Nekopara Thoughts: Catgirls, Visual Novels, Japan, and the Anime Industry

            Nekopara, this is a video game I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time. After finishing it months ago, the game gave me a lot to think about, like a lot. Visual Novels, video games in Japan, waifus, anime in its entirety, thoughts regarding all these swirled around in my mind following the completion of this game. So with a lot to dig into, I thought I’d finally share them here. I went ahead and separated this rant into several parts, since it’s a long one. But there’s a lot to uncover here, and I hope that if anyone reads this, they can take something away from it. It’s going to be a journey friends, one that every write up I’ve done this year was leading up to.

So, where to begin, hm….let’s start with a summary. Nekopara is a visual novel game, and as such has a heavy emphasis on its story and characters. The story revolves around the protagonist, Kashou, and his cat girls, Chocola and Vanilla. It sees Kashou moving out and living on his own for the first time, while also taking care of Chocola and Vanilla on his own, learning more about them and himself in the process. As the story progresses, Chocola and Vanilla have a small character arc of learning to function more as humans and control their cat instincts, and Kashou finds himself beginning to fall for his cat girls. A relationship blossoms between the three, and the game ends with them going on their first date, some drama, and a hint at other characters joining for future installments.

I: Introduction

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Nekopara. Chocola and Vanilla were very cute, and both were interesting and fun to interact with. Kashou was…very Japanese. He had a strong sense of duty, especially to Chocola and Vanilla. He frequently acted as if he had to provide for them, almost as if they could not take care of themselves without him. Additionally, he overworked himself and held his troubles and conflicted feelings inside rather than venting about them. I found this interesting, and wondered how common these traits are in protagonists of Japanese games and media.

But I digress, the world of Nekopara was quite interesting. I was not expecting the game to go into much detail regarding catgirls and how they fit into society, but to my surprise they go quite far. I liked that they had this whole system where cat girls could prove they control their instincts and are more human like through some tests, and then received a bell as a sign they had done so, allowing them to enter more human facilities and function more in society. The world was surprisingly believable.

I did have one big issue however. Due to Kashou constantly treating Chocola and Vanilla as if they don’t know what’s best for them and such, I hoped the catgirls would end up doing more on their own and be less dependent on Kashou, aligning with a small character arc they had throughout the game. However, this was not the case. At the end of the game, the two have a chance to help Kashou when he’s sick and in need of help…only to fail, get into trouble, and then be saved by him once again. It was rather anticlimactic, though it did get me thinking of why this is, and just what exactly was going on with these “catgirls.”

II: Characters and Gender Norms

In a write up I did a while ago (source) I talked of how the genre of anime that falls under slice of life, shoujo, moe, etc. interests my greatly, because it is the only popular media I can think of that generally stars female characters, yet is made primarily for a male audience. This makes it an excellent tool for feminist studies in order to understand more of the male perspective of women. Nekopara in particular is a great case study because one thing I could not help but notice about these characters was just how well…flamboyantly feminine they were. Chocola and Vanilla proudly wore maid outfits when they were working at Kashou’s bakery, and felt no shame when wearing them. Additionally, they liked being given affection, were always receptive to Kashou’s attention, and my god did they wear bows. Some of the clothes they wore had so many bows, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place. Furthermore, every one of their pieces of clothing, night clothes, going out clothes, etc. all looked very pretty and attractive. These characters could not be more feminine.

This all got me thinking of a dilemma for men that has always fascinated me, partly because of how confusing I personally find it. Under gender norms, men are expected to like masculine things like sports, cars, wrestling, fighting, conflict, being assertive and dominating those around you, etc. Yet at the same time, gender norms also dictate that men are expected to be in a relationship with a woman, who under these same conservative gender (and sexual) norms are expected to be very feminine and the opposite of masculinity. How are men (and women) to like such polar opposites and not run into any conflict? It creates a tension that I think we all encounter and must wrestle with in our own way.

