After finishing Strike Witches, I was stuck on the way that, when performing magic, the girls developed cat ears and tails for no apparent reason. The Strike Witches producers knew what decades of anime has already confirmed: cat ears on women are cute.
For the past two weeks, I have been trying to dig a little deeper. We already know that catgirls (and catboys) are adorable, but why do we feel that way? And why are they so prevalent in anime? So far, I have three theories:
1) Cat ears appeal to our animal instincts. Sure, we’ve come out of our caves and we wear clothes now, but our brains still have their instinctual residues like the fight or flight response. Maybe we think catgirls are the manifestation of a woman who follows her animal brain, her immediate needs and desires. We find the idea of an impulsive woman unbarred by modern rules and morals attractive.
2) Cat ears resonate with ancient human mythologies. There were the cat gods, worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, including the fierce and beautiful Bastet. More closely tied to anime was the Japanese bakeneko, a cat demon who could disguise itself as an alluring woman. According to the Catgirl Research Foundation, there are also more catgirl myths from Britain, Ireland, and South Africa.
3) Catgirls can be guiltlessly objectified. This fits in with the moe anthropomorphism I discussed in my fan service articles. When we combine women and girls’ bodies with non-human elements, like computer or, in this case, animal parts, they appear less human to us. Therefore, we do not feel the obligation to treat them with the respect we’d offer other humans, and can lust after them without worry.
However, I haven’t yet been able to find much to support or disprove my claims. I’ve tried the forums of the Catgirl Research Foundation, contacted Kittenplay.org, posted a call for suggestions on the Livejournal kitty_ears community, even reached out to a few anime academics.
So far, only the fantastic aniblogger Scott of Anime Almanac has responded to my call. As a self professed “expert in catgirl appreciation,” he had a lot of insight on the subject.
Scott was quick to differentiate the catgirls we see in anime from the Western women who dress up as sexy cats for Halloween. “It’s not about animal lust,” he told me in an email. “It’s far more innocent than that.”
Instead, he tied it to the attitude of real-life cats toward their masters, in that anime cat girls are both independent and affectionate. Scott said this style, “Selfish and spoiled one minute, and then sweet and affectionate the next,” already meshes well with one of the most established female personality types in anime — the tsundere — who extremely appeals to otaku.
But in a nutshell, Scott said that he thinks otaku are fans of catgirls because they are so easy to please. While some female characters, whom he refers to as having dog or puppy personalities, need a man to protect and care for them always, catgirls are more hands off:
“The catgirl, on the other hand, doesn’t need a man to run her life for her. She can do just fine all by herself. But when she is ready for some love and attention, she’ll nuzzle up to that guy, sit on his lap, knead her paws all over him, and purr with a satisfied look on her face,” he said.
And now I open up the debate to readers. Whether or not you’re a fan of cat ears, what do you think is their appeal? And if you’ve heard of an academic study on the subject that you think I’ve missed in my research, please let me know!
30 Comments.
I don’t have any real affinity for cat girls myself. The only one I’ve really liked was Asia Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star. And i think I liked her because of her independence and ability to fend for herself. The cat ears did get to me eventually . They are cute. But my catgirls have to have a personality behind them.
@DonKangolJones, Asia is one of the catgirls I had in mind while writing this post. Her independence, her greediness, and her adorable clumsiness all fall into the catgirl trope. Do your catgirls all have similar or different personalities? Like, is there a personality you associate with catgirls?
While I can’t pin down the appeal specifically, I think it’s somewhat as Scott was saying in that, Otaku see Cat Girls as pets. Whenever we show our pets affection, they usually fawn all over us. In this, Otaku (mostly males) see Cat Girls as the ultimate girlfriend: show her some affection and she’ll be crazy for you.
Maybe I could be wrong. Cat Girls don’t do it for me so I could be way off base.
– Phillip
This might sound odd but I think Cat Girls and Bunny Girls have taken on a new meaning… or have been co-opted into a new meaning though anime.
