Tokyo Mew Mew New Episode 5 Recap and Impressions
Welcome back to The Geekly Grind where the Tokyo Mew Mews are new and I summarize each episode. For Episode 5 we look back on a member of the team who's always been there and never been in the spotlight. That's right, it's time for Mint to get her own episode.
Now I love Mint, but this episode has a glaring problem. Very common writing advice is to show and not tell. Well, this episode tells rather than shows, and it's dull as heck. This is a shame because some of the writing behind the character, while cliched, has some surprising depth to it. On the other hand, it's 2022, eating the rich is very vogue right now, and I'm not going to feel an ounce of sympathy for a girl who has her own French pastry chef.
Well that aside, let's dive in shall we?
The episode opens with Mint being the ideal employee i.e. working instead of sitting and at her table drinking tea. This signals to her team members that something is horribly wrong and she needs to be cheered up. But given that Mint at best is emotionally distant and closed off, this presents the question of how.
Ichigo shares her concerns with Aoyama. Since Mint isn't an animal he can spout facts about, Aoyama has absolutely no advice but wishes his love interest the best. Ichigo has her own inner struggle, namely the burden of keeping being part magical cat girl secret from him, but she dismisses this for now.
Upon reaching Mint's house, Ichigo finds Lettuce and Pudding chilling there, also hoping to lift Mint's spirits. The house is gated off from the outside world, but Mint comes back from walking a toy...something dog named Mickey. The three girls try to convince Mint to let them in, but Mint is weirdly hostile to the idea.
Also, Mint's house is big. Concerningly big.
Pudding seizes a chance to jump on the lawn and succeeds in activating the sprinkler system. The girls end up soaked just as Mint's brother comes out to the lawn.
Mint's brother as far as I can tell, is a one-off character for this episode, so we won't worry too much about introducing him. The good thing is he's a pretty nice guy who cares about his sister and seems to have noticed she has no friends. Probably because she's a little poo. He's also nice enough to invite the girls to change into some pajamas and dry off, even with Mint protesting.
The brother is more than nice, even sending a pastry cart to the girl's room. Which honestly makes sense if you consider that Mint has probably never had any friends over, like, ever. Ichigo can tell Mint is starting to return to her old self because she's starting to get cranky. Thus she decides it's time to return Mint to normal by annoying her further via a pillow fight.
The girls wear themselves out fighting, after which Mint tells her tragic backstory. Her family is this universe's Kaibacorp, and both her brother and she are set to run the company when they come of age. This is not what she wants, but neither her father or brother takes her wishes seriously. Mint feels weirdly trapped, and this leads to why she looks up to Zakuro. Zakuro is someone who built her own world and identity on her own terms, which Mint desperately wants to do. It's oddly well thought out for a show about turning girls into superheroes with animal DNA to fight aliens.
Mint realizes that her mistake lies in thinking the image Zakuro presents to the world is her true self. Which it isn't. Still, the girls resolve that not everything is lost. Maybe if they talk to Zakuro one more time, she'll join the team.
It's pretty solid stuff! I just wish it had been executed in a better fashion. The show tells the story through one long info dump, and it's not especially interesting to watch.
Alas, it's not possible to have an episode without Kish showing up for our episodic dose of sexual harassment.
Doesn't he have a world to take over?
Kish turns Mickey into a Chimera animal. Either this particular Chimera Animal is strong, or the Mew Mews are weak, and I'm not sure which. The power scaling in this show is very strange and doesn't make much sense. Chimera Mickey goes on the offense, absolutely wrecking the girls.
Mint goes to shoot Mickey but he's her pet and she doesn't want to hurt him. This is where either I clearly don't understand something OR the episode falls apart. See I was under the impression that attacking chimera animals doesn't actually hurt the animals, and they return to normal unscathed. Have I misunderstood something? Can anyone in the comments help me out here?
Back to the episode, the other three also don't want to hurt Mickey and decide only Mint can attack him. She's pretty helpless to do anything except watch. Mickey pins Ichigo to the house, and at that moment, it's now or never for Mint to shoot. Except...she suffers a moment of weakness.
And then in what is truly a triumph moment (or would have been if I wasn't so confused) finds the strength to push herself past the limits she's set for herself.
Having failed at killing the girls once again, Kish falls back on his other trick, sexual harassment. But no one's having it and tells him to take his loser butt back to his spaceship.
Since sexual harassment has failed once again, Kish goes back to being a murder hobo. No really, it's one of two flavors with this guy. He figures the girls can't recruit Zakuro if she's dead.
The show ends with the girls looking to get to Zakuro before Kish does.
All in all, a mixed bag of an episode. I think the episode's heart is in the right place! Sadly the execution was very much lacking! At least it looks very pretty.
Did you like the episode? Dislike it? Let me know in the comments!