Important Importables: Sanrio
by at August 13, 2010 8:14 am
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Everyone has heard of Sanrio, thanks to Hello Kitty. Her fame has made the company a household name. But she isn’t the only famous character the company has created, and Sanrio isn’t just about cranking out assorted Hello Kitty products for cash. (Though it does create a lot.)
Sanrio’s been around for over 30 years, and has accomplished quite a bit in that time. It’s created a profitable line of adorable mascot characters, and successfully branched out into anime series, amusement parks and video games.
Sanrio itself
Sanrio didn’t always start out as Sanrio. It was originally the Yamanashi Silk Company until the 70′s, when it actually became Sanrio. It always did make little gifts, greeting cards and novelty presents with cute characters and designs though.
It didn’t really start making successful and memorable charcters until after the company took the Sanrio name in 1973. Some of the first few characters may sound familiar, as they’re still part of Sanrio’s stable of mascots. Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, My Melody and Tuxedo Sam.
Sanrio also focuses on other endeavors though, which people may not realize. As mentioned earlier, they’re a huge greeting card company in Japan. It also makes movies, TV shows and original animation videos (OAVs) as Sanrio Films. It even has Sanrio amusement parks in Japan, Sanrio Puroland and Harmonyland.
Sanrio’s most popular characters
The most famous Sanrio character, without a doubt, is Hello Kitty. Reportedly inspired by the maneki neko (lucky cat), her face has appeared on countless products around the world. Not to mention her tv series and games have been quite well received. But there are a number of other famous faces from Sanrio’s character line which also enjoy a bit of worldwide popularity. Even Hello Kitty’s boyfriend and pet, Dear Daniel and Charmmy Kitty, have become international stars.
Keroppi and Badtz Maru, the chipper green frog and the surly black penguin, are both reknowned characters. Cinnamoroll and My Melody, puppy and bunny characters, are also quite popular. And Chococat, a little black cat, has always encroached on Hello Kitty’s fame. Even Pochacco and Spotty Dotty, the white sporty dog and the dalmation with a pink bow, enjoyed 15 minutes of fame in the late 80′s and early 90′s. One of Sanrio’s most recent and successful line of characters are Jewelpet, which were designed with Sega and are actually a collective of cute, bejeweled animals.
Worthwhile Sanrio games
There have been many video games released over the years starring Sanrio’s characters. Most are geared towards children. Even so, there are still quite a few that are very good, and fun for anyone who takes the time to try them.
Here are a few of the most interesting:
COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables lists some import video game soundtracks you should own.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables talked about the some Japanese summer festivals.
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