NEWS: “Together with hello Kitty” revolution!

The All-New “Together with hello Kitty” revolution!

I first realized something big was going on around Hello Kitty Japan when I was looking for new artwork of my favorite illustrators. Today, I felt this urge to write about the new re-designed Hello Kitty contents by Sanriowave co. called: “ハローキティといっしょ!” (Hello Kitty to issho) which means “Together with hello kitty”, or for Short: “Kittylers”.



Despite the fact Hello kitty is already an international hit. The first designs were undoubtedly made "For Girls only". And even when some boys believed she was “cute”, the normal reaction among man will be to stay away from it, since there is a belief that it makes boys look “sissy” or worse…

Over the past years we saw virtually no-changes on the Hello Kitty Art. A simple: “plain cute” concept took her where she is right now, so why did they even think of a change?

With this in mind, I tried asking some of my Japanese friends about cats (yes, the real animal). Over 60% said they dislike them for more than one reason. Nevertheless they think cats are by definition a "plus item" for Girls; improving their cuteness and sometimes sadly used as nothing more than "fashionable items". So, on a different approach, I went ahead and asked what they think about Girls wearing “cat ears”, “cat tails” or any other “cat-like accessory”, of course I was prepared for better odds... ^^; What I got in return was no less than 90% (positive answers)... Yes, Us boys LOVE girls wearing cat accessories! I can also say for sure; -The closer you get to the Japanese culture the easier it becomes to admit something "looks cute"- Specially when it comes to Girls, maybe because it's easier to say that word in Japanese than other languages, who knows... We should probably call this: “The Kawaii tendency” ^^; and believe me when I say: There are enough "Cute looking" things in Japan to please every person with any peculiar taste around the Globe!

What happened next was nothing unexpected, really. HK needed a “fresh image” but this time, more "appropriate" for the male audience. So basically, they applied that same 90% working formula (described before =p), and made a fantastic combination of two amazing concepts: Anime-like characters illustrated by the most popular CG artists in Japan Hello kitty outfits.



Let’s think about it for a brief moment; here, instead of using “just any cat”, we have Hello kitty itself decorating the already marvelous characters straight from the hands of many super popular Japanese illustrators. You cannot go wrong that way!

In Japan, this phenomenon became almost an instant success. At this very moment the “new wave” (literally =p) is preparing to reach international shores, and when it does, everyone (including the boys) will be surprised by the radical change!

Allow me to introduce some of the Characters and illustrators involved on this project:

Character name	Illustrator/Artist	Other works
Nekomura Iroha	Okama	Himawari!, Getsumen to heiki Mina, Kamichu!, Cat’s world, etc.
Minase Shizuku	POP	MOETAN, Aquarian Age, Lollipop, etc.
Yamamura Karina	Koumei Keito	Spice and Wolf, Uta-Kata, Pollinic Girls attack, etc.
Mamiya Elizabeth Tsubasa	Eeji Komatsu	Maburaho, Planetarian, etc.
Rio	KEI	Vocaloids: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin & Len, Megurine Luka, etc.
Tachibana Mikan	Akio Watanabe Also known as Poyoyon Rock	Bakemonogatari, Soul Taker, The world God only knows, Popotan, etc.
Miyabi Sakuya	CARNELIAN	Yami to bushi to hon no tabibito, Touka gettan, Moonlight lady.
Miu Cloufold?	Fujima Takuya	Lyrical Nanoha Strikers, Fate/Stay night, Negima Neo, etc.
Nogisu Kanna	Redjuice	Supercell albums art, Vocaloid games, Lord of vermilion game.
Kagura Noa	Nishida (Nishi E Da)	Pure Mail, Imoto de Ikou, etc.
Christopher W. Heartland (male)	Kurahara Chinatsu	Blade Chronicle Game, the last promise story game.
Rando Rin	Kurobushi Kouhaku	Kino’s Journey, Allison, Summon night Game, etc.

We should be able to see more characters late this year, since the collaborators are continuously increasing, as we speak.

From the current characters; Nekomura Iroha was chosen to become a Vocaloid2 and she is already singing on the web. All I can say about her voice at this moment is: She can perfectly sing Enka! But I still prefer Miku for J-pop and Lana Yuki for Anime songs, even though Iroha sings a bit better in English and some quiet-ballad Anime songs.



Listen to her voice here: Clepsydra & Tsubasa by Nekomura Iroha Vocaloid2 software from AH-Soft.

A “Hello kitty to issho” video-game came out already in Japan, but a release date on other languages is still unknown, so I rather don't spoil you anything about it just yet ;)

In conclusion, if you are a fan of Anime Illustrations, Hello Kitty, or just amazing computer graphics, this is definitely a great year for you. Personally, I’m very excited to find-out how Sanriowave Co. will approach the international market. I would also love to see more POP and Takuya-Sensei illustrations, and why not... maybe even a new Vocaloid2 character for Minase Shizuku? Yeah~



Here are some goods you can get from the site:

Kittylers keychain Chibi-version set (5): http://www.cooljapangoods.com/hello-kitty-to-issho-keychain-set-xml-463_464_486-934.html you can watch a video about them here:



36 Pages Art-book: http://www.cooljapangoods.com/together-with-hello-kitty-artbook-xml-386_407_408-1054.html

Vocaloid2 Software Nekomura Iroha: http://www.cooljapangoods.com/vocaloid2-nekomura-iroha-software-pack-xml-463_464_465-1061.html

The original version of this article can be found here: http://www.cooljapangoods.com/see-all-the-news-nsr-1306706400.html
*But here you get to see the full-size pictures *-*