myjudsie

[myjudsie]

TOKYO MEW MEW REWATCH - EP 45

- Saprai la verità molto presto.

Ma perché? Ma che ne sa Ryou, che logicamente dovrebbe essere confuso come tutti gli altri! Questa è una delle parti dove New ha fatto un miglioramento: eliminare tutto il teatrino dei sospetti su di lui, e mostrarlo mentre cerca risposte insieme agli altri invece di fargli dire frasi a effetto canis mentulae.

Ah, nel doppiaggio italiano si parla di bisboccia tutta notte. Mica male. I sottotitoli inglesi fanno qualcosa di molto più allusivo, e io nuovamente resto con il dubbio amletico di 'ma quale sarà quello più fedele all'originale?'.

- Sì, finalmente l'idea giusta per risolvere quel buco di trama ... e le parole giuste per fare fluire quel dialogo in piena coerenza con tutti i personaggi... questa scena verrà benissimo, sì. No, aspetta, ora devo mettermi lì e scriverla io?

Come sarebbe a dire che non è così che è andato questo monologo?

- Okay mettiti al lavoro, io vado a lavare i piatti.

- Ma scusa non avevi detto che mi avresti insegnato?

- Se lo facessi io per te non varrebbe molto!

A' Faccia de Culo, non è quello che ti ha chiesto! C'è una zona grigia tra 'fare il lavoro al posto di qualcuno' e 'mollargli un libro e dirgli di attaccarsi', e quella zona grigia si chiama appunto 'insegnare'!

E lei che ci crede pure. Logica shojo.

Ecco, dopo che lei ha quasi demolito la cucina lui finalmente si decide a dare una mano. Con Ryou che sta lì a guardare ma con grande dignità e rispetto si astiene dal dire/fare alcunché.

Devo dire che tutta la parte di questo discorso è ... in egual misura disturbante e pietosa. Kisshu ovviamente ha zero considerazione per Ichigo come persona, par de course, ma al tempo stesso si capisce che dopo i ripetuti fallimento su tutti i fronti e l'essere stato allontanato dai suoi compari il suo contatto con la realtà è decisamente tracollato. In particolare per come prospetti a Ichigo di andarsene da soli da tutto e da tutti, dopo essere stato il più ardente propositore della lotta per gli alieni indipendentemente da Deep Blue: questo ormai non capisce più niente.

Bello come siano già arrivati tutti al gran completo, le ragazze già trasformate, e non facciano che rimanere lì impalati a guardare il dramah.

Personalmente apprezzo moltissimo questa scena perché pone un'ottima base al voltafaccia finale di Kisshu. Perlomeno questa del vecchio anime è l'unica delle versioni che ci provi. Nel manga cambia idea ogni due secondi, era lì che gongolava all'idea di uccidere Ichigo pochissimo prima di farsi ammazzare per lei, ma almeno ha avuto un momento in cui ha rinunciato a ucciderla. In New peggio che andar di notte, tenta di strangolare Ichigo dopo la sua crisi di pianto e si ferma solo perché interrotto dal Cavaliere Blu.

In questa versione Kisshu è sempre fuori come un balcone, finché non arriva questo momento in cui crede di avere effettivamente ucciso Ichigo. Per una manciata di secondi ha avuto esattamente quello che pensava di volere, la distruzione della ragazza che l'ha rifiutato, e si è reso conto che no, al contrario, anche vederla con qualcun altro era preferibile al vederla morire. In pratica questa scena ha preso il posto dell'addio finale nel manga, visto che da ora in avanti Kisshu lascerà effettivamente in pace Ichigo - se non in una finta per scatenare il potere del Cavaliere Blu.

Ed ecco qui perché la versione di Kisshu del vecchio anime è la mia preferita: restano fermi i tratti di squilibrio e instabilità, certo, ma c'è un arco caratteriale invece che un cambiamento repentino e apparentemente immotivato.

