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. [9] See also [ edit ]

A catgirl ( 猫娘, nekomusume) is a female kemonomimi character with feline traits, such as cat ears ( 猫耳, nekomimi ), a cat tail, or other feline characteristics on an otherwise human body. Catgirls are found in various fiction genres and in particular Japanese anime and manga. [1] Catboy is a term for a male equivalent of said character type. After Action Report". The Virginian-Pilot. 2007-10-07. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14 . Retrieved 2013-02-03. Catgirls were further made popular in 1978 manga series The Star of Cottonland, by Yumiko Ōshima. [5] By the 1990s, catgirls were common in Japanese anime and manga. [6] Catgirls have since been featured in various media worldwide. Enough of a subculture has developed for various themed conventions and events to be held around the world, such as Nekocon. [7] Reception [ edit ] a b Azuma, Hiroki (2009). Otaku: Japan's database animals. Translated by Abel, Jonathan; Kono, Shion (Englished.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 47, 89. ISBN 9780816668007. OCLC 527737445. The oldest mention of the term nekomusume comes from an 18th-century misemono (見世物) in which a cat/woman hybrid was displayed. [2] Stories of shape-shifting bakeneko prostitutes were popular during the Edo Period. [2] The popularity of the nekomusume continued throughout the Edo and Shōwa periods, with many tales of cat/woman hybrids appearing in works such as the Ehon Sayoshigure ( 絵本小夜時雨) and Ansei zakki ( 安政雑記). [2]Noonan, T. A. (Fall 2010). " "I Can't Get Excited for a Child, Ritsuka": Intersections of Gender, Identity, and Audience Ambiguity in Yun Kôga's Loveless" (PDF). MP: An Online Feminist Journal. 3 (2). ISSN 1939-330X . Retrieved 10 February 2013. In Kenji Miyazawa's 1924 work, Suisenzuki no Yokka ( 水仙月の四日, literally The 4th of Narcissus Month) is the first modern day example of a beautiful, cat-eared woman. [3] In 1936, the nekomusume experienced a revival in kamishibai. [2] The first anime involving catgirls, titled The King’s Tail ( Ousama no Shippo), was made in 1949 by Mitsuyo Seo. [ citation needed] In America, the DC Comics character Catwoman first appeared in 1940, and Cheetah first appeared in 1943. [4] Jaqueline Berndt (1995). Phänomen Manga: Comic-Kulture in Japan (in German). Berlin: Edition q. p.111. ISBN 3-86124-289-3. Wallace, Daniel (2010). "1940s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p.31. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. The first issue of Batman's self-titled comic written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane, represented a milestone in more ways than one. With Robin now a partner to the Caped Crusader, villains needed to rise to the challenge, and this issue introduced two future legends: the Joker and Catwoman.

Japanese philosopher Hiroki Azuma has stated that catgirl characteristics such as cat ears and feline speech patterns are examples of moe-elements. Azuma argued that although some otaku sexual expression involves catgirl imagery, few otaku have the sexual awareness to understand how such imagery can be perceived as perverted. [6] [8]