50 Fun Facts About Sanrio

Gudetama only came second in Sanrio's 2013 food-character contest — to a character based on what?

A salmon fillet named Kirimichan beat Gudetama in the in-house poll, and the runner-up went on to become Sanrio's third most profitable character. Kirimichan is a cheerful slice of fish that wants to be eaten.

Kuromi, My Melody's rival introduced in a 2005 Sanrio anime, has her official birthday on which holiday?

Halloween suits a character with a devil tail and a criminal streak: Sanrio gives Kuromi a birthday of 31 October. She began life as a biker-gang leader before becoming one of Sanrio's most popular characters.

Which Sanrio character won the fan-voted Sanrio Character Ranking five years running, from 2020 to 2024?

Cinnamoroll, the white puppy who flies with his ears, also won in 2017 and 2018, and finished above Hello Kitty in every poll from 2020 to 2026. The ranking takes votes online from fans worldwide.

The European Commission fined Sanrio 6.2 million euros in 2019 for doing what with its licensed merchandise?

Blocking cross-border sales inside the EU cost Sanrio about 6.9 million US dollars, because licensees had been told not to sell Hello Kitty goods outside their own countries. Licensing of Sanrio's original characters had begun back in 1976.

Bad Badtz-Maru, Sanrio's spiky-haired penguin, treats which animal, named Pochi, like a pet dog?

A baby alligator called Pochi trots after Badtz-Maru like a puppy, alongside Hana-Maru the white seal and Pandaba, a panda in a red bikini skirt. Badtz-Maru topped the Sanrio Character Ranking in 1996.

Sanrio's European website says the company name joins two words meaning 'holy river' — from which language?

Spanish san ('holy') and río ('river') is the official European story, but the founder's own book derives the name from an alternative reading of the company's original Yamanashi name plus an excited 'o'. Sanrio adopted the name in 1973.

Gudetama's original animated shorts aired daily on Japan's TBS from 2014 to 2020 — roughly how long was each episode?

One minute a day was enough: by 2019 the morning-show segment had clocked up more than 1,200 episodes, and viewers could play a remote-control game called 'Gudetama Chance!' during the broadcast.

In the Netflix anime Aggretsuko, Retsuko's golf-obsessed and sexist boss, the director of accounting, is which animal?

A pig who practises golf swings instead of working, Ton is nonetheless a brilliant, speedy accountant and may quietly see Retsuko as his successor. He nicknames her 'Short-Timer' after she bad-mouths him on television.

For Sanrio's 50th anniversary in 2010, which retailer sold limited-edition stuffed Sanrio characters?

Build-A-Bear Workshop's anniversary line included Hello Kitty, Chococat and Keroppi, and the same year Sanrio represented Japan's pavilions at the Shanghai World Expo with Hello Kitty merchandise.

The first Hello Kitty Con, a four-day fan convention for her 40th anniversary in 2014, was held in which city?

Los Angeles drew more than 25,000 visitors to the convention, and the Japanese American National Museum staged a 40th-anniversary exhibition in the same city that year. Puroland held its own multi-day party that November.

Which Sanrio dog character, drawn to resemble a flan, won the 2025 Sanrio Character Ranking after a nine-year gap?

Pompompurin first topped the poll in 1997, a year after his debut, then again in 2015 and 2016 before his 2025 comeback ended a rival's five-year streak. A Pompompurin Café opened in Harajuku in 2014.

Kuromi's purple sidekick, who carries her through the air on his back, is what kind of animal?

A tapir fits Japanese folklore, where the baku is a dream-eating beast, and Sanrio's purple Baku can likewise seek out people's dreams. He and Kuromi escape a Mariland dungeon at the start of the 2005 anime.

Keroppi's surname Hasunoue, in Sanrio's backstory, describes exactly where he sits — meaning what?

'Hasunoue' means on a lily pad, and Keroppi's friends include Denden the snail and Teruteru, a teru teru bōzu rain charm. He topped the Sanrio Character Ranking in 1990.

Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures, a weekly series Sanrio launched in 2020, streams on which platform?

YouTube's official Hello Kitty and Friends channel premiered the series on 26 October 2020 with a cast including Keroppi, Badtz-Maru and Kuromi. Each episode is published weekly.

Sanrio's first stop-motion film, released in 1979 and co-written by the company's founder, loosely adapts which ballet?

The Nutcracker became Nutcracker Fantasy, narrated by an adult Clara, in which a Ragman turns children into mice if he catches them up past bedtime. Sanrio remastered it for Hello Kitty's 40th anniversary in 2014.

Which manga legend created Unico, the baby unicorn who belonged to Sanrio's character lineup in the early 1980s?

Osamu Tezuka's Unico starred in two feature-length Sanrio films, but the rights shifted to Tezuka Productions after the artist's death in 1989. The manga had first run in a Sanrio magazine from 1976.

Sanrio's 1981 anime The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, based on its founder's story, retells which Shakespeare play?

Romeo and Juliet become Sirius, heir to the sea kingdom, and Malta, princess of fire, whose parents' war was stoked by a jealous lord of the winds. Masami Hata directed the film.

