Tokyo Mew Mew [Anime Review]: ... Read if you have spare time. Long. VERY.

give me food · #1

And here, we are introduced to concept number forty-million of shoujo Anime--down with Sailor Moon! KMA Utena.

Meet Ichigo Momomiya, a pink-pigtailed middle school girl (that's right, gray sailor suit and all). Your basic shoujo hero: rather klutzy, tends to trip over words, yet maintains a steady heart of gold. But this is the kind of happy-doodly idiot we've seen in Sailor Moon, Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School, Sakura, etc., and the stereotype is getting old. Nonetheless, besides the obscene colour of her hair, she's a normal girl in nearly every bloody way possible. She has two bestest girlfriends with whom she converses, specifically about the quoted "most popular" guy in school, Aoyama. Kendo master, bloody uber-genius, floppy hair. And, just like every other girl in the bloody school, she has a crush on him even though he's ass-ugly. Whaddaya know? Our friend Ichigo is the select winner of a date.

She brings him to some kinda animal exhibit, where the name, again, escapes me right now. As they pass haplessly through the entrance gates, the ruby eye of a gold cat statue flickers--it is a camera, and someone is watching. Dun dun duuun. Anyways, Ichigo closely examines pictures of endangered animals, specifically a black cat-ish creature. By many foundations, the endangered are rendered "Red Animals" or something of the like--an affectionate label by fanatics, I presume. Aoyama seems fairly interested as well, but the guy has absolutely no ****in' personality whatsoever. I hate him. Kill.

A blonde man and a dark-haired man stand before a camera screen, and a quick DNA scan is performed on Momomiya Ichigo. According to the lanky blonde, it's "a perfect match".

They prance outside, sitting on the grass and Ichigo making feeble attempts at conversation. Aoyama stands up to get them a soda, and as Ichigo is enjoying the grassyness of the area, the ground begins to shake. Lo and behold, she has a dream! Is she unconscious? In a very Sailor Moon transform-esque scene, bubbles and psychadelic colours swirl around as a naked (yet suspiciously shiny, like in the happy Sailor Moon transformation-ness) Ichigo floats aimlessly in this hippie area, and floating before her is the same black catish animal she saw in the exhibit. She's all "WTF" as the cat leaps at her--into her (don't think of anything, you sick perverts)--and finally, she shoots up in a jolt. Aoyama is sitting patiently beside her. He tells her it's been three bloody hours. Bum. She's in panic mode, but as far as she can tell, SHE'S normal. Weird dream, though.

The next day in school, strange things begin to happen to Ichigo. She's dozing off in class. "Nya" has begun to tack itself onto the end of her sentences. (And no, cats don't say "meow" in Japan. It's interpreted as more of a "nyo," "nya," or "nyao". o_o) In the cafeteria, she has a rather unstable craving for fish. And finally, when reaching over what has to be a 2-story balcony--why it's there in a public school, I have no idea--she tips over, falls, yet manages to land on her feet as light as a feather. Interesting.

Another date with Aoyama. I soon began to get sickened by the word "Aoyama-kun" tacked onto the end of every bloody sentence. They go to the same museum, and in the park around the grass, Ichigo spots a quaint yet horribly pink-coloured cafe. She points it out to her school crush, but lo and behold--he's wandered off somewhere. (The summary's a bit off. I haven't seen the first few episodes in a while). She scampers into the woods to look for him. It's mysteriously foggy. And of course, that always means something despicably evil is going to happen, right? Surely enough, this yellow sprite-like object--or was it red--hovers lazily onto your average sewer rat under a park bench, near where Aoyama is looking for Ichigo. And underneath the bench, said rat becomes mutating--and not in the rabies way either. I mean in the massively hideous rat-beast with overbearing fangs and about three tails the size of street lamp posts. With these hideous lamplike tails it proceeds to beat Aoyama senseless--something I've been wishing to do for a while after the first 13 or so episodes. Ichigo finally hones in on it, and she just freaks out.

But with a sudden glow of courage she's all "OMG LEEVE HIM ALEON1!" even though she's a pink-haired 11-year-old in a skirt standing in front of something 486968 feet taller then her. Actually, I'd be more like "what in the ****". But the rat creature proceeds to aim to beat HER senseless, until a rather obnoxious voice is heard from a tree. In comes Shirogane Ryou, quite possibly one of the few guys on the show to have a personality. He's like "what the hell are you doing? You can't beat him like that, idiot". Ichigo makes a large mistake by craning her head up to glare at him. So the rat swings around, about to make her into a strawberry squashy thingy, until Ryou swoops down, grabs her, and glides into another tree, like Batman. (Why can't HE fight this thing, anyway?) He deposits her behind the rat claiming she's heavy, and then drops a shiny goldy little locket with pink jewels...or colouring...or whatever the hell that is. And here we're introduced to a traditional shoujo scene: Ichigo mumbles something about "words floating up from the heart," grabs the locket, and undergoes... A VERY SAILOR MOON-ESQUE TRANSFORMATION!

