MEW MEW POWER
(TV Aichi, TV Tokyo, April 6, 2002-March 29, 2003 JAP
FOX, February 19-November 12, 2005 US)
Studio Pierrot, Tokyu Agency, AEON, Inc./We’ve, Inc., 4Kids
Entertainment (US)
MAIN CAST:
Amanda Brown
(English) - Ichigo Momomiya/Zoey Hanson, Mrs. Hanson
Kumi
Sakuma (Japanese) & Erica Schroeder
(as Bella Hudson, English) – Lettuce
Midorikawa/Bridget Verdant
Hisayo
Mochizuki (Japanese) & Kether
Donohue (sometimes as Annice Moriarty, English) – Pudding Fong/Kikki
Benjamin
Mollie Weaver (English)
– Zakuro Fujiwara/Renee Roberts
Scottie Ray (English)
– Deep Blue, Masaya Aoyama/Mark
James Carter Cathcart
(as Jimmy Zoppi, English) – Tart/Tarb
Kouichi
Toochika (Japanese) – Ryou Shirogane
Hikaru Midorikawa
(Japanese) – Keiichiro Akasaka/Wesley J. Coolridge, Piano Ghost
Tom Wayland
(English) – Masha/Mini-Mew
Writer Mia
Ikumi came up with the idea for a manga called Tokyo Black Cat Girl. The story followed the heroine Hime Azumi after
an intergalactic police officer named Masha
gave her cat-like powers to aid him in his battle against alien invaders called
Bagu. She presented
the idea to her editors at Kodansha Comics
and it was published in the winter issue of Nakayoshi
magazine in 1999. Although they liked the idea, they wanted some changes
made to the overall concept to instead focus on five female superheroes with a
more upbeat tone. Ikumi spent the next year developing the revised series.
 |
| Tokyo Black Cat Girl. |
Ikumi presented the revised series to her editors. Wanting
additional fine tuning, Kodansha hired Reiko Yoshida to be the series’
scenario writer and story supervisor, which was unusual as the manga writer
typically handled all aspects of preproduction. Yoshida and the editors came up
with the plot, stage directions and dialogue before it was given to Ikumi.
Ikumi would then add her own ideas and make whatever changes she deemed necessary.
The story was then presented to the publisher for final review and approval
before art began on the story.
 |
| Tokyo Mew Mew's heroes: Mew Pudding, Mew Zakuro, Mew Ichigo, Mew Lettuce and Mew Mint. |
The story centered on the discovery by a scientist named Dr.
Shirogane that there was an ancient civilization on Earth called the Chimera. The Chimera
were forced to leave Earth after a series of catastrophes to an even worse
planet where they dwelled underground. The Chimera sought to return to Earth
but became disgusted with the environmental damage humans had caused to the
planet. They decided to accelerate that damage to destroy all life and reclaim
the planet for themselves through creatures known as Chimera Animas;
blob-like parasites that could possess animals and turn them into monsters. The
aliens were led by Deep Blue, who had come to Earth years prior and assumed a
human form to avoid detection. Carrying out his will were Kish (meant to be
Quiche, voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi), Tart (Kiyomi Asai) and Pie (Nobutoshi
Canna) who all controlled the Chimera Anima.
 |
| The girls, Ryou and Keiichiro at Cafe Mew Mew. |
After a lab explosion killed Shirogane and his wife, their teenaged
son, Ryou (Kouichi Toochika), continued what became known as the Mew Project
with his father’s assistant, Keiichiro Akasaka (Hikaru Midorikawa). The Mew
Project sought to combine human and animal DNA as a means to fight against the
aliens. Ryou attempted to directly inject the Chimera Anima with endangered
animal genes directly to see if that could also reverse the effects of their
possession, but an earthquake hit Tokyo and caused the experiment to bombard
five girls with the genes instead. Ryou and Keiichiro formed Café Mew Mew to serve
as a base for the newly-powered Team Mew Mews, as well as provide a place for
their civilian identities to work.
