Hello Kitty is one of the most iconic Japanese characters, aside from Pikachu. She screams cute, finds herself in a variety of interesting costumes, and has those adorable pointed cat ears. So with a name like “Hello Kitty” and a face that is decidedly that of a feline, it’s only natural to assume she’s a cat…but you could be wrong.
Ladies and gentlemen of the RocketNews nation, get ready to have your mind blown: someone at Sanrio has just revealed that Hello Kitty is actually a human girl.
The shocking reveal came after Christine R. Yano, a anthropologist at the University of Hawaii, mistakenly (and understandably) referred to Hello Kitty as a cat during her efforts to prepare a Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. As reported by the L.A. Times, Ms. Yano was corrected “very firmly.” She continues, explaining:
“That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”
Not only is Hello Kitty allegedly a human girl, she’s apparently British. Her full name is Kitty White and has been a third grader for the entire 40 years of her existence. Her full profile can be found at the Sanrio Town website; here’s a small portion of it:
Huh. Well now there’s a thinker…
UPDATE: We weren’t at all happy about this rumor, not one bit, so decided to speak directly to the people who ought to know Kitty-chan best: Sanrio. If you haven’t already, check out our follow-up article and get the official word from the people behind Hello Kitty!
Source: L.A. Times
Featured image: Hello Kitty gif tumblr