With regards to Nekopara and women in general, my theory is that; due to societal pressures encouraging men to only show feminine traits such as vulnerability, weakness, emotions in general, etc. around women, there is an expectation then that women are to be very receptive to these, being very feminine as a result. This is why Chocola and Vanilla take this to such an extreme degree, being very receptive to the feelings of Kashou. They are like ideal partners for men, which seems to be something many agree with given how successful these games have been. I read an article the other day that explored “moe” in more academic terms, theorizing that the genre and its popularity are the result of a desire among men for traits they are often denied, ie the feminine. (source) I can definitely see this being the case, as it’s largely why I, after My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, have fallen into the moe rabbit hole and am only continuing down it. You could even make the argument that MLP is a result of all these moe clashes and ideas going on in Japan and spreading to North America. But I digress, that’s an essay for another time.

Let me clarify before I continue that I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing. I am only saying that well, this is a thing, it’s something I wasn’t fully aware of until thinking about it with Nekopara. But now that I am aware of it, I cannot help but notice it everywhere. I have female friends who have said that many times random people (often men) will start saying very personal stuff to them and almost be venting, while myself and my male friends almost never experience this. It all comes from that gender idea that women should be more receptive to emotions, so people are encouraged to vent to them more.

Going back to Nekopara, this portrayal of Chocola and Vanilla as the ideal feminine can’t help but also feel a little…problematic when viewed under such gender norms. For if they are meant to be a sort of ideal partner for men, you cannot help but notice that, as I stated above, the catgirls aren’t given much autonomy. They generally serve Kashou in his own journey to set up his own business, always enjoy his attention, and always serve him obediently. They don’t really have their own goals or aspirations outside of whatever Kashou’s goals are, they serve him instead. There’s clearly a power dynamic here, and one that does not favor the catgirls. My roommate pointed out, in a rather extreme historical analogy, that having people work for an employer and then their payment be food and shelter with said employer, which is the relationship the catgirls have with Kashou, was very common amongst slaves. Additionally, the whole concept of not allowing the cat girls to be a part of human society until they passed a test, and then had to wear a bell marking their difference from everyone else, was another common trait in slave societies throughout history. I’m not saying they’re slaves, but there is definitely an element of control Kashou has over Chocola and Vanilla, one that paints a relationship that would be unhealthy if it existed in reality. That is an important takeaway I had with this game, that its relationships wouldn’t really work in reality.

Of course, let me again state that I am not saying there is any problem with enjoying these games and its characters. I had a fun time with them. But I stress that understanding its context and how it might work or not work in reality is important. The game even makes a point of this with one line in the game that really caught me off guard, in which it praises the simplicity and lack of drama within Chocola and Vanilla’s relationship compared to other relationships.

This struck me as very interesting. The game is self aware of its inability to work in reality, but rather than try and hide that, it praises it, encouraging it even. Again, I stress that I don’t see any large problem with engaging in these kinds of games, and I think they can even do a great job at helping someone with real relationships between people. But it did get me thinking more and more…why are these types of games so popular? Why are visual novels which go for this relationship route so big? As someone fascinated by the genre who wanted to learn more about it, I found myself researching.

III: Visual Novels and their History

See, the visual novel genre is one I’ve always wanted to get into more. Last year I played and greatly enjoyed Katawa Shoujo. I also used to love the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games, so I have a history with them. What really piqued my interest however, was finding out that a lot of my favorite games nowadays have visual novel elements. Undertale is, ironically, a very Japanese game, in which you go on visual novel style dates with characters, and even the battles feel like they incorporate visual novel elements in how you talk to the characters during battle. If you know me, you know I love everything about Undertale, especially those battles in giving more depth to the characters. Fire Emblem Awakening, a game I hold as a favorite, is another. It incorporates visual novel elements in its support conversations the characters have between battles. They see the characters interacting in some fun situations and generally shed more light on them and make the characters more interesting. These both made me curious if the visual novel genre was something I would really enjoy.

