Jayonnaise6105
Princess of Nightmares and/or Queen of Friendship
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2025
- Messages
- 556
- Pronouns
- Them/They
*This article/review was edited and repurposed from one I'd written on the RGT forum.
I used to have a very passing interest in the Hello Kitty/Sanrio universe. I barely knew anything outside of Hello Kitty the character. It started a few years ago when I found & purchased a bootleg keychain of the character Kuromi from a bargain store while on a trip out of town. Having grown up in the era of Pokemon & Digimon, I was immediately drawn to her design! She looks like cross between a Pichu and Devimon.
Her goth trickster-like design is also fitting, as her birthday is the 31st of October, AKA Halloween!
Then came the ultimate crossover!
At some point in 2024, McDonald's had several Hello Kitty/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover toys as part of their happy meals for a limited time. I even managed to get a Kuromi & a My Melody from the set, which is amazing in hindsight.
I loved the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, and several of its video games, as a kid and this crossover had my interest peaked on the lore and characters of Hello Kitty. I would spend some time on the Sanrio wiki, do some research and learn of the various different characters and tie-in media.
The one piece of media that drew my attention above all was the anime "Onegai My Melody" from 2005. This anime was the debut of Kuromi, as she was initially designed to be the rival and antagonist of the series protagonist, My Melody. Given Kuromi's popularity since her debut, it also lends some credence to the "Mirror Character" trope.
My Melody debuted in 1975 as a parody of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with a red coloured hood instead of her modern pink hood.
So, of course, I decided to check out a handful of episodes and found a lot more to enjoy than I was expecting! The brief gist of the anime is that Kuromi has stolen the Melody Key, an ancient relic capable of fulfilling dreams, from her home world of Mari Land and escapes to the human world.
My Melody is given the Melody Takt, another relic capable of countering the Melody Key, and sent by the king of Mari Land to the human world to stop Kuromi.
Kuromi needs to fulfil 100 dreams to summon the "Dark Power" and take revenge on My Melody, while My Melody needs to stop her 100 times to summon the "Dream Power" and save Mari Land.
On the surface, Onegai My Melody (OMM) is your formulaic early-mid 2000s magical girl anime targeted towards children. It feels, at times, like a mix of Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura & Hamtaro. Human characters interacting with cute magical animal characters, re-cycled animation & signature moves you can use every episode. Also like some of those anime though, there is more depth to OMM. Continuity actually matters! Characters, plot threads & even running gags are set up and paid off throughout the 52 episode season. It is an excellent example of a show primarily made to sell shit, but also being made well on a fundamental level.
I guess I want to showcase some of my episode highlights:
Episode 23: I Wish I could Dance With Him!
Baku is a purple Tapir, and is Kuromi's partner in crime. All Kuromi wants in this episode is to dance with the human guy she has a crush on. Baku is her ultimate wingman though, and goes to extraordinary lengths to help her. This was the episode that kick-started the slow build of Baku being my favourite character from the show! After Kuromi, of course
Episode 36: I wish I could Save the Earth!
Perhaps the funniest episode in the season? This is one where the zany hijinks of the cute & oblivious animal characters actually becomes a dire threat to the Earth! There are a few references to sci-fi films like Armageddon & 2001: a Space Odyssey in this one.
Episode 39: I Wish I could See My Mom!
My Melody lives with the 3 Yumeno sisters and their widowed father while in the human world. The youngest of the three sisters, Koto, is starting to forget what her mother looked & sounded like. The biggest tearjerker episode, but still really sweet.
It also has a scene of a shirtless Santa, but I swear it makes sense in context! I also had no idea that "shirtless Santa" would become a recurring character in his own right come season 2. I guess he was popular?
Episode 47: I Wish I Could Go Back Home!
These screenshots:
That is all
Episodes 50, 51 & 52 The Finale:
Just an amazing 3-part season finale. This is where the continuity kicks into overdrive and makes a good amount of the season feel relevant. Cameos & callbacks to previous episodes, as well as my man Baku kickin' some serious ass! Not to mention one really well done meta joke. Not a great finale in terms of the actual action, but my investment in the characters over the last 49 episodes really picked up some of the slack and made me feel satisfied with the final battle!
I still want to know more about these guys who were in the background for like a few seconds:
I don't think they were elaborated on in season 2?
I tried to keep this pretty spoiler free overall. I think it's pretty well worth trying to track down and see if it's your thing. I'm a bit nostalgic for 2000s anime visuals, and the soundtrack is pretty good. I don't think it's currently available on any major streaming platforms, which is a shame. It also only seems to have had official home media releases in Japan, without the option for English subs. So unofficial English subbed versions are still the only option as of writing, and even then, not all of the seasons have been subbed. Hopefully OMM picks up in popularity in the next couple of years, and Sanrio see their way to making the full series more widely available outside of Japan.
