Tokyo Mew Mew (2002)
Tokyo Mew Mew
2002 / TV-Y7On her first date with the cutest boy in school, Ichigo is zapped by a mysterious ray that scrambles her DNA with that of the endangered Iriomote wildcat. The next day, Ichigo discovers that she has developed the agility (and occasionally the ears and tail) of a cat, as well as the power to transform into a pink-haired superheroine, Mew Ichigo. She and four other girls, each endowed with the genes of a different "Red Data" animal, have been selected for the top-secret Mew Project, which aims to protect the Earth from an alien menace known as Deep Blue.
Seasons & Episode
While Ichigo Momomiya is on her first date with Masaya Aoyama, she is bathed in a strange light and sees herself being merged with a cat. Afterwards, she begins to display cat-like behaviors. The next day, Ichigo follows Masaya into a park, where a strange jellyfish-like creature takes over a rat's body, turning it into a monster. Ryou Shirogane saves Ichigo and gives her a pendant allowing her to transform into Mew Ichigo. With her new powers, she defeats the monster, turning it back into a normal rat. Afterwards, Ryou refuses to explain what just occurred, so the newly arrived Keiichiro Akasaka offers to do so instead.
Ichigo meets a shy and timid girl named Lettuce Midorikawa. Later at the café, Ichigo sees her with three other girls, who are trying to coerce an unwilling Lettuce to try to photograph a rumored school ghost. Ichigo "accidentally" dumps parfaits on them to get them to leave Lettuce alone. After work, Mint and Ichigo go to the school to investigate the "ghost". Instead, they find Lettuce who was afraid of being isolated because of her new powers and started "haunting" the pool. After a brief fight, Ichigo and Mint calm her by explaining her Mew powers and welcome her to the team. While Ichigo is walking home, an alien named Kish appears, steals her first kiss, and introduces himself before disappearing again.
Upset about her first kiss stolen, Ichigo avoids Aoyama, even declining a date with him. While looking for chimera animas, Masha leads her to the park where she runs into Masaya. Resolved to forget the kiss, Ichigo agrees to spend time with him. Kish attacks the park, turning a lion into a chimera anima. Ichigo leaves a worried Masaya behind as she hides to transform and fight. After Mew Mint and Mew Lettuce arrive, the three defeat the monster. When Ichigo finds Masaya, he scolds her for running away. As they walk home, he explains his worry about her, and Ichigo promises not to do it again.
The school rhythmic gymnastics team sees Ichigo avoid the path of an on-coming bus by leaping over it, and the team recruits her. A promise from Masaya to come and cheer for her at the competition changes Ichigo's participation from reluctant to enthusiastic. After Ichigo's spectacular individual performance, Kish attacks with a chimera anima. After the Mew Mews defeat the monster, competition continues; but Ichigo's performance drops during her team's round due to exhaustion from the fight. The team is happy with their second place win and names Ichigo the team's Most Valuable Player.
While cleaning the café, a woman approaches Ichigo and Lettuce and begins speaking to them in English (Spanish in the 4Kids dub), but they cannot understand her. Masaya appears and translates for them. The woman, Mary McGuire (Maria Rivera in the 4Kids Dub), is a pianist who Ryou asked for a performance at an upcoming formal party to reward the girls for their good work. During the party, Kish appears and uses a new technique to steal Mary's (Maria's) spirit to create a chimera anima. During the battle, he mentions the name of the mysterious alien leader, Deep Blue. The girls use Mary's (Maria's) music to weaken the monster, enabling the girls to defeat it and return her spirit back to her body.
The girls win a day-trip to a resort in the mountains. On the way up the mountain, they stop at a shrine to eat lunch where a boy named Masazou Aoyamada yells at them for desecrating the shrine of Bacchigappa, the god of the mountain. The girls find a natural hot spring and stop to relax. There they learn that the resort is under construction and that their prize trip is for the following year. Masazou tries to stop the construction workers, claiming that the work has scared away the local otters and is destroying their habitat. Kish arrives and steals the boy's spirit to create a chimera anima. The Mew Mews defeat the monster and restore Masazou's spirit. The incident prompts the other villagers to join in Masazou's cause to oppose the construction.