E se il vecchio anime rende un ottimo servizio a uno dei miei personaggi preferiti, per controbilanciare corre a sminchiarne un altro. 'Scommetto che sei rimasta sorpresa' ... a rigore di logica dovresti esserlo anche tu, Masaya!

Nel manga, e in New, è reso molto ben chiaro che Masaya non è consapevole nella trasformazione ner Cavaliere Aò, anzi, quando lo fa davanti ad Ichigo reagisce con sorpresa lui stesso, e rimane confuso al proprio 'nome da battaglia' come se non l'avesse mai sentito prima.

E questa cosa ha senso, succede poco prima della rivelazione su Deep Blue e nel frattempo nessuno riesce a farsi troppe domande perché ci sono diverse battaglie in rapida successione e non ne hanno il tempo materiale.

Ma se Masaya fosse stato consapevole fin dall'inizio come questa versione sembra implicare ... la cosa non sta in piedi. Masaya per quanto ne sa è un ragazzo normalissimo, se di colpo si fosse trovato con la capacità di trasformarsi in guerriero alieno avrebbe avuto un milione di domande. E molto probabilmente ne avrebbe parlato con Ichigo, quando lei gli avesse rivelato di essere una Mew Mew: non solo avrebbe avuto un 'segreto' da rivelarle a propria volta, ma forse lei sarebbe stata in grado di dargli risposte, visto che ha subito una trasformazione a sua volta. E sicuramente le avrebbe fatto comodo un alleato sempre con lei, invece di fargli comprendere il pericolo col sesto senso o roba del genere.

Poi, la reazione degli altri: lì tranquilli che guardano la scena, al massimo sono sembrati un po' sorpresi al momento. Altro che lasciarli mangiare i cioccolatini, avrebbero dovuto fare a Masaya un terzo grado che CIA scansate proprio, soprattutto perché alla rivelazione si sarebbe aggiunto il fattore 'perché minchia l'hai tenuto nascosto scusa'.

COS'È.

[myjudsie]

15th March

Happy birthday to the character who basically changed my life.

Happy birthday, Ichigo Momomiya, I love you ❤️

#tokyo mew mew #tmm #ichigo #ichigo momomiya #momomiya ichigo #mew ichigo #birthday #fanart #my art

[myjudsie]

Last purchases~

🍓 A Tokyo Kuroneko Musume (Tokyo Black Cat Girl) doujinshi with olographic postcard

🍓 Ryou Shirogane pin

🍓 Mew Lettuce 2003 mini figure

🍓 Ichigo Momomiya 2023 Easter acrylic figure

#tokyo mew mew #tokyo mew mew new #tmm #tmmn #tmm new #mew mew #mewmew #ichigo momomiya #lettuce midorikawa #ryou shirogane #hime azumi #tokyo kuroneko musume #tokyo black cat girl #doujinshi #collection #collectibles

[myjudsie]

Ichigo x Ryou「AMV」|| Bad Dream - Nerv

I L O V E T H I S ❤️❤️❤️

Ichiryou is my favourite ship since almost 20 years, I love them so much, and so do @amy24r, who made this beautiful AMV. ❤️

Ryou and Ichigo deserve(d) more. ❤️

#tokyo mew mew #tokyo mew mew new #tmm #ichigo #ichigo momomiya #ryou #ryou shirogane #ichiryou #ryouchigo #ichigo x ryou #ryou x ichigo #amv #Youtube

[myjudsie]

Mia Ikumi Collaborative Manga, Baying Shakedown - English Part 2 (FINAL)

Download HERE

Credits: Scanner - MissDream Blog

Cleaning, Translation, Typesetting - Berrychanx PART 1 HERE

[myjudsie]

Mia Ikumi Collaborative Manga, Baying Shakedown - English Part 1

ENGLISH DOWNLOAD HERE Credits Scanner - ephemewra Translator, Cleaning, Typesetting - BerryChanx Source - Nakoyashi February 1999

なかよし　1999年2月号 吠える大捜査線

About

The story involves the main characters from the artists’ manga stories visiting the home of the Nakayoshi Editor In Chief to deliver presents for his dog’s birthday. The dog is injured, however, and the girls proceed to investigate. The title seems to be a pun on 踊る, or Bayside, with 吠える replacing 踊る. In this case, I believe 吠える refers to a specific way in which some dogs howl or bark, called baying, thus phonetically parodying the original.