In Netflix's 2022 Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure, the lazy hero and a chick named Shakipiyo cross Japan seeking whom?

Their mother is the goal of the ten-episode live-action and CGI hybrid, in which the hyperactive Shakipiyo pesters Gudetama before the two become best friends. A hardboiled egg character also appears.

In the 2022 Amazon series Hello Kitty: Super Style!, what lets Hello Kitty transform into a chef, detective or popstar?

Her bow does the magic in the 3D series, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 7 December 2022 and follows Hello Kitty helping the residents of Cherry Town. Some episodes carry a +7 rating on HBO Max.

Hello Kitty Park, a Sanrio theme park that opened in 2015 in Anji County, is in which country?

China's Zhejiang Province got the park in 2015, a year in which Sanrio also made Hello Kitty a special ambassador for Japan's pavilion at the Milan Expo. Sanrio had set up a Shanghai trading company back in 2003.

Which date does Sanrio give as the official birthday of Bad Badtz-Maru, its spiky-haired penguin?

April 1 is April Fool's Day, matching a penguin whose signature pose pulls down one eyelid and sticks out his tongue, the Japanese equivalent of blowing a raspberry. He has been drawn as an astronaut, DJ and boxer.

The 500-series bullet train JR West repainted for Hello Kitty in 2018 had previously worn a livery for which anime?

Evangelion's '500 Type Eva' set V2 ran from 2015 before becoming the Hello Kitty Shinkansen on 30 June 2018, working Kodama services on the Sanyo line. Both liveries later turned up in the Shinkalion toy and anime franchise.

Jewelpet, Sanrio's 2008 franchise of gem-named animals with magical eyes, was a joint venture with which toy company?

Sega Toys co-created the line, which launched on January 15, 2008, and Italian company Giochi Preziosi later licensed it for Europe. Its slogan promises 'Eyes of Jewel that Shine, glittering with Luck and Good Fortune'.

Which studio teamed up with Sanrio and FlynnPictureCo in 2019 to make an English-language Hello Kitty feature film?

New Line Cinema joined Sanrio and FlynnPictureCo in 2019 for an English-language film that Sanrio had first announced in 2015 with a 2019 target. By 2026 the project was on its second pair of directors.

Hello Kitty Skyland, a 2025 social game from Sanrio, was built for what kind of hardware?

VR headsets in the Meta Quest family run Skyland, a social virtual-reality game that followed the success of Hello Kitty Island Adventure, which got Switch and PlayStation 5 ports the same year.

Which designer created Sanrio's 2001 puppy who flies with his long ears, and later illustrated the Jewelpet characters?

Miyuki Okumura drew the puppy and his café friends Cappuccino, Chiffon, Mocha, Espresso and Milk, then Wish me mell in 2010, before announcing in November 2024 that she was leaving Sanrio after 25 years.

Sanrio's 2020 boy group Hapidanbui revived six older male characters; its name promises what shape of recovery?

V-shaped recovery is the pun: the name shortens a Japanese phrase meaning 'boys who want to become happy aim for a V-shaped recovery'. The gambit worked, lifting all six members up the Sanrio Character Ranking.

The Little Twin Stars, Sanrio's angelic siblings from 1975, got their names Kiki and Lala from what?

A reader survey in Sanrio's Strawberry Newspaper named the pair, who were unnamed in their first publication. Kiki, the younger brother, has blue hair and Lala, the older sister, pink.

Cogimyun, Sanrio's fluffy fairy made of wheat flour, dreams of becoming which food?

A rice ball, or onigiri, is her grandfather's favourite food, so the wheat fairy wants to be one despite being made of the wrong grain. She keeps a fried shrimp named Ebi-chan as a pet.

Sanrio's 2010 rabbit Wish me mell was launched hiding inside her egg-like house until fans did what?

Sent encouraging messages and tweets, the 'withdrawn' character finally showed her face, though critics called the stunt a hikikomori gimmick. Her design was revealed on January 25, 2011.

Sanrio's 1998 hamster character Corocorokuririn and his family of seven children were modelled on what?

Hamsters kept at the office of Sanrio inspired Kuririn, his mate Sakura and their pups, and his birthday of February 4 marks the day the real hamster arrived. Strawberry Newspaper readers adopted the real litter.

Bad Badtz-Maru served as the official mascot of which sport's 2006 world championship, held in Japan?

Basketball's FIBA World Championship came to Japan in 2006 with the penguin as its face; a decade later Uni Air began flying planes painted in his motifs. He is also a main cast member of the 2020 Supercute Adventures web series.

Sanrio Puroland ran at a loss for its first few years after opening in 1990, partly because of what economic collapse?

Japan's asset price bubble had just burst, and complaints from Tama locals added to the pain for a park conceived as a bold challenge to Disney. Its working titles included Sanrio Heart Park and Sanrio Piero Land.

Coro Chan, the first original Sanrio character, carries croquettes on his cheeks — what animal is he?

