ribbonstrawberrysurprise

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

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.

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

I have the possible Mia Ikumi doujin name post drafted as a doc. Now I just need to find time to fight with tumblr's text editor to get the formatting correct and then do a final pass to hopefully catch typos.

Expect the actual post....... this weekend?

After that I want to finally do the character ages + timeline posts, but I refuse to commit to any set timeframe

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

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.

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

Posting update:

Expect the post on the weapon/attack descriptions tomorrow or the day after.

The thing about the possible Mia Ikumi doujin penname is in progress as well and has become longer than I expected since I found some more stuff. Tbh at this point I'm 99% convinced it's her, but the more I read the more it seems she was really trying to keep the Mia Ikumi penname totally separate from this one, which doesn't help my misgivings... But at this point the info is out there, so I've decided to go through with it but probably under a readmore in case people don't want to know. Never going to speculate on her irl name, though, fyi

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

TMM Character Bios over All Versions

At long last, my collection of TMM bios, both transcribed and translated.

Sorted by source here. Sorted by person here. Collection of pictures of chara bio stickers, mostly from (expired) auction/sale listings online here.

List of sources:

Manga-related:

Manga character info page: that page that appears at the beginning of each volume of the manga. Very short. Does not change over time (with one exception), so sometimes it doesn't highlight the character's main personality trait…

Manga character info page (a La Mode): Same as above, but for a La Mode. Only appears in volume 2. (Note: Re-Turn does not have one of these)

A La Mode Intro Boxes: the little character bio charts that Berry and Tasuku get in A La Mode chapter 1

PS game manual: manual from the PS game. Contains the most direct ages for all characters and the only info on game-exclusive characters.

2002 Anime-related:

Profile stickers: square stickers with a picture of the girl on the front and a little chart of character info on the back. Comes in 2 distinct styles: One with a headshot of the character inside a heart on the front and the back printed in the character's theme color, and the other with a sparkly full-body shot + closeup of their head on the front and the back printed in red/hot pink.

2002 Anime Fanbook: artbook/fan guide for the original anime. Character pages have 2 taglines, a short bio, and a chart containing information similar to the stickers. Not well edited, so there's some inconsistent formatting/punctuation.

2002 Anime Insert from the TMM New Artbook: small section on the original anime within the New season 1 artbook. Character pages have a tagline, a short bio, and a chart containing information almost identical to the 2002 fanbook. The text for the bios are similar to the 2002 fanbook, but with more kanji and some editing for consistent style.

TMM New-related:

TMM New website character page: page on the official TMM site that has designs, birthdays, and short bios for all major characters. The one source that lists Seiji as a major character.

TMM New season 1 artbook: artbook with background information on season 1 of New. Only contains info on what appears in season 1, but the 2002 insert has spoilers for that whole series. Character pages have a tagline and a short bio which is very similar but not identical to the bio from the website.

If you want to see some of my thoughts on the info here + interesting changes/differences I noticed, that's below the cut!

It's obvious the original anime was aimed at kids and the new one is aimed at adults because sources related to the original manga and anime use lots of kana instead of kanji and have furigana on all kanji they do use. New-related sources use way more kanji and have no furigana.

Possibly related to this, older TMM stuff tends to use ミュウプロジェクト (Mew Project) vs New, which uses 「μ」プロジェクト (μ Project).

The original TMM fanbook has spotty editing which is especially visible in the charts. There's lots of small inconsistencies, like some words being spelled slightly differently (e.g., らっきょ instead of らっきょう for Pudding's least favorite food) and punctuation being inconsistent between the girls (e.g., items in lists being separated by interpuncts ・ except for Pudding's special skills, where it's inexplicably a comma 、). The biggest, most glaring issue is actually with a section I'll be posting slightly later, but I'll go ahead and list it here too: out of all official sources, the TMM Fanbook is the ONLY one who lists the Mew Mews' attacks as begining with リボン (ribon) instead of リボーン (riboon). This would be conclusive evidence in the Ribbon/Reborn debate if I didn't have the suspicion it's just a typo no one double-checked…

The stickers are in a slightly weird place continuity-wise since they have anime art on the front but refer to some manga-only information on the girls (e.g., Pudding having a pet monkey).

