Sanrio

Hello Kitty was added to the early characters of Sanrio in 1974 and was released in 1975. The popular mouthless feline has had both peaks and drops in sales over the decades, but always has been the highest contributor to Sanrio's sales. Other notably popular characters through the years have been Little Twin Stars (created by Mr. Tsuji himself), My Melody, Keroppi, Tuxedosam, Badtz-Maru, U*SA*HA*NA, Pochacco, Chococat, Pompompurin, and Cinnamoroll. Sanrio constantly adds new characters to its lineup (up to three a year), so some of the older characters eventually go into retirement. Some of Sanrio's other popular characters are Charmmy Kitty (Hello Kitty's pet cat), Kuromi (My Melody's rival) and Corocorokururin, who is a hamster. For a time, Osamu Tezuka's baby unicorn character Unico