Any catgirl historians know if these types of cat characters have a common ancestor being referenced? Is there any terminology for this genre of catgirl that could better help compile and sort them?
@stormyrainn 's suggestion that they fall into the Magical Girl genre or include Magical Girl motifs and mention of Pururin from Welcome to the NHK is a lovely addition, but I can't help but also notice the incorporation of oversized mascotlike elements, if that makes any sense?
I've also found another character of this genre that I'm struggling to find more information on
Supposedly Chimes and Shisui House made multiple games with catgirl characters that might fit this genre in the early 2000's, but I haven't been able to find much information yet!
I also should mention the heartbreaking recent work Angelic Kitty Miracle Chan, a contemporary character that quite clearly takes heavy inspiration from characters if the past to tell a moving story I'd really hate to spoil!
https://web.archive.org/web/20001214170000/http://www.osk.3web.ne.jp/~shisui/mainyan_sister.htm
SHISUI HOUSE ARCHIVE THERE'S A LOT MORE CATGIRLS TO COMPILE LET'S GOOOO!!!
While her design is a lot racier, Felicia from the game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors is an early catgirl worth noting as likely serving as an inspiration for some of these, but her cat features, while exaggerated in size, aren't as full on mascot as the specific design trope I'm compiling. She may be one of the predecessors or inspirations of elements, but who first took them to the costumey extreme?
Is she the blueprint?
I recently found another cat girl from the 2003 visual novel Muv-Luv named Tamase Miki who has the oversized bell element and a hair shape that's got to be hard for cosplayers to try to emulate, but otherwise is lacking the mascot design elements I'm looking for
Still a very fun design and part of catgirl history, but I hope showing examples that aren't part of the specific catgirl subgenre I'm looking for and explaining what elements are missing is helpful?
While her bell is small, the oversized paws and the cat ear headband in Project Diva Future Tone from 2017 are an example that makes me feel ancient to realize is almost a decade old. Much newer than the others, so likely won't be helpful for discovering the origins unless I take inspiration from the song Miku is covering here and research the history of NekoMimi?
