Not a Cat

Breaking News: Hello Kitty is not a cat but is still 100% adorable

Kind of jumping on the bandwagon after last week (during celebrations of her 40th anniversary) Sanrio announced that Kitty is in fact not a cat and is instead 'just a little girl'. This is confusing the hell out of a lot of people but I think it's being taken too literally. She's not an actual cat (she actually has a pet cat of her own called Charmmy) but an anthropomorphisation of one - the same way as Mickey being an anthropomorphised mouse but not actually being a mouse. If you look at the Wiki page, her official species is listed as 'cartoon cat gijinka'. I've always seen her that way anyway, as opposed to an actual cat in a dress, but I find the uproar it's caused very amusing.

So yeah, she's a little girl called Kitty White who lives in London, has a twin called Mimmy, and lives with her parents George and Mary, whether you want to believe it or not. I've never been one for overly-pink stereotypically 'girly' things but there's just some universal appeal about Kitty that makes me love her, both as a cute character and an excellent example of marketing success. Not bad for a little girl from London who's only (quoting the official Sanrio website) 'five apples high'.

Check out one of the many news articles about the recent announcement here: www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/…

Kittyy (c) Sanrio/Yuko Shimizu