Speaking of the monkey, apparently at the time the stickers were coming out, Mia Ikumi had yet to finalize Annin's name, since here the monkey is called Mapo (i.e., mapo tofu)

The sticker bios have some otherwise-unseen info on character backstories: specifically, we find out that Mint's dad is a CEO and her mom runs a school, Zakuro's father is a producer and her mother is a model, and that Keiichirou is an orphan taken in by the Shiroganes at age 14. Also, apparently Ryou lives in the room above the cafe and Keiichirou lives in the secret basement.

Keiichirou seems to get way more impressive intros as time goes on. The manga bio comically undersells him, calling him "a waiter", and the PS game book only calls out his cooking skills, although Masha's bio drops the bomb that Keiichirou's the one who built him for Ryou. The 2002 fanbook mostly makes a point of how considerate he is, in contrast to the 2002 insert in the New artbook, where he's explicitly referred to as a researcher on cryptids/UMA. The New bios on the website and artbook go one step further and call him a "leading" researcher in the field!

Moe and Miwa's personalities seem to have changed or even reversed between the OG anime and New. Originally both Moe and Miwa are mostly defined by how they react to Ichigo. I.e., Ichigo says/does something weird (usually related to Mew Mew stuff or Aoyama), then Moe calls her out and Miwa either plays peacemaker or ends up joining in with Moe. So Moe snarky, Miwa gentler. New attempts to give them goals/personalities outside of this, so Moe becomes a "soothing" person with an interest in psychology and Miwa becomes a practical aspiring writer. I can only assume the writer thing is based on her writing Keiichirou a poem in the one episode where she and Moe get crushes on him and Shirogane, but I have no idea where Moe's career goal came from, much less how she became the "nice" one… I have to assume it's from her cutesy name??? Or maybe they thought that the one with blond curls looked "nicer/gentler" than the brunette with very short hair??? Weird.

The girls + Masaya (and Seiji, who is now in college so that he remains an older brother!) are aged up for New, but Ryou still seems to be the same age, which kind of makes the whole situation much funnier. Ichigo already had zero respect when he was slightly older, but now he's basically just one of her classmates. …of course, there's still room for him to be 16-17 instead of 15…

Sidenote: Ryou is consistently referred to as shonen/boy, which strikes me as funny despite making sense for his age. The narrator also doesn't respect him. Keiichirou gets seinen/young man, which trends a little older.

Ichigo gets referred to as ドジ (doji) in the '02 Fanbook which made me double-take since I'd usually associate it much more with Lettuce… I'd usually translate it to "clumsy", but in this case it's clearly going more for ditsy, flighty, disorganized, etc. so I went with "scatter-brained". The New bios do call Lettuceドジ, and I just used clumsy there.

Buling knowing kenpo/martial arts sure shows up more than I expected considering how little relevance it has to the actual show…

Zakuro, at least in the '02 anime, is supposed to be good with computers apparently! It shows up in her Fanbook bio as well as in one of the stickers (hobby: the internet). The internet being framed as a cool and mysterious thing for a smart character to know feels very 90s to early oughts, so maybe that's why it got dropped from her New characterization once everyone has smart phones… Saying someone's hobby is "the internet" reads more as neet or maybe influencer nowadays, as opposed to Cool Hacker or whatever. But I guess you could argue this is precedent for he inexplicable technological/manufacturing skills when she helps Minto make the prototype windmill thing?

In the stickers, there's a split between the Mew Mews favorite foods vs favorite sweet, but later on the sweets get lumped into favorite foods, which is how it's listed in the Fanbook and '02 Insert. But this does obscure the fact that Lettuce is the only one of them who just straight out has sweets as her favorite foods (shortcake, crepe cake), probably related to the fact that "cooking" and "making sweets" are listed as her special skills. 煮物/nimono (boiled or stewed food) is only added to her list of favorites in the Fanbook.

