There She Is

The signs that appear everywhere throughout the series, hinting that the romance in question may meet with some obstacles.

There she is!! is a five episode Web Animation series by Amalloc of the Korean web animation team SamBakZa.

The series is drawn in the Korean Manhwa style, done without dialogue to K-Pop music. It's about Doki. a girl rabbit who meets up with Nabi, a boy cat, and falls in love with him, much to his initial dismay.

The first episode, "There she is!!" introduces them, and she commences to chase him all over the city with hearts trailing after her all the while. The cat tries simply avoiding her; then, when that doesn't work, he tries to convince her they're not suited to each other due to prevailing prejudices about Interspecies Romance. She is unconvinced. He even tries to fix her up with other rabbits, which only serves to tick her off. Finally, he gives in, then realizes he's starting to return her affections. Their relationship begins.

The second episode, "Cake Dance" has the cat doing the nice thing and bringing the bunny girl a birthday cake. She waits patiently for him at the party and eats the cake a relative baked her, unaware of the tribulations he's going through trying to get her cake delivered safely, including being attacked by the Jjintta set (a gang of spiky bunnies), whose leader perceives him as oppressing the helpless bunny girl, due to something one of his lieutenants said. The cartoon ends with a bunny girl in a situation that mirrors the beginning of the episode; the cat, touched, picks her up and rides her on his shoulders. A Shout-Out to his earlier insistence that they're not a couple comes in the only English line in the episode.

The third episode, "Doki & Nabi" finally tells the viewer their names. Doki is the bunny. Nabi is the cat. Doki continues with her over the top professions of love, and Nabi gives in a little more to his feelings. Doki calls a press conference to announce their first date. But during the proper date Nabi inadvertently insults Doki with his behavior. He realizes what he's done, though, and asks her out again. She's delighted, and they plan happily for another date. But someone really doesn't like the idea of their romance...

The fourth episode, "Paradise", has Doki and Nabi officially romantically involved. But the anti-cat and bunny romance prejudice is a major obstacle, and things stop being cute and funny and quickly take a turn for the dark. They are kicked out of cafes because of their Interspecies Romance. They are accosted and attacked in the street. Doki is injured in such an attack, which Nabi takes very hard. Nabi doesn't resist the leader of the Jjintta set when he attacks due to having spied on Doki. Nabi still ends up in jail, separated from his phone. This leads to an unfortunate misunderstanding, when Doki calls him and gets no answer, as Nabi has begun distancing himself from Doki for what he believes is her own protection.

The fifth and final episode, "Imagine", begins with Doki leaving to go to Paradise on her own, having only texted Nabi to tell him goodbye. He tries to get her on the phone, but she already threw hers away. Thus begins his race to catch her before she walks out of his life forever.

The sheer emotional impact and cuteness of its art, plot, and message can not be adequately explained with words. Having taken five years to complete, There she is!! is still considered one of the best flash series on the internet and is a must-see.

