Plot: Ken has decided to forgo the real world and permanently move to the Digital World with full intentions of finally taking all of it over once and for all. Using Greymon, Ken decides to test a theory that will help him avoid his Perfect level control problem. He controls Greymon with an Evil Ring and uses his Dark Digivice to evolve him into Metalgreymon. However, he accidentally causes him to Dark Evolve into Skullgreymon and goes out of control. He destroys the Dark Tower and easily whacks away all forces to bring him down. He eventually gets exhausted and devolves back into Agumon. The Digimon Kaiser takes him away as yet another of many Digimon slaves.
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Entire Show Edit: The clips for the recaps are almost always slightly different from the ones in the original. Usually there aren’t any major differences, but the clips are still changed for the sake of better fitting the recap dialogue that they made for the dub. For instance, since Yolei is doing the recap this time, they edit in a shot of her in the bleachers watching the soccer game to fit her line about having a crush on Ken.
Title Screen:
Title Change: “Overdrive of the Evil Ring’s Magic” is changed to “The Emperor’s New Home”.
Not as a part of the recap, the original episode shows the scene where Ken reveals his true identity to Daisuke again before cutting to where the dub starts off with Wormmon.
Original!Wormmon asks if Ken’s okay. Dub!Wormmon tries to tell Ken a joke.
The reporter says the exact same thing about genius being 1% brains (talent, originally) and 99% hard work. Original!Ken agrees – dub!Ken says his is 2%.
The reporter asks if Ken likes animals and if he has a pet since he’s in elementary school. Ken says he lives in an apartment and they don’t allow pets. In the dub, the reporter brings up his humble abode of a normal apartment building.
The reporter then points out that an apartment building is an awfully normal place for a boy genius to live and Ken says “I guess.” She brings up that America has a skipping system where people can skip grades if they’re smart enough, meaning Ken could be in college right now if he was in America. Ken says that Japan doesn’t have such a system so it seems pointless to discuss.
In the dub, the reporter says Ken’s mastered chess, 3D chess and the Donkey Madness video game and asks if there’s anything Ken can’t handle. Ken jokingly responds “Reporters?” and the reporter goes on to ask what boy geniuses like Ken do for fun. Ken responds that he’s always writing computer programs, but he especially loves playing soccer.
The news cast concludes with the reporter asking if Japan did have a skipping system if Ken would like to skip ahead, and Ken lightly agrees. In the dub, she says he’ll be a big success in soccer too and there’s nothing she can think of that could possibly get in his way.
The guy Ken talks to after the interview thanks Ken for doing so as it’s a big help to the school….somehow. In the dub he says this:
“That 1% 2% stuff was brilliant. Though I’m not quite sure I understand it.”
He was saying that, unlike other geniuses who use 1% brains and 99% hard work, he has 2% brains and 98% hard work…..It’s a feigning humble while gloating joke that he’s smarter than the others and doesn’t need to put in quite as much effort. So….uh….you work at the school, eh?
In the original, the guy asks Ken if he’ll tutor his daughter, which clearly offends him. The guy says he’ll be rewarded well for his work, but Ken responds that he’s too young and inexperienced to be a tutor.
In the dub, the guy asks Ken how to beat a level in Donkey Madness, which irritates Ken. He says he’ll never tell anyone Ken’s gaming secrets, and Ken responds that he’d be happy to help but also mentions that the guy might be too old to play video games.
The guy originally responds that Ken may have a point in his refusal before parting ways. In the dub, he agrees that he is too old to play video games and that he always forgets that he’s an adult. Just a note, isn’t the average video game player in their thirties? Also, screw perceived age limits on enjoying things. Oh and the reason the dub guy leaves is because he’s late for his ‘Advanced Joystick’ class. How the hell is that even a thing?
Originally, Ken’s autograph says ‘Yuriko-san, do your best!’ In the dub it says ‘Good luck on Donkey Madness!’ Also, this looks kinda awkward to have a message in English but a signature in Japanese.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Just a side note, but dub!Ken is just terrible at keeping up his innocent and kind as a bunny in a field of carrots persona in this scene. He talks in a belittling manner to the guy, insults him by saying he’s too old to play video games, the ‘What is it?’ question, which was asked gently enough in the original, is said in a clearly irritated tone in the dub, and when he hands over the autograph he says ‘Here you gooooo.’ in as much of a ‘I’m handing this to a newborn baby’ tone as he can muster.
Originally, the guy says ‘So this is the autograph of a boy genius?’ In the dub he says Ken’s even better than a graphics accelerator card. Also, the guy says ‘She’ll love this’ indicating it might be to show his daughter. In the dub, he says the guys will be jealous of it. Yeah….they sure will be jealous that you got a child’s autograph.
Mrs. Ichijouji says she saw him on TV and says she should’ve been there since it was so close by. In the dub, she says she made Ken his favorite dinner – liver, squash and lumpy mashed potatoes.
Mr. Ichijouji says he liked the part about the 1% talent 99% hard work thing (It’s really not that clever, guys….) and dub!Mr. Ichijouji says he’ll be a real ladies man soon, just like him.
I don’t usually make music notes against the original, but the original version’s music for the scene discussing the revelation that Ken is the Digimon Kaiser seems terrible. It’s like musak or cheap smooth jazz. Who thought that actually fit there? In contrast, the dub has soft yet looming serious music, which is much better.
In order, the Digimon rush towards Miyako yelling ‘Chocolate, cheese fish cakes, jelly drinks, ice cream!’ In the dub, they yell ‘Chocolate, cookies, fish, ice cream!’
Poromon originally pouts that all he wants in kanpyomaki. In the dub, Poromon is not saying anything and the other Digimon are talking over the scene. It makes the scene seem weird because you’re wondering why Poromon is sitting sadly in the corner by himself and not eating anything like the others.
Both Kari and Hikari say the same thing about Ken’s gentle smile but while Takeru says that appearances are deceiving, TK says Ken’s haircut makes him look like Kari……I hate to be mean, and I love Ken…..but he is totally right.
Miyako wonders if Ken is actually a Chosen Child. Yolei says his IQ is really high and that he can program her computer any day. Unlike a lot of other line changes which seem to be made just for a joke or something….I feel like there was reason that they’re avoiding implicating that Ken is a Digidestined.
Both Davis and Daisuke basically say the same thing about Ken, but Daisuke asks why Miyako would think he’s a Chosen Child based on his intelligence. Uh, dude, he can get into the Digital World. That in itself is plenty of evidence that he might be a Chosen Child.
Koushiro doesn’t yell at Hikari for smudging his screen, but I will admit that that’s totally something he’d probably do and the joke works well enough.
Originally, Ken’s parents talk about how Ken’s been holed up in his room most of the time since the soccer game and isn’t even going to school. The dub plays this down and just says he’s been very quiet lately.
Mrs. Ichijouji originally says she has no idea what to do about him. In the dub, she says she doesn’t want to barge in because she might set off one of his booby traps…….BOOBY TRAPS? He booby traps his room? And she’s okay with that? And why do I feel like she’s probably tripped one of them before?
Mr. Ichijouji asks his wife what his teachers have been saying about Ken lately. Mrs. Ichijouji says that they want Ken to figure out his problems on his own. Mr. Ichijouji asks what they even mean by that, and Mrs. Ichijouji says Ken’s so smart that they’ve given up on trying to figure out what he’s thinking.
In the dub, Mrs. Ichijouji says his teacher would only talk about Donkey Madness. Mr. Ichijouji asks what that means, and his mom says it makes no sense since they don’t even own a donkey. Yeah, I definitely remember Mrs. Ichijouji being a doofus in the dub. Also, this line loss is a bit damaging because it shows that Ken is basically all alone in this as his intelligence intimidates so many people, including his teachers and parents. He spends so much time alone, seemingly has no close friends and is currently going through a tough time yet no one even wants to approach him to help.
By the way, Ken’s room is friggin’ awesome. He has his own personal loft-like bed and his own patio.
The message that Ken leaves is basically the same, but the dub adds a little more insult to injury.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Daisuke asks if this apartment building is the right one, and Iori says that it’s correct given the map that Koushiro gave them. Davis says this is the right place and that they’ll beat him there while Cody says he’s written down a battle plan. A battle plan?….for an apartment building confrontation with the Digimon Emperor? Yes, send your ferocious Upamon out to beg for food while Poromon gets tortured by Yolei and Demiveemon sings Davis’ praises. That’ll show him.
Koushiro says Ken’s been missing since Sunday. Hikari says that they didn’t notice him missing until yesterday, and Iori points out that today is Tuesday, leading Koushiro to the worry that Ken has done a lot of work in the Digital World in the two days he’s been gone. In the dub, this estimation of days missing is omitted and we just jump straight into Ken working overtime.
Koushiro and the others discuss how Ken’s likely going to stay in the Digital World forever. This is never mentioned in the dub, and they just talk about rushing in to beat him but being concerned about what they might jump into. Also, Yolei gushes over Ken some more.
For a dub that purposely changed things around for a long discussion about the pros and cons of jumping in to attack, they completely changed the purpose behind them finally deciding to go in for some reason. They realize that they’re going in awfully late in the day, but really want to go to the Digital World anyway. Koushiro says they’ll pop in real quick and come right back. In the dub, they make it sound like they’re going in full-force and prepping for a huge attack.
Miyako says ‘Chosen Children, let’s roll!’ Yolei says ‘Let’s go get that evil cute guy!’ *sigh* Ya know, Yolei doesn’t tend to bother me as much as Mimi, but rewatching this series…..she might climb up there.
For some strange reason, they reverse the panning footage of the kids holding their Digivices up to the screen. Originally, it started with Iori and ended on Takeru. In the dub, it’s the other way around. *shrug*
Also, Miyako’s line is supposed to be after the pan not before.
Also, also, they change Yolei’s line after the commercial break because that’s just something these shows have a habit of doing. Instead of the evil cute guy line, she says ‘It’s genius stomping time’! Quite the switch from ‘Let’s confront my crush’ to ‘LET’S CRUSH KEN!’
To make up for the crappy music from earlier, they have a totally awesome and dramatic song when the kids arrive at the Digital World.
Wormmon doesn’t originally offer to fight in Greymon’s place, but I’ll take that change as the original just has Wormmon suddenly nuzzling Ken’s leg for no reason and it’s a bit weird.
Wormmon says that they can be together forever after all this is done. In the dub, he asks Ken to help him stand up.
Why doesn’t Hikari or Takeru point out what an awful idea it is to have, of all Digimon, Fladramon fight Meramon? It’s a Digimon made of fire that has been shown in the past to absorb fire and become more powerful because of it. Granted, in Adventure 01, they screw with the logic there by having Birdramon defeat him. *sigh*
Oh wait, they do point it out….after Fladramon’s attacks fail….I know this might be for the sake of those who haven’t seen Adventure 01, but it’s really just logic. Fire + Fire = Not very effective.
So what do they combat Meramon, the Digimon who, I remind you, is made of FIRE with next? Holsmon! Oh, it’s not a big deal. Despite having Birdramon and Garudamon as his predecessors and Hols as a namesake, he doesn’t have fire powers…Nope…he does have one ability that creates a tornado, though. And air….feeds fire and all that.
Man, where’s the only pseudo-water based Digimon on the team when you need him? Even though Submarimon doesn’t have water attacks…..and can’t fight on land…..Damn, Submarimon’s useless.
Yolei, it’s HalSEmon. Hall-suh-mon. Not Hall-see-mon.
They add in a wipe transition after this scene.
Ken’s lines to Greymon are basically the same, but…
Ken: “I’d rather play sphere-throw!” *calls down a dark ring*
Wow, for a super genius, you don’t know your shapes. A sphere is a three-dimensional perfectly round ball shape. A ring is…a….well…ring. What’s even dumber is there’s a more well-known legit game involving a ring that perfectly suits this line….ring toss. It’s like they wanted to use that phrase but found it was copyrighted or something so they BS’d a replacement up.
They add another wipe transition after that scene. I fear I may have neglected to mention a bunch of inserted transitions throughout these comparisons.
Digmon’s up next and he, elemental-wise, would be the best choice here as he could snuff out their flames with dirt….but instead he just dumps them back into the lava they came from, which is completely ineffective, and they just jump right back up. Good job.
They were completely cornered by several Meramon that at least Hikari and Takeru should acknowledge as being very powerful. Why didn’t they all armor evolve at once instead of going one at a time? They usually group evolve as a team and only do it more frequently in the future. Makes it seem like padding.
Another transition, split this time, is added after Gatomon Armor Digivolves. Also, they remove the farther shot of Greymon being carried because of this. They add it in after the close shot.
I’m a little disappointed that Ken chose Greymon to do this to. Despite liking when they bring up stuff from Adventure 01, we’ve seen SkullGreymon before, and this would’ve been a great chance to see a different Digimon a have dark Digivolution. Maybe Garurumon or Kabuterimon. I’m also saying this because, much later on, we get an ‘evil’ WarGreymon in BlackWarGreymon. There’s just a bit too much focus on this evo line is all. Considering he’s one of two of the original Digimon to get a Mega level evolution, not counting OVA 3 because I still have no idea what the hell happened in OVA 3, it’s even worse.
Also, Ken’s logic is just plain stupid. ‘I can’t control Perfect level Digimon, hm? Well, if I evolve an Adult level to Perfect while under my control, then that should solve that problem. Muahahah!’ Power is power, dumbass. If a Digimon’s level is too high for the power of the ring, then it doesn’t matter what level it is when you put the ring on. The abilities of the ring haven’t changed.
Pegasmon isn’t originally sarcastic to Hikari. He merely says that they’ll gather up the other Digimon and meet back up with them later.
Hikari says they have to stick together, which Pegasmon agrees with for the most part, while Kari says they have to fight Skullgreymon, which is the exact opposite of what both versions have been saying the whole time (‘We have to run away’ ‘we stand no chance’).
With all the 9/11 edits that we’ve had…….the fact that SkullGreymon’s original attack name is ‘Ground Zero’…..and he uses the attack on the tower……………………………………………………………………..
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…………….Uh……………Yeah.
I also like that the original scene with the Ground Zero attack is free of music, allowing the impact, for lack of a better term, to be that much more powerful. Obviously, we get battle music in the dub.
And yet they left that shot completely alone. Hm. So, showing a tower being blown up in its entirety is less offensive than one minor explosion happening on a high spot on the tower. I guess the latter looks closer to 9/11 than the former, but still that seems so odd. It’s possible my copy is the non-edited version, though.
Davis: “I should probably have put on my goggles!” You wish you had put on your goggles to protect your eyes from the bright light?…..Your completely CLEAR UNTINTED goggles? Okay.
Wait, how is Ken controlling the Airdramon and the DarkTyranomon if Skullgreymon destroyed the Dark Tower?
Cody: ‘They’re DarkTyranomon!’ How the hell do you know what a DarkTyranomon is? Moreover, how do you know enough about them to do the Index Screen information? I know their Digimon are away so they can’t do it, but surely Ken would’ve been a better choice to narrate the Index Screen.
Kari: “Why can’t we ever fight anything short!?” I really like that joke, even if it’s completely untrue. They’ve fought a ton of short things.
Daisuke asks why the DarkTyranomon are attacking one of their own. In the dub, Davis starts making a bunch of fire puns to cheer on SkullGreymon getting attacked.
Speaking of poor music choices, “We’re Getting’ Digital, Man”….for the scene where Skullgreymon is running amok and throwing around DarkTyranomon like toys? This is supposed to be an intimidating and even kind of frightening scene. This music makes it seem like we’re meant to be rooting for SkullGreymon.
They kept in the shot of the DarkTyranomon being thrown into the lava? I know it’s a fire Digimon, but it’s not like Meramon or anything. Plus, the last time that you see it it’s floating FACE DOWN in the lava and doesn’t get up. Holy crap.
I don’t know how Hikari/Kari knows that’s their Agumon. I mean, they’ve been assuming, I believe anyway, that this Greymon/SkullGreymon is a different one from Taichi’s, yet they recognize him as an Agumon no problem. Did they not see him as a Greymon and just think Ken found a stray SkullGreymon?
Hikari yells to not take Agumon away. Kari basically says the same, but…..
Kari: “TK, Davis, someone do something!” Yes, I, Kari, cannot be arsed to try anything. Love interests and big strong men, do something! Sorry, I’m still a tad bitter from the Andromon episode.
Koushiro says that all of the areas under Greymon’s protection have turned black….Ken got all those Dark Towers up that quickly? How? I know he lives in the Digital World now, but he’s been away from his post this whole time. In the dub, Izzy says….
Izzy: “Whoa, that’s the weirdest thing I’ve seen since my Ethernet configuration collapsed.” That would certainly be a weird thing to see……especially since I don’t see how such a thing is possible. His Ethernet configuration…collapsed. I could see it defaulting, but how could such a thing ‘collapse’?
The original email that Koushiro gets contains all of the information that Izzy is wondering about, and adds that the Digimon Kaiser dark-evolved Agumon into Skullgreymon using the dark Digivice. In the dub, Izzy also asks if Agumon’s been ‘destroyed’ when the original doesn’t mention or implicate such a thing.
Subbed:
Dubbed:
Koushiro concludes that Ken might be out to destroy the entire Digital World. Izzy is worried that the rest of their Digimon could be next if he took control of Agumon. That does bring up a good question. If Ken can easily control Adult levels, why is he only now deciding to use Dark Rings on the original Chosen Children’s Digimon, especially if they’re such nuisances? They no longer possess the ability to evolve into Perfect level, so it should be easy enough.
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I’ve always found this episode to be pretty damn good. It shows us a more human side of Ken while, ironically, also showing us a darker Ken. The stakes have been raised, even if Ken’s plan was damned from the get-go. I like Ken’s decision to live in the Digital World. It’s obvious that, somehow, Ken’s interaction with Daisuke affected him deeper than it seemed, and it’s interesting how it made him a bit more emotionally unstable. It also gives the added threat of Ken working to control the Digital World 24/7, something the Chosen Children can’t really combat well since they have curfews and worrying parents.
The threat of SkullGreymon was intense, and it wasn’t ruined too much with silly jokes in the dub. You really feel for Agumon, especially since he’s unknowingly being attacked by his friends.
This is our first real ‘to be continued’ episode as it ends on a cliffhanger with Agumon in the Digimon Kaiser’s clutches. With the realization the Ken will soon be able to control Perfect level Digimon, the threat to the Chosen Children is even worse considering that they have lost their ability to evolve that far. Given the Andromon episode and now, they obviously have huge problems combating Perfect levels, so it amps you up to see how they’ll tackle this.
Next episode, using Agumon as a test subject, the Digimon Kaiser perfects a new Evil Spiral, which allows Ken to control Perfect level Digimon. Not only that, but he has gained the ability to properly evolve Greymon into a virus typed MetalGreymon.
Name: Exeggcute is a fantastic name….that is really only fantastic on paper. Anytime anyone says this name out loud, it just sounds like “Execute” because trying to pronounce the “egg” part is clunky as hell.
Also, while this is a great name (and pun) on paper, it feels like a bit too good of a name for this Pokémon. Not because it’s just THAT good, but because….does this thing look like it could execute anyone? It’s a bunch of eggs.
I could execute IT with some cheese and ketchup. Does that count?
In Japan, it’s called Tamatama, which is pretty cute. It’s a play on the word “tamago” meaning “egg” and, possibly, the word “tamatama” meaning “unexpected.” I guess the latter is for maybe people expecting eggs and getting a living creature.
Fun Fact: In France, it’s called Noeunoeuf, which I refuse to accept is a real word on any level.
Design: Ugh….Exeggcute is just weird looking. It’s a bunch of pink eggs with various facial expressions, and one of them, disgustingly enough, usually has exposed brain…or yolk…whatever….
They really are just….eggs. Cracked eggs, but eggs.
Or…seeds….
Or coconuts….
Or all of the above?
They’re very clearly eggs, but eggs….aren’t plants, so why would they be Grass types? I guess it makes sense if they’re seeds or coconuts, but if they’re either, why do they look like eggs?!
This Pokémon is just very confusing.
Sprite-wise, we can’t forget the living nightmare that is R/B. And, I’m being serious, this sprite scared me as a kid.
The legitimately threatening Yellow.
The “are you trying to give me a seizure?” Crystal.
And everything else is just kinda fine.
Shiny:
OoooOOOOooooOOOOooo!! Golden eggs!
Unless you’re in Gen II, in which case;
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!! Rotten eggs!
Dex Entries and Backstory: Exeggcute is commonly mistaken for eggs, for obvious reasons. However, more recent research has likened them more to plant seeds. They have a habit of gathering together quickly and swarming opponents. They need at least six Exeggcute to maintain balance together to move.
