My Melody & Kuromi - Season 1

In the stop-motion Netflix series My Melody & Kuromi, we follow these rivals during a baking competition. While tempers flare, it's an outside force that truly throws a wrench in the works. In the charming Mariland live Sanrio characters My Melody (Michelle Marie in English, Rei Sakuma in Japanese) and Kuromi (Jenny Yokobori in English, Junko Takeuchi in Japanese). My Melody runs a successful bakery with her friends Flat (Megumi Han in Japanese) and My Sweet Piano (Junko Takeuchi in Japanese). Kuromi dreams of achieving the same success with her bakery, but so far hasn't had many customers. However, more than just their reputations are at stake when it becomes clear that all of Mariland is in danger.

Everything looks sugary sweet but at times turns into a horror forest.

In honor of My Melody's 50th anniversary and Kuromi's twentieth, several celebrations are being held this year around the two characters. This new twelve-episode Netflix series is one of them. My Melody and Kuromi are polar opposites in many ways. My Melody is kind, insecure, and a bit naive. Kuromi, on the other hand, is hotheaded, selfish, and also very jealous of her rival. Yet, the girls find common ground in their love of baking. While My Melody enjoys sweet treats with fruit, Kuromi enjoys baking Dorayaki.

My Melody & Kuromi is a stop-motion series with characters and a world that seem to be made of felt, plastic, and clay. Everything looks sugary sweet but at times transforms into a horror forest. This shift surprised me quite a bit. It made me wonder what target audience the creators were trying to appeal to. There are references to the modern world, such as smartphone selfies and bluebirds that playfully reference Twitter. But overall, the fairytale atmosphere prevails. It's the endearing creatures like a hedgehog, bear, elephant, sloth, and mole that make the series what it is.



A baking competition is taking place, judged by renowned master chef Pistacio (Griffin Burns in English, Kenji Nojima in Japanese). My Melody and Kuromi both want to win. While searching for ingredients, My Melody stumbles upon a magical heart in the forest. She's immediately drawn to it, but taking the heart with her proves to have dire consequences. While the heart seems to aid My Melody in her baking, it also attracts wolves Tanba and Sasage. Tanba and Sasage decide to help Kuromi with her baking so they can get closer to the magical heart at the same time.

Throughout the series, the Dutch subtitles don't always sync up with the English audio. Besides the mismatch, the spoken and written text also differ. This is likely because the subtitles were created for the original Japanese version. I also noticed that some supporting characters in the background seemed to still be speaking Japanese among themselves. Whether I misheard this or it was an editing error, I don't know. But it's clear that the series was truly designed to be watched in Japanese.

The series was made for a very specific audience, but I think that audience can be very satisfied with this touching end result.

The twelve episodes are ten to fifteen minutes long each. Some episodes have a clear theme. However, there were also episodes that I found edited a bit oddly. The series reads like a movie. Therefore, dividing it into so many episodes didn't add much for me. I was tempted to watch everything in one go and finished the entire series in a single morning. I was surprised by how unlikable Kuromi was initially portrayed. In the first few episodes, I thought she was a real bully, but thankfully, that changes as the story progresses.

Personally, I was only superficially familiar with My Melody and Kuromi before this series. However, since I started playing a Hello Kitty game earlier this year, I've become a growing fan of these characters. It was really fun to learn more about them and all their friends. The series isn't particularly special. The story isn't particularly compelling, but it's entertaining nonetheless. It was fun to watch, and I have little to criticize overall. The series is designed for a very specific audience, but I think that audience will be very satisfied with this endearing result. For very young viewers, I think the story is a bit too complex and exciting. But for kawaii fans of Sanrio characters, it's a feast for the eyes.