While at Mint's house to borrow a dress, Ichigo meets her older brother, Seiji, who is going to study abroad. She is saddened to learn that they have grown apart after seeing an old photo of the two. Wanting to help the siblings reconcile, Ichigo invites him to attend Mint's next ballet performance. When the girls bring Seiji to Mint's dressing room before the performance, Mint maintains her distance from her brother. As he is leaving, a chimera anima attacks and Seiji tries to protect Mint. After the Mew Mews defeat it, Mint again tells Seiji he should not waste his time there. He gives her a bouquet of flowers and tells her that she is still important to him.
Masaya takes Ichigo to Inohara Park to show her a large cherry tree that is unusually blooming out of season. The next day, Keiichiro discovers that five cherry trees have been infected by the aliens explaining the early blooming. The Mew Mews set out to destroy them simultaneously, or the trees will release a poison dangerous to Tokyo. Mew Ichigo takes the tree in Inohara Park, where Kish waits for her. A fight keeps Ichigo from attacking the tree, and it begins releasing its poison. Ichigo jumps into the tree and successfully destroys it. After Kish leaves, Mew Ichigo finds Masaya standing behind her after he called out "Ichigo".
When Ichigo's father finds out that she has a boyfriend, he does not approve. He demands that Masaya defeat him in a kendo match before he will allow them to continue dating. Ichigo complains to her mother, who explains that her father loves her and just wants to protect her. Her mother also tells her that they too had to fight to be together when they were young. Ichigo rushes to stop the fight, reminding her father of the past and how her mother did the same thing for him. Though he does not want to face that his "little girl" is growing up, he grudgingly gives his approval of the relationship.
As Christmas approaches, Ichigo grows depressed as she thinks about how she is regularly lying to Masaya to hide her being a Mew Mew. Zakuro invites her to go shopping with her and tells Ichigo that since she cannot open her heart, she should give Masaya something that reflects her feelings. Ichigo chooses a necklace called "Tears for Christmas." She is still initially reluctant to face him, but finally arranges to meet him at the big Christmas tree in Odaiba. While she is waiting, the aliens attack. When Ichigo transforms, her emotions cause mew aqua to materialize at the top of the tree. Joined by the others, the Mew Mews prepare to fight the aliens to acquire it.
The aliens decide to use special chimera animas to release pollutants into Tokyo Bay. The Mew Mews arrive, sans Lettuce, and find themselves having to fight numerous smaller chimera animas made from fish. Mew Lettuce and Ryou arrive by boat, but the larger monster destroys it and they are thrown into the water. While the others defeat the fish monsters by combining Mint and Pudding's attacks, Lettuce tries to save the drowning Ryou. Her emotions activate the mew aqua around his neck, causing her legs change to a porpoise fin and easily bring Ryou back to the surface. The mew aqua weakens the remaining chimera anima, enabling them to defeat it.
Ryou and Keiichiro learn that mew aqua may have been made by the aliens when they inhabited Earth. A strange type of energy begins emerging in Tokyo and trees grow out of control, turning the city into a forest. The Mew Mews find something that appears to be a large mew aqua in a tree but before they collect it, Tart arrives and turns the tree into a chimera anima. During the fight, Mew Ichigo realizes that Ryou cannot be the Blue Knight as they both appear at the battle to aid her. The Mew Mews defeat the monster, but they are unable to figure out what caused the forest to appear in the first place.
For Valentine's Day Ichigo decides to make chocolate for Masaya, with help from Keiichiro. On her way to meet him, she is attacked by Kish who knocks away her transformation pendant. Masaya senses that Ichigo is danger and comes to her rescue. After Kish injures him, Masaya begins glowing and transforms into the Blue Knight, however with the injury he is unable to fight at his full strength. Just as Kish is about to kill him, Ichigo grabs her pendant and runs in front Masaya to block the attack using a shield from the pendant. Ichigo rejects Kish and he leaves. Later, as Masaya enjoys the chocolates from Ichigo, Kish wonders who or what Masaya and the Blue Knight really are.
On her first date with the cutest boy in school, Ichigo is zapped by a mysterious ray that scrambles her DNA with that of the endangered Iriomote wildcat. The next day, Ichigo discovers that she has developed the agility (and occasionally the ears and tail) of a cat, as well as the power to transform into a pink-haired superheroine, Mew Ichigo. She and four other girls, each endowed with the genes of a different "Red Data" animal, have been selected for the top-secret Mew Project, which aims to protect the Earth from an alien menace known as Deep Blue.