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 My Melody looks like a rabbit and always wears a red or pink hood. It is especially popular in Asia and can be found on children's toys and merchandise. My Melody was released in 1975 and the first related merchandise was released at the end of that year. At first she was mostly marketed toward young girls, but like Hello Kitty her popularity has increased within all age groups, especially in Asia.

When first released she was the Little Red Riding Hood character in a version of the story featuring all animal characters. The name My Melody first appeared in 1976 and soon the connection to Little Red Riding Hood all but disappeared, with the exception of a series of Little Red Riding Hood-era goods which were re-released in 2000. After 1976, her animal friends, like Flat, Piano, Rhythm and others, started appearing. The initial My Melody goods featured a red hood but as of 1977 merchandise featuring a pink hood was released, which would be the norm for My Melody goods for several years to come.

My Melody's popularity waned toward the late 80s, and the only goods produced were candy. In 1996, during Ichigo Shinbun's reader survey, My Melody came out amongst the most popular characters and as a result standard merchandise started re-appearing as of February, 1997 featuring the original red hood. Goods with the pink hood were re-released in 1999 and as of 2000 there were goods released with multiple color hoods.

My Melody has been turned into a Pullip doll, like Hello Kitty and Cinnamoroll. The doll includes a Flat toy.

On April 3, 2005, an anime series produced by TV Osaka started to air on TXN television stations, see Onegai My Melody (おねがいマイメロディ). This anime also recently spawned a video game for the Nintendo DS titled Onegai My Melody: Yume no Kuni no Daibouken (おねがいマイメロディ～夢の国の大冒険～). The game relies heavily on a feature of the DS which requires the player to blow air into the microphone of the unit. You guide My Melody through timed levels by jumping and using her umbrella to float around and avoid enemies. The game also has unlockable content, such as music, pictures, and mini games. Currently, Sanrio has no plans to release this series in North America.

My Melody also appears in the The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends. She, however, is mouthless there, and her rival doesn't make an appearance.

In 2007, A second game was released for the Nintendo DS titled My Melody Angel Book ~Denshitechou & Enjoy Game~ (マイメロディエンジェルブック～電子手帳＆エンジョイゲーム～). The game's primary function is as a day planner designed for young girls to keep track of appointments, class schedules, and mini diary entries.

On March 26, 2008, a special Japanese music compilation album titled "I LOVE 30 - MY MELODY" from Tearbridge Records was released with My Melody wearing the original red hood drawn in various artwork styles by Groovisions.

Mickey was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz ofUniversal Studios.

When Disney asked for a larger budget for his popular Oswald series, Mintz announced he had hired the bulk of Disney's staff, but that Disney could keep doing the Oswald series, as long as he agreed to a budget cut and went on the payroll. Mintz owned Oswald and thought he had Disney over a barrel. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff, but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks own Flip the Frog series.)Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from his old pet mouse he used to have on his farm. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. "Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be. Actor Mickey Rooney has claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. Said Disney:

"We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it's because he's so human; and that is the secret of his popularity. I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse."