History Main / CatGirl

* Chibi-Neko from ''Manga/TheStarOfCottonland'' is one of the earliest known examples and is widely considered to be the TropeCodifier, as the manga was first published in 1978. While Chibi-Neko is actually just a regular kitten, she wants to become human so much that she envisions herself as a human girl with a cat's ears and tail.

* Kyouka from ''LightNovel/KyouranKazokuNikki'', a [[GenkiGirl hyperactive]] [[OlderThanTheyLook young-looking]] catgirl who was worshiped as a goddess, and views herself as such. She's the ''mother figure'' in the family.

* In ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'', Sato gets a crush on a catgirl mage in an MMORPG. [[spoiler:It turns out it's actually his ''[[GuyInRealLife male]]'' friend Yamazaki, who is doing it to prove a point.]] Misaki tries to break Sato of his crippling addiction to the MMORPG by dressing up as a catgirl herself--complete with meowing--but Sato's response is to throw things at her and tell her to go find a convention to cosplay at.

The entire concept is OlderThanSteam, with the first recorded mention of a modern catgirl in Japan (as opposed to the monsterlike BakenekoAndNekomata) dating to a sideshow-like fair where there was a catgirl as one of the crew[[note]]which was almost certainly someone wearing a costume[[/note]] in 1769! In fact, visualization of anthropomorphic cats as mostly-human women is a trope that dates all the way back to Myth/EgyptianMythology (most famously Bast), making this trope OlderThanDirt.

The entire concept is OlderThanTheyThink, with the first recorded mention of a modern catgirl in Japan (as opposed to the monsterlike BakenekoAndNekomata) dating to a sideshow-like fair where there was a catgirl as one of the crew[[note]]which was almost certainly someone wearing a costume[[/note]] in 1769! In fact, visualization of anthropomorphic cats as mostly-human women is a trope that dates all the way back to Myth/EgyptianMythology (most famously Bast), making this trope OlderThanDirt.

* Arle, Ringo, Raffina, Ally, and Witch become this as part of a ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoQuest'' event.

* Aisha [=ClanClan=] from ''Anime/OutlawStar'' is a C'tarl-C'tarl, a race of gluttonous adrenaline-filled cat-people with insane invulnerability levels. Aisha can also transform into a huge white tiger when she's at full power.

* ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'': Bastet are a type of demi-human with cat-like ears.

** ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': Atalanta has lion ears and a tail, likely a reference to how in her myth she was eventually turned into a lion.

* At the start of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'', it seems that Koneko simply has mildly cat-like motif. She later turns out to be a [[BakenekoAndNekomata nekomata]] with an identity crisis. [[spoiler:Her ears and tail have to be revealed for her to fight at full power, though she initially refuses to do so. After coming to terms with herself, she also exposes them in private, and reveals a very playful, kitten-like persona she was bottling up.]] Her older sister Kuroka has cat ears and tail all the time as she has embraced her heritage.

** Neon Katt, introduced in [[Recap/RWBYV3E5NeverMissABeat episode 5 of volume 3]] is a red-headed cat-girl with a ginger tail. She has the energetic, mischievous personality associated with the [[CatStereotype depiction of ginger cats in works]], and tends to produce streaks of rainbow light whenever she moves fast. She's a ShoutOut to the Nyan Cat meme, and is therefore a startk contrast to Blake's aloof, moody personality and preference for purple-tinted monochrome colour palettes.

** Neon Katt, introduced in [[Recap/RWBYV3E5NeverMissABeat episode 5 of volume 3]] is a red-headed cat-girl who has a ginger tail. Due to her lacking cat ears, many fans mistook her for a monkey Faunus, but her MeaningfulName clearly pins her as a cat (and a ShoutOut to Nyan Cat at that). She has the energetic, mischievous personality associated with the [[CatStereotype depiction of ginger cats in works]], making her a stark contrast to the more aloof and moody Blake.

* ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate: Bastet are a type of demi-human with cat-like ears.

* Merle, later Nariya and Eriya, in ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne''

%%* Merle, Nariya and Eriya from ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne''.

* There are numerous and varied catgirls in ''Literature/CatGirlsHaveFourEars'', and not all of them have four ears. It is noted that catgirls with four ears are [[UncannyValley less creepy]] than ones with two ears.

* Webvideo/Contrapoints has a recurring character of Tabby, the anti-fascist anarchist catgirl.

* The cyantropes in ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' is a race of LittleBitBeastly, cat-based BeastFolk, and their only feline-looking parts are their ears and tail. They also have the tendency to [[VerbalTic meow]].

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' has Mio, the Agnian off-seer of the Ouroboros team who has pointy feline ears and CuteLittleFangs. There are also various minor Cat Girls (and Cat Boys) who can be found in the colonies of Agnus. The Queen of Agnus also has very tall catlike ears, [[spoiler:and she turns out to be Nia from ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2''.]]

* Keke from the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series. She is a Cat Girl [[CuteWitch witch]] [[WickedWitch enemy]] who flies around on a broom and gives Kirby the Cleaning ability. Her name is a ShoutOut to Kiki of ''Anime/Kiki'sDeliveryService''.

** Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}'s early student, "[[Characters/NewMutants Catseye]]", who can turn into either a housecat or a fairly terrifying Were-pather. This was later {{retcon}}ned by creator Creator/ChrisClaremont into her being ''[[DorkAge a mutant cat who could turn into a human]]''. Re-retconned back into her being a human mutant by Marvel's editorial, who hated the idea.[[note]]Creator/StanLee had done the same thing years earlier, when Chris Claremont had originally hinted that ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} might be a mutant wolverine.[[/note]]

* Keke from the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series. She is a Cat Girl [[CuteWitch witch]] [[WickedWitch enemy]] who flies around on a broom and gives Kirby the Cleaning ability. Her name is a ShoutOut to Kiki of ''Anime/Kiki'sDeliveryService''.