Tokyo Mew Mew New Prologue! Part Three: RecapNovember 22, 2020 marked the release of part three of t

Tokyo Mew Mew New Prologue! Part Three: Recap

November 22, 2020 marked the release of part three of the Tokyo Mew Mew New Prologue series, an online documentary showing us a look behind-the-scenes into the audition process and casting of Ichigo Momomiya in the new animation project, “Tokyo Mew Mew New”, announced on April 2, 2020 for Nakayoshi’s 65th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of Tokyo Mew Mew.

The documentary is narrated by Saki Nakajima, the voice of Ichigo in the original 2002 animation and subsequent video games.

This episode focused on three more of the twelve audition finalists, picked by judges and by fans on the “mysta” app out of the 57 entries that made it through all three stages of the screening process to attend the Event Screening. According to the documentary, there were some 3,000+ applicants in total!

The Event Screening consisted of two parts: reading lines on stage and singing and dancing to the new song “bitter sweet darling”. Judges for the event included opera singer and vocal director Sugai Hidenori, dancer and choreographer SA.KANA, director of audiography Kameyama Toshiki, editor-in-chief of Nakayoshi magazine Suda Shukuko and Yoshida Takeshi, a representative on behalf of Pony Canyon/Swallow.

Highlighted this episode were:

Entry 1543: Ange.“Before I play [a role], I imagine the atmosphere, and read the lines to fit in it.” Ange was one of several contestants to attend remotely. Like many others, she expressed a dream to play a character as a voice actor which she has held since elementary school. “I’m good at switching my natural voice to the character’s voice,” she explained. “That’s my strength. On the other hand, I struggled with memorizing the choreography.” Though she worried the challenge of the audition might prove too difficult, she saw it as a chance to get closer to her dream.

“I see it’s your natural voice which rings true. You have the advantage in your voice,” Kameyama Toshiki told her. “[…] That means a lot. You should be aware of that advantage.”

Entry 358: Rechoupa. “I love play-acting. I’ve loved watching anime and imitating lines since I was little.” Rechoupa has wanted to be a voice actor since she was in the 4th grade. She explained that seeking out auditions has become a daily task as she’d hoped to make her debut in high school, but is now in her senior year. “I will enjoy myself and definitely show my appreciation,” she said. She admitted that she is not a good singer but has practiced hard. Because of all of the dancing and jumping around, she built up her physical strength to help keep her voice stable while singing. She currently attends a training school through a voice acting college.

“I see that your foundation has almost been built,” Kameyama Toshiki said. “I suppose you can see that you will make it with more training. Keep it up!”

The episode took a short break to show some footage of the team setting up the venue for the event screening as well as contestants greeting one another and going through the sign-in process.

Entry 1456: Momoty. “My appeal points are strong passion and healing power. My friends kindly tell me that their worries are blown away by just being with me. I’d like to bring happiness to all of the audience with my healing power!” She has wanted to be a voice actor since elementary school and also attends the concerts of her favorite idols. “I’m studying at voice acting college to be a voice actor idol who’s good at both singing and dancing,” she said. She explained that her heart was pounding with excitement rather than nerves. While she felt that she isn’t good at dancing, she started doing work outs and then practiced dancing in the studio and at night in the park. “I really like Tokyo Mew Mew. It brought me dreams when I was little. If I can play that heroine, there is nothing greater than that,” she said.

Kameyama Toshiki told her that he heard her lines clearly but questioned the age of the Ichigo she was playing. When Momoty said that her Ichigo was a teenager, he went on to say, “Well, it seems not perfectly based on the original story. The Ichigo you played.” (Note: Ichigo is 12-13 years old.) He advised her to find a way to get closer to the original setting.

The next episode will be released on December 2, 2020. With new episodes appearing on the 2nd, 12th, and 22nd of every month, we can expect the next episode to share with us the last three finalists. The winner of the audition has been decided and will be announced in a later program. Following the current trajectory of these episodes, it seems likely that we’ll learn something about the final round of auditions from the December 12th release, but only time will tell!

The Tokyo Mew Mew New twitter account is continuing to encourage feedback from fans outside of Japan, and has gone back to prior episodes to include an official translation of the lines the girls performed on stage. The most recent video can be found here.

Tokyo Mew Mew was first released as a manga in Nakayoshi magazine, appearing in issues from 2000-2003, and Tokyo Mew Mew a la mode through 2004.