[ARR] Hello Kitty's Animation Theater TV 01-13

The ridiculously popular Hello Kitty is given a rather nice North American release with the Hello Kitty Animation Theatre, where a series of traditional children’s stories are re-spun.

Hello Kitty in Snow White And The Seven Dwarves
The old tale of Snow White given a Hello Kitty makeover with Hello Kitty in the title role. Watch for the dialogue between the Queen and the Mirror:

“Who's the most beautiful?”
“You are the most beautiful. However, Snow White is more beautiful.”

Oops. Gotta love those translations. This version of Snow White is bright, cute, and tells the entire story under 15 minutes without showing any violence directly, only implied. This version remains more faithful to the original story than the Disney version that most of us know well.

Hello Kitty & Mimmy In King Midas’ Donkey Ears
For the retelling of King Midas’ Donkey Ears, the King (who is now a bear) has his ears turned into a donkey ears after he was asked to judge between the music of two gods. Hello Kitty and Mimmy are local hairstylists who discover the King’s ears when they go to the castle to cut the hair of the King. The King orders the two to not tell anyone what they saw, but Hello Kitty is having a hard time keeping the secret, and every haircut she gives ends up making the person look as though they had donkey ears as well. So the King doesn’t become embarrassed, as donkey ears come into fashion.

Hello Kitty & Dear Daniel In Hansel & Gretel
For the tale of “Hansel and Gretel” Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel are the title characters and like the original story, are abandoned in the forest by their evil step-mother who doesn’t think that the family has enough food to survive until their father heals. The children come across a candy house and after eating their fill are taken prisoner by the witch who lives there, who intends to eat the children. Hansel and Gretel are being fattened up by the witch, but are able to avoid being eaten for some time thanks to their quick wits and are able to kill the witch by pushing her into a fire when she is about to cook Hansel. Unlike the other shorts, they do show the witch being pushed into the fire (not directly) but it is the first time that violence isn’t implied.

Hello Kitty In The Bamboo Princess
Finally, the only tale that I don’t know completely. An elderly man is walking through a bamboo forest when he comes across a glowing stalk. When he cuts it down, he finds a baby girl inside who he brings home to his wife; the couple decide to raise the girl as their own. On further trips through the forest, the old man finds another glowing stalk but this time filled with money. The family, now wealthy, is most generous with their wealth and gives freely to those in need and the local people start calling the young girl “Bamboo Princess”. The attention draws five royal suitors who would like to marry the girl but instead of choosing one she gives them all a task to complete. They each must search out something specific, and the first one to return will get to marry her. All five suitors were unable to achieve their goals.

The princess was then met by the Emperor, who also wanted to court her. But she said that she could not remain and would return to the moon on the next full moon as her people from the moon would come to take her away. The parents asked the Emperor for help in protecting their daughter. Agreeing to help, the Emperor stations troops around the house and prepares to defend the girl. But when the group comes to collect the Princess, the soldier are unable to fire and the Princess leaves.


Bad Badtz-Maru In The Boy Who Cried Wolf
For the tale of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” Badtz-Maru (small crow) is a mischievous boy who likes to play pranks instead of doing his chores. Despite his continued lack of self-control, he’s in charge of keeping an eye on the sheep with his trusted dog Pochi (a small alligator). The violence in the story is only implied, and none is directly shown even with the Wolf eating the sheep.

Pochacco In Jack And The Beanstalk
For this retelling of “Jack And The Beanstalk”, Jack is a young dreamer and a kind young boy like his mother. Jack is told to bring their old cow to the market and sell it for some wheat that they can grow, but on the way Jack decides to take the cow to a pasture to have some last fun with it before losing his friend. Jack falls asleep, and when he awakens he meets a wizard who offers to buy the cow in exchange for a magic bean that will grow up to the clouds. Besides the usual group we also get a talking mouse and 3 baby chicks that go to help Jack when he gets caught by the giant (good thing the mouse isn’t black and white… could be a lawsuit…). The violence in this episode is comedic in nature, and when the Giant falls at the end of the story, he falls asleep, not to his death.



My Melody In Little Red Riding Hood
The retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” is a simple story of a little girl visiting her sick grandmother, and meeting a wolf who decides to eat her. The wolf runs ahead and eats the grandmother (without being shown) and lies in wait for Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf then eats Little Red Riding hood and falls asleep. The woodcutter arrives at the house and seeing that the wolf has eaten the women he cuts the wolf open with a pair of scissors (and despite all this doesn’t wake up). The group then fills the wolf’s stomach with rocks and sews him back together. Watch for the cure for grandma’s cold which is cookies and wine (How European).

Hangyodon In The Emperor’s New Clothes
For “The Emperor’s New Clothes” we have the fairy tale about opulence and excessiveness. The Emperor loves to collect outfits to show off his power and when he was approached by tailors who could make clothing that only people with beautiful hearts can see, he agreed to have a suit made. Warning, this episode features fishy nudity.

It’s a cute collection of shorts, not exactly for everyone, but children and Hello Kitty fans should be quite happy.