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YMMV / Sanrio

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  • Awesome Music: While the company is no stranger to making some amazing music while combing its cute factor, here's just a few notable examples of good songs and music Sanrio has made and produced over the years.
    • Sanrio Animation's movies and shorts were notable for having wonderfully orchestrated soundtracks. Such as the majority of "Be Invoked", their Unico movies (The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic) and The Rose Flower and Joe during Joe's imagination sequence and the short's theme song. The most notable is the theme song Chirin no Suzu from the same name as the Japanese title which is hauntingly beautiful which really fitted the tone of the movie.
    • "Lucky Happy Everyday" is an upbeat and energetic song performed by My Melody, Hello Kitty, and various Sanrio Characters. The song would frequently be played at various live shows at Sanrio Puroland.
    • Sanrio TV Original Songbook: Ureshi SONG!! is an album Sanrio made in the mid to late 1990s that featured original songs performed by popular Sanrio Characters and then brand new characters. These include, "Koitte! Patzn Musume♪" performed by Badtz-Maru's sister Tzunko, "A lot of big love" and "Flame Diet Chu!" performed by Kuririn and his siblings, and "Pudding Pudding?" performed by Purin. There's also a song about Pom Pom Purin called "Boku Purin" performed by a Japanese singer.
    • "The Sanrio Character Boat Ride" at Sanrio Puroland and Harmonyland has a very laid back and adorable theme song performed by Cinnamoroll's friends about their excitement for Hello Kitty's Wedding. Especially the music box variation that is heard as guests are leaving the final scene.
    • Mell from Wish Me Mell has her own song called "Mel's Sanrio Cute Memory Song" (メルのサンリオかわいいおぼえうた) performed outside of the entrance of Puroland and performed by various Sanrio Characters. The song features Mell singing about almost every Sanrio Character up to that period (the song was made in 2017). Like "Lucky Happy Everyday", this song is also frequently performed at various live shows featuring a cavalcade of Sanrio Characters.
    • The credits theme for the Keroppi and Friends and Pochacco (Pochacco in the Excitement at the Carrot Patch, and Pochacco: Exciting Birthday) OVAs from the early 1990s, has a very upbeat and catchy tune. The credits song is mainly performed on a single saxophone.
    • To promote Sanrio and Chocolate Inc's "KUROMIfy the World" project focused on Kuromi on October 30th, 2021. They released a song called "Greedy Greedy" performed by Kuromi which has a catchy punk-themed tone. The extended version features Kuromi performing a brief rapping section. Another version of the song was also released with a different tune with her performing alongside "Imase". An English version was eventually uploaded to Kuromi's Official Youtube Channel on March 29, 2022.
  • Creepy Cute:
    • The demonic forms of the Lloromannic.
    • Sanrio had once made a line of plush dolls◊ for Halloween that featured their characters with buttons for eyes, stitching all over their bodies, and a tiny dot for a mouth, reminiscent of Coraline.
    • Their Halloween stuff in general falls under this.
  • Friendly Fandoms: With fans of San-X (creators of Rilakkuma and Mamegoma) which is also a Japanese company focused on creating merchandise featuring similar characters, to the point where San-X characters are often mistaken for Sanrio's and vice versa or that some people think that they're the same companies.
    • Also shares fanbases with Animal Crossing, thanks to similar cutesy characters. It helps that there have been events when players can get items based on Sanrio characters.
    • Since Sanrio collaborated with Yuri!!! on Ice in 2018◊, fans of the series quickly shared fanbases due to not only accepting LGBTQ representation, but an interracial relationship since two characters that get engaged are Japanese and Russian.
    • Of all the mobile games Sanrio collaborated with, while not the weirdest of the lot, the SINoALICE fandom took very quickly to the Sanrio cast since the 2022 collab event A Fluffy Encounter. So much so, the event became the most popular collab event of the year and had the shortest time gap between its debut and rerun, being set to return 1 year after it first ran. It probably helps that the SINoALICE cast themselves decided that the Sanrio characters are meant to be adored and not murdered, and their class outfits range from super adorable to utterly hilarious.
  • Heartwarming Moments:
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Sanrio is more popular outside of Japan than its native Japan, especially Hello Kitty (whose large quantity of bootleg merch has reached Memetic Mutation status).
    • If the amount of merch is any indication, Americans love the heck out of Gudetama.
    • Retsuko from Aggretsuko started gaining popularity with adults in the US, who can relate to a lot of situations and problems she faces in her work-life. She even showed up on Hot Topic's "Hot Minute" in October, 2017 and collaborated with skateboard brand Chocolate.
    • Sanrio characters, especially Hello Kitty and My Melody, are also popular in China, Singapore, and Korea. Sanrio even built a third theme park called "Hello Kitty Land" which opened in 2015 at Huzou, China. A second Sanrio Theme Park at China is also scheduled for a 2024 opening at Hainan, China.
  • Ho Yay: Due to My Melody being Hello Kitty's best friend. A majority of Sanrio animated works (such as The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends, Supercute Adventures''), merchandise, live appearances, etc would feature the duo having a very platonic friendship. This resulted in ton of Sanrio fans shipping both characters as a result.
  • LGBT Fanbase: Sanrio has become popular in the LGBTQ community in recent years, thanks to works like Sanrio Boys which has male characters bonding together over their love of Sanrio and with collabs for anime like Yuri!!! on Ice which features two male characters getting engaged after sharing their first kiss.
    • Since The New '10s, the My Melody series has become popular with LGBTQ fans, with My Melody/Kuromi and My Melody/Piano becoming popular pairings.◊ Especially My Melody/Piano◊ due to both having a very close relationship and Piano being the sweetest of My Melody's friends in Mariland.
