Comedy
Leanne
Leanne models the sitcoms of yesteryear, though its frequent sexual banter and view on marriage may leave families saying “I don’t.”
The realm of Mariland is a happy place where cute animals waddle around munching on the latest bakery treats from the town’s favorite shop. It’s run by My Melody, whose kindness and cooking skills have won the hearts of everyone around town.
Everyone, that is, except for Kuromi. No matter what the circumstance is, My Melody always one-ups her. And it’s definitely feeling intentional. Of course that dastardly My Melody would open up a cake shop just as Kuromi opens her own bakery, stealing all the customers away. It certainly has nothing to do with Kuromi’s foods being, well, disgusting …
Most recently, everyone’s been raving about My Melody’s strawberry treats. That’s why Kuromi steals her entire supply of the fruit, forcing My Melody to head to the Strawberry Woods to find more.
Instead, My Melody finds something strange: a sentient heart, tangled in some vines. Touching it transports her to the Cloud Kingdom, a land with buildings made of sweets—seemingly abandoned, save for a single giant bear that calls himself the Guardian of the Clouds.
When My Melody returns home, she learns another use for the heart: It makes things taste delicious, sort of like mythical MSG. It’ll be especially useful for the upcoming baking contest, so long as Kuromi doesn’t find out about it and take it.
Neither of them know that the heart is soon to flip the whole of Mariland upside down.
My Melody & Kuromi is based on the two eponymous characters who make up the title, characters made intentionally by the Japanese Sanrio company, which specializes in cute mascots. You may recognize the brand by its most famous creation, Hello Kitty.
My Melody and Kuromi are rivals and polar opposites; whereas My Melody is sweet and thoughtful, Kuromi is self-centered and angry. Still, when circumstances plunge Mariland into chaos, the two must set aside their differences to save their home as they know it. They’ll also learn some lessons about helping others and kindness along the way.
The show is generally quite sweet. But despite its cute stop-motion appearance, there are some moments in this TV-PG Netflix show that could scare a young viewer (and let me toss in a Spoiler Warning here for the next paragraph):
We learn that the heart has the ability to turn treats into sentient people—but when some people are turned back into treats, someone has to protect them from being eaten by others. Likewise, hungry, entranced villagers devour everything in their path like starved zombies—including a sleeping village bear. A few other scenes might be troubling for younger viewers, too, such as when someone’s arm turns moldy, and a small piece of his arm later falls off.
Given those concerns, My Melody & Kuromi isn’t quite as sweet as it initially appears.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
In need of strawberries, My Melody visits the Strawberry Woods, only to stumble upon a magical heart instead.
My Melody suffers nightmares that include rabid animals with sharp teeth and red eyes lunging at her.
Kuromi looks into a spell book to see if there’s anything that’ll make her food taste better. She’s also got a black devil tail, though it seems to be merely aesthetic. Kuromi yells out “curse you!”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Leanne models the sitcoms of yesteryear, though its frequent sexual banter and view on marriage may leave families saying “I don’t.”
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