Tokyo Mew Mew

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Let me serve the future of the earth, nya!

An iconic series that brought the five-girl team of Magical Girls into the 2000s, Tokyo Mew Mew started as a Nakayoshi artist's desire to do a series about a Catgirl, and ended up as a sweet tale of choosing the right guy, protecting the environment, and throwing some sparkly Stock Footage around to solve the world's problems.

Ichigo Momomiya's only care in the world is getting kendo idol Masaya Aoyama to notice her. Since he's interested in environmental protection, she invites him on a date to an exhibition about "Red Data Animals", a list of endangered species.

Little does she know that she is one of five Tokyo schoolgirls "chosen" by the Earth, possessed of a unique DNA pattern allowing her to host the genes of the Irimote Mountain Cat, one of the Red Data Animals. As part of the secret "Mew Project", she is shot by an injection gun from a mysterious cat statue atop a cute cafe.

Now the DNA of the wildcat is running through her, and she's picked up some very odd abilities, such as excessive sleepiness and landing perfectly on her feet. Not only that, but she can use a Transformation Trinket to transform into a magical catgirl and defeat the parasitic aliens that are transforming normal animals into monstrous Chimera Anima.

Recruited by the masterminds behind the Mew Project, Ichigo ends up working at the cafe as a waitress by day and alien-hunting catgirl by night, with the promise that she will return to normal when the threat has passed. What's more, there are four other subjects of the Mew Project to find, and a sinister extraterrestrial plot to thwart.

There is also a manga-only sequel written by the head illustrator after the head writer left. Tokyo Mew Mew a la mode renders Ichigo utterly useless (no, really) so that a shiny new character named Berry Shirayuki/Mew Berry (Tokyopop name: Berry) can take her place. Many fans like to pretend it doesn't exist.

The manga was licensed by Tokyo Pop and the anime by 4Kids Entertainment (where it's known as Mew Mew Power). Only the first half of the series has been released in the United States so far, and because of Fox's odd airing schedule, you're usually likely to only see the first twelve episodes. More recently, it was given the Gag Dub treatment in Tokyo Mew Mew in a Nutshell. In addition, Kodansha USA has re-licensed the the original manga in omnibus form, coming this fall.

4Kids lost the rights to the first half of the show, and have been unsuccessful in attempting to purchase the rights to the second half. It was popularly assumed, but not proven, that a relicensing like One Piece had would hang on the success of the English release of Mamotte Lollipop.

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Ikumi Mia loves puns, and Tokyopop's translators are not purists. These factors together create a lot of confusion as to what things are called. Regarding names in the original version:

• The Japanese characters have Japanese names, sometimes based on English loanwords. ex. Minto instead of Mint.
• The Chinese character Bu-ling has a Chinese name based on a Japanese version (purin) of an English loanword (pudding).
• The alien characters have English food names. Tokyo Pop mistranslated Gateau du Roi and Quiche as Gato du Rowa and Kish; they are not supposed to be a Spanish cat and some dude from The Bible.
• The Mew names for those characters named for English words have the actual English word. ex. Mew Mint instead of Mew Minto.
• The attack word "riboun" is not a cognate of the English word ribbon; it means reborn.
• Whatever is written as "myuu" may be either "mew" (as in, a cat sound), "mu" (as in, the Greek letter used by geneticists) or both. "Tokyo Mew Mew" and "Mu Project" have been vindicated by on-screen text (though Tokyopop called the latter the Mew Project) but nobody's quite sure whether the MacGuffin in the second half of the series is Mew Aqua or Mu Aqua.

