International adaptations of Tokyo Mew Mew
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The following is about several international adaptations of Tokyo Mew Mew.
Contents |
[edit] USA English adaptation: Mew Mew Power
| Common rating | |
|---|---|
| Australia | G |
| Canada | C8 |
| United States | TV-Y7 FV |
[edit] Alterations
4Kids originally intended to change the anime's title to "Hollywood Mew Mew." Later, the company tentatively changed the program's title back to "Tokyo Mew Mew," even listing it as such on their website. It was then changed to "Mew Mew".[1] The title "Mew Mew Power" was chosen shortly before the show began airing on North American television.
The North American adaptation of the anime features several serious alterations, including renaming the characters, a different opening sequence and theme song, shortening of transformation sequences [mostly because of the beginning showing nudity], and whole sequence cuts and rearrangements. It also seemed to take off the focus of saving the environment, and mainly focusing on love, which is strange, as environmental protection would be good for kids to know about. Almost anything related to the environment was cut, including scenes of the cicada in episode twelve (Mew Mew Power's premiere episode). The changes also includes Ichigo saying the hip-hop styled "Mew mew style, mew mew grace! Mew mew power in your face!" in place of her original battle cry. There was also editing of content and dialogue changes in consideration of parents of American children; examples include adding puns to the script using the word "mew" and a lot of cat-oriented jokes. This severely upset many fans of the original show. There also was cutting of the relationship between Dren and Zoey, making it seem like Dren was only in a one-sided relationship. This is not the case, as in the last episode of Tokyo Mew Mew, Ichigo's feelings for Kish plays a vital role, as it allows Deep Blue's control of Masaya to be broken, via his foretelling dream. Around 70% - 86% of the original content was kept.[2]
On another sidenote, some of the love relationships being cut in the dub Tokyo Mew Mew is very similar to Nelvana's treatment of Cardcaptor Sakura. Also, the Mew puns being used in the script is very similar to the Negaverse puns that were used in the english script in Sailor Moon.
It is yet unclear if this show will make it to the last episode in the United States due to the graphic content of the final two episodes.
Early on, Tokyo Mew Mew is more light-hearted in tone than Sailor Moon; during later episodes, the show ends up taking a darker approach. For example, in some episodes, Kish sustains near fatal injuries, and there are certain violent scenes where Kish shows a darker, crueler side. It could be difficult for 4Kids to tone down these aspects of the show. Because of this, the remaining episodes of Tokyo Mew Mew can get a treatment similar to DiC Entertainment's dubbed version of Sailor Moon. This means that 4Kids might have to end up cutting some of the intense later episodes and merge them into one episode, similar to how DiC handled the final two episodes of the Dark kingdom arc in Sailor Moon.
Despite the dark contents in the later episodes, Tokyo Mew Mew still remains lighter in tone overall. However, it is unknown how 4Kids would handle the remaining episodes.
[edit] Problems with the series
4Kids does not have the rights to the second half of the series and can only air episodes up until episode 26, which they have not done. Reportedly, 4Kids is trying to obtain a license for the second half as they do not want Mew Mew Power to be cancelled; otherwise, the story would still be left hanging at episode 26.[3]
[edit] On hiatus
Mew Mew Power is on hiatus, seemingly cancelled in North America on at least two occasions. The show was dropped on Saturday, November 19, 2005. Episode 24 was to be aired on Saturday, December 24, 2005, as it was announced that 4Kids will continue with it, but it did not air. The show eventually returned on Saturday, December 31, 2005 only to be cancelled in January 2006. Six months afterwards, the show once again returned to 4Kids on Saturday, July 8, 2006, and yet again it was cancelled on Saturday, July 22, 2006. It is yet unclear what will become of Mew Mew Power; it will probably take time for 4Kids. Only 23 episodes have been aired in the United States (26 in Canada, Australia, and other countries) with a possible 29 (26 in the other countries) episodes remaining.
Australia, South America, Brazil, Canada and South Africa are the only countries to air the full run of the dubbed Mew Mew Power. 4Kids has yet to air the last three episodes of Season One in North America. Australia's Manga Pacific released the first 10 dubbed (4Kids) episodes of Mew Mew Power on DVD in two volumes on July 5, 2006. Volume one contains episodes one through six, while volume two contains episodes seven through ten.
[edit] A possible future?
Currently, there is no news on when will the show return, but some fans believe it will reappear in April of 2007, or sometime in 2008. However, there is little chance this will happen, as 4Kids still does not own the rights to the second half of the series. Therefore, it's possible that another company will dub the second half of Tokyo Mew Mew, and possibly re-dub the first half as well (similar to Sailor Moon's treatment, where the first two seasons were dubbed by DiC, then Cloverway took over the next two seasons); however, this is very unlikely. (Cardcaptor Sakura was another shoujo anime that got another similar treatment when the show was originally dubbed by Nelvana, until Geneon took over releasing uncut DVDs redubbing the entire series with a different voice cast).
[edit] Story
The story in Mew Mew Power is basically the same, but the premiere episode (formerly episode 12 in the original series) was greatly altered (70% original content kept).[4] Because of this, the other episodes had to be altered as well, so that the events in episode 12 seemingly never happened. This "premiere episode" was originally intended to be a sneak peek back in the summer of 2004, when 4Kids TV was still the Fox Box. They ran a poll for the new fall shows Mew Mew Power, One Piece, and F-Zero GP Legend, and viewers could visit their website to vote for which shows they wanted to have on the air first. Mew Mew Power and One Piece were neck and neck throughout the poll, with F-Zero in last place. Just when it seemed Mew Mew Power was going to win, F-Zero suddenly won instead, leading some people to believe that 4Kids had rigged the poll.[5] The sneak peek episode would premiere in February 2005, in the slot being held by The Cramp Twins, but it would only be a sneak peek as it was announced that the series would air in the fall of 2005. However, 4Kids cancelled The Cramp Twins and decided to continue airing Mew Mew Power in its slot. It is also rumored that 4Kids wanted to save Mew Mew Power, which was winning the poll, for February sweeps.
[edit] YouTube video deletion
Many Tokyo Mew Mew related videos have been deleted off of YouTube by 4Kids for copyright infringement. Many fans think 4Kids is overstepping their power by doing this, as Mew Mew Power has been dropped for a long time, and they only own the first half of the series. However, as 4Kids still owns episodes one through 26, and YouTube already has a warning against uploading videos with copyrighted material, 4Kids has a right to delete any video using clips from episodes one through 26 of Tokyo Mew Mew. Even with Japanese videos, 4Kids places requests for them to be taken down. This is one of the many reasons why many people who watch fansubs despise 4Kids.
[edit] Italian adaptation: Mew Mew: Amiche Vincenti (Mew Mew: Winning Friends)
The Italian version of the anime does not cut out or alter too much.
[edit] Alterations
The major change is in the names. The following are the names of the characters from Tokyo Mew Mew and their names in Mew Mew: Amiche Vincenti.[6]
[edit] Protagonists
[edit] Mew Mews
- Ichigo: Name is translated to Strawberry, and her Mew name is Mew Berry.
- Mint: Name is changed to Mina.
- Lettuce: Name is changed to Lory.
- Pudding: Name is changed to Paddy.
- Zakuro: Name is changed to Pam.
[edit] Friends
- Masaya: Name is changed to Mark, the same as the 4kids adaptation.
- Ryou: Name is changed to Ryan
- Keiichiro: Name is changed to Kai or Kyle[verification needed]
- Masha: Name is changed to Mash
[edit] Antagonists
- Kish: Name is changed to Kisch, which looks like a vague varitation of Kish, or Quiche. [verification needed]
- Tart: Name is unchanged.
- Pie: Name is unchanged.
- Deep Blue: Translated to Italian as Profondo Blu.
- The Blue Knight: Translated to Italian as Cavaliere Blu.
- Chimera Anima: Are called Chimeri.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Rei: Name is unchanged. She is Keiichiro's ex-girlfriend.
- Miwa and Moe: Names are changed to Mimi and Megan, the same as the 4kids adaptation.
The last name of the characters are unchanged, but are not mentioned most of the time. There are some possibly deliberate mis-translations of some names.
[edit] Episode Titles
- 1: Trasformazione gatto (Cat Transformation)
- 2: Una Nuova Amica (One New Friend)
- 3: Il Fantasma Della Scuola (The Ghost of the School)
- 4: Appuntamento Con Spavento (Appointment with Fright)
- 5: Ginnasta Esordiente (???)
