A catgirl is a female character with cat traits, such as cat ears, 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 where they are more commonly referred to as Neko (猫, literally cat) or Nekomimi (猫耳, literally cat ear(s)), in cosplay activities both in Japan and around the world, in video games,[1] and in online virtual world communities such as the Nekos of Second Life.[2]
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Catgirls in character typically exhibit a more cat-like attitude, and may sometimes include cat gestures or sounds in written or verbal communications. A frequent running gag among catgirls is that, when talking, they habitually end their speech lines with the catchphrase (にゃあ) nyā, the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's meow.
Regular human girls in anime and manga 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 derived from manga. They may momentarily develop a catlike mouth to emphasize mischievous thoughts or comments by a character.
Catgirl or catgirl-like characters are also found outside Japanese anime, manga, and video games. Examples include Catwoman from DC comics (dating back to 1940), "The Cat Girl" in issue 9 (1960) of the US comic "Adventures of The Fly, Josie and the Pussycats in the early 1970s, and characters from the Broadway musical Cats. Other less humanoid catgirls include Cheetara from ThunderCats, and the Khajiit from The Elder Scrolls series. Fantasy games catgirl characters include Magic: The Gathering's Mirri and Purraj, and the cat girl monster in the d20 Munchkin Monster Manual. Western television examples include Teenage Catgirls in Heat, and Cordwainer Smith's cat-derived Underperson C'Mell (who appears in Norstrilia and The Rediscovery of Man). The British science fiction series Doctor Who features a religious sect called the Sisters of Plenitude, who somewhat resemble Cheetara from Thundercats, but are distinctly more feline than human. See Cat People for more information. Hepzibah, of the Marvel Comics super-team the Starjammers and, later, the Uncanny X-Men, is a cat humanoid alien (although she was originally more skunk-like, that aspect has been dropped).