Foxier than Fox himself.
'Scuse me, while I kiss this- Fox.
As we all know, cunning, wiles, and craftiness, and sometimes aggressiveness have been the fox's bread and butter in most fiction. Being the guileful tricksters they are, foxes have been portrayed as having a talent for conning and outsmarting others for their own ends throughout history, to the point that the word "fox" today is basically synonymous with slyness.
But when they aren't being portrayed as sneaky, thieving scoundrels, these animals have a major association with another specific, yet entirely different set of characteristics in fiction: attractiveness, sexuality, and feminine beauty. The result is that whenever there is a fox in a World of Funny Animals — or a character with fox motifs in a work where animal motifs are commonplace — they will more likely than not be the most attractive and/or sexualized character in the work, often with a flirtatious, seductive, and/or promiscuous personality. As the title implies, many examples tend to be female more often than male, but it is also possible to find a fair number of male examples.
The exact origins of this Animal Stereotype are yet unclear. However, there are generally two main influences behind it. The first has to do with everyday slang; in the English language, the word "fox" and "vixen" are figuratively used to describe any person who is particularly attractive or sexy, the latter referring specifically to a female Head-Turning Beauty. This creates a massive potential for a Visual Pun when the work features a fox character, and one often too clever for creators to pass up. Meanwhile, the second influence comes from how vulpines, compared to the rest of the canid family, tend to be considered "feminine" animals thanks to their lean appearance, graceful mannerisms, and seemingly dignified demeanor. Not to mention their puffy tails, which can easily bring to mind the image of a beautiful woman in a fur coat. This puts foxes in an uncannily similar situation to cats, another family of animals which are widely sexualized in fiction for the same reasons. note
The association between vixens, sexuality, and femininity comes together in the Asian Fox Spirit of East Asia. Fox spirits have a reputation as Shapeshifting Seducers who tempt mortals by transforming into beautiful women or sometimes handsome youths. Women with pointed chins and slanted eyes forming a "V" are said to have a fox face and are regarded as sexy in East Asian culture.
When paired with the fox's stereotypical penchant for trickery, the combination will usually result in The Vamp or a Femme Fatale of sorts. Since most fictional foxes are red foxes, Redheads Are Ravishing can come into play as well.
For this trope's feline equivalent, see Sexy Cat Person; it is not uncommon for both tropes to appear in a work simultaneously because of the reasons mentioned above. See also Snakes Are Sexy and Seductive Spider for more examples of specific animals being interpreted as sexy. Not related to Silver Fox, which is about attractive-looking old people, although that trope's name also comes from the association between foxes and good looks. A subtrope of Fox Folk.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Digimon Tamers: Renamon — Rika's digimon partner — is a feminine, anthropomorphic kitsune-like fox whose shapely hips are quite hard for viewers to ignore, and she (or an androgynous "he", depending on the dub) is occassionally shown to be a Dude Magnet a few times.
- In Fate/EXTRA manga spinoff CCC Foxtail, Suzuka Gozen is a beautiful, flirtatious fox-woman who's nonetheless loyal to her Master. It's actually invoked by her, as she thinks that the fox ears and tail make her cuter (comparing herself to fellow vixen Tamamo-no-mae, her "rival" of sorts); she actually isn't a kitsune, she just adds the ears and tail with her magic.
- The Helpful Fox Senko-san is about a demi-goddess kitsune who goes down to earth to help an Unlucky Salaryman and make his life more comfortable. They became a Chastity Couple, but her other kitsune friends aren't as chaste as her and try to flirt with the protagonist all throughout the series.
- The main plot of Kanokon is about a kitsune disguised as a schoolgirl who falls in love with a Celibate Second Year Protagonist who's very shy, which gets him into trouble whenever he's around her, as she's very flirtatious and sexual towards him (bordering on hentai in certain scenes).
- Invoked with Love Hina's character Mitsune Konno, the elder girl of Keitaro Urashima's Unwanted Harem, who's known for being flirtatious with men, especially Keitaro himself. Because of this, the word play, and the fact that she rarely opens her eyes, she has the Punny Name of "Kitsune," and is shown in Super-Deformed mode and fanarts alike with fox ears and tail.
