Sanrio
Sanrio Company, Ltd. is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and manufactures products focusing on the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories, which are sold worldwide, including at specialty brand retail stores in Japan. Sanrio's best-known character is Hello Kitty, a cartoon cat and one of the most successful marketing brands in the world.
Besides selling character goods, Sanrio takes part in film production and publishing. They own the rights to the Mr. Men characters and Japanese licensing rights to the Peanuts characters. Their animatronics branch, Kokoro Company, Ltd., is best known for the Actroid android. The company also runs several KFC franchises across Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture.
History
founded Sanrio on August 10, 1960, then known as the Yamanashi Silk Company using in capital. In 1962, Tsuji expanded his enterprise from silk to rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noticed his success gained by merely adding a cute design to the sandals. He began using existing cartoon characters for his merchandise. In the late 1960s, the company began producing goods featuring Charles M. Schulz's dog character Snoopy, from the American comic strip Peanuts, after acquiring the Japanese licensing rights.In 1973, the company was officially established under the name Sanrio. In the book or These are Sanrio's Secrets Tsuji, Sanrio's founder, said that, part of the company's former name, has an alternative on'yomi reading of Sanri. The remaining o was added from the sound people make when they are excited. The company's European website gives another origin of the name, saying the name comes from the Spanish words san and río.
Tsuji hired his own designers to create characters for Sanrio, so as to not have to pay outside royalty fees. The first original Sanrio character, Coro Chan, was introduced in 1973. Hello Kitty was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974 and the first related merchandise was released the following year. The popular feline whose mouth is usually invisible has had both peaks and drops in sales over the years but always has been the highest contributor to Sanrio's sales. Sanrio constantly adds new characters to its lineup. Specific characters are rotated in and out of active production. For a short time, Osamu Tezuka's baby unicorn character Unico, who starred in two feature-length animated films in the early 1980s, was also part of Sanrio's lineup; however, the rights to Unico shifted to Tezuka Productions, Osamu Tezuka's own company, after Tezuka's death in 1989.
In late 2003, Sanrio won the "Top Brand with a Conscience" award from the Medinge Group of Sweden for its communication principles. The company has partnered with UNICEF since 1984. In 2006, Sanrio launched Sanrio Digital together with Typhoon Games to expand to the Internet, online games, and mobile services.
Beginning with Jewelpet in 2008, Sanrio started collaborating with Sega Toys in creating characters intended to become media franchises. Subsequent collaborations include Rilu Rilu Fairilu in 2016 and Beatcats in 2020.
In 2010, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. In conjunction with this, Build-A-Bear Workshop released limited-edition stuffed toys of several Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Chococat, My Melody and Keroppi.
Hello Kitty is alleged to be drawn in a similar style to the rabbit character Miffy. On August 26, 2010, Mercis BV, representing Miffy's creator Dick Bruna, filed a lawsuit against Sanrio, claiming that one of Hello Kitty's companion characters, a rabbit named Cathy, infringed on the copyright and trademark of Miffy. On November 2, 2010, a Dutch court ruled against Sanrio and ordered the company to stop marketing Cathy products in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sanrio and Mercis reached an out-of-court settlement on June 7, 2011, for Sanrio to halt production worldwide of merchandise that features Cathy. They also jointly announced a €150,000 donation to earthquake victims.
In December 2011, Sanrio Global acquired the rights to the Mr. Men characters, which includes the subsidiary Mr Men Films Ltd, taking over Chorion's THOIP company.
In 2019, the European Commission fined Sanrio 6.2 million euros for blocking cross-border sales of its licensed products.
In June 2020, it was announced that the company's founder and president, Shintaro Tsuji, would step down from the role and hand control of the company to his grandson, Tomokuni Tsuji. Tomokuni was just 31 at the time, making him the youngest chief executive of a listed Japanese company. Shintaro Tsuji ran the company for 60 years.
Locations
Japan
Sanrio hosts two theme parks in Japan, Sanrio Puroland in Tama, Tokyo, and Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Kyūshū.North America
Sanrio, Inc. is Sanrio's North American subsidiary. Sanrio, Inc. has offices in South San Francisco, California, and Torrance, California. Sanrio's first Western Hemisphere store opened in San Jose's Eastridge Mall. In 2008, Sanrio, Inc. opened its high-end boutique called Sanrio Luxe in New York City's Times Square. In the Western Hemisphere, Sanrio character-branded products are sold in upwards of 13,000 locations including department, specialty, and national chain stores and over 85 Sanrio boutiques. In April 2010, the first and only Sanrio-licensed eatery in the U.S. opened at Pearlridge's Downtown phase in Aiea, Hawaii.In 2004, Sanrio Co. Ltd., expanded its license to one of its major licensee and plush suppliers Nakajima USA to include the owning and operating of all Sanrio branded stores in the U.S., overseeing the relationships between individual licensed stores and supplying all categories of products for the retail stores in the US and wholesale accounts.
