VN Theme Discussion; Kemonomimi

[Jason_OCE]

Welcome, to the first of possibly many roundups for the VN community. Each month(?) I'll be taking a specific theme, giving some examples of where it's been done well, and get some discussion going about the theme itself.

Theme 1; Kemonomimi

Kemonomimi refers to humanoids, taking on animalistic traits. Traditionally, this comprises of cat ears, and tails. There are a lot more subsidies of this though, and we can even define them.

Nekomimi

Taking on the appearance / traits of a Cat

Kitsunemimi

Taking on the appearance / traits of a Fox

Inumimi

Taking on the appearance / traits of a Dog

We've also got; ( Caution: Some NSFW )

Usagimimi: rabbit ears
Ookamimi: wolf ears
Hitsujimimi: sheep ears/horns
Umamimi: horse ears
Ushimimi: cow ears
Toramimi: tiger ears
Nezumimi: mouse ears
Kumamimi: bear ears
Kemonomimi: general, or ambiguous ( means beast )

The usual use of these tropes in Visual Novels is by having them as either a different race, a fantasy creature, or by having them as genetically modified pets. Thus, their personalities usually vary from that of traditional humans and such. There's very few Visual Novels that use this trait currently, however there's been a recent resurgence for the demand, so expect the tradition to rise a little more in the next year or so. As an example, Sekai Project has worked with the creators at NekoWorks to localise their visual novel Nekopara, and even releasing it through Steam ( censored of course ) as well as another translation for a renouned Japanese VN with a huge focus on Kemonomimi, "Pure-Pure!" due to release soon™.

Why Kemonomimi?

There's two major reasons that Kemonomimi is seen as a huge thing for a niche group of consumers. Firstly, catgirls are cute as hell. We can't really deny this. Secondly, is the psychological side of things with building a Kemonomimi relationship, based off an entirely new social construct. Whether you're falling in love with your family pet catgirl, you're helping spirits make peace with humans, or you've saved a stray from the cruel city streets, there's a lot of writing freedom when building relationships in a way that's not usually done. As another psychological point, there's a lot of erotic content in this genre ( at minimum, consistent fan service ). Having this come from a "person" who is psychologically conditioned different is a huge appeal to some people. Having the pack mentality of an animal, or the need to fornicate while on heat, these are different excuses for lewd content than the usual.

Where do I sign up?!

Here's a few examples of existing Visual Novels, with a Kemonomimi theme. ( censored, but still NSFW )

NSFW - http://imgur.com/a/lL8eQ - NSFW

Please tag anything that's NSFW, and link it externally.

Feel free to leave your suggestions on Kemonomimi Visual Novels.

NEXT MONTH'S Theme; dunno, feel free to suggest.

[Mightyfeast]

I feel as though some of the resurgence of the theme may have something to do with the rising demand in somewhat humanoid girls warranted from shows like the MonMusu anime that was aired this latest anime season, and while it is quite true that not very many games use this theme and this theme alone, it's certainly possible that it will be on the rise. Overall, I believe that people are growing to be more accepting of girls that aren't 100% biologically human.

I can also see a fair bit of how the psychological appeal of a kemonomimi girl works. Especially when it comes to the pet-like types. Humans naturally feel some compassion for animals, so establishing them as both an animal and a human can lead to a mixture of both attraction and compassion signals firing off in one's brain at the same time, which may attribute to why it is viewed positively. Of course, I'm sure the trend toward increased sex appeal likely factors in as well.

[Ghost #9]

There is a grievous lack of male kemonomimi in this thread! In the interest of balance, here are male equivalents for all of the categories mentioned above:

Nekomimi - Cat Ears
Kitsunemimi - Fox Ears
Inumimi - Dog Ears
Usagimimi - Rabbit Ears
Ookamimi - Wolf Ears
Hitsujimimi - Sheep Ears
Umamimi - Horse Ears (NSFW)
Oushimimi - Bull Ears
Toramimi - Tiger Ears
Nezumimi - Mouse Ears
Kumamimi - "Bear" Ears
Ambiguous Kemonomimi - [1][2][3]

NOTE: I have more to add to this topic of conversation. I will append this post later!

[BearSchool]

In other terms, the casual version of furries.

[Jason_OCE]

Kemonomimi is a gateway drug to furries. XD

As for the males of the genre, they're even more rare than the female versions, usually being support characters in VNs with them. Still cool though.

[papillon]

The boys of Black Wolves Saga are the first thing that come to my mind...

[comradeBEEZ!]

I'm personally not all that into kemonomimi, I really have no problem with romanceable characters that aren't completely biologically human (or at all). Heck I rather enjoyed the Garrus romance in Mass Effect (and he was pretty much a bird/raptor/thing). For me its more about how these character types are typically portrayed. In most of my exposure to cat girls, they are borderline children as they've become magically boobled people so the whole world is brand new to them. For a regular character, I find it adorable but for a romance plot, it makes me feel pretty icky. Not knocking people that are into that, you do you! But for me personally, not my cuppa tea.

But as I said, its typically how the character is portrayed. I felt that Dandelion Wishes Brought to You (one of my absolute guilty pleasures x3) portrayed kemonomimi quite well, and I enjoyed almost all the characters, finding them not being completely defined by their added cat/rabbit features.

I think I was going to make a point or something... >>

[Jason_OCE]

its typically how the character is portrayed.

The same thing that's a turn on for some people can also be a huge turnoff for others. I think you'd find the anime "RWBY" Appropriate. There's very little actual kemonomimi characters, dispite the fact it's a huge part of the storyline. They are people, with no real differences aside from physical ( and they have perfect vision in the dark )

it's also rated PG, so it's more of a cute thing than a sexualised thing, which is nice.