Staying Sweet With Hello Kitty’s Sweet Moments

Hello, fellow kitties! And meow to you all! While a hellish groovy music video within the adults-only category of modern animation online has received acclaim for its expansion on a four-armed frenemy’s development in the afterlife [19] [33] [34], a brand new series of webisodes starring a certain iconic and youthful cat from Sanrio that has been established online to welcome her to the beginning of a new decade is remaining sure to captivate viewers with its U-rated elements [9] [10] [11]. Ever since the mid-1970s, Kitty White has cuted many consumers out with her kawaii aesthetics on many clothing items and accessories, thus being referred to as “Hello Kitty”, her stage name [12] [15]. Speaking of being cuted out, I still remember being delighted from receiving a Hello Kitty tent after crafting it in exchange for five-hundred Hello Kitty gyroidites in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp while plenty of other animal crossers’ avatars snacked on Hello Kitty fortune cookies back in mid-2019 [1] [20] [21]. As someone who cosplayed as her twin sister Mimmy during Halloween later that year [17] [29] [30] [31] [32], I am more than delighted to analyse the first three weekly sweet moments on the official YouTube channel she shares with other Sanrio characters [8] [13].

This kawaii kitty from a Japanese company is back and sweeter than ever in her sweet moments! [11]

The art style is quite refreshing, to say the least [9] [10] [11]. Even though Kitty’s head is more oval-shaped than usual, she still looks super cute as a cat that is as tall as a stack of five apples [15]. The colouring in plenty of aspects, including her eyes and bow, consist of tiny white gaps to make it resemble amateur colouring within a traditional drawing. It may be quite off-putting to some degree, but it may increase the appeal of the new web series for young viewers. However, the style of the colouring reminds me of the choppy colouring in the Deadpool’s Head app [6] [7]. The backgrounds are very plain with hardly much detail, but they at least help Kitty and aspects she interacts with stand out well and remind me of the extreme simplicity of the asdfmovie series [25] [26] [27] [28]. The animation’s smooth and steady flow enriches the freshness of the new art style as an element of exceptional quality. Even though the new art style for Sweet Moments with Hello Kitty may not be every Hello Kitty fan’s strawberry milkshake, it can still be seen as quite a fresh new look for a brand new establishment of the iconic gijinka’s life.

It is quite amusing how Kitty’s bow, her face, her whiskers and the recipe book stand out from a transparent layer that spawned from the flour being poured into the mixing bowl. Aside from that, the animation and art style give the web series its own source of individuality. [10]

The premise of the show is basically Kitty doing ordinary things, such as baking an apple pie and practising tennis with a tennis ball machine [9] [10] [11]. The plots are very simplistic, which suits Kitty’s guiltless lifestyle of being a young Bobtail cat. One rather amusing moment of irony is when the tennis ball machine shoots out a bottle of water instead of another tennis ball after Kitty exhales from exhaustion from hitting a flock of balls with her racket in “Friendly Rewards” [9]. A creatively symbolic moment is when our loveable feline makes hearts appear above her head by thinking lovingly and then gathering them to complete the apple pie she baked in “Made With Love” [10]. The plot consists of the most conflict is the one in “Sweet Solutions” as it is about Kitty trying to figure out which ice-cold sweet treat would be the safest to snack on in hot weather [11]. With such simple and innocent scenarios, it looks like the web series is not called “Sweet Moments with Hello Kitty” for nothing. Additionally, the simplistic formula at least consists of conflict, creativity or irony to be somewhat engaging for the audience and ought to stay that way for more episodes.

A tennis ball machine that shoots out a bottle of water after a session. How convenient. [9]

What about my thoughts on the audio? There is very little voice acting in the shorts, not because Kitty’s kawaii face lacks a mouth [9] [10] [11]. You can at least hear her giggle softly when she is happy and sigh when she feels bummed or exhausted. I believe that the same amount of voice acting will apply to Mimmy White or Dear Daniel if either of them ought to make an appearance in another short [14] [17]. The theme tune that plays during the title screens sounds so calming with chimes of child-like innocence, thus reminding me of some examples of music from MySims for the Nintendo Wii [5]. I also like how slightly more dramatic samples of music play when rather unfortunate events happen, such as when the scoops of Kitty’s ice cream fall onto the ground as they fit the feeling of casually encountering them [11]. I would not be surprised if a delightfully motivating superhero fanfare will play if a new episode welcomes back Ichigoman, Kitty’s superhero persona who debuted back in 2011 [16]. The elements of the audio for the first three weekly shorts in Summer 2020 have been practically and competently produced, further increasing the quality and child-like innocence of the series.

While samples of the music are often cheerful to suit the honeyed tones of each episode [9] [10] [11], the variety of foley sounds in the first three shorts are also competent, such as the sound of a tennis ball being whacked by Kitty’s racket. [9]

While Kitten Catfe is such a cute and creative toy line for toy reviewers and the youth of today [18], Sweet Moments with Hello Kitty is a sweet treat for Hello Kitty fans of all ages in the second half of 2020 [9] [10] [11]. Its adorable and overly innocent outcome is yet another way to benefit our mental health during the coronavirus pandemic [2] [3]. Moreover, it might as well receive my nomination for “The Cutest Cartoon Of 2020”, even though there are only three episodes so far. Furthermore, I shall look forward to some more animated shorts week after week throughout the rest of the year. You and I may miss a certain era of time we refer to as “the good old days”, but at least we can still look forward to discovering new additions of our favourite franchises, including forthcoming video games like Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart [23] [24]. Aside from young people today tuning in to Sweet Moments with Hello Kitty, some older audiences shall be ready to rock their rage out with the third season of Aggretsuko in August [4] [22]. Stay sweet in your sweet moments, fellow kitties!

Hello Kitty can never have too many fans [15]! [11]

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