Additionally, I found myself attracted to the genre for its lack of combat. So many video games are about fighting, conflict, and hurting others, so I found myself attracted to what seems like a more pacifist genre. Finally, a big reason visual novels greatly interested me was well, their origin. The Visual Novel genre is one of the first genres of video games to emerge in Japan, but more then that, it is also one of the only genres in video games to come out of Japan almost exclusively. No other country really makes visual novel games, and it’s not hard to see why when you look at sales numbers. Outside of Japan, while some do find success (Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, 999), they are far and few in between, and given how much text is in these games, it takes a lot of work to translate. That’s a lot of money for a risky project. I talked in my analysis of Japan’s success in the video game industry about how certain genres and video games come more from Japan then others (source), and no genre really defines this like the visual novel genre. So, as someone who’s becoming more and more of a lover of Japanese culture, I sought to play more visual novels, understand if and why this genre appeals to me, and why it mainly comes from Japan (though I should also say I recently found and now follow a small studio based in North America and New Zealand that makes visual novel romance games, so hey hey).

But okay, the answer to that last question is pretty obvious. As stated in the Mother’s Basement video I linked in my follow up thoughts on Japan in the video game industry (source), the visual novel genre is largely inspired from the animation industry of Japan. Knowing this, it has me asking: what about the genre is uniquely Japanese, and what about it is simply a product of the animation industry? This was an important revelation I had when writing my video game essay. Japan’s unique video games don’t come from Japan’s unique culture (at least not entirely). I would argue that the biggest contributor to Japan’s games being ‘unique’ compared to others comes from the fact that they have much more mainstream comic book and animation industries influencing them. For these reasons, I’m of the opinion that, if the United States were to see these industries be as successful as Japan’s, and if Japan’s big industry was instead live action films like Hollywood, we would see the “Japanese” games coming from the United States, and vice versa with Japan. I’m of the opinion that the divides we put up between different countries are much less strict then we think, and that the circumstances that shape countries could happen to any of us. The visual novel genre did not have to only find popularity in Japan, if other countries had mainstream animation industries, I see the genre finding popularity there as well. It’s all about what the audience wants, and I theorize that a large audience that likes animation would also like visual novels. After all, I’ve grown up on cartoons from both North America and Japan, and find cartoon looking games more comforting and fun as a result.

This brings me back to Nekopara. How is Nekopara impacted by this anime influence? Well, the clearest answer is seen in the animation. Now, I haven’t played a lot of visual novels, but Nekopara’s presentation blew me away in how it animates its characters. Rather than show still images of the characters who talk with you, the characters of Nekopara will move and breathe as they wait for your reply, slowly moving up and down. They can also appear far away and close to the screen, and even cooler, they can move in real time to and from the screen, giving you a much better sense of who they are, what they’re doing, and what’s going on as you speak with them. The general quality of the presentation is remarkable, there’s even full voice acting for the characters and everything. It will be hard for me to go back to visual novels in which the characters are a still image.

There's even an anime adaption of Nekopara, showing how easily it translates to the medium

At the same time, you can’t talk about the neat ways technology is used to animate the characters without talking about well…sexual themes. Nekopara you see has sex scenes, or H-scenes as they’re referred to within the visual novel community. The characters chests will move, and there’s even a slider for you to adjust their movement, which uh…there’s that element of control and an unhealthy power dynamic between you and the characters, as I talked about in the gender norms segment. But anyways, Nekopara has hm…I think three H-scenes, and a lot of animation went into making them feel real. Playing them, I have to say it does a great job. But here’s the interesting thing about that, about H-scenes in general. When I played Katawa Shoujo, every character in that game also had at least one H-scene. The more I learned about the genre, I realized H-scenes are fairly common in visual novels of this romantic nature, to the point that it might be strange not to have them. Why is that?

