Hello Kitty’s Paradise: Fun With Friends is the second volume of DVDs released for Hello Kitty’s Paradise. The back of the box claims there are eight complete episodes included. However, the box doesn’t explicitly state that the episodes are roughly ten to eleven minutes in length; two “episodes” actually make up one whole episode of Hello Kitty’s Paradise. In between the stories, and sometimes at the beginning or at the end of the show, there is a “Fun and Games” section using claymation, and the games include such things as “Guess the Shape,” “Animals! Animals!” and “Kitty’s Caterpillar Quiz.” Personally, I didn’t care very much for the interstitials. I didn’t think they were very well-produced, and in some cases, it felt as if the person who wrote the dialogue for these interstitials was talking down to the children in the audience.
The episodes included on this disc are: “The Magic Bags,” “The Dust Monster,” “Put On a Happy Place,” “The Train to Grandma’s House,” “Paper Play,” “Sizing Things Up,” “The Broken Robot,” and “What’s in Store” (which is mislabeled on the back of the box as “What’s in the Store”). The episodes either encourage children to use their imaginations or work to teach kids important lessons about life. Lessons included on this disc are sharing, counting, safety, manners, and making new friends. As a parent, I appreciated that the English dub versions of the stories included on the DVD provided positive messages for their intended audience. I also appreciate that the English dubs of the actual stories were written in a way that the episodes didn’t talk down to the audience.
My 4-year-old daughter enjoyed watching this DVD, and really liked the songs (the opening song and the song that’s used when Kitty and Mimmy get in their hot air balloon and use their imagination). She also seems to enjoy the cute animation, the bright colors, and the stories.
Admittedly, this is a “low frills” DVD release. The main menu has options for Scene Selection and DVD Credits. The DVD Credits is a screen which shows who worked on this Hello Kitty DVD release.
The Hello Kitty’s Paradise DVD releases contain anime that’s very friendly to young children. However, girls will probably be more interested in these DVDs than boys, due to the “cuteness” of Hello Kitty. If you have a young child at home and are looking for kid-friendly anime, then I would recommend the Hello Kitty’s Paradise DVDs.
In order to write this review, I checked out a copy of the DVD through the King County Library System.