Weird that we never see Tasuku and Buling interact since he's explicitly compared to a monkey lmao.

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

Fyi, expect the character bios post later today or possibly tomorrow, depending on if the formatting causes me grief!

And then expect a follow up pretty fast (next week???) about the way the attacks + weapons are describes in the two TMM artbooks.

Also considering maybe throwing together a quick post about a very likely Mia Ikumi doujinshi penname that put out work around 2012-2017, but feel conflicted if it's appropriate to make that kind of speculation publicly when she didn't choose to reveal it herself. Feel free to leave any thoughts here.

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

TMM Olé / Au Lait / Ore Translation Masterpost

I know a scanlation is out there now (it uses a version of my translation, except maybe of the first section of chapter 1, which I know someone else scanlated), but here’s links to my original script-style translations anyway, if you want to follow along with your own copies of the manga chapters. I think I got a little better over time, but be warned some of these are rougher than others just depending on how busy I was with other stuff when the chapter came out.

Chapters:

Note: these are JUST translations, with no images! You can find the scans online from @hikayagami or else buy the Japanese manga.

Chapter 1   Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4   Chapter 5

Chapter 6   Chapter 7   Chapter 8   Chapter 9   Chapter 10   

Chapter 11   Chapter 12   Chapter 13   Chapter 14   Chapter 15

Chapter 16   Chapter 17   Chapter 18   Chapter 19   Chapter 20

Chapter 21   Chapter 22   Chapter 23   Chapter 24   Chapter 25

Chapter 26   Chapter 27   Chapter 28   Chapter 29   Chapter 30

Chapter 31   Chapter 32

Other stuff:

Bonus pages from all 8 volumes (including volume 7! Which I seem to have not done at the time somehow??? There was just one page with any text though, so)

Miscellaneous promo and bonus material from Nakayoshi and from Madoka Seiduki

Anything that was just a text translation, I pasted into those docs and will delete from this blog. Anything I actually scanlated, I’ll leave up, although I do also link them in the docs.

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Hey, guys! A little update on my plans for this blog.

-First off, general clarification. While I won't avoid Ole/Au Lait or New, my main interest is the OG manga and anime, including a La Mode and ReTurn. So that's always going to be the focus. So don't expect tons of New translations or anything Smewthie related.

-Second, organizationally, it's a little hard to navigate right now, especially the translation part. This weekend I'm possibly going to take a look at my tags but definitely going to delete all the old Ole/Au Lait monthly translation links and make one master post. I know people probably only look at the scanlated version now, but my stuff is there if you want it.

-Speaking of translations, right now I'm assembling a bunch of character profiles from various sources (manga intros, PS game booklet, New site, anime fanbook, etc.) and will eventually make a master post. For my own reference for other stuff later. (Sidenote: if you happen to have better quality images of the little character profile stickers/cards, please let me know! I found images from auction sites, but they're pretty pixelly)

As for future translations... I will NOT be doing the whole New artbook!!! It's just way too much text for a series I'm not as into. I do own the book, so I may translate certain parts if I need to reference them (e.g., the chara profiles). There's other people who do by page translation commissions if you really want a section translated.

I do kind of want to redo my translation of Mia Ikumi's TMM doujin and also ReTurn, since it seems we may not get an official translation??? But don't expect that anytime soon.

-Future meta posts: New alien timeline addendum, character ages, when TMM takes place, something about the Strawberry Bell design/toy

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can we talk about alien fashion and genetics. I’m DYING to talk about alien fashion and genetics. (And, why Madeline is likely actually in some sort of leadership position or at the very least, upper class despite it not being outright stated…)

under the cut for a LONG, screenshot heavy ramble about the new ancient aliens and Our Original Boys Fashion. this is EXACTLY what I wanted for tmmn, and will be GREAT for making alien ocs if that’s your jam!

