Tokyo Mew Mew New – Episode 3 Review

Episode 3 spoilers, plus a discussion on Kisshu’s introduction in the original series at the end of the review.

Tokyo Mew Mew New Episode 3 Thoughts

In this episode, Ichigo invites Aoyama on another date and while there, meets Bu-Ling (Mew Pudding) and Kisshu! Depending on your subtitles, they may also be called Purin and Quiche. The chaos of 00’s translation efforts really managed to span decades, huh?

((There’s also the forbidden 4Kids dub which changed them to Kikki and Dren… but you can read more of that madness on the Mew Mew Power Name Changes wiki.))

Ichigo’s a real go getter in this episode! She invites her love interest out on a second date, has a nice time, kicks some ass and then get’s straight back to wooing Aoyama! She’s an icon for girls and women everywhere that you don’t have to wait for the man to make the first move.

Aoyama himself is a bit forceful in this episode and therefore not the best role model, but with a bit of encouragement from Ichigo, he’s able to open up about his feelings and explain with words why he’s acting a bit strange.

Then, as Ichigo leaves for a private moment, the first member of the villain team shows up and assaults her. A battle happens, Mew Pudding activates, then Ichigo’s back with Aoyama like everything’s fine again.

I have seen a few people voicing their dislike of Pudding, and I will say I remember feeling the same way originally… however, there were one or two episodes in the original series that changed my mind on this very energetic little monkey.

I can only hope that the reboot doesn’t cut those moments as so much has already been left behind.  

Episode Highlights!

There’s a theme with how all the men in Ichigo’s life so far have objectified her in one way or another…

Episode 2, Ryou to Ichigo. At least he didn’t say ‘My powerful bioweapon’…

HMMMM…..

Aside from this, the cat café scene was a new addition that was very cute. I liked it a lot. Kisshu should take notes from Aoyama though; surely Ichigo isn’t going to stand for that nonsense for very long!

My husband’s take on this episode:

• Aoyama is the enemy
• Enemy team is going to be called ‘Woof Woof Fury’
• Kissy elf

Thoughts on the Series So Far

We’re only on episode 3, but I do have some pretty big problems with the set-up of the show. The main issue being that girls haven’t been properly introduced to the viewers at all. By skipping the original show’s copious amounts of ‘filler’ entirely, the girls are left almost completely devoid of character.

Instead, their introductions have been reduced to, ‘here’s a cute design for a girl, and she’s going to be our friend!’ and that seems to be about it. The only characters who have truly had any detail added to them so far are Aoyama and Ichigo.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this changing next episode. I reckon we’re going to get shown the fifth and final mew, and she’s going to be pretty and transform, and then there’ll be a fight and that will be most of the episode.

But maybe, maaaaybe after that, we can finally have some real, meaningful character interactions. I’m hopeful.

Tokyo Mew Mew New Episode 3 Comparison – Ichigo and Kisshu’s First Meeting

Spoilers for the original episodes 3 and 4, but no long term plot spoilers.

Episode 3 has really changed things up a lot. This is Ichigo’s first meeting with Kisshu in the New series, but by the time of the zoo date in the Original, Ichigo had already met Kisshu once.

How does this change things? Well, not that much… the same things generally still happen, but the New changes the pacing decidedly for the worse.

In the original, Kisshu swoops in the day following Ichigo’s recruitment of Lettuce, and steals a brief kiss from Ichigo, who is on her way to school.

When I say brief, I mean it. It seems to be an ‘on the lips’ peck. The anime does a sparkly freeze frame paired with some creepy sound effects to tell the viewer it’s a bit weird. In the post credits, chibi Ichigo is narrating about how annoyed she is that Kisshu stole her first kiss.

Episode 4 of the original shows the scene again, then shows Ichigo’s struggle in dealing with the sexual assault. She feels embarrassed, dirty, and ashamed. We see many shots of her running around the school trying to dodge Aoyama, her true love interest, until he finally corners her to ask what’s wrong.

You don’t look very well today :’D

Of course, Ichigo says she’s fine, but she’s not. She’s so troubled by what happened, that she refuses Aoyama’s offer to go on a date to the zoo with him.

The original handled Kisshu’s assault better because it empathised with Ichigo as a victim. She’s traumatised and struggling to accept help.

In the New show, this is brushed over. She’s kissed during her date at the zoo but isn’t really that bothered and carries on with Aoyama like nothing ever happened. Maybe it’s because in New, it’s not her first kiss so it’s not as important to her, and Pudding was there to witness it so she’s not on her own with the experience… but I think that’s pretty shady reasoning. She’s still a young, inexperienced girl.

New also pauses on the assault for longer;  the original lingered on the kiss scene for 6 seconds, whereas New hangs over it for 10. New also spends longer on Kisshu teasing Ichigo about how she let him kiss her and asking her for feedback on it. The original has her avoid getting kissed at the zoo (since she was kissed outside school previously instead) and swiftly moves on to a chimera attack.

New Kisshu is definitely more creepy and sexually aggressive, but Ichigo is less traumatised by him? It doesn’t make any sense to me.

Maybe New is just postponing Ichigo’s feelings… but the episode preview makes it look like we’re going to get straight into adding Zakuro, our last girl, to the team. If New fails to properly address Kisshu’s assault, then it’s going to be hard to avoid reading those sections as anything other than poor fanservice.

As a final aside, the original meeting, relationship, and depiction of Ichigo and Kisshu was always messed up, but it feels like New is leaving out the parts that made it a proper addition to the story and Ichigo’s character. I don’t like it one bit.

Read more of my Tokyo Mew Mew New Reviews here!