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Berry Shirayuki is a cheerful and optimistic 12-year-old girl who has just been accepted into an exclusive private girls' school after diligently studying for her exams. Despite some friendly but unwanted remarks from her next-door neighbor Tasuku Meguro, everything seems to be going smoothly for this newly-minted middle schooler! However, after the first day of school, Berry's life takes an unexpected turn when she is saved from tripping on some stairs by a mysterious blonde-haired boy. Eager to thank him, she follows him to Café Mew Mew, where she accidentally stumbles upon a glowing statue that projects visions of a cat and rabbit. Suddenly, these creatures enter her body, transforming her into a magical girl dressed in white with bunny ears and a cat tail!
As strange incidents begin to unfold, Berry discovers that she now possesses incredible hearing and jumping abilities, along with an unusual craving for carrots. She soon realizes that she has become the newest member of Tokyo Mew Mew—a group of magical girl superheroes with both animal-like and supernatural powers. With her new responsibilities as a protector of peace, Berry must take her role seriously, especially since she has become a target for Tokyo Mew Mew's new enemy—who are hunting for some fresh rabbit.
Included one-shot:
Volume 2: Usagi no Furasu HoshiTokyo Mew Mew à La Mode was published in English by Tokyopop from July 7, 2005, to September 13, 2005. Kodansha Comics USA later republished the series with a new translation as a single omnibus edition on January 14, 2014.
There were numerous downsides to this series. The plot didn't kick in until chapter 8, which was the third-to-last chapter. What's the deal with that? When I pick up a sequel, I anticipate a compelling storyline, not a confusing mix of magical girl elements and slice-of-life themes. The feeble attempt at weaving in a romantic subplot only made matters worse. Losing Rieko Yoshida was undoubtedly a significant loss for the writers. I wouldn't consider rereading this at all. The sole redeeming quality was maintaining the art style from the original series. This series barely deserved a rating of 6.
Absolutely AWFUL. The departure of Yoshida Reiko significantly affected the series. While Tokyo Mew Mew was fantastic, A La Mode is far from it. Berii (or Berry, as Tokyopop refers to her) is as much of a Mary Sue as you'd find in most fanfiction.net stories. The characters behave out of character, and Ichigo is sidelined and severely weakened to give the Playboy Bunny an opportunity to mesmerize her friends into adoring her. Ikumi Mia's artwork remains exceptional, but the storyline has greatly deteriorated. Do yourself a favor and stick with the original series.
Art: The artwork is fantastic. I'm a big fan of Arina Tanemura's style, particularly how cute it is.
Story: The storyline is decent. It’s neither outstanding nor terrible; it sits somewhere in the middle.
Characters: The main characters are incredibly endearing. I found myself falling for both of them as a pair. They are unbelievably sweet together. Every page featuring them exudes an overwhelming cuteness. This is definitely a positive aspect, as the main characters are very well-developed.
Creating a follow-up without ruining the original can be quite challenging. While I do enjoy this series to some extent, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Tokyo Mew Mew.
This tale featured adorable illustrations, yet it mirrored the essence of Tokyo Mew Mew without much originality. The journey of Berrii, also known as Berry, is essentially a revised account of Ichigo's life, overshadowing the entire narrative. This manga does not stand as a masterpiece; the primary appeal seems to lie in appreciating its artwork.
Tokyo Mew Mew a La Mode
Meaning:
What the hell is happening here?
I was patient. I thought, "Wow, my childhood is coming back." But I was disappointed—seriously.
There's this girl, Berry, who transforms into some kind of rabbit and is supposed to be a replacement for Ichigo. Awesome! —sarcasm intended. She has her own love story, but it's pretty lame compared to Ichigo's. I could have tolerated that, but honestly, I didn't want to. I stuck with it until the end, and it was such a waste of time.
The art is as usual, but the character ratings are baffling. I don't get why Ichigo was only around for such a short time. I missed her, just like I missed the other girls. They just weren't the same anymore. Purin reminded me how great she is, and that’s the only reason I dropped my character rating by just one point. Only thanks to Purin!
I also didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first series, so that score went down too.
To me, it's a fair 5 out of 10. But if you're thinking about reading it, don't. Especially if you loved the first series or the first seven volumes. Do it out of respect for your memories of Tokyo Mew Mew!
It's a cute story and all, but other reviewers are correct: Berry completely sidelined Ichigo, which is really not okay. She comes off as quite obnoxious, and it feels like the writer for A La Mode was chosen from a pile of poorly written TMM fanfictions.
The artwork, however, is stunning. Apart from the beautiful art, another noteworthy aspect is that there are only two books in the A La Mode series.
In summary, if you enjoy manga with beautifully crafted illustrations but a storyline that seems like something straight out of ff.net, then this manga is definitely for you!
I cannot recommend this series. It's nearly an exact copy of the original Tokyo Mew Mew, but executed poorly. The main character, Berii (Berry), is undoubtedly a Mary Sue. Her portrayal in the series is quite annoying; to be completely honest, she was one of the reasons I almost stopped reading the manga. She outright replaced Ichigo and somehow instantly befriended all the characters. The storyline remains the same, but it's far more tedious. The only redeeming quality of A La Mode is its art, which is roughly on par with the original series. I read it once and will never pick it up again.
Yeah... this is just awfully terrible...
I loved Tokyo Mew Mew because it was the first step I took right before I became an otaku. But when I read this, it was like, WTF?? Ichigo's place is completely "REPLACED." It is not a change of generation but fully replaced. The fact that that Berry girl has 2 animal DNA just feels so greedy for cuteness. Even Ringo from the TMM game only has 1 animal DNA, even though she doesn't really have animal DNA within her. So for me, it was a total letdown. I completed the manga just to see Ichigo again.