ⓛ ω ⓛ - Cat Face | Japanese with Anime

In anime, sometimes a character's face becomes cat-like in reaction to something. Although there doesn't seem to be an exact term for this cat face in Japanese, it can be referred to by the "cat eyes," nekome 猫目, and "cat mouth," nekoguchi 猫口, featured in this expression.

Misaka Mikoto 御坂美琴, example of cat face.

Character: Misaka Mikoto 御坂美琴
Anime: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, とある科学の超電磁砲 (Episode 7)

Examples
- Kaomoji

Examples

When the cat face is used in manga in anime, it's generally for one of these two reasons:

The character feels mischievous.
The character feels anxious.

The exact rendering of the expression varies: sometimes there are cat eyes and a cat mouth, other times just cat eyes, or just cat mouth. In rare cases, cat ears and even a cat tail may sprout out of nowhere.

There are two major variants worth noting.

The cat face drawn with vertical irises normally has mischievous meaning: it's used when a character feels playful, is about to prank someone, or had its curiosity piqued by something.

Character: Misaka Mikoto 御坂美琴
Anime: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, とある科学の超電磁砲 (Episode 7)

Context: Misaka notices something extremely interesting.

Conversely, the ones drawn with wide-eyed normally have the anxious meaning: it's used when a character is sweating cold, nervous, worried about something.