Keep reading

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I do want to do a followup to the post about when the aliens left Earth with New, but I want to wait in case we get more information in the rest of the season. So, expect that? Also, do want to continue my “TMM Timeline” series with something on when each continuity takes place and how old the characters are...

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More Like Version Down

(TMM New Spoilers)

So, as expected, the final episode of New included both Ribbon Aqua Drops and Ribbon Strawberry Check Surprise, which means we saw the New versions of the Mew Aqua Rod and StrawBell Bell Version Up. And... I'm unimpressed.

To get it out of the way, the Mew Aqua Rod is... fine. (The animation quality, though, not great. Off model immediately. What is consistent prop size?)

I think all the other versions of the Mew Aqua Rod (manga, anime/toy, ReTurn) are better, but it's not a terrible design, and I like the idea of each girl getting a personalized version. Not quite sure anyone thought too hard about how the bow/candy is placed on the tutu-like part when viewed from any other angle, though, but it was already clear there's no intent to make toys/models of these new wands... Maybe a little gachapon charm if they release another round of the Mew items.

I do think removing the little Mew Aqua bottle shape at the top was a mistake, and I think it'd look way better with slightly altered colors. Why so low contrast with the crystal vs the heart around it???

As a caveat, if it turns out this is the design instead of Mint's design, I'm going to be much harsher in hindsight.

-----

And now for the real doozy.

To start out with, I really like the TMM item designs, even the manga originals. (A hot take???) The originals didn't have that much in common with one another design-wise, but I think each one was striking in its simplicity. That being said, it's super obvious why they were changed for the anime (and later chapters of the manga), and the anime/toy versions look stylish and consistent with the overall style. The choice to model each one off an instrument is also cute, and poses a fun design challenge for OCs. This isn't really a surprise; obviously Takara already had experience designing and producing magical girl-type toys. The New versions of these designs haven't been changed enough to really comment.

(I do maintain they should have changed the color scheme on the StrawBell Bell to match Ichigo's more reddish palette but were trapped by not wanting to differ from the design used for the 20th anniversary prop, but other than that...)

The original version(s) of the StrawBell Bell Version Up is one of the coolest magical girl weapons to me, just because it's so unique. It almost comes across as more of a thing Ichigo wears/rides in instead of a thing she holds. (Also it can maybe fly???) There's an immediate reason for Ichigo to not break it out at the start (beyond everyone else being left defenseless): it's big and unwieldy enough she needs the Chimera Anima to be stunned and ready to be Check Surprise'd because any other kind of fighting is impossible. She can jump around and melee a little with the normal StrawBell Bell, but if she breaks out the Version Up, she's committing to a big finisher.

It's not an especially subtle design; it's literally a combination of all the Mews' weapons, dyed Ichigo's color scheme. But somehow it really comes together and looks cohesive. This holds true for the PS game version, too. Since the game adopts the anime designs, it's no longer a direct combo of the weapons, but the intent is still clear.

In contrast, the New version is... just a wand. That's already disappointing enough, but as a magical girl fan, I do like wands. But the design lacks any cohesion, and the ties to the other girls are tenuous. Frankly, it reminds me most of a parody wand that might appear in a fake magical girl show within another anime.

To start off with, it doesn't really look like a TMM weapon. Aside from the StrawBell Bell stuck haphazardly on top, it lacks the signature bow-heart motif, and introduces multiple new motifs. The bottom is a star, presumably for the 5 girls, but the emblem below the StrawBell Bell is a 5-petaled flower. Why not pick one? The curved shapes on the side at least vaguely resemble things we've seen before (e.g., the curves on the PudRing Ring, the shapes found in the Mew Marks), but why are there also Xs? Why six wings, with Ichigo getting 2 in her color? Why the heart with a 4-arched crown in the middle? It's criminally overdesigned, which is saying something coming from me, someone who loves adding unnecessary detail!

