 Since this looks likely to be the only way to get a legit English-language fix of Tokyo
Mew Mew (no Hollywood here...), I present my first manga review. This
won't be the only manga series I'll be covering, either, but that's
another story...
Chapter 1
While out on a date to the Endangered Species Exhibition with Masaya
(love of her life, but nothing going on yet...), Ichigo Momomiya is
unknowingly turned into a genetically-modified superhero, when she's
implanted with a piece of DNA from an endangered species of wildcat.
And so Ichigo becomes Mew Ichigo, fearless(?) fighter whose role is to
pretect the Earth from the threat of aliens and Kirema Anima...
Chapter 2
Ichigo meets the men behind the Mew Project, who are responsible for
her new superhero status - Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka. They
explain that she isn't the only one who's had their DNA modified- there
another 4 in the same situation, and it's up to her to find them to
help in the fight against the Kirema Anima. First suspect: Mint Aizawa
- beautiful, talented and rich - but a bit of a bitch with it. Ichigo's
run into her before, and they don't like each other... Meanwhile,
Ichigo has to keep her new powers a secret from boyfriend-to-be
Masaya...
Chapter 3
Ryou and Keiichiro introduce Ichigo to her new part-time job - waitress
at their cafe. She's initially not too keen on the idea, but the lure
of $10 per hour soon brings her around... Mint's there as well, with
part of their job being to keep an eye out for the 3 remaining
prospective colleagues. They overhear a conversation about a haunted
swimming pool, and decide to investigate later that night. It turns out
the 'ghost' is really the 3rd Mew, Lettuce Midorikawa - and she's not
at all happy to see Ichigo & Mint...
Chapter 4
Lettuce has joined Mint & Ichigo at Cafe Mew Mew, after Ichigo's
appeal to her better nature finally got through to her. It takes her a
while to get used to working there, though - she's not naturally the
most outgoing or graceful of people... ^^; Meanwhile, the first of the
aliens appears - Kish, who greets Ichigo with a kiss & is on a
mission to investigate the humans who are interfering with their
plans...
Extras
Look for the 'Project Meeting' sidebars during the stories - a fun
little insight into the planning stages. Apart from them, there's also
this lot:
- Masha's Tokyo Mew Mew Endangered Species File
- Bong! (Next volume preview)
- Bonus 'quiz' - which Mew are you?
- Before Tokyo Mew Mew Was Created (background info from Reiko Yoshida)
- Who Is This Character? parts 1 & 2 (some of the characters that were planned, but didn't make it into the manga)
- Mia Ikumi's Photo-Shoot Report (from when Mia had to cosplay as Ichigo for a promotional photo-shoot - sadly, no photos...)
- Afterward by Mia Ikumi (like a Foreward, just at the back of the book!)
So this is my first manga. I've been trying to avoid getting into
anything else anime-related (I'm broke enough as it is... ^^;), but I
wanted to support TOKYOPOP for not being 4Kids. First impression: I'm surprised by how much is in each volume. Suddenly it seems worth the money...
If you've been following the anime, the story will seem very
familiar to you - the anime doesn't really seem to deviate much from
the manga it's based on, it just has more time to go into the details
of the story. As such, the manga is great for a quick dip into the
story, or to remind yourself what's happened so far... That character
designs are more detailed here (and in some ways cuter - although I
curse the lack of colour..), but otherwise things are pretty much as
you'd expect.
There are some differences in translation (see the Lost in Translation
section below), and the pacier nature of the storytelling takes a bit
of getting used to after the anime, but so far I'm enjoying this. I see
a lot more manga in my future (taps foot impatiently, waiting for Sekai Trilogy to arrive...). Great stuff - and without the extensive localisation 4Kids are 'promising' us.
Lost in Translation?
I'm going to get this out of my system now, and never mention it again,
but there's something not quite right about the manga translation in
places. Now, I don't speak Japanese, but here's a few phrases from
Volume 1, along with what I reckon they should say:
Kirema Anima = Chimera Animals
Sutoto Bell Bell = Strawberry Bell
Mintoon Alo = Mint Arrow
Lettuce Tanet = Lettuce Castanet
I suspect the translator's been a little too
literal when translating English-written-as-Katakana into proper
English. Either that or I've been watching the fansubs too much - but
either way the attack names etc as given in the manga just don't sound
right, compared to the alternatives given. Your mileage may vary, and I
may be way off base, but I just had to get that off my chest... ^^; |
