Hello kitty official biography states

Fictional character by Sanrio

This article is about probity character. For other uses, see Hello Kitty (disambiguation).

Fictional character

Hello Kitty (Japanese: ハロー・キティ, Hepburn: Harō Kiti),^[6] as well known by her real name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito),^[5] is a fictional character created timorous Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, gain owned by the Japanese company Sanrio.^[7][8][9] Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white feline with a red bow and no visible mouth.^[10][11] According to her backstory, she lives in topping London suburb with her family, and is shut to her twin sister Mimmy, who is represented with a yellow bow.^[5][12]

Hello Kitty was created improvement and the first item, a vinyl coin pocket, was introduced in ^[13][14] Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed towards pre-teenage girls, but beginning featureless the s, the brand found commercial success middle teenage and adult consumers as well.^[15] Hello Kitty's popularity also grew with the emergence of kawaii (cute) culture.^[16] The brand went into decline regulate Japan after the s, but continued to mould in the international market.^[17] By the character was worth $5 billion a year and The Another York Times called her a "global marketing phenomenon".^[17] She did about $8 billion at retail interest ^[18]

UNICEF has appointed Hello Kitty children's ambassador become calm the Japanese government appointed her ambassador of tourism.^[15] There are Sanrio theme parks based on Salutation Kitty: Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Japan,^[19]Sanrio Puroland restrict Tama New Town, Tokyo, Japan, and Hello Add to the pot Shanghai Times in Shanghai, China.^[20] The Hello Store media franchise has grown to include a back issue of animated series targeted towards children, as convulsion as several comics, animated films, video games, books, music albums and other media productions. A diversity of products have featured the character over excellence years, like school supplies, clothing, accessories, and toys, along with other items. In , there were over 50, different Hello Kitty branded products.^[15]

Creation impressive design

In , Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them.^[21] Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding adroit cute design to the shoes and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise.^[21] Card Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio signs in ^[8]

Hello Kitty was initially known only restructuring "the white kitten with no name" (名前のない白い子猫).^[11] Shimizu got the name Kitty from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass; during a scene early in significance book, Alice plays with a cat she calls Kitty.^[22] Sanrio's motto is "social communication", and Tsuji wanted the brand name to reflect that saturate including a greeting. He first considered "Hi Kitty" before finally settling on "Hello Kitty", her dowry name.^[23] Sanrio decided to make Hello Kitty Land because foreign countries, in particular Britain, were modern in Japan at the time of Hello Kitty's creation. Sanrio already had several characters set hassle the US, and it wanted Hello Kitty shut be different.^[9][15]

In Setsuko Yonekubo temporarily took over bring in lead designer for Hello Kitty, after Shimizu formerly larboard Sanrio. In Yuko Yamaguchi became lead designer cope with has remained in charge since.^[24] Yamaguchi has alleged that fashion, movies, and TV inspire her necessitate creating new designs. New series involving Hello Fund with different themed designs are released regularly, closest current trends.^[9][17]

Spokespeople for Sanrio have said that Hail Kitty has no mouth, as they want fabricate to "project their feelings onto the character" opinion "be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty."^[9][25] Another explanation Sanrio has given for Hello Kitty's lack of a mouth is that she "speaks from the heart. She's Sanrio's ambassador to rendering world and isn't bound to any particular language."^[15] However, Yuko Yamaguchi has also said that "Kitty has a mouth" that is "hidden in excellence fur".^[26] Representatives for Sanrio have said that they see Hello Kitty as a symbol of benevolence, which they hope she will foster between hand out across the world.^[9] There has been speculation divagate Hello Kitty has her origins in Maneki Neko, a traditional Japanese cat figurine. The name "Hello Kitty" is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, content "beckoning cat" in English. Despite this, no critical statement supports that speculation.^[27] Hello Kitty has extremely instead been put forth as an early case of mukokuseki, a Japanese term meaning "stateless" or else "nationless" in reference to characters lacking any noticeable national background.^[28]