I enjoyed this series so much, that I also purchased a My Melody & a Kuromi plush doll shortly afterwards. Who says that watching stuff for free doesn't make the copyright holders any money?
I used to have a very passing interest in the Hello Kitty/Sanrio universe. I barely knew anything outside of Hello Kitty the character. It started a few years ago when I found & purchased a bootleg keychain of the character Kuromi from a bargain store while on a trip out of town. Having grown up in the era of Pokemon & Digimon, I was immediately drawn to her design! She looks like cross between a Pichu and Devimon.
Her goth trickster-like design is also fitting, as her birthday is the 31st of October, AKA Halloween!
Then came the ultimate crossover!
At some point in 2024, McDonald's had several Hello Kitty/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover toys as part of their happy meals for a limited time. I even managed to get a Kuromi & a My Melody from the set, which is amazing in hindsight.
I loved the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, and several of its video games, as a kid and this crossover had my interest peaked on the lore and characters of Hello Kitty. I would spend some time on the Sanrio wiki, do some research and learn of the various different characters and tie-in media.
The one piece of media that drew my attention above all was the anime "Onegai My Melody" from 2005. This anime was the debut of Kuromi, as she was initially designed to be the rival and antagonist of the series protagonist, My Melody. Given Kuromi's popularity since her debut, it also lends some credence to the "Mirror Character" trope.
My Melody debuted in 1975 as a parody of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with a red coloured hood instead of her modern pink hood.
So, of course, I decided to check out a handful of episodes and found a lot more to enjoy than I was expecting! The brief gist of the anime is that Kuromi has stolen the Melody Key, an ancient relic capable of fulfilling dreams, from her home world of Mari Land and escapes to the human world.
My Melody is given the Melody Takt, another relic capable of countering the Melody Key, and sent by the king of Mari Land to the human world to stop Kuromi.
Kuromi needs to fulfil 100 dreams to summon the "Dark Power" and take revenge on My Melody, while My Melody needs to stop her 100 times to summon the "Dream Power" and save Mari Land.
On the surface, Onegai My Melody (OMM) is your formulaic early-mid 2000s magical girl anime targeted towards children. It feels, at times, like a mix of Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura & Hamtaro. Human characters interacting with cute magical animal characters, re-cycled animation & signature moves you can use every episode. Also like some of those anime though, there is more depth to OMM. Continuity actually matters! Characters, plot threads & even running gags are set up and paid off throughout the 52 episode season. It is an excellent example of a show primarily made to sell shit, but also being made well on a fundamental level.
I guess I want to showcase some of my episode highlights:
Episode 23: I Wish I could Dance With Him!
Baku is a purple Tapir, and is Kuromi's partner in crime. All Kuromi wants in this episode is to dance with the human guy she has a crush on. Baku is her ultimate wingman though, and goes to extraordinary lengths to help her. This was the episode that kick-started the slow build of Baku being my favourite character from the show! After Kuromi, of course
Episode 36: I wish I could Save the Earth!
Perhaps the funniest episode in the season? This is one where the zany hijinks of the cute & oblivious animal characters actually becomes a dire threat to the Earth! There are a few references to sci-fi films like Armageddon & 2001: a Space Odyssey in this one.
Episode 39: I Wish I could See My Mom!
My Melody lives with the 3 Yumeno sisters and their widowed father while in the human world. The youngest of the three sisters, Koto, is starting to forget what her mother looked & sounded like. The biggest tearjerker episode, but still really sweet.
It also has a scene of a shirtless Santa, but I swear it makes sense in context! I also had no idea that "shirtless Santa" would become a recurring character in his own right come season 2. I guess he was popular?
Episode 47: I Wish I Could Go Back Home!
These screenshots:
That is all
Episodes 50, 51 & 52 The Finale:
Just an amazing 3-part season finale. This is where the continuity kicks into overdrive and makes a good amount of the season feel relevant. Cameos & callbacks to previous episodes, as well as my man Baku kickin' some serious ass! Not to mention one really well done meta joke. Not a great finale in terms of the actual action, but my investment in the characters over the last 49 episodes really picked up some of the slack and made me feel satisfied with the final battle!
I still want to know more about these guys who were in the background for like a few seconds:
I don't think they were elaborated on in season 2?
I tried to keep this pretty spoiler free overall. I think it's pretty well worth trying to track down and see if it's your thing. I'm a bit nostalgic for 2000s anime visuals, and the soundtrack is pretty good. I don't think it's currently available on any major streaming platforms, which is a shame. It also only seems to have had official home media releases in Japan, without the option for English subs. So unofficial English subbed versions are still the only option as of writing, and even then, not all of the seasons have been subbed. Hopefully OMM picks up in popularity in the next couple of years, and Sanrio see their way to making the full series more widely available outside of Japan.
I enjoyed this series so much, that I also purchased a My Melody & a Kuromi plush doll shortly afterwards. Who says that watching stuff for free doesn't make the copyright holders any money?
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