Tokyo Mew Mew

INTRO
Let me admit upfront, that I have a bias for this series which stems from:
A) Being a big fan of the magical girl genre.
B) Reading the manga at an influential age (11-12).

With that said, I found it a shame that there is only one review for Tokyo Mew Mew on AniList, and one which features such harshly expressed distaste. So, here's another review to balance things out.

STORY
Tokyo Mew Mew is a magical girl series following the lives of 5 "tweenage" girls who become infused with the DNA of endangered animals.
With their new powers, they transform into heroines (Mew Mews) who work to purify animals which have turned into tainted monsters called Chimera Animals. The antogonists creating Chimera Animals are a gang of aliens, whose plan involves taking back the Earth from humans, so that they can re-inhabit the planet. The girls also work part-time at a cafe, which masquerades their base of operations. In the words of our lead heroine Mew Ichigo,

"To protect the Earth, we will be of service, nya!~"

Amidst the main conflict in the series, there are strong themes of romance and friendship throughout, as well as brief environmentalism (though sometimes it feels a bit more like a motif). Criticizing the show for not leaning hard enough into the environmental messages is a reasonable nitpick.

CHARACTERS
The cast is an aspect that has always endeared me to this show. Our 5 Mew Mew girls are all quite likable while having different personalities and aesthetics, and it is so fun to see them interact and bounce off of one another. I also have a very soft spot for the 3 aliens -- though one in particular (Kisshu) exhibits skeevy behaviors that have only made him look worse as a character over the years. When I was a teen, I could look past obsessive behavior & boundary issues if the offender was an androgynous alien wearing a crop-top, but not anymore. That said, the story does a nice job depicting their point of view, and taking time to show the girls learning to understand them and vice-versa.

PRODUCTION/PACING
Like other magical girl series (especially in the 90s/early 2000s), this 52 episode anime adapts the entirety of the original manga, but it is padded with filler - granted, the filler episodes and small arcs are ultimately spent to give the audience more time to know the cast of characters and strengthen the bonds of budding relationships. I tend to be a sucker for this kind of added fluff, but it would be fine to use a list of episode synopsizes and skip around, if you don't enjoy that sort of thing. The art I found quite strong in many aspects -- especially the stock footage attacks and transformation sequences. Though again with the episode length, there are a fair number of episodes handled by different animators and you can tell, for better or for worse. In comparing the original series to it's TOKYO MEW MEW NEW (2022) counterpart, I'd argue that there is a lot of care and artistic flair to be found in this series. Innovative shot compositions, attention to detail in character movement, and facial expressions all come to mind. Not bad, Studio Pierrot. Be wary of 2000s-style giant anime eyes though - they appear quite often.

SOUND
The music, sound effects, and voice acting are all done very well in my opinion. The opening song My Sweet Heart will easily get stuck in your head and fits the tone of the series perfectly. The voice cast does a wonderful job, and I'd like to give a special mention to Saki Nakajima as Ichigo, and Daisuke Sakaguchi as Kisshu.

OVERALL
This is my first time writing a review, and I'm trying to keep it concise so many details (potentially important) may have been glossed over.
My TLDR of Tokyo Mew Mew;
This is a magical girl series that while dated, has been loved for a long time by fans of the genre including myself. It's not perfect, and may not be your cup of tea. But I for one, recommend giving it a try. You may find something sweet and satisfying.