Enjoy P.S - FOR NOW THE STORY IS INCOMPLETE UNTIL THE VOLUME WITH PART 2 IS FOUND FOR SALE

Original Post HERE

[myjudsie]

Media: Mia Ikumi Collaborative Manga, Baying Shakedown, 吠える大捜査線, Part I Source: Personal Collection Full Resolution Download: ♡ Commentary: Recently, I was looking to pick up some of Mia Ikumi's other manga, like RePure and Super Doll Lica Chan!, and I stumbled across a listing of her work that mentioned a manga I hadn't seen documented anywhere else. It's a collaboration between Ikumi and several other Nakayoshi artists, and is called 吠える大捜査線, or Baying Shakedown. The title is a reference to a Japanese police comedy series called 踊る大捜査線, or Bayside Shakedown. The story involves the main characters from the artists' manga stories visiting the home of the Nakayoshi Editor In Chief to deliver presents for his dog's birthday. The dog is injured, however, and the girls proceed to investigate. The title seems to be a pun on 踊る, or Bayside, with 吠える replacing 踊る. In this case, I believe 吠える refers to a specific way in which some dogs howl or bark, called baying, thus phonetically parodying the original. I haven't been able to translate it yet, but the artwork is nice, and I really like the limited palette of just blues and reds. Unfortunately, this is a two part manga, and I haven't found a copy of the magazine that the concluding half was published in for sale as yet.

[myjudsie]

In love ❤️

🍓 Ichigo and Ryou acrylic figures from Cat!! Shite SuperParty merchandise (I love Ichiryou and the outfits ❤️)

🍓 Kisshu and Pai gorgeous fanmade acrylic figures by beefor_chiken

🍓 4 Tokyo Mew Mew New~ ♡ trading cards

#tokyo mew mew #tokyo mew mew new #mew mew #mewmew #tmm #tmmn #tmm new #mew mew amiche vincenti #mew mew power #collection #collectibles #ichigo momomiya #ichigo #mew ichigo #ryou shirogane #ryou #kisshu #kish #quiche #pai #pie #ichiryou #ryouchigo

[myjudsie]

[myjudsie]

Omori Enka (Mia Ikumi Assistant) Ichigo Fuumi /Ichigo x Ryou Doujin - SMUT´- ENG

いちこ風味 (Ichigo Fuumi) ~ Tokyo Mew Mew Doujinshi by Omori Enka ❤

'Ichigo Fuumi' is a never-seen-before Tokyo Mew Mew doujinshi published in 2003 by Omori Enka, aka 'Rika-chan', one of Ikumi's assistant during Tokyo Mew Mew serialization. Enjoy! ❤

WARNING!! THIS DOUJINSHI IS A NC-17 PRODUCT AND RESERVED TO ADULTS ONLY.

DOWNLOAD in SUPER HD Quality HERE

Scanned and Edited by KuRo93

Cleaning, Typesetting and translated by @berrychanx

About Mia Ikumi Translation Project - READ MORE HERE

[myjudsie]

Mia Ikumi - Auto-Bio / Doujin Mia Kyatto ENGLISH Download

CREDITS

Scans and editing by @kuro93

Cleaning, tyepsetting and Translation by @berrychanx

Proofreading by @hikayagami @ribbonstrawberrysurprise

Download HERE

As the title says this is a doujin released by Mia Ikumi in 99 months BEFORE she won the nakoyashi shoujo award with Sleeping Princess of Strawberry Forest.

This is her second work as an independent mangaka, we get to know more about her personal life and struggles with keeping a job, deadlines for comiket and much more.