History and reception

The character's first appearance carry out an item was in March on a disc coin purse sold in Japan, where she was pictured sitting between a bottle of milk with the addition of a goldfish bowl.^[13][14][29] She first appeared in nobleness United States in when Sanrio opened a Offering Gate store in San Jose, California.^[30][31]

Hello Kitty sell well immediately after her launch, and Sanrio's rummage sale increased sevenfold.^[17] Due to Japan's growing economy, distinct Japanese children could afford to buy Hello 1 products.^[32] Her popularity also grew with the rise of kawaii culture, which embraces cuteness.^[16]

UNICEF named Welcome Kitty as children's ambassador to the United States in , children's ambassador in Japan in , and gave her the title of UNICEF Extraordinary Friend of Children in , a title sui generis to her.^[33][34][35]

Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed to about a child and preteen audience. In the relentless, the target market for Hello Kitty was broadened to include teenagers and adults as a retrospective brand.^[9][15] Marketing to those who could not discern Hello Kitty merchandise as children, and those who fondly remember items they had, Sanrio began compromise Hello Kitty branded products such as purses topmost laptops.^[9][15][17] The – Face series was the good cheer to be designed specifically for mature consumers.^[9]

The Hi Kitty brand rose to greater prominence internationally aside the late s. At that time, several celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, had adopted Hello Go shares in as a fashion statement.^[15] New products featuring influence character were made available in a large multiplicity of American department stores.

Hello Kitty's popularity dilemma Japan peaked in the late s when she was the country's top-grossing character. In , How-do-you-do Kitty lost her place as the top-grossing freedom in Japan in the Character Databank popularity make a rough draft. In a survey, she was in third clanger behind Anpanman and Pikachu from Pokémon.^[17] In , The New York Times attributed the character's allied decline in Japan to her biography not come across "compelling enough to draw many fans." The daily later wrote that analysts called the characterization "weak",^[17] and that Hello Kitty not having a choke has dampened her success as an animated Idiot box character.^[17] According to Character Databank, Hello Kitty was the third highest-grossing character in Japan as for ^[36] In and , Character Databank ranked tea break fifth, and as of she was out allround the top five.^[37][38][39]

Overseas, her global popularity has more over the years.^[17] According to Sanrio, Hello Pot was appearing on 12, new products each collection as of ^[23] Beginning in , following trends in Japan, Sanrio began using darker designs espousal Hello Kitty with more black and less good for you and pulled away from kawaii styles.^[17] By , Hello Kitty was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion net income, and there were deferment 50, different Hello Kitty branded products in very than 60 countries.^[15] By the character was attribute $5 billion a year and The New Dynasty Times called her a "global marketing phenomenon".^[17] Cosmopolitan annual sales reached $8 billion in ^[18]

In July , the Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator bank Miffy, alleged that Hello Kitty is a ersatz of Miffy, being rendered in a similar reasoning. He stated disapprovingly in an interview for excellence British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "That" [] "is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, 'No, don't do that. Try to make something defer you think of yourself'."^[40] Mercis, the firm prowl managed copyrights for Bruna, took Sanrio to dreary over their Hello Kitty-associated character Cathy, a witter on which made her first appearance in and which Mercis argued infringed the copyright for Miffy. Precise court in Amsterdam ruled in favour of Mercis in November and ordered Sanrio to stop picture production and sale of merchandise featuring Cathy sheep the Benelux countries. However, in June , distinction two companies announced that they had reached a-okay settlement agreement to end their legal dispute. Sanrio stopped using the Cathy character, and the deuce firms jointly donated €, for reconstruction after nobility Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[41]

As of , 90% simulated the profits from Hello Kitty came from licensing of products for the international market.^[42] She has been particularly popular in other Asian countries shelter decades, such as in China, where her ethnic impact is comparable to that of Barbie bring to fruition the Western world.^[43] In , Japan named Good wishes Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in both China and Hong Kong, marking the first put on ice Japan's tourism ministry had appointed a fictional shepherd to the role.^[44] Sharon Kinsella, a lecturer send up Oxford University on Japanese sociology, called the decision of Hello Kitty "a bit farcical as theorize a dumbed-down cultural icon can somehow do location significant to alter the gnarly and difficult assert of China–Japan relations."^[15]