Tropes used in There She Is include:
  • An Aesop - Anyone can love anybody. More specifically, it's okay for Japanese and Koreans to be in love, although the story can easily be applied to any "abnormal" romance [1], huge age difference, things like that. Interspecies Romance is frowned upon when a human is involved in Real Life, however...
    • In addition, it's better to try to make the world you live in a better place than running away to somewhere else.
    • People crusading for a good cause can easily become as pushy and disruptive as the ones crusading against it.
  • All Love Is Unrequited - Subverted. Nabi spends the entirety of Step 1 running from Doki, only to find himself unexpectedly returning her affection in the last shot of the episode. However, he still thinks it's a bad idea and tries to hide that.
    • And played straight. Il-ho of the Jjinta Set loves Doki but she has eyes only for Nabi.
    • Also with the Gray Rabbit, seen several times to be chasing after Hana, the band manager friend of Nabi and Doki's.
  • All There in the Manual: Half of the character info is on the character page, since it can't be properly conveyed in a series without spoken lines.
  • A Friend in Need: Oh so many in "Imagine", but the one-eyed Jjinta Set member's sliding off his motorcycle (injuring himself in the process) so Il-ho and Nabi can make the light is this combined with Crowning Music of Awesome with a side of True Companions. It might even have a dash of Heel Face Turn, considering he's the one who misinformed Il-ho about Nabi in "Cake".
  • Amusing Injuries - Nabi suffers an embarrassing amount of them.
  • Arc Symbol - The yellow sign with the (/) symbol over a heart with a cat and bunny, indicating that this city does not support cat and rabbit romances.
  • Attempted Rape - the Jjinta Set leader is under the mistaken impression Nabi is trying this on Doki, but he chastises his henchman when he sees Doki is actively pursuing Nabi.
  • Beauty, Brains, and Brawn - the three male rabbits Nabi presents to Doki as an alternative boyfriend.
  • Beware the Nice Ones - Doki is one of the sweetest, kindest fictional characters in existance. She's also extremely dangerous when angered.
  • Big Eater - Doki was offered a humongous tiered birthday cake, and consumed the whole thing in a few bites.
  • Blank White Eyes - the stares of people who see Nabi and Doki together.
  • Blind Alley - Nabi hides in one from the various animals chasing him in the second episode.
  • Bodyguard Crush - Slightly implied between Hana and Pizza.
  • Break the Cutie - Seeing poor Doki hurt because of their love breaks Nabi.
    • The combination of her hedgehog dying and thinking Nabi's abandoned her completely is similarly enough to break Doki.
  • Book End - Both the first episode and the series open and close at the vending machines.
  • Carrying a Cake - the whole plot of the second episode.
  • Cell Phone - A good bit of texting and even carphone.
  • Cerebus Syndrome - The first three episodes are pretty light and comical, but the fourth episode... dear God...
  • Character Development - A surprising amount given the length of the videos and the lack of spoken dialogue: Nabi learns to ignore what others think as he grows to love Doki, Il-ho arguably outgrows his own prejudices to help Doki and Nabi...
  • Chekhov's Gun: The animals in Step 2.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience - When Nabi realizes that the interspecies prejudice will harm Doki, his colors change. It's subtle; his green scarf is faded when he sees her hurt in the hospital. And while he's huddling in his apartment, it fades to grey altogether, and the rest of the scenes featuring him for the rest of the episode are in grayscale. Doki, who still has hope for their love, remains in color until the last moments of episode four, when after dropping her cell phone and losing hope, she too becomes gray. Nabi's scarf turns green again when he realizes he doesn't want to lose her and begins his run to catch her.
    • The green ribbons on all of Doki's pets indicate her love for Nabi, as they match his green scarf. He only realizes this himself when he sees she's tied green ribbons to the barren tree near her house.
      • And the chick that leads him there is a bright, vibrant yellow.
      • Bonus symbolism: The ribbons on the barren tree look a bit like the leaves it lacks. In one of the last scenes the tree sprouted leaves of the same colour.
  • Continuity Nod: If you watch steps 3 and 4 back to back, you'll notice the window-breaking rock at the end of 3 is in the exact same position on the screen as 4 starts.
  • Cross-Popping Veins
  • Cute Little Fangs - Nabi has these in the beginning of Step 3.
  • Death Glare - Terribly cute and innocent Doki does this when angered.
  • Deconstruction - Step 4 could very well be interpreted as a deconstruction of the first 2 steps in which the anti-interspecies romance issue was taken as something comical. In step 4, it's taken more like a real life taboo, with more realistic consequences.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything? - Obviously there are plenty of different interpretations for interracial relationships.
    • "Paradise" is implied to be a place where bunny/cat relationships are accepted, and is written in English... America?
  • Earn Your Happy Ending
  • Easter Egg - By clicking on the Bulldog Mansion billboard (disabled since the original release when it led to the group's web page), and the fish flying in the moon, both in Step 2.
    • Also, there is one at the beginning of Step three: before it starts, move your mouse to the top right corner for an alternate beginning