It has a very durable shell, which is a weird note because many Exeggcute eggs are frequently seen cracked. Even cracked, Exeggcute can survive without “spilling the contents” which raises several questions. The “contents” are literally its innards…………When there are a lot of cracks on an Exeggcute, it’s close to evolving, which is another weird note because Exeggcute evolve through exposure to the Leaf Stone, not leveling up or anything like that.
They have a form of telepathy only other Exeggcute can hear. This psychic bond allows them to find each other and regroup quickly if they’re separated. Sometimes, a stray single Exeggcute might replace a lost Exeggcute in a cluster. If they are missing any Exeggcute, the remaining Exeggcute in the group become cowardly.
It is said to have the genes of plants and “other species.”….I don’t want to know.
Exeggcute are often hunted by Crabrawler, but they defend themselves with psychokinesis.
Exeggcute does not have an alternate Alola version, but the Dex entries note that the Alolan Exeggcute are the same size yet heavier than other Exeggcute since their shells are “packed full.” Again, I don’t want to know.
I already basically went over what Exeggcute are based on, but in addition to all that Exeggcute may be a pun based on the eggplant. Or it’s also possible it was based on the egg yolk tomato, which are bright yellow cherry tomatoes (maybe the shiny version was based on those.) or even the “bird’s nest fungi” or nidulariaceae. The bird’s nest fungi is a fungus that grows on trees. It literally looks like a cluster of bird eggs in a nest, and that is really cool. It has no real functionality to look that way, but it’s cool.
The telepathy aspect of Exeggcute may be derived from oomancy, which is wild. It’s literally fortune-telling with eggs. I have heard of it a couple times before, and it was a very popular form of divination. In fact, it’s had a resurgence as far as I read. It is weird, but I actually understand how such a thing would come to be. The egg does have a bunch of symbolism related to it in the divine and cycle of life and whatnot. Many uses of oomancy involve predicting outcomes of pregnancies.
I’m not fully sure I believe the psychic powers of Exeggcute are based on oomancy, but then again I don’t have an alternate explanation.
Exeggcutor
Name: A combination of “egg” and “executor” I basically have the same exact opinion of this name as I did Exeggcute.
In Japan, it’s known as Nassy, which is super weird to my American ears. It’s a combination of “kokonatsu” for “coconuts” and “yashi” for “palm tree” but it just sounds off.
Fun Fact: In Germany, it’s called Kokowei, which sounds much better.
Design: Exeggcutor is just a weird Pokémon. It’s never been a favorite of mine. In fact, it would easily rank on my least favorite Grass types of Gen I. It’s just…a walking palm tree with coconut heads….and no arms….I don’t like that it doesn’t have arms for some reason. I feel like it’d weird to touch. Its expressions weird me out…..it has weird toes. It’s getting worse the more I analyze it, to be honest.
And it always felt weird for this thing to emerge from a set of eggs, even if I can definitely see the resemblance.
Speaking of which….It’s weird when a Pokémon evolves from one into multiple, but what nightmare occurs when six Pokémon shift into three?
Sprite-wise, Exeggcutor follows up the horrifying sprites of its predecessor with some of its own in R/B/G.
Silver manages to look a little cute.
Crystal ruins it by looking creepy.
Emerald’s a kind of doofy cute.
FR/LG is drunk.
I do not care for the animations on B/W/B2/W2
Everything else is fine.
Alolan Exeggcutor
I remember when Alolan versions came out, and they released pictures of some of them. This is one where I immediately assumed either someone was trolling or really didn’t care.
“Hey, guys, we’re making Alolan versions of old Kanto Pokémon. Do you have any ideas for Exeggcutor?”
“Uhhhh err….uhm…it’s a palm tree, but it’s short….……….Make it……taller? No, that’s dumb.”
“Yeah, it is—”
“Make its NECK longer!….Like a giraffe! A giraffe palm tree! A girafalm tree!”
“Wha….what?”
“You’re right, that’s not enough……Oooh, give it a tail!…..With a new head on it!……With an expression like a derpy emoji!”
“What? Are you drunk?”
“Ooh! And have the new head not be visible in nearly any of the official art because of the angle!”
“Why bother with the new derpy faced head then—ya know what? I’ve got a deadline. You got it, man.”
This thing bounces between looking silly enough for me to give it a pass and looking dumb enough for me to shake my head in shame.
Also, this was the FIRST Alolan form they ever revealed……THIS is what they decided to lead off with…..Wow.
Dex Entries and Backstory: Exeggcutor is one of few Pokémon who can actually devolve. If one of its heads falls off, it can continue life as an Exeggcute. It’s very loud because the three heads are always thinking about whatever they like (?) Despite this, the three heads never fight, supposedly due to the telepathy they share. If the three heads want to go in different directions, it just doesn’t move at all. Due to having three heads, it seemingly has three times as much psychic power as one Pokémon.
Exeggcutor originates from the tropics. Their heads grew larger due to the strong sunlight. Cloudy days make them weak.
I really….really wish FireRed had rephrased this. “It is called “The Walking Tropical Rainforest.” Each of the nuts has a face and a will of its own.”
Scarlet basically copy/pasted that exact same entry. Come on, guys.
Alolan Exeggcutor is praised for its appearance in Alola with residents saying this is how Exeggcutor is supposed to look. Okay, now I’m getting the vibe that this version is the result of some vendetta someone had about original Exeggcutor. “It’s stocky and short! PALM TREES ARE TALL AND THIN! Someday I’ll fix this grievous error!”
Here’s a weird thing. As it grew taller, its reliance on its psychic powers waned, and it….discovered the powers of a dragon. Okay, now I’m getting seven-year-old fanfiction vibes. “And it also has DRAGON POWERS! FOOOSSSSHHH!”
And, yeah, Alolan Exeggcutor is Grass/Dragon instead of Grass/Psychic. I’ll explain that in a bit.
Alolan Exeggcutor will whip its head at enemies, making itself dizzy.
Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee says the strong sunlight of the region caused this change….but….regular Exeggcutor was also from the tropics so….what?
The tail head has a purpose – scanning the area with weak telepathy.
Origin-wise, we have interesting things to discuss. Obviously, Exeggcutor is based on palm trees, but it’s also based on the legend of Jinmenju, a spirit tree with fruit that looks like human heads…..
It could also be based on a yucca plant due to its blade-like leaves and bulky trunk.
The three heads with differing expressions, similar to Dodrio, may be based on Buddhist Asuras, which were commonly depicted as having three heads representing various emotions and traits.
Alolan Exeggcutor is based off of *drum roll* A Christmas tree!
Hahaha, just pullin’ yer leg. Ahah….ahh. It’s a frickin’ palm tree.
BUT it’s new Dragon typing may be based on the Dracaena genus of plants, which did get its name from dragons, specifically the word “drakaina” meaning “female dragon.”
You may be wondering if palm trees are classified as Dracaena plants.
They are not.
However, to be fair, several plants classified as Dracaena, like the Dracaena tamaranae, look extremely similar, so I’ll give them a pass.
The Wiki also says it might be related to the Coca, a dragon in the folklore of the Iberian Peninsula who shares its name origin with that of the coconut…..Really feel like you’re stretching pretty far for that…..but then again, I guess it’s no surprise to see unnecessary stretching on Alolan Exeggcutor.
We’re still not done, though, because the Wiki also says it could be based on the Mo’o, a shapeshifting Hawaiian dragon of legend. I don’t see how they reached that conclusion. I feel like, at this point, if you have a dragon from a tropical area it must have influenced Alolan Exeggcutor. The Wiki page for the Mo’o even points out that an entire Pokémon evolutionary line, as well as Salandit and Salazzle, were influenced by the Mo’o with no mentions of Alolan Exeggcutor.
And, finally, its much larger size as opposed to normal Exeggcutor may be based on island gigantism, the phenomenon in which animals experience an increase in size in comparison to their mainland counterparts due to factors such as lack of larger predators and lack of diversity in herbivore (and carnivore/omnivore) competition. Island gigantism has also been found in plants. Some grow to much larger sizes than they otherwise would due to lack of larger herbivores, the need to compete for sunlight (ironically), and the lack of cold weather.
—————————–
And that was the Egg line…..it’s fine. It exists.
The inspiration behind these Pokémon is a million times more interesting than the Pokémon themselves, so at least they have that going for them. But, either way, they’re just fine. They’re kinda sloppy, but they’re also a little fascinating in their sloppiness.
I’ve never kept either of these Pokémon on my team in the games, and I don’t see that changing. But they’re fine……creepy as hell in Gen I, though. Eugh.
Next time, the Bone line…..No, no, no, that sounds bad. The Lonely line? No, that sounds sad. The Bone KEEPER line then? Yeah, let’s go with that.
Plot: Lost in the blazing hot desert, the Chosen Children find
a strange cruise ship. Unable to resist the allure of a clean place
to rest and eat, the kids happily hop on board. However, the ship’s
captain is Cockatrimon – a Digimon that can petrify Digimon into
stone. He’s working for Etemon, and he won’t let the kids leave
alive.
—————————————–
Title Change:
“The Illusionary Ship’s Captain, Cockatrimon” is changed to
“The Crest of Sincerity”
Title Card:
There’s no
dialogue before we see the kids in the original. In the dub, for some
reason and annoyingly, Tai decides to give a mini-recap after the
recap to say he made a “slight mistake” in pushing Agumon to
Digivolve to Ultimate, but who hasn’t made a mistake? He had no
choice, and now Agumon’s back to Koromon. I say “Annoyingly”
because, geez, way to downplay what happened, Tai. This mistake will
haunt him for years to come, but he acts as if it was barely a
boo-boo that anyone else would have done.
Also, I don’t tend
to mention music changes, but the music at the start of this episode
is so cool and adds a great deal to the atmosphere. It’s just
typical background music in the dub.
Piyomon asks Sora if
she’s okay. Sora says she is. In the dub, Biyomon asks Sora if she
can carry her, and the awkward lip flaps make her say “Not….even”
with the “even” cut off. Good job, guys.
Tentomon tells
Koushiro to not get discouraged, and Koushiro tiredly agrees. In the
dub, Tentomon says a crew cut would look nice on Izzy, and it’s
cooler. Izzy doesn’t have a response beyond sighing.
Gabumon only says
“Yamato…” before Yamato interjects and tells him to worry about
himself first due to his fur making him so hot. Gabumon says he’ll
be fine. In the dub, Gabumon asks if he looks
fat…………..Uh….huh…Matt’s response is pretty much the
same, but he adds on that Gabumon’s fur coat needs a zipper, which
is a weird comment given that Gabumon’s fur just sits on his head
and hangs down while he puts his paws in the arm parts. It’s very
easy to remove. Gabumon responds that he thinks it should at least
have removable shirt sleeves. Gabumon, we’ve already seen you take
off your fur. You were off-screen, but you can do it.
Tokomon says
“Takeru, Fight-o!” and Takeru responds wearily “Fight-o.” In
the dub, he says he has a great view from where he is (on top of TK’s
head.) and TK says he’s riding next time.
Mimi originally
tells Taichi that no matter how regretful he feels, there’s nothing
he can do about it now. Taichi says her name, and Mimi says the
important thing to do now is keep his spirits up for Koromon’s sake
as well. Taichi nods in agreement.
In the dub, Mimi
tells Tai to not be so hard on himself, even though he did make a
“super icky mess of things.” Tai’s response is to thank her,
but I think, given the context, it’s meant to be sarcastic. Mimi
then says she’s glad to help with a pep talk now and then, and Tai
awkwardly responds with a hesitant “Uh huh” while nodding and not
opening his mouth, indicating he appreciates her trying but,
obviously, it was still an insult and not really helpful of her to
say that.
Mimi says it’s
very hot out. In the dub, she says she hasn’t sweated this much
since cheerleader try outs.
This next part is
confusing, but maybe that’s just the heat affecting Palmon. Palmon
says she wishes she could be a huge Togemon to give everyone shade
from the heat. However, when we shift to her daydream of such a
thing, we see Palmon in the shade Togemon’s making….which should
be impossible if SHE’S the Togemon. Also, I appreciate the
sentiment of her wanting to make shade for everyone, but if she was
Togemon providing shade for everyone it wouldn’t help keep HER
cool.
Dub!Palmon is….a
little less but also similarly confusing. She says they need a big
umbrella or a tree to get shade. As the daydream starts, she says she
could also “fall into” a big cactus and provide shade to
everyone, completely forgetting that her name is Togemon in that form
and also making me wonder what the heck she meant by “fall into a
big cactus” while also speaking as if she was the big cactus. I
listened to this line several times, and if she’s saying “turn
into” she really didn’t enunciate that very well because I just
keep hearing “fall” and those two words don’t sound alike at
all.
Also, Matt points
out that Palmon’s brain is fried after she says this, even though,
ya know, outside of how she worded it, there’s nothing crazy about
her Digivolving to provide shade for everyone, again, outside of the
logic issue of it not providing shade for herself.
Palmon is not under
the delusion that she somehow summoned this giant cactus like
dub!Palmon is.
Gennai asks the kids
to give him a minute so he can explain why Agumon turned back into
Koromon. In the dub, he says to trust him because he’s the floating
glowing guy.
Gennai never says
anything specific about raising the Digimon properly. In the dub, he
says patience is key.
Also, the very last
thing Gennai says in the dub before he vanishes is that he’s on a
tight schedule. This is another “Dialogue where there was none
originally” moment, but this insert implies Gennai is leaving on
purpose. The original implies he’s just losing whatever signal is
allowing him to communicate with them now.
When the kids see
the ship, Joe yells “Why is there a cruise ship sailing in the
middle of the desert!?” Dub!Joe says “The passengers are going to
want their money back after seeing this place!” This is just one of
those line changes I don’t understand. Of all the characters to
crack a joke when their lives are in danger, Joe is not one of them.
Ew…Mimi
don’t…ugh…don’t flirt with the Numemon. I know you’re just
manipulating it, but still…..these creatures are horny for a 10
year old kid….
The dub has Joe ask
“Is it safe!?” as the ramp comes down, even though Joe’s mouth
is very wide open and not moving at all.
Original!Mimi
clamors that this is like a first-class hotel. In the dub, she whines
about there being no linen tablecloths, but she says they can “rough
it.”
They remove the
mention of hoping there’s a fountain and replace it with clamoring
over there being little soap bars.
Koushiro says they
should wait for the others before they start eating. Yamato says it
looks so good, though. Tentomon’s stomach grumbles and he says he’s
so hungry he might die. Gabumon agrees. In the dub, Izzy reminds Matt
that the last time they found a bunch of prepared food – it was
fake. Matt asks kinda sarcastically maybe if Izzy is suggesting
another alien plot…..uhh no. He’s suggesting it could be another
trap by the enemy, you dingleberry. Tentomon says it doesn’t smell
fake to him, and Gabumon burps, for some reason, even though he
clearly hasn’t eaten anything yet.
I get why they
removed Tentomon’s tummy rumble, because they changed his line, but
I don’t know why they then remove Koushiro’s stomach growl,
especially since the indication that he’s hungry is still there and
they even zoom out from his stomach. So…they add a burp even though
Gabumon didn’t eat and remove stomach growls even though they’re
clearly hungry? What?
I…honestly don’t
understand why Cockatrimon disguised itself as a ship captain. They
never show the kids interacting with this captain, and, if they did,
surely they’d question why another human being is in this
world……How did Cockatrimon even scrunch its massive bird form
into that disguise? How did it have usable fingers? I am so confused.
Cockatrimon’s
index screen and narration explain that it’s lost the ability to
fly due to the deterioration of its feathers. In the dub, Cockatrimon
narrates its own index screen, and it just boasts.
Looking back, it’s
kinda hilarious how in a fully digital world, Etemon needs his
various traps to be connected via a hardwiring system. He has this
cruise ship tethered to his tour bus thing, and that is just
hilarious to think about.
And even with it
hardwired, they still can’t get it to work. See why it’s hard for
me to take Etemon seriously most of the time?
Etemon originally
calls himself the king of Digimon. In the dub, he doesn’t, which is
so odd given that they made him look and act like Elvis in the dub.
Cockatrimon
originally offers to give the Numemon who capture the kids a raise if
they succeed. In the dub, he offers them an extra helping of dry
bread and even some jelly.
Koromon originally
yells out “Taichi!” In the dub, he yells “Digivolve!”
After the commercial
break in the dub, they repeat the shots of the petrified Agumon and
Gomamon and reverse the pan in as well as repeat the shot of
Cockatrimon holding the Crests and Tai and Joe reacting.
The dub adds Mimi
talking in the shower saying how she’d do anything for shampoo.
This makes no sense because the girls should be long since gone from
the shower when this shot happens.
Sora asks if
Cockatrimon is one of Etemon’s minions. Piyomon says she thinks so.
In the dub, Sora asks if this is the Easter chicken………………*sigh*
That was was….awful, Saban. That doesn’t even make much sense. Do
better. Biyomon says he’s bad news.
Insanely minor, but
Mimi says Cockatrimon has Taichi and Joe’s Crests. In the dub, she
says he has their Tags. Both are right, but why change that?
They remove
Cockatrimon saying he’ll use the petrified Digimon to boil his
soup.
After Piyomon
evolves, Cockatrimon says “She’s flying!” In the dub, he says
“That’s not fair!”
Dub!Sora: “What’s
wrong, ya big cluck?” Saban! Were you just trying to do a PG rated
‘fuck’? Don’t you lie to me.
Mimi says “Alright!”
In the dub, she says “Fried chicken!”
With the way they
were acting, they made it seem like the ship would explode if they
stayed on it or something, but nothing happened.
Taichi mentions that
this cactus isn’t a mirage because it has a shadow. In the dub,
Mimi hopes it’s not another mirage and Tai says “What were you
expecting? And outlet mall?” Uh…no, Tai. For once, Mimi’s
dialogue didn’t imply anything of the sort. She just said she hopes
the cactus isn’t a mirage. I don’t get that line change at all.
Also, they never
point out that this one isn’t a mirage because it has a shadow in
the dub. They just want to hide behind this possible mirage.
A bit silly for them
to want to hide behind the cactus, though. They had no idea it would
be strong enough to withstand a cruise ship crashing into it at full
speed. (And have the durability and flexibility to bounce the ship
back through the air.) That thing could have just as easily snapped
and fallen down on them, crushing them.
Mimi says it wasn’t
a mirage after all. Palmon says it was a real giant cactus. In the
dub, Mimi says it’s as big as a skyscraper. Palmon asks what a
skyscraper is.
Mimi sadly says she
didn’t want the Crest and worries that she won’t be able to raise
Palmon right. Palmon just sadly stammers Mimi’s name after that,
and the others are silent with sad looks on their faces because being
concerned about raising their Digimon right is something they all
expressed at the beginning. It’s a surprisingly somber ending to
this scene when getting a Crest is meant to be a good thing. But,
hey, Mimi is SINCERE, and for once it’s actually appreciated.
In the dub, Mimi
points out that it’s the Crest of Sincerity, even though she has no
way of knowing that. She says she feels she doesn’t deserve it, but
if it helps her raise Palmon right, she’ll keep it. Palmon says,
with a sad face, “Awwww….thanks, Mimi!” And then Mimi goes on a
tangent about how she’ll have to teach Palmon proper manners if
they’re going to do this. For instance, she slurps her soup. This
changes the meaning of everyone’s expressions at the end to be
exasperated with Mimi instead of silently mulling over their futures
and expectations of them.
I was perfectly okay
with this change until we got to the manners part. This was such a
nice and bittersweet scene that I feel needed to happen in the
original, and the dub ruins it in the very end.
The episode ends
with no narration – just a silent shift over to the sun setting
over the kids and the giant cactus. In the dub, they have Tai narrate
that Mimi may be a ditz, but she’s really sincere and a good
friend, which is why she ended up with the Crest of Sincerity. He
says it was a good call, and it’s “Totally cool!”
Dunno why that was
necessary, but I also don’t know why the kids stood there for
seemingly hours if they’re still right next to the giant cactus at
sundown.
————————————–
So….this episode
is half fine and half eh. I like how the kids are questioning if they
have what it takes to raise their Digimon properly. They love their
Digimon, but they don’t know what goes into raising them
“properly.” I’m surprised Gennai didn’t directly talk about
the Dark Evolution. You’d think that’d be important. But we’ll
have plenty of time go over that in more detail in the next episode.
The somber end with
Mimi getting her Crest was surprising and well-done. They easily
could have done the typical thing and been all like “Yay! Another
Crest!” but they went with a more sobering route, and I think that
was a very good direction to take that in.
The more eh parts
come in to the overall plot. They even bring it up in this episode,
but this is very reminiscent of Devimon’s mansion. It’s a
paradise that falls into their laps when they most need it. Delicious
food laid out in a feast, comfy beds, big showers, a pool and
whatnot. They are slightly suspicious of this place, and I don’t
blame them for going in because they were in the middle of the
desert, but it does feel just a little repetitive. And Joe being so
comfortable and trusting that he’s lazing out in the pool with
Taichi and Gomamon? Come on.
