Raccoon

From Nookipedia, the Animal Crossing wiki
Revision as of 18:30, April 2, 2021 by HylianAngel (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 559229 by 2601:1C0:CC00:530:7196:39B2:1540:8FA (talk))
SpecialSpeciesIconSilhouette.png
Raccoon
Tom Nook NH.png
Species count by game
DnM AC e+ WW CF NL HHD PC NH
0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Species count by type
Villagers Islanders Special Total
0 0 3 3

Raccoons are a species of character in Animal Crossing. In Japan, however, the species is referred to as "tanuki" (in Japan), "neoguri" (in Korea) or "raccoon dogs". The raccoon dog has facial markings that bear a resemblance to the raccoons, but is otherwise not closely related, instead belonging in the same biological family as dogs and wolves.

There are three raccoons in the Animal Crossing series so far, and all of them are special characters.

Special characters

Timmy and Tommy
Timmy and Tommy

Gender: Male
Role: Clerks at Nookington's (City Folk and Prior)
Owners of the Nookling Shops (New Leaf and New Horizons)
Birthday: June 7th
Debut: Doubutsu no Mori

Tom Nook
Tom Nook

Gender: Male
Role: Worker at the town store (City Folk and Prior)
Worker at Nook's Homes (New Leaf)
Worker at Resident Services (New Horizons)
Birthday: May 30th
Debut: Doubutsu no Mori

Other information

Real life tanuki

In Japanese folklore, raccoon dogs, or tanuki are often depicted as mythical creatures with shapeshifting powers. Using leaves, they can assume different forms, generally doing so to pull pranks on humans, which is likely why pocketed furniture items are stylized as leaves in the Animal Crossing series. Tanuki cloth is also associated with wealth and money in Japanese culture; this might be the inspiration behind Tom's financial success.