Sanrio: 100 Character Stickers (2013)

Posted on by just a bunny on the mooon

In which I’m reminded just how many awesome Sanrio characters I’ve loved over the years (and, ugh, how many dumb dates I’ve had, too).

Quite a long time ago, I went on a date with some guy. That’s almost all I remember about it, and the only reason I remember that is because we went to a little Japanese shop and he insisted that I let him buy me something, and that something was these sweet, puffy Sanrio 100 Character Stickers.

He then sort of acted like I owed him a first date kiss because he bought these for me, but, yeah, that has never worked on me, so I got stickers and didn’t have to kiss him. Win win!

I was cleaning around my desk the other day and found these stickers again. So I thought I might share them here, and I broke things up into half rows in case you’d like to quiz yourself to see how many Sanrio characters you can identify, or rank them, or whatever. At the very least, I hope it’s a pleasant read for someone wanting to dive into an ocean of links and maybe find a new Sanrio favorite. Either way, let’s get to these 100 characters!

The back card has gotten bent over time, but how can I not include a picture when it includes the Ebisen (Shrimp Crackers) bar my dear Hangyodon frequents on the bottom left?

Row One, left to right:

  • Patty and Jimmy
  • Sweet Coron
    • This little bee is so underrated.
  • Okigaru Friends
    • I had to look these up; I know I’ve seen them before but I’m not sure where.
  • Taffy
    • Another one modern fans may not go wild over, but his little pony face is so sweet!

Row Two, left to right:

  • Charmmy Kitty
    • I try not to think a lot about the fact that Hello Kitty has a pet cat, but sometimes it still pops into my mind and it’s weird. And yes, I know the whole “Hello Kitty isn’t even supposed to be a cat” argument, and it’s still a little weird to me.
  • Tuxedo Sam
    • Truly one of the most smile-inducing Sanrio characters of all time, in my opinion.
  • Puwawa
    • I intially thought this said Papuwa, of all things, which differs from this Sanrio character in many ways, mostly by having way more bishounen fanservice and way less cute seal.
  • My Melody
  • Bad Badtz Maru
    • Before I studied Japanese, I never really understood his name or why they sometimes write it as XO. But X stands for ばつbatsu (stylized as Badtz here, and used in the sense of getting something wrong), and O is read here as maru (related to the word marui (丸い, round)). When you grade in a Japanese school, correct answers are marked with a circle and wrong ones get an X. Talk about a penguin full of contrariness and contradictions, all the way down to his name!

Row Three, left to right:

  • Kuromi
  • Devi and Bibi
    • These are hard to find info on, least of all in English, but I’m pretty sure they’re part of the Cinnamoroll series like my beloved Lloromannic friends. Or…not?
  • Strawberry King
    • Definitely underappreciated in the USA, I’d say, but so dear nonetheless — and he has a strawberry magical stick!
  • Pankunchi
    • Since a Japanese word for bread is パン pan, I wonder if it’s even possible to estimate how many panda characters are based on that pan pun.
  • U*SA*HA*NA

Row Four, left to right:

  • Chocopanda
    • See what I mean about pandas and bread? ^ – ^
  • Bonbonribbon
  • Shinkansen
    • I don’t see a lot of overseas collectors talking about this series (the name just means Bullet Train) much, but you can sense how popular it is with kids just by seeing how often the characters appear on candy and snacks at your local Japanese market.
  • Robby Rabbit
    • This is one of those characters that’s so far from modern Sanrio it’s almost weird. But the details — like him preferring motorbikes to hopping — are adorable.
  • Framboilulu
    • This name was a bit hard to parse at first, but it’s basically squishing together the French word for strawberry (framboise) and the name Lulu.
  • Hello Kitty
  • Nyokki & Penne
    • If I ever adopt two kittens together, Gnocchi and Penne will be high on my list of possible names.
  • Dreamtale Kubear

Row Five, left to right:

Row Six, left to right:

  • Noranekoland
  • My Sweet Piano
    • I’ve loved Piano since I was a kid. Did you know she was initially called just Hitsuji (羊, sheep)?
  • Tenorikuma
    • I feel like I’ve got some figures from this collection I should hunt down and write about…
  • Small People
    • How 1970s-tastic is this?!
  • Pandapple
    • Well, it’s not a panda with bread this time…

Row Seven, left to right:

  • Pata Pata Peppy
  • Peter Davis
    • I thought I must have been reading that wrong at first but nope — this little dog’s name is indeed Peter Davis.
  • Wish Me Mell
    • This one just feels older, but it started in 2010. It shares a designer with Cinnamoroll.
  • Maimai
    • Also from Wish Me Mell, and based on real world singer Mai Kuraki, but she most reminds me of a toy from my childhood I’d love to start collecting — Poochie!
  • Umeya Zakkaten
    • This kindly grandmotherly type likes to help kids at the general store (雑貨店 zakkaten) where she works.