Cockatrimon is a
fine enemy, mostly just given his power, but he’s a bit doofy.
This is another
Crest-obtaining episode that doesn’t focus on the person getting
the Crest at all. Sure, Mimi helps defeat Cockatrimon, and
she…seduces the Numemon into letting them on the ship, but the
episode doesn’t focus on her. The best we get is the Crest being in
a giant cactus, like Togemon. And the Crest even comes out of a
flower on the top of the cactus like Lilymon will in her
Digivolution, but that’s about it.
It’s just weird.
Seems like a missed opportunity is all.
Comparison-wise,
it’s harmless. Jokes put in here and there where there weren’t
any originally, par for the course. Some line changes were very
confusing, but the main issue is the very end. It just tarnished a
sweet melancholy ending.
Next time, Agumon
is too scared to evolve (even though he did evolve in this episode.)
due to his trauma from turning into SkullGreymon. Taichi has the same
reservations. Both he and Taichi need to overcome their fears to
finally evolve Agumon into Greymon and help their friends.
Plot: A mysterious UFO starts kidnapping famous scientists across the globe. 009, 006, and Lil’ 007 investigate these strange “Space Demons” to prevent them from hurting anyone else.
Breakdown: Ahhhh, this one looked like some real tasty 60s cheese right from the preview. Even the title is dripping with cheese.
Today’s episode isn’t based on anything from the manga, so it’s FRESH cheese!
We start out on a cruise ship where people are foolishly playing open air tennis without any sort of fence. And that day the ocean gained about 30 pounds of rubber and felt pollution.
In the ship is a husband and wife from Africa. The husband, Dr. Barbon, is coming home from accepting a Nobel Prize for physiology. A bell boy comes in and gives a telegram for Dr. Barbon…to his wife….because, I dunno, the guy couldn’t accept a piece of paper himself? He’s actually closer to the door than his wife was.
As he opens the telegram, the chair he’s sitting on vanishes.
As he reads the telegram, Dr. Barbon’s face immediately falls. He doesn’t tell his wife what’s in the message, but he hands it to her for her and the audience to read and…..Uhm, it sure is something.
SPACE GHOST! HOW COULD YOU!?
Dr. Barbon thinks it’s probably a prank since they’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but his wife implores him to be cautious anyway. No time for that because a flying saucer shows up and attacks the ship. It uses some beam to create whirlpools then giant water spouts. The ship snaps in half, and the flying saucer uses a tractor beam to suck up the half of the ship that had Dr. Barbon in it.
On a German flight, the Space Demons interrupt the normal announcements to announce that they’ll be abducting the scientist, Dr. Johannes, next. I don’t know why they’re announcing to their victims that they’ll be attacking them soon. Seems kinda pointless.
The flight attendants try to calm everyone and alert the captains, but the captains are both unconscious. The UFO appears before them and uses the tractor beam to draw the plane inside of it.
At Gilmore’s lab, Joe tries to discuss the strange disappearances with Gilmore, but he isn’t paying it any mind, even upon hearing that the ship was a brand new nuclear powered vessel and the plane was new and powerful with a 100% safety rating.
Francoise bursts in explaining that Albert contacted them from Germany, and Pyunma contacted them from Africa. They both explain that there were very famous scientists on board those vessels, making Gilmore question these disappearances a little more seriously.
Chang and Lil’ 007 contact them through a video feed. Chang explains that a UFO is hovering over Tokyo Tower right now. They flip on the news just as an announcement is made to the people of Tokyo. The aliens announce themselves as the Space Demons, and they intend on taking the famous Japanese scientist, Dr. Tachibana. To show off their power, they use their tractor beam to break off the top of Tokyo Tower and fly it away with them.
That night, the military moves to protect Dr. Tachibana by surrounding his house with guards and patrolling the skies overhead with Air Force planes. Everyone in Tokyo is barred to their houses as they await the specified time that wasn’t actually specified when they stated they’d return for the professor.
The UFO arrives, and the military is powerless. Their missiles and guns do nothing, and their planes are easily blown up by the UFO’s weapons.
After that flashy display with planes being felled out of the sky like moths around a bug zapper, the ‘space demons’ drop down this comically long ladder and reveal that they look like this.
….Frog/gecko people.
Pbbbbbttttahahahaha!
Okay, okay, being fair, this is more entertaining and creative than the typical bulbous head with giant black eyes aliens, but still.
LOOK AT THIS GUY’S REACTION!
They open fire on the space demons, but their bullets have no effect. The space demons use ray guns on the officers that immediately not only kills/disables them but also sets them on fire.
The space demons make their way through the Tachibana’s residence and reach the lab, demanding Tachibana surrender. However, when he turns his back, he reveals he’s actually 009 in disguise……Shouldn’t uh….007 handle the disguise antics?
After the frame rate completely dies for some reason, 009 blasts his Super Gun at the space demons and downs some of them. I think they’re going for slow motion with this, but it just comes off like the animation is very unfinished.
Lil’ 007 finally comes out to join the fight……He was transformed to be a chair……………………I don’t like you, Lil’ 007.
But because the crew behind this show think Lil’ 007 will be an audience favorite, they also have him down a bunch of space demons. He latches onto one of their legs, he kicks Lil’ 007 off, he transforms into a ball, and it knocks a whole group of them down. These space demons weren’t bothered by guns a minute ago, but now a group of them is downed by a ball?
They even insert a shot of a bowling alley so…I guess the audience can understand what Lil’ 007 is talking about when he says “Strike!” as he does this?
They try to escape, but 006 blocks the door and blasts fire at them.
The space demons are now trapped, or so it seems. They activate their jet packs and burst through the ceiling to get away, but 009, thankfully, jumps on Lil’ 007’s face to grab one of their legs as they fly off.
Right before he reaches the UFO, he deactivates the jet pack, sending them falling. 009 saves himself by grabbing onto a tree, but the space demon crashes into the ground.
A tiny drone flies out of the UFO, shooting the ground around 009, 006, and Lil’ 007 with fire before returning to the UFO and flying away.
They lose track of Lil’ 007 in the flames, causing 006 to break down crying and nearly enter the inferno to find him, though 009 stops him. I don’t know why they keep acting like 006 would get hurt by fire.
Anyway, it was a death fakeout. Hah. Hah.
They drive Professor Tachibana to Gilmore’s lab. On the way, they wonder what the space demons are up to. Why are they after famous Earth scientists when they have technology that is so advanced that it surpasses what they have on Earth? And why are they warning people beforehand? Oh….so that is a plot point. Neat.
As they turn a corner, they see a whirlpool in the water. Out from the whirlpool emerges the UFO. They’ve been tailing their car this entire time. 009 can’t shake them, so they try to make a break for it on foot…..Wait, what? They’re on a narrow road on a cliffside. Where do they expect to escape to—oh whatever. They get beamed up by the UFO.
The cyborgs pretend to be unconscious as Tachibana is carried away. They aim to rush them as they leave through the door, but a trap door beneath their feet opens to dump them back onto the ground. Lil’ 007 transforms into a rope to stop their fall and give them a means of getting back into the UFO.
Back on the UFO, the leader of the space demons reveals his master plan. He’s going to use the scientists he’s collected to create the greatest empire the universe has ever known. That’s it for now, because 009 and the others arrive to kick space demon ass.
They free Tachibana, but the leader of the space demons starts to flee. 009 manages to wrestle with him long enough to rip his costume and reveal a suit underneath – he was really a human the entire time!
I say that sarcastically, but, honestly, with every other batshit crazy thing in this franchise, a bunch of space demons would be perfectly believable.
009 is unable to see the leader’s face before he escapes. The leader takes the little drone ship thing to flee, but 009 uses the tractor beam, which, I guess, is canonically called the “Super screw ray” (*snicker*) to bring him back.
The ship careens into the UFO, ripping the rest of the leader’s costume’s head off revealing it was Professor Johannes the entire time!
He’s dead, by the way.
They act like this is super sad, even having a moment of silence, covering his face with a cloth, and putting on sad choir music, but….like…why? The guy killed probably hundreds of people in an effort to take over the world for no other reason than he wanted to.
And, yeah, outside of a closing scene where Francoise and Joe wrap things up on an optimistic point by affirming that things like this are why they fight, that is all the explanation we get.
Why did Johannes want to rule the world? How did he hope to accomplish that by gathering a bunch of scientists? Where did he get this advanced technology in the UFO and the tractor beam and the completely bulletproof alien costumes and the ray guns? Why did they announce that they were going to kidnap these people before they did it? Why even bother with the space demon shtick? Why did they destroy Tokyo Tower?
No idea!
Bear in mind, he had that super powerful tractor beam and UFO before he even kidnapped the famous scientists, so I’m doubly confused. And I’m triply confused before the questions about kidnapping famous scientists even though they have such advanced technology and why they were announcing their kidnapping plans before they did it were brought up IN the episode, and they still didn’t answer those questions…
Ahhh….Admittedly, a pretty entertaining episode, but its ending is so insanely confusing. I’m kinda at a loss.
Honestly, the twist of the leader being Professor Johannes was a little clever given that he was smiling in his only shots on the plane, and he’s the only one who could have knocked out the pilots. With the smiling thing I just thought it was a typical oddity of the old animation. Sometimes, there are weird shots and confusing expressions in super old cartoons and anime. But I honestly didn’t even think of the pilots being knocked out.
Next epi—NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!
NO!
Not the Kubikuro story again! I don’t want to rip my heart in twain once more.
Forgive me as I will probably speed through this next episode. Damn.
Card of the Day: Erase – Has the power to literally erase things from existence.
Plot: Sakura’s class is enjoying some fun times at the beach for outdoor classes. However, there’s a strange energy being emitted from a nearby cave, and that cave happens to be where the class is planning on holding their test of courage. Is this energy really from a ghost or a Clow card?
—————————–
Title Change: “Sakura’s Scary Test of Courage” is changed to “The Cave”.
Touya points out that Sakura’s taking part in outdoor classes right now, so she’s not home to make the sound they just heard. Yukito wonders if something just fell off of her desk. While the scene is kept until this point, the dub only has them wondering if they heard something and assuming they were just studying too hard.
The original continues after this point with Yukito looking out the window and pointing out that Sakura should be at the beach right now. This portion of the scene is removed.
Originally, Tomoyo was commenting on how excited Sakura was for these outdoor classes, as was Chiharu. In the dub, Madison is talking about how mad their teacher would be if he saw her swimming out that far. Chiharu says Sakura can probably swim better than he can.
A small portion of the scene is removed because of this lost joke. Sakura comes running on the beach yelling ‘The beach!’ over and over again, which is what Chiharu said she was saying before. The girls all laughed because she did it again, much to Sakura’s confusion when she arrives. Wouldn’t have needed to cut this if they just left dialogue alone….
After that, we see a shot of the volleyball flying through the air and the girls all hitting it back and forth. This is removed, though most of the repeat animation (that was in the original too) is kept after the shot of the boys making the sandcastle, with the only differences being the shot of the beach ball and the shot of Sakura actually hitting the beach ball instead of missing.
After the other girl points out that Yamazaki is lying about the beach ball story, there’s a long pause before he starts bouncing the ball on this forehead. This is cut from the dub, though I’m not sure whether it affects the joke all that much.
After Yamazaki bounces the ball on his forehead, he spins a bunch of beach balls on his fingers and toes and does other tricks. Then the next shot is of the girls having buried him in the sand up to his neck and one of them lobbing the beach ball at his head. This is all removed. Also, a swipe transition is added to move to the next scene.
Because of this removal, they add a repeat shot of Lee swimming before the girls comment on how well he can swim.
They cut the shot of the girls before Tomoyo puts her hand to her face. Tomoyo says Syaoran’s been steadily swimming all day, which makes Sakura’s expression more surprised. Also, in the original, Tomoyo says he might be training for long-distance swimming. In the dub, she says he might be training to challenge Sakura to a race.
Yamazaki originally doesn’t get to share the ‘fact’ about swimming he wanted to share before Chiharu shooed him away. In the dub, Zachery claims Eskimos invented swimming.
As he’s being dragged to the meeting point, Yamazaki says something about samurai in the edo period. In the dub, he continues going on about how Eskimos invented swimming.
Originally, Chiharu and Yamazaki had just known each other since kindergarten. In the dub, they make them cousins. Hm. Boy. Sure would be awkward if they eventually became love interests in the original version.
Welp……*lip smack* This throws a wrench into things, eh?
I absolutely love that the justification for this change is supposedly so they could mask all of the “random acts of throttling” as being “mere sibling rivalry.” Not only is that a terrible ‘justification’ because, yeah, assaulting your cousin is way better than assaulting a friend/someone you have a crush on but….you can’t really have sibling rivalry among COUSINS. Especially considering that the main cause of sibling rivalry is usually to gain the attention of the parents.
By the way, curiosity got the better of me, and I had to see how Nelvana handled that reveal in episode 46. The short answer is, they didn’t. There are two scenes missing from that part of the story, as far as I looked. The first was Chiharu forgetting Yamazaki and vice versa because they can’t be cousins in love. The second was Rika forgetting Mr. Terada for obvious reasons, though it’s unclear if he forgot her.
It’s become clear to me that nearly all of the either suggested or canon relationships and crushes in this show are just flatout removed from the dub. Touya and Yukito, Syaoran’s ‘crush’ on Yukito, Tomoyo’s crush on Sakura, Sonomi’s crush on Nadeshiko, Rika and Mr. Terada, and while Sakura’s crush on Yukito is still kept it is toned WAY down in the dub to the point where it’s almost not even there – so far the only one that is staying canon is Syaoran and Sakura, and that’s purely because they’re straight and of the same age.
Tomoyo says it’s nice when people are as close as Chiharu and Yamazaki. In the dub, she says she likes some of Zachary’s stories.
They remove Tomoyo saying she should have brought her camcorder (to record Sakura pulling the fishing net) and Sakura reacting.
They cut out about half of the pulling shots and the net starting to emerge from the water.
Sakura’s dot eyes and short flashback to the cave are removed.
They remove Sakura screaming, a closeup of her teacher as he asks what’s wrong, and one of the two shots of Sakura turning around to look at him.
They remove Sakura screaming and crouching down in fear.
They remove a short sequence where Sakura breathes a sigh of relief and says Syaoran surprised her, and he retorts that she surprised him.
Syaoran keeps explaining that he senses something strange is in the cave, not that he sees something. Likewise, Lee is being way more of a dick about this than Syaoran is.
They remove Sakura screaming again and replace it with another shot of the cave…..I am so baffled as to why they’re specifically removing her screams. It’s still obvious that she’s scared either way.
I think this is the first time the dub has ever established exactly where they live – Reedington. Get it? Because Clow Reed? In the original, they live in Tomoeda.
In the original, Sakura asks Syaoran about his travels to Japan from Hong Kong. She asks if his family came with him and he says no. He only came with Wei, who has cared for him since he was little. This part of the conversation is, more or less, kept the same in the dub. I just wanted to point out this piece of dialogue.
Sakura: “So where do you live?”
Lee: “With Wei.” That definitely answers that question, Lee. Good job.
The dub goes on further with the information. Sakura asks who Wei is and he responds that he’s one of his mother’s cousins who has become his legal guardian. She then asks if Wei knows about him being a Cardcaptor, and he responds that Clow Reed, the creator of the cards, was their ancestor, and the cards are extremely important to their family.
They change a rather nice moment in the original (big surprise.) Immediately after the previous sequence, Sakura says she’s sure Wei is a good person. Syaoran asks how she can know that, and she responds saying it’s because Syaoran looks so happy talking about him. Syaoran abruptly leaves, claiming he’s going back to bed.
In the dub, Sakura says the cards are important to her too. Lee responds by telling her he doesn’t need her help collecting the cards, and she responds by saying she doesn’t need his help either. He then gets up and leaves without a word.
Thanks, Nelvana.
Continuing in that tone, coincidentally, in the original, Tomoyo tells Sakura that she could have woken her up if she was having trouble sleeping. Sakura says she talked with Syaoran down at the beach and he walked her back to the bungalow. In the dub, Madison asks Sakura what she plans on bringing as a gift to the cave (There’s no real gift in the original version. You’re just supposed to bring candles.) Sakura responds by asking if they can leave Lee there.
They add a swipe transition between that scene and the scene of the two of them in the grass, for some reason.
They remove shots of Sakura sleeping and Tomoyo watching her sleep.
So, in the original, this actually is, as the title suggests, a test of courage that the kids are partaking in. They have to traverse the cave to a certain point and leave the candle behind on a shrine. In the dub, this is something related to their history class, and they’re only meant to use the candles to get a more authentic experience instead of using flashlights. I don’t know how educational this is really meant to be considering she won’t refer to the ancient people by anything other than ‘the ancient people’ and there’s no history of the cave being given or anything.
Hahaha! I have no idea if this was intentional – knowing Nelvana, probably not – but the students could not sound less interested when they go ‘Whoo!’ when the teacher finishes telling them that they’re going to carry candles. It makes sense that the original kids are excited because it’s a test of courage, but why are they even trying to cheer for ‘Let’s walk through a random cave with candles to learn absolutely nothing.’?
She tells them that there’s a shrine at the end of the cave where they can leave a trinket like a stone or a shell and make a wish…So…there ya go. Lesson learned.
I can imagine that maybe their justification for removing the test of courage aspect was because Nelvana didn’t want kids to run off alone into dark caves at night to emulate Sakura and her friends, so I kinda get this change. They could have put in more effort to make the change less bland, though.
Sakura is just trying to slowly breathe (silently) when the scene first cuts to her. In the dub, she’s closing her eyes because she senses something.
Name Change: Naoko is changed to Nicki.
They remove Sakura grabbing Tomoyo’s hand to make their team and replace it with another shot of the teacher talking.
Apparently, they’re still doing their damnedest to remove the fact that Sakura’s very scared about this. She starts trembling and freaking out before they’re called to go in. Tomoyo tells her that, if anything happens, it’ll probably just be the teachers trying to spook them. In the dub, Sakura is anxious because she forgot her gift, and Madison tells her not to worry because she brought extra stuff that she can use.
Immediately after that, Naoko comes up with a dreamy look saying she hopes they’re doing scary things in there. Sakura’s face turns pale, she gets those dot eyes again, and Yamazaki and Syaoran wonder if she’s okay since she’s so scared. This is all removed either for the dot eyes or for more Sakura being scared, I guess.
They remove Sakura freaking out and shaking Tomoyo’s arm when she realizes they’re next.
Yamazaki says he hopes Sakura will be alright. In the dub, he asks Lee nervously if he thinks there really are ghosts in the cave.
They completely remove an entire sequence where Mr. Terada pops up in a ghost costume and tries to frighten the girls. Sakura is obviously scared to death and screams, but Tomoyo calls him out quickly. Mr. Terada takes off his costume, exchanges a few words with the girls and then leaves. I guess they removed this because there’s not educational point to trying to scare the kids?
In the original, there’s no dialogue when they continue walking after that. In the dub, Sakura tells Madison that she doesn’t hear anything, and Madison says she’s right….Well…yeah. The teacher told all of you kids to be as quiet of possible while going through the cave. What did you expect?
They remove a closeup shot of Sakura starting to cry when they deduce that something odd is happening since they’re not seeing anyone coming back or any candle lights behind them. They also remove her panicking right before they hear Chiharu yelling for Naoko.
They remove Sakura wiping the tears from her eyes, so the sudden transition to her sensing the energy is fairly awkward.
Sakura asks if they can use Fly to get across, but Syaoran says it’s best to approach as quietly as possible. In the dub, Sakura asks if the board is always right, and Lee basically rolls his eyes, knowing she’s still scared of the ghost, and tells her to use a Clow card.
Syaoran originally tells Sakura that they need to find the main body of the card in order to figure out what they’re really facing – and they can’t use his compass to find it. In the dub, Lee manages to muster up an iota of kindness for about two seconds to tell Sakura she has some use, but that’s not all there is to being a Cardcaptor, and that still doesn’t mean she’s stronger than him. The reason this change bugs me even more is because Sakura is nodding along to everything Syaoran is saying in the original, and Nelvana doesn’t change that. So…Sakura’s basically nodding along to Lee insulting her in the dub.
Syaoran originally says “That went well.” when they land. In the dub, he says “It’s all yours.”….Uhm…What? You basically just got done treating Sakura like she was a second-class Cardcaptor, and you’ve been itching to capture every card you can. Why automatically let Sakura find and capture this one? It makes sense, behavior-wise, that Syaoran is basically letting Sakura take the lead here because he’s subtly trying to help her and is obviously easing up on her a little, but dub-wise, this makes no sense.