  • Everythings Better With Bunnies - Half the city in which this series takes place is occupied by bunnies. Doki is the funniest and cutest, though.
  • Eyes Always Shut - Hana, the band manager and friends with both Doki and Nabi.
  • Fantastic Racism - Cats should only be romantically linked with their own kind, and the same is true for Bunnies. This prejudice is why Nabi ran from Doki and resisted his growing feelings for her.
    • The whitebands (anti Cat/Bunny relations) are somewhat ironic, considering they're comprised of cats and bunnies working together TO SAY THAT CATS AND BUNNIES SHOULDN'T BE TOGETHER!
    • Does This Remind You of Anything? - The series is often interpreted as a metaphor for relationships between Japanese and Koreans.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge - Doki throws anyone and anything out of her way while chasing Nabi early in There she is!!
    • And another one involving Doki's pet rhino in Step 5.
  • Foreshadowing: When Doki is in the hospital in Step 4, look quickly or else you'll miss it but the tickets to Paradise can be seen underneath her hands.
    • The rock-through-the-window at the end of episode 3.
  • Friend to All Living Things - apparently the non-anthro animals of this world just love Doki, to the point where her pet hedgie jumped off her and put itself in between her and an angry mob, at the cost of its life.
  • Funny Animal - World populated by the same, as well as the non-talking kind.
  • Genki Girl - Doki
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! - Il-ho tries to do this to Nabi in Step 4. It doesn't work, but does spark a riot after Doki and Nabi's supporters misinterpret Il-ho's motives.
  • The Glomp - Doki likes to does this to Nabi, to his (initial) chagrin.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom - Doki's when angry, and the eyes of the angry, prejudiced cat and bunny population of their city.
    • Treated to a Won't Work On Me in Step 4, where a group of protesters find Doki with her pets. When they start to threaten her, she starts into her trademark glare; instead they chase her down, trample her hedgehog (who later dies from his injuries), and ultimately put Doki in the hospital.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang - Subverted. The Jjinta Set is only a comedic, not terribly credible threat in "Cake Dance" and become wary friends with Nabi.
  • Gratuitous English - "Wish your love cake delivered safely."
    • "The one and only love will. take. ME THEEEERE."
  • Gratuitous Spanish - In the song for episode 2. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro!
  • Happy Ending
  • Heart Symbol - all over the place, originating mostly from Doki. They seem able to turn solid, as Nabi is seen buried and conked on the head by them.
  • Heel Face Turn: The older rabbit that holds the Anti Cat+Rabbit Sign in Step 3, is later seen leading the Pro-Cat+Rabbit group in Step 4 and 5.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Doki's poor little hedgehog dies for his mistress.
  • He's Back - Nabi begins his Race For Her Love with one of these in Step 5.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: every episode after the first is named "Step(number)" before the proper title. The fifth and last episode is listed as "Final Step".
  • Imagine Spot - Four in the series:
    • Doki imagines Nabi as a great romantic hero, riding off into the sunset with her on horseback in the first episode.
    • In the same episode, Nabi imagines the same thing Doki does, but with great sadness that he can't convince her that their relationship is going to be a very bad idea.
    • The third appears in Step 4, when Nabi imagines the already injured Doki being beaten up even more due to their relationship.
    • Another in Step 4 has Doki imagining what her and Nabi's life would have been like, had they gone to Paradise.
  • Interspecies Romance - She's a bunny. He's a cat.
  • Ironic Echo - done visually; in Step 1, Doki has several fantasies with a rosy border around the screen, and later Nabi has the same fantasies, but with him crying and with thorns as a border. And this deviantArt page illustrates the Final Step echoing some of the images from Step 1.
  • Ironic Episode Title - Paradise
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy - After an angry mob hurts Doki, Nabi begins to distance himself from her under this belief.
    • Also seen when Il-ho does whatever he can to get Nabi to come to his senses in Step 4 and get to the Airport in Step 5, despite his own feelings for Doki.
  • Le Parkour - Nabi in step 2, right between arriving at the party and meeting the bunny gang.
  • Love At First Sight - Doki for Nabi.
  • Maligned Mixed Marriage
  • Meaningful Background Event - Blink and you'll miss it, but when Nabi shoves his way out of a crowd in Final Step, a bunny protester has a Crash Into Hello with a cat. From the sudden heart that appears, it looks like it's going places.
  • Mood Motif - The Jimmy Hart Version of "Greensleeves" (credited as being called 'Greensleevs" in the credits...) plays at the beginning of Step 5.
  • Mood Whiplash - Step 4... or more precisely, the very end of Step 3 which takes the series from lighthearted to ominous.
  • Necktie Leash - played straight in step 4, except with a scarf instead of a necktie.
  • No Animals Were Harmed - At the end of "Step 2: Cake Dance"
  • No Name Given - Although there are a handful of recurring characters in the series, only a few of them have been given names who are only referenced in the characters page.
  • Nonchalant Dodge - Nabi is quite adept at dodging:
    • He dodges the Jjinta Set in Step 2: Cake Dance
