When we first saw the announcement of the Junji Ito x Sanrio collection, we might have been momentarily shocked by the contrast between the two styles. It pairs some of the most adorable characters in the Sanrio universe—like Hello Kitty, Kuromi, and Pompompurin—with characters created by Junji Ito, one of Japan's most famous horror manga artists. The collection plays with turning Sanrio characters' heads into balloons, evoking memories of Ito's most famous work, "The Human Head Balloon," which brings horror to these otherwise cute characters. Additionally, there's an image of Tomie, the immortal evil schoolgirl, paired with a towering stack of Hello Kitty dolls as the main promotional image. While this picture is unusual, interestingly, when we really look at it, it doesn't feel so strange—in fact, it somehow feels quite fitting.
Tomie is dressed in the 'Gyaru' style—a rebellious fashion that challenges traditional Japanese beauty standards. She's adorned with cute accessories from head to toe, including a flip phone. This character’s pose and expression bring to mind a corner of the internet from a past era: the atmosphere of Tumblr around 2014. Though not long ago, many people clearly yearn for its return. Before we understand why we feel this way, we need to revisit Tumblr's golden age. Tumblr was an early social media platform, best described as a blend of Instagram and Twitter. Unlike today's mainstream social media, Tumblr back then had fewer features, boundaries, and rules. It was known as a more 'homey' platform where users felt more ownership. The platform itself didn’t create its identity and culture; the users did. At its peak in 2014, Tumblr was known as a space for women and LGBTQ+ people. This was because it allowed users to inhabit new identities—no need for faces or real names—in a 2014 world that was less open and accepting than today (except for white men). Tumblr thus became a safe space for anyone lacking a place to be themselves in the real world. How does this relate to Tomie and Hello Kitty? We may have heard the phrase 'Girlhood is a Spectrum,' meaning femininity is diverse. We don’t have to fit one type or like one color or consume one kind of media. In safe spaces for women like Tumblr, we saw many experiments with extremes of this spectrum. One side asks, 'Why must I conform to traditional femininity?' while the other asks, 'What's wrong with traditional femininity?'
When we first saw the announcement of the Junji Ito x Sanrio collection, we might have been momentarily shocked by the contrast between the two styles. It pairs some of the most adorable characters in the Sanrio universe—like Hello Kitty, Kuromi, and Pompompurin—with characters created by Junji Ito, one of Japan's most famous horror manga artists. The collection plays with turning Sanrio characters' heads into balloons, evoking memories of Ito's most famous work, "The Human Head Balloon," which brings horror to these otherwise cute characters. Additionally, there's an image of Tomie, the immortal evil schoolgirl, paired with a towering stack of Hello Kitty dolls as the main promotional image. While this picture is unusual, interestingly, when we really look at it, it doesn't feel so strange—in fact, it somehow feels quite fitting.
Tomie is dressed in the 'Gyaru' style—a rebellious fashion that challenges traditional Japanese beauty standards. She's adorned with cute accessories from head to toe, including a flip phone. This character’s pose and expression bring to mind a corner of the internet from a past era: the atmosphere of Tumblr around 2014. Though not long ago, many people clearly yearn for its return. Before we understand why we feel this way, we need to revisit Tumblr's golden age. Tumblr was an early social media platform, best described as a blend of Instagram and Twitter. Unlike today's mainstream social media, Tumblr back then had fewer features, boundaries, and rules. It was known as a more 'homey' platform where users felt more ownership. The platform itself didn’t create its identity and culture; the users did. At its peak in 2014, Tumblr was known as a space for women and LGBTQ+ people. This was because it allowed users to inhabit new identities—no need for faces or real names—in a 2014 world that was less open and accepting than today (except for white men). Tumblr thus became a safe space for anyone lacking a place to be themselves in the real world. How does this relate to Tomie and Hello Kitty? We may have heard the phrase 'Girlhood is a Spectrum,' meaning femininity is diverse. We don’t have to fit one type or like one color or consume one kind of media. In safe spaces for women like Tumblr, we saw many experiments with extremes of this spectrum. One side asks, 'Why must I conform to traditional femininity?' while the other asks, 'What's wrong with traditional femininity?'