Please enjoy

About Mia Ikumi Translation Project - READ MORE HERE

[myjudsie]

Girls Fight! - Mia Ikumi - Oneshot - English

A never before seen, Mia Ikumi, oneshot manga. Download Here

Scanned and Edited by KuRo93 Cleaning, Typesetting and Translated by @berrychanx

Proofreading by @hikayagami @ribbonstrawberrysurprise

About Mia Ikumi Translation Project - READ MORE HERE

[myjudsie]

IKUMI’S TRANSLATION PROJECT by BERRY BERRY SCANS ♥

Hello guys! ♥

I’m KuRo93.

As you may already know, I’m taking care of Ikumi’s Translation Project, which has as its goal to let the world know, read and love Mia Ikumi’s most important mangas. Unfortunately, unless Tokyo Mew Mew, her mangas have been poorly supported outside Japan and have never been scanned or fan-translated from Japanese. Thankfully, most of them have been published in my country, Italy, during the early 2000’s, following the massive success Tokyo Mew Mew had here. I bought a second copy of each Ikumi’s manga volumes published in Italy (Super Doll Licca-chan, Repure and Wish).

I also bought from Japan Girls fight!, an Ikumi’s oneshot published on Nakayoshi in 2004. This one in particular is pretty unknown to…the world.

  I will take care of scanning, translating and editing of the scans and will update the process in this post from time to time ♥ Some people will help me and will be credited for their work ♥ All the works will be signed with the Berry Berry Scans logo to prevent theft of material.

Please, be informed that we all have a life outside here, so we will work on the project when we will have time.

How about Koi Cupid? Koi Cupid has never been published outside Japan and the whole serie is extremely hard to find at the moment. Since we all want to read it, I will do my best to find it and do the same with this manga ♥

Lastly, I want to thank the followers who DONATED to support this project and helped me buying the volume copies. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH! ♥

*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*

HOW IT IS GOING ON~

SUPER DOLL LICCA-CHAN Volume 1 -Scanning COMPLETED! -Editing and cleaning 10% -Translating 0% -Lettering 0%

Volume 2 -Scanning COMPLETED! -Editing and cleaning 10% -Translating 0% -Lettering 0%

REPURE -Scanning 50% -Editing and cleaning 0% -Translating 0% -Lettering 0%

WISH -Scanning 0% -Editing and cleaning 0% -Translating 0% -Lettering 0%

GIRLS FIGHT! -Scanning 0% -Editing and cleaning 0% -Translating 0% -Lettering 0%

KOI CUPID TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*

[myjudsie]

Possible Mia Ikumi Doujin Penname

First off, thanks to @berrychanx who found the initial doujin listing and @kuro93 who I know also looked into this and bought some of her works! Second off, warning for some suggestive doujin covers and other art, although there's nothing truly explicit.

First things first, I want to say that I sat on this information for a little bit considering if it was appropriate to speculate since Ikumi never chose to make this connection publicly. Ultimately I've decided to go through with it since imo the artstyle is instantly recognizable, so it'd come out eventually. I also found some still-up online accounts associated with this penname, and I know that's a thing the fandom has wanted to see for a long time. I'd ask that you please be respectful with this info and keep in mind it is NOT confirmed and that Mia Ikumi has passed away.

I'd also like to make clear that I'm totally uninterested in trying to figure out her birth name or track down any other personal info on her life that she didn't choose to share in doujin, her website, manga notes, interviews, etc. That feels very out of line. Finding other pennames can help us fans catalogue more of her work, but finding her real identity does nothing but violate her privacy.

So that's kind of where I'm at right now. If you feel differently about whether it's right to speculate on Ikumi's doujin works, or if you don't want to see anything even a little suggestive, please turn back now.

We know for sure that Mia Ikumi was a penname, since that was confirmed in ads for Re-Turn when she changed one of the characters.

征海美亜 ＊征海未亜よりペンネーム変更されました Ikumi Mia *Ikumi Mia yori penneemu henkou saremashita Mia Ikumi (征海美亜) *[Her] penname was changed/altered/revised from Mia Ikumi (征海未亜)

Prior to her return to Nakayoshi with some TMM anniversary art and then the 2020 Re-Turn short, the last work she published under that name was Koi Cupid, way back in 2005-08.

