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Hello Kitty

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Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harō Kiti?) is the most well-known of many fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio.

The character, an anthropomorphized white cat, is characterized by a distinctive bow or some other decoration on her left ear, and the absence of a mouth.

Copyrighted in 1976, Hello Kitty is now a globally known trademark.

Contents

History

Hello Kitty was originally created by Sanrio designer Yuko Shimizu in 1974. Shimizu left the company in 1976. The second designer, Setsuko Yonekubo, took over for four years until 1980 when the task was given to Yuko Yamaguchi, who still holds the position. The character originally appeared on small novelties for young girls, such as coin purses.

Hello Kitty was given an English name (Kitty White) because British culture was popular with Japanese girls at the time of her creation (though the name is rarely used in popular culture). Kitty's name came from one of the cats that Alice kept in the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. When Hello Kitty's boyfriend "Dear Daniel" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film, Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Daniel, and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. Since 2004 she has even had a pet cat of her own called Charmmy Kitty, and a pet hamster called Sugar. Charmmy resembles Hello Kitty but has more cat-like features. Charmmy Kitty was given to Hello Kitty by her father, George White, and Sugar by Dear Daniel.

Visual style and possible origins

Image:HelloKittyBus.jpg

There has been some suggestion that Hello Kitty has its origins in Maneki Neko, and that the name Hello Kitty itself is a translation of Maneki Neko, which means beckoning cat in English. It has also been noted that the character shows a resemblance to the character Miffy, designed in 1955 by Dick Bruna and that the line drawing style is not original.

Hello Kitty's rising prominence

Hello Kitty has been marketed in the United States from the beginning and has held the position of U.S. children's ambassador for UNICEF since 1983. She really came to her own during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted her as a fashion statement. Now products featuring the character can be found in virtually any American department store. Hello Kitty was once featured in an advertising campaign of the retail chain Target. Many American celebrities have contributed to the character's popularity: Ricky Martin, Mariah Carey, Cameron Diaz, Heidi Klum, Steven Tyler, Christina Aguilera, Carmen Electra, Mandy Moore, Ashley Tisdale, Raven-Symoné, Varla Jean Merman, as well as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Nicky Hilton have all been spotted with Hello Kitty goods. Singer Lisa Loeb, who is marketing the pink Hello Kitty guitar, has admitted to being a fan and has even dedicated a whole album in homage to Hello Kitty, called Hello Lisa.

Merchandise

Although originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty logo now adorns almost every product that one can imagine to have its logo on it. Though a large proportion of the merchandise are stationery products, other goods range from foods and clothing to computers and cars, and in Japan, its popularity has penetrated every aspect of Japanese daily life. In Japan, Hello Kitty is no longer viewed as merely for young girls, but is equally popular with teenagers and even adults who like the sweet, cute and girly image. This expanded market is reflected by the sale of Hello Kitty adult underwear and even wedding dresses. Hello Kitty items in the USA include luggage tags, posters, purses, cosmetics, stickers and jewelry. In addition, there are many stores selling only Hello Kitty merchandise.

The very first product bearing Hello Kitty's image was a small clear vinyl coin purse which sold for 240 yen (today, roughly US$2.27, or €1.77). She is now a phenomenon adorning over 22,000 products and accounting for half of Sanrio's $1 billion yearly revenue.

Electronic games

Image:Hellokittyhappypartypals.jpg

Several electronic games have been produced where Kitty appears as the main character. These are some of them:

Hello Kitty as a character

Hello Kitty is also used in books to teach children manners.

Several Hello Kitty cartoons/animes targeted towards young children have been produced.

The earliest Hello Kitty cartoon series known was the American-animated (co-produced with Japan) Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theatre, which aired throughout 1987. This show parodies various famous fairy tales and blockbuster movies from the period.[1]

On USA television, the Japanese anime series Hello Kitty and Friends aired on CBS in 1991, and also ran on Toon Disney. On the show, Kitty is depicted as a little girl who lives 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 pals) have starred in at least one anime series of their own. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. This version was released in English in 2000. This version, like "Hello Kitty and Friends", also aired on Toon Disney.

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)

Since 2004 the little cat 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 2006, it was announced Hello Kitty will be appearing in a new Japanese clay-animated series called Hello Kitty's Stump Village from Sanrio. At Anime Expo 2006, Geneon Entertainment announced that Hello Kitty's Stump Village was one of the series they've licensed for U.S. release and volume 1 will be released in October.

Cultural references

  • A merging of Sanrio characters with the Cthulhu Mythos results in the webcomic Hello Cthulhu [2]
  • On the episode "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" of the TV series The Simpsons, the family travels to Japan and passes by the Hello Kitty merchandise factory. The yowling noises from within suggest that they were made from real cats.
  • Occasionally the phrase "What the Hello Kitty" is heard as a euphemism for "What the hell"!
  • In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, there is a Hello Kitty parody named Sassy Cat. In one episode, the gang visits a Sassy Cat theme park, and Grim asks "Who is this Sassy Cat?" Mandy replies with "A stupid media icon based on some stupid cartoon." Grim then says "Oh, I hate cartoons!"
  • In the Futurama episode, Crimes of the Hot, a "Curious Pussycat" factory is seen in the background of a scene set in Kyoto. The logo is reminiscent of the Hello Kitty logo.
  • The band Goons of Doom created a song entitled "Hello Kitty", presumably relating to the character.
  • The Online Webcomic The Order of the Stick parodies Hello Kitty by creating a, presumably parallel, character in the world in which the comic takes place. This character is known as "Hello Goblin", and is seen on an umbrella that is carried by the Monster in the Dark.
  • The After Dark screensaver "Hall of Fame", which features several famous After Dark characters portrayed as anime characters, shows an image of Bad Dog that looks like Hello Kitty.
  • P.J. O'Rourke describes a building as "at once grim, silly, and solemn -- the tomb of Hello Kitty."

Official profile of Kitty

a ceramic figurine of Kitty wearing a traditional Japanese kimono.
  • Name: Kitty White
  • Birthday: April 24, 1990
  • Blood type: A (Negative)
  • Place of birth: Suburban London
  • Height: That of five apples
  • Weight: That of three shiny apples
  • Good at: Baking cookies, International Studies, Making pancakes for friends, Origami, bows , shopping for friends, shopping WITH friends, buying things
  • Favorite food: Apple pie made by Mama (A.K.A. mum or Mary)
  • Hobbies: Traveling, music, reading, eating yummy cookies her sister Mimmy bakes, making new friends, and going on adventures
  • Favorite word: "Friendship", "best"
  • Collects: Small cute things like sweets, stars, goldfish etc.
  • Best school subjects: English, French, history, music, visual arts.
  • Description: A bright and kind-hearted kitten. Very close to her twin sister Mimmy.

External links and references

Promotional/Marketing Events

de:Hello Kitty es:Hello Kitty fr:Hello Kitty ko:헬로 키티 id:Hello Kitty he:הלו קיטי ms:Hello Kitty nl:Hello Kitty ja:ハローキティ pt:Hello Kitty sv:Hello Kitty zh:Hello Kitty

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Hello_Kitty"
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