Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode
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Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode is a sequel to Tokyo Mew Mew by Reiko Yoshida, with illustrations by Mia Ikumi and serialized in Nakayoshi, a popular manga magazine in Japan aimed at girls, from April 2003 to February 2004. The next year, the first volume was licensed and published by Tokyopop, a well-known distributor, licensor and publisher of manga, on June 7, 2005, and the second on December 8, 2006. Kodansha's re-translation of both volumes was released in omnibus form on November 5, 2013.
Plot
The leader of the Mew Mews in Tokyo Mew Mew, Ichigo Momomiya, has gone to England to study endangered species with her boyfriend Masaya Aoyama. While she's gone, a group of teenaged humans take control of the remaining Chimera Anima, which cause trouble for the other Mew Mews, Mint Aizawa, Lettuce Midorikawa, Pudding Fong and Zakuro Fujiwara, and use the monsters to try and finish what the previous antagonists, the Aliens, did not complete; they want to conquer the world and create an ideal community or society. Under the name of Saint Rose Crusaders, they pose as teachers at a private, all-girls school that Berry Shirayuki, this series' main heroine, attends.
Berry goes to Café Mew Mew, the Mew Mew's workplace and secret headquarters, to look at the food displays, but is startled when she bumps into Ryou Shirogane and walks into a machine. The machine fuses her D.N.A with not one, but two red data animals: The Andean Mountain Cat and the Amami Rabbit. She passes out after this and, when she wakes up, she is given R2003, also known as Ucha, by Ryou. Berry Shirayuki becomes the sixth Mew Mew and temporarily takes Ichigo's place as the leader. As one of the strongest Mew Mews, Berry is targeted by two of the Crusaders, who attack her at school. Ichigo returns to provide assistance during this battle. For their final attack, two Crusaders hypnotize the citizens of Tokyo and set them against the Mew Mews. Berry and her childhood friend Tasuku Meguro use their new-found feelings of love to reverse the hypnosis and cause a change of heart in the Crusaders.
At the end of the series, Berry and Tasuku are still a couple, the "lovebirds" of the café, work side-by-side as the cafe's new door-to-door delivery service and celebrate being in love.
Why It Sucks
- Executive Meddling: Apparently, Mia Ikumi was told to focus on the new protagonist Berry Shirayuki rather than the lives of the members of the Mew Mews.
- Speaking of which, Berry Shirayuki is a God Mode Mary Sue that takes the position of main protagonist away from Ichigo Momomiya and steals most of the spotlight.
- Most of the returning characters are either downplayed due to the above or had their character derailed. Ichigo, for example, is turned into a whiny, useless "damsel in distress".
- Uninteresting antagonists, with Duke apparently looking more like a KKK member(!?) than a Capirote.
- Terrible plot.
- On one of the pages, there is a huge amount of gore during Blue Bayou's attack on a football stadium.
Redeeming Qualities
- The artwork is at least pretty nice.
- Amusingly enough, it happens to have a parallel with Undertale of all things, with Chara being gone from the people they loved like Ichigo, and later returning as a support role to a new protagonist (Frisk/Berry). For extra points, both Tokyo Mew Mew and à la mode are referenced (though as Mew Mew Kissy Cutie). As a triple bonus, a humorous easter egg occurs where, if you mention the manga to anime fan nerd/scientist Alphys, she'll go on a rant on how much she hates the manga.
- Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode was eventually rendered non-canon by Tokyo Mew Mew 2020 Re-Turn, which saw Ichigo return as the protagonist while Berry got shuffled off to the sidelines.