- In Pom Poko many of the kitsune have adapted to human encroachment by transforming into sultry club hosts.
- A staple of Sho Shibamoto's works; any vulpine Funny Animal will almost always be a slender, attractively-drawn vixen who provides most of the fanservice, depicted with either big breasts, revealing outfits, or both.
- Tamamo-chan’s a Fox! features the Fushimi sisters, three ancient fox spirits from Kyoto trying out modern high school life. All three are very attractive, with middle sister Tamamo instantly becoming a School Idol in more ways than one. Eldest sister Tenko is the mature and sexy one, posing as a teacher and regularly flirting with (almost) anyone within reach.
- Kyubi from Yo-kai Watch is a Kid-anova version of this. He's a young kitsune who can turn into a young Long-Haired Pretty Boy. He's a Chick Magnet to most girls, with Katie being his one exception.
Asian Animation
- The North Korean propaganda cartoon Squirrel and Hedgehog features the American Lt. Fox Vixen as one of the antagonists. She's also a Gorgeous Gaijin, symbolizing American women as being sly and overly sexual.
Comic Books
- Albedo: Erma Felna EDF plays a bit with this trope with two Vulpine characters:
- In the regular continuity, we have Dea-Htuhok Kho, who is a member of the local government of the planet from which the titular heroine was being sent as a result of her actions in a previous battle. While she is indeed beautiful and intelligent, she doesn't attempt to do anything underhanded by her own means, and the only reasons why she ended being promoted as the secretary of the local homeguard in replacement of the previous one was because her boss was arrested for murdering a scheming businessman who caused chaos in the planet.
- Another Vulpine girl is Maria, a musician from a side-story apart from the main continuity, who is very sexy-looking, at least for the viewers, but oddly enough, the rest of the cast completely ignores her looks.
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! has Mimi LaFloo, a sexy, sultry, assertive, no-nonsense vixen who leads a resistance movement in a slave camp and eventually becomes captain of the United Animal Security Council upon Bucky O'Hare's recommendation.
- Justice League of America: Crimson Fox — the shared superhero identity of Vivian and Constance d'Aramis — has this as her main motif; a gorgeous, fox-themed Heroic Seductress in Sensual Spandex who manipulates men using a combination of her own sex appeal and the ability to produce pheromones. Vivian in particular also has a thick French accent to top it off.
- In The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, the main characters are a monk and a fox spirit who falls in love with him. She spends a substantial part of the story transformed into an alluring human woman.
- Fiona Fox in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) is an attractive fox who is first seen in a Leotard of Power with short shorts, then in a midriff-baring leather outfit after turning evil.
- Tank Vixens, as the title suggests, has a main cast entirely made up of attractive fox women, usually wearing Stripperific outfits, Sensual Spandex, and leotards showing off their figures.
- Appropiately for her alias, superheroine Vixen's general design is that of a tall woman with a muscular yet voluptuous figure and a form-fitting yellow bodysuit that shows off her cleavage.
- Xanadu (Vicky Wyman): Fatima, a vixen and Tabbe Le Fauve's main love interest, is a Bedlah Babe in a belly-baring harem dress. Out of all other characters, she easily rivals the other major Ms. Fanservice in the comic; the Shameless Fanservice Girl Empress Alicia.
Fan Works
- Born to Be Wilde: Pearl, Opal, and Crystal are a trio of very flirty arctic foxes dressed in skimpy outfits who also happen to be skilled assassins/masseuses, and their looks attract the attention of just about every mammal present (even the gals). Don't reject their advances if you value your life, though.
- Aurora appears in the third part of To Belong. She's introduced as a vixen who catches Sinbad's eye, only for her boyfriend Dimitri to knock Sinbad out. Aurora and her boyfriend are thieves.