Tropes used in Tokyo Mew Mew include:

• Accidental Athlete: Episode 5
• Accidental Kiss
• Adaptation Dye Job
• Adventure Rebuff: Bu-ling
• All Your Colors Combined: Reborn Strawberry Surprise lights up all of Tokyo.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The 4Kids dub has a pop song called "Team Up!" for its theme.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Mew Mint to Mew Zakuro, mid-battle.
• Animal Stereotypes: This was even lampshaded in manga extras, as well as one scene where the Mew Mews talk about their similarities and dissimilarities with their Red DNA animals.
• Anime Theme Song
• Animorphism
• Anti-Villain: The alien antagonists are upset about humans polluting and want to reclaim their homeland, Earth. Unfortunately, their plans involve killing people to do so. Deep Blue just wants the planet for himself, though.
• Arranged Marriage: Bu-ling, in one episode, to Long Yuebin, one of her father's students.
• Art Shift: Later episodes make the characters aged 14 and up look more noticeably older, and colours get deeper and shinier.
• Back from the Dead: The entire cast in the finale. Mew Aqua is powerful stuff.
• Beach Episode: Episode 19.
• Best for Last: Ichigo's Mu Aqua, and only in the manga.
• Berserk Button: Zakuro always seems calm, even when she is in battle. Mostly she casually fights off enemies with her Zacross. However, when she sees Kish harming a child, she screams in his face, Keeps him from escaping and DECKS him right in the face, giving him a cold stare afterwards. This leaves Kish stunned that even Zakuro can be physically violent.
• Big Fancy House: Minto's.
• Big No: Ichigo, after Aoyama dies.
• Bishonen: Tons.
• Breast Plate: Zakuro... and many of the men, too.
• Bree Sharp: Sang the English dub opening theme song for "Tokyo Mew Mew" and most of the songs for "Mew Mew Power."
• By the Power of Greyskull: Mew Mew (food), Metamorphose! And before Yes! Precure 5 used it, too.
• Calling Your Attacks: Reborn (food) (verb)!
• Canon Immigrant: Not characters, but the transformation phrases and revised weapon designs came into the manga from the anime.
• Chromatic Arrangement
• The Chosen One: Although the injections are initially presented as an "accident", it becomes clear that the girls were singled out after a search because they were the planet's chosen protectors.
• Clark Kenting: Although they do change quite a bit more than the classics did.
• Combined Energy Attack: Reborn Strawberry Surprise.
• Costume Inertia
• Converse with the Unconscious: Ichigo does this in episode 38.
• Creator Provincialism: Especially prevalent when we learn that the Mu Aqua only exists in the waters of Japan. Attack something else and they can't fix it!
• Curtains Match the Window: See image.
• Cute Little Fangs: Mew Ichigo at times. The aliens as well.
• Dance Battler: A chimera anima in one Filler uses a ballet-based fighting style. Naturally, it was one of Minto's focus episodes.
• Dancing Theme: The ending theme. Catchy, too.
• Dark Magical Girl: Retasu at first, Zakuro (Renee) in MMP.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: Ryou and Bu-ling are both somewhat darker than much of the rest of the cast, and they both have yellow hair.
• Dating Catwoman: Bu-ling and Taruto.
• A Day in the Limelight
• Debut Queue: Episodes 1-12
• Demonic Invaders
• Die or Fly: Die or swim, actually.