I love how both versions explicitly state that Syaoran’s compass can’t pinpoint where a card is, but the light from the compass hit the shrine dead center before, and when Sakura senses its location…it’s in the shrine.
Syaoran doesn’t know what card it is until he’s close enough to read the text on the card. In the dub, he somehow knows before he sees the card.
Syaoran KINDLY tells Sakura that the Erase card is hers. In the dub, he rudely says “I can catch my own cards. I don’t need YOU.”
Tomoyo doesn’t start whispering until the shot focuses on her. In the dub. Madison starts talking the instant she moves close to Sakura and puts her hand up. This causes a very, very, very awkward pause between when she finishes her question and Sakura answering. Granted, the original isn’t perfect either because, for no reason, there’s a pause between when Tomoyo holds her hand up and moves close to whisper to Sakura and her actually starting to talk.
Syaoran explains that Erase erased the kids’ memories of the event. In the dub, Lee says the kids are acting like they don’t remember because they can’t understand what happened, thus they don’t want to remember….Okie dokie.
A shot of their feet and a crab walking nearby is removed.
Sakura thanks Syaoran for helping her last night, and this time original Syaoran is back to his prick-ness by saying he still doesn’t approve of her yet. In the dub, though, it’s worse. Sakura tells him he’s not trying to compete with him or anything, and Lee says that’s good because there’s nothing she could ever beat him at.
In the original, Yamazaki claims beach volleyball was used in ancient Egypt. Whoever didn’t drop the ball once during the whole game would have their romantic wish granted. The dub keeps the ancient Egypt part but changes the wish thing to being a method of selecting the next in line for the throne.
I think one of the reasons for this change was a shot that happens while he’s saying it. Sakura and Syaoran both hear the romantic wish granting part (Syaoran’s ears adorably twitch at the words) and dream about Yukito. In the dub, they keep in Sakura and Lee reacting but remove the part with Yukito, of course. The implication is moreso that they both want to compete against each other, not that they both want to be with Yukito.
Leave it to Kero!/Kero’s Corner:
Hey….Guess what?
They completely removed the Leave it to Kero segment in the dub. Instead, they replaced it with a new segment where they preview Clow cards – this time showcasing the Move card, which isn’t even the card they’re going to debut next, which is the Glow card. Move won’t debut until episode 19.
Eventually, they do end the Leave it to Kero segments in the original too sometime in season one, but this one was just straight up removed and replaced.
————————————
This episode was alright. It was pretty obvious from the get-go that the energy signal was indeed a Clow card. Why Syaoran wasn’t able to sense it from the start, I don’t know. I appreciated the tiny bits of relationship development we had between Sakura and Syaoran…in the original anyway. In the dub, he’s obnoxious.
Erase is a great card to act as a ghost-like being, and this was a great opportunity to have Sakura brave her fears. It is slightly tarnished because she realized it was a Clow card and not a ghost so she didn’t really have much reason to be afraid, but the only way she was able to figure this out was by calming down enough to sense it, so it’s not all lost.
It wasn’t the most action-packed or emotional episode, but it was solid.
As for the dub – it’s just flatout awful. They removed a vast majority of the shots involving Sakura being very scared or screaming for seemingly no reason whatsoever, they removed the test of courage entirely, making her getting over her fear the tiniest of subplots, and they made Lee into a complete asshole. It’s a very unpleasant episode to watch as a result.
Next time, the debut of the Glow card, and everyone gets to enjoy the summer festival!
Reboots are always shaky business. It seems like so many of them are cash grabs or just half-hearted attempts to keep a franchise in the public eye. When Tokyo Mew Mew got a reboot in New, I was skeptical but hopeful. It looked good, but I had so many problems with both the manga and the original anime that my hopes weren’t too high.
Well, color me surprised when my tepid expectations were not only met – they were exceeded. But that doesn’t mean New is perfect either as an adaptation or as a show on its own. I have my own bones to pick with New, even if I have plenty of praises to sing.
Ichigo
May as well get the cat out of the bag first, Ichigo’s story in New starts with her lamenting that she’s not in love but desperately wants to be. As if on cue, she immediately hears the hubbub around a kendo match and sees the future love of her life, Aoyama. She’s immediately smitten, and, after learning a bit more about him through Moe and Miwa, asks him out on a date.
This was changed from the original anime and manga versions where Ichigo already seemingly knew Aoyama (and he knew her a bit) and had developed a crush on him before asking him out. To be honest, I had to check back to the manga to refresh my memory on their first few scenes together, and I completely forgot that the manga actually starts on their first date, so outside of some internal monologue and implications pointing to Ichigo having known and been crushing on Aoyama longer than what was shown in New, I don’t think I can complain too much about this change since we honestly don’t know.
The original anime is more what implied that they had known each other quite a bit longer and that Ichigo knew enough about him to invite him to a red data animal exhibit. In the manga, Ichigo actually seems kinda annoyed that he took her to a red data animal exhibit at first. Mint gave her the tickets to the exhibit and prompted Ichigo to invite Aoyama in New, so it’s moreso just a grand plan type deal. New also threw in that Moe and Miwa helped her basically stalk Aoyama to get more information on him, which is….creepy, but these are teenagers we’re talking about.
I guess no version is really better when it comes to that, when you think about it. The original anime definitely has the edge if you ask me. I much prefer her knowing and liking him from a distance longer and then having her offer the ticket since she knows Aoyama enough to know he’d like that than her having a crush for like….a day and then either he drags her some place she doesn’t like or she invites him just because someone suggested it. New’s probably the second best version, though, because she does show an interest in the exhibit beforehand.
I wouldn’t care nearly as much about this if their relationship and love wasn’t meant to be this epic romance that drives a good portion of her character and the story. It just makes it feel stronger and more believable if she knew him a while beforehand than if they simply met right at the start.
So what else is different between versions for everyone’s favorite strawberry cat?
Well, this is definitely the version where she gets the least amount of favoritism. She still obviously gets a good amount of it, but nowhere near as badly as the manga, where the other Mews were more or less props most of the time, and not as badly as the original anime.
I gotta give the original anime its dues for giving the other girls more focus, but Ichigo still got a massive dose of favoritism even there, relegating the girls to being background decoration. And while this was definitely a case of filler being beneficial to side characters a la Naruto, a good chunk of what they got in the original anime wasn’t really substantial so much as “thank god we’re finally getting a story not centered on Ichigo.”
Still, the attention between all the Mews was…..decently distributed in New as opposed to the manga, which is much appreciated. There are still caveats I’ll have to discuss later, but it’s still much, much better. Like in the manga, all the girls got their times to shine with the Mew Aqua Rod, and their moments with the rod are….usually expanded by interesting story elements being added and changing the color of the rod to match the Mew who is using it. Granted, like in the manga, the uses of the rod seemed increasingly like “Oh hey, it’s your turn with the rod now.” but while the story itself had less and less to do with the character who would be wielding it that day, the moment was typically quite memorable and cool.
They even made the dynamic between all the girls as a group much stronger. They have more meaningful and emotional conversations, and I really never felt like the other girls were just set dressing meant to bounce off of Ichigo whenever she has something new to say about Aoyama. They feel like true friends who support each other and brighten each other’s spirits. It was nice.
New also gives Ichigo more character traits that aren’t reliant entirely on either her relationship with Aoyama or her role as a Mew. The original manga ended with Ichigo fake marrying Aoyama to help her cope with the fact that he would be leaving overseas to study abroad for however long. We never learn of any goals she has or really much else about her general interests or likes besides sweets and Aoyama.
In New they have her struggle with her lack of any goal or direction in life, noting that everyone else is either making great strides in their development or they have dreams they’re working toward while she doesn’t. In the end, they definitively conclude her role as a Mew, send Aoyama overseas without a fake wedding, and now she’s dedicated to helping wildlife and being an ambassador between the humans and aliens, which is awesome and a pretty big deal. Still don’t know how the latter works, but cool.
And while that still has a tinge of being at least partially because of Aoyama given his own interest in the environment, Ichigo seems to have her own drive for this stuff that can just as easily be explained as a combination of her own opinions, her love of animals, Aoyama’s influence, and her experiences as a Mew shaping her. It’s a welcome change to her character, if you ask me.
The big moment in the manga that made me lose a lot of respect for her and actually was one Ichigo moment that made me angry – that of which being her attacking her friends to protect the newly Deep Blued Aoyama – was more or less fixed in New. I was annoyed that they kept it at all, but if it had to be kept for manga loyalty purposes, I’m content with how they tweaked it. They basically broke Ichigo emotionally for a while and had her saddled with immense guilt to the point where she couldn’t look her friends in the face anymore.
Granted, I did feel a bit annoyed at how easily the other girls forgave her, but then again it’s not really helpful to their situation at the moment to be mad at her or insist she feel like crap. They have a world to save. Mint did still slap the bejeebus out of her, and Ichigo did genuinely apologize, which is something we didn’t get in the manga, so I’ll take what I can get.
Her redesign for New is rather subtle. She has red hair instead of pink, but it’s not that different from how it’s shown in the manga. It’s definitely not the bright bubblegum pink that the original anime series gave her. I’ve seen some people complain about that, but I don’t mind……strawberries aren’t pink, is all I’m saying.
One could argue that her Mew hair color isn’t that different from her normal hair color, and….yeah. That’s pretty much the case for everyone in New, which is disappointing, especially given that the girls need as many differences as they can between their Mew forms and their normal forms to help keep their identities a secret….but….ya know, given that they rarely ever seem to care about their secret identities in any version, especially not this one, who cares?
Her dress is definitely puffier at the bottom, and I wonder if that was meant to make like a strawberry shape or something. They also add a big red bow to the choker, which is something they added to every new New…Mew….outfit. Does it work?….Eh. It’s fine, I guess.
Aoyama
A lot of what I have to say about Aoyama will be applied to the shipping section. Yes, I have an entire section just for shipping stuff. I wish you luck. So, what is there to say about Aoyama otherwise?
Aoyama is much less creepy than he is in the manga in regards to both environmental issues and Ichigo, as was his original anime counterpart, but he still has his moments. The collar scene being just the creepiest thing, especially for someone who only met her a day prior….Nothing in this franchise has beaten creepy manga!Aoyama’s moments, though. He was downright scary with how possessive he was of Ichigo sometimes.
……That’s about it.
Okay, obviously there is more, but there’s really not much else to say about Aoyama as a character. His two main character traits, which are being a vehement environmentalist and loving Ichigo, are still there, and that’s pretty much all there is to him. They didn’t really make Aoyama any more or less interesting than he was in either previous versions. I guess, in comparison with the original anime, he’s a little less of a perfect overachiever type, but that might actually work in his favor given how a gripe many people have about him is that he’s overly perfect.
One thing I did see a few times in regards to New!Aoyama was complaining that he was ‘whitewashed’, which…..what? Aoyama is not a person of color, as far as we know. He has a tan in the original anime, which I don’t quite know why he has because the only sport I remember him playing in the original anime is kendo, and that’s usually done indoors. I guess it could just be because he loves nature so he probably goes outside a lot.
The manga, as far as I remember, never indicated at all that he had a tan, and the few colorized official artworks of him show him having the same skin tone as Ichigo. He’s very pale in New, so I kinda understand why people at least took notice of this difference between the original anime and New, but…..it’s not a big deal to me. Especially when you consider Aoyama’s ‘true’ form is Deep Blue, and he’s pale as hell.
I saw someone say it’s disappointing given that he was a darker-skinned main love interest in an anime when that’s so rare, and I get that viewpoint, but since the original article was lighter skinned, and New is specifically aiming to be be more loyal to the manga anyway, plus I just don’t believe the New artists did this consciously to be offensive to any darker skinned people (And Shirogane keeps his tanner complexion for whatever reason even though one of the few colorized official artworks of him shows him with pale skin so *shrug*), I’m not that bothered by it.
For the record, two things – 1) I do think Aoyama’s original anime skin tone looked good and did add a bit to his character if it really was done to poke at how much he loves nature, and 2) I am a pale-ass white person, so I might have no say in this conversation in the first place.
Mint
Oh boy, we have a LOT to talk about when it comes to Mint. The New writers really seemed to love the hell out of Mint because they gave her so many changes, character development, times to shine, and even new attacks/powers. She almost got as much favoritism as Ichigo over the course of the series, and that’s pretty damn impressive.
Right off the bat, we have changes with Mint starting with the fact that she became a Mew and started working with Shirogane and Akasaka long before Ichigo did. She even helped arrange it so that Ichigo would be at the red data animal exhibit to get hit with the Mew beam, and she partakes in the first battle to help guide her.
How did she become a Mew first? Why did Shirogane and Akasaka seek her out before the beam was even shot, indicating that they made her a Mew some other way, possibly through injection?
I have no clue. They never tell us. The closest we ever get to any explanation is Mint explaining that she gained a newfound perspective when, for the first time in her life, people (Akasaka and Shirogane) came to her saying they needed her help and acting as if she was important, giving her life some aim and purpose.
So, while this was a neat change to her character, the fact that they never explain how it happened just seems confusing and like a missed opportunity.
Mint is also noticeably much more tolerable in this version than any other. While she does have numerous moments of being an oblivious rich snob, she’s not a rich bitch like she is in the manga and the original anime. She doesn’t butt heads nearly as much with Ichigo as she did in either previous version. I welcomed this change because I didn’t care much for Mint in the previous versions because of those character traits. Not saying she didn’t undergo character development to make her more likable through the previous series, but she was really grating a majority of the time.
Some might argue that this change defangs her and makes her more boring. I think they gave her more than enough to make up for that in New, though. She’s definitely not boring in the reboot.
While her worship of Zakuro is still present, it’s downplayed quite a bit and justified more by explaining that she admired Zakuro for how independent and mature she was when they’re basically the same age.
Mint was still understandably devastated when Zakuro turned them down and called her annoying, but instead of just stewing in her own sadness, she tried to understand why Zakuro would say such a thing. She understood that she was putting Zakuro on a pedestal without really knowing her as a person. She just made assumptions about her without respecting her desires and views.
It’s a much longer, more contemplative look at Mint’s reaction to this situation when it really wasn’t explored much in the manga or original anime. She was just sad until Ichigo convinced Zakuro to join them. The fact that this isn’t just internal monologue and she’s actually discussing her feelings with her friends makes it all the better because it strengthens her relationships with the other Mews at the same time.
Mint was also given the role of changing Zakuro’s mind about joining the Mews, which was insanely welcome given that it felt like Ichigo was taking her role there in both previous versions.
Throughout the tail end of the series, she and Zakuro are on much more level ground and highly respect each other as teammates and friends. Zakuro actually admires Mint for several of her traits, so that’s cool.
Mint’s not a ballerina in this version (Well, mostly. She does ballet once for Zakuro’s music video), which is disappointing but not a huge deal. It’s a bit of a big deal just because her whole Mew motif is modeled after ballet, but whatever. Instead, she’s now an aspiring businesswoman and…inventor, question mark? She ‘invents’ a supposedly revolutionary wind turbine generator in like 24 hours.
She wants desperately to prove herself as worthy of taking her rightful nepotism throne—Oops I mean her rightful spot in an executive position in her family’s company, but no one will really let her do much of anything. And by “anyone” I mean her brother, Seiji.
Yes, the once OG anime-exclusive and one-off character of Seiji is back in full force in New. Unlike in the original series where he largely neglected Mint, and his time spent in school and training to be an executive in their family’s company meant he couldn’t go to her ballet recitals much anymore, Seiji is almost a doting big brother in New. He’s overly protective of Mint and doesn’t respect her ability to do anything on her own, treating her like a kid.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s a jerk. He loves his little sister, he just has trouble acknowledging that she’s growing up and is capable of much more than he believes. He definitely added a bit more to Mint’s character and gave her a loved one outside of the Mewsphere to bounce off of. (Where her parents are, I have no idea. Her father’s mentioned and is seemingly doing stuff with the business, but he’s never shown, and her mother is never even mentioned.)
This all culminates in her actually revealing her Mew identity to Seiji as a means of showing him that she’s capable and should be allowed to go off into a dangerous situation alone. This was one of the most shocking scenes in the series to me, though part of that might be cheating because most of the big plot twists of the show I have prior knowledge of through the manga and original anime. Seriously, it was never a thing to reveal any of their identities to a loved one, especially not on purpose, unless you were Ichigo. And, to Seiji’s credit, he does come to respect Mint and encourages her both as a Mew and as a future businesswoman.
Mint’s frustration with not being allowed to do much on her own is particularly interesting given her status. As a spoiled rich person, she honestly doesn’t have to put in much effort, and her family certainly seems to be setting it up so that she’d never have to work much. But she doesn’t want that. She wants to put in effort and has ideas to build upon, but no one will let her because they see her as a child. Any other kid in her situation would probably embrace a free ride through life with open arms, but Mint actually wants to make her own way…..to…a degree.
She still basically acts entitled to an executive position in a prestigious company above others who have way more hours and work put in above this teenager…
In the end, she proves herself, her invention seemingly gets tweaked enough to be successful, and she starts her own business away from the Aizawa group. Also, to avoid any harmful implications of this massive corporation that is the Aizawa group, New made them focus exclusively on eco-friendly devices that clean up pollution. Yay! Thanks, 1%! We’re okay with you now!
Mint can fly – seemingly canonically being the only one able to do so while in the original anime it was very vague if the others could fly as well – talk to birds, and she gets a totally new combo attack with Zakuro, which was awesome.
Mint’s Mew look is a good degree better than her previous ensembles. First, she got an entirely new hairstyle, which I find to be better than the fully up double-bun with two bundles of hair hanging down at the sides look, especially if they’re no longer going for a full ballet vibe. They FINALLY fixed her dress to not look like she’s wearing a towel, and she got cool little under-gloves and stockings that I think add a subtle little flair to her look.
Lettuce
Aw….my baby lettuce….Is baby lettuce a thing? Baby spinach is a thing—anyway, poor Lettuce.
I say that, but, honestly, she got more here than she ever got in either the manga or the original anime…..Marginally more.
The big thing Lettuce got in New was something that could be considered closure with Shirogane. A big part of Lettuce’s character in all versions of TMM is her crush on Shirogane. In the previous versions, he never seemingly returned or even knew of her feelings. In the original anime, it was brought up more often, and she even gave him a kiss of life, but still his feelings were never touched upon. Like in the manga, his romantic interest stayed firmly on Ichigo.
In New, Lettuce’s feelings are still largely one-sided, but we get an entire episode focusing on her feelings, building up to confessing to him, and him, sadly, turning her down. It’s possible Shirogane feels the same because his rejection was worded as if their only hurdle was the Mew project and he might have a different answer once their mission was over, but if he did he appeared to miss the boat because the grand finale has no implications between the two whatsoever, and, if anything, they teased that Lettuce and Pie might have feelings for each other now.
Inevitably, while I knew they wouldn’t bite the bullet and have them get together, even in the very end, I still felt a tiny bit annoyed that they tried to have their cake and eat it too.
In New, you could easily work this in both directions. Have him have a crush on Ichigo at first, not really noticing Lettuce, but as Lettuce gets more confident and they have more moments together, and as Ichigo becomes more dedicated to Aoyama, shift his love to Lettuce and have him get over Ichigo.
Honestly, no versions actually show him getting over Ichigo, which is strange. The manga kinda shows him sadly pouting behind Ichigo and Aoyama near the end, and I feel like that’s the end of it.
Even the story they use as a metaphor for Lettuce and Shirogane has the clear Shirogane stand-in returning the feelings of Lettuce’s mirror. A few times, Shirogane also showed specific concern for Lettuce, but that could be a shipping goggles issue. It could have worked if they just went a bit further with it, is all I’m saying, but they didn’t.
Despite that, the mere fact that New acknowledged this part of her character and bothered to not only give spotlight to it but also more or less resolve it was huge for me. I truly appreciate that they went that extra mile for her even if the outcome wasn’t what I would have wanted.
New also gave us the best version of Lettuce’s debut, changing the plotline from the manga about her abusing her powers to lash out in anger at her lack of friends to her powers inherently going bananas because of her internal struggles with making friends.
Lettuce’s struggle with making friends has never really been done well in any version, and New is no exception, sadly. I mean, yeah, of course, she has the other Mews as her friends, but she never seemed particularly close to any of them. You could say Ichigo and Mint are best friends, you could say Mint and Zakuro are best friends, you could say Pudding and Tart are best friends, you could say Shirogane and Akasaka are best friends, but Lettuce doesn’t really have a best friend.
Most of the time when she’s paired with another character it’s either Pudding or Shirogane – both of whom already having best friends. And it’s not like she’s particularly close to Pudding; it’s just that she winds up paired with her by default because Zakuro’s usually with Mint, and Ichigo’s usually on her own as leader because she’s the strongest for some reason. And while she might be fairly close to Shirogane….that’s just awkward for obvious reasons.
