HANGRY AND ANGRY: H.NAOTO KITTY MASCOTS.
As a kid, I refused to play with anything but stuffed animals (I wasn’t fond of humanity). Little Carmina would have LOVED Hangry and Angry, the mascots of Japanese designer h.NAOTO. The two are like undead Hello Kitties with sewn-up mouths and scars around their eyes. Angry (pictured on the left) usually wears Gothic Lolita Punk dresses. Hangry, her male counterpart, sports a blood-red mohawk. The duo is stunningly designed; I love how the black and white areas of their ears and feet are reversed on either side.
Volume 17 of the Gothic & Lolita Bible introduced the female mascot in an illustrated story (click here to see it). Angel Angry is a sweet pussycat who frolics in the world of sunlight and rainbows. Devil Angry is her graveyard and ghost-loving inverse. The two spot each other in a mirror, and the goody-goody thinks the black cat wants to be friends. In fact, Devil hates Angel because she looks and dresses exactly like her – only Sweet and not Gothic. Devil tricks her by offering a rose… and then stabs Angel to death with a massive sword!
Narrative analysis? A fable, perhaps, teaching us that Anger is Deadly, and that every rose has its thorn. Or that the desire to be an individual comes at the cost of being alone. Or that in spite of their night-and-day habits, Gothic and Sweet Lolitas are nearly identical, hence the tension through the looking glass. Ah, perhaps ’tis only a silly story.
h.NAOTO’s Hangry and Angry juniors collection consists of stuffed animals, bags, stationery, accessories, and casual clothes, including hoodies with cat ears and tails on the back. I’m a fan of the plushies pictured above, which cost $50 to $75. Hey, one is never too old for stuffed toys! I bought a stuffed penguin at Takashimaya just yesterday!
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LA CARMINA