• Disappeared Dad: Bu-ling's father is training in the mountains.
• Disney Death: Taruto, Kisshu, Pai, Aoyama and Ichigo. Deep Blue is Killed Off for Real, though.
• Do They Know It's Christmas Time?: Anime only
• Dreaming of a White Christmas: Episode 38.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The honourific switch, left out of both English translations.
• Dude, She's Like, in a Coma
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: In episode five, Ichigo loses a gymnastics competition but saves everyone there.
• Ending Theme: With dancing cats!
• Executive Meddling: The series was originally going to be a horror, with a short-haired catgirl in pink being the only thing in common with its current incarnation. Execs at Nakayoshi pressured the artist to do magical girls instead.
• Expressive Hair: Retasu's braids and Ichigo's pigtails
• Fan Girl: Ichigo towards love interest Masaya and Minto towards long-time idol Zakuro.
• Fangs Are Evil: The aliens.
• Faux Paw: Ichigo bats and licks when she first becomes a Mew.
• Filler
• Final Speech
• Finger-Twitching Revival Aoyama, after coming back to life.
• First Kiss: Ichigo sulks about having hers stolen by her stalker for a whole episode.
• First-Name Basis: Beginning in episode 13, but only on Aoyama's part. Ichigo fantasizes about him insisting that he call her "Masaya," but keeps calling him "Aoyama-kun" to the end of the series. In a filler episode, Lettuce knows that the boy she's interested in is in a relationship because he's on a First-Name Basis with the librarian.
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero- Ichigo
  • The Lancer- Mint
  • The Smart Guy- Lettuce
  • The Chick- Pudding
  • The Big Guy- Zakuro
• Flight, Strength, Heart
• Flower Motifs: The first chapter of the manga gives every girl a different flower background.
• Gaia's Vengeance: The reason that the Mew Mews were born.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Mew Mint to Mew Ichigo in episode 50
• Go Through Me
• Gotterdammerung
• Gratuitous English: "I am a Ichigo!"
  • Also ... this scene from episode 10, featuring Zakuro's "amazing" English skills. Not helped by Ichigo gushing over how good Zakuro's English is.
• Gratuitous Japanese: In the Korean dub.
• Green Aesop
• Hair Colors
• Henshin Hero
• Heroic BSOD
• Heroic Willpower
• Hide Your Lesbians: Minto and Zakuro.
• High School AU: Petite Mew Mew is a kindergarten AU.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Mew Lettuce. But only after her Good Is Dumb moment.
• Hurricane of Puns: The characters' names, attacks, appearances... Everything is a pun.
• I Have Your Wife: Pai and Taruto threaten to have the Monster of the Week kill Ichigo if Aoyama/The Blue Knight retaliates or avoids their attacks in Episode 47.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ichigo to Masaya as he's trapped inside Deep Blue
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: At the very end.
• Identical Stranger: Masaya has two: one in a filler, one in the PlayStation game.
• Image Song: The five girls each get some, as does Ringo from the aforementioned game.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes
• Improbable Weapon User: Heart-shaped bells? Castanets?
• Fundamentally Female Cast: Despite not being a Bishoujo Series.
• In a Single Bound
• Incredibly Lame Pun: The 4Kids dub throws a lot of these in. For example:

Ichigo: (referring to the plant Chimera's love for eating) The only attack this thing has learned is a snack attack!

• Instrument of Murder
• In the Name of the Moon: Chikyuu no mirai ni gohoushi suru ~nya!
• Intimate Healing: Neko-Ichigo needs to kiss someone to turn human; also, the Mu Aqua kiss.
• Joshikousei: Ichigo and Retasu wear seifuku
• Jumped At the Call: Minto and Bu-ling
• Kid Appeal Character: Bu-ling and Ringo.
• Last-Episode New Character: Anime: the mentioned "new enemy"; manga: Berii.
• Late for School: ...And dates, and work, and...
• Loves My Alter Ego
• Lolicon: This series is rife with such Doujinshi.
• Little Bit Beastly: All the girls. It remains the most prominent example of kemonomimi in anime that's out today.
• Love Dodecahedron: Ichigo is involved in one.
• Love-Obstructing Parents: Ichigo's father disapproves of Aoyama at first and challenges him to a kendo match. Ichigo intervenes, and convinces him to accept Aoyama.
  • Let Her Grow Up, Dear: Sakura.
  • Overprotective Dad: Shintarou.
• Love Triangle: Retasu in the anime. She takes the Tenchi Solution.
• Luminescent Blush
• MacGuffin: Mew Aqua
• Made of Diamond: A turtle chimera’s carapace in Episode 24 - literally.
• Magical Girl
• Magic From Technology: Genetic engineering!
• Magical Girl Warrior
• Man-Eating Plant: The chimera anima that swallows Masha in a filler episode.
• Market-Based Title
  • Korea: Berry Berry Mew Mew
  • Italy: Mew Mew Amiche Vincenti
  • 4Kids: Mew Mew Power
• Meaningful Name: All the main characters' surnames have their theme colours in them. So why is the "ai" in "Aizawa Minto" "dark blue", while "blue" is the "ao" in "Aoyama Masaya"? Well, there's a reason for that, too.
• Meido: Minto has her own personal maid squadron, although none of them are fetishy.
• Mid-Season Upgrade
• Mission Control: Ryou and Keiichirou.
• Missing Mom: Bu-ling's mom is dead. Before the series starts, this escalates to Parental Abandonment.
• Monster of the Week: Chimera Anima.
• Mr. Exposition
• Mr. Vice Guy: A lot: Ichigo is a glutton who accepts the call only when Shirogane offers her free samples of his cafe's sweets; Aoyama is such a sloth that, unless Ichigo is involved, he never does what he wants because it's easier to just smile; Zakuro's full of wrath and reacts with violence (physical and psychological) to any problem and her mere eyes are enough to scare the cafe's customers; Minto is a textbook example of Pride, treating everyone but Zakuro and Shirogane with disdain; Shirogane is so greedy he asked for money to help Ichigo with her homework and never paid the ticket of the Tokyo Dome. If they were heroes, we'd even have Lust (Kisshu) and Envy (Pai)...
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Poor, poor Masaya. He gets this in-universe from Kisshu in his attempts to take Ichigo, and IRL from hordes of crazy fangirls.
• Musical Assassin: The Chimera Anima created from Mary Mc Guire’s spirit in Episode 6.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling
• Never Heard That One Before: Yes, Magical Girl fans, be prepared to sigh and Face Palm whenever you bring up this series, because people who don't know any better will call it a Sailor Moon ripoff like they do every other show.
  • In fact, this is why many fans don't ever bring it up. *Face Palm*
• New Eden: Mew Aqua is some powerful stuff.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mew Pudding encases a Mew Aqua droplet in a Puringring Inferno, which accelerates its destabilization and makes it harder for the other Mew Mews to get it under control.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Kanna, Minto's "rival" in a filler episode.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: In the beginning, Ichigo constantly frets that being a catgirl superheroine will scare her boyfriend off. He doesn't mind, actually.
• Non-Indicative Name: That's the trouble with weird puns for weapons and attacks... What's a Reborn Lettuce Rush got to do with shooting water at your enemies?
• Not So Harmless: Kisshu, Taruto and Pai start out unleashing chimera anima on the heroes and running away when they fail, but their schemes become more effective over time and present a real threat to the lives of the Mew Mews and other civilians. They never completely succeed, but the heroes have to work harder to stop them each time.
• Odd Friendship: Everyone, really.
• Once an Episode
• Parental Abandonment: For all we've seen Ichigo's parents as "overprotective", they seem to come out of the equation when she has to save the city. At least she still has them, though, unlike Bu-ling, Zakuro, Ryou...
• Part-Time Hero
• Pillar of Light
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Just guess.
• Planet of Steves: The "Three Beckys" in the dub.
• Playing with Syringes: Rare heroic example.
• Plot Tailored to the Party: The manga's Mew Aqua arc
• Power Dyes Your Hair In the anime, the Adaptation Dye Job is undone when characters transform. Also, Blue Knight bleaches when he transforms.
• The Power of Love: The focus of Episode 47, mentioned in the title.
• Rapunzel Hair: Deep Blue.
• Redemption Equals Death
• Refrain From Assuming: The 4Kids songs. This has been somewhat fixed since the iTunes release of the soundtrack
  • "Dance another Day" is not "Remember When."
