Friend to Bugs



"There must be a pet here that will fit the ticket!

How 'bout a ladybug, or a cute cricket?"

- Fluttershy, from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, in May The Best Pet Win.

Typically, the Friend to All Living Things archetype will gloss over bugs' status as living things, so it's often expected that only a bug will be a friend to a bug. Not always, though. A character that is a Friend to Bugs adores even (or perhaps especially!) the insects, like a pet owner adores a pet.

Because this involves being affectionate toward creepy-crawlies, the unstoppable force of the stereotype that women hate bugs meets the immovable object of the expectation that guys aren't affectionate toward animals. The result is that this trope tends to be gender-neutral but rare.

Not to be confused with Beetle Mania and/or Bug Catching, which explicitly describe interest and collection but not necessarily endearment. Also not to be confused for being friends with a certain cartoon rabbit.

Anime and Manga:

 * In Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa, Nausicaa is sympathetic toward the giant insects of the poisonous forest, particularly the dinosaur - sized ohmu. IIRC, in a deleted scene she had kept a tiny ohmu as a pet as a small child, and tried to hide it from adults.
 * Appropriately, one of the inspirations for Nausicaa was an old Japanese tale The princess who loved insects .
 * Ouran High School Host Club has Haruhi; in episode 8, when she finds a centipete on a crab, instead of killing it she simply picks it up and throws it aside. When asked if she could have been easier on it, she said "it takes a lot more than that to kill a bug."
 * Naruto has Aburame clan, who have bugs living in their bodies and use them as weapons, as a partnership where the bugs have a secure home in exchange for letting the ninja's control them.
 * In Working, Souta loves everything small, including bugs. He compares a bug getting squashed to murdering Popura. She's unsure if she should feel praised or insulted by that.
 * In Kamichama Karin, Himeka thinks bugs are absolutely adorable and is apparently oblivious to her cousin Kazune's phobia of them.
 * Mr Ando from Mori no Ando is kind to all living creatures, including the bee.
 * Lutecia Alpino of the Lyrical Nanoha franchise, an insect summoner who has a strong connection with her insects. One artwork included in Striker S Sound Stage X even shows that she owns custom mittens that have the picture of one of her Big Creepy-Crawlies on it.

Comics:

 * In Marvel Comics's toy tie-in title The Sectaurs, the insect-like humanoids of planet Symbion form telepathic bonds with giant insects. Most of these are about the size of a large dog, but a few are big enough to ride. The hero, Dargon, is unusual in that he has bonded to two such insects.
 * Depending on the Writer, Ant-Man of The Avengers. The second Ant-Man in particular used to give his favourite ants names.

Film:

 * WALL-E has a pet cockroach, though he is a robot...
 * Shilo Wallace from Repo! The Genetic Opera.
 * The fairy twins whose singing can summon Mothra.
 * Joe's Apartment: Joe has many, many cockroach roommates who he eventually becomes good friends with.

Literature:

 * In The Lady who Loved Insects, the title character is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and is regarded by her peers as something of a Cloudcuckoolander for it. It's believed Hayao Miyazaki drew inspiration from this character in his design of his character Nausicaa's personality.
 * Gari in Chronicles of the Kencyrath spontaneously attracts flies, wasps, moths, and other flying insects, and he develops a limited control over the swarm.
 * Idgie in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe loves bees.

Live Action Television:

 * Dr. Mahesh "Bug" Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy of Crossing Jordan, is not only fascinated by insects, he sometimes comments that he prefers them over certain people. He waxes poetic about all sorts of their characteristics and keeps several insect pets in his lab. In one episode he excitedly awaits his butterflies hatching out of their cocoons only to have to chase them around the medical examiners' complex when the lid to their aquarium is accidentally left open.

Tabletop Games:

 * Insect shamans in Deadlands: Hell on Earth are the evil version.
 * One npc in Warhammer rpg mutates into a giant cockroach - bizzarely, he keeps his wits and habits (he is quite friendly as far as mutants go) but develops warm feelings to bugs, sharing his appartment with a giant swarm of normal rouches.

