Clockwise from top left: Zakuro Fujiwara/Mew Zakuro, Bu-Ling Huang/Mew Pudding, Retasu Midorikawa/Mew Lettuce, Minto Aizawa/Mew Mint. Center: Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Ichigo Show Let me serve the future of the Earth, nya! Advertisement: The 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 with a Cat Girl, 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. Advertisement: 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 Immediate Sequel written by the head illustrator after the head writer left. Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode introduces newcomer Berry Shirayuki/Mew Berry to the team, who leads in place of Ichigo for the arc. Advertisement: The manga was written by Reiko Yoshida (who's mainly known for her writing for numerous anime) and illustrated by Mia Ikumi (who later took over as writer); it was originally published in Nakayoshi from 2000 to 2003, and was licensed in the United States by Tokyopop. The manga was eventually adapted into an anime in 2002 by Studio Pierrot, directed by Noriyuki Abe (who also directed YuYu Hakusho for Pierrot, and would later go on to helm Bleach). The anime was licensed in America by 4Kids Entertainment, who retitled it Mew Mew Power. Only the first half of the series was dubbed and broadcast before it was dropped, due to 4Kids being unsuccessful in getting a merchandise deal; they also heavily edited it so the series could pass the broadcast television censors,note namely, removing some sexual innuendo and Christian symbolism; some edits, though, were either for time, to remove anything that could potentially confuse American audiences, stunts that could be imitated such as Bu-ling's fire breathing, and of course, the names though compared to most 4Kids dubs it's considered So Okay, It's Average nowadays. Rumors flew around that the show would be re-licensed like One Piece was, but the licence has remained in limbo ever since. Tokyopop also lost the license to the manga, but fortunately it was rescued by Kodansha USA, who re-released it in omnibus form (along with à la Mode). For the franchise's 20th anniversary in 2020, a spin-off was released featuring five entirely new characters—and surprisingly, all of them are Magical Boys. Tokyo Mew Mew Ole!note Technically, it can be read as Ore and "Au Lait" as well; this is intentional. is one of the few series not to be written or drawn by Yoshida and Ikumi, instead being drawn by Madoka Seizuki. However, Yoshida and Ikumi did have a hand in Tokyo Mew Mew 2020 Re-Turn, a two-part story that also ran in Nakayoshi for the anniversary. A new anime, titled Tokyo Mew Mew New, was also announced in 2020. Animated by Graphinica and Yumeta Company, it premiered on July 5th, 2022, twenty years after the original anime. Sentai Filmworks currently has the rights to stream "New" on their HiDive service with a home video release coming soon. It was given the Gag Dub treatment in Tokyo Mew Mew in a Nutshell. 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:
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