Growing up I was the stereotypical tomboy that openly shunned any media that was adorable, wholesome, or worst of all pink. I kept it a secret that I adored Disney Princesses, and was very proud of my small collection of Beanie Babies. I am not sure why I was so hell-bent on being “different” from other femme peers when all I ever wanted was to feel like I fit in. This spurred me into my spiral of poser phases. I wore different styles every time I moved to a new school (which was very often). Hoping something would stick. Nothing ever did. Let that be a lesson for anyone going through this, that when people say “be yourself” to get good friends they aren’t wrong.
As I am getting older, I find myself easily getting emotional when watching cute media. The nostalgic repression nudges my inner child in the ribs, like “hey, stupid, you liked this. Let yourself like this.” Recently this was happening when I watched a YouTuber go to the Sanrio Amusement Park in Japan. Oh Lord, was I tearing up. It was adorable, I loved the characters and their stories, the cute little cafe cakes they sold, and of course Hello Kitty herself. The end ads rolled for the video and showed me that on July 28th Hello Kitty Island Adventure for Apple Arcade was available. Wow, say less. I was all in. I told my ipad to set a notification on the day it comes out so I can download it stat.
Currently I am over 15% completed and having a WONDERFUL time. The game is very simple with easy quests because ultimately it is a child’s game. But I don’t even mind the “Please find this amount of item on the island” quests because oh my god does the game run well. They took a combination of Animal Crossing, Sanrio characters, and my need to heal my inner Disney Princess expert, and it just works. It is unfortunate the game is behind a subscription service. Hopefully, they release this on Switch. That’d be amazing.
Let this be a call to action to watch or play something you liked as a kid.