Sanrio Trivia
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99 free Sanrio trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Sanrio has been turning cute drawings into a global business since 1960, and the cast has grown far beyond Hello Kitty: a rebellious rabbit with a skull on her hat, an apathetic yolk, a red panda who rages at her office job, and dozens of characters most fans have never met. This quiz digs past the basics into the company's history, its surprisingly dark films, its theme parks, the annual fan-voted Character Ranking, and the backstories Sanrio writes for each character, from birthplaces and best friends to the ideas behind their names. It suits longtime collectors, anime fans and anyone who wants to know why a certain puppy keeps winning the popularity poll. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something whether you get it right or not.
30 of 99 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Gudetama only came second in Sanrio's 2013 food-character contest — to a character based on what?
A salmon fillet
A salmon fillet named Kirimichan won the online poll, yet by 2019 the runner-up had become Sanrio's third most profitable character; Kirimichan is a cheerful slice of fish that wants to be eaten.
Q 02Kuromi, My Melody's rival introduced in a 2005 Sanrio anime, has her official birthday on which holiday?
Halloween
Halloween suits a character with a devil tail and a criminal streak: Sanrio gives Kuromi a birthday of 31 October. She began life as a biker-gang leader before becoming one of Sanrio's most popular characters.
Q 03Which Sanrio character won the fan-voted Sanrio Character Ranking five years running, from 2020 to 2024?
Cinnamoroll
Cinnamoroll also won in 2017 and 2018; in Sanrio's story the white puppy fell from the clouds outside Café Cinnamon, where he was taken in, and his curled tail looks like a cinnamon roll.
Q 04The European Commission fined Sanrio 6.2 million euros in 2019 for doing what with its licensed merchandise?
Blocking cross-border sales
Blocking cross-border sales inside the EU cost Sanrio about 6.9 million US dollars, because licensees had been told not to sell Hello Kitty goods outside their own countries. Licensing of Sanrio's original characters had begun back in 1976.
Q 05Bad Badtz-Maru, Sanrio's spiky-haired penguin, treats which animal, named Pochi, like a pet dog?
A baby alligator
A baby alligator called Pochi trots after Badtz-Maru like a puppy, alongside Hana-Maru the white seal and Pandaba, a panda in a red bikini skirt. Badtz-Maru topped the Sanrio Character Ranking in 1996.
Q 06Sanrio's European website says the company name joins two words meaning 'holy river' — from which language?
Spanish
Spanish san ('holy') and río ('river') is the official European story, but the founder's own book derives the name from an alternative reading of the company's original Yamanashi name plus an excited 'o'. Sanrio adopted the name in 1973.
Q 07Gudetama's original animated shorts aired daily on Japan's TBS from 2014 to 2020 — roughly how long was each episode?
About one minute
About one minute a day was enough: by 2019 the morning-show segment had clocked up more than 1,200 episodes, and viewers could play a remote-control game called 'Gudetama Chance!' during the broadcast.
Q 08In the Netflix anime Aggretsuko, Retsuko's golf-obsessed and sexist boss, the director of accounting, is which animal?
A pig
A pig who practises golf swings instead of working, Ton is nonetheless a brilliant, speedy accountant and may quietly see Retsuko as his successor. He nicknames her 'Short-Timer' after she bad-mouths him on television.
Q 09For Sanrio's 50th anniversary in 2010, which retailer sold limited-edition stuffed Sanrio characters?
Build-A-Bear
Build-A-Bear Workshop's anniversary line included Hello Kitty, Chococat, My Melody and Keroppi; the company it honoured had started out in 1960 selling silk, then rubber sandals painted with flowers.
Q 10The first Hello Kitty Con, a four-day fan convention for her 40th anniversary in 2014, was held in which city?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles drew more than 25,000 visitors, and the keenest queued for hours for a free, permanent Hello Kitty tattoo at the convention's pop-up parlour.
Q 11Which Sanrio dog character, drawn to resemble a flan, won the 2025 Sanrio Character Ranking after a nine-year gap?
Pompompurin
Pompompurin first topped the poll in 1997, a year after his debut, then again in 2015 and 2016 before his 2025 comeback ended a rival's five-year streak. A Pompompurin Café opened in Harajuku in 2014.
Q 12Kuromi's purple sidekick, who carries her through the air on his back, is what kind of animal?
A tapir
A tapir fits Japanese folklore, where the baku is a dream-eating beast, and Sanrio's purple Baku can likewise seek out people's dreams. He and Kuromi escape a Mariland dungeon at the start of the 2005 anime.
Q 13Keroppi's surname Hasunoue, in Sanrio's backstory, describes exactly where he sits — meaning what?
On a lily pad
Q 21Which date does Sanrio give as the official birthday of Bad Badtz-Maru, its spiky-haired penguin?
April 1
April 1 is April Fool's Day, apt for a penguin Sanrio calls mischievous and contrary; on his birthday the Puroland theme park has jokingly announced it was being renamed Bad Badtz-Maru Land with him in charge.