- Subverted with Aldonza in Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash
. While a fox caninoid, and certainly appealing if her comment of "I'm the girl who wakes up pups in the morning with sugar drink ads" is anything to go by, she's hardly fanservice-y. When asked to effect a Supermodel Strut to the tune of POP/STARS, her attempt at sounding seductive only succeeds in getting her closest friend to bust a gut laughing, and she quickly gives up the act.
Films — Animation
- The Bad Guys (2022): Governor Diane Foxington is a beautiful anthropomorphic vixen with a sultry voice and curvy figure, which is better emphasized in her Crimson Paw outfit. She's also an incredible dancer and enjoys teasing Mr. Wolf once they warm up to each other.
- The Disney Animated Canon has a couple examples, but they're heavily downplayed:
- Maid Marian from Robin Hood is quite pretty, but dresses and acts as a dignified noblewoman. However, she does wiggle her butt during one musical number.
- Vixey from The Fox and the Hound has her looks remarked upon by both Tod and Big Mama, and she gets a few glamour shots when she and Tod first meet. However, she's drawn as a Nearly Normal Animal, like the other nonhuman characters, and she's not especially flirtatious or seductive, apart from discussing how many babies she wants to have with Tod.
- Zootopia has a gender-inverted example in Nick Wilde. He's a charming Con Man with a flirty personality that often comes up around Judy Hopps, later becomes a Fair Cop, and Zootopia 2 shows he doesn't look half bad in a suit. He's considered attractive In-Universe, as he's flirted with by a tegu woman at a bar and an older bunny lady in a deleted scene. Being voiced by Jason Bateman probably has something to to with it.
- In Pakistani film The Donkey King, Evil Chancellor Fitnanote is a vixen who favors tight-fitting clothes.
- The Elm-Chanted Forest: Fifi is an anthropomorphic vixen with a noticeably curvaceous figure and the closest thing the film has to a G-rated Ms. Fanservice, characterized here as a French-accented lounge singer who is the object of both J. Edgar Bevear's and Bud E. Bear's affections.
- Rango: Angelique the fox is the Sexy Secretary of Mayor Tortoise John. Compared to Bean, she is noticeably curvier in appearance.
- Spark has the aptly-named Vix, a tough, no-nonsense Action Girl with a shapely figure.
Films — Live Action
- The ABCs of Death: In the "H" segment, Frau Scheisse is a sexy Nazi fox woman posing as burlesque dancer, spending most of the segment in boots, shorts, a swastika armband, and nothing else.
- Dad & Step-Dad: On a blended-family family vacation, the dad finds a sexualized cartoon of a humanoid fox in 13-year-old Branson's luggage. He shows it to the step-dad, and they Discuss it and debate what to do about it. Is this is an issue they should confront Branson over? Do they need to give him The Talk? Is it or is it not Bestiality Is Depraved?
Jim: Is this bestiality?
Dave: No, No.
Jim: It's an animal.
Dave: Well, it's a person that just happens to look like an animal.
Jim: I think it's an animal that looks like a person.
Dave: It's got human clothes.
Jim: It's got a tail.
Literature
- The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: The titular character's last name, Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian, is French for "fox," and is thus a Pretty Boy whose stunning beauty is likened to that of a gemstone.
- Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio includes more than 80 stories of fox spirits in the form of beautiful women seducing men, most of which were left out of the first English translation from the Victorian era. The tale "Cut Sleeve"note features a rare male fox.
- TF High: One of the first victims of the TF Virus is wallflower Nelly Miles, who wishes she was as foxy a lady as her Alpha Bitch tormentors, the Three Js. She gets her wish when she's transformed into an anthromorphic fox girl. Later one her twin sisters and her mother are also transformed into foxes.
- Xanadu (Storyverse):
- In "Against Type", one of the main antagonists, Traci, is a fox woman notable for an exaggeratedly overendowed figure and a tendency to make every word and action seem sensual. It's implied that, due to the prevalence of this trope, this is a common trend among individuals transformed into fox morphs, leading other characters to complain about the "stupid oversexed foxes". This is actually played for horror; One of the plot devices the story revolves around is a gun that transforms people into vixens, sometimes slowly, and overrides their personality for one more fitting, which happens to Joseph.
