Tokyo Mew Mew (Mew Mew Power)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 東京ミュウミュウ

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 52

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 6, 2002 to Mar 29, 2003

Premiered: Spring 2002

Broadcast: Saturdays at 08:00 (JST)

Producers: TV Aichi, Tokyu Agency, We've Inc.

Licensors: 4Kids Entertainment

Studios: Pierrot

Source: Manga

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi

Theme: Mahou Shoujo

Demographic: Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.11¹ (scored by 75,401 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3958²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1498

Members: 155,782

Favorites: 1,654

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

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Synopsis

Ichigo Momomiya expected her date with her crush, Masaya Aoyama, to have a more romantic ending than her falling asleep after she sees a vision of a cat entering her body. Things get even stranger when, the next day, she begins displaying cat-like behaviors such as an intense craving for fish. When Masaya is attacked by a monster, she discovers that she is able to transform into the cat-eared magical girl, Mew Ichigo.

After she saves Masaya, two researchers named Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka approach her and reveal they had injected her with Iriomote Cat DNA in order to create a magical girl that can save the world from aliens. Ichigo is tasked with fighting these monsters, but saving the world proves to be just too much for Ichigo to handle by herself. Fortunately, she learns that there are four other girls just like her, and now, Ichigo must find them quickly before the aliens completely take over the planet.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Tokyo Mew Mew's anime adaption was created by Studio Pierrot and Nippon Animation, first airing in Japan on TV Tokyo and TV Aichi. 4Kids handled English localization and was also only able to license and dub the first 26 episodes of the series.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Tokyo Mew Mew
Alternative version:	Tokyo Mew Mew New ♡

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Momomiya, Ichigo

Main

Nakajima, Saki
Japanese

Fujiwara, Zakuro

Main

Noda, Junko
Japanese

Aizawa, Mint

Main

Kakazu, Yumi
Japanese

Huang, Bu-Ling

Main

Mochizuki, Hisayo
Japanese

Midorikawa, Lettuce

Main

Sakuma, Kumi
Japanese

Quiche

Supporting

Sakaguchi, Daisuke
Japanese

Shirogane, Ryou

Supporting

Toochika, Kouichi
Japanese

Aoyama, Masaya

Supporting

Ogata, Megumi
Japanese

Masha

Supporting

Noda, Junko
Japanese

Blue Knight

Supporting

Ogata, Megumi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kachi, Hideyuki

Producer

Yamada, Noboru

Producer

Sekiya, Masato

Producer

Fukura, Kei

Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

"My Sweet Heart" by Rika Komatsu

Edit

Ending Theme

"Koi wa a la mode (恋はア・ラ・モード)" by Tokyo Mew Mew

Reviews

Aug 2, 2021

Tetsu_Jin

Recommended

(May be slightly biased, as this was one of my very first anime. This review only applies to the original japanese version of Tokyo Mew Mew, and not the absolute horror that is Mew Mew power/The unholy English dub)

I thought this show deserved a review, considering how many positive memories I have of it. That being said, in order to chuck off the rose-tinted glasses, I rewatched all of it - but I still had a blast.

Tokyo mew mew (TMM for short) is just a lot of nostalgic, light-hearted fun. It isn't something to go into for epic battles, realism, and complex dilemmas. It's ... a show full of pink, sparkles, and blushes, and it very much sticks to that the whole way through. Think of it as a "turn your brain off" kind of anime; though they attempt to give it some depth, and... it doesn't quite work.

The story itself is very basic, and follows a 'monster of the week' formula. There are, of course, a fair amount of twists and turns along the way, but the enjoyment of the show relies heavily on the characters - so if you don't like those, the whole story will just seem pointless and without much substance. That's why I can't say it stands up well on its own, despite how much I enjoyed the environmental aspect and how they defined magical girls.

The art is a big yes, though! Expressive, saturated, with bold, fun details, cute outfits, and adorable animations. It's pure eye candy the whole way through. Only thing that gets a little tiresome is how much they reuse all kinds of animations, both for transformations and for attacks. The transformations are so important to the magical girl genre, yes, but I found myself skipping through a lot of these.

The sound is a bit of a mixed bag. I adore the soundtrack as a whole, but I think a lot of it was also just not very memorable. Neither was the voice acting, while we're at it...although Masaya's voice was especially bad, imo.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the characters. They are such a defining feature of this show, and *have* to shine to make up for the lack of complex storytelling. And you know what? The main girls kind of do. They're very digestible clichés with a lot of heart, and a clear common goal. Except for Zakuro - I thought her edgy spiel was a bit overdone and I tired of her really quickly, especially since she never seemed to truly fit in with the rest of the cast.

Their banter with Shirogane and Akasaka was great, and the hints of romance between the former and Ichigo were a lot of fun.
And then there's Ichigo's main love interest...Masaya. I can't list any defining features because the boy is so bland and empty and devoid of humanity that most of the times it feels like Ichigo is just simping over thin air. This is probably the most frustrating aspect of the show, because she spends half her time fawning over this character that you don't find appealing in the slightest, and the show also expects you to enjoy him to a similar degree that she does.

