Hello Kitty Takes on Men for Next Conquest
 

Spokesperson Kazuo Tohmatsu of the Sanrio fashion design company announced on Friday that the company will begin selling Hello Kitty T-shirts, bags, watches, and other items for young men in Japan next month. The items will then be sold in the rest of Asia as well as in the United States. According to the Associated Press, the iconic mouth-less cat will be given a "more rugged, cool look to appeal to men in their teens and early 20s" for the first time. The venture began with a limited collaboration with men's clothing designers in the fashion-conscious Tokyo neighborhood of Harujuku this year.

Tohmatsu adds, "Young men these days grew up with character goods. That generation feels no embarrassment about wearing Hello Kitty."

Hello Kitty has had several anime adaptations over the years, and veteran Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara (Ranma ½'s female Ranma, Evangelion's Rei) has played the feline lead in almost all of them. ADV Films released English-dubbed versions of some of the videos. Hello Kitty's stablemate Cinnamon (Cinnamoroll in English) just launched his own anime movie last week.