There's always been speculation as to whether she continued drawing manga under a different penname, but there was never any official word from her once her website went down, since she was not active under that name under any social media or on Pixiv. We also had no idea how her art might have evolved in the years since her last official release, so there was no guarantee we'd recognize any work of hers if we saw it. The first anyone saw of her art post-website was back in 2015 when she drew some art of Ichigo and then Ichigo, Mint, and Lettuce for the 60th anniversary of Nakayoshi.

https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/132481043559/more-nakayoshi-60th-anniversary-mew-mew-art-from https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/118704238761/ichigo-momomiya-in-her-cafe-mew-mew-uniform-drawn https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/130755109662/new-picture-of-ichigo-minto-retasu-drawn-by

As you can see, this art featured a pretty different art style than she'd had 2 decades back.

(Sidenote: it seems she also did some art for the 55th anniversary, back in 2010, but this is much closer to the dates when she was working under the Mia Ikumi name and has roughly the same art style as OG TMM: https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/151430694480/doodles-of-ichigo-and-berry-drawn-by-mia-ikumi )

Obviously, starting in 2019, she then went on to release the two-shot manga TMM 2020 Re-Turn, some miscellaneous promo art (Blu-ray bonus comic, Alice in Wonderland merch, Smewthie fanart, etc.), and finally new covers and bonus comics for most of the rereleased manga volumes before her passing. Between the works she published in the 90s-early 2000s and all of this new art, we have a pretty good sample size of her artstyle over time. So it was only a matter of time before someone stumbled on something familiar looking…

Berrychanx found a listing (https://jp.mercari.com/item/m11046282201 ) for an Idolmaster doujin called Room Fight! created as a collab between 2 doujin circles/artists: Nameless Color (ねーむれすからー) and Komomo+ (こももぷらす), published by Poco Poco in 2014. The seller specifically noted that the style looks very similar to Mia Ikumi's, and it's very hard to argue! The hands especially look the way that Ikumi has always drawn them, and the eyes, facial expressions, and hair shading is pretty much one to one for Re-Turn.

Nameless Color has some other works, but they aren't in this same artstyle at all. Therefore, the one whose style matches Mia Ikumi's is Komomo+.

https://doujinrepublic.com/product/tag_page.html?tags=85361&ref=product_page&type=rel_tag_circle

As far as I can tell, the doujin circle is named Poco Poco, and the artist's penname is Komomo Kozakura (小桜小桃) or later Komomo (小桃) or Komomo+ (written as こももぷらす). There's a lot of variation in which spelling is used across doujin sites, and sometimes Komomo is listed as the circle name rather than Poco Poco, but I'm unsure as to whether this is a change in how presumed-Ikumi branded herself or just a lack of organization in the websites. Also, the Room Fight! doujin is categorized under komomo+ (https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/ZHORE153927) and under Komomo Kozakura (https://ecs.toranoana.jp/tora/ec/item/040030276511/ ), so I’m sure they’re the same person and not just 2 people in the same circle.

Here are the titles I could find under all of these names across various websites in approximate publishing order:

https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&ck=true&inStock=On&person_id=1051050 https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&ck=true&inStock=On&person_id=2874482 https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&person_id=2864627 https://ecs.toranoana.jp/tora/ec/cot/circle/LUPA2D6P8476d16Qd687/all/

The main fandoms are Idolmaster, Kantai Collection, and Strike Witches. It's immediately obvious how much they look like Ikumi's style, from small details like the faces to larger things like how she tends to pose characters on her covers. They range from 2008-2016, and you can see that earlier works look a little more like her TMM-era art while later stuff is way more Re-Turn.

So is that all the new info? Do we need to track down and buy these doujin to get any more new info on Mia Ikumi? Well, that’s definitely a thing you can do! But there’s one other avenue.