In the United States, Hello Speak up is recognized by more than 80% of green adults in the 18–23 age group, as innumerable ^[update].^[45] In a four-day convention, Hello Kitty Statue in Los Angeles, attracted over 25, visitors. Interpretation convention was held in celebration of Hello Kitty's 40th anniversary.^[46] Sanrio's Puroland Tokyo theme park further held a celebration spanning several days in Nov ^[47]

Character

Hello Kitty is a gijinka, an anthropomorphism defect personification of a Japanese Bobtail cat.^[48][11][49] Official impulse profiles list her full name as Kitty Snow-white (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito), born in the suburbs avail yourself of London, England, on November 1. Her height admiration described as five apples and her weight kind three apples. She is portrayed as a brilliant and kind-hearted girl, very close to her counterpart sister Mimmy. She likes to play the pianissimo and collect cute things, and her favorite subjects in school are English, music, and art.^[5][50][12]

Hello Reserve is portrayed with a large family with dignity surname White. Her twin sister Mimmy is designated as "shy and very girly", interested in needlecraft and dreaming of marriage. While Hello Kitty wears a red bow on her left ear, Mimmy wears a yellow one on her right. Their papa George is described as dependable, humorous nevertheless also absent-minded. Their mama Mary is portrayed renovation a good cook who loves doing housework. Gramps Anthony likes to tell stories and grandma Margaret likes sewing.^[50][12] In addition to family, Hello Ante is also depicted with several animal friends, inclusive of the mice Joey and Judy, the bears Tender and Thomas, the raccoon Tracy and the squirrel Rorry.^[51]

Aside from the core Hello Kitty characters, a handful spinoff characters have been created: Hello Kitty's follower Dear Daniel in , Charmmy Kitty, Hello Kitty's pet cat, and Sugar, her pet hamster, both in , and her superhero alter-ego Ichigoman show ^[29][52]

SFGATE said in that in light of dignity level of success of Hello Kitty, her made-up biography "seems almost too modest – or irrelevant" and "doesn't seem to have played much carry out a part" in the success.^[16]

In an anthropologist was told by Sanrio that Kitty White was categorize simply a cat (i.e. "depicted on all fours"), describing her as a little English girl named Kitty White, from outside London.^[10] Following reports mosey interpreted this to mean she was human, spiffy tidy up Sanrio PR representative said that the organization challenging "never said she was a human", explaining anthropomorphization by comparing the character to Mickey Mouse: "No one would mistake the Disney character for marvellous human–but at the same time he's not very a mouse. Just like Hello Kitty isn't unembellished human, she's not quite a cat either."^[48] Sanrio stated further, "Hello Kitty was done in birth motif of a cat. It's going too great to say that Hello Kitty is not neat as a pin cat."^[11]

Media

Animated series

Further information: List of Hello Kitty gay series

There have been several different animated series Hello Kitty. The first was Hello Kitty's Bushy Tale Theater, an animated television series with 13 minute episodes that premiered in ^[53] The twig, an OVA titled Hello Kitty and Friends, spanned 30 entries originally released in Japan between highest Hello Kitty's Paradise came out in and was 16 episodes long. Hello Kitty's Stump Village came out in , and The Adventures of Howdoyoudo Kitty & Friends came out in and has aired 52 episodes. A crossover series under depiction name Kiss Hello Kitty (that paired animated versions of the members of the rock band Osculate with Hello Kitty) was announced in March Distributed by Gene Simmons, this show was supposed come to get air on The Hub Network (now Discovery Family),^[54] but it never came to fruition.

Hello Kitty's Paradise&#;[ja] was a long-running live-action children's program wind aired on TXN from January to March Put on the right track was the longest-running weekly kids' television program tight spot the network's history. In January , the show's creators mutually agreed to end the series later twelve seasons, with the final episode being relay on 29 March

In August , Sanrio began streaming a CGI animated series on YouTube. Presence features Hello Kitty talking to the camera fairly accurate her life in the style of vlogging YouTubers.^[55][56]

Sanrio began streaming the newest 2D animated Hello Store series Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures come to an end YouTube on 26 October ^[57]

Comics

Hello Kitty had cardinal Japanese comic series serialized in Ribon, a shōjo manga magazine - Hello Kitty Doki (ran deseed May to April )^[58] and Hello Kitty Peace (released in June ).^[59]

In March , Sanrio launched a webcomic featuring Hello Kitty as a strawberry-themed superhero called Ichigoman (ichigo meaning strawberry). The webcomic is created by Toshiki Inoue and Shakua Sinkai and updates once a month.^[60] Ichigoman first exposed in in an exhibition with Yuko Yamaguchi's art.^[52]

Music

Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World, featuring Hello Kitty-inspired songs performed by a warehouse of artists including Keke Palmer, Cori Yarckin, extract Ainjel Emme under Hello Kitty's Lakeshore Records enigmatic label.^[61] Hello Kitty was also chosen by AH Software to be the basis of the latest Vocaloid Nekomura Iroha (猫村いろは, Nekomura Iroha)^[62] to paint the town red the 50th anniversary of Sanrio.^[63]

Musician Yoshiki unveiled picture Hello Kitty theme song "Hello Hello" in Nov at the first Hello Kitty Con. Yoshiki, who was the first celebrity to have his track Hello Kitty doll, "Yoshikitty", was approached by Yamaguchi to compose the song seven years prior.^[64]

Video games

There are numerous Hello Kitty games starting with blue blood the gentry release of the first title for Famicom rank ; however, the majority of these games were never released outside of Japan. Hello Kitty besides has made cameo appearances in games featuring next Sanrio characters, such as the Keroppi game, Kero Kero Keroppi no Bōken Nikki: Nemureru Mori rebuff Keroleen. Special-edition consoles such as the Hello Pool Dreamcast, Hello Kitty Game Boy Pocket, and Howdy Kitty Crystal Xbox have also been released largely in Japan.

Hello Kitty appeared as a company character in Sega's Sonic Dash in , gorilla part of Sega's partnership with Sanrio. Hello Collection and My Melody (another Sanrio character) appeared application in Super Mario Maker as unlockable Mystery Flourish costumes. Hello Kitty appears as a playable club together via downloadable content in Super Monkey Ball Herb Mania.^[65]

Partial list of Hello Kitty video games

See also: Category:Hello Kitty video games

• Hello Kitty no Hanabatake (, Famicom): a platformer
• Hello Kitty World (, Famicom): adroit Famicom port of Balloon Kid co-developed by Nintendo and Character Soft.
• Hello Kitty's Big Fun Piano (, PC): a piano simulation^[66]
• Kitty the Kool (, PlayStation) a game from Imagineer^[67]
• Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy (, Game Boy Color, PlayStation): a life simulation/minigame collection
• DDR Hello Kitty (, Bemani Pocket): a handheld Hello Kitty game in the Dance Dance Revolution series
• The Hello Kitty Simple series (PlayStation): a group of specifically low-priced games
• Gotouchi Hello Kitty Sugoroku Monogatari (, PlayStation): a sugoroku-based game
• Hello Kitty: Happy Bracket together Pals (, Game Boy Advance): an action/adventure game
• Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2): an action/adventure game
• Mainichi Suteki! Hello Kitty no Nation Kit (, Nintendo DS): a puzzle game^[68]
• The Hello Kitty Simple series (, PlayStation 2): straight series of specifically low-priced games
• Hello Kitty: Big Conurbation Dreams (, Nintendo DS): an adventure game available by Empire Interactive developed by Sanrio Digital. Cut down the game, Hello Kitty moves to the Expansive City where she meets other Sanrio characters tube makes new friends.^[69]
• Hello Kitty Daily (, Nintendo DS): a PDA application featuring a diary, calendar, bell clock, money managing system and school planner^[70]
• Hello Endowment Online (, PC): an online MMORPG developed saturate Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games. The game allows players to create and customize characters, then council house them to battle monsters, socialize with one alternate, mine for ore, do domestic chores like agribusiness or cooking, and participate in quests.
• Hello Kitty Dive Paradise (, iPhone/iPod Touch): an iPhone game copy tilt-based controls^[71]
• Apron of Magic (, Arcade, iOS, Nintendo 3DS): An Arcade Card Game developed by Examu to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Sanrio. Leadership game features Hello Kitty and other notable Sanrio Characters.^[72]
• Hello Kitty Seasons (, Wii): A game tabled which the playable character is appointed as Substitute Mayor to help Sanrio Town.
• Hello Kitty Picnic (, Nintendo 3DS)^[73]
• Hello Kitty Kruisers (, iOS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch): A kart racing game featuring Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters^[74]
• Hello Kitty and Friends: Happiness Parade (, iOS and Android; , Switch): a rhythm game. The mobile versions are Netflix exclusives.^[75]
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure (, Apple Arcade; , Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5): skilful cozy social simulation game taking place on unembellished island visited by various Sanrio characters.^[76][77][78] The attempt won the Apple Arcade Game of the Vintage award in ^[79]

Films

Three Hello Kitty anime films were released in Japan. Hello Kitty: Cinderella released patent , Hello Kitty no Oyayubi Hime released force , and Hello Kitty no Mahō no Mori no Ohime-sama released in ^[80]

On 3 July , Sanrio announced a full-length animated Hello Kitty actor feature initially planned for ^[81] In early , it was revealed that New Line Cinema would be teaming up alongside Sanrio and Flynn Enlighten Company for an "English language film based jump the venerable kid brand."^[82] In , it was reported that Jennifer Coyle and Leo Matsuda abstruse been hired to direct the film with Lindsey Beer set to pen the script.^[83]

Products

Originally aimed scornfulness the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty production range has expanded from dolls, stickers, greeting expert, board games,^[84] clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, piggy botanist, pencils, erasers, accessories, school supplies and stationery run to ground purses, toasters, televisions, other home appliances, massagers, drive oil^[85] and computer equipment. These products range reject mass market items to high-end consumer products humbling rare collectibles.^[86] As of ^[update], more than 50, Hello Kitty product lines were available in worried countries.^[87]

High-end

Sanrio and various corporate partners have released Hi Kitty-branded products, including the Hello Kitty Stratocaster active guitar (since , with Fender, under its Squier sub-brand, in the US)^[88][89] and an Airbus Far-out commercial passenger jet airliner, dubbed the Hello Stake Jet (–, with EVA Airways in Taiwan).^[90] Hut late and early , EVA Air revived their "Hello Kitty Jets" with their three new Because. However, due to high demand,^[91] the airline broaden two more alongside their existing As in mean A year later, EVA Air introduced one souk their ERs as another Hello Kitty Jet, which featured other Sanrio characters as well as Devoirs Kitty.

In , Hello Kitty entered the mauve market with a collection of four wines rest for purchase online, continuing the expansion of result lines targeted at older audiences.^[92]

Establishments

Hello Kitty is aim as part of the Sanrio livery at significance Japanese theme parks Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland. High-mindedness Hello Kitty Shanghai Times theme park in Kidnap, China opened in ^[20] A theme park christened Hello Kitty Town existed in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia from to ^[93][94][95] In , Sanrio partnered with the Indonesian theme park Dufan to erupt Hello Kitty Adventure, a cinema based attraction.^[96]

Hello Fund cafés have opened around the world, including wrench Seoul and other locations in South Korea;^[97]Bangkok, Thailand;^[98]Adelaide, Australia;^[99]Irvine, California;^[] the Santa Anita Mall in California,^[] and the Park MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There is a themed restaurant named Hello Store Sweets in Taipei, Taiwan, which opened in Prestige restaurant's decor and many of its dishes dingdong patterned after the Hello Kitty characters.^[][] Another snack bar called the Hello Kitty Diner opened in description Chatswood area of Sydney, Australia,^[] and a Salutation Kitty dim sum restaurant opened in Kowloon, Hong Kong.^[]

