Episode 01: Wait, What?! I’m a Superhero Now?! Meow!

Season 1, Episode 1 - Aired: 7/6/22

'''Wait, What?! I'm a Superhero Now? Meow!''' is the first episode of Tokyo Mew Mew New.

Summary
Ichigo walks through the grounds of her new high school, and as many of her student peers experience love, she openly expresses her desire to experience love herself. Embarrassed and flustered by her open declaration, Ichigo spots a large crowd huddled over the kendo dojo where Masaya Aoyama was in a practice match against an unnamed opponent. Aoyama's alluring fans cheer for him, and Ichigo watches from within the crowd after he wins the match and sheepishly smiles at his onlookers as they burst into a fit of cheers for his acknowledgment. Later, Ichigo thinks about Aoyama and sees him alone in the courtyard gazing at the horizon.

The following day, Ichigo talks with Moe and Miwa on their way to school about Aoyama. They continue this conversation throughout the day, and Moe and Miwa decide to help Ichigo discover more about Aoyama during their lunch period. However, as a favor, Miwa wants all of the details if Ichigo hits it off with Aoyama, sighting her aspirations of being a novelist. Miwa notes her desire to become a counselor because she wants to heal people's hearts. On the other hand, Ichigo hasn't decided what she wants to do when she grows up. Unbeknownst to the trio, their conversation was being eavesdropped on by an unknown girl.

Afterward, Moe, Miwa, and Ichigo go around and ask for information on Aoyama, and they all learn that Aoyama is environmentally concerned, especially about how it affects the animals. Soon, Ichigo receives a couple of tickets to an endangered species exhibit from the unknown girl who claims that Aoyama will go on a date with her if she asks him to join her on it. Before Ichigo could learn the girl who handed her the ticket's name, she disappeared, and Ichigo then ran off, hoping she'd run into Aoyama. Coincidentally, Ichigo crashes into Aoyama, and after Aoyama helps Ichigo up, he picks up her tickets. Recognizing the event as something he had hoped to attend, Ichigo invites him to come along, and Aoyama happily agrees. The unnamed girl watches from afar as the scene unfolds and wishes Ichigo the best of luck.

On the day of the exhibit, Ichigo quickly checks out her outfit from a reflection from a store window and then rendezvous with Aoyama. During the exhibit, Ichigo confesses to Aoyama that she got the tickets because she thought it'd be fun to attend and then asks what endangered species means. Aoyama answers that it means that animals listed like that are prone to go extinct and gives examples, mainly caused by humans, of what caused many species to become endangered. Upset by what she's heard, Ichigo hopes that something can be done to solve this. The unknown girl then nods to a camera, and two men watching it claim it's time to start their plan. An alarm is set off, and as people flee the area, Ichigo and Aoyama are knocked to the ground and inadvertently kiss each other. The unknown girl from before then grabs and leads Ichigo outside by a fountain where three other girls are also at. The two men in a truck watched the camera feed from the exhibit, fired off a cannon to start the Mew Project that engulfed the four girls in a bright light.

Ichigo experiences a dream sequence where a spiritual Iriomote cat enters her. When she awakens, Aoyama informs Ichigo that the alarm set off in the exhibit was a false one and that they should leave. Just then, a giant purple rat attacks them, and before they can escape down a stairway, the rat destroys it, knocking Aoyama out. After throwing a rock at the monster, it heads toward Ichigo, who becomes too shocked to move and is sequentially rescued by one of the men who view the camera feed. The man calls the monster a Chimera Animas, he then introduces as Ryou Shirogane to Ichigo and requests that she take out the Chimera Animas. Before she could give a response, Ichigo falls from the tree and transforms into her Mew Power form. With assistance from the unknown girl who also had the power of Mew, Ichigo uses the StrawBell Bell to defeat the Rat Chimera Animas. From the gem embedded inside of the Rat, an alien appears from it, and the rat, now back to its original form, scurries off while an alien devours the alien called R2000. Demanding answers from both Ryou and the unnamed girl, another man appears and introduces himself as Keiichiro Akasaka while also requesting that she lend her powers to saving the Earth. Despite her reluctance to go with the men and her desire to help Aoyama, they assure her she'll be fine and that Aoyama is unconscious and will be taken care of.

Eventually, Ichigo is taken to the Mew Mew home base, the Café Mew Mew.

Trivia
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