DING DING DING! It’s Round Two of the Yatta-Tachi Summer 2022 Anime Season First Impressions series! In case you’re new or have forgotten, it usually works like this: in the weeks leading up to the start of a new anime season, we run a poll so readers can vote on what new shows they’d like us to cover. We tally up the votes, and the top 3 get their first episodes reviewed by some of our writers. This season, our winners were Phantom of the Idol, Tokyo Mew Mew New, and Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. Of those three, Tokyo Mew Mew New is the second to air.
The scientists of the μ(Mew) Project use DNA of endangered species to create a team of heroines imbued with amazing abilities. Armed with the skills of an Iriomote cat, Ichigo must band together with other Mew Mew girls to repel an alien incursion. – HIDIVE
Let’s see what our team of writers had to say!
Daryl Harding
There’s a lot to unpack with Tokyo Mew Mew New, both great and not so great.
Tokyo Mew Mew New feels like an old school magical girl show from the late 1990s updated to the modern era. The classic character designs – along with the expressive animation that comes along with them – are thrown in a more modern aesthetic without losing the charm of those now 20 year old series. What’s more is that unlike Sailor Moon Crystal or Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Tokyo Mew Mew New feels like a lot of love has been poured into it, with the production values reflecting that aspect.
But, with a retro story comes some tropes that could be left in the past. Tokyo Mew Mew New doesn’t pass the bechdel test in the first two minutes – in fact the first girl we meet is instantly like “I wanna be in love!” This is after the show teased us with eco-warrior catgirls! While we eventually do get the eco-warrior catgirls, the first episode falls into classic, out-dated tropes harder than Ichigo fell in love with Aoyama. Even Sailor Moon and Cardcapter Sakura wasn’t that bad.
That being said, outside of the love-stricken tween, Ichigo and her dumbassery was somehow endearing to watch. Mix that in with some of the best magical girl animation I’ve seen in a long time (without resorting to 3DCGI!), and you’ve got a pretty decent show. Let’s just update some of the story beats alongside the animation, eh?
Bill Curtis
For many fans of shojo anime and manga, this new Tokyo Mew Mew series is going to be a massive nostalgia trip, so it will have its fans regardless of the actual quality of the show. I, however, have no nostalgia for the series. I’ve actually never seen the original. I’m a big fan of shojo stuff, but I don’t generally go for magical girl series. I lean more towards the straight-up romance material.
Thus I feel confident in my impartiality when saying that Tokyo Mew Mew New absolutely rules. It’s brilliant and I loved it. It’s cute, it’s ridiculous, it’s action packed, and while this first episode wasn’t romance-packed, future episodes look like they might be. It’s 100% my jam.
The obvious draw are the updated visuals. The original series looks dated these days, but the staff brought the designs into the new era without losing any of the original’s charm. I think the secret is actually in the expression work and reaction faces. The exaggerated looks have an old school feel that still works really well on the more modern designs. On top of that, the whole thing is just lovingly animated in every single second. The action scenes look great. The non-action scenes look great. The whole thing looks great!
Even if it didn’t look great, the show would still be fun to watch, thanks to the absurdity of the sci-fi premise, the goofy humor and the adorable characters. The jokes are generally laid back, walking the line between being just cute and actually funny, but it still got plenty of real laughs out of me. But even if it was “just” a cute show, that would be plenty to sustain it, because it’s dangerously cute.
But Tokyo Mew Mew New isn’t “just” cute, or just funny, or just nice to look at. It’s the whole package, baby. Pair that with a timely environmental message, and it’s easy to see why the original is regarded as a classic. This one seems like the can’t-miss show of the season to me.
You can watch Tokyo Mew Mew New on HIDIVE.
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