My bet is that Cat Girls and Bunny Girls in both Mythology and Anime started as a sort of sexual symbolism. Just like writing snakes / tentacles are associated with the masculine side of sex, Rabbits and Cats are associated with the female side of sex, because of there high fertility and rapid reproduction…
So the cat girl is really an a way of suggesting that the character is a really attractive woman to men… if you know what I mean.
This can be summed up by an oft-used phrase of mine, “WTF JAPAN?!”
Though I find cat ears to be one of the least offensive aspects of otaku culture. At the store where I work, you should see some of the Anime figures/statues/DVD’s/manga that we have in stock–creepy is an understatement.
But the best explanation for the cat ears that I can think of is how cats are revered in Japanese culture.
Nice UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie screencap there. Catgirl raygun, fire! =^_^=
I think the only other catgirl that I have really taken notice of has been Perrine of Strike Witches fame. I’ll admit they’re both bossy characters who don’t rely on others. But I don’t think there is a homosexual nerve in Asia’s body, while I am sure that Perrine would love to be Major Sakamoto’s damsel in distress of she had the opportunity.
It’s hard for me to come up with my own ideas of what I like just from those two examples. I honestly have a strong dislike of helpless female characters. And the objectified catgirls and androids in anime are no exception. I don’t mind looking at them, but unless their characters develop I don’t want them featured in my anime.
hi first excuse me if i make some mistakes because english is not my native language.
first your work about the 3 teories is good, and if you wanna find more about japanesse catgirls VS “occidental catgirls” you should see this page:
http://clasesdechicasgato.info
note: the site is full spanish!
[…] I often see attendants at anime conventions wearing animal ears and tails (and if you follow me on Twitter, you know I’ve been known to wear cat ears myself), but I’m not sure where moe anthropomorphism ends and true furry fandom begins. I barely scratched to scratch the surface in my cat ears article. […]
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Personally I think that when girls have cat ears there personalitys change. I like there attitude when they have cat ears, for example when a girl with cat ears gets tired and wants to sleep shell just curl up right next to you and I gotta tell you it looks hot at f**k. Another example is that when a girl with cat ears kisses a boy that she really liked her ears go up and you can tell she’s excited. I also like a cat tail almost as much as ears too.
I would love to bang a catgirl
Straight to the “point” eh?
I am a strong lover of girls with animal parts. I like what i will call “animal girls” because of my strong love for anime art animals (maily Wolves and Cats) and of course girls. They strike me as innocent and beautiful. Animal Girls dont really have one personality but are generally viewed as gentle soft and sweet people, and for some reason Sexy in a very cute way… I dont know why i fell so strongly but my guess is because of my strong connection to animals… i find it easy to bond with animals and them to me, but very difficult to bond with women/girls of my age. adding the animal to it i guess gives me a better connection. I can also relate to (anime style) anthromorphs or furries.
dont forget foxes
I fell in love with my fiancé on Halloween of last year.
Long straight blonde hair, cute little pair if black cat ears…
It was a wrap. They now make their way around the certain rooms of the house quite frequently… Wink wink, nudge nudge
It’s a fetish for me. My catgirl collection is HUGE. I find catgirls attractive because they are are women & that’s just what we heterosexual guys are attracted to. I just wish there was more animes with them
If you read xxxHolic, they briefly show a catgirl that really is a cat who has taken the form of a girl. Unlike the anime catgirl, this henge catgirl really *does* behave like a cat — it prefers to chase its meal than interact with a human. To me, this shows that the moe catgirl in anime is a moe affectation of the behavior Scott mentioned, rather than true catlike behavior. Also, cats are really difficult to see as dangerous threatening animals, and I’ve yet to see them portrayed as such in anime. Meanwhile, you will occasionally see a dog barking at someone in anime, hardly moe behavior.
I belive it is because in most anime they are the cute ones they dont usally hurt any one I could be wrong and also that we like cats and if you have ever felt a cats ear there really soft i also like it when girls have them in real life it just makes them 100% cuter there are.girls at my school that do it. Pretty much its a fusion of two of my favorite things cats and cute girls.