- 6: La Forza Della Musica (The Force of Music)
- 7: Il Debutto di Paddy (Paddy's Debut)
- 8: Una Montagna da Salvare (One Mountain to Save)
- 9: Il Fratello (The Brother)
- 10: La Squadra si Completa (The Team is Complete)
- 11: Si Comincia da Cinque (The Beginning of Five)
- 12: L'ombra del Ciliegio (The Shadow of the Cherry Tree)
- 13: Il Richiamo del Cuore (The Heart's Callback)
- 14: L'amore Perduto (The Lost Love)
- 15: Mash Alla Riscossa (Recovering Mash)
- 16: Primo Tenero Amore (First Tender Love)
- 17: Un Cavaliere All'orizzonte (A Knight in the Horizon)
- 18: Confusione dei Mezza Estate (Confusion in an Average Summer)
- 19: Un Tuffo Nella Luce (A Dive in the Light)
- 20: Piccola Mamma (Small Mother)
- 21: Litigi e Amicizia (???)
- 22: Emegenza Compiti (Emergency Tasks)
- 23: Giovani Ammiratrici (Young Admirers)
- 24: Il Gioiello Conteso (The Jewel Contest)
- 25: Il Bozzolo del Pericolo (The Cocoon of Danger)
- 26: La Luce Della Vittoria (The Light of Victory)
- 27: Sogni e Segreti (Dreams and Secrets)
- 28: Il Bacio del Gatto (The Kiss of a Cat)
- 29: Al Cuore non si Comanda (???)
- 30: La Sfera di Cristallo (The Crystal Ball)
- 31: Un Papà Geloso (A Father's Jealosy)
- 32: Una Questione di Classe (One Class Issue)
- 33: Un Fidanzato per Paddy (A Fiancèe for Paddy)
- 34: Fidarsi è Bene... (To Trust Itself is Well…)
- 35: Il Compleanno di Momoka (Momoka's Birthday)
- 36: Il passato di Ryan (Ryan's Past)
- 37: Lacrima Lucente (Shining Tear)
- 38: Il Natale dei Segreti (The Christmas of Secrets)
- 39: I Sogni Rubati (Stolen Dreams)
- 40: Pericolo Allo Stadio (Danger to the Stage)
- 41: Chimeri Inquinanti (Polluting Chimeras)
- 42: Il Dilemma di Pam (Pam's Dilemma)
- 43: Amica o Nemica (Friend or Enemy)
- 44: Giungla in Città (Jungle in the City)
- 45: Il Cavaliere...Smascherato (The Knight...Unmasked)
- 46: La Luce nel Fiume (The Light in the River)
- 47: Il Cavaliere Blu è in Pericolo (The Blue Knight is in Danger)
- 48: Il Labirinto (The Maze)
- 49: Il Risveglio di Profondo Blu (The Awakening of Deep Blue)
- 50: Io Sono Una Mew Mew (I am a Mew Mew)
- 51: Lo Scontro Finale (The Final Clash)
- 52: Mew Mew Angeli Protettori (Mew Mew Protecting Angels)
[edit] Episode Alterations
When Miwa is in Okinawa with her parents, it was changed to her being at sea with her parents. Later, they changed Miwa to ask Ichigo, what souvenir she wants her to bring her from the sea, rather than what present she wants her to bring her from Okinawa. The two references to yens, and the two references to Okinawa were removed, but in the same episode, Moe's name is written in hiragana on Ichigo's cell phone.
In the episode 46 or 47, an insert song with Japanese lyrics was changed to the tune that plays when Ichigo is using "Reborn Strawberry Check". [verification needed]
Everything is mostly kept intact, including the setting of the anime, which is still Japan.
The anime has a new opening song, which is also the ending song at the same time. It has the same title as the anime, and it's sung by the famous Italian singer for cartoon/anime openings and endings, Cristina D'Avena.
The reference to the curreny of Japan (yen) was changed.
The main reason of disappointment among the fans is the dub of the Blue Knight and Deep Blue, as their voice actor changed during the series, to match that of Masaya/Mark when nearing the end.