You see, the title page of Girls Fight! does lead to a now defunct webpage: pocopoco.sblo.jp

https://web.archive.org/web/20081201000000*/pocopoco.sblo.jp

The Wayback Machine has 5 captures for this website: 12/31/08, 2/25/11, 6/3/13, 4/25/16, and 3/14/23. The latest one just shows the same error page not found message as if you try and go to the site now, but the others all have blog entries ranging from 2008 to the end of 2015 (i.e., starting RIGHT after the end of Koi Cupid/Mia Ikumi's professionally published/official manga career).

https://web.archive.org/web/20090103031628/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/20797588.html https://web.archive.org/web/20160425011557/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/170290508.html

Mostly these posts are either drawings or advertisements for a new book she's selling at a con or online by mail order, so there’s a whole bunch of new art. (Warning: there's nothing outright nsfw, but some of these images are probably the most suggestive ones I link in this post, moreso than even most of the doujin covers. Use your own judgment!) The rest of the posts are personal diary entries.

(Sidenote: I am NOT going to translate this whole blog because there’s a whole bunch of text! I looked through the available pages, and the auto-translated version is fine for getting a basic understanding. If you have questions about a specific post, feel free to ask, though! Right off the bat, the text on the big image at the top of the earlier captures, the one with the green-haired catgirl in a red outfit, is just a paraphrasing of the post where she explains her categories/tags to help you navigate the site https://web.archive.org/web/20090103030651/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/21376253.html )

This website, crucially, also links to Komomo's pixiv account (Username: 小桃/Komomo), which is still up!

https://www.pixiv.net/users/3966440

(I was logged in when I accessed the page, so it's possible you may need an account to view it. Please do keep in mind this is not an account publicly associated with Ikumi/TMM and that the owner is likely deceased. We don't need to leave random comments and messages.)

The oldest picture is from 2012, when she created it (she posts about this), and the most recent picture is from 2018, so you can really see the artstyle shift here as well. There is no reference to TMM or Mia Ikumi anywhere.

The blog also links to her NicoNico page (Username: 小桃/Komomo), where she posted a few Vocaloid covers from 5/16/10 to 6/4/11.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/user/16890918/

She talks about uploading these covers on her blog under her utattemita/”I tried singing” tag: https://web.archive.org/web/20160425011607/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/907578-1.html

So, the art definitely matches with what we know of Mia Ikumi’s art, both from published works and stuff posted online to her official website, ikumimia.chu.jp (Hika posted some of the website art here and here if you aren’t familiar)

(As a tangent, that website seems to have been created at or before 5/7/07 and gone offline sometime between 7/1/10 and 7/27/11, so there was definitely a period where she was working under both identities at once…)

But is there any other info linking Komomo and Mia Ikumi?

The site doesn't give much personal detail about Komomo irl, but it does say she was born in spring, and Mia Ikumi's birthday was March 27th.

プロフィール 名前小桜小桃です。 一言:春生まれです。 Profile My name is Komomo Kozakura. In a word, I was born in spring.

There's also a diary entry about her getting a Scottish fold kitten for her mom in 2008 after the family cat passed away 2 years back. We know from the bonus comics in the TMM manga that Mia Ikumi had a Scottish fold.

スコティッシュフォールドという種類のキャリコなお嬢さん。 A calico lady called a Scottish fold.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081231223544/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627816-1.html

Komomo also says she’s interested in gothic lolita clothing and that she dresses up at events. We know Mia Ikumi also dressed up for events, since that’s in her bio, and she drew her outfits in manga bonus page.

＊ゴスロリの部屋＊ 小桜小桃の趣味のページです。主に持っている服やアイテム、欲しいモノの紹介、ゴスロリに関する事とかも書いていこうと思います。 *Gothic Lolita Room* A page about Komomo Kozakura’s hobby. Mainly I’ll write about clothing items I own, stuff I want, and things related to gothic lolita fashion.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160425154652/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627812-1.html

今回のコミケはカゼのため、コスとかせずに防寒重視でいったのですが Because I had a cold at this Comiket, I went without any kind of costume to focus on keeping warm

https://web.archive.org/web/20160425154658/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627816-1.html

Between the art, the timeline of when things were posed vs Ikumi's public career, and the small bits of overlapping info on the artists' lives, I'm very confident that Mia Ikumi and Komomo Kozakura are two pennames for the same artist.