    • ... and Doki's hearts in Step 3: Doki & Nabi
      • Interestingly enough, there is a set of hearts he doesn't dodge, and ends up getting buried.
    • and Final Step: Imagine, Nabi pulls Doki out of the path of the fantastic racists' projectiles -- turning it into an impromptu dance.
      • Which turns into Fridge Brilliance when you realize that dance mirrors the daydreams Doki had in the first episode.
  • Oh Crap: One of Nabi's most frequent facial expression, especially in the face of Doki's affections early on and the anti-Interspecies Romance mobs later on.
  • The Power of Love: Not only do they unintentionally spark a race war, they solve it with their love.
    • Quoting a review on This Very Wiki, "it's not love saving the day as some vague all-powerful force - it's characters acting *out* of love and choosing to face obstacles because of it."
  • Race For Your Love: Not only does Nabi make a desperate rush to get to Doki before she gets on the plane, but all of his and Doki's friends and relatives help.
  • Refusal of the Call: The pro-interspecies love movement attempts to make Nabi into the face of their movement. Nabi's not interested... he has no interest in being a symbol or leader, he just wants to be with Doki and left in peace.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Doki's little hedgie is willing to fight for his mistress.
  • Rules of the Road: The image for this page is the "no cat and bunny romance" sign that dominates the landscape of the city in which Nabi and Doki live.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Ain't they just.
  • Schedule Slip - The 3rd step took about 3 years to come out.
  • Shout-Out: To "Hot Fish", another of the SamBakZa animations. The happy flying goldfish appears in Step 2 and Step 4. And Nabi feeding Doki hot bread at the end of Step 3 is a direct shot-for-shot reproduction of a scene in "Hot Fish"
    • Pokémon: There's a sequence in Step 3 wherein Nabi, still afraid of the anti-Cat and Bunny Romance prejudice, backs off from Doki during their date. She shows off she has ways of keeping him with her, including handcuffs, lariats, and a pokeball.
  • Shrug of God: It's never made entirely clear whether Il-ho likes Doki, is just a friend, or her brother.
    • It's explained, but only in Korean. As far as I can make out from the Google translation, he has a crush on her.
  • Slow Motion Drop - in the intro of the first episode.
  • Sparkling Stream of Tears - Doki, in step four. Her hedgehog dies. Among other heartbreaking things.
  • Stalker with a Crush - Doki, at first. She gets better, but only after it becomes apparent that Nabi likes her back.
  • Torches and Pitchforks - Well, more just protest signs. But the mobs are angry, to be sure.
    • Angry enough to beat up young Doki and, accidentally or not, kill one of her pets, anyway.
  • Trampled Underfoot - Although it's not shown onscreen, this is the likeliest explanation for what happened to kill Doki's pet hedgie.
  • Triang Relations - it would appear that the leader of the Jjintta set not only disapproves of the relationship on grounds of Fantastic Racism, but may be also, unfortunately, be in love with Doki.
    • Il-ho almost certainly only disapproved because he thought Nabi was being pushy, as he shows up at an anti-racist rally in step 4.
    • He also gives Nabi Doki's second airplane ticket (which she had left behind because she decided to go alone); and even when Nabi rejects it he gives him a ride to the airport on his bike. Or at least he would have, if it weren't for the crash and subsequent switch to car. He was obviously determined to get Nabi there, however.
  • Truck Driver's Gear Change - Without this, the fate of the cake wouldn't have been such a Tear Jerker.
  • Tsundere - Doki is usually sweet to Nabi, but she has been known to shove his face full of carrots, or chop down trees to get to him, when she's not snuggling him aggressively.
    • Not to mention getting quite violent on those rabbits Nabi tried to fix her up in Step 1.
    • In Step 4, it was also quite clear that she was going to attack an interspecies romance opposer, albeit backing away when she saw that she was outnumbered.
  • Vague Age - It's unclear just how old Doki and Nabi are supposed to be. They both seem to live alone, but their designs are noticeably shorter and more childlike than the more obviously adult characters.
    • That said, Hotfish presents them as the analogues of a pair of senior highschoolers.
  • What Happened to the Mouse? - The bunny in Step 2 with the black shirt and sunglasses. You'd think someone who looks this cool would show up again. Is he Doki's father?
    • He's actually part of a band that Doki and Nabi's manager friend owns. It's on the cast list.
  • Where It All Began - The series ends, full circle, at the vending machines where Nabi and Doki first met.
  • Window Pain - Step 3: Nabi & Doki ends with a rock through a window. In Step 4: Paradise, we see it was Nabi's window... and that there are more rocks.
  • Yandere - Doki starts as a fairly minor example of this: She does chase Nabi around the city and can't take "No" for an answer, but otherwise doesn't seem to be all that crazy or violent. Her love craziness reaches its apex midway to Step 3, only to vanish almost instantly afterwards, making her pretty much normal for the rest of the series.
    • Blasting through entire crowds and actively knocking aside his suggested lapine "replacements" notwithstanding.
      • It doesn't really disappear, it just has its limits: like an entire mob.
  1. ↑ Like same sex
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