Moe anthropomorphism

Kemonomimi, literally meaning "animal ears", is the concept of depicting human and human-like characters with animal ears, and by extension, other features such as tails. Kemonomimi is often used in moe anthropomorphism, to depict animal characters in human form. Catgirls and catboys are the most prolific in this category, although bunnygirls, foxgirls, doggirls, and wolfgirls are also common. Kemonomimi characters typically appear human except for added animal-like qualities. A notable franchise featuring moe anthropomorphism and kemonomimi is Kemono Friends, which is focused on a myriad of anthropomorphized animals in the form of girls and young women, ranging from real animals to cryptids and legendary creatures. Another notable series is Uma Musume Pretty Derby which focuses on girls as famous Japanese racehorses.

The "monster girl" concept gives moe appearances to typically hideous monsters from legend, mythology, and fantasy. Their "evil" traits may be fully retained, de-emphasized into mere personality tics, or removed altogether. It was popularized by such manga as Monster Musume and A Centaur's Life, and grown into its own genre.[6] Rarely, the monster girls are relatively unchanged from their original form and personality, such as mermaids and centaurides.

Although Chobits (2001) and Toy's iMac Girl (1998) came first, the meme of turning computer-related phenomena into moe subjects did not start until Shiitake-chan (しいたけちゃん), the anthropomorphization of Internet Explorer's Stop button. The idea of Shiitake-chan came in 2001 on 2channel, starting with a poster who claims he saw the Stop button as a shiitake.[7] When Microsoft released Windows 7 in Japan, they included a theme pack centered around a personification of the OS named "Nanami Madobe" with voice samples from Nana Mizuki. Microsoft used another personification involving two girls named "Yū Madobe" and "Ai Madobe" to promote Windows 8 in Japan.[8][9][10] As part of the market launch, a Facebook draw of 8 followers took place when follower count reaches 80001; and total Twitter follower count for Yū and Ai reach 8001, where winners receive Madobe Yū and Ai-themed prizes.[11]

Since the creation of the OS-tans, other software and websites have been anthropomorphized as well. For example, Wikipedia has its own "Wikipe-tan", while Mozilla applications have their own set of "Moezilla". Chinese netizens have created a "Green Dam Girl" to parody China's content-control software Green Dam Youth Escort.[12] In 2010, Taiwanese illustrator known as "shinia" on Pixiv created a personification of Microsoft Silverlight named Hikaru Aizawa, who is officially promoted by Microsoft Taiwan.[13][14] In 2013, Microsoft Singapore introduced Inori Aizawa, a mascot for Internet Explorer.

The manga and anime series Aoi Sekai no Chūshin de features characters who are personifications of computer games. Video games with characters based on them include Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario and Tetris. The anime series Hi sCoool! SeHa Girl features personifications of video game hardware by Sega.[15]

ISIS-chan is the moe anthropomorphism of ISIS.[16]

Elements of the Japanese constitution have been anthropomorphized into moe girls, such as Article 9, which prevents Japan from waging war, "is portrayed as a peace-loving girl."[17]

In 2010, users from the Breaking News board on 2channel created Hinomoto Oniko as an anthropomorphism of the commonly used Chinese ethnic slur used against Japanese, Riben guizi (日本鬼子), literally meaning "Japanese devils". The character was made by the 2channel community in response to the growing anti-Japanese sentiment amongst Chinese netizens online, and has since become an Internet meme within Japanese imageboards and forums. In Japanese, the kun'yomi reading of the kanji which make up the racial slur can be interpreted as a female personal name, and so the character is depicted as a young female wearing a traditional Japanese kimono, along with devil horns and a katana.[18]

In 2015, Internet users created "ISIS-chan", a moe anthropomorphized character of the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Images of her have been used by Anonymous to dilute the Islamic State's online propaganda.[16]

Other things have also been given moe characteristics:

Cells

The manga Cells at Work! depicts the cells of the human body as both male and female characters.

Charcoal

Based on binchōtan and other types of charcoal, the anime and manga Binchō-tan uses the dajare in the Japanese word for coal (炭, tan) to create a series of cute girls.

Countries

As with national personifications, moe versions of various countries are present. For example, Japan is Nihon-chan,[19] Afghanistan is Afuganisu-tan[20]—both have their own webcomics in Japan. Beyond these, however, are the countries of Hidekaz Himaruya's Hetalia: Axis Powers,[21][22] a manga depicting the countries involved in World War I and World War II using mostly men with only a few women mixed in.

Diseases

During the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, a user of the website 4chan created an image depicting a moe version of Ebola.[23] During the COVID-19 pandemic, a moe version of the Coronavirus disease 2019 named Corona-chan was created.[24]

A Hong Kong Tram vehicle with the livery of a moe anthropomorphized character of a local soy sauce brand

Folklore and mythology

Dōjin game series Touhou Project depicts yokai and various mythical beings as cute and beautiful girls with supernatural powers.

Food and beverages

Habanero-tan, the unofficial mascot of Bōkun Habanero; and Bisuke-tan for biscuits that KFC sells in Japan. The light novel series Akikan! has soda cans that magically turn into girls. Jelly flavors have also been anthropomorphized.[25]

Historic eras

A series of Japanese history books features anthropomorphism of historic events.[26][27]

Home appliances

Erotic computer games Like Life and Monogokoro, Monomusume both feature home appliances as girls. These appliances include washing machines, alarm clocks, blackboard erasers, pillows, first aid boxes, cell phones, and even post boxes, among others. The very nature of such games, however, puts the main characters in unusual situations when the sex scene happens—such as essentially "having sex with the washing machine". Likewise, the manga 090 Eko to Issho features girls who are cell phones.[28]

Military hardware

Mecha Musume are anthropomorphic personifications of military hardware, such as guns, tanks, ships, aircraft or even missiles. Popular subjects of this kind of anthropomorphism include World War II military vehicles; collectible mecha musume figures of these vehicles have been released.[29] Moe anthropomorphisms of historical military ships as girls and young women ("ship girls") are also notable, as popularized by Kantai Collection and Azur Lane.[30]

Vehicles

Notable trains who were drawn as girls include the Fastech 360, often drawn with cat ears because of the train's emergency air braking plates. Called "Fastech-tan", this particular "train girl" has its own collectible figure, sold with permission from the East Japan Railway Company.[31]