As for why, we can only speculate. I will say it's pretty common for artists to use a different penname for doujin work vs professional work, although some keep it more secret than others. It's especially common if the doujin work is more risque than the professional, which is the case here. I'll also say that almost all of Ikumi's post-TMM works were fairly short. Only One Wish may have been imagined as a one-volume anthology from the start, but it seems like TMM a La Mode and Repure may have been canceled early based on rushed endings with a lack of follow-up on plot points. Comi Digi +, the magazine in which Koi Cupid was published, got discontinued in 2008, presumably ending that series early as well. Ikumi also seems pretty annoyed with her editor in the a La Mode bonus comics, so possibly she was frustrated with baggage of the Mia Ikumi identity and wanted a fresh start.

Possibly she stopped putting out work around 2018 or possibly she started working under another penname. Maybe that was when Nakayoshi got in contact with her to begin planning for ReTurn, Ole/Au Lait, New, the TMM Blu-ray, the manga re-release, etc.

In conclusion, it seems like there are many more works by the artist known as Mia Ikumi than we'd thought previously, plus slightly more of a web presence, although this seems to have ended years before the TMM 20th anniversary renaissance. It's possible there are more accounts under the Komomo/小桃 name or under another penname that might be found in the future.

[myjudsie]

New TMM merch~

7 TMM New mini towels (with Ryou and Masaya too), a Mew Mint postcard, a Kishigo doujinshi by mtbkrr2 and... a beautiful and super-rare set with a 2002 Ichiryou doujinshi (❤️❤️❤️) by Enka Omori, a Mia Ikumi's assistant, a 1998 illustrations book by Mia Ikumi and some notepapers. Thank you very much to @kuro93 who allowed me to buy this super-rare set: I am a big Ichiryou fan since forever and I was almost crying when she made me discover this. ❤️

#tokyo mew mew #tokyo mew mew new #mew mew amiche vincenti #mew mew power #tmm #tmm new #tmmn #mewmew #mew mew #collection #collectibles #doujinshi #mia ikumi

[myjudsie]

Mewy Christmas

[myjudsie]

TMM Weapon and Attack Descriptions

Small followup to the character bios post, featuring the information about each Mew Mew's weapon and attack from the 2002 Fanbook vs the TMM New Artbook (both the 2002 insert and the main section).

See the comparison chart here.

First, one BIG thing to notice right off:

The '02 Fanbook actually spells the attacks as リボン/ribon instead of リボーン/riboon. This is big because there's always been debate on whether they should be transcribed as "Ribbon" (usually spelled リボン, with a shorter o) or "Reborn" (usually spelled as リボーン, with a longer o).

Basically, does the stretched out o sound mean it's meant to be understood as "Reborn"? Or is it meant to be understood as each girl stretching out the first word dramatically ("Ribboooon,") before moving on to the personalized ending section. This is definitely the way they enunciate it in the anime and parallels the way other magical girl shows structure attacks (e.g., Mars... Flame Sniper, Precure... Blue Forte Wave, Hirogaru... Sky Punch). I've weighed in on this here.

So, does this settle it once and for all?

Well… not in my opinion. Like, I do still think "Ribbon" is the correct transliteration! But I don't think the Fanbook is reliable for a few reasons:

1) The editing on the Fanbook is a little spotty, so there are multiple spots of inconsistent formatting/spelling. For instance, in the charts, all items in lists are separated by interpuncts (・) except for Buling's special skills, which is separated with a comma (、). There's also a missing interpunct in the list of Retasu's favorite foods (the other girls' lists do put an interpunct on the end of a line, so it's not a purposeful choice), and Shirogane's name has a space between the kanji of his surname and given name, something done for no other names*

*(Okay.... so it's also done for Buling's, but this is a real thing sometimes done for Chinese names to indicate that the surname is only one kanji instead of the 2-3 you'd expect of a Japanese surname...... But this is also changed/corrected in the New version, though, so???)

