In my previous post about this series , my main disappointment was that they had this awesome idea about using an environmental edge with animals.... but then failed to do anything with it because they followed a generic magical girl plot with generic magical powers to boot.
So much potential and it was left to flounder in mediocrity. And creepy preteen romance/slavery. Anyway..
Apparently there's a lot of fan interest for this, and I wonder if the reboot will do justice to the concept?
There's some vocal group made out of the VA's called SMEWthie... and... okay, I appreciate the pun but still. And the characters kind of introducing themselves.. everyone sounds okay but Pudding doesn't have much of a.. hmm. Accent? Emphasis on na no da? Youthful exuberance? ... She sounds like the others and less like Pudding IMO.
Right - back to images.... Not sold. Red is better than pink, but I kinda liked how red head Ichigo went highlighter pink after transforming. Gave them a little bit of an actual disguise because good gravy did they need help in that department!!
Still, her cherry red hair is kinda cute but adding a huge bow to her collar and making her skirt less like a flouncy tutu and more like a lost jellyfish was a mistake in my opinion. Especially with the buntings poking out.
Does Mint's butt look big in this? Well, yes but in a surprisingly shapeless way. Her hair reminds me of Shampoo from Ranma 1/2. I was never really fond of how Mint's dress was basically a lengthy tube top but the extra pennants/bunting they've put at the bottom and on her boots look cluttered. Oh look, her ugly collar bow is bigger than her tail!
Lettuce is probably the least changed but what's this weird skirt thing making her outfit even more impractical? I kinda liked how she used to have more of a background tap dancer look that could easily turn into a casual swimsuit for beach parties. Her hair is fine but it is a bit less interesting, save for the shallot looking things she's sprouted?? Boots have extra ribbon details because that's one more thing you need to worry about in battle, your ten million laces coming loose.
Zakuro is another that's fairly unchanged.. the little bunting pennants have come back with a vengeance though. Her hair has gone full Sailor Venus... even though they... is that a... yup they gave the surliest character a cutesy bow in her hair. Wow.
Ahhhh my baby girl Pudding... what have they done to you?! Gone is your romper suit and in it's place is a hideous dress like Mint has. Wait.. she even has hair like Mint?? But they have her wearing randomly long thin pigtail plaits. More bows abound.. and her sock/shoe things with ribbons look like Mint should be wearing them in a ballet routine. Pudding looks... slightly older here?
Aww look at how cute she was..
Anyway, I know they're just trying to revamp the whole thing or maybe they had to use slightly different costumes for a different studio or something but you would think they'd at least TRY to incorporate some animal themes in there, right? Nope. They doubled down on stereotypical.
These gals don't look like they have any animal powers, it just looks like they were trying on animal ear headbands when a gift wrapping section of a local art store exploded on them.
Am I a broken record? Maybe. But I just can't express my disappointment enough about this. Like, why even bother involving the stuff about animals if you aren't going to have the characters look like them? And use random objects (love heart instead of claws? Castanets instead of spraying water with porpoise?) and THEN even go on to name the attacks something else completely random, and have them just be mainly sparkly sparks?
So, the new designs don't fill me with any confidence that things will be different. It'll be the same 'pretend to care about the environment while really trying to catch a boyfriend and dressing up all cute' just with new animation and a heck of a lot more bows.
I mean, Jojo Siwa, Sia and Emma Wiggle are probably eyeing up this new threat in the land of big ass bows. The Mew Mews better bring their beauty, grace and be all up in their fac- actually no that dub was toxic let's leave that behind in the wasteland.
Anyway, like everything else I've missed in the pandemic (ah who am I kidding, I would have missed it anyway) there's a new Mew Mew manga, which I probably won't even look at until I get a guarantee in writing that the author/artist has improved art wise and has stopped cramming tiny drawings everywhere and-
HEY there's also a male version of Mew Mew and the main dude has Irimote as well but LOOK *he* has a claw attack, and leopard spots.
..............MOTHERFU---
