snottykitty

There’s a lot of anime shorthand that, while perhaps a little hard for Westerners and non-nerds to decipher (just kidding, we love anime as much as the next guy), actually works really well to convey a scene’s mood once you understand the visual jargon.

One such shortcut we’ve talked about is the random spewing of blood from a character’s nose, which is used to represent lecherousness and lust, especially in male characters; probably because a comical boooiiing! and a sudden pants-ripping erection crowding out the rest of the screen is both a little too obvious, even for Japan.

Another is ubiquitously used to show a character sleeping and we’ll be damned if this real-life Japanese cat doesn’t nail it.

We’re talking, of course, about the perfectly bulbous snot bubble that more or less any anime character depicted as being deep in sleep tends to exhibit while snoring away, typically while said bubble expands and contracts rhythmically. While we don’t know if this adorable, sleepy kitty’s snot bubble was moving or not, captured in these photos, it looks like a dead ringer for the guy at The End of Time in Chrono Trigger.

While the story behind the anime snot bubble is long and winding, there’s probably a simple explanation behind this feline’s little mucus teardrop: a common kitty cold. Nn’daaaaw!

Featured image: @red2red2red via Twitter