Tokyo Mew Mew Re-View: Episode OneTitle: ネコになる, 正義の味方は恋する少女にゃんOriginally Aired: April 6, 2002While I
Tokyo Mew Mew Re-View: Episode OneTitle: ネコになる, 正義の味方は恋する少女にゃんOriginally Aired: April 6, 2002While I’d originally envisioned these as a reaction video series of sorts, by episode two I figured it wouldn’t be very interesting if I kept falling quiet while rewatching the show. So for now, it’s just a recap of some of my reaction highlights. This isn’t a review or meant to be informative at all so much as it is a list of general impressions, exclamations, and mild humor. The format may change in the future (and I’m definitely open to suggestions).(If you want, you can check it out below the cut or click on the blue “photos” button!)[0:00] Me, before starting: This episode is going to be the most difficult to get through just because I’ve watched it so many times for fandubs. (Spoilers: I got through it just fine.) [0:00] Spent quite a while talking about how I prefer the girls meeting/interacting at the museum in the manga before the Mew Project officially launches, and how this setup kind of feels like it was “destiny” in a way? If I have one hope for the new anime, it’d be the girls all appearing in episode one, even if it’s just a passing glance of them in a crowd before Plot Happens. Or maybe a silhouette or something. When plot does happen. (In that way a part of me gets what Mew Mew Power was trying to do showing episode 12 first.) [0:11] Wonders if the number of endangered species will be updated for accuracy at all. [1:23] After mentioning how “My Sweetheart” was my jam back in 2003-2004, compliments to the screen effect of Quiche throwing the energy ball in the OP. [1:26] Please bring back Keiichiro’s car. [2:13] I have to give Ichigo major props for asking Aoyama-kun out on a date. I mean, she even did her research and found out what his hobbies and passions are! That’s more than I can say for anyone who ever tried to ask me out. “Hey, Cherry, you wanna go to that exhibit related to that thing you love? With me? This Sunday?” would have earned lots of brownie points. I also appreciate her going to something he likes while she herself doesn’t have a ton of interest in it at first. (But now I must know: what kind of research did this girl do? Did she quiz all his friends? Has she been secretly stalking him for months? I want deets.) [2:51] Magical girl protags waking up late and being late is a tired trope, but Ichigo actually has an excuse: she couldn’t sleep because she was so excited about her date and only got a few hours of shut-eye. I wouldn’t be able to drag myself out of bed either. [4:02] I enjoy the anime actually showing us them meeting up and traveling to the venue. Gives a bit of a sense of realism and scope to the world. I also love the animation sequence of Ichigo checking her reflection in the shop window. [6:44] I’m kind of hoping they give them some new, up-to-date technology this go around. Except for the melon bread and the cat mug; those have to stay. [7:43] Aoyama-kun has mad skills, he’s a keeper. Quick reflexes. Imagine if he were a Mew Mew. …Someone needs to write that. Aoyama-kun as a Mew Mew. [7:57] Why would you ask anyone to lie down on the lawn, though? She’s got a cute dress on. She’ll get grass stains all over it. [8:13] Wonders if this is a real park or a fictional one. [8:25] I also prefer the manga version where Ichigo kind of wanders upon the cafe on her own instead of bam! It was there the whole time. I know some of the same dialogue still happens in the episode, but I thought it was cuter how the manga handled it. [8:51] They can also keep Ryou’s goggles. [10:43] THREE HOURS?! Aoyama-kun! I do not know anyone who would just sit there and wait for someone to take a nap for three hours. He’s a keeper, Ichigo. [11:17] Wonders why Ichigo is so worried. Aoyama-kun didn’t seem angry at all. Girl, you don’t need an excuse just to talk to him. You guys went to the museum together already. [12:02] Real-talk, though. How annoying must it be to have all these people watching you all the time while you’re just trying to enjoy kendo practice. [12:41] It’s interesting to me that they added/changed it to the purikura here. (Where in the manga she drops an event ticket, in the anime they make her keepsake the photos they took together.) I think I like this better. [12:58] Also love the animation of Ichigo falling. [15:11] Takes a moment to mention that I like how the manga gives them a chance to really talk and then Aoyama-kun invites her to help clean up the river. I hope they include that in the new anime as well. Or maybe have her still start meowing like a cat, but instead of Ichigo zooming off quickly, they actually get a chance to make plans to hang out. [15:42] But you know, if I were Ryou or Keiichiro, I would just walk out of the cafe right now like “Yo! We’re having a special on cakes. Would you like to come in? By the way we’d like to talk to you.” [16:00] “Kitty Instincts! NYAA!!” [17:36] I do like the upgrade the aliens got in the anime, and how the Chimera Anima(s) have symbols that correspond to who fused/created them. [17:47] At least in the manga Ryou was nice enough to tell her his name. In the anime he’s just kind of like “Mm…I’ll tell you later.” [21:02] Talks about how it feels like the human boys are a bit more dorky and likable in the manga. Whereas they feel a little more mature and distant in the anime (not always, but most times). I notice this especially with Ryou, who seemed to me like a bit of a closet nerd over the Mew Project and whose teasing felt more playful in the manga. But also with Aoyama-kun, too. …Is it just me?[21:31] Self-Indulgent Suggestion Time: I’d like to see them develop a plotline where, because he’s a genius, Ryou has a difficult time having open, meaningful interactions with other people and relating to them/their feelings. And then you can have Ichigo and Retasu and the others kind of draw the softer side of him out over the course of the series, help him not be so caught up in just research and the Mew Project. (Like, he has a ton of CONNECTIONS, sure, but how about some genuine friends? That said, if they weren’t so busy glaring at each other, I think he and Aoyama-kun could hit it off if they ever really wanted to.) [22:14] Misses the nerdy babbling about “missing his target” which I don’t believe for a minute, by the way. [22:36] The cats dancing in the ED is the best thing to me. -- source link