This is pleasantly average. It's a magical girl series nowhere near the quality of something like Revolutionary Girl Utena or Madoka Magica, but still worth looking into if you want something light hearted, goofy, and with a silly romance thrown into it. To me, it came off more like a kids show. The villains are among some of the most useless antagonists I've ever seen, with a boring formula of losing pathetically each time. There's nothing exciting about them, and the stakes in this series are a joke. The monsters they create look too friendly to look menacing. The romance felt a bit annoying at times.

Among the highlights, is the music. It really sells the series with many standout tracks. Ichigo's character is pretty dorky, but charming. Innocent, but determined, she tries to balance out her life while at the same time trying to pursue Aoyama. She may go off model what feels like an infinite amount of times, but her character is very adorable, and her clumsiness amusing to watch. Her voice actor debuted here, and I think she did a solid job performing Ichigo's character. Aoyama himself is so annoyingly oblivious, it makes me want to yell at how clumsy their romantic moments are.

Story wise, these suspicious men take 5 girls in by forcing animal DNA on them, turning them into magical girls, and make them work at a café. They are made to fight these aliens who are trying to destroy the world. Nothing extraordinary really happens.

Animation wise, it's a wreck. Besides constantly going off model, much of the animation looks bland and poorly made. I can only recall it shining during the transformation scenes, and in the last episode.

The 5 girls suffer from poor character development, among most of the cast, really. One of them doesn't really go anywhere besides repeating the same line over and over again. She's the Machungo (from Legend of the Galactic Heroes) of the series. Another one goes nowhere besides being goofy and playful, sort of like Ed from Cowboy Bebop. Maybe it's for humor, but naming one of the characters Lettuce is just odd.

Overall, there isn't much to say about Tokyo Mew Mew New. There's no depth to the series. It's charming, but not much else. It has a sort of environmental message, but doesn't communicate it an any meaningful way with the audience. I still wonder what exactly those two weird men are up to. Besides Aoyama, there are other characters who try to pursue Ichigo. Her dilemma is pretty ridiculous. I am also not familiar with the original adaptation, but a season 2 has been announced. I can at least look forward to seeing more of ichigo, and hopefully more great music like what was achieved here.