Well it had been a while before I had some Hello Kitty news.

First, up, it is not just Tiger Woods that had a comeback in 2019; Hello Kitty takes the top spot in Sanrio 34th Annual Sanrio Character Rankings. She beats out Cinnamonroll, who was last year’s winner.

Every year Sanrio polls it fans using the top 100 Sanrio characters.  For the last few year s, Hello Kitty languished in the top 10, never making in the top three.  I wonder Hello Kitty’s win has to do with becoming a popular virtual Youtuber.  I dare say the Annual Sanrio Character Ranking is a barometer of Sanrio’s character Campaign, noting Yoshikitty taking third place last year coinciding with the band X Japan revival.

The second piece of news is Mattel obtaining license to manufacture toys games and others items base on Sanrio’s portfolio of characters. This will start in 2020, just in time for the Hello Kitty Movie and possible TV show.  This good thing; I hope this will bring a higher quality to Sanrio’s toy and game offerings.