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A catgirl is a woman or girl with cat ears and a cat tail, but an otherwise human body; they are found semi-commonly in anime and manga either as a form of cosplay or actual body parts, as well as in a few videogames. Catgirls wishing to look especially cute will wear over-sized mittens and shoes that look like paws. "Catgirl" can also be modified to refer to other woman/animal combinations that are sometimes found, like foxgirls and (more rarely) dogs. Fans unfamilar with the Japanese obsession with kawaii sometimes point out catgirls act more like kittens than grown cats, who can be aloof and surly.
Most catgirls are typically not considered furry because they resemble humans with cat-like embellishments rather than being an anthropomorphic cat. This even includes characters like Escaflowne's Merle, the Puma Sisters from Dominion Tank Police, or Aisha from Outlaw Star who design suggest a degree of scruffy 'furriness'.
Ordinary humans, such as Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth, or Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew will sometimes sprout cat ears or a tail in order to illustrate their excitable personalities. This is similar to the phenomenon of becoming chibi and is mostly a stylistic quirk from manga artists. In Japanese, catgirls are usually called nekomimi (猫耳) -- literally, "cat ears", rather than the literal term Nekomusume (猫娘)
Characters in anime and manga may momentarily develop a catlike mouth. This is usually used to emphasize mischievous thoughts or comments by a character.
Rebellious boys are more often compared to dogs (Inuyasha being a popular example) or wolves. The "lone-wolf" characterization is very common for brooding, socially isolated males.
List of catgirl characters
- Anya and Lisa (Foxgirl) from Tsunami Channel
- Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star
- Cham-Cham from Samurai Shodown II (not actually a catgirl, but wears cat ears)
- Dejiko (aka Princess Chocolla or Di Gi Charat) and Puchiko (aka Petit Charat or Cappuccino), stars of Di Gi Charat
- Fam from Ruin Explorers
- Felicia from Darkstalkers
- Hazuki from Tsukuyomi - Moon Phase (she is not actually a catgirl, but wears cat ears)
- Hojo-no-ruri from Onmyou Tai Senki
- Kizna from Candidate for Goddess (she is not actually a catgirl, but has implanted cat ears)
- Koboshi from Pita-Ten (she is not actually a catgirl, but wears cat ears)
- Koto (foxgirl) from Yu Yu Hakusho
- Maya from Geobreeders (she can look like a catgirl, though she usually chooses not to)
- Meirin and Tamamo-no-Mae (foxgirls) from Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabibito
- Merle, Naria and Erya from Vision of Escaflowne
- Momomiya Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew
- Natsuki from Hyper Police
- Nei and Fal (a.k.a. Rika) from Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV respectively. There is some dispute that the "Nei-type" or "Numan" is not a catgirl because they lack tails.
- Nuku Nuku from All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (she is a cat/human android, with human appearance)
- Ouka (wolfgirl) from .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet
- The Puma Twins, Anna and Uni, from Dominion Tank Police
- Taruto and others from Magical nyan-nyan Taruto
- Uriko from Bloody Roar
- Youko (foxgirl) from Tactics
- The Mithra race from Final Fantasy XI
External links
Catgirl is also the codename of Kelly Carrie, the sidekick of Bruce Wayne (Batman) in the DC Comics graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
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