She retains the ability from the manga to turn into a mermaid without the assistance of Mew Aqua, and she got an added ability to make bubbles that she can place over people’s heads to help them breathe underwater….She, however, cannot breathe underwater, which is understandable because porpoises are mammals, but also isn’t understandable because they act as if she can’t use one of those head bubbles herself.
….But also, in one episode, they show no concern for her being underwater for an unreasonable amount of time, implying she can indeed breathe underwater….or ya know, her friends are cold-hearted. *shrug*
Mew Aqua also gives her more powerful control over water, creating massive and seemingly solid water spouts that she can completely control.
At the end of the series, she becomes a tour guide for the museum that was dedicated to sea artifacts left behind by the ancients, and they sloppily say she did this with some friends. Apparently, the ‘friends’ in question were the ones who were mistreating her in her debut as a show of character development, but I didn’t recognize them, and I did not care at all to learn that because they were non-characters.
Also, she’s now pen-pals with Pie and tells him how everything’s going back down on Earth. And I mean they’re literally pen-pals. Like physical letters she sends to his planet somehow.
The only other big thing they gave her was a unique connection to the ancients/the aliens. Not only does she get some sort of vision about the disasters that plagued the Earth that lead to them fleeing to another planet, but she also has a slight link to Deep Blue’s consciousness and was transported to some memory world where she helped an ancient relive a tragic lost romance to change the ending and give her peace.
I think it’s awesome that they gave her those moments, and it makes perfect sense for her to be the one getting those visions and connections because she’s the most empathetic of the Mews, but it really didn’t amount to much. I think that was a huge missed opportunity to have some true Lettuce/Pie relationship building if that’s really what they intended as her ending pairing.
I still have my gripes with how they handled Lettuce overall, but at least she is happy. At least they didn’t do her doubly dirty like in the original anime where they gave her a second plotline where she falls in love with another older guy who rejects her…..I just wish she could have had a romantic partner.
Like I said, she was the one person I was really rooting for to have a romantic partner at the end. I don’t need everyone paired up, especially if they didn’t show any interest in romance over the series, but Lettuce did, and Lettuce’s loneliness is part of her character, so I just feel bad that she didn’t get anyone canonically.
That aspect of her character especially sucks considering that she doesn’t even have any family around either. In the original anime, she had a brother and parents show up very briefly. They didn’t impact the story at all, but at least they showed that she had a loving family.
Lettuce’s New Mew outfit is quite a bit different from her manga counterpart. Instead of having one long ponytail contained in a wrap, she has her usual pigtails. Instead of the long braids she has regularly, they’re loose and curled at the bottoms. They also gave her a big bow at the top of her pigtails. I think her hair looks cool when transformed. I feel like it’s a bit redundant to have the big bow in her hair and the bow on her collar. In fact….why not just design the new outfits to all have bows but in different spots? ….Because they all do.
Ichigo has a bow on her tail. Lettuce has a bow in her hair. Zakuro has a bow in her hair, but up higher. Pudding has bows in her little pigtails. Then Mint can be the only one to have a bow on her choker.
All these outfits have too many bows because they all share ANOTHER bow. Their little leg garters are changed to be ribbons tied into bows…We get it, bows are girly. Tone it down.
They shifted her antennae….things to coming from the small of her back instead of her head….I think they looked better on her head. Coming from her back, they just look like extra ribbons. Those antennae were the only things she really had to indicate she was part animal when outside of her mermaid form…but I do admit that they didn’t really make sense because finless porpoises don’t have antennae on their heads, so….
Her dress was changed into, well, an actual dress. Her original design was more like a leotard or bathing suit with a bunch of fin-like pieces of fabric acting as a skirt. This made sense because she’s the aquatic mew, so having a dress that’s more hydrodynamic is beneficial to her work. In New, she gets a regular skirt, which I don’t 100% care for. I thought the leotard made more sense, even if the skirt is tight enough that it wouldn’t affect how she swims. It might still affect her leg movements, though. If anything, try making the little fin pieces longer to act as as covering if that’s necessary.
It doesn’t look bad. I just prefer the other design.
Her boots got a new detail in that the laces are drawn in a way that makes them look like scales, so that’s cool. Also, her transformation is just a blast. You have to wait a while to see it, but it’s awesome.
One final note – Lettuce seems to be one of the only Mews who retains having a slight change to her hair color when transformed. Her Mew form has noticeably brighter green hair.
Pudding
So, while Ichigo, Mint, and Lettuce got quite a few big changes and new stuff, Pudding didn’t really get anything new. If anything, she kinda got shafted in some respects.
Pudding was the only Mew who had to share her debut episode with another storyline – a date episode with Aoyama and Ichigo. This was pointed out to me as being the same as how the manga presented her debut, but I feel like they could have easily separated this date storyline to give Pudding her dues. New went out of their way to fix a lot of stuff from the manga. I don’t know why they’d feel chained to keeping these two storylines interwoven.
I randomly looked at the TV Tropes page for New and they noted that fans were appreciative of the fact that Pudding’s largely stereotypical Chinese traits were mostly removed from New, including her martial arts background and the pet monkey she has in the manga. I didn’t realize that people were so bothered by that aspect of her character, but I get it, and I totally see being appreciative of the removal of any offensive aspects.
Her martial arts background and lineage are replaced by her parents being circus performers. Pudding wants to follow in their footsteps and someday join the same troupe they were part of, which I think is much more fitting for how she generally acts.
Speaking of Pudding’s parents, that’s another thing they….kinda fixed. In the original manga, there’s not much explanation of her parents. Her mother isn’t mentioned at all, and her father is mentioned once. His absence is explained by saying he’s training in the mountains, like his original anime counterpart. Both versions made him come off really badly, but the anime was somehow even worse. In the original anime, they said he was the master of a dojo and trained young students in addition to his own training….so he takes care of other kids instead of his own.
In New, this is changed to him being away working, supposedly in the circus. This is slightly better because at least it includes the implication that he’s sending Pudding money, but it also still makes him look bad because they never explain why he has to be far away from his family to do his work. The circus troupe he supposedly works with has a show in Tokyo and he’s not there. They’re a huge name in the circus world, so I can’t imagine it’s because he got a better gig with another circus or something.
Pudding’s mother got the first instance of characterization outside of being a loving mother she’s ever had in that she was also a circus performer. In fact, that’s how she met her husband…..She’s still dead, though. Of what, they never say, but she has sadly passed away – likely from some illness given some flashbacks in a hospital. New gave Mrs. Fong a beautiful, if brief, tribute, though, and what more could I ask for?
Pudding’s grand finale ending is her still living her life with her siblings, though it seems now that Tart regularly visits and stays overnight, which is sweet….for the most part. Again, a tiny bit disappointed that they basically wrote out any romance between them, and it IS just another mouth for Pudding to feed. But maybe he helps out in other ways, I dunno. It was just sweet to see him visiting after saying he would. No other version gave us that.
I love them to death, but they’re still young, they’re still together, and if it bothers you that the romance was mostly removed, it’s easy to assume they’ll get together in the future.
Pudding maybe got a new power. Her Pudding Rings can make tunnels or portals through solid matter. It’s only ever used once, and I don’t know why she didn’t use it in that episode in which she was trapped under Tokio Dome, but it’s something.
Pudding’s outfit, if you ask me, was a downgrade. I love what they did with her hair – giving her tiny pigtails and little braids that are molded to look like monkey tails, but I don’t care for the rest of it. Her faux fur gloves? Gone in lieu of little cloth hand coverings. Her romper thing? Gone in lieu of a puffy dress that would certainly not be useful in all her physical shenanigans. Her cool stockings that were tied up in string? Gone in lieu of regular stockings with a string and shoes with a deeper heel.
Basically, anything fitting and circus-y about her clothes are completely abandoned for absolutely no reason. I mentioned in the review for the third episode that I liked some of these elements, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked them. Pudding original outfit was perfect. Just combine that with her new hairstyle and call it a day. This new Mew outfit just doesn’t work practically or visually.
……So, since I probably won’t really talk about this series again for a while, let me address one last thing about Pudding.
I know her name is Bu-ling or Purin not Pudding. Just like Minto and Retasu aren’t meant to be Mint and Lettuce. Look, in my defense, the way the show approaches these names is wacky.
I used to call Quiche, Tart, and Pie, Kisshu, Taruto, and Pai, because I thought that was more appropriate, but then I realized everyone calls them by their translated names, so, for these reviews, I switched to those.
But then the same thing happened with Pudding, Mint, and Lettuce only in reverse, and I didn’t realize it until much later. I assumed that they were meant to be called their translated names and that Ichigo and Zakuro were outliers, for whatever reason. But no – they’re all supposed to be the Japanese names, and only when they’re transformed are they meant to be called their translated English word names. You can tell because, when written, their normal form names are written in hiragana and their Mew names are written in katakana, from what I saw. Ichigo and Zakuro are still outliers, though, because no one calls them Mew Strawberry or Mew Pomegranate.
And now I’m reading that some people call Tart and Pie by those names, but Quiche should technically be “Kish” because his name is also a pun on “kiss” and he has a habit of forcing kisses on Ichigo, so apparently he’s the only alien whose name is written differently? Maybe? I’m going insane.
In summary, I’ve called them Pudding, Mint, and Lettuce since I first watched the show, and I would drive myself bonkers trying to flip-flop between the names when discussing them in each form, so I’m not going to switch it back. I’m honestly not all that sorry because I partially blame the original writers. Back to our regularly scheduled reviewing.
Zakuro
Out of all the Mews in New, Zakuro definitely got the most shafted. Granted, we never learned a lot about her in the manga either, but I feel like New didn’t put in much effort to make Zakuro anything more than a character who only exists for others’ sake.
She’s the team big sister. She’s Mint’s queen. She sings. What is there to say about her besides that? Nothing. She has a three-episode arc as her debut, and it might as well be a Mint arc because that’s who it focuses on for a majority of the run time. She has one episode that focuses on her life outside Mew stuff, and it was still more about an entirely different character than it was Zakuro.
The episode in question is about Zakuro trying to make a music video on her new song. We’re introduced to the New exclusive character of Rika, who is a classmate of Zakuro’s. Rika is a very talented young director who is praised for capturing the true faces behind famous personalities. However, she couldn’t capture Zakuro’s true face during their first project together, so she stormed off the set.
Zakuro, having scripted a music video herself, chose Rika as her director to give Rika what she wants. She brings the other Mews onboard the project, because, spoilers, her friends bring out her true face. Aw.
You’d think that would be interesting, right? Zakuro has a passion for writing music videos, and Rika seems to have the potential to be a close friend?…No. Zakuro may be passionate about her job, but she sucks at writing music videos. As far as I could tell, what she wrote was a disjointed mess. I don’t care if the specific shots highlighted positive attributes of the Mews and their effects on Zakuro – this music video is bad.
Rika is a fine enough addition, but I honestly forgot all about her when she reappeared in the series finale. And, again, it’s more like Zakuro was serving a purpose for another character instead of having this Zakuro episode be about Zakuro.
Zakuro is now almost exclusively a singer in this version. My gut instinct when I saw these singer tweaks to her character was that they were using her for soundtrack sales, and I was 100% on point. They were pushing not just Zakuro but all of the girls as a group as pop singers for the sake of selling soundtracks. I felt so weird when they had the girls putting on a concert and then the way they’re portrayed as putting on a show in the second ED.
I found out later that they literally made a pop group from the voice actresses of the Mews called Smewthie – a pun so groanworthy I think they consulted 4Kids. This group was created purely to push the show and sell soundtracks of songs from the show. As soon as the anime was done, they disbanded.
Although, I do admit, the logo for their group kicks ass.
Zakuro’s ending is the lamest. She’s just putting on a charity concert event with Rika without butting heads with her.
With regards to powers, Zakuro gets a super cool new transformation for her whip that makes it turn into a giant fish hook!….For….some…..reason….
And her time with the Mew Aqua Rod was the worst of the lot. It was in an episode that didn’t give her a storyline, she very randomly senses and pursues it, and Mint gets an equally good, if not better, hero moment by flying her up to use it and catching her as she falls after using it.
Speaking of worsts, Zakuro’s new Mew form is, by far, the worst of the New Mews. None of the changes they made to her Mew form are good. I had a lot of gripes with her outfit, but her hair is just egregious. Who decided to make her hair so insanely long? It covers the floor when she kneels. What does long hair have to do with being a wolf? Look at that shit. Even with her hair up in a ponytail, it still reaches down to her calves! I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t tell it’s in a ponytail because it’s so ungodly long. Then there’s more hair not wrapped up in the ponytail up front, some curling behind her head – it is simply too much hair.
In her regular human form, she has the same length of hair as her manga counterpart, so what gives? Who approved this?
Shirogane
Shirogane is basically the exact same as he is in the manga, story and personality-wise, so I don’t have many notes about him specifically. In fact, most of my new notes about him should just be relegated to the shipping page.
Akasaka
I guess if we’re going to celebrate manga loyalism, then YAY, THEY KEPT AKASAKA AS THE BORING NON-CHARACTER HE WAS! WHOO!
Seriously, poor guy. All he does for the Mew Project, Shirogane, and the cafe, and he barely gets a thank you thrown to him by Shirogane at the end. He gets no storylines, no family, no other friends, no development – he’s just the assistant and chef. At least in the original anime he got an episode and love interest to himself.
The Aliens
I’m melding them all into one section. This is already getting way longer than I intended, and most of what I have to say about Quiche will be relegated to the shipping section, so let’s just talk about the aliens in general.
Tart is basically the same in character and story.
Pie is basically the same barring the very ending where he’s so distraught over Deep Blue choosing to make peace with the humans that he decides to step up and stab him through the chest to use the Mew Aqua to put their plan into motion. That was a big moment and huge change between versions.
You could argue that his actions were….technically good because his use of the Mew Aqua reopened the portal between worlds, allowing Ichigo’s Mew Aqua Drops to reach the aliens’ planet and revitalize it. I can’t say it’s entirely a good thing because it was still attempted murder, and he didn’t know the Mew Aqua Drops thing would happen. He just wanted the humans to be annihilated by the aliens. But….*shrug* At least it was something shocking that did serve the plot.
The aliens or the ancients get a decent degree more exploration in New, including an entire episode centered on the tragic love story of two ancients, Madeline and Chiffon, who were torn apart by the Earth falling into ruin from natural disasters.
That being said, the aliens as villains are still kinda…eh. Their backstory has always been quite unique and intriguing. Having them be originally from Earth and returning after millions of years to reclaim it, targeting the humans for ruining it, is a great motivation for them. However, they’re still really confusing in their ultimate goals and kinda come off like hypocrites. The ending plan of New is the worst they’ve ever been in that regard.
In the manga and the original anime, they would do things that would be horribly damaging to the environment while also torturing random wildlife to turn into Chimera Animas. But in New they also added in that part of the plan after extinguishing humankind from the Earth to pierce the Earth in the center and meld all of the continents back to way they were when the ancients roamed the Earth, which is….not only completely unnecessary because it’s not like the humans moved the continents, but it’s also gotta be massively damaging to the environment to do that. God knows how much flora and fauna would suffer and die out from doing such a thing.
And then their backup plan or additional plan is to open a portal from the aliens’ new world to Earth to have them invade with spaceships and just blast everything and everyone in their line of sight….which is also terribly damaging to the environment given the scope of such an invasion and attack.
Otherwise, a good bulk of the time, the aliens just attack at complete random. Normal story doing normal story things, and then, BAM, alien attack out of nowhere. Every now and then, they have actual plans, but for the most part they just seem to pop up whenever for any reason, attack then leave. Granted, they’ve always kinda been that way, but for some reason it felt more obvious in New.
That being said, I did appreciate that New actually showed the aliens’ planet being rejuvenated and made so much more livable and comfortable instead of just ending with the assumption that they’ll be okay with the itty bitty bit of Mew Aqua they salvaged before they left. While they have been antagonists for a bulk of the series, they ultimately just wanted to live in a safe, clean, fertile land again, and it was nice to see them get it.
The Blue Knight
I really questioned giving BK a section because he’s never been much of a character so much as just Aoyama’s intense desire to protect Ichigo taking on a second persona and form. His appearances amount to little more than saving Ichigo and either declaring that he’ll protect her or insisting that she stop fighting.
However, they did add a little something to BK’s character that I think improved him a tad, so I’ll mention it here. In the manga, BK’s shift to Deep Blue was insanely random. It was completely out of the…..
*sigh*
blue.
In New, Quiche basically forces him into an identity crisis. Since his one directive, his sole reason for living, is to protect Ichigo, Quiche pointing out that she can take care of herself, and, even if she couldn’t, he failed to protect her anyway because she got hurt, forces him to spiral. To make matters worse, Ichigo continues to insist that she wants to fight alongside him, not wait behind him doing nothing as he rushes off to protect her.
His mind cannot process all of these things, and he has an internal conflict so bad that it shatters his Blue Knight persona and draws out Deep Blue.
I found this to be a nice little addition to his character.
Deep Blue
Throughout the original two incarnations of the series, Deep Blue stayed pretty consistent. He’s Aoyama’s true form, he’s the source of Aoyama’s deep hatred of humanity and love of environmentalism, he wants to kill all humans, and he’ll kill absolutely anyone in his way of that goal, friend or foe, even Ichigo of whom he doesn’t give a single damn.
In the manga, he died by Aoyama’s hand as a form of self-sacrifice to save the Earth/Ichigo. Like I said in my review of S2EP12, he’s basically just a foe to be vanquished. There isn’t much that is actually interesting about him besides the fact that he, for some reason, has Mew Aqua embedded in his body.
Deep Blue is such a confusing character, and that makes Aoyama a confusing character. Deep Blue has NO backstory in any version of the franchise, even New. He came to Earth, somehow, took the form of a little boy, somehow and for some reason, this wiped his memories of his life as an alien, for some reason, he didn’t tell anyone what he did, for some reason, left himself without any means of restoring his true form, for some reason, damning himself to living a human life among other humans while secretly hating all of them, and it was by sheer happenstance that he ever was able to get close to becoming Deep Blue. He also was able to, somehow, create an entirely different alien persona that would emerge on demand when Ichigo was in danger because his Aoyama persona had grown so protective of her.
Had Aoyama never met Ichigo, Deep Blue would never have appeared. Meeting her gave him faith in humanity and opened his heart up to love, creating a deep drive to protect her at all costs. Ichigo is always in harm’s way as a Mew Mew, so Aoyama subconsciously created the Blue Knight. If Ichigo was a normal girl, the Blue Knight would never have been created. The only reason the aliens knew Aoyama was Deep Blue was because of his powers and appearance as the Blue Knight, meaning if he never fell in love with Ichigo, or at least a Mew specifically, this entire plan would fall apart at the seams. Additionally, the only way they knew how to awaken Deep Blue was by pushing the Blue Knight to have an identity crisis. How would they have woken him up otherwise?
I just don’t understand what the plan was or even what the aliens were told. “Go to Earth, stir up shit with Chimera Animas and find Deep Blue – a person who wouldn’t need to be found had he not turned himself into a little boy – to save our planet.”….Why did they wait like, I dunno, eight or so years to go to Earth anyway? Remember, Deep Blue turned into a little boy and only when he was like 15 did the aliens finally show up and start their mission.
It’s just so baffling that a character who is not only the big bad of the series/franchise but also the ‘true’ or alternative form of our main character’s love interest gets zero backstory or explanation. And the more you think about him, the less sense he makes.
However, New did try to do something more with Deep Blue. Instead of making him a clear cut villain and instead of vanquishing him outright, they explore the concept of Deep Blue being a part of Aoyama. He’s the source of Aoyama’s hatred for humans. He’s always been in the back of his mind. He’s a part of Aoyama, and that can’t be ignored.
Before, it was treated as if Deep Blue was almost someone possessing him. Some unwelcome presence that Aoyama had to fight. But New acknowledges that Deep Blue IS Aoyama. He’s his original form. He’s in his heart and mind. And, as such, he also has feelings for Ichigo even if he doesn’t recognize it immediately. Aoyama has to pull him aside and point out that he’s been there through every date and special moment he’s had with Ichigo. His feelings are Deep Blue’s feelings. They both know what a wonderful person Ichigo is and the impact she’s had on his heart.
While Deep Blue keeps trying to fight off these feelings and memories, fighting Ichigo in the process, Ichigo continues to reach out and beg for peace. Eventually, her feelings and voice reach him and he agrees to a truce with the humans. This was a huge shift in his character. The previous incarnations of Deep Blue would be laughing at New!Deep Blue….or killing him. Whichever.
This shift wasn’t done in an unrealistic or overly corny way, either. It took a lot of convincing, a lot of struggle, and the reasoning for his change in attitude was understandable.
