Interest
Rock Band KISS x Hello Kitty Animated Series in Development
posted on by Egan Loo
USA Today reported on Thursday that Sanrio's Hello Kitty crossover with the American rock band KISS is spawning an animated series. The series is being developed for The Hub, Hasbro's television channel that runs Transformers Prime and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in the United States.
The tentatively titled Kiss Hello Kitty show will star "four Kiss x Hello Kitty characters living their rock 'n' roll dreams and bringing pink anarchy to every situation they are in." Kiss vocalist Gene Simmons would serve as an executive producer.
Simmons revealed in 2011 that he met with executives to discuss, in his words, "a KISS-Hello Kitty worldwide deal. Wow." Sanrio then revealed its first KISS crossover goods last year — a set of four Hello Kitty plushes modeled after the four KISS band members on the cover of their Dynasty album. Other character goods followed, including official Kiss x Hello Kitty toilet paper.
The famous cat is getting her own graphic novels by Viz Media this fall, got a clothing line from Forever 21, and was also featured in a number of franchise crossovers like Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Vocaloids, The Ring film, One Piece, and Evangelion over the past two years. Sanrio credited the crossovers as some of the reasons it became debt-free as of last year.
Simmons himself played Jack ill Dark, the "Emperor" of rock, in the live-action film adaptation of Kiminori Wakasugi's Detroit Metal City comedy manga.