I have an issue with the whole objetification route you are taking.
To start it off, how do cat ears appeal to our basic, animal instincts? Animal instinct is that we find small, round things cute, because our offspring is as such. (You can read up on this if you wish), but cat ears? Not to mention cat ears hint at a woman who follows her animal brain? Please… following that logic pig, horse, sheep, elephant ears, or snake ear holes would be perceived as such too. That is HARDLY the case.
Also the evergreen objectification argument… i always find myself asking what the hell you people are thinking when you bring up this argument. Is it something you yourself feel and then extrapolate your own sick ideas onto others?
Because to me objectification or sexual attraction does nowhere mean that i disrespect the object of my desires and can/will use it as a tool.
Objectification remains the worst kind of idiotic blanket statement that one can raise.
He’s done no more than 10 seconds of contemplation on evolutionary psychology and jumped straight to “I feel guilty of my boner”.
Seems like it.
I will never understand the new generation’s guilt peddling, virtue signalling and
political correctness bs.
Its like some sort of frikin brownish grey shades that lets you see only the things you want to see, and they want to feel guilty, they want to repent and they want to be morally superior to any and everyone by going through with these unhinged definitions and ideas.
Like…. cat ears appeal to our basic animal instincts… i keep on reading this sentence over and over again, and im just like… im sorry.. u fookin wot m8? Did you honestly just make some sort of implication that apes are genetically coded to mate with cats?
I suddenly developed this fetish when playing the Steam game “HuniePop.”
Why was I playing it?
None of your fekkin’ business.
I myself have written a short romance story about a cybernetic man and a woman with a cat tail and ears, though in my version the cat girl (known as the “Felixes” species) semi-behaves like a cat and can’t talk English until she’s taught it. The species lives in tribes all over the Torn Earth, and he was built for war by an alliance in which he is a scout. His name is “5C0U7” or “Scout.”
Recently I’ve had the urge to actually NOT skip over the sexual content in my series starting with the Felixes and the Cyber.
Confused. Very I am confused.
Ha lol same about huniepop, well… A little before but that was when it struck the most
I personally think the objectifying one is most accurate but not exactly my theory.
My theory is that people with cosmetic animal traits makes them feel more out of place and this makes a fantasy setting seem more fantasy.
I think you are also right that it triggers a lustful feeling, but the thing theory is the fact that I am an extremely non lustful person and I find these things interesting, Which I think is because I like fantasy settings a lot.
I have some proof for my theory but if I but that in this comment would be a mile long.
I’m seeing someone currently who loves her cat ears; She wears them all the time and recently was living celibate to focus on her career in promotional work.. Long story short: After meeting me the first time, she never wore her cat ears when we would hang out together. Privately whenever out in public, working, or whatever, she had her cat ears on. Her mom validated these observations to me in the background of a phone call once; I think she sensed curiosity in my voice about the whole thing.. So I think Scott is very much on point… The cat ears in this case are very cute, sweet, affectionate, and not at all symbolic of primal desires, lust, or any lack of self-control. On the contrary, after we met it was me to whom she took the cat ears off as if choosing me to be her ‘pet-owner’ whereas in public it’s a sign of platonic affection and sweetness. She is in fact very independent, so there is little context of “ownership.” She comes to me when she wants to be treated nicely, purr and cuddle, much like an actually kitty… I think its adorable. :) On a side note: She ordered Giraffe ears recently, nobody wanted to wear them at her work party, so thankfully they will be mine. I wore them, I loved them, now to explain the giraffe ears, give a listen to the song “This Here Giraffe” by the Flaming Lips and all will start to make sense in the world of cute animal ears. I was a skeptic at first as well. I thought it meant the same as how this article began. I was quite wrong…. Thank goodness for my kitty. lol
i like cat girls and cat boys because i like cats… they are cute!
Catgirls seems attractive for unknown reasons
Cats are cute, girls are hot
catgirls, yeah you know it
Do the ears of catgirls work? Do they use those instead of their human ears?
What’s the fetish called? I certainly don’t find them hot even now…