 |
| Team Mew Mew. |
The leader, Ichigo Momomiya (Saki Nakajima) was given the
cat-like abilities of the Iriomote
cat; spoiled rich ballerina Mint Aizawa (Yumi Kakazu) was fused with the blue lorikeet; shy and
smart Lettuce Midorikawa (Kumi Sakuma) bonded with the finless porpoise; hyper
and young Pudding Fong (Hisayo Mochizuki) received the golden lion tamarin;
and professional model Zakuro Fujiwara (Junko Noda) was fused with the gray wolf. Each girl had a
similar, but unique, mark on their body identifying them as a Mew. They
transformed with the aid of special pendants and took on physical aspects of
the animals they were bonded with. When powered-up, the word “Mew” was
typically added to their first names as their code names. Ryo supplied the
girls with a robot named R2000 (Noda) that could help them locate Chimera Anima
and a powerful substance called Mew Aqua, which could be used against the
aliens. Ichigo eventually named R2000 “Masha” after her boyfriend, Masaya
Aoyama (Megumi Ogata).
 |
| Ichigo and her bells. |
Additional girls were designed by Ikumi, but those were
rejected as the options were narrowed down. An editor originally wanted to
abandon Ikumi’s notion of naming all the lead characters after food (besides
the obvious, Ichigo meant “strawberry” and Zakuro “pomegranate”) as they might
be too hard to remember, but the names stayed. Ikumi jokingly suggested calling
Ichigo’s main attack “Strawberry Bell Bell”, but the editorial team found it
funny enough to keep and all future attacks would be named after whatever
sounded the funniest.
 |
| Ichigo's bell weapon cosplay toy. |
Tokyo Mew
Mew was published in serialized
form in Nakayoshi from September
2000 to February
2003, which were collected into seven volumes beginning in 2001. Tokyopop licensed the manga for translation and
publication in North America beginning in 2003. The series became a hit on
both sides of the ocean. To celebrate the first volume’s release in Japan, a
two-day Tokyo Mew Mew festival was
held during the Golden
Week holiday. Special merchandise was sold, including a poster by Ikumi.
Ikumi also attended dressed as Mint and Lettuce each day. The popularity of the
series led to massive marketing tie-ins, from apparel to toys
to video
games, as well as a sequel series Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode.
Studio Pierrot, Tokyu Agency and AEON, Inc. (later We’ve, Inc.) adapted Tokyo Mew Mew into a 52-episode anime that aired weekly across two
seasons on both TV Aichi and TV Tokyo. The
series began on April 6, 2002 with scripts written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, Masashi Sogo, Natsuko Takahashi and Tetsuo Tanaka. Shin Yoshimura
and Takayuki Negishi
created most of the music for the series, with “My Sweet Heart” by Rika
Komatsu serving as the opening theme and “Koi wa A La Mode” by the Mew Mew
voice actors used for the ending theme. Mari
Kitayama handled the character designs and took them straight from Ikumi’s
artwork, following her approval. Like many similar shows, the girls would
transform via stock elaborate transformation sequences where their uniforms and
animal attributes would appear.
 |
| Masaya and Ichigo. |
Aside from the main storyline, one of the key focuses of the
series was on the relationship between Ichigo and Masaya. Ichigo initially had
problems juggling her secret identity while dating Masaya, and Masaya was
always stepping in to try and protect her. Eventually, Masaya developed
abilities himself allowing him to become the Blue Knight. That transformation
was soon revealed to come about due to the presence of Mew Aqua in his body,
and the fact that both identities were aspects of Deep Blue, which is why all
three were performed by Ogata. Deep Blue wouldn’t appear until the sixth volume
of the manga, despite his presence being felt through his minions throughout
the series.
4Kids Entertainment
licensed the series to adapt it for the English-language market. In order to
make the series more appealing to international audiences, a great deal of
Japanese references and signs were altered or removed. Character names were
Americanized, so that Ichigo became Zoey Hanson (Amada Brown), Mint became
Corina Bucksworth (Andi Whaley), Lettuce became Bridget Verdant (Bella Hudson),
Pudding became Kikki Benjamin (Kether Donohue), Zakuro became Renee Roberts
(Mollie Weaver), Ryou became Elliot Grant (Sean Schemmel), Keiichiro became
Wesley J. Coolridge (Andrew Rannells), Masaya became Mark (Scottie Ray), Kish
became Dren (“nerd” backwards, also Rannells), Tart became Tarb (Jimmy Zoppi)
and Pie became Sardon (Pete Zarustica). Masha not only became Mini-Mew (Tom
Wayland, who also served as voice director), but had a gender change as well.
