Catgirl

The term catgirl is applied broadly to characters with some (often minor or superficial) cat physiology, and usually with at least one of either cat ears or a cat tail. Depending on the narrative, a catgirl may have cat-like mannerisms or verbal tics, or the ability to become a cat. ==History==

as a cat monster in Utagawa Kuniyoshi's The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1835) The oldest mention of the term comes from an 18th-century misemono| in which a cat/woman hybrid was displayed. The ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) depicted the human forms of cat monsters as retaining cat ears, a trait that made them appear untrustworthy or frightening. The popularity of the continued throughout the Edo and Shōwa periods, with many tales of cat/woman hybrids appearing in works such as the and . In 1936, the experienced a revival in kamishibai|. In America, the DC Comics character Catwoman first appeared in 1940, and Cheetah first appeared in 1943. By the 1990s, catgirls had become common in Japanese anime and manga. ==As an aesthetic==

In 1980s Japan, cat ears started to appear as a regular accessory in some youth, with limited continuing popularity. In 2024, four of the ten most subscribed VTubers were characters with animal ears. Some Japanese trains and train stations are also decorated with cat ears. In the West, queer or transgender youth may adopt the catgirl as an ideal self, to be expressed on the Internet. In a 2022 survey of trans software engineers, 80.5% indicated they were "kinda" or "very" experienced with the catgirl concept. Some Internet memes flippantly advocate for genetically engineering catgirls, though this is entirely infeasible with current biomedical technology. ==Analysis==

According to the Japanese magazine Da Vinci, the fact that cat ears can often be easily retrofitted to a character or costume without compromise has made the catgirl trope accessible and quickly popular. It is further suggested that the docile image created by cat ears stimulates the viewer's desire to protect cute animals. In a 2010 critique of the manga series Loveless, the feminist writer T. A. Noonan argued that, in Japanese culture, catgirl characteristics have a similar role to that of the Playboy Bunny in western culture, serving as a fetishization of youthful innocence. In a Games and Culture review of common oppressive tropes in fantasy video games, Heijman and Vervoort write that "catgirls exist to be wooed" just as "goblins exist to be slain". ==See also==