Hello Kitty no Yappari Mama ga Suki

Another breath taking film from Sanrio.

Unlike the first film I reviewed, the 'Hello Kitty in Mom Loves Me After All' film uses its full run time to focus on one story instead of multiple, considering the fact that there is such little information on these films, it is hard to tell if there is a canonical order to watch them in, but after viewing I truly believe the genius of the SCU (the Sanrio cinematic universe) in that you may watch at any point that grabs you and be able to understand the full depths.
this has nothing to do with the writing of ... the film itself, but in my eyes it is still valuable to understand going forward, as this entry may be one of, if not, the DARKEST film put to screen, with themes of the struggles of motherhood, suicide, abandonment, familial-love and if love can truly be unconditional, but I still hope if you are unable to bare the weight of this film you are able to enjoy any other in their catalog.

Kitty White and to a lesser extent her twin sister Mimmy White are the protagonists of our film, it focuses mostly on Kitty but you will see Mimmy go through many of the same hardships and pains as her sister stemming from the same traumatic event, the arrival of a new baby, it is very easy to understand that a new baby is very stressful for everyone involved but the mother especially, knowing this very well after raising twins Mary White accepts the Scott's plea for help with taking care of the baby Julianna for a few days, or so is the reasoning she gives throughout the run time, this is the dilemma of the film, is it reasonable to offer help to others when you yourself have taxing responsibilities to attend to? Is it fair to neglect said responsibilities for a small time frame to help others in your community? This line of questioning grows more concerning that throughout the film, it is implied that Mary is a recovering alcoholic, I will expand more on this later but for now I will focus on the heartbreaking events as they unfold.
Also something to note is while baby Julianna is on screen you can hear a constant, grating beeping noise, this may seem odd or even that of an error but keep this information in the back of your mind.

The start to Kitty's downward spiral can be pinpointed on the day of her school field trip out to the fields to draw, after being pushed out the door and about a day of inadequate attention from her mother Kitty's teacher tells the class to start unpacking their respective lunches as it was time to eat, as Mimmy and Kitty sit down to open their lunchboxes, a group of children surround them wanting to see the contents of the boxes, typically having extravagant lunchboxes the twins open them to disappointment, all that was inside was a triangle of cheese, unsliced bread, and what appeared to be a bottle of alcohol, the group of kids, hoping to trade food with the girls run away in disgust, (Note that among the children a small cameo is made by Mogumogu the mole saying his classic catchphrase and to comment on the frankly disturbing food the twin's mother had packed for them.) humiliated the girls sit in sadness as they ate.
Later in the day when nighttime came, Kitty musters up the courage to ask her parents if either of them would read her a bedtime story as she was having a bad day, both Mary and George proclaim one after the other that they are too busy, although this is clearly a lie, not as much so from Mary as she is taking care of the baby and about to put her to bed, although it is questionable why she is keeping the baby up so late in the first place, George White on the other hand was quite literally standing next to his wife doing nothing, not talking or holding the baby or anything to help, just standing there smoking his pipe, after they both say they won't read Kitty a bedtime story, George has the audacity to say to his own daughter to "read to yourself", Kitty understandably runs back to her room in tears.

