Dear Daniel (ディアダニエル, Dia Danieru), also known by his full name Daniel Star (ダニエル・スター, Danieru Sutā), is a character from Sanrio and lives in the Hello Kitty universe. Essentially a male version of Hello Kitty, the company's mascot, Dear Daniel is a mouthless white Japanese Bobtail cat like herself but has a spiky fringe on his head and usually wears blue overalls with a cyan shirt, which is similar to that of Kitty's (though other cases he wears a tuxedo or royal gear). Daniel's birthday is on May 3rd, which makes his zodiac sign Taurus. His favorite foods are cheesecake and yogurt. Although Dear Daniel officially made his debut in 1999 according to Sanrio, his first appearance is technically six years prior in 1993 as part of the 'Baby Kitty' series, which shows Hello Kitty's youngest days.
He is one of Hello Kitty's childhood friends, with his role in the Hello Kitty franchise being depicted as her official boyfriend, which, in spite of generally being accepted by fans today, was initially met with controversy. Although he stands at a slightly taller height than Kitty (in some cases), Dear Daniel is of the same age as herself and they have known each other since they were very young. He soon gave a pet hamster named Sugar to her. Daniel finds wonder in even the smallest things and pays special attention to how he looks – very trendy, sensitive and naive. Like Hello Kitty and her other friends, Dear Daniel is known to be caring towards individuals.
Hailing from Britain, Daniel went to South Africa with his family because his father Mr. Star is a photographer. After living in several locations around the world, he ended up in New York (United States), and from there he returned to England, where he was reunited with Hello Kitty. Thanks to his stint in New York and his natural sense of rhythm, he's an excellent ballet dancer and is good at the piano. His goal is to become a photographer or a celebrity. Dear Daniel's hobby is to take pictures of animals.
History
Baby Kitty series, the very first appearance of Dear Daniel, alongside Hello Kitty, six years before his official debut in 1999
Designed in 1999 by Yuko Yamaguchi who has been the lead designer of Hello Kitty since 1980. Yamaguchi was inspired to create a boyfriend for Hello Kitty in the late 1990s when the Japanese singer Namie Amuro talked publicly about the beloved character having a boyfriend, something that was considered controversial at the time. The character's name was inspired by the British film Melody from 1971, where the romantic lead is called Daniel.
Media
Hello Kitty's Animation Theater
Dear Daniel appears in many of the episodes. He appears as:
- The Prince in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
- Hansel in "Hansel & Gretel"
- The Emperor in "The Bamboo Princess"
- The Prince in "Sleeping Beauty"
- Young Prince in "The Wild Swans"
- Christophe in "The Nutcracker"
- The Prince in "Cinderella"
- The Prince in "Thumbelina"
- Kai in "The Snow Queen"
- Himself in "The Three Little Pigs"
He is voiced by Chris Patton in the English dub.
The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends
Daniel appears as one of the main characters. He is a smart, enterprising, bookish male cat the same age as Kitty. He loves learning new things and pursuing his hobby of photographing wildlife. He dresses very formal. He has a crush on Hello Kitty. He is voiced by Maggie Blue O'Hara.
Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures
Dear Daniel debuted as a background character in Season 2. His first speaking role was in Season 8 Episode 1, 'The Kuromi & My Melody Fall Ball'. He has been voiced by Sunny Onorati since Season 10, with his voice actor in Seasons 8 & 9 being unknown.
Rankings in the Sanrio Character Ranking
In the 2013 Sanrio Character Ranking, if Daniel reaches the top 10, he would propose to Hello Kitty. However, he failed to reach that rank, and she herself was the winner. Dear Daniel in his first few years in the rankings managed to be popular with his best position being 3rd in 2002, but has gotten a steep decline since the 2010s, as he is not a character who appears frequently in official Hello Kitty media.
- 1999: 5th place
- 2000: 4th place
- 2001: 4th place
- 2002: 3rd place
- 2003: 6th place
- 2004: 5th place
- 2005: 6th place
- 2006: 7th place
- 2007-2008: Below top 10
- 2009: 9th place
- 2010: Below top 20
- 2011: Didn't participate
- 2012: 20th place
- 2013: 20th place
- 2014: Below top 20 (8th in Group B)
- 2015: 31st place
- 2016: 34th place
- 2017: 26th place
- 2018: 34th place
- 2019: 26th place
- 2020: 27th place
- 2021: 25th place
- 2022: 24th place
- 2023: 29th place
- 2024: 28th place
- 2025: -- *rankings ongoing*
Gallery
Trivia
- In Hello Kitty's Animation Theater, like Hello Kitty, Dear Daniel is depicted with a visible mouth.
- Dear Daniel's debut in 1999 is quite late compared to Hello Kitty's, who made hers back in 1974, 25 years prior, one of the reasons explaining the controversy of his role being the Sanrio mascot's boyfriend.
Robert from Hello Kittty and Friends, who resembles Dear Daniel
- In Hello Kitty and Friends, Dear Daniel look-alikes are found in some episodes, with the most famous example of such is Robert, who Hello Kitty's twin sister Mimmy falls in love with in "The Wonderful Sisters" and of course befriends Hello Kitty as well. As the episode itself was originally broadcasted in Japan in 1993, this character is often considered as Daniel Star's precursor.
- Ironically, in the same episode, Hello Kitty dreams of a boyfriend male white cat who appears nearly identical to Daniel himself.
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- Dear Daniel is the only mainline male Sanrio character to be voiced by an actual male actor, alongside Berry of Lloromannic.
- One official artwork of Dear Daniel depicts himself wearing blue overalls with a green shirt. Coincidentally, this outfit is identical to Luigi's from Nintendo's Super Mario franchise, who is the younger but taller twin brother of Mario, the gaming giant's mascot. On a similar note, some older artwork and media including Hello Kitty's Animation Theater has Hello Kitty wear a red shirt with blue overalls which look identical to Mario's, and she herself is shorter than Daniel.
- Much like Hello Kitty and some of her friends, although Dear Daniel's nationality is supposedly British, he has an American accent in most English dubs.
- A common piece of misinformation by fans is the fact that Daniel Star is female. This was never confirmed by Sanrio as he is canonically male, and seems to come from a satirical news website.