Episode 18: His Hidden Resolve: The Birth of the Mew Project

Season 2, Episode 6 - Aired: 5/9/23

His Hidden Resolve: The Birth of the Mew Project is the 18th episode of Tokyo Mew Mew New.

Summary
A flustered Ichigo pushes Ryou off of her after he kissed her in his cat form to transform her out of her own cat form. Realizing that Ryou was the cat that kissed her before, Ryou brushes it off as nothing since they were both cats.

The next day, outside of Café Mew Mew, Ichigo demands answers from Ryou about his cat form, and in his stead, Keiichiro explains the situation.

Ryou lived in America five years ago with his parents, and his father was a scientist specializing in Aliens research. At that time, Keiichiro was Ryou's father's assistant, and Ryou displayed great skill in knowledge in his father's field. His father's most significant endeavor was the Mew Project, which he anticipated Ryou would accomplish one day for him. However, he also didn't want Ryou to participate in the project too.

One day, two Chimera Animas attack Ryou's home leaving only Keiichiro and Ryo as the sole survivors. Filled with an indomitable resolve, Ryou vows to continue the Mew Project in Tokyo as he remembers everything related to the project. In the years that went by, Ryou continued his father's research, which eventually led to the purchase of the Café Mew Mew and the discovery of the Mew gene. Despite finding five girls who were compatible matches for the Mew Project, Ryou wanted to test it on himself before they officially launched the project. After Ryou injects himself with the Mew serum, he transforms into a cat. At the same time, Keiichiro laments that Ryou did what he did, knowing the consequences of what would happen to someone incompatible with the serum.

In the present, Ichigo reflects on how Ryou has always looked out for her and the other Mew Mews. Taking advantage of Ichigo's rumination, Ryou feints kissing Ichigo, causing her to transform back into a cat. Although Keiichiro tries to revert Ichigo to normal, she escapes and kisses Bu-Ling instead, who happens to be passing by.

Meanwhile, Aoyama has a dream involving Ichigo in his room, and after he snaps out of it, he ponders why he keeps having the same dream all the time.

At the Café Mew Mew basement floor, Keiichiro and Ryou discuss how Ichigo is privy to Ryo's secret. Upstairs, Ichigo learns that Minto has taken the day off to help her brother Seiji with his new ocean-cleaning project. It involves machines that collect trash in the ocean that transforms them into biodegradable material. Unbeknownst to the two, Pie was observing the machines in actions and chastised the foolishness over it. Holding a glass orb filled with a purple substance, Pie initiates the third phase of the Tokyo Gondwanda Renaissance by tossing it into the sea, changing the tide to red.

News of this incident spreads, and the Tokyo Mew Mews are officially dispatched to deal with the new problem. Using large-sized ameba, Pie manipulates one of Seiji's machines to disperse all the trash it had collected. Ryou informs the group via Mash that the only way to purify the water is with Mew Aqua and claims some should be in the bay area. Before they could act, Pie appeared before them and claimed that he'd stop any attempt they tried to stop his plans. In a brief argument between Pie and the Mew Mews, he reveals that the Earth belongs to the Aliens and that all will be revealed when "He" awakens.

Summoning his companion Xenojelly, Pie retreats making the Mew Mews face off against it. From Keiichiro's analysis, the red tide was really an algal with poisonous and acidic properties to it. Because Seiji's machine was spreading it so fast, it'd affect the entire area and in no time would cause irreparable damage.

Although the Mew Mews were having difficulty stopping the machine, Retasu sensed the Mew Aqua nearby and against all odds. Retasu managed to retrieve it with the help of Masha. While that was happening, the rest of the Mew Mews struggled to fight against the Xenojelly and once again get help from Blue Knight. Now in possession of the Mew Aqua Rod, Retasu purifies the red algal spewing from the machine and within the ocean. It also helps defeat the Xenojelly.

After the day is saved thanks to their efforts, Minto realizes that the Aliens' motives mainly targeted Environmental related projects. Before Blue Knight could leave the scene, Ryou demanded to know who he was, but he gave no answer and left without a word.

Moments later, Aoyama appears, and Ichigo spends time with him by the docks talking about picnics and how world pollution is destroying the environment. This conversation with Aoyama had Ichigo self-reflect on how she lacks a goal or direction of her own despite her peers all having one.

Major

 * Ichigo Momomiya
 * Minto Aizawa
 * Retasu Midorikawa
 * Bu-Ling Huang
 * Zakuro Fujiwara

Minor

 * Ryou Shirogane
 * Keiichiro Akasaka
 * Masha
 * Masaya Aoyama
 * Blue Knight
 * Pie
 * Seiji Aizawa
 * Deep Blue (Indirectly mentioned)

Trivia

 * In this episode's title over on Hidive there was a slash instead of a semicolon.
 * This is the first episode since Episode 13 to not include an insert song.
 * This is also the second time in which the ending theme does not appear at all.
 * However, unlike in Episode 12 where the ending theme was replaced with a cover of My Sweet Heart and in Episode 15 where the regular ending song was replaced with a new song, being MAGICAL☆CARNIVAL, no song appeared at the end of the episode.

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