emperortopaz's Blog

Jun 30, 2011 1:18 PM
Anime Relations: Tokyo Mew Mew
This is the Hundred-and-thirty-fifth week of using the "Perfect Anime Girl Sheet". Notice: This Blog may contain Unmarked Spoilers.

: Welcome back viewers, as we're still coming from you "live" from Topaz's psyche. Last week we did his latent homosexuality, so let's see what this week is...

Shouldn't you know?

: Yes, but I'm following the script you wrote, silly.

Oh, true...

: Anyway, today we delve into one of Topaz's favorite things. The MEGANEKKO!

HURRAY! So who represents the meganekko in my psyche?

: Well, to figure that out, we have to go back. Way back. To one of the first meganekkos you laid your eyes on...

But I've already done Yomiko. Do you say that there's someone before her as well?

: Yes, and that girl is this week's girl.

Maya?

: No, that's just one of the most recent ones. This is a girl with short green hair.

So... Maya, then?

: No! It's not her, it's though it is from a show you've finally finished recently...

Ah, Maya, from Infinite Stratos then!

: NO! This isn't Maya, she's not even from Infinite Stratos!

Maya is too from Infinite Stratos...

: Yes, but today's girl ISN'T! What can I say to make you stop naming Maya-sensei... Today's girl has a small rack.

Well, then it can't possibly be Maya xD.

Today's girl is:


Lettuce Midorikawa
from
Tokyo Mew Mew


...Who?

: Stop being silly, you know who it is...

(I know, but try to play along)

: Oh, I see then. Gotcha.
Well, it seems that due to dub changes, you might be more familiar with...



Ahhh, I see now. I remember getting up every Saturday to watch that. Kinda a shame they never fully dubbed it, but that's 4kids for you... So let's continue onward to look at one of Topaz's first experiences with Meganekkos.

Head
Hair: Lettuce's head-I mean hair, is green. I mention it first, as both names (dubbed and original) give a nod to it, and her scheme in general matches her hair color. It looks short at first, but then you notice it's definitely quite long, but in long narrow braids that aren't really easily seen (though the white ribbons are a cute touch). In her transformed form, her hair becomes brighter green (not a good sign), and her hair goes into a single larger braid. She also grows "antenna" in magical girl form. The length of them changes between scenes, so there's not exact length (they do look quite large in the transformation sequence, however). There are definitely downfalls with Lettuce's hair, but it still a cute bowl-cut type as the base, so I can't complain about that part.
Grade: B-

Eyes: Her eyes are a cute blue color, though as the series was made before the really "moe" art was as popular as it is today it does look a bit dated. I can't say that her big eyes aren't cute, though. Again, her eyes change in magical girl form, from blue to green (furthering her green scheme), and either color is fine.

Lettuce has big, thin-framed glasses that were so popular back in the day. I love it when the frames encase the entire eye, as hers do, so there's definitely some appreciation there. However, the bad thing is that SHE DOESN'T KEEP THEM ON IN MAGICAL GIRL FORM! I mean, I can accept the reasoning (the magic she focuses clears up her vision, or as a porpoise she uses echolocation or something similar like that), but that doesn't mean that I appreciate it. Glasses girls should remain Glasses-fied!
Grade: B

Face: As I've said before, she doesn't have the fortune to be completely "moe" by today's standards due to the age of the series. However, I do think that she's most definitely cute, and the small features probably lead to my love of them today. It probably is due to the fact that the series was one of my first experiences with "moe", a genre I love today, and many of the features from it probably lead to some of my tastes.
Grade: A

Body
Build: Lettuce doesn't have a wondrous figure, but definitely has her strong points. She's definitely thin and shapely, and has a great lower body. I can't complain, as she has a great "girl next door" look; Attractive, but not too attractive to make her unapproachable.

