Episode 17: Music Video Madness: When Two Prodigies Clash!

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

Music Video Madness: When Two Prodigies Clash! is the 17th episode of Tokyo Mew Mew New.

Summary
Zakuro visits the Café Mew Mew completely exhausted after writing a script for a music video she's producing. To her co-worker's surprise, Zakuro wants them to participate in the music video.

On the Aliens Spaceship, Kishe ponders who the Blue Knight is, but his train of thought is interrupted by Pie and Tart. Although his comrades want them to help with their plans to conquer Earth, Kishe's interests align with figuring out who the Blue Knight is and heading off.

Ichigo and the others visit the film set where Zakuro's music is produced. Zakuro soon meets them, and then the director Rika Minagawa, one of Zakuro's classmates and a prodigy filmmaker that Mint admires. Rika then declares to Zakuro that she's glad to have been chosen for the task, and after Zakuro has a flashback involving the two, she claims she's ready to start the production.

Afterward, they start shooting, but midway, Rika stops it and calls it terrible despite her friends thinking she did a fantastic job. This would happen eleven more times, and each time, Rika would demand that Zakuro change it up, to her friend's astonishment. They later enjoy lunch in the breakroom, discussing how critical Rika was of Zakuro's performance.

Spotting Rika editing the recent footage from Zakuro's performance, Ichigo walks over to her and learns that everything recorded is "trash". Rika's reason was all she, like two years ago, failed to capture the "real" Zakuro. To Rika's admission, unlike her reputation of bringing out new qualities in people she shoots, that's just untrue. It's her motive to film someone as they truly are, and she vows to do that with Zakuro. It explains why Rika had Zakuro redo all of the shots, and she asks to keep her motive a secret from Zakuro and Ichigo, and the others agree. They're then approached by Zakuro, who informs them that the next shoot is ready.

On the location of the next shot, Ichigo causes the shot to mess up, and when Rika scolds Ichigo over it, she reveals that she and her friends aren't pro-actors, just Zakuro's friends. Unbeknownst to everyone, there was Kishe, who observed everything as it unfolded. Reviewing the recent shot, Zakuro suggested that they use a particular shot in the music video, but got into an argument with Rika over it.

Back inside the studio, Zakuro and Mint prepare for their shot together, and Mint fantasizes about her future with Zakuro. However, once the shot begins, Mint ruins it while Zakuro holds her. Purin and Lettuce also mess up their shot. Still observing everything, Kishe takes an interest in the rabbits used in Lettuce's shot.

As Zakuro and Rika argue about what shots will be used, Ichigo suggests they redo the shots, but Zakuro insists they keep all previously recorded shots and walks away. Rika then shows the girls how everything they've recorded thus far and reveals how they've captured a different side of the Zakuro, they've all come to know.

Without warning, Kishe transforms the rabbits there into Chimera Animas. While Zakuro takes Rika to safety, Ichigo and the others transform into their Mew Mew forms. Zakuro, who too was transformed in her Mew Mew form, rescues Rika from one of the Chimera and joins the fight against them.

The moment Ichigo was in danger, Blue Knight appeared and rescued Ichigo, making Kishe make his formal appearance. Weakening the Chimeras, Purin defeats a few, and Zakuro takes care of the rest. With no more Chimeras at his disposal, Kishe takes his leave.

One last shot was needed for the music video; however, the stairway that would be used had been destroyed. Because Ichigo and the others insist they still take the shot, a bunch of desks stacked with a cloth covering it act as a stairway.

Once the music video is completed, it's shown at the Café Mew Mew, where Ryo, Keiichiro, and Aoyama watch it. Amid it, an interaction with Aoyama causes Ichigo to change into a cat again. Not wanting to draw any attention to herself, Ichigo slips outside, where she's confronted by the big cat who caused a commotion with her the last time. Coming to her rescue again, the cat who kissed her last time did so again, transforming her back, which allowed her to kick away the big cat. The cat who rescued her then laments that his time is up and transforms into Ryo, which shocks Ichigo.

Trivia
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