This was ultimately his downfall as Pie had to take over and stab him through the chest to get the job done, but everything ended up alright. In the end, Deep Blue seems to have vanished from Aoyama’s body, allowing him to be the sole personality, but Deep Blue acknowledges and expresses his gratitude for having known Ichigo as he fades away.
I think this take on Deep Blue was interesting. At the very least, it was more engaging and memorable than his previous incarnations. I can see how people might complain about this version, but I liked it. It gave him more…..depth………:D
Also, it allowed Aoyama to discuss his feelings for Ichigo in more detail instead of just saying he loves her and wants to protect her.
Ichigo’s Love Pentagon (AKA It’s Time to Talk Shipping)
Oh boy, I feel I’m entering a minefield right now.
Let’s talk in depth….about shipping in Tokyo Mew Mew.
From what I’ve absorbed from the fanbase over the years, here’s how the love pentagon of Ichigo’s love life is viewed.
First and foremost, despite Aoyama being the canon love interest of Ichigo for literally the entirety of the series, many, and I mean many, people consider him to be absolutely boring. Bland, blah, someone on Reddit described him as the human form of the color beige. Then you have the complaints about him being too perfect. He’s this star athlete and model student that all the girls fawn over.
Since Aoyama’s boring, they consider his relationship with Ichigo boring. Some also noted that he was very controlling in the manga. Back when the manga was released and when the original anime aired (In the west), their relationship’s support by the fans was largely eclipsed by fans of Ichigo and Quiche.
The appeal of Ichigo and Quiche’s relationship is that they have better chemistry, Quiche’s personality is more engaging, and people just have a thing for the enemies to lovers trope.
However…….*gestures to literally everything about their relationship otherwise*
Ichigo never once even hints that she returns his feelings. The only time she ever starts to even show sympathy for him is near the end where he breaks down over her inability to love him and then later when he gives his life to protect her from Deep Blue. Even in those instances, even crying for him, she never seemed like she once thought about him romantically even a little.
Quiche is noted as being more malicious and terrible in this version as opposed to the more playful and…’innocent’ version we’ve had in the past. And, I gotta say…..what?
He’s always been a creepy, rapey, controlling, violent person. This is not new…..badumtss. Maybe I can say he’s a little less playful compared to his original anime counterpart, but otherwise I didn’t notice much of a difference between him and his manga version. I feel like this is a case of rose-colored glasses.
There was one person on Reddit who said if you ‘actually’ read the manga and watch the original anime he undergoes like so much character development and it makes him a better match for Ichigo.
Yeah, honey, sure. As late as chapter 26 he’s strangling her because she refuses to be with him. In other late chapters, he kidnaps her, torments her by showing Tart attacking the other Mews claiming happily that they’ll be dead soon, still talks about how he loves seeing her cry and look terrified, and has a tantrum over the fact that she won’t do as he wants. He does almost all this stuff in the original anime near the end as well.
There was a review on MAL that said they hated New as opposed to the original manga and anime because it added in the scene with him strangling Ichigo and then later they acted as if nothing happened…….THAT ONLY HAPPENED IN NEW BECAUSE IT HAPPENED IN THE MANGA. And in the original anime, he had his sai across her throat, pinning her to the ground, and was about to stab her to death in a similar scene in episode 48. How is THAT better than strangling her?
He stalks her, he forces kisses on her, he pins her to the ground numerous times, constantly refers to her as his “toy”, demands that she become his under threat of death, and when she doesn’t return his feelings he lashes out and tries to murder her.
Just because Quiche may be in love with Ichigo and sacrifices himself to help her in the end does not mean he’s a healthy romantic choice for Ichigo or a good person. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone but Ichigo. You could argue he even cares less for his people than Ichigo. Your entire sense of morality can not hinge on a single person.
Aoyama’s technically in the same boat, secretly hating all of humanity for their crimes against nature with Ichigo being the lone outlier, but at least he’s not actively trying to kill other people, and he’d never hurt Ichigo……unless he’s Deep Blue, but that’s a complicated caveat.
I remember seeing an argument a long time ago where they were saying Quiche’s more aggressive actions toward Ichigo make sense because, as an alien, he probably doesn’t understand love and is just showing it the only way he knows how.
….Bullshit. There’s never any indication that the aliens or even Quiche specifically don’t understand love. And even if they didn’t, acting as if that’s a justification for the way he treated Ichigo is insane.
I’m not saying he didn’t undergo character development. After all, if he didn’t, he very likely would have just murdered Ichigo instead of stepping aside or continuing to fight for her even after she definitively rejected him, but he still hasn’t learned a whole lot given that he spends his dying moments staring at her boobs (snuggling her boobs in the manga) and then sneaking another kiss….and then when he’s revived and steps aside for good, he still steals another kiss.
I get it. He’s far more entertaining than Aoyama, but I never shipped them, and I still don’t. A lot more would have to change on both sides for them to be a viable couple to me, and, even in that scenario, it’s hard to ignore that the guy you’re rooting for to be with the main character is someone who spent every chapter or episode he was in trying to murder her, her friends, and all of humanity.
Lagging significantly further behind in popularity is Ichigo and Shirogane. Honestly, I get why these two lag behind so much. This relationship is just confusing. He obviously has feelings for her. She has confused feelings for him sometimes. But it never goes anywhere.
At least with Quiche and Ichigo I can say that it all culminates in his character development and his important role in sacrificing his life for her against Deep Blue, turning on his godlike leader for her.
What does all that flirting with Shirogane amount to? Nothing.
I guess I never addressed how aggressively flirtatious Shirogane is with Ichigo in the original manga, especially in the first couple volumes. He does things that are even further than manga!Aoyama in how creepy they are, like constantly getting into her personal space, grabbing her chin, lifting up her leg while climbing on top of her, and telling her to take off her clothes after basically kidnapping her after he also gets into her personal space and grabs her chin again.
This is….mmm….slightly better in New. He still does most of these things, but they change these moments ever so slightly so avoid him coming off as too creepy. For instance, instead of just suddenly bending Ichigo over a desk to grab her leg and show the Mew Mark on her thigh, he looks at her thigh first, Ichigo and Masha call him out for being a creep, and then he explains what he’s doing….as he bends her over a desk to lift her leg up to show her Mew Mark.
…..That’s pretty much my only example.
Yeah, while the tone of Shirogane’s creepier scenes is lighter in New, they’re more or less still all there.
Something else I really didn’t touch upon all that much in previous reviews of TMM is….it is very annoying for him to constantly make these advances on Ichigo. Not just because it’s love triangle crap, not just because it’s creepy, but also because, dude, she has a goddamn boyfriend. Sure, maybe they’re not, as the kids say, “going steady” officially until season two, but they’re still dating. Quiche doesn’t give a damn about Ichigo’s relationship with Aoyama because he’s an asshole. What’s Shirogane’s excuse?
And what makes this doubly annoying in New is that he somewhat kinda seems to maybe have feelings for Lettuce but won’t allow himself to be romantically involved with anyone until the Mew Project is over, but he’ll continuously make advances on Ichigo anyway. He never makes a serious play for her, but just the fact that he’s doing this stuff at all is frustrating. It makes him come off like a hypocrite. ‘Oh no, Lettuce, I can’t accept your feelings, but I will tease Ichigo with near-miss kisses whenever I please (actually kissing her as a cat, if that counts) and flirt with her constantly.’
And some places I’ve read act as if he doesn’t understand that what he’s doing is perverted or sexual harassment (This sounds familiar.), which….bullshit. He’s old enough to know better. Especially considering he never, and I mean never, does any of this type of stuff with any of the other girls. He specifically does this stuff with Ichigo only.
Shirogane and Ichigo do have strong chemistry, but as a character on his own he’s only marginally more interesting than Aoyama. At the very least I can say he fully respects her ability to take care of herself unlike Aoyama and he does have more to do over the course of the series than simply be a love interest for Ichigo.
I can at least say that, despite his creepy moments, I’d be more comfortable with her and Shirogane getting together than her and Quiche.
Honestly, why even keep Shirogane’s crush on Ichigo, though? It’s like the most pointless crush in the series because it serves no purpose besides blasting Ichigo with more favoritism. (You could say it served to make The Blue Knight’s identity more questionable in the manga and original anime, something even 4Kids picked up on, but who cares? And in New there’s absolutely no question as to his identity because Shirogane is in the same area with him several times early on.) Sure, she showed more attraction to him than she did Quiche at any point, but it’s such a boring love triangle because they prop up her and Aoyama so hard you know there’s no way in hell she’d ever go for him seriously.
What’s the purpose of a few moments like when they’re dancing and she notes that she’s having feelings during the dance? Or when she catches him with his shirt off and gawks at him? Love triangles, as much as I hate them either way, are only compelling if you really question which person the one in the middle will choose.
But that leaves us with the final point in this love triangle/the three points in this love pentagon – Aoyama. I think Aoyama and Ichigo have a bunch of really sweet moments in New. I’ve never been a huge shipper to them, to be honest. They were a sweet couple, fine, but this wasn’t one of those couples where I get super invested. Like if they didn’t end up together it wouldn’t negatively impact my opinion on the show.
Yeah, I do get where people are coming from in the realm of Aoyama being overly perfect, boring and creepy/controlling. But A) he’s less creepy and controlling in New than in the manga. There are definitely still splashes, but not anywhere near as bad as Quiche…..That collar scene is just so difficult to see as anything other than both controlling AND creepy. (I’ve seen numerous sources say it’s played for laughs in the manga. I didn’t get that at all, if that was the intent.) Even moreso in New because they literally just met like a week ago.
B) he gets a bit more exploration in regards to his backstory and feelings for Ichigo in New than he ever did before, so he’s not as boring.
And C) New doesn’t really focus too much on him being a perfect overachiever as the original anime sometimes did. (Honestly, I didn’t get that vibe too much from the manga, but the anime sometimes leaned into it.) In fact, you could say they focus on a flaw of his for a change – his lack of respect for Ichigo’s ability to protect herself.
In the end…..I have a confession…..I’ve never been a huge shipper of her with anyone. Love triangles already top my list of least favorite tropes in media anyway, but this one didn’t spark much in me.
I’d say, gun to my head, my shipping preferences for her would be Aoyama and then Shirogane and way in the back row is Quiche. Aoyama is the healthiest option, and it’s the one in which she shows the most reciprocation. Shirogane’s a little worse, but that is partially mutual. And, like I said, a lot more would need to happen for me to be cool with her and Quiche. Even in his final scene of New, he’s clearly not over her because he’s lusting on a literal strawberry saying it’s as cute as she is….
And it seems like I’m not alone in that because, apparently, there’s been a shift in the fanbase.
So, originally, more fans were into Ichigo and Quiche. In Japan, apparently Ichigo and Aoyama was always more popular. The west took to Ichigo and Quiche more. But since the reboot aired, there’s been a resurgence of Ichigo and Aoyama fans in the west while Ichigo and Quiche’s shipping has lost a bit of its support. Generally, this is because more people are cognizant of toxic relationship dynamics than they were 20 years ago and want to support healthier options. That may very well be true, but I see toxic shipping all the damn time even today, so I feel like that can’t be the entire reason.
I still largely saw the same amount of arguments for Ichigo and Quiche even recently, though, so maybe this isn’t quite right. Look at the TMM subreddit. Most of the posts on the front page that touch upon shipping are in support of Ichigo and Quiche.
You have to scroll quite a bit to even see an image of Aoyama, and even then that post wasn’t about him.
Or maybe this is a case of a burned ship being more vocal. I dunno.
You could argue that Ichigo and Aoyama went too fast in New, but then you have to consider that she met Aoyama first then Shirogane then Quiche, so, no matter which route you prefer, it’s fast-track relationship development.
Out of all of the shippings in TMM, the three that actually stoked something in me had almost nothing to do with Ichigo. I never fully supported Mint and Zakuro in the original two incarnations, but I was really pushing for it in New due to their better and more equal dynamic. Didn’t get it.
I still loved Tart and Pudding together. Didn’t get it, entirely.
And, oh….oh my girl, Lettuce. I wanted so badly for them to find a way to work it out so that she could be with Shirogane, but they just couldn’t let his attraction to Ichigo go, nor could they bother to make his feelings stronger. You deserve better, girl.
Oh, speaking of which….Pie? I still don’t quite the Lettuce and Pie thing, but, hey, if he treats her right, go ahead. It’s a little intriguing, but woefully underdeveloped. Again, it’s really quite hard to ignore how many times he tried to kill them, and the fact that he very nearly did outright murder Aoyama by stabbing him through the chest, but for the former I’d be a hypocrite for shipping Tart and Pudding then (Though maybe you could be more lenient with Tart given that he’s younger), and for the latter….yeah, that’s kinda hard to ignore. But, technically, Aoyama and Ichigo ‘killed’ him in the other two versions, and it was done as a pure last resort to save his people.
Whatever floats everyone’s boats, have at it, people.
The Pacing
I saw this as a common complaint against New, and, I gotta say, again, I don’t fully get it.
I feel like a lot of people are taking this series as being a remake of the original anime instead of the manga. Because the manga’s pacing was breakneck. They did not like letting scenes breathe or letting storylines marinate. It was chop-chop, let’s move on in every volume. It was honestly annoying at some junctures.
You could also argue that the original anime’s pacing was too slow. A vast majority of the original anime is filler, and while that filler is mostly fine to me, filler is still filler. It takes forever get to an actual point. And since some of the bigger scenes from the manga, like the other girls getting their times with the Mew Aqua Rod, aren’t in the original anime, it meanders a lot. Aoyama doesn’t even learn Ichigo’s a Mew until episode 38.
New’s pace is obviously faster than the original anime’s since its episode number is half that of the original series, but, if you ask me, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the manga. It was a decent enough middleground, especially considering they still gave the other Mews spotlight and development that they desperately needed.
The more manga-esque pacing does shine a light on how hard it is to accept Ichigo and Aoyama as this era-defining love, though – particularly because they literally just met at the start of the series, but that was about the extent of it. Even if the overall pacing of the show felt a bit fast at points, each individual episode felt complete and paced fairly well…..except the episode where Mint makes a wind turbine generator. That was a fumble.
Art and Animation
New most certainly has the best art and animation of the franchise. It has lovely colors, some great new attack animations, some AWESOME transformation sequences, and, while some of the design choices with the Mews were annoying, as I previously stated, the characters and environments all looked pretty nice.
The animation had some janky parts, especially at the tail end of season two for whatever reason. They may have been running out of time or money, but it did get more apparent in that part of the series.
Music
The OPs and EDs for the show were all very fitting and catchy. I don’t like the idol group vibe the songs have when coupled with the visuals, because it makes it come off as way too commercial, but whatever.
The BG music was extremely good at points, but I do have to say that the instrumental OST never found its identity. The original anime soundtrack definitely had its flair and stood out as being iconic to the franchise. I can think of several tracks from the original series, and I haven’t sat down and really watched the original in years.
New, however, didn’t have that same staying power to me. Even looking back at some of my episode reviews where I bring up the BG music, I’d be lying if I said I remembered what those tracks sounded like.
Voice Acting
The voice acting in New was pretty good. Understandably, losing Megumi Ogata as Aoyama was a blow, but I think Yuuma Uchida did a pretty good job.
Another notable change was Quiche’s actor switching from Daisuke Sakaguchi to Nobuhiko Okamoto. Sakaguchi was a lot of fun in the role in the original, but I also think Okamoto was a perfectly fine replacement. He’s able to bounce back and forth between playful and malicious very well.
One other voice change that I saw getting some criticism was Zakuro, moving from Junko Noda to Momoka Ishii. People apparently don’t care for the fact that her vocal register is so much lower than Noda’s was in the original…..I don’t care. As a woman with a lower voice myself, I really didn’t care, nor did I think it was unfitting of Zakuro. She’s the stoic and serious one of the group. Giving her a lower voice is fine.
People also apparently thought it was weird that Zakuro’s singing voice was higher than her speaking voice, in which case my response is many people who know how to sing have a different singing voice from their speaking voice. This is especially true when you’re trying to sing while in character as a voice actor. It is crazy hard to have a specific voice for a character and keep that voice while singing. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult.
Is Tokyo Mew Mew New A Good Adaptation?
Well, that really is the million dollar question, isn’t it? And my answer will probably ruffle feathers.
Whether or not something is or is not a good adaptation is largely subjective and based on a ridiculous amount of variables. If your definition of a good adaptation is being as close to the source material as humanly possible, basically shooting to be a one to one mirror, then, no, Tokyo Mew Mew New is not a good adaptation.
By that definition, it’s miles better than the original anime was, but plenty of fans would probably fight me over that.
I touched upon this in my review of Sailor Moon Crystal, but one to one adaptations are not by default good adaptations either. Sailor Moon Crystal, at least from the episodes that I watched, suffered from trying so hard to be loyal to the manga. They basically copy/pasted the entire script from the manga but didn’t capture the soul of the source material. It felt flat and empty. The 90s Sailor Moon may have strayed from the manga quite a bit, but I never felt like it didn’t have the soul of the source material.
I also said in that review that you don’t even necessarily have to capture the heart and soul of the original as long as what you were creating still resonated with audiences and had its own heart and soul that respected the source material. At the time, I didn’t feel Crystal had done that. Apparently, seasons two and three got much better in that regard, but I never got that far.
I hesitate bringing up Sailor Moon Crystal because, something else I discovered while doing research for this review, apparently Sailor Moon Crystal fans have a rivalry with Tokyo Mew Mew New fans? Crystal fans criticize New for changing stuff from the manga while New fans lambaste the art and animation of Crystal…..
………What are we doing? Are we really having a reboot war? Girls, you’re both pretty. Go home.
I think New succeeds in being a good adaptation because it respects the source material, maybe even more than the source material respected itself given that New actually gave a damn about the other Mews, retained the moral/message, spirit of the story and characters, but also acknowledged that it had plenty of flaws and tried to fix a good chunk of them.
If you don’t think the original manga had many flaws, then I can see how some of these changes would be irritating or even disrespectful to you. But, honestly, I can’t think of many changes New made that were detrimental to me. Even if I can easily say they did some things poorly, that’s usually because the manga did them poorly.
And, hell, they even decided to adopt some aspects of the original anime that worked particularly well and built upon THOSE aspects.
It’s a good adaptation, and I stand by that opinion.
Bottom Line: Tokyo Mew Mew New is a very solid magical girl show that I think any fan of the genre would enjoy. It wasn’t without its hiccups, some bigger than others, and it’s not groundbreaking or anything, but it was enjoyable. This is my personal favorite incarnation of the franchise with the original anime being second place and the manga being third.
New definitely won’t please everyone in the fandom. From all I’ve seen, it’s fairly divisive, so if you’re a fan who hasn’t seen it yet, you’re gonna have to just roll the dice. However, I say this as someone who grumpily complained about Tokyo Mew Mew’s manga, original anime, and Mew Mew Power while still enjoying it pretty well (less so for Mew Mew Power, obviously) – I genuinely liked it quite a bit. I think as long as you’re able to take your nostalgia and shipping goggles off, fans of the old series will find a lot to like.
…….Yes, I know I still have to review A La Mode…..and Re-turn….and Ole….Actually, I can’t review Ole because it seems like the only English versions of the chapters are lost due to broken links as far as I can tell, so……..…..Anyhoo, that’s enough of my text walls….I’ll be back with more Mew Mew stuff in the future. But for now, these reviews are taking a cat nap.
Additional Information and Notes: Tokyo Mew Mew New was based on the manga, Tokyo Mew Mew, written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by the late Mia Ikumi. It was produced by Yumeta Company, who have also done animation for Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna and Digimon Adventure 02: The Begining, and Graphinica, who did animation for several episodes of Hellsing: Ultimate, and written by Yuka Yamada. Takahiro Natori is listed as the director, but it also says he only directed one episode with many other episodes credited to other people, so I dunno.
It is currently licensed in the west by Sentai Filmworks, but there is no English dub, and there likely will never be one.
Recommended Audience: There is a small amount of blood, some strangulation, and one instance of attempted murder via skewering through the chest with a sword. Also, there was one very uncomfortable scene of alien animals dying in magma, but it wasn’t that graphic. Otherwise, it’s quite tame. 8+
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First and foremost, this ending somehow manages to diverge even further from the manga than the original anime did, which surprised me. New has not been shy about doing its own thing when it wants to while also trying hard to be as close to the manga as possible in addition to attempting to fix some of the bigger issues with the manga. I honestly think they’ve been doing a really good job in most respects.
Before I go any further, let’s recap the finales of both the manga and the original anime starting from where New’s starts.
In the manga, as Deep Blue is strangling Ichigo, Aoyama’s consciousness intervenes and stops him, temporarily anyway. To protect Ichigo, he puts her in a protective bubble. Deep Blue is so enraged by Aoyama that he forcibly takes back his body and claims he’s completely deleted Aoyama from his mind.
