no longer important to the story?

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My goodness, kittens and puppies must be abandoned at an alarming rate in japan!

Apparently there's a whole lot of negligent bastards living in Japan. 🤣

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There are a large amount of abandoned kittens in Shounen and Seinen too. It's often used to show that deadpan heartless girl does in fact have a heart.

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Well, there's a lot of apartments that doesn't allow pets in Japan, or their parents may be allergic or whatever, so it might be possible that there's a lot of kitten and puppies being abandoned.

But I think that it's just an overused plot device (in allllll romance-related genres), so overused they ridicule it in some mangas ^_^ (for example Sket Dance)

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hahaha! You're right, in shojo manga there's a 70 percent chance of the protagonists seeing an abandoned pet in a cardboard box. I wonder what happens to the pet when it's no longer important to the story?

Good question. But then again, silly romances which need to utilize this kind of lame plot device to bring the stuck-up jerk of a 'hero' into the heroine's line of sight, are not usually read by anyone who has the intellect to think of anything other than "Omg! They look so good together! Squeal" 🙂

As for the question of abandoned kittens and puppies - that happens quite often, I gather. But Animal Control usually catch (and subsequently exterminate 😐 ) them before they have the 'privilege' to play a role in the budding romance between a pretty-boy and an annoying high-school girl 🤣

🤣 🤣 🤣
So true.
I think this made my day.

This device gets over-used in BL too.

This happens in shoune-ai and yaoi as well

Don't forget the cute bird that -insert cold-hearted that's really a sweatheart- saves and took care of. It's endearing at first but get's old when you see it a lot. It's not only in shoujo too, it's everywhere from seinen to yaoi/ shounen-ai. Mangakas generally use this techique to make a character look more appealing. I remember this was used in OHSHC, in the anime anyway >.>

"Those phases in our lives are just an illusion; we live one long play which we just cut up into acts. Changes will happen, but it won't really end until the final curtain falls"

Theres a WHOLE shoujo series dedicated to an abandoned puppy! 😮
Deep Love - Pao no Monogatari
*Warning: Too sad don't read.

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