Catgirls
cat ears and a cat tail, but an otherwise human body; they are found semi-commonly in anime and manga. Catgirls aren't anthropomorphic cats (furries), as they look completely human (or almost completely human) if their ears and tails are ignored. Catgirls wishing to look especially cute will wear over-sized mittens and shoes that look like paws. Other woman/animal combinations are sometimes found, like fox girls. Catboys are becoming increasingly more popular around fangirl circles. However, they are rarely seen outside of webcomics, fanart, and playful mangaka splurges.
Ordinary humans, such as Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth, will sometimes sprout cat ears or a tail in order to illustrate their excitable personalities. This is similar to the phenomenon of becoming chibi. In Japanese, catgirls are usually called nekomimi (猫耳) -- literally, "cat ears". Nekomusume (猫娘) -- 'cat girl' -- appears only occasionally, as in the anime series All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (which stars a quite different type of catgirl than described here.) Or even Nekochan ('neko'猫the japanese word for cat followed by the suffix 'chan' (ちゃん）, which means cute).
Catgirl has recently become an insult for fangirls who wear cat-like ears when attending anime or gaming conventions.
Catgirls are sometimes critized for behaving unlike real cats, which can be aloof or downright surly.
List of cat girl characters
