List of Tokyo Mew Mew Characters - Creation and Conception

Creation and Conception

Mia Ikumi spent a year designing the Tokyo Mew Mew manga before the release of the first volume in February 2001. The story she originally presented to her editors, Tokyo Black Cat Girl, featured a heroine named Princess Azumi who is given the ability to transform into a cat-girl by an intergalactic police officer named Masha. He then asks her to aid him in defeating alien invaders called the Baku using her new powers. Azumi agrees, while trying to keep her new double life secret from her crush. After the production team decided to focus on five female superheroes, Ikumi was asked to reconstruct the lead character and the darker Princess Azumi was changed into the brighter and more colorful Ichigo. She had reservations about the changes, as the character was originally designed for a more dramatic series.

Ikumi created other girl–animal combinations while designing the four other Mew Mews, including a mouse girl with the same green coloring as Lettuce. However, the mouse design was one of several designs rejected for use in the series as the choices were narrowed down. Once the main Mew Mew designs were finalized, Ikumi named them after various foods: Ichigo (Strawberry), Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, and Zacro (Pomegranate). During one of the project meetings, an unnamed editor remarked that the names might be hard to remember and suggested naming the characters after various colors instead, but the food names were kept. Although Ikumi initially suggested calling Ichigo's main attack "Strawberry Bell Bell" as a joke, the editorial team thought it was funny and kept the name. Ikumi noted that future attack names were decided by which sounded funniest. The only character from Ikumi's Tokyo Black Cat Girl to retain his original name and general appearance was Masha, but his gender was changed to female in Tokyo Mew Mew.

Mari Kitayama adapted the character designs from Ikumi's original artwork for the anime adaptation. Ikumi stated that she approved of the character designs, and agreed with the voice actor selections.