Row Eight, left to right:

  • Minny le Mew
    • The style here is so very 1985; it makes me think of Shirt Tales!
  • Nezumi Kozou
    • The full name is actually Bo-Boku Nezumi Kozou Dai!, which is basically just stammering out “I’m Nezumi Kozou!” Nezumi Kozou means something like Rat Kid, but this is actually a reference to a Japanese folk hero kind of similar to Robin Hood.
  • Sugarminuet
  • Sporting Bears
    • These are mascots for a bank — check out the cool ties employees get to wear in that article!

Row Nine, left to right:

  • The Runabouts
  • The Vaudeville Duo
    • I’m sorry to say that they have always been one of my least favorite Sanrio characters. I just don’t quite get them, so to speak.
  • Hangyodon
    • My all-time Sanrio favorite. Three cheers for Hangyodon! （＾∇＾）
  • Paupipo
    • I can just see decorating a whole nursery or play room with this gentle giraffe!
  • Seven Silly Dwarfs
  • Pon Pon Hieta
    • Another one I didn’t know! He makes me especially want a Soda flavor Gari-Gari-kun, and I’m pretty much always wanting one of those, so feeling especially so is a big deal.
  • Yachiyo Charmer
    • I was never quite sure if her name was Yachiyo (one way I’ve seen this written is with the same kanji as here: 八千代) or if they were just using yachiyo in the sense of eternity/very long time. Regardless, I like her a lot!
  • GoroPikaDon
    • These little oni-like characters are dear to my heart. I love that their names are Goro, Pika, and Don (each name comes from onomatopoeia meaning thundering, sparkling and booming, respectively) . And they have girlfriends named Ai, Shi, and Teru! (Aishiteru (愛してる) is one way of saying I love you in Japanese). The cute is almost painful.
  • Hooty Hoots

Row Ten, left to right:

  • Heesuke
    • I could find almost nothing on this little guy in English. The linked Japanese bio describes him as full of mysteries, including why he’s laughing while naked, so there you go.
  • Chococat
    • For several years it seemed like they were overmerchandising Chococat a bit, but I think they might have gone too far the other way — I miss them! Chococat just simply has a great design.
  • Pochacco
  • Pekkle
  • Culture Shock
    • This one is so oddly dear — a couple of samurai who travel to Paris and experience some, er, culture shock.
  • Howdy
    • This bear doesn’t just like to say Howdy, it’s his whole name! His info is often followed by the words “kid’s bear” (キッズベア) but I couldn’t quite figure out whether he’s part of a larger series with that name or whether he’s sometimes called that.
  • Friendly Koko-chan
  • Pannapitta
  • Donjara Hoi
    • This is one of five characters from this collection all dressed up for a festival. Donjara hoi (どんじゃらほい) is a phrase without a convenient English translation, said by the seven mori no kobito (森の小人, literally little persons of the forest) in the famous Japanese folktale. It also sounds like something from an ondou to me!
  • Risuru

Row Eleven, left to right:

  • Deery Lou
    • I totally forgot about this little sweetheart —what a cute little boy deer! (I’m embarrassed to admit I thought he was a girl until I looked him up.)
  • Pippo
  • Mimicmike
    • Now here’s an odd duck dog as Sanrio characters go. I think there is some usefulness here to officially define people as old — if he makes you think more of the Target mascot, you’re young under this system, and if he makes you think of Spuds MacKenzie, you’re old. Though I see them both… (ノ_＜)
  • Rururu Gakuen
    • This one has a cute creation story; it’s based on the sketch diary of a Sanrio employee. Later they changed the characters to high school students (学園 gakuen is most often translated as academy, and るるる rururu is mostly just sound as opposed to meaning, so think lalala).
  • Fuku-chan
  • Bearobics
  • Youkai Kids
    • I talked a little bit about these here. The vampire has such a cute face — I need to track down some merchandise for this collection.
  • Button Nose
  • Dachonosuke
    • This comedian hosts the character polls.
  • Notice that even the copyright notice is a puffy sticker (and please don’t notice how long ago 2013 seems)!

Did you discover any new Sanrio characters to love from this? Did they leave any important characters out? I’d love to hear your thoughts. In the meanwhile, I hope these links and such are helpful to someone out there!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Published by just a bunny on the mooon