Speaking of the design details, some of the girls clearly get shortchanged. The StrawBell Bell in it's entirely is perched on top, looking way out of place, like you just kind of duct taped it to a pole. The MinTone Arrow is represented by... glowing rainbow wings? That pop in at the last minute. Again, why 6, why Ichigo twice? The LettuceTanets are represented by a strange looking ribbon. I guess you could sort of also draw a connection to how Lettuce's antennae things defy gravity, but, oops, that was her old design. The New ribbon doesn't really do that. The PudRing Rings must be the swirly things, I guess, despite New depicting them as undetailed hoops most of the time. And the ZaCross Whip similarly must be the weird crisscross pattern on the rod part. Why does she only get a vague pattern, not an actual piece? It looks way too busy while still shortchanging half the Mews...

If I were to try and fix this, I'd just use the PS game design, maybe altering it slightly to incorporate more of the anime/New-version weapon designs. Palette-wise, I did a pink + gold version and a more pastel rainbow version.

But if I were forced to make it a wand, here's two options, again in two color schemes:

I based the overall shape shape on a caduceus* since it was convenient with wings + winding ribbon, and Mew powers have always kind of been associated with healing. (Plus, you know, Strawberry Check Healing, even if New cut it...) The one on the right is more the classic caduceus shape, but I do like having the wings in a more Mew Berry Rod position on the left, so 🤷‍♀️ The ribbons on both also look like a DNA double helix. 🧬

As for incorporating elements from each girl, I tried to be more generous/balanced. I hope it's obvious, but just in case: The StrawBell Bell is still on top, but I tried to make it look more connected to the design as a whole, instead of stuck on there. The MinTone Arrow is the wings. The LettuceTanet gets both the castanet part and the ribbon above, with the ribbon melding into the ZaCross Whip wrapped around the rod part. The flute holes/horizontal cross bar part also appears. The PudRing Ring is alternatively at the bottom or floating around the heart on top, if you want to keep it looking more magical. Either way, the bells from the smaller ring appear at the ends of the ribbon. (The bottom on the right design is kind of Mew Aqua Rod style, and the 5 colored hearts up and down the rod are also inspired by that.)

Alternatively, for fun, I made a design that's still a musical instrument. Maybe making it a shamisen** was a little mean to Ichigo 😅 The references to each girl's weapon are a little more stylized, but I think they're still clear enough!

Ichigo would probably hold it like the instrument to cast Check Surprise, but also I think she could hold it like a battleaxe and slam into Chimera like an edgy rock star destroying a guitar. It’s what she deserves. 

*Caduceus = winged rod with snakes winding around it. You've probably seen it in logos for hospitals and other medical-related businesses. Now, I know, I know. It's the rod of Asclepius, with one snake, that's the actual medical symbol. The caduceus with 2 snakes intertwined is Hermes' symbol. But they've been so confused and interchanged so much in modern times that I don't think it's worth arguing over. I did consider having the ribbon twist in one direction, but I liked the DNA connection too much.

**The shamisen is a traditional Japanese 3-string instrument. It's also traditionally made with cat skin...

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The bonus pages from the last volume of Au Lait/Ole.

(Scans from @hikayagami​ )

Transcript under cut:

PAGE 1

Bonus Manga

Newly Drawn: I Love You Forever

Ayato:  Now... This is the real finale. Are you alright not telling Shibuya, Yoyogi...? About your LOVE, that is.

Shizuka: ...huh?

Ayato:  The whole reason you slipped up and got killed by that octopus is because you were shaken up by what "Shibuya" said, right?

“Aoi”: “I really... hate you!”

Ayato: It was just mimicry, but that's still proof you love Shibuya!

Shizuka: “Love”... I see. Along those same lines, back when it imitated you, I felt even more ready to fight, which means--

Ayato:  I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

PAGE 2

Ayato:  Regardless, you should tell Shibuya how you feel! This is the finale, after all!

Taichi:  Wha...what are you saying all of a sudden, Roppongi-san...?

Ryuusei:  It's the end, so he wants t' see somethin' interestin'.

Shizuka:  "Tell him how I feel",... huh?

Aoi:  Haaah. I'm beat. I'm back

Shizuka:  That's right. Back then, it definitely hurt to hear that.