Deep Blue unleashes his assault onto the world, and Ichigo tries to escape her bubble to save everyone, but she can’t. Just then, Aoyama’s consciousness comes back to the forefront. He aims to kill himself with his sword to release the Mew Aqua and save the world and Ichigo. He succeeds – the power of the Mew Aqua spreads all over Tokyo, reviving the presumably dead and healing the wounded, including the other Mews and Quiche. It’s so powerful it even somehow manages to rebuild the buildings.
Aoyama, however, is dead. Ichigo, not accepting Aoyama’s death, transfers all of her power to him through a kiss. She resolves to either revive him or follow him in death if she can’t bring him back.
It works, and Aoyama is revived, but now Ichigo has expended too much energy and lies ‘dead’ in his arms. Aoyama….doesn’t particularly seem alarmed, though, as he somehow magically lifts them in a bubble up and back down to the others. They all grieve Ichigo’s death, but then Aoyama kisses her, she glows, and she’s brought back to life because love.
Pudding realizes Tart is leaving, so she tearfully bids him goodbye right before kissing him, passing a candy between their mouths, offering him more candy, and she says she doesn’t want this to be goodbye. Tart blushes up a storm before saying he might come back for more candy.
Quiche has made peace with not winning Ichigo’s love, though Ichigo shows appreciation for Quiche’s feelings. He tells her to be happy. He sneaks in one last cheek kiss before departing.
Shirogane gives the last of the Mew Aqua to Pie to allow him to rejuvenate their planet. They all then leave.
Skip ahead a few months and, for some reason, the cafe is still running and the girls still work there. (Also, despite the circumstances implying none of them are Mews anymore, Akasaka says the only thing different is Ichigo specifically is not a Mew anymore. Supposedly because she gave all her energy to Aoyama.)
Ichigo notes that Aoyama is preparing to study abroad in England. He wants to study red data animals, specifically the ones the Mews were fused with, in order to help save them.
The Mews implement Mew Project W, which involves them kidnapping Ichigo (while dressed as ninjas) and bringing her to a surprise mock wedding between her and Aoyama. And how did I go that entire review without mentioning whatever the hell this outfit is on Aoyama?
My word.
Ichigo also apparently didn’t notice the other girls forcibly changed her into a wedding dress.
Akasaka officiates unofficially and they exchange vows. Outside, Berry is shown walking up to the cafe but choosing not to enter because there’s a private party going on, promising they’ll have fun together later, sequel baiting Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode.
Ichigo’s ears and tail pop out, implying she still has her Mew powers for some reason as she says her vows.
In the original anime, after Deep Blue tries to strangle Ichigo and claims he’s ‘killed’ Aoyama, Aoyama grabs hold of Deep Blue’s consciousness and tells Ichigo to kill him. She obviously doesn’t want to, but Aoyama implores her to believe in him. Deep Blue tries to fight back, but the girls, completely exhausted and collapsed on the ground below, hold hands and send their power to Ichigo.
Ichigo attacks, Deep Blue is destroyed, and Aoyama uses the Mew Aqua within his body to save the world and make amends for what he’s done, even at the expense of his life.
The girls and the aliens are healed by the Mew Aqua spreading over the city, and the city itself is healing from its power as flowers grow beneath their feet.
Back up above, Ichigo refuses to let Aoyama die so she gives all her power to him through a kiss.
The girls head up to the ship to check on her. Aoyama wakes up and finds her ‘dead’ on the ground next to him. They all mourn Ichigo before transforming back to normal, seemingly because their Mew powers vanished with the threat defeated.
Quiche, Pie, and Tart offer their help in getting them down from the ship as it collapses. Quiche also says he can use the remaining power from the bit of Mew Aqua they have to save their home planet. They teleport them off the ship, and, after the ship is atomized by the aliens, we see the aliens departing on a small ship of their own back to their planet.
Shirogane arrives and also mourns Ichigo as Aoyama gives her a farewell kiss on the lips. She glows, the cat leaves her soul, she transforms back to a normal girl and is revived. Also, the aliens somehow know Ichigo lived despite being in space now.
Some amount of time later, it seems at least Ichigo’s parents now have a bad view of the Mews since they blame them for all the destruction that happened to the city and the inconveniences they’re suffering as a result.
The girls all meet at the cafe, feeling as if they’ve been drawn there. The cafe has been closed down since the battle, and the girls haven’t seen each other in a little while. Shirogane and Akasaka show up explaining that a new enemy has arrived, and they need the Mews again. They believed their powers went away and they were allowed to be normal, but their powers had returned. Their loss was explained by the lingering effects of the Mew Aqua, however that works.
They can’t say no, so they rush out the door, transform, and head back into battle against the unknown enemy.
In New, Deep Blue grabs Ichigo and rambles in anger about the injustices inflicted upon his people. His new plan…I guess, because his plan before was to laser beam the planet and shift the continents around to what they were when the aliens lived there, is to call his people down to Earth to attack the humans themselves with their spaceships. Deep Blue opens a portal, but Ichigo, struggling against some force lightning, tries to convince him that some humans are trying to make things better for Earth. The humans and aliens can talk and compromise.
Deep Blue doesn’t believe that, but Ichigo persists, claiming she knows nothing is impossible if you work together. She learned that from the other Mews. And she learned the future can change, no matter how improbable, when Aoyama accepted her after finding out she was a Mew.
At this, Aoyama’s consciousness appears next to Deep Blue and says Ichigo has inspired him as well. When he was a child, he was always alone, and he hated humanity for ruining the Earth, but Ichigo gave him hope. Aoyama tells Deep Blue that he must also know and feel this deep down because he was there with him the entire time.
They flash back to their first date at the museum, but Aoyama shifts to Deep Blue. Ichigo says she wants to help the environment and animals, even if she doesn’t know exactly what she can do to make a difference.
Aoyama insists that Deep Blue has the same connection to Ichigo as he does, so he must find it within himself to trust her. Even just moments ago, when Aoyama was about to give up and kill himself to make things right, her words and influence have convinced him to not give up.
Just when it seems like Aoyama is getting through to Deep Blue, he snaps. He starts attacking Ichigo with more force lightning, but Ichigo finally summons her weapon and pushes away the energy. She tells Deep Blue that she wants to save the Earth and his planet – the humans and the aliens. They’ll work as hard and as long as they have to in order to save everyone and both planets. Ichigo eventually gets close to Deep Blue and reaches for his hand through the electricity.
This entire time, Pie is pleading with him not to listen and be swayed by the words of the humans. However, Ichigo’s hand finally grabs Deep Blue’s, and it seems he’s finally been persuaded.
As he and Ichigo are about to discuss what to do next, a confused Pie asks what he’s doing. Deep Blue says he no longer plans on killing the humans.
Pie is absolutely distraught. And while it seems like everything is over and done with, Pie does something shocking – he skewers Deep Blue through the back with his sword to release the Mew Aqua in his body, believing he has no choice since he doesn’t believe humanity can be trusted to work with them. As this happens, Deep Blue switches to Aoyama.
A beam shoots from the wound into the sky, opening another portal. This time, the aliens waste no time getting into their ships to go through the portal and destroy humanity. Pie is crazily ecstatic while Ichigo is horrified. She embraces Aoyama and begs for him to not do this (He’s uh….not doing this, Ichigo. He got stabbed, girl.)
Ichigo shines a brilliant pink light that reaches across the Earth and through the portal to the aliens. She begs for them to stand down and not destroy all the people and animals on Earth. She begs them all to work together for a brighter future.
She also says “We’ll serve up justice together!” which kinda ruined the moment. What does that even mean in this context? Justice for the environment?
Ichigo shines even brighter, and she somehow teleports Aoyama and herself above the ship in a pink bubble. Ichigo proclaims she’ll be with him forever, and Aoyama declares his unending love for Ichigo.
Down below, Masha teleports and reappears before them as a pink Mew Aqua Rod. Together, she and Aoyama use Ribbon Aqua Drops across both the Earth and the aliens’ planet. The power turns this desolate wasteland of a planet into a lush and vibrant green landscape, complete with water features somehow.
On Earth, the Mews all heal up, as does Quiche.
As the power cascades over both planets, Aoyama and Ichigo say they all write the future together. What do you want to do? What future do you want to write?
The portal finally closes, and as Ichigo embraces Aoyama, she sees an image of Deep Blue before her. He says he’s glad to have known her. He fades away into an image of the Blue Knight, who also fades away, implying that both consciousnesses are gone from Aoyama now.
They land on the ship, but Aoyama is either unconscious or dead. Ichigo is devastated. She shows him her bell, the first gift he ever gave her. That bell is what helps her return to him every time she has a battle, so she begs him to not get lost. She cries on the bell, it glows, as does Aoyama, presumably implying that there was still a tiny bit of Mew Aqua left in him, and he awakens. They kiss each other briefly before the others show up, including Quiche, Tart, and Pie.
While Pudding does give Tart candies, convincing him to visit for more candies, they don’t adapt the part where Pudding kisses Tart, passing a candy between their mouths.
Pie is…..bafflingly having a happy conversation with Lettuce about how they’ve accepted the other planet as their home now that it’s fertile and beautiful. Lettuce says they’ll protect the future of the Earth and she hopes they’ll do the same. Pie agrees.
Quiche basically does the exact same thing as the manga where he says he just wants Ichigo to be happy as he kneels on the ground, asks for her hand, then sneaks a kiss on the cheek before leaving.
The girls all get their angel wings back and return to Shirogane and Akasaka back at the cafe.
Cut to a month later, and the rebuilding process has begun. This time, they’re going to focus on putting more greenery through the city.
Moe and Miwa talk to Ichigo about how Aoyama is going to be studying abroad soon. She says she’s okay because this is a great opportunity for Aoyama. He’s going to be studying under the specialist he’s admired for so long, so she’s excited for him.
Suddenly…………..Miwa (*double checks* I EVEN GUESSED THE SPECIFIC CHARACTER’S NAME RIGHT! Whoo!) puts a blindfold on Ichigo. The other Mews appear from the sky dressed as ninjas, as in the manga, and kidnap her. They change her clothes to a casual yet fancy white dress. Aoyama appears in front of her in a suit that a sane person would wear.
It’s a going away party for Aoyama! Yeah, despite the fact that they clearly dressed up Ichigo as wedding-esque as possible without just putting her in a straight up wedding dress, New opted not to the do the mock wedding like the manga. They do note that they look like a couple about to get married, but they don’t ‘marry’ the two…..So…..why they’d need to be all secretive about a going away party, I don’t know. I mean, I guess it would make sense to be secretive to Aoyama, but he’s clearly in on it.
I love how everyone’s dressed to the nines (Except Lettuce. Girl, as someone with no fashion sense, what are you wearing? An old lady nightgown and an old lady sweater?), but Shirogane is still wearing his normal clothes. You being a little petty, dude?
Also, Moe and Miwa are here, and I think that’s a nice addition because they weren’t at the manga party.
Shirogane notes that this is the last day of the Mews Mews since their mission is over. Ichigo processes this for a bit before Aoyama grabs her hand and asks if she’s okay. She says she is, and we transition to later when she’s showing off Aoyama at the airport. They hug, say they’ll be together forever, and Aoyama leaves.
Ichigo notes that Aoyama and Quiche are already on their paths to the future, and she wonders what her future has in store. As the sun rises, she realizes the future isn’t written yet. They have to write it themselves. As we get flashes of various animals, ending on representations of the Mew Mew animals, Ichigo resolves to help the Earth and all living things on it. She wants to become an ambassador between the aliens and the Earth.
As the ending theme starts, we cut to Mint, who has started her own company, the Mint Corporation, then Zakuro, who is putting on a Mew charity concert, then Pudding who is at home having a meal with her siblings and TART. She also wants him to spend the night, which he doesn’t want to, but her siblings convince him. Finally, we see Lettuce has become a tour guide for a museum dedicated to relics left by the aliens. Some people wave to her, and she says she started working there with some friends, but I’m at a loss as to who they are.
She’s also conveying this news to Pie through a physical letter she sent to Pie….somehow. Apparently, the postal service really extended their reach or something. Pie is happily farming with other aliens back on their home planet. Quiche is helping out cultivating strawberries (Ichigo) and says they’re just as cute as she is.
Back with Ichigo she runs towards the sunrise as she says she’s thankful to have known all of them, including Quiche, Tart, and Pie.
Cut to…sometime later, and we see Shirogane standing in front of the newly restored Cafe Mew Mew with Akasaka. They say they have to get started, but then they hear the girls in the cafe, ready to work. Shirogane is mad at them for being there when their work is done, but like…..who was going to work here if they were still planning on reopening the place? Also, why ARE they reopening the cafe? The cafe was just a front for their Mew Mew operation. Do Shirogane and Akasaka just want to get into it more permanently now?
The girls say they love everyone here, and it’s basically home to them, so they want to keep working there. Apparently, Mint can run a company and work at a cafe….and maybe go to school – how far ahead are we? Because Lettuce has another job now too.
They hear some customers arrive, and the girls welcome them all….to Cafe Mew Mew NEW!
We have a lot to go over, so let’s break this up a little.
Deep Blue’s Characterization
Obviously, one of the bigger curveballs of New’s finale in comparison to the other versions is that Deep Blue has a drastic character shift. In every other version, Deep Blue’s been a very cut and dry full-on villain. He has one goal, kill all humans, and he’ll mow down anyone who gets in the way of that goal. He doesn’t give a damn about Ichigo or even his loyal followers. It’s arguable if he even cares about any of his species because he just seems hellbent on killing humanity as penance for what they’ve done to the Earth.
In both previous versions, Deep Blue just dies – either by Aoyama’s hand or Ichigo’s. He’s a foe to be vanquished and nothing more.
Honestly, Deep Blue is one of the weaker parts of this whole franchise. He’s the big bad, but he’s just evil and boring. It’s a shame because a character who is fueled mostly on anger at humans for destroying the environment of a planet his people originally inhabited could easily work, but he’s just so one-note. It doesn’t help that we never learn….who the fuck Deep Blue is.
In no version of this story, not even in New, do we learn what or who Deep Blue is. Where did he come from? Why is he the leader of the aliens? Why is he treated like alien!Jesus? Why did he arrive on Earth like 15 years ago and become a human boy with no memories of who he actually is? How did he even get to Earth? If he can get there easily, couldn’t all the aliens have invaded? Why just three of them? If his hatred for humanity stayed within Aoyama, why did he bother being an ideal boy to keep up appearances with them? Why didn’t he let Quiche, Tart, and Pie know he was Aoyama or just a human boy in general before he did it? Why was it such a trial to get him to awaken? Especially if he has Mew Aqua in his body…….WHY DOES HE HAVE MEW AQUA IN HIS BODY?!
For a character who is not only the main villain of the franchise but also the alternate personality of the main character’s love interest, you’d think they’d delve into his story and what makes him tick a little more, but no. We get basically nothing.
I will give New some points for at least trying something….*sigh* new with the character (Get it?) Deep Blue being humanized a bit more is…..understandable. It makes sense for Deep Blue to retain some form of connection with Ichigo given how deep Aoyama’s feelings are for her. Aoyama retained Deep Blue’s intense hatred for humans even without remembering what he really was, so it tracks.
New also makes it clear that Deep Blue, while still being relentless and having a one-track mind, does hold his people in high regard and wants them to return to Earth. He’s kinda stupid about it because both of his plans would result in massive damage to the Earth and ecosystems. His initial plan was to bust the Earth through the center with a laser to merge all the continents back the way they were when the aliens lived on Earth, which would catastrophic. And his new plan of having the aliens come in and attack with space ships would surely severely damage the world.
However, despite the stupidity in play, it does show that he cares about the other aliens and isn’t just entirely focused on killing all the humans.
Was his turnaround corny?….Yeah, but not overly corny. And, like I said, it does make sense for him to change his mind due to Ichigo’s influence. It’s not like it was a quick thing either. It still took quite a while to get Deep Blue to simmer down and accept a compromise. I really did like that sequence where Deep Blue took the place of Aoyama during the flashback to their date to illustrate that he’s technically been present during those important moments in their relationship, and how he’s seen firsthand Ichigo’s caring and resolve.
The Aliens’ Planet Being Fixed
In both previous versions of TMM, they state that the aliens will use what little Mew Aqua they have left to revitalize their planet and make it much more livable, so they don’t have to pursue Earth anymore. This has always been extremely difficult for me to swallow.
You’re telling me just a tiny itty bitty bit of Mew Aqua is enough to completely transform their entire planet? And, if it was, why even bother with this crusade against humanity? Especially considering Earth was in such terrible shape when they left.
In this version, they use powered-up Mew Aqua Drops flowing through the portal to heal their planet, which I find much easier to accept. I still don’t know if I believe the whole planet would be affected, nor do I think water would just appear out of nowhere, but it’s much more believable. Plus, I like how this is one version where we actually see the aliens’ planet revitalized and the aliens happy in the end as opposed to the “Trust us, bro.” endings we got in the manga and original anime.
Pie to the Chest
Another very significant change from both previous versions is Pie’s role. He’s never fully consistent between each version. He’s always the most loyal of the aliens to Deep Blue and his people, but that’s about it with his consistency.
My jaw dropped when Pie stabbed Deep Blue because he’s so devoted to him. But it does make sense that he’d turn on him when Deep Blue opted to not kill humanity. Pie’s actually most loyal to his people. He’s only devoted to Deep Blue because he’s so loyal to his people. Deep Blue has been hailed as the savior to their people, their final shot at having a suitable home again. If he suddenly decided to join hands with their sworn enemies, Pie taking his shot to use Deep Blue’s Mew Aqua anyway by any means necessary makes total sense.
…..It does make his redemption that much more jarring, though.
His turnaround in the anime and manga were sudden and confusing, but this version takes the cake. You could say him seeing his planet all green and lively was enough, but still, the guy skewered Aoyama through the chest, and Ichigo later is still like “I’m glad I met Pie!” It’s just a bit weird.
Speaking of weird, what is going on with Pie and Lettuce? The manga, as far as I remember, didn’t have any moments of note between these two. The original anime had a few moments that seemed significant, like they were implying there was some connection between them. And, for some reason, this is one of the few things from the original anime that New decided to not only keep but kinda build upon. In fact, they shifted the exchange between Shirogane and Pie in the manga, after he gives the Mew Aqua to Pie, to Lettuce saying those lines to Pie.
And now Lettuce is sending physical written letters to Pie? With little drawings and notes about a cute store opening in her neighborhood at the bottom? I guess this can be platonic, like Tart and Pudding seem to be, at least for now, but it’s so weird. It’s like both anime versions wanted her to have a love interest because things obviously weren’t going to work out with Shirogane, but neither actually wanted to bite the bullet and write a romantic link between them.
I totally get why it would work even less here given how devout Pie is until the very end, but in that case….maybe just don’t write it in then. Maybe just….let her and Shirogane get together. I mean, they’re no longer Mews, so he’s free to be with her now. But oh silly me. Anyone besides Ichigo getting a romantic relationship is impossible. She has to have three, technically now FIVE guys deeply in love with her. But no one else can be in a loving lasting relationship. It’s the Sailor Moon curse….
Ichigo Doesn’t ‘Die’ In This Version
Honestly, I don’t much care. It was kinda redundant in both versions to have two death fakeouts anyway. It’s always kinda confusing too. Like, she has to drain all of the energy from her body to revive Aoyama, but a simple kiss from him brings her back? In this version, I think he just came back because he had some Mew Aqua remnants in his body that were activated by her tear and the bell….I think anyway. It’s unclear.
Ichigo’s Ending
Admittedly, I was sad we didn’t get the mock wedding. But I also understand why the writers opted against it. They are still pretty young, and they already promised they’d be together forever, so…..I dunno.
Ichigo’s ending across both previous series was focused purely on either being a Mew (The OG anime) or her being with Aoyama (The manga). This version does actually include something different.
The theme of this entire ending arc, and the whole series/reboot to a certain extent, is looking to the future. Making the future brighter, cleaner, and more hopeful for everyone. Ichigo has somewhat adopted Aoyama’s initial ending where it’s stated that she’s going to work toward helping every living being on Earth, particularly the animals, and also giving specific focus to the animals the Mews were based on.
Additionally, she’s going to be an ambassador of the Earth to the aliens. How that’s going to work and why that’s even needed is unknown, but I appreciate her ambition.
While it was difficult for Ichigo to process that she’s not a Mew anymore, kinda taking away her purpose in life at the moment, I like how the ending didn’t have them go back to being Mew Mews for the sake of sequel bait (because, let’s be real, A La Mode was never going to get an anime adaptation.) They fought their share of battles and deserved a quieter happy life. Going back to working at the cafe because they simply love being there with everyone was a good compromise, even if I can’t quite figure in the time distribution for Mint and Lettuce. I guess if Zakuro can juggle being a famous singer, a Mew, possibly a student, and a waitress, and Pudding can juggle being a single guardian for five small children with school and being a waitress and a Mew, they can juggle their own jobs too.