- In "Wynd, Skye, and One White Mouse", Hannah's parents are briefly accosted by a white-furred anthro vixen who shamelessly flirts with both her father and her fiancé.
Live-Action TV
- Discussed in Teen Wolf, when Lydia tries to encourage Kira to use her sex appeal as part of the Pack's latest scheme.
Lydia: You know what they call a female fox? A vixen.
- In season 3 of the Belgian version of "The Masked Singer", one of the singers is Foxy Lady, who lives up to this trope. Many of the songs she sings are love songs.
Music
- Mouth Albums: In 'Mouth Silence', on the track "Furries", Neil satires the frequency of this trope in Furry Fandom circles by splicing together the Jimi Hendrix songs "Foxy Lady" and "Purple Haze" to create a song about literally lusting after a fox. To top it off, he edits samples of Ylvis to loop the sound effect 'Yiff Yiff Yiff'.
Mythology & Religion
- Older Than They Think: The Chinese huli jing and its Japanese and Korean counterparts, the kitsune and kumiho respectively, are fox spirits known for being classic Tricksters who mess with mortals for entertainment, including disguising themselves as human women to seduce men and young boys. In fact, calling a woman "kitsune-faced" (a face shaped like a heart/inverted triangle) in Japan is considered a very sultry compliment, as this kind of face is generally considered more attractive than those with "Tanuki-faces" (square/round-faced).
- Tamamo-no-Mae is a famous kitsune appearing in diverse texts who is probably one of the most powerful Yōkai known to legend. Her story is long and varies between works, but in general is about a powerful kyuubi (a nine-tailed kitsune) from China who would constantly take the form of a beautiful young woman in order to seduce emperors and make them to commit terrible atrocities (ranging from torturing loyal subjects to devouring children) until their subjects would inevitably revolt and drive her out. This pattern continued sporadically for about two thousand years, until she was slain in Japan after being caught draining the life of Emperor Toba. As a side note, her legend seems to have been based on transmitted Chinese tales claiming that the infamous Shang Dynasty concubine Daji was actually possessed by a huli jing.
- Tamamo-no-Mae
- Scandinavian folklore has the hulder (aka "huldra" in Norway, "skogsrå" in Sweden, and "ulda" among the Sámi), a seductive forest spirit that usually takes the form of a beautiful Little Bit Beastly woman with red hair and a fox tail, with only her hollow back giving away her monstrous nature. She seduces men who wander through the forest and steals their souls. If you figure out that a woman is a hulder and then politely point out what gave her away, she will instead reward you.
Tabletop Games
- In Golden Sky Stories, the fox/kitsune henge (animal spirits who can take on human or near-human shapes) have a special ability that makes them supernaturally attractive to humans, foxes, and other fox henge of the opposite sex. No other species of henge has any similar abilities.
- Kitsune: Of Foxes and Fools has the players as fox spirits playing tricks on humans guilty of one or another of the Seven Deadly Sins, including Lust. Saski and Sareiko in particular get bonuses for tricks on Lusty fools, while their son Kenji has to go for Lust if possible (regardless of their target's gender).
- In Transhuman Space, one of the Martian Triads' more popular Eros bioroid variants is the "Huli" model, which come with fur, tail, ears, and pheromones, but no claws or sharp teeth, because they're illegal sex slaves.
Video Games
- The 17th character added to Awesomenauts was Penny Fox, a slender, agile vixen voiced by Brooke "Dodger" Leigh, with a theme song promoting her as "foxy" and a cheerleader outfit as one of her alternate skins.
- Bloody Roar: Hans 'Fox' Taubemann is a male example of the trope. He is an effeminate, scantily-clad crossdresser who can easily pass for a woman, and is a vicious Serial Killer whose lust for blood is only matched by his vanity and pride in his own beauty. His beast form, fittingly enough, resembles a slender fox with very wide hips. (Though Taubemann ironically sees it as hideous).
