1 "Neko ni Naru! Seigi no Mikata wa Koi Suru Shoujo Nyan!"
(Turning into a Cat! Justice Lies in a Girl in Love!)		2002- 04-06
1 "The Mew Kids in Town" 2005-02-26

As a group of girls run past, Ichigo is seen standing with Aoyama. She Stutters while asking him about seeing a Red Data Animal exhibit with him. To her surprise and joy, he accepts her invitation. Ichigo celebrates with her friends, then the scene fades out to Ichigo in bed mumbling. Suddenly, she bolts upright and grabs her alarm clock. She falls out of bed, and rushes to put her hair up, complaining that she fell asleep again after her alarm went off. After a few mishaps, she rushes out of the house.
She introduces herself as Ichigo Momomiya, 7th grade. She says that she stayed up too late last night planning for her day with the athletic and good-looking Masaya Aoyama. She reaches their meeting point, and apologizes for being late. They board the train to the exhibit. Ichigo is very nervous about the date and can't think of anything to talk about. As Ichigo walks through the entrance gate, a computer screen is shown. Ichigo reads about the Red Data Animals from the brochure, and Aoyama points out an interesting picture of Iriomote Wildcats. Ichigo remarks that they're cute and that they're also endangered. She thinks to herself that everything will go fine as long as she and Aoyama are on this date.
A computer screen is shown with DNA codes on it. A man opens the door, and speaks to another man at the computer. He says that it's perfect as the other man looks over his shoulder.
Ichigo and Aoyama get their pictures taken at a photo booth, then walks outside. For a second, Ichigo thinks that Aoyama is going to kiss her, but then he says he wants to help save the environment. Ichigo says she'll go get some juice, but trips over a root. Aoyama catches her, and she blushes. Aoyama walks off to buy the juice, and Ichigo flops onto the ground. She rolls around a bit, then gets up as she notices a cute shop.
The computer screen is shown again, and the two men say that it's time for the Mew Project to commence. The winged cat statue on top of the shop glows red as one man presses a button. The ground shakes as Ichigo notices the glowing statue, and is then enveloped in a bright light. In a strange place, Ichigo sees an Iriomote Wildcat, which walks up to her, then jumps inside of her.
Ichigo was sleeping, and suddenly sits up. She's embarrassed that she fell asleep, but Aoyama doesn't mind. He says that she was asleep for three hours. They then head home.
The next day, Ichigo's friends, Moe and Miwa, are scolding Ichigo for ruining her date. Ichigo says she'll find Aoyama and talk to him. She talks to herself for a while as Moe and Miwa stare at her, then runs off to the gym to see Aoyama practice. She's a little late, because there's a rather large swarm of girls already there. While Moe scolds Ichigo again, Ichigo pulls out the photo sticker sheet from the date yesterday. Then, another girl bumps into Ichigo and she drops the sheet, which goes flying off of the balcony they're standing on. She jumps for it, but accidentally falls off of the balcony. In mid-fall, she flips and lands on her feet. Not knowing how she did this, she runs off.
At lunch, Ichigo wakes up from a nap, and says that it will rain later. As she's getting her food, she rather happily grabs a fish with her mouth. Embarrassed again, she runs off. She wonders why she's acting strange, and remembers the "dream" with the cat. Aoyama appears, and asks if she's okay from earlier today. Every time Ichigo speaks, she says "Nya" at the end of every sentence. She runs off yet again.
Ichigo returns to the spot where she and Aoyama, and it starts to rain. She remembers the date, then suddenly gets a strange feeling. She starts running and happens to see Aoyama. While she's looking at him, a jellyfish-like blob floats through the forest and enters into a rat's body. The rat transforms into a giant rat-thing, and attacks Aoyama. Ichigo runs towards him, and the rat almost attacks her, but she's saved by a young blonde-haired man. He tells her to defeat the rat-creature. The man pushes her off of the tree limb she was standing on, and Ichigo lands on her feet again. He then tosses her a small glowing object. She realizes that the cat jumping into her wasn't a dream. She grabs the locket, and yells out "Mew Mew Strawberry! Metamorphosis!" and changes into a cat-girl version of herself. She wonders what happened to her as the monster attacks again. Mew Ichigo, as she is called in this form, calls out her weapon, the Strawberry Bell, and uses it to shield herself from an attack. She flips out of the way, and scolds the monster for attacking Aoyama, and retaliates with her own attack, Ribbon Strawberry Check, changing the monster back into a normal rat.
Ichigo wonders if Aoyama is okay, and the blonde-haired man says that she is the chosen one. Another man walks up to her and says that they're not her enemies, and that he'll take Aoyama home. He introduces himself as Keiichiro Akasaka, and kisses her hand. The other man, Ryou, says that they should go. Ichigo is left wondering what just happened, and who these people are.

This episode fared better than the last one. Or maybe after last week, I expected less. Anyway, there were less plot changes, and not many cuts until the end. But the cuts that were there were kinda stupid and pointless. Mr. Digital Paint Bucket got a workout with erasing "funny symbols" today. The plot of this episode wasn't changed too much, which is good.

Not much other general stuff. All of the juicy details are down farther, so get that scroll wheel (or bar if you don't have a mouse with a wheel) moving.

And so, we have episode 1, the "real" beginning of the series. I must say, I am pleased with how well they did it. Instead of getting a steaming pile of crap, we got a cooled-down pile of crap.

