English adaptations of Tokyo Mew Mew
The Tokyo Mew Mew anime and manga metaseries has been adapted into many different languages, including English. Tokyopop translated the Tokyo Mew Mew manga into English and released it in the United States during 2003. Chuang Yi translated and released an English version In 2005, 4Kids adapted the anime into English and released it in the United States as Mew Mew Power.

Both feature alterations, but the alterations in Mew Mew Power affect the story plot.

English anime adaptation: Mew Mew Power


On February 15, 2005, 4kids Entertainment announced Mew Mew Power was scheduled to join the 4KIDS TV lineup effective February 19, 2005, at 8:00 (Eastern time), Saturday mornings. “We are pleased to bring Mew Mew Power to 4KIDS TV,” said Alfred R. Kahn. “This show follows our formula for success by adapting Japanese properties with a strong track record."

Australia had licensed Mew Mew Power, with a sneak preview that aired on July 13, 2005. Canada also licensed Mew Mew Power, as a part of their fall lineup.

4Kids originally intended to change the title of the anime to "Hollywood Mew Mew". Later, the company changed the program's title back to "Tokyo Mew Mew". It was then changed to "Mew Mew".

Alterations


Mew Mew Power features several alterations. All characters were renamed, shortening of transformation sequences (mostly because of the beginning showing partial silhouetted nudity), whole sequence cuts in place of Ichigo's original battle cries, and Renee's weapon was edited to not look like a cross.

There is also editing of content and dialogue changes; examples include adding puns to the script using the word "mew" and cat-oriented jokes. References to Japan, such as cultures were removed. There was the cutting of the relationship between Dren and Zoey, making it seem like Dren was only in a one-sided relationship. Around 70% - 87% of the original content was kept.

Story
The story in Mew Mew Power is basically the same, but the premiere episode (episode 12 in the original series) is the most greatly altered episode, with 70% of the original content kept.

The premiere episode was originally intended to be a sneak peek of the series in the summer of 2004, when 4Kids TV was still the Fox Box. As part of the "You Pick It, We Play It" promotion, they ran a poll for the new fall shows Mew Mew Power, One Piece, and F-Zero GP Legend. 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 very close throughout the poll. When it seemed Mew Mew Power was going to win, F-Zero suddenly won instead, but it is unknown if 4Kids rigged the poll or if it was a goof. The sneak peek episode would premiere in February 2005, in the slot being held by The Cramp Twins. 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.

Cancellation
Mew Mew Power has been cancelled many times. 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 returned on Saturday, December 31, 2005,, but was officially cancelled in January 2006. Only 23 episodes have been aired in the United States, and 26 in Australia.

4Kids does not have the rights to the second half of the series. No other North American company can re-dub the first half, unless they were to sell the license, or it was to expire. 4Kids was trying to obtain the license for the second half

After September 5, 2007, the Mew Mew Power page on 4kids' site was removed, and after September 6, 2007, the forum was removed from 4Kids.TV, confirming that 4Kids was not able to obtain the second half. Around September 19, the Mew Mew Power page from their properties on the "4kidsentertainment.com" site was removed, almost confirming that that they sold the rights to the first half, or it expired. Until an official cancellation is confirmed, 4kids cannot air Mew Mew Power.

No DVDs of Mew Mew Power have been released in the USA or Canada. Australia's Magna Pacific released the first 10 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. YTV used to air re-runs, but they have stated "This show is currently not returning to YTV this fall."

English manga translation

Tokyopop
The English translation of the manga was released by Tokyopop in 2003.

Alterations
Tokyopop's version of the Tokyo Mew Mew manga features several alterations. For budget, the dust covers were cut. Kodansha's manga are about 11.5 cm (4.5 in.) wide and 17.2 cm (6.7 in.) high. Tokyopop's manga are about 12.7 cm (5 in.) wide and 19.7cm (7.7 in.) high. Because of this, the pictures had to be blown up, causing some pictures to be cut off (, and [http://groups.msn.com/MewMewShrine/mangascans.msnw?actionShowPhoto&PhotoID11 picture used in the English version]). The ink that Tokyopop uses is darker than Kodansha's, so some pictures are harder to see than others (, and [http://groups.msn.com/MewMewShrine/mangascans.msnw?actionShowPhoto&PhotoID133 picture used in the English version]).

The staff of Tokyo Mew Mew page was removed, which consists of two pages. Some colored and some black & white pictures are also removed. As Tokyopop adds advertisements in their manga, and the table of contents, there are page number differences between the Japanese and English manga.

There are also mistranslations, and changing of words. Whether they were made purposefully, or translation errors, is not clear, as sometimes the translations of certain texts changed throughout the story.

