Despite being an animal lover, I really get torn over animal sidekicks. Some of them are really cute and helpful, but quite a few of them are annoying comic relief. Just because I feel it’s slightly unfair, I’m not going to count Pokemon or Digimon here.
I’m going to go with Kirara from Inuyasha.
Her relationship with the group, especially Sango is just so strong, and Kirara is just such an awesome demon. In her small form, she’s a very tiny two-tailed cat that can fit in the palm of your hand, but when she transforms she’s a huge….I can’t really pin what kind of big cat she’s supposed to be. She doesn’t really look like any I’ve seen, but I assume it’s in the same vein as a saber-toothed tiger.
Anyway, she turns into a huge cat with gigantic fangs and the ability to fly. She’s stuck by Sango nearly her entire life as a demon slayer, and she kicks huge amounts of ass.
It’s obvious that Kirara is more of a best friend than a pet to Sango, and I still think their moment in the first movie was far more moving than the stuff with Inuyasha and Kagome.
Honorable Mentions: Amaedeo from 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, the cat from Trigun and Appa from Avatar.
The Anime Madhouse 