The explosion of animal girls in popular media is most visible in Japanese animation. Series like (featuring the wolf-deity Holo) or The Rising of the Shield Hero (featuring the tanuki-girl Raphtalia) use animal traits to highlight the "outsider" status of their characters, often exploring themes of prejudice, nature, and companionship.

In the gaming world, animal girls are a staple of the RPG and MMORPG genres. Games like (with its Miqo'te and Viera races) allow players to inhabit these roles themselves. This interactivity has moved the concept from something people watch to something they embody .

While the modern "catgirl" (nekomusume) is synonymous with Japanese anime, the fascination with hybrid beings is ancient. From the Egyptian goddess Bastet to the kitsune (fox spirits) of Japanese folklore and the selkies of Celtic myth, humans have always projected personality and divinity onto animal-human hybrids.