In my non-professional opinion, some of the phrasing also feels a little weird, and there's not much care put into text spacing and especially where lines break, but I'm not confident enough in my Japanese skills to state this for certain or put specific examples...

2) There is no other place where the attacks are written as リボン/ribon across the MANY places they are spelled out (e.g., the original manga, a La Mode, ReTurn, the PS game guide, character profile stickers). See above for examples!

3) Even though the TMM '02 insert in the TMM New Fanbook reuses a lot of text from the '02 Fanbook, it does NOT maintain this spelling, which suggests it was another error that was corrected.

So it's net zero information imo 🤷‍♀️

More small things under the cut:

I translated 必殺技/hissatsu waza as "finishing move". It literally means something like "certain kill technique" and is commonly translated as stuff like "special move" or "special attack" as well. 

The '02 Fanbook describes the attacks in terms of what they do in universe, whereas the New Artbook describes what happens in the stock footage. 

The '02 Fanbook also makes a big deal out of Ichigo's attack being the strongest and claims it's the only one that can purify a Chimera Anima and release the Parapara. It's generally true that they have to play her stock footage she has to finish off the big Chimera Anima, but the other girls consistently finish off smaller Chimera Anima, plus instances like Zakuro instantly defeating the big crow in episode 10 and all of the girls (including Pudding, somehow???) managing to defeat a bunch of big Chimera Anima at once when Pie releases them en masse as a distraction in episode 49. The '02 insert keeps the note on Ichigo's attack being able to finish off Chimera Anima but drops the "not that strong" part from the descriptions of the non-Ichigo girls and even adds that Zakuro's attack is "strong enough to surprise/frighten Quiche". The New artbook has no mention of any one girl's attack being more powerful.

The descriptions of the attacks kind of back up my claim that none of the girls except Lettuce have an elemental attack and are instead all light-based and separated by range:

Ichigo: balls of light; final blow on Chimera Anima Mint: arrow of light; ranged attack Lettuce: stream of water; attacks multiple enemies at once Pudding: wave of light that turns into "pudding"; captures enemy Zakuro: whip of light; can be used close or far away, can bind enemies, can cut into pocket dimensions somehow

...Zakuro is clearly way too OP, since she can essentially copy the effects of Mint, Lettuce, AND Pudding's attacks plus having dimensional powers. I mean, the "cutting through dimensions" thing is way outside the range of the other Mews' powers??? And it shows up so little...

Speaking of Zakuro, the New version eliminates the space-cutting power but also describes her weapon as a cross with a ribbon attached to the end instead of as a whip! (It does say she uses it like a whip in the attack description...) She does move it like a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon a little even in her original attack footage, but it's kind of funny to insist the ZaCross Whip isn't a whip!

They sure are caught up on how Lettuce can use her attack even when tied up since she only has to move her fingers. A situation which only happens once.

I find it a little funny that they never really acknowledge how all of the weapons are based on musical instruments. The LettuceTanets are obviously called castanets, and the StrawBell Bell is noted to have a bell attached, but only the the New fanbook calls Mint's weapon "lyre-shaped" instead of "bow and arrow-shaped". Not once are the PuRing Rings compared to a tambourine (although New does mention the bell) or the ZaCross Whip to a flute.

Confirmed that in the anime Buling's attack is not literal pudding but rather something that looks like it. (The manga is still a toss up considering we see it being eaten...)

The difference in phrasing between the '02 Fanbook and the New insert is pretty funny. プリンのようなもの / purin no youna mono, "a thing/object/substance that's like pudding" vs プリン状の物体 / purin-jou no buttai, "a solid object in the form/appearance of pudding". Puddingy thing vs physical object in the form of pudding.