Little Twin Stars

Little Twin Stars (リトルツインスターズ, Ritoru Tsuin Sutāzu), are a pair of fairy characters from the Japanese company Sanrio. Unlike most others, rather than anthropomorphic animals, they are human, and, although protagonists, do not come from a specific universe. The duo, known as Kiki and Lala, were born on December 24th (Christmas Eve) on Omoiyari Star in the Dream Star-Cloud and are fraternal twins. To learn how to be the best, shiniest stars they could be, they traveled a long way to Earth. As twin siblings, Kiki and Lala are really close and always play together. Kiki looks out for his older sister Lala and also thinks it's his job to protect her. Since Kiki is very curious, he can sometimes put himself in a dangerous situation which makes Lala worry about him. Even in the rare circumstances the two get into a fight, the twins manage to get back together fairly quickly.

One of the oldest known characters from Sanrio, the Little Twin Stars made their first appearance in 1975, the same year as My Melody and The Strawberry King, and shortly after Hello Kitty herself, its mascot. Interestingly, although designed by Yasuko Matsumoto (who also created My Melody), the characters are actually one of the few (and best-known) created by none other than Shintaro Tsuji, the founder and former president of the multi-billiondollar company, making them important in the official line-up. Although their level of popularity worldwide is not as high as that of Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, etc., the Little Twin Stars remain as flagship characters to this day.

As of 2025, like My Melody, Kiki and Lala are currently celebrating their 50th anniversary.

The Fairy Siblings

Sanrio Characters Little Twin Stars Image060 — Lala (left) and Kiki (right)

Kiki (キキ, Kiki), the younger brother, has short blue (or sometimes brown) hair. He loves star-fishing and inventing things. His curiosity about everything can make him a little cheeky sometimes. He wears a long sleeve white gown and has bare feet.

Lala (ララ, Rara), the older sister, has long pink (or sometimes blonde) hair. She can be a little timid, and she loves drawing, writing poems, and cooking! Like Kiki, she wears a long sleeve white gown and has bare feet.

Origin

Sanrio Characters Little Twin Stars Image078 — The Little Twin Stars' original appearance in the 1970s and early 1980s

The Little Twin Stars, after Shintaro Tsuji created their concept, were originally made when the designer, Yasuko Matsumoto, was asked to draw something with animals and children for a Christmas promotion in the mid 1970s. After some brainstorming, Matsumoto drew a boy and a girl wearing simple winter clothing which would be one of the first designs for Kiki and Lala. After finishing the design, Matsumoto looked over the drawing but felt something was missing and that the two needed something added to them to further stick out. The designer thought about what to make her design more Christmas-like by thinking of things that reminded people of Christmas. From Santa, to reindeer, to Christmas Trees, Matsumoto eventually settled with including stars.

Matsumoto added a star onto the boy's back and drew the girl a star wand for her to hold. The star would give the ability of flight and the wand would allow snacks and candies to be summoned at anytime while also working like a compass to guide the boy and girl where to fly. She also redesigned the twins to give them features akin to Kiki and Lala's current appearance with the differences being Kiki was slimmer and Lala had shorter hair. Kiki's hair was inspired by a mushroom cut Matsumoto had recently seen a young boy in town wearing.

After being created, Little Twin Stars were first introduced in the Strawberry News, a monthly Sanrio magazine. As Kiki and Lala became more popular with readers, they wanted to know much more about the twins such as their names. At the time, however the twins didn't have official names and were simply referred to as "the Twin Stars" or "the Charmers".

It was then decided to let the readers of Strawberry News decide the names for the twins. Thousands of letters were sent in by readers with all kinds of suggestions for names. Some possible names included Larry and Lilly, and Luie and Lorie. After some time, the twins were finally named Kiki and Lala. Yasuko Matsumoto continued to answer readers' curious questions and show more of the star-shaped world the twins reside in.

Backstory

One evening when the stars were very beautiful, two little baby twin stars were born in the Land of Stars.

One baby star was a boy who was named Kiki and the other, a girl, was named Lala.

Both of them were full of energy and grew up in good health. However, their parents loved them a little too much which caused them to become a bit spoiled. The father star soon realized this was a problem and after a talk with the mother star, they decided the best thing to do was to send them down to earth. Since they were always looking down on the planet from the clouds, Kiki and Lala's parents knew there were many challenges and sad things on Earth, but knew being there would help the twins learn to take care of themselves and shine brightly like they were meant to.