A bear drawn by Hello Kitty's original designer, Coro Chan might eat the croquettes on his cheeks when hungry and lives in Windermere, England. Sanrio's backstory makes him a cousin of Hello Kitty's bear friend Thomas.

In Sanrio's dark 1978 anime Ringing Bell, the orphaned lamb Chirin begs which animal to train him?

A wolf — the very one that orphaned him — agrees to train Chirin, who grows into a horned killer ram before turning on his mentor. Sanrio released it as a double feature with The Mouse and His Child.

In the fifth and final season of Netflix's Aggretsuko, the red panda Retsuko runs for what?

A seat in parliament, Japan's National Diet, is the 2023 season's surprise, while her hyena admirer Haida quits his job and befriends a net-café refugee named Shikabane. The series began as shorts on TBS in 2016.

Puroland's 2018 musical KAWAII KABUKI had Sanrio's Hello Kitty Troupe perform which Japanese folk tale?

Momotarō, the peach boy who recruits a dog, a monkey and a pheasant to fight ogres, got the kawaii kabuki treatment in a musical that opened the same year the Hello Kitty Shinkansen began service.

Puroland's main parades circle which Puro Village landmark, home to Hello Kitty's Bell of Happiness?

The Tree of Wisdom has hosted the Miracle Gift Parade since late 2015, when it debuted for Puroland's 25th anniversary; the park's first parade was the Sanrio Starlight Parade, which ran from 1990 to 1997.

Sanrio co-produced two 1982 films with Sunrise that concluded which Yoshiyuki Tomino mecha series?

Space Runaway Ideon's finale films, A Contact and Be Invoked, were among Sanrio's rare dark productions aimed at young adults, alongside Ringing Bell. In 2025 Sanrio became the fourth-largest shareholder of anime group IG Port.

Which Sanrio character, who lives in France with a mouse named Tabby, topped the first Sanrio Character Ranking?

Zashikibuta, a pink hog in a green scarf, won the inaugural poll and by 1987 was decorating bankbooks for Nagano Bank. His official birthday is February 4.

Which Minoru Onoue-designed Sanrio character, more popular once drawn in shirts, topped the ranking from 1991 to 1995?

Pochacco was first drawn without clothes and behaving more like a real dog, and his bird friends Piyo, Pico and Peebu were named by Strawberry Newspaper readers. His 35th anniversary in 2024 brought pop-up cafés.

Which animation company sued Sanrio in 2025, claiming its own employee designed Kuromi for a 2005 anime?

Studio Comet says Tomoko Miyakawa drew Kuromi while working on the 2005 anime and that its director Makoto Moriwaki coined her name, whereas a 2023 Sanrio book credits Hello Kitty's lead designer.

Which voice actress got her first major role in Hello Kitty's first animated series, a 1987 DIC co-production?

Tara Strong went on to voice hundreds of cartoon roles; the series spoofed a fairy tale or movie each episode, with Hello Kitty or Tuxedo Sam announcing 'Once upon a meow'. Toei Animation drew it.

Which obscure 1978 Sanrio crocodile with no prior media appearances became a lead in Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

Big Challenges joined 18 launch characters alongside Tophat, an original created for the game by Boulder, Colorado studio Sunblink, when it launched on Apple Arcade in July 2023.

Sanrio's founder, born in Kofu, spent the 1950s working for what before starting the company in 1960?

A prefectural government job in Yamanashi from 1949, including a spell as a teacher, preceded the founder's leap into business; he narrowly avoided a slander campaign against the governor's rivals before leaving in 1960.

Aggretsuko's office-worker red panda Retsuko was created in 2015 by a Sanrio designer working under which pseudonym?

Yeti's creation first appeared in Fanworks shorts on TBS from April 2016, two years before Netflix picked her up; an Oni Press comic followed in 2020. Gudetama's designer likewise works under a pseudonym, Amy.

Sanrio's 2021 Kuromi marketing campaign in Shibuya and on social media ran under which slogan?

KUROMIfy the World paid off: in 2022 Kuromi placed third in the Sanrio Character Ranking, beating her rival for the first time. Anime shorts called Kuromi's Pretty Journey followed in 2023, introducing her older sister Romina.

Kirimichan, Sanrio's cheerful slice of fish, was named an 'Eat Fish' ambassador in 2015 by which Japanese ministry?

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries hoped the character, whose profile gives a slicing date instead of a birthday, would get people eating more fish. Her best friend is Kamaboko-chan, a slice of fish cake.

Pekkle, Sanrio's white duck in a blue T-shirt marked P, was born in which country according to his profile?

Australia's Cairns is his birthplace, and unusually for a Sanrio character of his era he was given eyebrows to look goofier. He leads Hapidanbui and re-entered the ranking's top 10 in 2025.

Sanrio's twin rabbits Shirousa and Kurousa, created in 2004 and living in Bunniesfield, are geniuses at making what?

Sweets and pastries made the twins Sanrio's in-house patissiers from 2004, and a 2007 TV Tokyo anime spawned two sequels, Chocolat! and Fleur, with 27 episodes each.