Video Games:

 * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has 10 year old Agitha, the self appointed princess of the "Bug Kingdom". If the player chooses, Link can embark on a sidequest to find the 24 golden bugs for Agitha's ball. She squees over each one you bring to her and rewards you accordingly.
 * She rewards you for the first bug by giving you the Adult's Wallet, which allows you to carry up to 600 rupees. For every bug after that, she bestows you with 50 rupees as, "compensation for your efforts" and 100 for each matched pair.
 * The final reward, for successfully escorting all 24 to her castle, is the Giant's Wallet, which can hold 1000 rupees, after which, you are made an "honorary member" of her kingdom.
 * If you try to leave her "castle" without giving her all the bugs you're carrying (perhaps because you've got no more room in your wallet) she'll menacingly growl, "I know you have bugs" as you go.
 * Bugsy, the Azalea Town Gym Leader in Pokémon Gold and Silver, is an avid fan and researcher of Bug-type Pokémon who hopes to one day become an authority on the subject. His title is even "The Walking Bug Pokémon Encyclopedia". Naturally, he specializes in Bug-type Pokémon.
 * There are plenty of other characters like this to lesser extents in the series. Aaron and Burgh also count.
 * Not to mention the Bug Catcher and Bug Maniac classes of trainer. Heck, Satoshi Tajiri based the entire concept of Pokemon on catching bugs as a child and making them fight with his friends' bugs, so it's only natural that the series is full of bugs and bug trainers.
 * Harvest Moon: Some characters love being shown bugs that you can pick up from the forest.
 * Welkin Gunther, the protagonist of the first Valkyria Chronicles title, is an Animal Sociology student with the discovery of several insect species to his name.
 * Wriggle Nightbug, obviously. Justified because she is a firefly spirit, but her powers allow her to befriend and command creatures that aren't fireflies, beetles, or even technically insects, such as demonic harvest mites.

Web Comics:

 * The Man Child robot Helix from Freefall, as a part of being a Friend to All Living Things (or at least trying to).
 * The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob: One of Bob's closest friends--and sometime romantic interest--is Princess Voluptua, whose true form is that of a giant butterfly creature.

Western Animation:

 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has Fluttershy referring to a parasprite as "the cutest thing ever." The rest of the main characters (except Pinkie) seem to also find parasprites cute as well, to a lesser extent, though to be fair, parasprites are drawn in a cutesy style that makes them look quite unlike real bugs.
 * Fluttershy in particular, though, has also shown a fondness for bees and, of course, butterflies.
 * In "May The Best Pet Win," ladybugs, butterflies, crickets, and wasps were among the many species of pet Fluttershy recommended for Rainbow Dash; and Rainbow Dash herself actually considered adopting the wasp or butterfly.
 * In the toys, many ponies are accompanied by animal friends, some of whom are bugs. Ponies with toys that are accompanied by bug friends include Applejack, Cheerilee, Daisy Dreams, Fluttershy, Honeybuzz, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.
 * Nadine in Hey Arnold is a big fan of bugs. This leads to conflict in the episode "Best Friends" when she and her fashion-conscious best friend Rhonda can't agree on a topic for a school project. (They eventually go with insect-themed fashion.)
 * Phoebe on The Magic School Bus, as part of her being a Friend to All Living Things
 * In Tiny Toon Adventures, when Furrball gets infested by a family of fleas, he eventually becomes friends with them, even though they make him itch.
 * In another episode, Shirley is a Friend to Bugs and tries to encourage Dizzy to become one too. After a Dream Sequence, Dizzy decides to be kind to insects as well.
 * Jumpy Ghostface of Hero 108
 * Raj of Camp Lazlo in one episode

Real Life:

 * Feudal Japanese Imperial bureaucrat Fujiwara Munesuke was noted as having been very interested in insects. Indeed, he may have been the real life inspiration for The Lady who Loved Insects example mentioned earlier.