Editing Catgirl (section)

==Analysis==
[[File:Neko 1.png|thumb|alt=Black-and-white sketch headshot of a young woman with cat ears. The cat ears are drawn simply wiht two to three strokes on the top of the head.|This catgirl sketch shows that very few lines are necessary to add cat ears to an existing character, which may have contributed to their popularity.]]

Japanese philosopher [[Hiroki Azuma]] has stated that catgirl characteristics such as cat ears and feline speech patterns are examples of ''[[Moe (slang)|moe]]''-elements.<ref name="Azuma-2009">{{Cite book |last=Azuma |first=Hiroki |author-link=Hiroki Azuma |url=https://archive.org/details/otakujapansdatab00azum |title=Otaku: Japan's database animals |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8166-6800-7 |edition=English |location=Minneapolis |pages=[https://archive.org/details/otakujapansdatab00azum/page/n77 47], 89 |translator-last=Abel |translator-first=Jonathan |oclc=527737445 |translator-last2=Kono |translator-first2=Shion |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galbraith |first=Patrick W. |date=31 October 2009 |title=Moe and the Potential of Fantasy in Post-Millennial Japan |url=http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Galbraith.html |url-status=live |journal=Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025065102/http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Galbraith.html |archive-date=2019-10-25 |access-date=2018-05-23}}</ref> In a 2010 critique of the manga series ''[[Loveless (manga)|Loveless]]'', the [[feminist]] writer T. A. Noonan argued that, in Japanese culture, catgirl characteristics have a similar role to that of the [[Playboy Bunny]] in western culture, serving as a [[Sexual fetishism|fetishization]] of youthful innocence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Noonan |first=T. A. |date=Fall 2010 |title="I Can't Get Excited for a Child, Ritsuka": Intersections of Gender, Identity, and Audience Ambiguity in Yun Kôga's Loveless |url=http://academinist.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MP03_02_02Noonan_Child.pdf |url-status=live |journal=MP: An Online Feminist Journal |volume=3 |issue=2 |issn=1939-330X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112002434/http://academinist.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MP03_02_02Noonan_Child.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2016 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref>

According to the Japanese magazine ''[[Da Vinci (magazine)|Da Vinci]]'', the fact that cat ears can often be easily added to a character or costume without compromise has made the catgirl trope accessible and quickly popular. It is further suggested that the docile image created by cat ears stimulates the viewer's desire to protect cute animals.<ref name="Da Vinci-2013" />