Only Deep Blue (Ray) and the Blue Knight (Schemmel) retained their original
names; however, receiving different voice actors.
In order to keep in line with Western broadcast standards,
4Kids had numerous cuts and edits made to the series. As the girls appeared
naked (though without any naughty bits showing) during their transformations,
portions of those sequences were omitted and any views of their whole bodies
had lines and shadows removed. In the case of Lettuce/Bridget, her solo
transformation was removed entirely due to her being seen naked the most; she
only transformed in group shots. The Mew Mew’s marks were removed outside of
their premier episodes, and Zakuro/Renee’s
weapon was censored due to its resemblance to the Christian cross.
 |
| Masha/Mini-Mew. |
The characters’ ages were all advanced from early and
pre-teens to mid-teens, with Renee’s age being the highest at 17. Zoey’s animal
was briefly changed to a wild mountain cat before reverting to the original,
and her interests in being a girl and having a boyfriend were heightened.
Corina’s level of rudeness towards Zoey was increased as well as developing the
ability to sing, and it was alluded to that her admiration of Renee had become
romantic interest. Bridget was less of a pushover and strove to be popular.
Kikki was initially said to be homeless and very secretive about her life, but
her home life was later shown. Renee’s principal profession was changed from
modeling to singing, and she had even less tolerance for the other Mew Mews.
Mark was aged as well, becoming him a popular jock, while Mini-Mew was given the
ability to speak in complete sentences. Elliot and Wesley lost their scientific
connections and became just rich high schoolers, with Wesley being the only
character de-aged.
 |
| Sardon, Dren and Tarb. |
The aliens, now named Cyniclons, were given new motivations
to seem less heroic and more evil. They were changed to a race who were unable
to maintain the planets on which they lived, and became jealous of the humans
of Earth for being able to keep their planet livable. Dren’s personality
remained largely unchanged, but his lust for Zoey was toned down. Sardon became
the only Cyniclon with named attacks, and Chimera Anima were renamed
Predasites. Deep Blue, who wasn’t seen until the second season of the anime,
continually communicated with Dren via a blue light. The Mew Aqua was also
given the name Blue Aqua, with the larger forms called Blue Aqua Crystal.
 |
| The many faces of Deep Blue: Blue Knight, Deep Blue and Mark. |
4Kids promoted the series as Hollywood Mew Mew (which ended up being the title of an episode), The Mew Mews (which was heard in the
closing narration of the first episode), and
by its original name before settling on Mew
Mew Power. The series debuted on FOX’s 4Kids TV programming block on
February 19, 2005. The original series was translated by Kathleen Westlake and served as
the basis for the scripts by Barton Bishop, Jim Malone, Matthew
Ordek and Ted Lewis,
whose dialogue changes resulted in major alterations to the overall plots of
the stories as well as a liberal addition of cat-themed puns. The original
Japanese score was removed and replaced with a score by Jen Scaturro, Malone and John Siegler, with a new opening
theme song by Malone and Siegler and sung by Bree
Sharp.
The first episode aired was actually the 12th in
the original anime, and was later disregarded canonically when the next episode
aired. Initially, 4Kids planned to air their pilot episode as a sneak peek in
the fall of 2004, with the episode being voted on alongside an episode of One Piece and F-Zero: GP Legend. Despite being in last place for much of the
poll, F-Zero won out and had its
episode aired on September 4th. After its official debut, 4Kids had
planned to continue airing The Cramp
Twins in its timeslot but ultimately cancelled the show and aired Mew Mew uninterrupted.
4Kids had only attained the rights to the first 26 episodes
of the series; 23 of which aired in the United States and the final three only
seen on YTV in Canada and the Pop Girl channel in the
United Kingdom. Unable to obtain the rights to the remainder of the episodes, the
series was effectively cancelled. Despite initial outcry from fans of the anime
over the localization of the series and extreme edits, the series performed
well and was the highest-rated show of the season. The 4Kids version of the
show was subsequently licensed out and redubbed for airing in France, Latin
America, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Greece, South Africa and Israel.
 |
| One of the Mew Mew Power DVD releases. |
Mew Mew Power had never
been released to home video in North America. Ten of the 4Kids episodes were
released across
two volumes in Australia and New Zealand by Magna Pacific. The complete
4Kids series was released in South Africa. The French version of the show
released nine
of the episodes through Warner Home
Video France. Ares Films, licensor
of the French version, managed to acquire the remaining 26 episodes and released
them to DVD through AK Video.
EPISODE GUIDE (translated
Japanese titles in parenthesis):
Season 1:
“The Mew Kid in Town (Turning into a Cat—Justice Lies in a Girl in
Love ~Nya!)” (4/6/02 JAP, 2/26/05 US) – Ichigo’s date with Msaya leads to a
vision of herself being merged with a cat which comes true when Ryou gives her
a transformative pendant so she can battle a monster in the park.
“Mew Two (A New Comrade – Justice Lies in a Real Lady ~Nya!)” (4/13/02
JAP, 3/5/05 US) – Ichigo begins working at Café Mew in order to begin her quest
to find the other four Mew girls, and a chance encounter with Mint leads to the
discovery that she is the second Mew.
“Pooltergeist (Ghost Story from School: Finding the Ghost’s True
Identity ~Nya!)” (4/20/02 JAP, 3/12/05 US) – Investigating a school haunting
leads the Mews to find their next member, Lettuce, and the alien Kish appears
to Ichigo with a kiss greeting.
“The Lion Thing (A Tearful Date—the Secret I Can’t Tell Ayoama-kun
~Nya!)” (4/27/02 JAP, 3/19/05 US) – While on a date with Masaya, Ichigo runs
off to transform and join her teammates when a lion is turned into a Chimera
Anima.
“Gymewstics (Stormy Rhythmic Gymnastics—Becoming a Star with a Cat’s
Dance! ~Nya!)” (5/4/02 JAP, 3/26/05 US) – Ichigo is recruited to the school’s
gymnastic team, but her performance is diminished when Kish attacks with a Chimera
Anima.
“Party ‘Til You Mew (The Piano of the Heart—it’s the Heart-Pounding
Dance Party ~Nya!)” (5/11/02 JAP, 4/2/05 US) – A pianist playing at an event at
the café has her spirit stolen by Kish to create a Chimera Anima, which is able
to be affected by the pianist’s music.
“Monkey See, Monkey Mew (Enter Pudding—The Ears and Tail are Part of
the Act!)” (5/18/02 JAP, 4/9/05 US) – Street performer Pudding discovers
Ichigo’s cat attributes and wants her own for her act, but an attack by Kish
reveals she’s in fact the next Mew girl.
“Spa Blahs! (To the Hot Spring! The Mysterious Mountain’s Miracle of
Love)” (5/25/02 JAP, 4/16/05 US) – The girls win a trip to a resort in the
mountains where the spirit of a boy who opposes its presence is stolen by Kish
and used to power his latest monster.
“Do Mew Want to Dance? (Dearly Beloved Brother—the Memories Lie in the
Picture)” (6/1/02 JAP, 4/23/05 US) – Ichigo attempts to help Mint and her
brother reconcile their relationship, but a Chimera Anima attack puts that on
hold.
“Hollywood Mew Mew Part 1 (The Last Member—the Legendary Lonely Wolf)”
(6/8/02 JAP, 4/30/05 US) – The final Mew girl is discovered as famous model
Zakuro, but she dismisses the others and prefers to use her powers against the Chimera
Anima on her own.
“The Taming of the Mew Part 2 (The Heart to Believe—All Five Makes
Tokyo Mew Mew)” (6/15/02 JAP, 5/7/05 US) – Kish offers to return Zakuro to
normal if she joins him and traps Mint, Lettuce and Pudding in an alternate
dimension.
“The Main Mew’s Muse (Identity Revealed—An Out of Season Cherry Tree
Falls Away)” (6/22/02 JAP, 2/19/05 US) – The Mews have to destroy five trees
infected by the aliens before they reach full bloom and release a poison gas.
“Slime and Slime Again (Intersecting Hearts—Aoyama-kun is Targeted)”
(6/29/02 JAP, 5/14/05 US) – Kish attempts to use Masaya to bring Ichigo to his
side, but in failing Deep Blue sends Pie and Tart to aid him in his battle
against the Mews.
“Butterflies Are Freaky (Akasaka’s Secret—A Tale of Sad Love)” (7/6/02
JAP, 9/10/05 US) – The Mews attempt to help reconcile Keiichiro and his ex,
Rei, but Pie and Tart use her spirit to power their latest Chimera Anima.
“The Hero Lies in Mew (A Little Hero Masha—Friendship at the Risk of
His Life)” (7/13/02 JAP, 9/17/05 US) – In order to prove himself useful, Masha
joins the Mews in their latest fight and ends up captured by the aliens.
“Books of Love (Lettuce’s Love—Longing in the Library)” (7/20/02 JAP,
9/24/05 US) – Lettuce develops a crush on a man she meets in the library, but a
Chimera Anima attack leads her to discover he loves the librarian.
“A Knight to Remember Part 1 (The Knight in Blue—I Will Protect You)”
(7/27/02 JAP, 10/1/05 US) – Masha discovers the origins of the aliens while
Ichigo takes ill and is unable to protect herself against their latest attack,
which is when the mysterious Blue Knight appears to defend her.
“My Knight in Blue Armor Part 2 (Mid-Summer’s Love—Ichigo’s Swaying
Heart)” (8/3/02 JAP, 10/8/05 US) – After The Blue Knight and the Mews drive the
aliens off, the Mews begin to wonder who the Knight really is and suspect Ryou.
“A Girl With a Porpoise (The Power of Kindness—O Wish, Come True in
the Sea)” (8/10/02 JAP, 10/15/05 US) – Despite her inability to swim, Lettuce
attempts to help a girl at the beach with her own swimming confidence when Chimera
Animas attack.
“Daughter of the Year (Memories of Mother—Onee-chan is in Trouble)”
(8/17/02 JAP, 10/22/05 US) – When Pudding takes sick the Mews learn that she’s
responsible for caring for her five siblings, and Pie and Tart take her
sister’s teacher’s spirit for their next Chimera Anima.
“One Flew Out of the Mew Mew’s Nest (Sparks of the Heart—Ichigo and
Mint at Odds)” (8/24/02 JAP, 10/29/05 US) – A substance called Mew Aqua and a
dream where she has a conversation with her spirit animal has Mint concerned
about their mission and eventually leads her to quit the team.
“Buggin’ (Farewell Summer—Ichigo’s Longest Day)” (8/31/02 JAP, 11/5/05
US) – Ichigo needs to finish her homework before school starts, but Masaya,
busted water pipes and an alien attack conspire against her.
“I’ve Got a Crush on Mew (Sudden Love—Accept Girls’ Hearts!)” (9/7/02
JAP, 11/12/05 US) – Ichigo’s friends have crushes on Ryou and Keiichiro but
their advances are spurned when the boys are too busy searching for Mew Aqua to
acknowledge them.
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Worst Enemy (A Mysterious Gem—Brilliance is Within
You!)” (9/14/02 JAP) – A necklace may contain Mew Aqua, and a battle erupts
between the Mews and the aliens for it.
“The Hunt for Blue Aqua Part 1 (Love’s Hurdle—Many Obstacles to
Ichigo’s Love)” (9/21/02 JAP) – The Mews and aliens search for Mew Aqua
underground while Kish plants a cocoon on Tokyo Tower that will hatch a
pollutant-spewing moth over the city.
“Coo Coo Cocoon Part 2 (Stop, Time! Overwhelemed with Sentimental
Feeling” (9/28/02 JAP) – Battling the moth leads to the discovery of the Mew Aqua,
which combines with an ancient rod they found to create the Mew Aqua Rod.
Season 2 (aired in Japan only):
“I Love You—Aoyama-kin’s Shocking Declaration” (10/5/02) – Masaya
confesses his love for Ichigo, and when she goes to kiss him after the Mews’ latest
battle she turns into a black cat.
“Kitty Panic! The Key to the Mystery is Her Kiss” (10/12/02) – After
an adventure as a cat, Ichigo is returned to human form and informed by Ryou
the changes will only end when the aliens are gone.
“A Forbidden Love? I Can Understand Cats ~Nya!” (10/19/02) – Ichigo
discovers she maintains the ability to communicate with cats and the Mews agree
to help one reunite with his love.
“Be Honest! Unspoken Love in the Crystal Ball” (10/26/02) – The aliens
target a fortune teller, believing her crystal ball contains traces of Mew Aqua.