One of the most interesting things I read these past months while researching for my video game essay was The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 1. It saw the author traveling around and interviewing many of the oldest Japanese game developers. An entire section of the book was dedicated to explaining and interviewing developers of the visual novel genre. These chapters explained how the genre was instrumental to the growth of Japan’s early video game industry, different perceptions of it in the West (In Japan it’s not all one genre, but many, for those about a mystery plot, those that are slice of life and about dating a character, etc.), but it also explained how common H-scenes were. I think around five early visual novel developers were interviewed, including the creator of 999 and its successors. These creators all talked of their experiences writing H-scenes or H-games as visual novels. As they all said, sex scenes have been a part of visual novels since the very beginning. That’s why they’re still around today. In a weird way, I felt a feeling of comfort in my chest reading these interviews. H-scenes weren’t talked of as this weird awful unhealthy thing like they so often are when I read about them on American video game forums. The developers, and even the authors and interviewers, talked about them very casually, they were spoken of more as normal things that everyone just has some experience either playing or writing. It was nice to have these weird things I like be accepted in such a sincere manner, I felt better about myself, and it made me think back to a story I once wrote that had sex scenes. It’s weird how sex is something that is so rarely talked about, when it’s something we all have experience in. I kind of like that about visual novels, how they aren’t afraid to have that component of relationships.

At the same time, I also don’t think H-scenes are somehow unique to Japan. Another book I read during my research (Atari to Zelda: Japan’s Videogames in Global Contexts) pointed out that the Mass Effect series, which saw popularity in the West, has a lot in common with visual novel games. In those games you can bond with characters through conversations outside of combat, and there are even sex scenes. This is the point I’m trying to make, one thing I really took away from all these thoughts Nekopara gave me. H-scenes in video games aren’t something unique to Japan, they’re actually a normal and logical thing.

IV: H-Scenes and Waifus

Still, that led me on a series of questions about all this. If that is the case, why are H-scenes so prevalent in certain sects of the visual novel genre? If it is not some innately Japanese trait, then what is it? The more I thought about it and looked into it, the more I concluded it is the result of the animation industry. I’ve gotten into anime in the past few years, though in a specific genre that tends to feature mostly female characters, the moe one I talked of above. In that way, it has much in common with Nekopara, which has a mostly female cast. As I stated in the part on gender norms above, the characters of the game, especially Chocola and Vanilla, are made to be as attractive and likable as possible. This is why they always wear cute clothing, always seem happy, and if they ever show negative emotions, it is in a cute and non-threatening way. They’re meant to seem desirable to you.

With this in mind, I see a link to the animation industry. Bare with me as I go on a small tangent. If say you wanted to create a show with a cast of likable female characters to appeal to men, how would that work in a live action setting? You could do it, but given that all the characters would be acted by real people, people with their own lives outside of the show who clearly aren’t the character they’re playing, it would be difficult to sell the audience on these characters being real and their own unique thing. Additionally, these shows would have to take place in real world locations, locations that viewers could then go to…and see isn’t the way the show portrays it. The immersion would be broken.

This is another example of a character made to look as pretty as possible. Like the catgirls, look at how many bows are in her hair (Image Source)

Animated shows don’t have these problems. Because the characters are completely generated by the creators, they can make them however they want, and there won’t be any actresses or real-world locations to break that immersion (save the voice actors). What I’m trying to say is: animation can do a much better job at creating likable characters that feel real to the viewer. This then, I wonder, could be used to say that animated shows in general have a greater focus on characters than live action shows. Think about it, what is the point of making these characters likable and so central to stories? What do the creators gain from that? I would say it is about the money, the business side of things. They want you to like their character so much that you buy products of them, posters of them, figures, etc. This is something you can even see in other animation industries outside of Japan. In North America, I can tell you growing up I had cartoon characters I loved and would want to buy figures of to play with. There is a very clear connection and history between cartoon shows (transformers) and the business of selling toys of characters. Even now, I own way too much merchandise of characters from MLP: Friendship is Magic. You don’t see this to such a degree with live action shows. This isn’t some weird Japanese thing, it’s an animation thing.