- Brutal: Paws of Fury: Foxy Roxy — the only playable female character — is a curvy anthropomorphic vixen who wears tight shorts and a form-fitting tank top that leaves her stomach exposed, and is the fighter with the least Gonkish design of the entire cast of Funny Animals.
- One of the DLC girls in Crush Crush is Suzu, a Kitsune represented as a Little Bit Beastly girl with fox ears and a tail. Once she overcomes her Shrinking Violet tendencies at higher relationship levels, she frequently flirts with Marshmallow and can be romanced like any of the girls.
- Fate/EXTRA: The player's Caster, Tamamo-no-mae, is a playful, sultry, and beautiful fox-woman who tries to win her Master's heart. In Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star, she's outright seductive and territorial towards her Master. However, while she's definitely a flirt, she's not really a seductress and considers herself to be entirely sincere about any relationships she may have had or may enter in the future.
- One of the marriageable characters in Harvest Town is Foxy, a centuries-old Kitsune who wears a revealing, low-cut dress and is the sultriest of all the bachelorettes.
- In League of Legends, Ahri is a sultry fox Vastaya based on the Korean kumiho who sustains herself by tempting people with her wiles and charm magic before devouring their life essence, dreams, and memories.
- Both of Kingsisle’s MMOs have solid examples of this trope:
- Wizard101 gives us Monstrologist Gilda Burke, and several female Fox Folk from the world of Avalon who all have hourglass figures.
- Pirate101 : Bonnie Anne is a beautiful vixen who shows off a more shapely appearance upon her third promotion, but is still quite attractive.
- Pokémon has Braixen and Delphox, the evolved forms of Fennekin, which both resemble anthropomorphic feminine-looking foxes themed after witches.
- In Sly Cooper, Carmelita Fox is the series' Ms. Fanservice, her signature look being a midriff-showing outfit, and eventually wears a miniskirt showing off her legs in the fourth game.
- Star Fox Adventures marks the debut appearance of Krystal, a scantily-clad Nubile Savage/Jungle Princess with a Sexophone theme. In later games, she ditches her tribal clothing for a more futuristic, form-fitting outfit that really draws attention to her chest. As much as she’s the page image for this, she’s practically one of the poster girls for foxy vixens.
- Played with in Ōkami. The Dark Lord Ninetails isn't really a looker themselves, being "just" a nine-tailed fox, but their disguise as the priestess Rao is considerably busty, with cleavage abound; Ninetails's "Evil Rao" guise also retains the fanservicey design, plus the addition of a fox mask.
- In Vixen, the title character is a werefox whose human form is that of glamour model Corinne Russell.
- In Unicorn Overlord, Dinah and her fellow werefoxes are all beautiful fox women clad in metal bikinis and little else. Notably, while Dinah looks the part, she is not played for Fanservice, being more of a hot tempered Tsundere rather than a seductress.
Visual Novels
- The Pirate's Fate, being set in a World of Funny Animals, features a number of beautiful fox women. Notably, whenever someone is transformed into one it usually features a certain type of beauty upgrade that is sometimes commented on. Queen Nakhta is one already, particularly with her borderline Cleavage Window.
Web Animation
- Chikn Nuggit: Slushi is a platonically pretty version of this trope. Whereas the rest of the Civilized Animal characters are small, pudgy critters with neotenous designs, Slushi is a light-blue vixen with a far more slender frame and an elegant, feminine appearance, whose beauty mesmerizes the series's two main characters in her debut short. However, she lacks the usual personality traits associated with the trope, and is instead characterized as a dorky Genki Girl with geeky hobbies.
Webcomics
- The Fox Sister has a kumiho who stole the identity of the protagonist's sister and seduces men to eat their livers.
- Kalita from Furry Fight Chronicles is a very attractive vixen with a body that Muko ranks 10 out of 10. Likewise, Fenny is an arctic vixen who is attractive enough that Muko bought a body pillow of her after the fight with Roora.
- Housepets!: The wild fox Kix is noticeably curvier than most females in the comic, with a developed set of breasts. Her Valentines Day card is also one of the more overtly sexual ones, with her giving Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes and a sultry smirk to the camera.
