For years now, Sanrio fans have debated whether the entertainment company’s most beloved character,Hello Kitty, is actually a cat or not. At one time, the consensus was that Hello Kitty is a human being, according to a comment made by Sanrio to Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist who was working on a Japanese American Museum exhibit at the time.
Although inan August 2014 L.A. Times article, Sanrio once stated that “She is a little girl,” recent news has changed this assertion entirely.Video game website Kotaku reportedthat after further discussion with a Sanrio representative, the final truth is that “it’s going too far to say that Hello Kitty is not a cat.”
Sanrio Declares Once and for All That Hello Kitty Is a Cat
Based on Kotaku’s interview with a spokesperson at Sanrio, Hello Kitty is, and always was, the feline she appears to be. She engages in human experiences, including walking on two legs, eating meals, and going to school, because she is an anthropomorphization of a cat, not a typical house cat.
This anthropomorphic distinction explains why Hello Kitty does not crawl on all fours or eat cat food, and because humanlike animal characters are so common in media, Sanrio’s explanation makes sense. In Japanese, this anthropomorphization is called “gijinka”, or “擬人化”, and it is this concept that elevates Hello Kitty from pet to personified animal.
With pointed triangle-shaped ears, whiskers, a small button nose, and rounded fingerless hands,the Sanrio characterhas always looked more catlike than not, so Sanrio’s previous statement thatHello Kitty is human caused controversy. Sanrio’s recent remarks to Kotaku, coupled with a few other key pieces of evidence, reveal once and for all that the character is a cat.
There Have Always Been Hints From Sanrio That Hello Kitty Is Not Human
Yuko Shimizu created Hello Kitty in 1974, and although she was later named Kitty White, she is known more commonly as Hello Kitty nowadays. Some people are unaware that after she was designed, she was not even given a name until later and instead called “the white cat with no name,” further indicating that she is a cat.
Kotaku notes that Sanrio’s website is one of the most compelling pieces of proof of her status as a cat. In some places, likeSanrio’s Japanese website, Hello Kitty is referred to as a girl. Although this may seem to indicate that she is human, it really only confirms her gender, not whether she is a human or an animal.
Hello Kitty does have a pet cat, Charmmy Kitty. But that does not mean she cannot be a cat as well, she is just a different type. Charmmy Kitty walks on four legs, wears a collar, and takes on a much more petlike persona, while Hello Kitty’s anthropomorphism gives her the impression of a human being.
All of this information together finally ends years of debate, pronouncing with finality thatHello Kitty is a cat, but an anthropomorphic, autonomous one. Her vibrant personality and humanlike characteristics help her relate to fans, while she still possesses all the most adorable traits of a feline, so really,Hello Kittyis the best of both worlds.