The next morning another cameo is made by Mogumogu, but this time it is more ominous as he mentions how "today will be a gorgeous day" foreshadowing the events to come, inside the White residents we see a newly awoken Kitty talking to the baby thinking she wasn't sleeping, when all of a sudden the baby bursts into tears, screaming and yelling and beeping , Mary rushes over to the scene to comfort the baby, Kitty apologizes profusely for waking the baby, but it is clear Mary is at her limits being dismissive about Kitty's apologies telling her to go get ready for school, in her room Mimmy notices Kitty is not ready at all and has an upset look on her face and askes if everything is okay, Kitty being at her own limit, tells Mimmy everything, her worries about being replaced and being un-loved by the woman whos taken care of her since her birth, she starts questioning if the love she had received up until then was just an illusion, Mimmy also surely feeling this way yet unable to confront these feelings says she has to go, but mentions that Kitty shouldn't worry over it too much and to remember to bring her umbrella.
Despite her sisters words telling her not to, all Kitty can do is worry whilst at school so much so that she makes a mockery of herself as she is called upon in class and blurts out that she was sorry, clearly still in the headspace of that morning, Having to stay to help clean the classroom, Kitty parts ways with Mimmy, unfortunately while they were cleaning it started raining outside and despite her sisters warnings Kitty left her umbrella at home, her and 3 of her friends Thomas, Tracy and Fifi were abandoned at the school waiting for anyone to pick them up, first comes Thomas's mother, afterwards they attempt to make small talk as they wait for the next parent, Tracy's mother comes next while making a few unnecessary comments about the rain not letting up, lastly its just Kitty and Fifi, Fifi says that her mother may have forgotten about her and left her at school too, comforting yet ironic words to Kitty considering just after saying such a thing Fifi's mother arrives to pick her up, Fifi's mother being the only responsible adult in this entire town sees how late it is and asks Kitty about her mother as she has not seen her in a few days either, Kitty and Fifi tell her mother that Mary had been taking care of baby Julianna, Fifi's mother tries to console Kitty, as exhaustive as taking care of a baby is she knows it is no excuse to cut contact with others and forget about your own child, then Fifi and her mother offer to walk Kitty home, Kitty still having hope in her mother declines, knowing there is legally no way she can force a child to come with her if she doesn't want to puts her faith in Mary or even George to pick up her child on his way from work.

As they leave, Kitty stares out at the rain alone, much time passes, and she finally understands, no one is coming to get her, she is truly and utterly alone, unable to handle this she runs out of the school building, towards anywhere that wasn't here. it cuts back to the White's house, Mary finally noticing the time being past 4 pm and asks Mimmy if her sister took her umbrella with her, Mimmy unsure considering how late it was checks upstairs but their discovery is far too late.
Overlooking a railroad crossing, Kitty gains the idea to go visit her grandparents, magically she has enough money to get onto the train and was able to board it immediately, when she gets to their house they comfort her despite being surprised to see her, you see cuts to the White's house where Mary is destressed making phone calls, being comforted by her husband and pouring cups of an unknown liquid for her and George vs. at the grandparents house where the 3 are laughing, reminiscing and sharing memories of the past.

I think it is very clear that Kitty White, Hello Kitty, died after her mother did not pick her up, typically protagonists in there stories will suffer a fall before being picked up again, but the ups after being abandoned by your own mother are far to high for it to be anything other then a fantasy, to further drive this home the next scene has Kitty and her grandparents discuss how her parents met, something none on the above were present for, Kitty even being able to alter the outcome of their encounter by psychically sending George an umbrella to walk through the rain with Mary with, and to go even further Kitty ends up pushing her cuck of a father over to Mary so they would start talking, these events imply Kitty possesses psychic abilities sense the very beginning and was able to either travel back in time for a short moment to allow these events to happen or she has become some kind of spiritual entity, like a ghost, to be able to perform such feats, I think it is clear which is more likely, after Kitty's grandparents comfort her and she stays the night, they send her back, coming off the train Kitty sees the rest of her family waiting for her when she gets back, no baby in sight, they start walking home and they all make up, and Kitty even starts singing the song her father sang after talking to Mary for the very first time.

The implications of Kitty's family showing up at the end are horrifying if my theory is true, but that is just one of many subtle moments this tragic story has, another is that "baby Julianna" may not have even been real to begin with, as I said before a beeping can be heard every time she is on screen but it is possible she was an allegory for Mary picking up drinking again and she was just a coping mechanisms for Kitty and Mimmy with the beeping being hints at this, again this is just another theory but it shows how many lairs this film has.

For a moment I would also like to point out the similarities between this film and the 2013-2023 classic anime "Attack on Titan" it would be a very heavy spoiler for attack on titan if I were to spell it out, but I believe if you have watched/read it you will notice without my pointing it out for you.

Again this film was such a heat wrenching film to watch and one of the darkest I've ever seen, if you can stomach heavier films and aren't afraid to cry, this 26 minute master class story may be for you

P.S.. i DID watch this moive with audio but i was doing my genshin dailies when i was put it on so i tuned out a lot, hope you like it :p