Characters
Sanrio has created over 450 characters as of 2022, the best known of which is the white cat character Hello Kitty from 1974. Other well-known characters include the rabbit My Melody from 1975, the frog Keroppi from 1988, the penguin Bad Badtz-Maru from 1993, the white dog Cinnamoroll from 2001, the rabbit Kuromi from 2005, the animal series Jewelpet from 2008, the egg character Gudetama from 2013, and the red panda Aggressive Retsuko from 2015.Notable designers of Sanrio characters include Yuko Shimizu, original designer of Hello Kitty, Yuko Yamaguchi, lead designer for most of Hello Kitty's history, and Miyuki Okumura, original designer of Cinnamoroll.
Since 1986 Sanrio has held the annual Sanrio Character Ranking poll where fans can vote on their favorite characters. It began in the Strawberry Newspaper published by Sanrio in Japan, but now voting also takes place online.
Besides their own original characters, Sanrio also owns the rights to the Mr. Men characters and Japanese licensing rights to the Peanuts characters.
Filmography
Theatrical
From 1977 to 1985, Sanrio produced movies through their Sanrio Films label. After A Journey Through Fairyland, Sanrio switched gears and started doing short films, OVAs, and TV shows based on their characters. In 2006, Sanrio announced they are again going to do feature-length films.| Title | Release date | Notes |
| Joe and the Rose | March 7, 1977 | Animated short film |
| Little Jumbo | September 10, 1977 | Animated short film |
| Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? | September 10, 1977 December 7, 1977 | Live-action documentary; co-produced with Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates and Korty Films |
| The Mouse and His Child | November 18, 1977 March 11, 1978 | Co-produced with Murakami Wolf; Based on the children's book by Russell Hoban |
| Ringing Bell | March 11, 1978 April 8, 1983 | Animated film; Based on the children's book by Takashi Yanase |
| Olly Olly Oxen Free | May 13, 1978 c. August 1978 | Live-action film |
| Orpheus of the Stars/''Metamorphoses/Winds of Change | May 26, 1978 May 3, 1979 October 27, 1979 | Animated film; Based on the poem, Metamorphoses, by Ovid Co-produced with Columbia Pictures |
| The Glacier Fox | July 15, 1978 January 5, 1979 | Live-action documentary |
| Nutcracker Fantasy | March 3, 1979 July 6, 1979 | Stop-motion animated film; Based on The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
| Unico: Black Cloud, White Feather | April 30, 1979 | Rejected animated pilot; Based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka |
| A Tale of Africa/The Green Horizon | July 19, 1980 c. 1981 | Live-action film |
| The Fantastic Adventures of Unico | March 14, 1981 May 12, 1983 | Animated film; Co-production with Tezuka Productions & Madhouse; Based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka |
| The Sea Prince and the Fire Child | July 18, 1981 September 8, 1982 | Animated film |
| The Ideon: A Contact | July 10, 1982 | Animated film Co-produced with Sunrise/Co-distributed by Shochiku |
| The Ideon: Be Invoked | July 10, 1982 | Animated film Co-produced with Sunrise |
| Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder | November 5, 1982 | Live-action film |
| Unico in the Island of Magic | July 16, 1983 November 10, 1983 | Animated film; Based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka |
| Oshin | March 17, 1984 | Animated film; Based on the Japanese television drama of the same name |
| Fairy Florence/''A Journey Through Fairyland | October 19, 1985 November 4, 1985 | Animated film |
| My Melody no Akazukin | July 22, 1989 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Hello Kitty no Cinderella | July 22, 1989 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Kiki to Lala no Aoi Tori | July 22, 1989 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Pokopon no Yukai na Saiyuuki | July 21, 1990 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Hello Kitty no Oyayubi Hime | July 21, 1990 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken: Fushigi na Mame no ki | July 21, 1990 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Kero Kero Keroppi no Sanjuushi | July 20, 1991 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Hello Kitty no Mahou no Mori no Ohime-sama | July 20, 1991 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Tabo no Ryuuguu Hoshi Dai Tanken | July 20, 1991 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Hello Kitty no Minna no Mori o Mamore! | January 13, 1996 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Kero Kero Keroppi no Bikkuri! Obake Yashiki | January 13, 1996 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Bad Batzmaru no Ore no Pochi Sekaiichi | January 13, 1996 | Animated film; Part of Sanrio Anime Festival |
| Mouse Story: George and Gerald's Adventure | December 22, 2007 | Animated film; Co-produced with Madhouse; Released in a double bill with Cinnamoroll the Movie |
| Cinnamoroll the Movie | December 22, 2007 | Animated film; Co-produced with Madhouse; Released in a double bill with Mouse Story: George and Gerald's Adventure |
| Jewelpet the Movie: Sweets Dance Princess | August 11, 2012 | Animated film; Co-produced with Sega Toys & Studio Comet |
| Onegai My Melody: Yū & Ai | August 11, 2012 | Animated film; Co-produced with Studio Comet |
| Gō-chan and his Forest Friends Moko & Marvelous Creatures | May 3, 2017 | Animated film; Co-produced with TV Asahi & Shin-Ei Animation |
| Gō-chan ~Moco and the Promise Made on the Ice~ | March 18, 2018 | Animated film; Co-produced with TV Asahi & Shin-Ei Animation |
| Jewelpet Attack Travel!'' | May 14, 2022 | Animated short film; Co-produced with Ashi Productions |