Q 22The 500-series bullet train JR West repainted for Hello Kitty in 2018 had previously worn a livery for which anime?
Evangelion
Evangelion's '500 Type Eva' livery ran on set V2 from November 2015 to May 2018, weeks before the same train became the Hello Kitty Shinkansen; both liveries later turned up in the Shinkalion toy and anime franchise.
Q 23Jewelpet, Sanrio's 2008 franchise of gem-named animals with magical eyes, was a joint venture with which toy company?
'Hasunoue' means on a lily pad, apt for a frog first sold in 1988 as part of a rainy-season promotion; his friends include Denden the snail and Teruteru, a teru teru bōzu rain charm.
Q 14Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures, a weekly series Sanrio launched in 2020, streams on which platform?
YouTube
YouTube's official Hello Kitty and Friends channel premiered the series on 26 October 2020 with a cast including Keroppi, Badtz-Maru and Kuromi. Each episode is published weekly.
Q 15Sanrio's 1979 stop-motion film, co-written by the company's founder, loosely adapts which ballet?
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker became Nutcracker Fantasy, narrated by an adult Clara, in which a Ragman turns children into mice if he catches them up past bedtime. Sanrio remastered it for Hello Kitty's 40th anniversary in 2014.
Q 16Which manga legend created Unico, the baby unicorn who belonged to Sanrio's character lineup in the early 1980s?
Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka's Unico ran in Sanrio's girls' magazine Lyrica from 1976; in the story the West Wind keeps whisking the unicorn to new times and places and wiping his memory, to hide him from a jealous goddess.
Q 17Sanrio's 1981 anime The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, based on its founder's story, retells which Shakespeare play?
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet become Sirius, heir to the sea kingdom, and Malta, princess of fire, kept apart by a feud between water and fire that a jealous lord of the winds stirred up; Masami Hata directed.
Q 18In Netflix's 2022 Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure, the lazy hero and a chick named Shakipiyo cross Japan seeking whom?
Their mother
Their mother is the goal of the ten-episode live-action and CGI hybrid, in which the hyperactive Shakipiyo pesters Gudetama before the two become best friends. A hardboiled egg character also appears.
Q 19In the 2022 Amazon series Hello Kitty: Super Style!, what lets Hello Kitty transform into a chef, detective or popstar?
Her bow
Her bow does the magic in the 3D series, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 7 December 2022 and follows Hello Kitty helping the residents of Cherry Town. Some episodes carry a +7 rating on HBO Max.
Q 20Hello Kitty Park, a Sanrio theme park that opened in 2015 in Anji County, is in which country?
China
China's Zhejiang Province got the park, though Sanrio neither built nor paid for it: it licensed Hello Kitty to the Chinese property developer Yinrun, which footed the bill.
Sega Toys
Sega Toys co-created the line, which launched on January 15, 2008; its success led the pair to team up again on Rilu Rilu Fairilu in 2016 and Beatcats in 2020.
Q 24Which studio teamed up with Sanrio and FlynnPictureCo in 2019 to make an English-language Hello Kitty feature film?
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema joined Sanrio and FlynnPictureCo in 2019 for an English-language film that Sanrio had first announced in 2015 with a 2019 target. By 2026 the project was on its second pair of directors.
Q 25Hello Kitty Skyland, a 2025 social game from Sanrio, was built for what kind of hardware?
VR headsets
VR headsets in the Meta Quest family run Skyland, a social virtual-reality game that followed the success of Hello Kitty Island Adventure, which got Switch and PlayStation 5 ports the same year.
Q 26Which designer created Sanrio's 2001 puppy who flies with his long ears, and later illustrated the Jewelpet characters?
Miyuki Okumura
Miyuki Okumura drew the puppy and his café friends Cappuccino, Chiffon, Mocha, Espresso and Milk, then Wish me mell in 2010, before announcing in November 2024 that she was leaving Sanrio after 25 years.
Q 27Sanrio's 2020 boy group Hapidanbui revived six older male characters; its name promises what shape of recovery?
V-shaped
V-shaped recovery is the pun: the name shortens a Japanese phrase meaning 'boys who want to become happy aim for a V-shaped recovery', and its members did climb the Sanrio Character Ranking afterwards.
Q 28The Little Twin Stars, Sanrio's angelic siblings from 1975, got their names Kiki and Lala from what?
A reader survey
A reader survey in Sanrio's Strawberry Newspaper named the pair, who were unnamed in their first publication. Kiki, the younger brother, has blue hair and Lala, the older sister, pink.
Q 29Cogimyun, Sanrio's fluffy fairy made of wheat flour, dreams of becoming which food?
A rice ball
A rice ball, or onigiri, is her grandfather's favourite food, so the wheat fairy wants to be one despite being made of the wrong grain. She keeps a fried shrimp named Ebi-chan as a pet.
Q 30Sanrio's 2010 rabbit Wish me mell was launched hiding inside her egg-like house until fans did what?
Sent encouraging messages
Sent encouraging messages for about a month, the timid rabbit finally came out of hiding; in Sanrio's story she now helps deliver the mail herself.