“Father’s Back—One-Game Match for Ichigo!” (11/2/02) – Ichigo’s father
learns about Masaya and challenges him to a kendo match for the right to date
his daughter.
“Princess Fight—The Hero Can’t be Bought For Money” (11/9/02) – Mint
plans to surprise the others with some special tea, but it’s stolen by Kish and
her “eternal rival”, Kanna.
“A Fiance Appears—Pudding’s Fated Marriage?!” (11/16/02) – Yuebin, an
associate of Pudding’s father, defeats Pudding to learn the family fighting
style and to make her his fiancée.
“The Most Important Matter—The Ability to Trust in Someone” (11/23/02)
– A famous doll maker tricks Lettuce into helping her before having her spirit
taken by Kish.
“Don’t Cry, Lonely Little Zakuro” (11/30/02) – Zakuro befriends a
lonely girl who becomes targeted by Kish, believing a present her parents sent
contains Mew Aqua.
“Shirogane’s Past: The Secret of the Mew Mew’s Birth!” (12/7/02) –
After discovering Ryou can change into a cat as well, Ryou finally reveals the
origin behind the Mew Mews.
“The Shining Tear: Celebrating Christmas with Just the Two of Us”
(12/14/02) – Ichigo gets Masaya a present to convey her feelings, but an alien
attack reveals the presence of Mew Aqua at the top of a Christmas tree.
“Miracle of the Holy Night—No Secrets Anymore” (12/21/02) – After
Masaya is injured by a Piece of Mew Aqua, she finally confesses her secret and
discovers he already knew.
“The Stolen Dream—Sweet Trap of the Lavender” (12/28/02) – Pie’s
latest Chimera Anima puts Ichigo to sleep and takes her place in order to
ambush the team.
“Two Becoming Friends? Pudding in Imminent Danger!” (1/4/03) – Tart’s
plot to sink the city ends up trapping him and Pudding underground.
“The Winds Bring Happiness—A Heartfelt Prayer” (1/11/03) – Fish are
transformed in order to pollute the bay and the Mew Aqua around Ryou’s neck may
be the key to defeating them all.
“Zakuro’s Dilemma: Only Four Mew Mews Now?” (1/18/03) – Zakuro, losing
faith in their mission, considers accepting a role in Hollywood requiring her
to move to America.
“Friend or Foe? Fight, Oneesama!” (1/25/03) – Zakuro appears to have
betrayed the Mews for the aliens while more Mew Aqua appears in the possession
of a swan.
“The City Turns into a Forest! What Protects Ichigo’s Smile” (2/1/03)
– A forest springs up throughout Tokyo and Tart turns a large Mew Aqua tree
into a Chimera Anima.
“The Riddle Dissolves! The Truth About the Blue Knight” (2/8/03) –
When Ichigo is attacked by Kish, Masaya comes to her defense and transforms
into the Blue Knight.
“New Reinforcement! Protect the Earth Together” (2/15/03) – Masaya is
invited onto the team just as they investigate possible Mew Aqua in the river.
“The Power of Love! I Will Protect Aoyama-kun!!” (2/22/03) – Deep Blue
plots the end of the Blue Knight by ordering Ichigo to be taken hostage.
“The Labyrinth of the Alternate Dimension! Kish’s Gamble!!” (3/1/03) –
Kish attacks Masaya who discovers his powers won’t work unless he’s protecting
Ichigo.
“The Awakening of Blue—Another Appearance!” (3/8/03) – Kish plans to
use the Blue Knight’s powers to save their world, and the next time Masaya
transforms he becomes Deep Blue.
“Ichigo’s Trial! I Am a Mew Mew” (3/15/03) – Deep Blue proves too
powerful for the Mews and uses his sword to destroy Tokyo while Ichigo realizes
Masaya is gone.
“The Final Battle! I Believe in Your Smile” (3/22/03) – Ichigo invades
Deep Blue’s base, and after a massive release of energy Masaya finally regains
control over Deep Blue.
“For the Earth’s Future, We’ll Serve You ~Nyan!” (3/29/03) – Masaya
distracts Deep Blue long enough for Ichigo to attack their body, destroying the
Mew Aqua within and restoring the city.
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