Aoyama’s Ending
Aoyama, oddly enough, didn’t really get an ending in the original anime, so I have nothing to compare there. He’s just with Ichigo still. The end.
New basically just took the manga’s ending but added the part with Ichigo seeing off Aoyama at the airport.
I’ve never been all that content with Aoyama’s manga ending. I just don’t understand why he has to suddenly go study abroad. I get that he wants to help the environment, but why can’t he do that in Japan? What’s in London? How long is going to be gone?
At least New says part of the reason he’s leaving is because he wants to do fieldwork under the tutelage of a specialist he really admires, so his motivation makes a little more sense. I think part of the reason why New chose to not have them do the mock wedding is also because it makes it seem like they had to have some sort of formal promise ceremony to ensure their love so Ichigo wouldn’t be as lonely while Aoyama’s gone, but with her newfound drive to do environmental and ambassador work now, plus just her general faith in Aoyama and the support of her friends, she doesn’t need that extra assurance.
Mint’s Ending
Nepotism!
Seriously, she just starts her own company? At like 15 years old? At first, I thought maybe she was just putting up a sign for her company as like a visual representation of her future ambitions….but nope. We pan down to see flowers and a note congratulating her on founding her company by Seiji and the Aizawa group. So it seems like this is a legit company.
Also, I think a finished version of the device she was making earlier in the series is on the roof.
………….Zakuro and Mint should have gotten together.
I’m not sorry. That is some bullshit.
They have never been on more even ground or closer than they are in New, and they still somehow didn’t wind up together. Bite me.
Pudding and Tart’s Ending
I found their ending to be fine. Arguably, the fact that we see Tart happily eating at her house and staying overnight (With nothing happening, of course) makes up for the lack of a kiss between these two. I’m pretty okay with their relationship seeming platonic for now because they are young and who knows what the future may bring. I hope they at least stay together forever because they’re so cute together, and Pudding could use some help taking care of her siblings…..even if that scene in Pudding’s house comes off like he’s just another mouth to feed.
I’m just glad we actually got to see Tart returning to hang out with Pudding and her family rather than only having the implication that he’d come back to visit.
I also like that the last shot of her part was the picture of her with her mother and all her siblings as babies.
Zakuro’s Ending
….Uhh…she’s still a singer…..She’s just putting on a vague concert for charity. What is the Mew charity? What do they do? Why did she not like the sets for this concert? I dunno…..That’s all we get for her.
…..She and Mint should have gotten tog–
Lettuce’s Ending
Well, she’s happier and is….something with Pie. She’s more confident and has some new unnamed friends, so I’m happy…ish with her ending. She’s got a neat job as a museum tour guide, helping spread the stories of the ancient aliens…..whom are rightfully just referred to as “The ancients” here because they’re not aliens. Really is super odd that they never came up with a name for this species.
…………………………………………………………………….She and Shirogane should have…..
URGH
Honestly, I know what I said in Pie’s section, but I can’t in good conscience wish for that. I would so love for them to have ended up together….but the fact of the matter is that Shirogane was too into Ichigo for me to want that fully.
I don’t want Lettuce to feel like a silver medal.
My girl deserves better than that.
They could have written it so that Shirogane was like torn between Ichigo and Lettuce or that he didn’t truly see her until she got more confident or he started spending more time with her or something. I definitely don’t want a situation where it feels like Shirogane understands that he can’t have Ichigo so he just settles for Lettuce.
Granted, it did seem like he felt something for her over the course of season two, definitely much more than was ever in the manga or the original anime, where both felt like entirely one-sided crushes, but it wasn’t given nearly enough focus, and they just chose not to cap that off in the end.
It’s so frustrating. I’m torn between being happy that they gave us more in so many regards but still ultimately flopped on committing to anything.
Hell, I could totally get on the LettucexPie train if they bothered fleshing out that at all either. Pie could get closer to Lettuce and struggle intensely over his loyalty to his people and Deep Blue and Lettuce challenging his views and his growing feelings for her. The added conflict of him hating humans would be an interesting layer there as well. It honestly felt like Lettuce had more influence on him in the original anime than it did in New.
I guess I’m fine with her ending up alone, but I feel like, out of all the Mews who aren’t Ichigo, she’s the one I really wanted to end up with someone romantically. I can cope with Tart and Pudding not being together (yet) or Zakuro and Mint just being besties with way too much chemistry. None of them ever seemed particularly interested in romance, and we don’t need everyone getting a romance ending. But Lettuce was interested in romance, and someone, ANYONE, else getting another romance would have been welcome.
But no.
This is The Ichigo Show.
She’s happy now, and that’s all that matters. I just wish she can find her special someone in the future.
Quiche’s Ending
Well, he got the most important thing, which is his planet being fertile and beautiful and his people being happy and healthy.
However, he’s still pining over Ichigo as he cultivates strawberries, so….eh. Ichigo’s just so hard to get over. She’s so great. I love main character.
Shirogane and Akasaka’s Ending
Shirogane got cucked, Akasaka got nothing, and they run a cafe as their main career now.
They didn’t get any sort of ending in the manga either, and their ending in the anime was just prepping to fight another vague threat, but in this version I guess they truly are just cafe owners and nothing else now. That’s…fine….but with all the technology and money they have, could they not have said they were doing something else to help the environment or something?
Akasaka got so shafted in this reboot, to be honest. He’s a nothing character here. He’s not much in the manga either, so I guess that makes sense, but they gave him absolutely nothing more in New. At least in the original anime they gave him a lost love backstory to flesh out his character a tiny bit. I can say basically nothing about Akasaka in this reboot besides he’s Shirogane’s assistant and he’s very polite.
And, ah, Shirogane……….you shoulda realized what you had, buddy. Ya blew it. Now you’re hosting parties for your crush and her boyfriend while the girl who was in love with you writes heartfelt letters to the alien you were trying to kill last month. Get wrecked.
No Berry
I don’t really care that Berry wasn’t here. Like I said, there’s no chance they’re going to adapt A La Mode, so who cares? I still haven’t gotten around to reading A La Mode, so I doubly don’t particularly care. This needed to be a definitive ending, so it’s perfectly fine. Even if, by some miracle, they do adapt A La Mode, they don’t need to set it up with sequel bait.
Is This the Best Ending to Tokyo Mew Mew?
Yes. Absolutely.
I’m not gonna say this ending is perfect. I have a lot of bones of pick here, obviously. But it is, in my opinion, the best finale we’ve had of the franchise so far. Bear in mind that I still haven’t read the spin-offs/sequels or the recent manga entry, so maybe I’m wrong.
….I feel like I’m not, though.
New actually gave individual endings to each character, which is much more than the original anime and manga gave us. Probably because, like I said, New isn’t sequel baiting. We got to see the aliens’ planet revived and the aliens happy. We got to see all the Mews happy. And we got a very optimistic and hopeful message for the future. Hell, this version even fixed that annoying “general populace in a Marvel movie” issue in the original anime of people whining about the Mews wrecking the city when they were saving it.
Even if it was kinda overly convenient and a little schmaltzy, I’m fine with it. It’s not like the other endings weren’t overly convenient and schmaltzy in their own ways. I’m content with this being the end all closer to the franchise, especially since I don’t want them to return to being Mews. They don’t have to keep fighting some evil forces. They’re busy enough trying to save the world in more traditional manners. Let them be happy and stay that way.
With that all in mind, we finally have to go over how this reboot stacks up in a full series review.
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Our penultimate episode starts with the girls flying across the sky to Deep Blue’s ship to get the last bit of Mew Aqua. We get a brief glimpse of what other characters are doing as the final battle starts.
First, we see Mint’s brother, Seiji, as he uses his company’s resources for rescue, medical treatment, and support services for those affected by the disaster, which is nice and honestly an angle of this situation I didn’t think we’d get. Seiji quietly cheers Mint on when he sees the Mews fly by.
Next, we get Ichigo’s parents wondering where Ichigo is. It is dawn now, and she’s been out all night in a horrible disaster. They are concerned, but then they get a text from Ichigo saying “I’m going to Aoyama-kun’s. I’ll be okay!” followed by one of those texting sticker things that shows a happy cat saying “Don’t worry! I’ll be okay!” Her father gets understandably annoyed at Aoyama, but her mother calms him down saying she’s sure Ichigo has a good reason for going there now and they should trust her judgment. They look up to the Mew Mews flying across the sky at this moment, so I’m not sure if they’re implying that they know she’s a Mew Mew?
………But either way…..No. Her father only got slightly perturbed at this when they both have every right in the world to be absolutely LIVID. Their like 15 year old daughter was out all night in the middle of a city-wide disaster with god knows how many casualties, without contacting them until dawn, and all they get is a text that tells them she’s going to her boyfriend’s house. Uh. Huh.
Also, while Ichigo does seem to be the only one who bothered checking in with family, she doesn’t ask if they’re okay. She just says she’ll be with her boyfriend.
We then see Moe and Miwa (I REMEMBERED THEIR NAMES! WHOO! Which is weird because they had even less to do in this series than the original…) Pudding’s siblings, which….I guess means no one’s watching Pudding’s siblings during all this, nice, and Zakuro’s filmographer friend. They’re all cheering on the Mew Mews.
And that’s it……..
Does anyone want to point out the saddest thing in damn world?
…..Where’s anyone who’s cheering for Lettuce?
We don’t get to know any of her family, so she doesn’t have that. She doesn’t seem to have friends outside of the Mews, so she doesn’t have that. They can’t even bother showing Shirogane saying anything (He is watching through Masha).
Literally no one is thinking about Lettuce right now. My girl is treated like shit.
When they arrive at the ship, they’re confronted by Pie and Tart who bring forth a Chimera Anima for them to fight. And….it’s just a resurrected version of the moth they fought before with cybernetic parts. And, of course, the other Mews get “We’ll handle this guy – you go on ahead, Main Character”’d by this thing, which is kinda lame but I guess we did need to get them away somehow.
The girls all give bonus notes of appreciation to Ichigo as they push her to leave.
Lettuce, it’s sweet to tell Ichigo that you’ve gained more confidence since you’ve met her, but from a writing standpoint it’s also weird to attribute you falling in love to her as well. In most other circumstances, this would be fine, but given that Lettuce is talking about Shirogane here, and Shirogane has deep feelings for Ichigo and, apparently, he doesn’t care enough about Lettuce specifically to even show concern about her well-being after Ichigo may very well have gotten them killed and they went missing for hours…….eh, it’s just weird.
Once Ichigo is convinced to leave, she faces off against Deep Blue at the door in front of….what I think might be their special tree or….at least A tree. Deep Blue keeps attacking her with electricity, and he’s about to cut her down with his sword, and Ichigo’s just…..doin’ nuthin’. Was Ichigo really going to allow herself to get killed within a minute of getting through the door? Yeah, ‘I won’t let your trust be in vain, my friends!’ *dies*
She’s not even trying to just protect herself. What is she doing?
I’ll stick with Ichigo’s storyline for the time being since it’s the main one and I don’t want to make a big gap with the other girls’ story.
Quiche comes in to protect her, no longer concerned with serving Deep Blue or getting his planet back. He only wants to protect Ichigo.
As Ichigo watches him fight Deep Blue for her, she remembers all the love declarations Quiche gave to her since she’s known him. Ichigo, sweetie, maybe help instead of stare. Do something instead of watching Quiche die—oh there he goes.
Quiche slowly dies in Ichigo’s arms, but the emotion of the moment is kinda undercut by him clearly gawking at her boobs the whole time. I guess it’s better than him snuggling her boobs like in the manga.
As Ichigo cries over Quiche’s dead body, Deep Blue starts struggling in pain. Not from any wounds, but because the trauma of this moment, seeing Ichigo cry, is pulling Aoyama to the forefront, as shown by his eyes changing to Aoyama’s brown. Aoyama is devastated at what he’s done, but Ichigo asserts that it wasn’t him, it was Deep Blue.
As Ichigo holds Aoyama, the blood from one of his wounds drips on the floor and causes plants to spring forth, indicating that the last of the Mew Aqua is in his body. I mistakenly said in my AniManga Clash of this part that this was his tears in the manga, but after I reviewed the panels, it’s clear that it’s his blood in the manga too. Sorry about that.
Aoyama reasons that, if the Mew Aqua is within him, killing him and using it will return everything to normal.
Unlike in the manga where he shifts back after holding Ichigo one last time before he tries to kill himself, instead, he tries to kill himself with a dagger first, which is what prompts Deep Blue to come back as self-preservation kicks in. I like this change because it didn’t make much sense that he would change the way he did in the manga. He did know he was planning on killing himself, but I think it’s more dramatic and impacting to have him attempt it and then have Deep Blue come forth to stop him.
The episode ends on Ichigo getting strangled by Deep Blue, but we still have to go over what the other girls are doing.
Now, there’s no way they could botch the manga’s version of this battle because that was probably the lamest excuse for a battle I’ve ever seen in anime/manga short of a parody. Like, it was only barely better than Tenten vs. Temari from Naruto….the manga version.
In the manga, the girls launch one attack in one panel, the blast happens in a very small panel – we can’t even get spreads for this – and then the next two small panels are Pie lamenting their defeat, the next two are Tart telling Pudding he never hated her, and then we just get the girls collapsing from exhaustion. It was pathetic and a testament to how the author really didn’t give a crap about the other Mews enough to properly give them their flowers at the end.
In the OG anime, the battle was longer and more drawn out. They couldn’t do much, but it was more entertaining, and the aliens got much longer and more sincere scenes after their defeat and death.
In New, they break off. Zakuro and Mint fight the Chimera Anima, Lettuce fights Pie, and Pudding fights Tart.
By far the best part is Zakuro and Mint. It’s the biggest and longest battle of the three. They have great chemistry, Zakuro is propping up Mint, following her lead and encouraging her, while Mint is still giving starry eyes to her queen but still is firmly in warrior mode.
I didn’t think we’d get even more from Mint as we reached the end of the series because they’d already given her so much more than I expected, but they actually give Mint ANOTHER ATTACK. A COMBO ONE AT THAT.
No non-Ichigo character ever gets more attacks (That aren’t just the Mew Aqua Bubbles thing) but I guess the writers just absolutely adore Mint. This attack involves Zakuro wrapping Mint up in her whip and then spinning her around rapidly, like Mint is a damn Beyblade, While spinning, Mint launches a volley of arrows. This attack is called the Mint Echo Spin, and it kinda kicks ass.
Together, they defeat the robo-moth, collapse, and unleash a flurry of feathers into the air that still fall as the other two battles go on.
Next, we get Lettuce and Pie’s much shorter battle. Lettuce gets one badass move and beats Pie in one attack, which Pie notes as being much more powerful than he calculated. Lettuce says it’s because they’re not fighting alone…..but like….they weren’t fighting alone before either. Lettuce collapses. However, Pie manages to gather enough strength to crawl to the wall and open the stairwell, hoping to get to Deep Blue.
Tart’s battle with Pudding is just as short but more emotional. Pudding doesn’t want to fight Tart and believes he’s truly a good person, but Tart is annoyed that she’s acting as if he has a choice. Tart struggles with summoning another bomb, and Pudding grabs his arm and hugs him, proclaiming that she loves him.
This took me off-guard for a bit, but then I remembered the various tiers of saying “I love you” in Japanese, which was easier to remember this time around because we hear two different characters say it in this episode.
When Quiche tells Ichigo he loves her, he says “Ai shiteru” which is definitively romantic. When Pudding says it, she says “Daisuki.” which is far more vague. It’s still the equivalent to love, but it can be platonic.
A very good breakdown about this on NihongoShark explained it in a much better way. It’s sorta like the difference between telling someone “I love you” and “I’m IN love with you.” When you tell someone you’re close to that you love them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you romantically love them, but it could. It depends entirely on the context of your relationship. If you say that to someone you’re dating, it would definitely be taken romantically.
Pudding and Tart’s context is far more platonic at this point, but it could easily also be romantic. In the manga, there are definitely romantic feelings because she kisses him before he leaves. In the OG anime, it’s very vague because, while they did get ship tease and some sweet moments, nothing was overtly romantic.
I skipped ahead through the final episode, and I really think their relationship is just platonic in New. It’s still extremely vague, but they’re clearly not pushing that hard for them romantically in New. Plus, while Pudding is pretty open with her affections, I find it a bit farfetched for her to admit romantic love for Tart. I dunno, I just feel like they needed a bit more time together for them to get there. I guess they are just kids, though.
As a couple final notes, I mentioned Shirogane (And Akasaka) are watching what the Mews are doing through Masha. At the end of the episode, Masha also collapses in exhaustion for some reason. I don’t remember it doing anything or getting hit….I can say it maybe ran out of batteries, but I don’t know what Masha’s power source even is. Anyway, this means Shirogane and Akasaka can’t follow what they’re doing anymore.
The animation in this episode, at least with the slower scenes, is noticeably poorer than normal. That’s kinda odd given that this is the second to last episode, but….there it is. Eyeballs would change size along with shape when changing expression. You can clearly tell when only parts of a character are allowed to move. There was an especially weird moment where Quiche is shaking his hand back and forth and it’s clearly only keyframes. The actual fighting moments, especially with Zakuro and Mint, were perfectly fine. But they clearly either ran out of time or money with the less action-oriented parts.
Obviously, I am not complaining too much because the original series was an absolute mess in the animation department sometimes, so take this as just a note not a criticism.
Although, how did this shot not become a meme of any caliber?
Anyway, we have the finale coming up, so we’ll see if they fully stuck the landing with this reboot.
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Plot: The Xiaolin Warriors are chasing the Serpent’s Tail through New York City. It’s a speedy Shen Gong Wu that can travel through anything. The only way they have to track it is by using the Falcon’s Eye.
Omi uses the Falcon’s Eye but winds up getting separated from the other monks as he chases it down.
Omi does his best to navigate the city, though many of the people be encounters are strange and aren’t of much help to him.
Omi stumbles upon three teenagers playing a game of basketball and goes to them for help, but they wind up trying to beat him up instead.
A young boy named Jermaine shows up and uses his basketball skills to help Omi and fend off the bullies. He and Omi hit it off, though Jermaine is confused when Omi tells him all about why he’s there and who he is.
The Xiaolin Warriors eventually meet back up with Omi, and Jack is right behind them. The Serpent’s Tail emerges, and Omi and Jack grab it at the same time. Jack challenges Omi to a Xiaolin Showdown for the Serpent’s Tail and says their game will be basketball. Omi can’t really play basketball, so Jermaine offers to help him. The only way Omi can accept is by Shen Yi Bu Dare – doubling up the bet to two Shen Gong Wu. Jack accepts with his transforming robot as his second.
It’s the Xiaolin’s Mantis Flip Coin and Falcon’s Eye for Jack’s Jetbootsu and Shroud of Shadows.
Their court rockets into the sky and shatters into a court where you can only safely step on the painted lines. Otherwise, you’ll fall into space. Jack has no issue because his Jetbootsu allow him to fly, and his robot is so big it would never fall through.
Jack and his robot quickly come out ahead, but with the Mantis Flip Coin, both Omi and Jermaine come back with a vengeance. As the timer runs out, Omi makes the winning shot. They have won the Jetbootsu, the Shroud of Shadows, and the Serpent’s Tail.
After the match concludes, Omi offers to have Jermaine join them in the temple to hone his skills since he clearly has so much potential. Jermaine politely declines stating that New York is his home, but he and Omi will always be friends. He offers his basketball as a parting gift, and the two bid each other farewell.
Breakdown: This one is a kinda strange episode. Not bad by any means – just strange.
Half the episode is mostly just Omi reacting to how odd and offputting the people in New York City are while the other monks and Jack chase after the Serpent’s Tail. A quarter of it is Omi bonding with Jermaine. And the final quarter is the Xiaolin Showdown.
Jermaine is a perfectly fine and cool character. He will be reappearing later down the line, but only once, oddly. I don’t know if they intended on making him a more prominent character or they just didn’t know what to do with him yet. We don’t learn much about him, is all, besides that he’s nice, cool, and plays basketball.
Jermaine is voiced by the late Lee Thompson Young. I looked at his Wiki page while watching this episode and, damn, it’s been 13 years since he passed….
He did a pretty good job with this character. I have no complaints.
The Serpent’s Tail is a cool Shen Gong Wu, but if it can travel through anything, living or otherwise, how’d it get caught at all?
Also, Dojo can turn into a train and have the monks travel INSIDE HIM!? EWWWWWWW!
That’s about all I have to say about this episode. The Xiaolin Monks are steadily replenishing their supply of Shen Gong Wu, which is good, and the monks have a new friend, which is also good.
The Anime Madhouse 