Kiki and Lala's mother tied a large star on Kiki with a ribbon which would allow him to fly around and carry Kiki and his sister across the sky. Their father gave Lala a wand with a guiding star attached to it and told her that if the wand is moved in a circle, snacks will appear. It would also help guide them on their journey much like a compass. The twins were also given a soft, puffy cloud to sleep on when they were tired. In addition to being a place for the twins to rest their heads, it can also change its size and shape, clean things, and fix objects.

Kiki and Lala were very sad to leave home and had no idea what adventures lay ahead. They were worried but also excited about going to Earth. The twins promised their parents they would work and help together, and then they set off on their journey...

Media Appearances

The Little Twin Stars are often seen in older OVA animated releases by Sanrio. They also make a cameo in The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends.

They have also previously been included in video games with other Sanrio characters. In 2018, the first mobile game app exclusively featuring Kiki and Lala was released for iOS and Android, titled Kiki & Lala's Twinkle Puzzle (キキ&ララのトゥインクルパズル). It is a tile matching puzzle game and was developed by Imagineer. It incorporates illustrations from a 1970s picture book with the origin story of the characters. They also make an appearance in Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

The Little Twin Stars are also featured in the multimedia project Fragaria Memories.

Ranking in the Sanrio Character Ranking

In the 2013 Character Rankings, if the Little Twin Stars reach first place, a sweets hiuse based on them will be made. They failed to achieve it, as they were in 4th place (while Hello Kitty was the winner). Over the decades since its founding in 1986, the Little Twin Stars were generally good contenders, frequently placing in the top 10. However, the characters have never officially won the rankings as of today, with their highest position so far being second in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

1986: To be added
1987: To be added
1988: To be added
1989: To be added
1990: To be added
1991: To be added
1992: To be added
1993: To be added
1994: To be added
1995: To be added
1996: To be added
1997: 7th place
1998: 4th place
1999: 4th place
2000: 5th place
2001: 5th place
2002: 4th place
2003: 2nd place
2004: 2nd place
2005: 4th place
2006: 6th place
2007: 4th place
2008: 4th place
2009: 2nd place
2010: 2nd place
2011: 2nd place
2012: 3rd place
2013: 4th place
2014: 3rd place
2015: 9th place
2016: 6th place
2017: 6th place
2018: 7th place
2019: 6th place
2020: 9th place
2021: 7th place
2022: 7th place
2023: 8th place
2024: 10th place
2025: 7th place

Trivia

Originally, Kiki and Lala's hair were brown and yellow, respectively. Their iconic blue and pink colors would not debut until the mid 1980s.
Little Twin Stars have had a vinyl record containing two songs based on them released in 1977 under Sanrio Record. Those songs have been re-released onto a 2017 compilation album, including past vinyls also released by the record label.
As Kiki and Lala's appearances in Sanrio media are less frequent than most other well-known characters, some fans have wished for the Little Twin Stars to become more prominent, especially since they were created by Shintaro Tsuji himself, and considering them to be undervalued.

The extremely rare Little Twin Stars couch as seen in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
In 2021 and 2023, the Little Twin Stars, alongside several popular Sanrio characters, made a cameo appearance in Nintendo's Animal Crossing video game series, specifically Pocket Camp, New Leaf, and New Horizons, due to a collaboration with Sanrio, as multiple available furniture, albeit expensive to purchase in-game (with the couch being the rarest), from a limited-time event called "Pocket Camp X Sanrio". For the former two installments, because those games' service are currently shut down, items based on Kiki and Lala, other Sanrio characters, and Nintendo's own IPs (Super Mario, Splatoon, and Pokémon) are no longer available and therefore only seen by players who managed to obtain them beforehand. However, in Pocket Camp Complete, thanks to a recent discovery, it is possible to access the exclusive furniture, though illegitimately, by hacking the internal save data, as they are still in the game's code. New Horizons, on the other hand, continues to feature Sanrio-based content.
- Like some other Sanrio characters, the Little Twin Stars is represented in Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo's Sanrio card pack by the normal sheep villager Étoile. She has an entire line of furniture and clothing modeled after Kiki and Lala. This exclusive furniture is also seen in Pocket Camp and New Horizons (although it's no longer available for the former two).