Hello Kitty ( ハローキティ , Harō Kiti ? ) , is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Designed by Ikuko Shimizu, the first product, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974, and in the United States in 1976.
The character is portrayed as a female white cat, with a red bow and no drawn mouth. She lives in London, England with her parents and twin sister.
The Hello Kitty line has since developed licensing arrangements worth more than $1 billion a year in sales. Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances. Hello Kitty has an official theme park, Sanrio Puroland.
In media
Television series
The Japanese anime series Hello Kitty and Friends aired on TV Tokyo in Japan, and CBS in the United States in 1991. It also ran in reruns on Toon Disney. On the show, Kitty is a little girl living with her mother, father, and twin sister Mimmy, who is identical to Kitty but has different colored clothes and wears her bow under the opposite ear. 13 episodes were produced, using animation produced as early as 1991.
On Japanese television, Hello Kitty (and her pals) have starred in an anime series. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. This version was released in English in 2000, and like "Hello Kitty and Friends". Hello Kitty and friends also appeared in Hello Kitty's Animation Theatre , which had Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters appearing in their versions of different fairy tales. Available in the U.S. from ADV Films (who also own the video/DVD rights to Hello Kitty and Friends & Hello Kitty's Paradise )
Hello Kitty appeared in a new Japanese clay-animated series called Hello Kitty's Stump Village in 2005. At Anime Expo 2006, Geneon Universal Entertainment announced that Hello Kitty's Stump Village was one of the series it licensed for U.S. release. Volume 1 was released in October, and Volume 2 was released in January and in 2008. After Geneon withdrew from the US market at the end of 2007, it was later re-licensed by Funimation Entertainment, who will continue to release it in North America. Hello Kitty appeared for the first time in a full 3D animation The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends developed by Sanrio's digital entertainment entity Sanrio Digital.
Video games
Numerous Hello Kitty games have been produced since the release of the first title for NES in 1992; however, the majority of these games haven't seen a release outside of Japan. Hello Kitty also has made cameo appearances in games featuring other Sanrio characters, such as the Keroppi game, Kero Kero Keroppi no Bōken Nikki: Nemureru Mori no Keroleen . Special edition consoles such as the Hello Kitty Dreamcast, Hello Kitty Game Boy Pocket, and Hello Kitty Crystal Edition Xbox have also been released exclusively in Japan.
Examples of Hello Kitty games include:
- Hello Kitty no Hanabatake (1992, NES) - a platformer
- Hello Kitty World (1992, Famicom) - a Balloon Fight clone
- Hello Kitty's Big Fun Piano (1994, PC) - a piano simulation
- Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy (1998, Game Boy Color) - a life simulation/minigame collection
- DDR Hello Kitty (1999, Bemani Pocket) - a handheld Hello Kitty game in the Dance Dance Revolution series
- The Hello Kitty Simple 1500 series (PlayStation) - a series of specifically low-priced games
- Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals (2005, Game Boy Advance) - an action/adventure game
- Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (2005, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2) - an action/adventure game
- Mainichi Suteki! Hello Kitty no Life Kit (2007, Nintendo DS) - a puzzle game
- The Hello Kitty Simple 2000 series (2007, PlayStation 2) - a series of specifically low-priced games
- Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams (2008, Nintendo DS) - an adventure game published by Empire Interactive developed by Sanrio Digital. In the game, Hello Kitty moves to the Big City where she meets other Sanrio characters as well as making new friends.
- Hello Kitty Daily (2008, Nintendo DS) - a PDA application featuring a diary, calendar, alarm clock, money managing system and school planner
- Hello Kitty Online (2009, PC) - an online MMORPG developed by Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games. The game allows players to create and customize characters, then use them to battle monsters, socialize with one another, mine for ore, do domestic chores like farming or cooking, and participate in quests.
- Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise (2009, iPhone/iPod Touch) - an iPhone game with tilt-based controls
Products
Hello Kitty can be found on a variety of consumer products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories. In Japan, Hello Kitty products in the theme of local tourist attractions.
Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World , featuring Hello Kitty-inspired songs performed by a collection of artists, including Keke Palmer and Cori Yarckin. Sanrio and Fender released a series of Hello Kitty guitars (the Hello Kitty Stratocaster), and even a jet airplane (the Hello Kitty Jet).
Establishments
There is a themed restaurant named Hello Kitty Sweets in Taipei, Taiwan. The restaurant's decor and many of its dishes are visually patterned after the Hello Kitty character.
In 2008, a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital opened in Yuanlin, Taiwan. Hello Kitty is featured on the receiving blankets, room decor, bed linens, birth certificate covers, and nurses' uniforms. The hospital's owner explained that he hoped that the theming would help ease the stress of childbirth.
Reception
UNICEF awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children .
The brand rose to greater prominence during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement. New products featuring the character can be found in many American department stores.
Since 2004, Hello Kitty has been featured on a MasterCard debit card from Legend Credit Inc. The card was released to teach young girls how to shop and use a debit card.
In May 2008, Japan named Hello Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in China and Hong Kong, two places where the character is exceptionally popular among children and young women. This marked the first time Japan's tourism ministry had appointed a fictional character to the role.
Cultural references
In 1999, in Hong Kong, a brutal murder known as the Hello Kitty murder took place. The popular name of the case derives from the fact that the murderer inserted his victim's head into a Hello Kitty doll after decapitating her.
As of August 2007, Thai police officers who have committed minor transgressions such as showing up late or parking in the wrong place are forced to wear Hello Kitty armbands for several days as penance.
In the Homestar Runner Halloween cartoon "Most in the Graveyard" The King of Town dresses up as Hello Kitty for Halloween.
A fictitious video game, Hello Kitty: Island Adventure is referenced in the South Park episode, "Make Love, Not Warcraft".
Also in CNET's podcast Gadgettes there is a segment called "Hello Kitty Watch" dedicated to Hello Kitty inspired things, Mainly Gadgets.
References
- ^ "サンリオキャラクターたちの本名、言えますか？" (in Japanese). 2008-07-11 . http://www.excite.co.jp/News/bit/E1215736595745.html . Retrieved 2008-07-11 .
- ^ Takagi, Jun (August 21, 2008). "10 Questions for Yuko Yamaguchi". TIME Magazine . http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1834451,00.html . Retrieved 2009-10-31 .
- ^ Dhami
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