The Graphic Library
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Review List by Author
  • Terminology
  • Info Postings
  • About Us
  • Other Resources
    • Research

Tokyo Mew Mew vol 1 by reiko yoshida

8/10/2022

0 Comments

 
Cover of Tokyo Mew Mew volume 1. Ichigo is surrounded by alternating red and yellow stars in a circle. She's in her Mew Mew transformation with her cat tail and cat ears sticking out of her pink hair. She has a pink corset and pink skirt with red gloves and a red bow with a bell on her tail. The rest of the cover is pink with darker pink strawberries all over it.
Illustrated by Mia Ikumi
​
Earth is under attack from aliens who are disgusted by the way humans are destroying the planet. They infect animals with chimera properties to make monsters. Ryô Shirigane, a rich high schooler, and Keiichirô Akasaka, a “café owner” and researcher, want to protect the world from these aliens. They infuse five girls with “red data” animal DNA - DNA from endangered animals - to become warriors against the chimera animals. When they’re not fighting, the girls work at Café Mew Mew as a way to gather information from customers. Ichigo is the first warrior to awaken to her transformation powers and found by the two guys, and she must find the other four teammates while fending off attacks from Kish, one of the aliens who has keyed in on Ichigo. Ichigo also has to juggle her time with her crush, Masaya, who is also interested in endangered animals and saving the planet.

Picture
This is a classic magical girl manga that is getting a new anime adaptation in the Fall of 2022, so its popularity is most likely going to spike again. The girls have transformation sequences, non-sensical attack chants, and really short skirts, which is very similar to Sailor Moon. Also similarly is the aliens attacking the planet for their own gain, which was almost every alien threat in Sailor Moon. There is quite an emphasis on endangered animals, only one of which is not endangered any more despite this series first being written in 2003. Unfortunately, the updated Kodansha 2-in-1 version I read doesn't have great pictures of the animals the writer used - pictured to the right is the black square that is supposed to be an Iriomote Wildcat - so readers are going to have to do some looking up on their own if they want to see the animals the characters are designed around.
​
Kodansha rates this as 13+, so I’ll have to finish the series to see why they're rating it there. This could have been published before the use of their "All Ages 9+" rating as well. Reading it as an adult, there are moments when the girls are sexualized, especially in their transformed outfits, but I didn't notice those things when I read it as an adolescent.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 5-12

Publisher: Kodansha
Publication Date: October 25th, 2011
ISBN: 9781935429876 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Magical Girl, Friendship, Romance, School Life, Action Adventure, ​Kodansha 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About Me

    I've been reading manga and comicbooks for years. Now, I write reviews and other helpful things for School Librarians, teachers, parents, and students.

    Read More

    Search this site


    Picture
    Ko-fi icon
    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe to get all the latest delivered once a month.

    * indicates required

    Ratings, Audience, and Subject Tags

    All
    Ablaze
    Abrams ComicsArts
    Action Adventure
    Adaptations
    Animals
    Art
    Autobiography
    Biography
    BOOM! Studios
    Career
    Comicbooks
    Culinary
    Dark Horse
    DC Comics
    Dead Reckoning
    Del Rey
    Demons
    Disabilities
    Dungeon
    Dystopian
    Ecchi
    Educational
    Family
    Fantagraphics
    Fantasy
    Farming
    First Second
    Folklore
    Friendship
    Graphic Fiction
    Graphic Nonfiction
    Graphic Universe
    Greenwillow Books
    Grief
    HarperAlley
    Hill And Wang
    Historical Fiction
    History
    Horror
    Humanoids
    Humor
    IDW
    Image Comics
    Inklore
    Isekai
    Iyashikei
    IZE Press
    J-Novel Club
    Kana
    Katie's Reviews
    Kodansha
    LGBTQ+
    Mad Cave
    Magic
    Magical Girl
    Manfra
    Manga
    Manhua
    Manhwa
    Marvel
    Mecha
    Megascope
    Memoir
    Mental Health
    Moni's Reviews
    Music
    Mystery
    Mythology
    Native American
    Nonfiction
    OEL Manga
    One Peace Books
    Oni Press
    Otomoisekai
    Paranormal
    Penguin
    Race Relations
    Rating: 10/10
    Rating: 3/10
    Rating: 4/10
    Rating: 5/10
    Rating: 6/10
    Rating: 7/10
    Rating: 8/10
    Rating: 9/10
    Realistic Fiction
    Regressor
    RH Graphic
    Romance
    Saturday AM
    School Life
    Science
    Science Fiction
    SelfMadeHero
    Seven Seas
    Skybound
    Slice Of Life
    Sports
    Square Enix
    Steampunk
    Story Collection
    Suitability: Adult
    Suitability: Elementary School
    Suitability: High School
    Suitability: Middle School
    Superheroes
    Supernatural
    Surrealism
    Survival
    Suspense
    Ten Speed Press
    Titan
    TokyoPop
    Top Shelf
    UDON Entertainment
    Video Games
    VIZ Media
    War
    WEBTOON Unscrolled
    Western
    Yen Press

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018

Picture

​© 2025 Sara Smith

Picture
Picture
Picture
​
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Review List by Author
  • Terminology
  • Info Postings
  • About Us
  • Other Resources
    • Research