“Aoi”: “I really hate you!”

Shizuka:  When I heard those words, there was something I wanted to say to him.

Aoi: ? What’s up, Yoyogi?

Shizuka:  Shibuya...

Aoi: Hm?

PAGE 3

Shizuka: Bastard. How dare this impertinent mouth say some nonsense like “I really hate you,” to me.

Aoi: Eh?

Shizuka:  You're not a pet dog, after all. You're just a pet cat biting my hand.

Aoi: Eh? Huh?!

Shizuka:  If you're rebelling against your master, it seems I still haven't conveyed my love to you.

PAGE 4

Shizuka:  I need to make you understand just how much there is.

Aoi:  W-wait, what are you saying...?  Walking up to me and-- Gyaaaaa!! Ayato:  Well, that's that... That's Yoyogi's "I love you"...

Taichi: Are you serious?! Was this just for your own amusement?!

Ryuusei: ‘n they lived happ’ly ever after.

Aoi:  Don't make this end with that as a punchline!!

The End

PAGE 5

Postscript

Thank you so much for reading the final volume of Tokyo Mew Mew Ole! Ole started out as a boy version of Tokyo Mew Mew, a work that's loved by so many people. Behind the scenes, as Shibuya and the others were fighting Chimera Anima, I was fighting to absolutely never draw anything that looked bad! *sweats* It felt like I was fighting an enormous pressure for two and a half years. (lol)

Now that the last part has finished, the story has successfully reached its conclusion! As I am writing this postscript, I keep switching among feeling a sense of accomplishment, happiness at having been able to immerse myself fully in the setting of my beloved Tokyo Mew Mew, and loneliness. (lol)

Tokyo Mew Mew was special for me. Back when it was being serialized, I was already obsessed with it. Even after becoming a manga artist, when my editor asked about my favorite manga, I talked passionately about Tokyo Mew Mew as much as I could. 

When I met the person in charge of Nakayoshi for the first time, as always, I talked about my love for Tokyo Mew Mew, but to think I'd get the chance to be involved with my beloved Tokyo Mew Mew after that...!

"I might be able to change the future," is one theme of Ole.

The thought is that continuing to say "I love you" gave rise to this future, and I really do believe that's true 😊

PAGE 6

Thank you so much for making the wonderful work called Tokyo Mew Mew, Mia Ikumi-sensei.

Again, to all of the readers who supported me as I spent a dream-like time these 8 volumes...

thank you so much for the amazing time!

-Madoka Seiduki 😊

[ADDRESS TO SEND LETTERS]  

I was in charge of Tokyo Mew Mew, and now, 20 years later, a boy version was created. I'm extremely grateful to Madoka Seiduki-sensei for creating this wonderful work with such beautiful art and monologues that touch your heart. Also, to the readers who have read until the end, thank you very much.

-Masato Sekiya

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Translation:

Script:

Retasu: Everyone, what are your plans the next long holiday? Ichigo: Sounds like the perfect time to have a welcome party for Berry, right? Berry: Then I want to have a welcome back party for Ichigo-san! Maybe making sweets together and having a tea party? Purin: Yeah, na no da! A party, na no da!! Zakuro: …I want to go to a mountain. Ichigo: Mountain?! Retasu: That’s fine! I really like the idea of a mountain lodge~ Berry: It’ll be fun to make the room look super cute! Purin: At night we can all play games together, na no da! It’ll be a pajama party, na no da!! Ichigo: Hey, aren’t all of you adding on way too much?! We can’t so many things all of a sudden! Minto: …Oh, can’t we? Ichigo: ……Eh? Minto: We can choose among of the Aizawa family lodges. …Is one in Japan fine? Ichi, Reta, Berry, Puri, + Zaku: Ehhhhhh?!

Tasuku + cabbit:

Berry: Oh Tasuku: Haaah, so cute ❤

Buling hair:

*sad~~~* Tarutaru won’t ever come play with me, no da. Buling is lonely, no da. It’s like Tarutaru, no da!