And now: meet Mew Ichigo. Pink. Pink hair. Pink eyes. Pink...uh, leotard or whatever the hell that is. Pink gloves. Black ears. Pink inside of ears. Black tail. Pink ribbon tied on tail. Mew Ichigo proceeds to beat the monster senseless--I'm too lazy to go into detail. She has the neko-y jumpingy stuff and all. The mutant rat is all dead-y and stuff, and with a Sailor Moon healing-esque technique, the rat begins to shrink back into its palm size. The yellow-reddy glowy thing floats off... Now what the hell could that be? That's quite bluntly what she asks Ryou several moments later. Minus the "hell" part. Can't have eleven year olds swearing. Ryou has his faithful Jeeves-like butler Keiichiro Akasaka--who is quite bluntly not old, not Norman-like and definitely bishounen material--escort an unconscious Aoyama home, and proceeds to explain.

Aliens! ALIENS! Apparently, Ichigo has been selected to save the world from independance day--her DNA is a match, she'll keep the ears, it's all good to go, really. All she has to do is find out actually what in the hell the threat is, and also find...about...four other comrades who share the same transformation ability. Sailor Moon, I tell you. And they'll save the world! AND ITS ANIMALS! IT'S LIKE CAPTAIN PLANET!!!

Summary's over. What can I say?

The characters are a fairly motley bunch. They're all severely lacking in depth of personality--well, mostly just Ichigo and Aoyama. Especially Aoyama. Idiot. I hate the guy. If you watch this anytime soon, I'm quite positive you'll want to impale his head on a pen.

Yes, this is a long as hell review.

There's obnoxious yet occasionally soft Shirogane Ryou--same rules apply for rich ballerina Minto Aizawa. Retasu Midorikawa is the shy, timid type; Fujiwara Zakuro's the stubborn and mysterious loner. Fon Purin's the hyperactive Ed-type kid, and Akasaka, Ryou's 22-year-old butler, is the hot and obedient type. Most girls who enter the cafe grow little pink shoujo hearts when they see him.

Outside of the Mew 5, there's also the Deep Blue--don't ask, watch the show or read the manga--and the three elflike brothers: Taruto, Kisshu (a mischevious guy wielding a strange infatuation with Ichigo), and Pai working for Deep Blue. Why did I only describe Kisshu there? 1. Despite his obviously feminine features, he's awesome. 2. He's the most singled out, mostly because he tries to feel up Ichigo 90% of the time. Pai's the oldest of the brothers, strictly buisness-only and constantly reprimanding Kisshu for his crush. And lastly, Taruto, youngest. Not much about him. Energetic, cries when he loses against the Mew 5, and not really evil at all. In fact, he gets pretty cheerful when Purin offers to be friends with him.

All of them are sickeningly cute, really. Lookit Ichigo's pigtails--much like (Chobits) Chii's hair, each individual set of strands is pretty much emphasized. There's a hell of a lot of shine. The leotards, the leggings, the knee-high boots and ruffly gloves all add to the happy shoujo-y ness; if not for the fact the age average is...uhh...*whips out calculator* 14 or 13 or 15, this would be the standard by which all mahou shoujo would be based. Sailor Moon tops it by the fact that its characters are all adolescent, however--the main character here is eleven (twelve in the Anime, or is it vice versa?). I wonder if they're done by the same people. Ichigo and Usagi would certainly get along...I think. They're bloody twins; even their hairstyle is somewhat similar. I have to say that Zakuro is the most well-designed, able to be a fitting shoujo star despite Ichigo's presence--the Mary Sue type, yet managing to get away with it simply 'cause she's amazing. Ryou and Akasaka are the two most noteworthy guys by terms of looks, 'cept Ryou is kinda...feminine-lookin'. It's just his shirt, I swear.

Basically the only few with abnormal hair colors are the Mew 5, and there are a couple of other Mews. Mew Berii and Mew Ringo. Ringo appears only in a video game, with her own manga that comes with the PS1 thingy; she's fused with a penguin, I think... Or something. Since when are animals associated with various natural elements and or fruits? It makes me sad. Mew Berii ("Berry," stupid) is fused with a rabbit AND a cat, I believe, and appears in the sequel to TMM, titled Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode. By the beginning of TMMALM, Ichigo is living happily in England... interesting.

Aoyama's got this secret identity...haha.

Yeah, ok. Out of a maximum of 10, this shoujo neko/okami/kitsune/etc.-jinn anime will recieve a sturdy 7. A C. It doesn't stray away from the shoujo stereotype. So I lowered the rating. Not to mention pretty much everyone has some kind of general attraction to Ichigo. And...yeah. This review would be nothing without the beginning summary...

#2

Very entertaining! *gives Neo marshmallows*