Corna, コルナ (Horns Hand Gesture)

In Italian, the "corna," in Japanese katakanized koruna コルナ, meaning "horns," tsuno 角, is a hand sign done by bending the middle and ring finger, and extending the little and index finger, so that they look like two horns. It's also known as sign of the horns.

This gesture is associated with the devil, with evil, and the phrase "rock on" in music. In Japanese culture, and even in anime culture, it has extra meanings.

Character: Shinra Kusakabe 森羅日下部
Anime: En'en no Shouboutai 炎炎ノ消防隊 (Episode 18)

• Context: Shinra awakens.
• \m/(｀Д´)\m/
• rokku-n-rooru!!
  ロックンロール！！
  Rock 'n' roll!!

Not to be confused with korona コロナ, which refers to the Coronavirus or Crona from Soul Eater.

• Disambiguation
  • Karana Mudrā
  • Rumic Sign
  • ILY Sign
  • Fox Sign
• References

Disambiguation

The corna sign looks similar to several other hand signs with different meanings.

Karana Mudrā

In Buddhism, hand signs have meanings associated with them. The corna, ironically, is called karana mudrā カラナムードラ, and is supposed to ward off evil. It's also known by other names.

In Sanskrit, “wrathful” or “threatening gesture.” The tarjanīmudrā may be formed in several ways: with the index finger raised like a hook from the loosely closed fist of either hand, or with index and pinky fingers extended and remaining fingers closed lightly in a fist.^{(oxfordreference.com, emphasis mine.)}

Source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, via Wikimedia Commons (in Public Domain)

Rumic Sign

In anime, sometimes characters make a pose including hand gestures like the corna in reaction to something surprising, or when they're hurt in an attack.

Character: Maaka Karin 真紅果林
Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 3)

This is called a "rumic sign," ruumikku sain るーみっくサイン, in reference to its creator: Takahashi Rumiko 高橋留美子.

Person: Takahashi Rumiko 高橋留美子
Source: 永井豪の描く女の子のボディラインにハッとした - natalie.mu, accessed 2021-05-03.

ILY Sign

The corna is sometimes mistaken for the ILY sign, which means "I love you" instead in American Sign Language.

Character: Kikuchi Makoto 菊地真
Anime: The iDOLM@STER, アイドルマスター (Episode 15, Stitch)

• Context: a double ILY sign.
• kawaiku kaizou saretai!
  かわいく改造されたい
  [I] want to be modified cutely. (literally.)
  
  • In the sense of being transformed into a more cuter version of oneself.

The ILY sign always has the thumb perpendicular to the index, forming the L of ILY.

Source: Johannes Kalliauer, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The corna typically has the thumb holding the middle and ring fingers, but since the meaning of corna is to make horns, the exact position of the thumb doesn't seem to matter very much, and some ILY signs end up being actually corna signs.

Well, it's not like the character means anything by the sign either way. Generally they're just striking a cool pose and making random hand gestures instead of the typical peace sign.

Character: Noel ノエル
Anime: Sora no Method, 天体のメソッド (Episode 1)

• Context: is this girl lovely or does she worship the devil?

Character: Grell Sutcliff, グレル・サトクリフ
Anime: Black Butler, Kuroshitsuji 黒執事 (Episode 11)

• Context: Grell, who is a shinigami 死神, "grim reaper," strikes a tehe-pero てへぺろ pose complete with a star coming out of the wink but using the corna (ILY?) sign instead of the usual peace sign.
• kore demo shitsuji desu☆
  これでも執事デス☆
  Even [like] this, [I] am a butler.
  • She pronounces the polite copula desu です like the katakanization of "death," desu デス, as a form of wordplay.

Fox Sign

A "fox sign," or kitsune sain キツネサイン, is a sign done similar to the corna, but by pushing the ring and middle fingers forward, with the thumb underneath them, forming the muzzle of a fox.

Character: Howan ほわん
Anime: SHOW BY ROCK!! Mashumairesh!!, ましゅまいれっしゅ！！ (Episode 1)

• Context: a fox girl with fox ears making fox signs.

References

• Tarjanīmudrā - oxfordreference.com, accessed 2021-05-04.