She also has the DNA for a finless porpoise, so I should mention that. There aren't many parts where it is brought up physically, but she does grow a mermaid tail on occasion. Because of this, she also has a mark (sort of like the brackets explaining them here, if a bit thicker) on her breastbone. I definitely could put that in the next area, but it's not quite on her breasts (it's exposed, and is quite a bit further up, so I though I'd just put it here).
Grade: B

Breasts: I wouldn't say that Lettuce is a busty girl, but there's certainly a good amount on her chest. She's mid-sized, but she's also likely the second bustiest girl on the show, so she does have that going for her.
Grade: B-

Clothes: Before we meet her in her magical girl form, we see her in a school uniform. Nothing special standard uniform with a red tie near the neck. Though the tan blazer is a nice touch. She also wears a green maid outfit, which is great but the non-standard does hurt it a bit (not that I dislike green, but with this much of a single color...). Her magical girl uniform is a bit... bizarre. I don't like strapless uniforms, as they don't likely have the support that is necessary. She also has puffy bands on her forearms, which are cool I suppose, but not exactly cute. The rest looks like a fancy dress or showgirl outfit, form-fitting and having a V-shaped back and short front (it kinda looks like a leotard). Fanservice is also kept to a minimum. She has a single band on her upper left leg, and has nearly knee-height boots. Would've liked the boots better had they been a bit higher, like Zakuro's. Overall, I'm not a fan of the magical girl outfit (though there may have been... circumstances for that).
Grade: A-

Mind
Personality: Lettuce is not only one of my first meganekkos, but she's also the first encounters I had with many moe archetypes (one of, at least). She's a shy girl, and is treated as being a "doormat" to her friends, a feeling that I shared (somewhat) in high school. She's an intelligent meganekko, and is a kind and selfless person. Over the course of the series she does grow some confidence, so her shyness isn't permanent but it's still cute to see a character grow. She's also a huge klutz (though not too much), so it was also one of my first encounters with that kind of cute girl.

As a magical girl, Lettuce is somewhat disappointing. They build her up as a threat, as she's supposedly stronger than the first two girls (Ichigo and Minto), but she really doesn't show her power that often. More often, she's either dealing with minor enemies or being ineffectual against a boss. She does have her scenes, as she is immune to one enemies' boring droning speech (due to the fact that she enjoys reading. "EAT THE BOOKS!" became a bit of a meme between a friend and me). She also has water based attacks, though she never really uses the full power other than when she is introduced and is attacking the heroines (because Good is Dumb?). She also tends to forget that, as a porpoise, she may not have the ability to swim but has the ability to take mermaid form. The story tends to throw her obvious bones for her abilities, I suppose is what I'm saying. Her weapon/instrument is a pair of castanets, which is an interesting, but not that powerful, choice.

As a final note, I do love Lettuce's voice. Kumi Sakuma is not a very common VA, so it's not odd to not recognize her. But her singing voice is EXCELLENT. Such a soft, quiet voice, very reminesent of the voices of more famous girls like Mamiko Noto or Nana Mizuki. Her English voice is also good, but the VA doesn't seem to have much other work unfortunately. Still, she's definitely still cute. Either voice does make her much better, like the cherry on a sundae.
Grade: A

Libido: She falls in love with a minor character, but is ignored (as they get attacked when they're together, and the alternate love is the one that's chosen). Still, I suppose that she's still cute, even if she couldn't admit her feelings. Afterwards, the show does sort of pair her and Ryou (a bright, if tsundere, male lead), so it's not like she doesn't show her love.
Grade: B

Age: Depending on which language you look at, Lettuce's official age changes. In the original series, she's 13. However, she got increased in age for the English release to 15, as then she'll be able to enter high school. After much deliberation, I decided to give her a somewhat accurate score...
Grade: C-

Total Grades: 74
Average score: 8.2
Final Grade: B

Overall, I would say that a lot of my enjoyment of Lettuce paved the way for many of my tastes today. So until next time, LETTUCE RUSH!
Posted by emperortopaz | Jun 30, 2011 1:18 PM | Add a comment
It’s time to ditch the text file.
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