- Isla Aukate: Overlord Fox provides a fair bit of the series' fanservice, and there's hints her Mysterious Past included some time in a burlesque show.
- Keychain of Creation: Marena, one of the four main characters, is a flirty, promiscuous fox totem Lunar and Ms. Fanservice with a fondness for revealing outfits, bringing plenty of fanservice to the comic (for a stick figure).
- In the furry comic S.S.D.D., foxes are stereotyped as, to put it lightly, sluts. The fox couple of the original cast, Richard and Anne, certainly are horny enough to justify the stereotyping. Worldbuilding filler strips show that it's actually a pretty successful survival strategy in a multi-species society, as despite only going into heat once a year and being incompatible with other speciesnote , they're the most populous species on Earth and occupy many positions in politics.
- The Whiteboard: Sandy◊, a red fox, is the second-largest source of fanservice in the comic, along with Pirta the flirty snow leopard.
- Zoophobia: Fabian the fox is a suave, sultry Casanova and former New-Age Retro Hippie with a wildly adventurous past. He doesn't give much of a damn if the person he's seducing isn't even the same species as him, and he gladly hits on the resident Token Human multiple times throughout the comic.
Web Original
- The mascot of the anime-themed YouTube channel Lost Pause is a beautiful, busty fox girl named Lily who is usually depicted in a belly-baring halter top.
- SCP Foundation has SCP-953, a "Polymorphic Humanoid". SCP-953 is a kumiho, a nine-tailed fox that can take the shape of a beautiful Korean woman and influence people's minds with Telepathy and the power of suggestion. She's also a Serial Killer who often pretends to be a kitsune to lure victims before eating their livers.
Western Animation
- Drawn Together has Foxxy Love: a bisexual, shameless, and promiscuous Sassy Black Woman who is the clear-cut Ms. Fanservice of the main cast. In case her name didn't tip you off, she sports a fox tail and a pair of fox ears on her cap, which are implied to be more than just accessories.
- Done for a one-off gag in the Johnny Bravo episode "The Island of Mrs. Morceau" when Johnny makes a pass at a foxy lady receptionist, only for the "camera" to pan over and reveal that the woman is a literal humanoid female fox.
- Vixen from Justice League, while not a fox, does have many Animal Motifs and is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
- Love, Death & Robots: "Good Hunting" features huli jing, Chinese fox spirits who can take the form of stunningly beautiful women and are known for preying on men. They can morph from a lovely female form to a humanoid fox with Barbie Doll Anatomy to a fully nine-tailed fox form.
- New Looney Tunes: Claudette Dupri is a vixen and an international spy with Femme Fatale tendencies, whose design features wide hips and a Spy Catsuit with a furred collar.
- Skunk Fu!: Fox is a feminine, graceful Action Girl who employs She-Fu in combat and boasts a notably curvaceous figure, with at least two male characters having an obvious crush on her. In contrast, the other two female characters in the series — Ms. Duck and Crane — are significantly less anthropomorphic in design than Fox.
- TaleSpin: Katie Dodd is a vixen and an Adventurer Archaeologist who is depicted as a Humanoid Female Animal, being far more feminine-looking than Rebeccaa Cunningham with her red Furry Female Mane, more prominent eyelashes, and red lipstick.
Other
- Within the Furry Fandom, foxes of either gender have a reputation of being constantly horny, though male foxes tend to be either Casanova Wannabes or Camp Gay. Indeed, the fandom nickname for sex and furry pornography, "Yiff", comes from sounds a fox would make.
- The "Animal Avengers" series of Clarecraft figurines includes Felicity Fox, a tall curvaceous figure in a low-cut Spy Catsuit. For contrast, the other female character, Hazel Nutt the squirrel, has less obvious curves and is wearing army trousers and a t-shirt.
- In Russian (and/or Eastern European if you want a wider take) tradition of animal jokes, the vixen is a rather sexual character. While she is not among the most common characters, when she appears in a joke, it usually involves her cheating on her fox husband.
