Jason_OCE Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 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™. Pros; Catgirls. HNNNGG! Plenty of community-made originals Psychologically different relationship Affectionate by nature Catgirls. Seriously. can anyone spare a towel? No gross human ears.... bleh Cons; Rare occurrence Traditionally played off as part animal High sexual focus, low story content Probably a recruiting tool of Furries Not seeing human ears is kinda strange 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. As always, I'll also be taking suggestions for next month's theme! Suggest away Chronopolis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 わふ? Nekomimi might be a favorite, but I'm beginning to appreciate inumimi as well. Why? Misaki Gaillard (don't lok at the katakana you will probably go insane), some animal traits, but p. humanoid in reasoning and all. Amairo Islenauts actually takes place on a floating island where some beast-people with magic stones and shit originally lived and then they somehow came to our world through a portal or something and interbreeding happened... I have to admit the prologue infodump was a bit hard to understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronopolis Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 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. The feature adds a cute and different flavor, but if you leave out story/character details it becomes an excuse for another mindless archetype, which is bleh. The pictures in the OP are hnnng cute though. Nekomimi wasn't really a big part of the VN, but tails and ears showed up in Gurenka. The ears just fit Kuon, didn't really react much there. But the tail for Elsrise was cute addition. It also had the effect of gently emphasizing her non-humanness. Just tail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_OCE Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 This only partially relevant. In the anime "RWBY", there's a lot of kemonomimi themes. The thing is, because the anime is PG, it uses it as a story development point, rather than a cute dial. Won't post spoilers. As for Chronopolis, I couldn't agree more. Without a good story and a deep character, you're just oogling a different colored catgirl. Having a story, and events is like flavor to an already tasty dish. nom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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