,
a type of kemonomimi'' with the ears of a cat
Animals , literally meaning "animal ears", is the concept of depicting human and human-like characters with animal ears, Kemonomimi is often used in moe anthropomorphism, to depict animal characters in human form.
Catgirls and catboys are the most prolific and common in this category, although bunnygirls, foxgirls, doggirls, and wolfgirls are also common. Kemonomimi characters typically appear human except for added animal-like qualities. In
Hiroki Azuma's theory of otaku
database consumption, animal ears are one type of "
moe element," which is combined with other elements in a character in order to create an affective response in fans. It was further popularized by such manga as
Monster Musume and ''
A Centaur's Life'', and has grown into its own genre. Rarely, the monster girls are relatively unchanged from their original form and personality, such as
mermaids and
centaurides. The fan-created
Bowsette, a gender-swapped and
moe anthropomorphized version of the
Mario antagonist
Bowser that gives him the appearance of
Princess Peach via the "Super Crown" powerup, became one of the most popular
Internet memes of 2018. The popularity of the character later led to other
Mario enemies being given
moe interpretations, the most prominent of which was Boosette (based on the
King Boo character).
Computers Although
Chobits (2001) and Toy's iMac Girl (1998) came first, the
meme of turning
computer-related phenomena into
moe subjects did not start until , the anthropomorphization of
Internet Explorer's
Stop button. The idea of Shiitake-chan came in 2001 on
2channel, starting with a poster who claims he saw the
Stop button as a
shiitake. When Microsoft released
Windows 7 in Japan, they included a theme pack centered around a personification of the OS named "
Nanami Madobe" with voice samples from
Nana Mizuki. Microsoft used another personification involving two girls named "Yū Madobe" and "Ai Madobe" to promote
Windows 8 in Japan. As part of the market launch, a Facebook draw of 8 followers took place when follower count reached 80001; and total Twitter follower count for Yū and Ai reach 8001, where winners receive Madobe Yū and Ai-themed prizes. Since the creation of the Microsoft-related
OS-tans, other software and websites have been anthropomorphized as well. For example,
Wikipedia has its own "Wikipe-tan", while
Mozilla applications have their own set of "Moezilla". Chinese netizens have created a "
Green Dam Girl" to parody China's
content-control software Green Dam Youth Escort. In 2010, Taiwanese illustrator known as "shinia" on
Pixiv created a personification of
Microsoft Silverlight named
Hikaru Aizawa, who is officially promoted by Microsoft Taiwan. In 2013, Microsoft Singapore introduced
Inori Aizawa, a mascot for
Internet Explorer. The manga and anime series
World War Blue features characters who are personifications of computer games. Video games with characters based on them include
Sonic the Hedgehog,
Super Mario and
Tetris.
Sega Hard Girls features personifications of video game hardware by
Sega.
Law and politics is the
moe anthropomorphism of
ISIS. In 2010, users from the Breaking News board on
2channel created
Hinomoto Oniko as an anthropomorphism of the commonly used Chinese ethnic slur used against Japanese,
Riben guizi (日本鬼子), literally meaning "Japanese devils". The character was made by the 2channel community in response to the growing anti-Japanese sentiment amongst Chinese netizens online, and has since become an
Internet meme within Japanese imageboards and forums. In Japanese, the
kun'yomi reading of the
kanji which make up the racial slur can be interpreted as a
female personal name, and so the character is depicted as a young female wearing a traditional Japanese
kimono, along with devil horns and a
katana. In 2015, Internet users created "
ISIS-chan" (ISISちゃん), a
moe anthropomorphized character of the
jihadist group
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Images of her have been used by
Anonymous to dilute the Islamic State's online propaganda.
Others Other things have also been given
moe characteristics: ; Cells : The manga
Cells at Work! depicts the
cells of the
human body as both male and female characters. ; Charcoal : Based on
binchōtan and other types of
charcoal, the anime and manga
Binchō-tan uses the
dajare in the Japanese word for to create a series of cute girls. ; Chemical elements and compounds : Many online artists have depicted
chemical elements as human characters in their
illustrations,
webcomics and
video games. Anthropomorphism of chemical elements is created more than that of chemical compounds. Notable examples are, a Japanese chemical company depicted their solvent products as
moe in an online webcomic and another one is an ongoing English webcomic about personified chemical compounds by a Romanian illustrator who works as a
drycleaner . ; Countries : As with
national personifications,
moe versions of various
countries are present. For example, Japan is Nihon-chan,
Afghanistan is
Afuganisu-tan—both have their own
webcomics in Japan. Beyond these, however, are the countries of
Hidekaz Himaruya's
Hetalia: Axis Powers, a manga depicting the countries involved in
World War I and
World War II using mostly men with a few women mixed in. Toshio Miyake argues that ''Hetalia's'' appeal lies in its combination of comedy and male personification of nations, with implicit homoerotic themes. ; Cultural relics : In a more unique take on
moe anthropomorphizations of Chinese cultural artifacts and heritage sites like the
Goujian Sword,
"Ironed models" of the Yangshi Lei Archives and even the
Great Wall of China was the central theme in the 2021
Donghua The Country of Rare Treasure (Nation of Treasure) 秘宝之国 ; Diseases : During the 2014
Western African Ebola virus epidemic, a user of the website
4chan created an image depicting a
moe version of
Ebola known as
Ebola-chan. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, a
moe version of the
Coronavirus disease 2019 named
Corona-chan was created. ; Food and beverages :
Habanero-tan, the unofficial
mascot of
Bōkun Habanero; and Bisuke-tan for biscuits that
KFC sells in Japan. The light novel series
Akikan! has soda cans that magically turn into girls. Jelly flavors have also been anthropomorphized. ; Historic eras : A series of Japanese history books features anthropomorphism of historic events. ; Home appliances :
Erotic computer games Like Life and
Monogokoro, Monomusume both feature
home appliances as girls. These appliances include
washing machines,
alarm clocks, blackboard erasers,
pillows, first aid boxes,
mobile phones, and even
post boxes, among others. The very nature of such games, however, puts the main characters in unusual situations when the sex scene happens—such as essentially "having sex with the washing machine". Likewise, the manga
090 Eko to Issho features girls who are mobile phones. ; Military hardware : are anthropomorphic personifications of military hardware, such as
guns,
tanks,
ships,
aircraft or even
missiles, taking the form of
mechas, i.e. directly wearing the armament as robot elements, one of the earliest example being the
Gundam . Popular subjects of this kind of anthropomorphism notably include
World War II military vehicles, such as the
World Witches franchise for aircraft and tanks, or the
Kantai Collection and
Azur Lane franchises for . ; Vehicles : Notable trains which were drawn as girls include the
Fastech 360, often drawn with cat ears because of the train's emergency
air braking plates. Called "Fastech-tan", this particular "train girl" has its own collectible figure, sold with permission from the
East Japan Railway Company. The
bishōjo game Maitetsu and its anime version
Rail Romanesque feature Railords, anthropomorphized train characters paired up with the real trains. vehicle with the livery of a
moe anthropomorphized character of a local
soy sauce brand ==References==