Jan 14 2009
#17 - “Tokyo Mew Mew”
Some magical girls morph into Sailor Soldiers of Justice. Some change into Earth Elementals. And some morph into cat girls, like the ones in “Tokyo Mew Mew.” Here we have a group of middle school girls who become endowed with the strengths and abilities of several different endangered species. They use these abilities to fight alien creatures that are out to cause trouble for all of the regular humans roaming around on Earth.
The first time I saw “Tokyo Mew Mew” was during a Saturday morning cartoon block. It was very bright and bubbly looking, with characters in pretty outfits and fighting with cutesy techniques, and reminded me alot of “Sailor Moon.” In fact the storyline is incredibly similar to “Sailor Moon,” so much so that you have to wonder why the creators of this show even pretended they weren’t copying the older material. The first episode I watched on American TV also fell victim to very poor dubbing (in my opinion) and I had no desire to watch anymore of it.
With the Anime 365 Challenge! going on, I thought it might be time to give this show another try. This time I found the first episode in Japanese with English subtitles, and this helped a little. But only a little. The series, which is 52 episodes altogether, just feels too much like a “Sailor Moon” rip off. It even has the main character being saved by a mysterious “knight” who turns out to be the object of her affections (much like in “Sailor Moon”). I just couldn’t get passed that, and will not be watching more of this show if I can help it.