• Refusal of the Call: Ichigo, Zakuro.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Minto, though she's bi, and Zakuro. Mostly anime-only, though. In the manga, Minto's affection towards Zakuro was nowhere near what it was made into for the animated series, though that might be because they get more screentime.
• Rules of Orphan Economics: Bu-ling is a type 3.
• Sailor Earth: These are popular in fanfic, what with the number of endangered animals and food-based names one could use.
• Salaryman: Ichigo's father.
• Say My Name
• Science Marches On: According to the IUCN Red List, gray wolves are listed as "least concern". A couple of subspecies are endangered, but that's it. Finless Porpoises aren't considered endangered anymore, but are still vulnerable.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Minto, Ryou.
• Screwed by the Network: English dub.
• Secret Keeper
• Secret Test of Character: Zakuro attacks Minto during her Ten-Minute Retirement when she claims to have stopped caring about the fate of the earth. She turns to attack her dog, but when Minto goes to protect the dog, she notes that Minto really does care. Zakuro does it again in Episodes 42 and 43 to test the Mew Mews’ commitment to the fight and faith in each other.
• Sentai
• Sequel Hook
• Shipper on Deck: The other Mew Mews ship Ichigo/Aoyama and, in one episode, Retasu/Edomurasaki.
• Shoujo
• Shout-Out: a Sailor Moon stage show appears in one episode.
• Something We Forgot: Episode 24, the one with the jewelry show, Bu-ling takes on one of the aliens to buy the rest of the team time. Fast forward, the fight is won, the jewelry show finishes and everyone is happy right? But wait, where's Bu-ling? Oh, she's still fighting with the alien Lampshaded By the the aliens 'they seem to be having fun, lets leave them alone'
• So What Do We Do Now?: Get married, apparently, at least in the manga.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Tokyopop isn't helping.
• Stock Footage
• Superhero
• Super-Hero Speciation
• Surprisingly Good English
• "Take That!" Kiss: Kisshu's introduction is to jump from a roof and crash one of these to Ichigo.
• Team Shot
• Team Spirit
• Ten-Minute Retirement: Minto in one episode, as a result of being discouraged over the chances the Mew Mews have of saving Earth (although the 4kids dub indicates that she's angry over Ichigo's attitude towards work).
• Theme Naming
  • Edible Theme Naming: Might be a bad idea to watch this series when you're hungry.
  • Colorful Theme Naming: All the main characters' surnames have their theme colours in them. So why is the "ai" in "Aizawa Minto" "dark blue", while "blue" is the "ao" in "Aoyama Masaya"? Well, there's a reason for that, too.
• Theme Tune Cameo
• Third Person Person: Bu-ling, Ringo.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Stock phrase of the Mew Mews to the aliens, often immediately before or after transforming.
  • Ichigo also uses this as a Badass Boast against a monster attacking Tokyo in her dreams in an early episode.
• Those Two Guys: Miwa and Moe.
• Title Drop
• The Tokyo Fireball
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe
• Tokyo Tower
• Totally Radical: The English translated manga.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Subverted in Episode 45, when Quiche knocks Ichigo’s pendant out of her hand before she can finish transforming.
• True Love's Kiss
• Two-Timer Date: With the other party being a monster of the week...
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Averted in Episode 41; the Mew Mews besides Mew Lettuce completely describe their plan to deal with the fish Chimera Anima, and the plan works.
• Unusual Ears
• Verbal Tic: Ichigo occasionally nyas, and Bu-ling says "na no da".
• Villainous Breakdown: Quiche has one after discovering that the Mu Aqua does not generate power, but merely stores it. He was already on thin ice with Pie and Tart before then, and they’re not pleased when they learn this. He also becomes increasingly emotionally unstable over time as a result of Ichigo rejecting him, failing his missions, and the aliens suffering in their temporary home.
  • Later, over the course of the five-part series finale, Deep Blue gradually loses his composure as Aoyama starts to fight back against him from within. The more Aoyama fights back, the more Deep Blue loses his cool, until he is finally dead and Aoyama is therefore free.
• Villains Out Shopping: Kisshu, Pai and Taruto eat parfaits near a fan while complaining about humans causing global warming.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Ichigo and Minto often bicker, but are willing to help each other when necessary.
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
• Wasn't That Fun?

Bu-ling: "Let's do that again!" Ichigo: "One ride per customer!"

• Weddings in Japan: Manga ending.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Ichigo naming Masha.
• What Could Have Been Creepy shoujo horror, anyone?
• What Is This Thing You Call Love?:

Taruto: What is this power of love? I don’t get it. Pai: That’s... too embarrassing to explain.

• Winged Humanoid
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair
• You Have Failed Me...: Kisshu is replaced by Pai and Taruto for failing to kill the Mew Mews, and after Deep Blue begins to awaken, Kisshu is cast aside.
• You Killed My Father: Ryou's parents were killed by a chimera. Goes farther in the anime, where the actual monster responsible is brought in near the end.