English Dub Season Review: My Melody & Kuromi Season 1

Just about everyone around the world knows the name Hello Kitty, but not as many know about the company she comes from, Sanrio, which has been making hundreds of other cute and iconic characters since Hello Kitty first premiered in 1974, over half a century ago. Among those less well known (though still with plenty of notoriety themselves) are My Melody, who debuted the year after Hello Kitty in 1975, and her confectionery counterpart Kuromi, who debuted in 2005. With both reaching a monumental anniversary this year (50th and 20th, respectively), Sanrio put out a twelve part stop motion series to celebrate named after the two. In it, My Melody opens up a cake shop in her hometown of Mariland, so Kuromi opens one up herself to compete…to not great results. That is, until both Kuromi and My Melody come across strange new items and friends that begin escalating their competitiveness at a sweets-making contest, made more unstable by the arrival of a famous chef and pastry judge named Pistachio. Can My Melody uncover these mysteries before things get more out of hand? Can Kuromi get over her overpowering jealousy to help her friend? And can these two put aside their differences to work together?

First off, to be blunt, this is not some avant-garde art piece that is bound to be a critical darling. It is still a show made by a decades old corporation with the intent of celebrating their intellectual properties and selling merch and toys. But that doesn’t mean it is without merit. In terms of western comparisons, I think this has the most in common with My Little Pony, specifically the first few seasons of the 2011 series that really got the show back in the public eye by having simple yet solid and thoughtful stories that were sweet and wholesome as much as they were sophisticated and rather wise with how it relayed its messages. Similar to that, while this show is very much about cute and cuddly creatures discussing friendship and eating sweets, it’s also a story about how over-ambition and jealousy can be consuming and come at the cost of damaging a community. And it also helps that the stop motion animation is freaking gorgeous and makes even the smallest movements and actions have that much more effort put in. Not that animation doesn’t require a lot of effort already, but stop motion is so rare to see in mainstream things that it’s a marvel whenever a studio decides to make a whole show with it.

To be clear, this show hasn’t made me a convert to being a huge Sanrio fan, and I’m probably not going to seek out many other shows or movies of theirs after this, but as a celebration of these characters lasting for decades, I think this definitely meets that challenge. If you have kids who are old enough for Ghibli movies or you just happen to like cute and sweet shows, binging through this could be a fun time. Honestly, with how it was released all at once and the episodes are only about twelve minutes each (not including credits), I’m surprised they didn’t just release this AS a movie, but it’s honestly fine as it is. So, if you’re looking for a good way to keep out of the heat, turn on the AC, get some sugar cookies out and have a nice time immersing in the cuteness of a franchise that will likely outlast all of us. Lord knows we could all use some unambiguous positivity and lessons about working together for a common goal right about now.