This is the key to waifus. Waifus fascinate me, partly because of how much I like them, but also because of how popular they have gotten. A lot of people feel a great attraction to what are often animated characters, rather than live action ones. This animated element is core to understanding why it has been so successful. Animation is better then other mediums at creating likable attractive characters for audiences to feel a great attachment to. Therefore, viewers will want to spend a lot of money on merchandise for said character. In these character focused stories, that have the goal of making the viewer feel attached to these characters, would not a more mainstream and adult animation medium use more adult means of creating attachment for the viewer? This is the answer to the puzzle. The prevalence of H-scenes in visual novels comes from them being adult games for adult audiences that use animated characters. Frankly, in North America there aren’t games like that, about not just bonding to a character, but appealing to a more adult audience. But if there was a successful mainstream animation industry in North America, then I do think we would see games with H-scenes coming out of the West in greater frequency. They are not a product of Japan, but of a mainstream adult-oriented animation industry.

V: Catgirls and Little Sisters

So this is why Nekopara is the way it is, this is why visual novels often have H-scenes, feature women, and often have them wearing very attractive clothing and not always acting like actual women. But there was still one element missing, one thing I didn’t quite understand as I continued pondering this game. Why catgirls? Why are these games about catgirls so popular not just in Japan, but outside as well? The Nekopara series has gotten quite popular in the West, so there must be something. Catgirls let’s remember aren’t exclusive to Nekopara. They are fairly common in Japanese animation, I often see fan art of them around the internet, and, the other day, while chatting with friends and watching clips from VR chat, I noticed a lot of people had catgirls as avatars on that, and you see them commonly as avatars around the internet in general. Why are catgirls so popular?

There’s an answer here, but an easy one. Cats are often associated in the popular consciousness as being beautiful and feminine creatures, unlike dogs who are seen more as dirty. Associating animals with women to make them objects of male attraction has its history. The playboy magazine in North America for example popularized bunnies and women being objects of sexual desire. Cats are also seen as very cute and worth protecting, so combining them with female characteristics would make them more desirable to men as cute individuals who need protection. Is that all it is then? Just something to make these characters more desirable?

I was not satisfied with this, and as I finished Nekopara and thought about it more, I came back to one significant character in that game, Shigure. Shigure is Kashou’s younger sister, and she plays an important role in the story. Being from Kashou’s family, she speaks for what goes on with his family after he’s left, and also provides help on taking care of Chocola and Vanilla. But as the story goes on, you find out that she has feelings for Kashou and greatly misses him. Your little sister is maybe into you.

This is a character trope infamous in the anime fandom in the West. Little sister characters have grown in frequency, most famously in Oreimo and Eromanga Sensei, but also in other popular anime such as Sword Art Online. This archetype has only grown in prominence, and I can’t help but think it will continue, and we will see more archetypes like it. Why is that? What draws people to these characters? Sure, you could make the argument, and I would, that a part of it is the power dynamics, that having a younger sister creates a power dynamic that favors the male, a sinister yet important note. But I think, like the catgirl, there’s something more going on here, something more…

Then it hit me. If the goal of animation is to create characters that the viewer will feel attached to, will want to spend money on merchandise concerning them, then what better way is there to create a likable character, then to create a character that likes you, the viewer. Not even a character that likes, a character that loves you unconditionally. This character then could go great distances for you, do kind acts for you, make you feel like you are loved and appreciated by them, increasing your attraction towards them and again, your desire to spend money on them.

 (I would like to quickly say as a disclaimer that I don’t think the entire animation industry is some cynical thing about taking your money. I believe a lot of the creators do genuinely like the characters they make and don’t just want money. There’s love here, a lot of it if you know where to look.)

But this then creates a dilemma. How does a writer create a character that is really into you, the protagonist, but still make that character seem believable, not breaking the façade? This is the answer. This is why we see the catgirl be so popular, and the little sister for that matter. Because if you want a character to really like the main character, and then want that to make sense to the audience, you would have to create long scenes and narratives that see you and the character growing closer, and then see them start to fall in love with you. But what if you could make a character that already loves you unconditionally? What if you had a little sister? By virtue of being such, she might not have many friends or know the world much, but look up to you greatly and admire you, if only because you are her big brother?