To make matters worse, she has more interesting romance, tension, and banter with the main antagonist of all people. Kisshu literally saves this show's boring romance by offering a twisted, almost bordering on yandere kind of love that, although one-sided, still gives the audience little bits of hope to latch onto. He frequently shows conflicting emotions and inner dilemmas due to him loving the one person who's in the way of his plans. If it were realistic and he were the only love interest, the audience would be disgusted because he's rather unethical in his advances, but because you're stuck with a bland cardboard cutout and another poor lad that has no chance, you find yourself rooting for Kisshu in this strange way...if you enjoy villain characters.
Kisshu has great banter with his two fellow antagonists too, who also happen to have some kind of interest in two of the other girls. Their side of the story is just so much more interesting!

Despite not really enjoying the way things turn out in the show, I still thought TMM had a lot to offer, and I couldn't help but binge this with a good cup of tea and a switched off brain. If this is something you think you could enjoy, even if just a little, I'd recommend this wholeheartedly, even if just for the sake of watching a cute classic.

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Jul 25, 2021

Krissystvs

Mixed Feelings

I enjoyed watching the series more as a kid than when I’m older as I’ve had more anime experience since. It’s a cute series and having never watched Sailor Moon which this heavily copies I think it’s enjoyable enough in its own way. Love the characters and story, my only problem is that it switches from Dub for the first 26 episodes then finishes the next 20 or so only in Sub. Wouldn’t be as much a major issue except when you watch the Sub version all the way through, the dubbed version has taken some creative liberties and missed quite a few things out, ...

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Dec 24, 2019

faeryghost

Not Recommended

As a self-proclaimed fan of the magical girl genre, many of my pals have recommended Tokyo Mew Mew to me over the years. They would frequently note their fond memories of watching the show as kids, and talk about the characters as the main selling point.

Speaking as someone who watched this show without that nostalgic lens, I have to say it was, overall, a waste of time. I would argue that one’s enjoyment of this show depends on two factors:

1. Nostalgia
2. Tolerance for repetition

If you do not have either of these things, I would recommend skipping this show. Below, I’ll explain a bit more about ... why I didn’t enjoy Tokyo Mew Mew, for those who may be interested.

First of all, the logic of the show is altered depending on the situation. The most overt example of this is Ichigo’s attack with her Strawberry Bell, which is often portrayed as being a requisite for defeating Chimera Animals. However, other characters (Zakuro in particular) are shown to be perfectly capable of taking out these monsters with their own respective weapons. The lack of consistency in the show’s mechanics makes it hard to stay invested.

It also bothers me that all of them go along with Shirogane’s plans! This man turned them into human-animal hybrids without their agreement, and yet they’re all like, “Sure, we don’t mind working for you in your café!” Zakuro has a moment in episode 11 where she claims that she won’t help Shirogane because he selfishly turned them into Mew Mew’s for his own reasons. However, that angle threatened to be too interesting for the show to explore, so she concedes to work with the team by the end of the episode.

Next, though animation quality is rarely a deal-breaker for me, it’s noticeably rough in this anime. The frequency with which the viewer must witness a character being moved across the screen with the grace of a powerpoint transition is laughable, and really does not lend itself well to the action scenes. An even greater issue than the animation, though, is the art. Ichigo’s hair can’t seem to decide what size it wants to be on her head in any given scene. Again, though this normally wouldn’t be a huge gripe of mine, these visual issues seem exaggerated when taken alongside all the other problems the show has.

The music is actually the best part of Tokyo Mew Mew, and I would even describe some tracks as “groovy.” Though I grew quite tired of the limited selection of tracks by the final few episodes, it’s remarkable that they stayed fresh for as long as they did. Character interactions are also enjoyable at times, though it takes a while for them to get interesting. The Mew Mew’s group dynamic only really gets entertaining after they’ve all gathered together in episode 11, though.

Despite these two positive qualities, I wouldn’t say that they made Tokyo Mew Mew worth watching for me. Mostly I was just annoyed with the repetition and lack of plot consistency, and I couldn’t wait to be done with this show by the end. Hopefully I’m able to save some people the time that I lost to Tokyo Mew Mew with this review.

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A website launched by Pony Canyon ended its countdown on Thursday, announcing a new anime adaptation of Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi's Tokyo Mew Mew manga. Titl...read more

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Poll: Tokyo Mew Mew Episode 11 Discussion Mizore951 - Feb 3, 2011	4 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Apr 17, 1:35 PM
Poll: Tokyo Mew Mew Episode 10 Discussion Mizore951 - Feb 2, 2011	5 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Apr 16, 5:29 AM
Poll: Tokyo Mew Mew Episode 9 Discussion Hanon10 - Jun 9, 2010	5 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Apr 13, 2:46 PM
Poll: Tokyo Mew Mew Episode 8 Discussion Hanon10 - Jun 6, 2010	6 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Apr 4, 3:51 PM
Poll: Tokyo Mew Mew Episode 7 Discussion Mizore951 - Jan 23, 2011	5 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Mar 23, 4:22 PM

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Tokyo Mew Mew

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Momomiya, Ichigo

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