Not a whole lot to comment on, since I wasn't paying full attention to the episode. My computer was acting stupid, so I was trying to fix that.
They removed the kana from the signs. Meh. I blame the parents for that more than 4Kids.
Removing the cat. Why? I don't know; I fail to see any logic in that, and it's quite an important scene.
Ichigo didn't end her sentences with "Nya~" I admit, that the "Nya" was very cute... But that's something just doesn't work well in English. Characters in anime, catgirls mainly, will end sentences with "Nya" all the time to be cute, just like some cuter characters will overemphasize the word "desu." They could have had her say "Meow," but it probably would have come out more awkward sounding. I don't think all the cat puns were funny, but it was probably the best they could do.
Transformation shortened. It's nice to not have to sit through the full sequence, but I don't see much a point. The slight edits I have no problem with, because the Coalition of Raging Bitch Parents is worse than 4Kids.
Next episode preview.
...
...
I got nothing.

Ahh, the script. Unlike the last episode, the stuff about saving the environment was kept intact. But there was a lot more SDA thrown in...

Only one new name change in this episode, and that's Moe to Meg. Still no name for Miwa, yet.

The Mew Mew transformation is officially known as Mew-tamorphosis now, since Elliott said it himself. Also, Zoey's pose saying, "Mew Mew style, Mew Mew grace, Mew Mew power, in your face!", also seems to be used in every episode.

"I'm so smooth, I'm so cool, I'm so awesome, I'm so...so..."

This was said with a funky little rap beat in the background. In the original, Ichigo was just mumbling random things.

"Okay, zit check. Oooo, it's still there! Stupid lying acne cream! 24 hours guaranteed, yeah right!"

...That little mark on her nose? Yeah, that was from her falling out of bed and hitting it.

Instead of Ichigo introducing herself, we've got Zoey ranting on how she's gonna be late for her first date. The little intro Ichigo gave was cute, too!

(6 seconds) The scene were Ichigo is running down the street is cut short, because the dub cuts to the opening instead of continuing the scene.

The kana (Japanese writing) on Aoyama's book is erased.

Two "funny symbols"

More kana is erased, this time on the banners in the gym.

Blank banners are strange to cheer with

Even MORE kana is gotten rid of, but this time it's just replaced. The characters on the Red Data Animal Show sign are replaced with "Red Data Animal Exhibit"

The original sign

This one is kinda funky. The words on the computer screen shown after Ichigo walks through the entrance is changed, but not all of them are changed. The original says:

Genome system.operation
Target check
OK
Target scan is carried out
OK
A target gene is opened

Here's a shot of it

While the dub puts:

Performing Red Data DNA Scan
Scanning.....
RED DATA DNA MATCH CONFIRMED.
RED DATA DNA MATCH CONFIRMED.
RED DATA DNA MATCH CONFIRMED.

I saw no reason to change that. Anyone want to clue me in? *looks around* Anyone?

(1 second) Stupid snippet...the Target Analysis Result screen on the computer is cut.

Results!

Yet again, kana is replaced, this time from the booklet that Ichigo's holding.

More "funny symbols"

(7 seconds) Ichigo is squealing about how cute the little pink shop is, and she says that she should take Aoyama there sometime. This is CUT.

Kawaii!

Here's another point where I PHAIL to see any logic. In the original, the computer screens with Ichigo's face and her data are shown, and then Ryou puts his goggles on. In the dub, the scenes are switched, so that Elliott puts his goggles on and then the screens are shown.

The kana on the drink can is DELET'D.

Mmm, juice

(50 seconds) HUGE cut! IMPORTANT SCENE DELET'D!

The cut starts after the screen turns white, and the drink machine is shown falling over. The earthquake ends, and Aoyama stands up with a worried look on his face. The scene changes to Ichigo in a strange, green, bubbly place. An Iriomote Wildcat appears and walks over to Ichigo, who picks it up. They look at each other and smile (yes, the cat smiles) and then the cat jumps into Ichigo. Ichigo remarks that it feels nice

This one scene explains to the viewer why later in the episode Ichigo is acting like a cat. Unless the target audience is really good at drawing conclusions...this didn't need to be cut. And if was for the nudity, there's always Mr. Digital Paint Bucket! He can be used for more than adding/deleting text!

Aoyama on the ground
Ichigo and the kitty

Zoey called Mark after the date, but in the original, she just wanted to talk to him again.

(4 seconds) After falling, Ichigo gets embarrassed and runs off. This is cut and then replaced with a fade out.

Silly girl!

"I think I'll go eat my lunch outside!"

Yet you leave your food INSIDE!

(13 seconds) A flashback to Ichigo's "dream" about the cat is cut, and then the shot showing Aoyama walking out is cut as well.

Steppin' out

It's minor, but it's also a really cute scene that was changed. In the original, when Ichigo is talking to Aoyama she says "Nya" at the end of every sentence. The dub changes this to some silly cat puns...

And here are those cat puns:

"I don't know how, but my landing was purr-fect!"
"Don't worry about meow!"
"Enough about me, how are you feline?"

When Ryou jumps to save Ichigo from the Chimera Animal, he's a black shadow. In the dub, they color his hair in so that it's blonde.

Mysterious black shadow man

The mark on Ichigo's leg that shows she's a Mew Mew is erased.

Spiffy mark

(5 seconds) Another flashback of the scene with Ichigo and the cat is cut.

(7 seconds) The beginning of the transformation is cut. The dub starts with the front shot, with shadows erased, of course.

DNA!

(3 seconds) The end of the transformation is cut. The end, meaning, her cute little pose.

Kitty pose

(3 seconds) The scene with Ichigo panicking on a background of strawberries is cut.

But they're cute clothes...

When Zoey uses "Strawberry Bell, Full Power!" her spinning is about twice as fast as it was in the original.

(7 seconds) The scene where Ryou grabs Ichigo's face and talks to her is cut.

Insert witty comment here

The next episode preview...it was...just...*shakes head* It barely showed any scenes FROM the next episode, and it was more of a character profile thing of Corina with a bunch of shots of her. Wonder if they'll do the same thing for Lettuce...

Total Retained 74%