This is why the little sister character is so popular. Because if we look at it from a pure literary perspective, the character is perfect at being someone who in a believable way really likes you, the main character. Older sisters would also fall under this, which is why that is also a common character archetype in anime, in being someone that already has a strong connection to you. If these female characters weren’t your sister, the writer would have to find some way to establish close relationships between you and said character. But a sister falls into that perfect niche of being believable in their love for you. Catgirls are the same. Throughout Nekopara, the game portrays Chocola and Vanilla as girls, but with strong cat instincts. They like cat food, they like playing with cat toys, and like cats and pets in general, they hold a great unconditional love for Kashou, simply because he is their owner. The game’s story stresses that Kashou picked them up when they were young vulnerable kittens with no home, and from that point on they held an unconditional love for him. This is reasonable to us with ideas of how pets work, so it is believable then that these characters would love you, er, Kashou. If they were human girls, it would feel less convincing. But by making them cats, it makes more sense for them to really like you, for them to not want you to move out on you own without taking them, and for them to want to help you as much as they can. The entire reason catgirls and (little) sisters are so popular is because for the writer, they are a very effective way to create believable characters that have feelings for the protagonist (or you).

As I thought about this more, I realized there is another character type that falls under this, one that is also very popular in anime, but not one I can think of as being popular in other mediums: the childhood friend. After all, if a character is your childhood friend, that makes the writing process so much easier. Now you don’t have to write some complex series of scenes of you and the character coming together, now you don’t need to think of any big reason why this character likes you. They just are your childhood friend, and we as viewers clue in that since they are a childhood friend, they would feel a great bond with the protagonist and thus might have feelings for them.

This is why these character types are a thing, and this is why they are so prevalent in anime as opposed to other media. I’ve been saying it this whole write up, it is the thesis of this write up, but I’ll say it one last time. Cat girls, little sisters, childhood friends, they are not weird products of Japanese culture, they are logical and expected products of the animation industry, and I believe that we would see these character types just as much if other countries had successful animation industries. The popularity of them comes from their success at creating believable characters that like you, the viewer. By virtue of this then, the viewer is more likely to like them back, feel a great bond towards them, and then want to spend money on merchandise revolving around this character. Thus, the anime industry continues as the money sucking machine it is. This is how it all connects, it all goes back to the character focused nature of animation, which comes from animation being better at creating believable characters that don’t come from our world.

VI: Conclusion

This then, is where I’m going to end it, as this was the big revelation I had about all this. When I read and discussed these thoughts with my roommate, he found it interesting that I separated the idea of animation from Japanese culture, because he and so many others see them as inseparable. But I disagreed, and in this essay argued for a more nuanced perspective, one that does not see it as uniquely Japanese.  This was the big thing I took away from Nekopara; this fantastic visual novel that I enjoyed, so much so that I’d like to pick up the sequels. In playing a visual novel with both cat girls and a little sister, in thinking about and researching visual novels and Japanese video games in general, in learning the significance of anime in Japanese culture, it all combined together for these thoughts I’ve had and am now sharing, eventually concluding in a way in which I feel like I understand things more. I understand cat girls, I understand little sisters, I understand visual novels, and I understand anime. I see the connections between them all, how the industry functions and finds success in this, and thanks to Nekopara, I can accept the anime industry more. I find its quirks less weird and off putting and more what they are, the normal result of processes that have seen these games and characters find the most success for perfectly acceptable reasons. H-scenes, visual novels, this is all something not to fear and criticize, but to understand and take apart. Thanks to Nekopara, I’ve been able to dissect this better then I ever have. I definitely did not expect to have such a reaction to the game, but well, strange things happen. I never expected to be as invested in Japanese cultural items as much as I now am, but that’s where I’ve gone, and where I see myself continuing to go. Here’s to many more years of enjoying successful animation and video game industries.