Tokyo Mew Mew in a Nutshell
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"And that's when I found out my very first date was a tree!" |
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Created by Hika Yagami, Tokyo Mew Mew in a Nutshell is another imitator of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series and an entertaining Fan Vid series in its own right.
Unlike Little Kuriboh's magnum opus, which picked on 4Kids' English dub of the series, Nutshell sets its satirical sights on Fan Dumb itself. Where fanfic portrays Die for Our Ship victim Aoyama Masaya as The Ditz and constantly kills him off, here he can't tell Ichigo from a tree and dies every episode only to reappear in the next one. Fans tend to forget the existence of Akasaka Keiichirou (Hika Yagami's self-admitted favourite character), so here all his plot-important lines are changed to insane chatter about his ponytail. Rule 34 subjects Aizawa Minto to chains and whips; in Nutshell, she's the one holding them.
Whether played completely straight or inverted, each character plays on a certain assumption of the fans that just didn't get it. While doing what YGO:TAS did would be safe and make sense (especially since Tokyo Mew Mew was also destroyed by 4Kids), the specific needs of the fans were catered to with a message they desperately needed: big fandoms suck, but we can laugh at them.
The first episode can be found here.
- Back From the Dead: Masaya. Constantly.
- Catch Phrase: Quiche's "I taste good!", referring to the series' food-based Theme Naming.
- Chekhov's Gun: Episode five. More like Chekhov's blinking neon sign.
- Death Is Cheap: "Oh, he died again. Don't worry, he'll be back next episode."
- The Ditz: Both Masaya and Keiichirou.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Pie isn't even supposed to have shown up yet, but he makes a few short appearances that have no bearing on the plot.
- Emo Teen: Pie.
- Evil Tastes Good: Quiche's catchphrase.
- Filler: The director has expressed intention to do all 52 episodes, not just the plot-important ones.
- G-Rated Drug: The gymnastics team offers Ichigo steroids so she can look like a man.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Ryou gets fed up with Minto five episodes in and erases her memory, yet she can still transform.
- Law of Disproportionate Response: Ichigo runs away from home because her mother didn't buy her zit cream. Mom seems to deal with this on a regular basis.
- No Fourth Wall
- Otaku: Ryou created the Mew Mews out of his obsession with Power Rangers.
- Parental Abandonment: Ichigo's parents have stopped caring when she runs away from home for weeks at a time.
- Sentai: The Mew Mews are specifically compared to a sentai team.
- Schedule Slip
- Theme Naming: Lampshaded by Quiche a few times.
- They Killed Kenny: Masaya.
- Throw It In: Most of Ichigo's singing. "We are pretty Mew Mews!" Also, some of the episode-enders.
- Vain Sorceress: Ichigo and Minto, despite being the good guys.
- Villain Exit Stage Left: In the middle of battles where he's winning. Quiche is lazy.