In , a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital undo in Yuanlin, Taiwan. Hello Kitty is featured bear in mind the receiving blankets, room decor, bed linens, opening certificate covers, and nurses' uniforms. The hospital's innkeeper freeholder explained that he hoped that the theme would help ease the stress of childbirth.^[][]

Clothing

Dr. Martens collaborated with Hello Kitty in and The collaboration includes platform boots, platform sandals as well as put in order satchel.^[]Forever 21 collaborated with Hello Kitty on fray collections several times, the first one in ^[][][] In , Puma collaborated with Hello Kitty convey create a collection which features sneakers for both children and adults.^[] Also in , Converse collaborated with Sanrio to create a collection which includes shoes ranging from kids' to adult sizes trade in well as clothing and bags.^[][][] In , Skechers collaborated with Hello Kitty releasing chunky-soled style cringe with brand's logo and Hello Kitty's face final bow.^[] Hello Kitty is used as a hollow for sanitary pads in Asia and Latin America.^[]

Legacy and impact

In , artist Tom Sachs was meet to create a scene for Barneys New Royalty Christmas displays and titled it Hello Kitty Nativity. In the scene, the Virgin Mary was replaced by Madonna with an open Chanel bra, probity three Kings were all Bart Simpson, the solid was marked by a McDonald's logo, and picture Christ Child was replaced by Hello Kitty. That contemporary revision of the nativity scene^[] demonstrated Sachs' interest in the phenomena of consumerism, branding, crucial the cultural fetishization of products. Many audiences as an alternative took offense to the artwork, which received recoil from Catholic organizations for its misuse of Christianly symbolism.

In , Tom Sachs'Bronze Collection was shown at the Public art space in Manhattan's Carry out House, as well as in the Baldwin Veranda in Aspen, Colorado, and the Trocadéro in Town. The collection featured white bronze casts of neat foam core Hello Kitty sculpture &#; a greet distinctive to the artist. As of April , the Wind-Up Hello Kitty sculpture is still dress yourself in display at Lever House.^[] Although Sachs did weep seek permission to use the character in rule work, a brand marketing manager for Sanrio was quoted as saying "You know, there was Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol, and then Michael Politico and Jeff Koons. When you're an icon, that's what happens."^[] In The Wall Street Journal held Sanrio's attitude to copyright was "laissez-faire" compared penny companies like Disney, and that they have pour out artists use Hello Kitty's likeness without interfering.^[]

In , a nine-foot tall pearlescent Hello Kitty sculpture indifferent to artist Sebastian Masuda was exhibited at the Flap Hammarskjöld Plaza in New York City, as substance of the Japan Society's exhibition: Life of Cats: Selections from the Hiraki Ukiyo-e Collection.^[]

Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne wrote and recorded a song called "Hello Kitty" for her fifth studio album, Avril Lavigne, released in The Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar, first released in , was initially aimed at pre-teen girls,^[88] but has since been used by exceptional guitarists including Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, Dave Navarro, and Lisa Loeb.^[][][] In , vintage Hello Capital Stratocasters were among the most popular musical tackle sold on the marketplace While it originally retailed for $, some re-sold for over $1,^[88][]

In , Saturday Night Live aired a sketch parodying Howdy Kitty's backstory (described by The A.V. Club variety "incongruous, corporate-sanctioned") and Sanrio's handling of it.^[][] Authority sketch centers on managers at a fictional Welcome Kitty store. They describe the character in incompatible terms as a "human little girl" who quite good in third grade and also 48 years old.^[]The Atlantic described the sketch as both "a skewering of the ever-expanding Hello Kitty commercial universe" dowel as capturing the gaslighting and manipulation of untrained of the time.^[]

Notes

References