Tokyo Mew Mew New Anime Unveils Main Staff, 2022 TV Premiere

The live-streamed "Tokyo Mew Mew New Anime News & Cast Unit Unveiling Online Event '1st MEW▽ting'" announced on Monday the main staff and 2022 broadcast premiere for Tokyo Mew Mew New, the all-new anime of Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi's Tokyo Mew Mew manga. The event also unveiled a new teaser visual:

Takahiro Natori (Aria the Crepuscolo, Cannon Busters) is directing the anime at Yumeta Company and Graphinica, and Yuka Yamada (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Bungaku Shōjo, Neo Angelique Abyss) is in charge of the series scripts. Satoshi Ishino (Date A Live, No. 6) is designing the characters, and Toshiki Kameyama is directing the sound.

As announced at the beginning of the month, the main cast includes:

Yūki Tenma as Ichigo

Mirai Hinata as Mint Aizawa, Ryōko Jūni as Lettuce Midorikawa

Rian Toda as Pudding Fong, Momoka Ishii as Zakuro Fujiwara

The five main cast members are forming a unit named Smewthie, and their first single will digitally launch on March 22. The single features the "bitter sweet darling" and "Resolution of colors" songs used in the open auditions for the role of Ichigo, except the single's versions feature all five members. In addition, the single will have the instrumental versions of both songs and solo versions of "bitter sweet darling" by each of the cast members.

Smewthie goods are exclusively available on Pony Canyon's Canime site to commemorate Monday's stream. The goods include metal badges with exclusive photos of the five cast members, a six-photograph bromide set, and a cat-eared hoodie jacket with the unit's logo.

The anime follows Ichigo Momomiya, a girl who transforms into Mew Ichigo (Strawberry) with the power of the Iriomote leopard cat to save Earth from parasitic Chimera Anima aliens.

The anime will mark the 20th anniversary of the manga, as well as the 65th anniversary of Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine, which originally serialized it. Staff announced the anime in April 2020.

The "Tokyo Mew Mew New Seiyū Idol Auditions" began accepting applications in April 2020 to fill the main cast roles. The open audition process ran through spring and summer via the audition app mysta. The auditions were open to females from elementary-school age through 30 years old. The chosen applicants will received an exclusive contract with Pony Canyon's Swallow agency.

Yoshida and Ikumi serialized their original Tokyo Mew Mew magical girl manga from 2000 to 2003 (with Kodansha credited for the franchise's original concept), and Tokyopop published all seven volumes in English. Kodansha Comics released the manga in three omnibus volumes with a new translation in 2011.

The manga inspired a 52-episode television anime series from 2002 to 2003, and 4Kids Entertainment aired the anime with the title Mew Mew Power in 2005. Yoshida and Ikumi also serialized a sequel manga titled Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode from 2003 to 2004, and Kodansha Comics published the manga in English.

The franchise launched a new manga series by Madoka Seizuki titled Tokyo Mew Mew Ōre in November 2019. The new Tokyo Mew Mew manga focuses on male characters instead of the female characters of the previous manga and anime.

Yoshida and Ikumi published a new two-chapter manga Tokyo Mew Mew 2020 Re-Turn in December 2019 and January 2020.

Sources: Tokyo Mew Mew New anime's website, Comic Natalie