Confusion of Ichigo's age


Ichigo Momomiya's numerous ages can be seen as confusing or incorrect. In the beginning of volume two of the English manga, she is described as 11 years old. In volume three, she is then described as 12. However, according to the manga, Ichigo is also a seventh grader (first year of middle school by Japanese standards). It can be seen as odd that she is described as 11 years old, because she has to be at least 12-13 to be in the seventh grade, unless she started going to school at the age of five, skipped a grade or suddenly aged 11 to 12, which are unlikely. Tokyopop originally described her age as 11, but later decided to describe her as 12, to match up with her Japanese age.

Mint's animal
The English version of the volume one says that Mint Aizawa's Red Data Animal is an Ultramarine Lorikeet, But her animal is actually a Blue Lorikeet, as they have different names in Japanese. An Ultramarine Lorikeet's name is イドジロルインコ idojiroruinko, The reason for this change in her animal is unclear, as Ichigo's cat appears on the same page in the manga, and is translated correctly. Chuang Yi 's version of the manga correctly translated Mint's animal, and the Finnish version of the manga also translated her animal correctly, as a Tahitian Lory (Blue Lory).

Mews' weapons and attacks
In the original manga, the names of the Mews' weapons and some attacks have puns made by combining two English words. It is stated in the manga by illustrator Mia Ikumi that the names of the Mews' weapons and attacks are intended to be humorous. The syllabic structure of the Japanese language makes it easier to combine words (English or Japanese), but it is rather hard to translate the combined words fully in English (or any other language) and keep the humorous nature of the pun.

Sometimes, the weapons' names are partially translated and romanized at the same time. An example of this would be Ichigo Momomiya's weapon, the , called "Sutoro Bell Bell" in the first volume of the English manga. ベル beru was translated to "bell", but ストロ sutoro was only romanized. The reason for this is that her weapon is first written in hiragana; ����る�る. This would imply that it is a Japanese word, not a translitered English word. But in Japan, it common to write English words in hiragana for emphisis; Ichigo calling her weapons's name for the first time. Some names are romanized altogether, an example being Mint Aizawa's weapon, the , called "Mintoon Alo" once in the English version of the manga.

Zakuro is the only Mew whose attack name is mistranslated many times throughout the series. Due to her weapon's and attack's names using two English words combined quite rather in a unique way compared to the other Mews, it's hard to fully translate them. Some of the translations have certainly been made incorrectly, such as the translation "Ribbon Zakuro Pure", which omits one of the syllables entirely.

Chimera Anima


Tokyopop translated the name of the monsters (キメラアニマ Kimera Anima) as "Kirema Anima" in Tokyo Mew Mew, with the first word misromanized. It was then changed to "Chimera Anima" in Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode, due to different translators. As nearly all of these monsters resemble animals, this gives an impression that "Anima" is a mistranslation, and that the word is "Animal". However, the word is written differently in katakana than the word .

The word in the monsters' name can be thought of as a pun, as there are many puns in Tokyo Mew Mew, intended to sound odd, or funny.

Ribbon translation error====

Tokyopop translated the first word of the Mews' attack as "Ribbon". But, in the Japanese version of the manga, it is written as リボーン ribÅ?n, which would translate as "reborn", not "ribbon", as it would be written as リボン ribon.



The words and are written in katakana according to their pronunciation by a native speaker of English. If ribbon was written according to how it is spelled for example, it would be written リッボン ribbon. The length of the vowel can completely change the meaning of the word. But since the only difference between the two words is the , which represents the length of the a vowel, it's easy to make a mistake when translating them into English.

In the opening song of the anime, Rika Komatsu sings the word リボン ribon, and it sounds very different from the Mews saying リボーン ribÅ?n in their attack name.

It is possible that リボーン ribÅ?n was intended to be a pun on リボン ribon, since there are many puns in Tokyo Mew Mew. However, it does not mean that リボーン ribÅ?n can be translated two ways, and the Mews' attacks are not associated with ribbons.



There is a shounen manga titled "" translated by Viz Media. Its logo shows katakana characters リボーン associated with the word "Reborn" written in Latin letters.

リボーン is also used in the Sailor Moon manga, in Sailor Saturn's attack . Tokyopop (known then as Mixx) translated the Sailor Moon manga. It can be seen as odd how Tokyopop translated リボーン correctly then, and yet did not in Tokyo Mew Mew. It is possible this happened because of different translators. Interestingly, "Death Reborn Revolution" does involve ribbons, so in that case the pun on the word "ribbon" is obvious. "Reborn" in Saturn's attack has also been mistranslated as "ribbon" many times.

Chuang Yi



Alterations
Chuang Yi's manga does not feature as many alterations. The dust covers are kept. Chuang Yi's manga are about 12cm wide and 17cm high, making them similar in size to Kodansha's.
 
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