    • Though they're lesser known in the west, Wish me Mell/Maimai◊ are also often seen as a couple since their relationship is on par with My Melody/Piano.
    • Certain fans like to headcanon Dear Daniel as a butch lesbian thanks to a news article that claims the creator said he was a little girl.
  • Memetic Mutation:
  • Misaimed Merchandising: To promote the release of Ringing Bell (Chirin No Suzu) between 1977 and 1978, Chirin was featured in tons of merchandise (such as bags◊ and stuffed animals◊) keeping his happy and sweet nature, which even extends to the studio's own animation cells◊ showing a happy Chirin on the top border. This is jarring for people familiar with the story, considering the fate of the protagonist and the movie's depressing and melancholy tone.
  • Moe: Some characters were just made to melt your heart and are asking for a good hug. Especially characters like Mell from Wish Me Mell, My Melody◊ and her friend Piano, and Little Forest Fellow◊ (nicknamed "Melo"), who is extremely shy and fragile.
  • Sweet Dreams Fuel: Especially Sanrio Puroland and Harmonyland, even extending to some shows starring their characters (notably Onegai My Melody, Jewelpet, and Mewkledreamy).
  • Tear Jerker:
    • Sanrio released this video titled "Messages of support from the Sanrio characters" in light of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which also counts as Heartwarming Moments. The video features popular characters from Sanrio holding hands and moving in tune to sad and then triumphant music. Sanrio finds a way to cheer up and show some hope for their fans in Japan.
    • After Sanrio Puroland announced its temporary closure during the beginning of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak. The official YouTube channel uploaded a special video on March 23, 2020 showing the characters alongside Puroland staff keeping the place tidy and clean while the place is entirely deserted of guests and visitors. Hello Kitty is also seen reading one of the Land of Oz books on an empty stage, while Badtz-Maru and Cinnamoroll are watching. The video ends with a photo of Sanrio characters (including Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Mell) outside Sanrio Puroland's entrance, holding hands with their backs turned. A similar video was uploaded the same day which was equally moving. Sanrio Puroland later reopened later that year, but with social distanced interactions and shows with various Sanrio Characters.
    • Gudetama, a perpetually lethargic egg who has no drive in life. Doesn't help that they're a fried egg; could that be why they're in such a sorry state of mind?
    • Malaysia's Hello Kitty Town shutting down after years of operating due to a lack of visitors, it doesn't help that its neighbors theme park, Thomas Town is shutting down as well.
    • A month before the 70th Anniversary of Japan's surrender from World War 2. On July 18th 2015, "Strawberry Magazine" published a somber article featuring various Sanrio Characters crying◊ to reflect on Japan's surrender and international concerns. The article features Hello Kitty, My Melody, My Sweet Piano and others encouraging people learn more about the war through books, movies, TV as well as from those who experienced it directly. The most heartbreaking is My Melody discussing the ongoing Islamic Conflict and Syria.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Any character who was discontinued can fall under this, especially if they've had very little merch made with them and/or sold in stores for long. It doesn't help that most of Sanrio's animated works tend to be focused on their most well-known characters, leaving the rest in the dust with little personality given for them. If an unpopular character appears in any media, it will likely be in a video game, on official artwork for the Sanrio Character Ranking event, or if they're lucky enough, they'll get mentioned on Sanrio's social media accounts as a Friend of the Month or if it's their birthday.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion
    • Kiki of the Little Twin Stars is sometimes mistaken as a girl because of his name and he often wears gowns which can seen as dresses.
    • Cinnamoroll due to his blush stickers and somewhat more feminine voice (especially in Japan where Cinnamoroll is voiced by Taeko Kawata) compared to his male friends and Chiffon. Mocha even mistakes him for a girl when she first meets him in the Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamoroll manga series. He's also a wholesome crossdresser, to the point where Espresso gains a crush on him in the aforementioned manga series.
    • Despite her association with flowers and love for ballet, Usahana gets occasionally mistaken as a boy since she has a lot of blue on her and looks less feminine compared to Sanrio's other female bunnies.
    • Hello Kitty's teddy bear friend Tiny Chum is a boy, but since he wears bows on his head like Kitty and his Puroland mascot wears dresses, he gets mistaken for a girl. During the 2016 Character Ranking event, his description even stated that he "[d]oesn't want to get mistaken for a girl this year!". His siblings, which consist of 4 brothers and only 1 sister, also suffer from this.
  • Viewer Species Confusion:
    • You'd be forgiven if you thought Cinnamoroll was a rabbit rather than a puppy, due to his long floppy ears and the common media trope of the White Bunny.
    • On the other hand, Kuromi actually is a rabbit, but she's sometimes mistaken for a cat due to the ears on her hat being pointy.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Sanrio Animation's animated films from the late 70s and mid 80s touched on darker subject matter and contained disturbing and sometimes depressing stories. Some of Sanrio's most heartbreaking works include:
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The Aggretsuko series is drawn with Sanrio's signature cutesy art style, but is aimed at adults. It is set in modern-day Japan and deals with topics such as workplace abuse, harassment, sexism, marriage and features characters engaging in alcoholism. Despite this, merchandise and promos of the show are often featured alongside the more kid-friendly fare in Sanrio’s stores and websites.
  • The Woobie: Mellow aka "Little Forest Fellow" due to his shyness and gets his feelings easily hurt. Due to his shyness, he's very lonely and his only friend that lives with him is a baby bird. When he first meets My Melody, he was too shy to even properly introduce himself and reveal his date of birth. While he managed, to properly introduced My Melody to his friends. He wasn't able to ask My Melody his birth date (which makes him feel guilty for not doing it) and needed help from his bird friend. Thankfully, Melo's life isn't heartbreaking, but his timid nature and being very insecure can make viewers want to give him a hug.

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