Here are the scans for the extras on the back covers of for the New Edition release of Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode volumes 1 & 2, and 2020 Re-Turn.

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Translation of the bonus comics from the new release of volumes 4 and 5, featuring Buling and Zakuro interacting with their respective animals.

(Translation of Mint and Lettuce here. You can download scans here or view the pages on tumblr here and here.)

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I’ll get around to the other bonus stories, but for now here’s these.

Top photo is mirrored for some reason???

Buling page:

There’s a bird you can’t help worrying about based on the Red Data Book. Above Buling, among hearts: courting/wooing SFX around her: BASSA BASSA BASSA, rustle/flap Buling: Whoa, can’t see all of a sudden, no da! It’s called the kakapo.

[TL note: The Red Data Book is usually called the IUCN Red List, so that’s what you need to search if you want to find it. Good for fan Mews! Also… this is real, genuine kakapo behavior. It was most famously displayed in a viral clip of zoologist Mark Carwardine from 2009 BBC nature documentary Last Chance to See. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY]

Zakuro page:

Lettuce: Ah, it seems Zakuro can come to the café today. Ichigo: Really—? Wait, what’s with the cute sticker?!

Sticker text: I’m off to work. Retasu I’ll be waiting for you 😄 Minto Onee-sama ❤❤❤

Minto: Heh heh, it’s a Zakuro Fujiwara fan club official business sticker. Buling: Minto-onee-chan, you sure know a lot, na no da. Minto: Naturally. My club membership number only has 2 digits after all. Ichigo: How very Minto…

Ryou and Ichigo page:

Drawing him again, Shirogane is more of a Mew Mew than I thought.

Quiche page:

A story that may or may not have happened.

OK GUYS

Volumes 4-5-6-7 of the new Tokyo Mew Mew edition are in my hands right now ♥

I will dedicate some posts to the extras I could find by a quick check of the volumes while waiting for better quality scans, checking and translation ♥

Here’s some very unprofessional photos of the BACK SKETCHES ON THE UNDER COVERS!

I will post rough photos of the extra short stories to let us all have a preview ♥

IF YOU WANT TO REPOST, PLEASE CREDIT ME! ♥

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Artbook scans of the new transformations + Chimera Mickey, courtesy of @hikayagami . Please go see full-size versions of these pages and more on her post here. (I was going to just reblog it, but the post was pretty long without adding on text at the end, and I can’t do a readmore on other people’s posts)

Mew Ichigo An Iriomote cat comes out of a floating door and turns into light. Enveloped in that light, Ichigo puts on a flared skirt, brooch, etc. in turn. Then her ears and tail spring up and she’s transformed into Mew Ichigo!

Mew Mint Surrounded by the feathers of blue lorikeets, she starts transforming with the phrase, “Mew Mew Mint, Metamorphose!” Her clothes change, feathers spring from her back, and she finishes the transformation brilliantly in a ballet-style pose.

Mew Lettuce Retasu begins to swim with a porpoise in a rough sea. The transformation begins with the phrase, “Mew Mew Lettuce, Metamorphose!” and her form changes underwater. She smiles in a pose that looks like praying.

Mew Pudding Buling appears, taking the place of a golden lion tamarin climbing a tree. After saying, “Mew Mew Pudding, Metamorphose!” she transforms by showing off various acrobatics, like a handstand, in cooperation with the monkeys.

Mew Zakuro A grey wolf appears, running through a blizzard with the moon in the background. Letting out a cry of, “Mew Mew Zakuro, Metamorphose!” Zakuro completes her transformation and strikes a pose in front of the moon.

Chimera Mickey A Chimera Anima born by fusing Mint’s pet dog with a Parasite Anima. Not only did she grow larger, but her claws and fangs grew longer and she became more aggressive.

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Translation of the bonus comics from the new release of volumes 2 and 3, featuring Mint and Lettuce interacting with their respective animals.

(You can find pictures of the pages courtesy of @kuro93 here and here.)