Alright, I will say the anime surprised me. What with the usually fast pace, I thought we would have immediately jumped into getting Zakuro to join the team immediately. So I was glad that we actually slowed down a lot and got ourselves a proper Mint episode. And I have to say, this is probably my favorite episode of the show so far. It was pretty good.
So the girls notice something is wrong when Mint is actually putting in a lot of effort at Cafe Mew Mew instead of being her usual lazy self, which I think is really funny. Of course after what Zakuro had said to her, Mint isn’t feeling like her usual self. So Ichigo and the girls decide to visit Mint her at her home in hopes of cheering her up. First of all, I’m glad that Mint actually has an episode of her own since I was pretty worried that we were going to gloss her over. And technically we did when she became a Mew Mew since it was a few second scene in her flashback so we don’t even know the context of when and how it happened. Still, we were able to spend this time to really get to know her along with a different side to her in the previous episode. And second, the show finally slowed down this episode. Every single episode so far has been so quickly paced with each one getting worse than the last but this time we took a break and had some downtime, even with a fight at the end. It’s something the show has desperately needed and I’m at least glad it was for Mint since she was my favorite in the original. Also just for the girls to hang out together just for fun. The pillow fight was really cute and to see the four of them smile and laugh this episode was really nice. Less of them being around together just for business, and more because they’re just teenage girls (except Bu-ling) and friends.
Even with feeling hurt with what Zakuro said, I’m glad that Mint is still pretty level-headed and understood why Zakuro reacted the way she did. I also think it’s kind of sad that Mint was just really confused because no one had ever spoken to her like that. Mint is an incredibly wealthy girl who no dount was surrounded by yes men, as well as a really loving family. Maybe a little too loving, as Mint is frustrated with how they always treat her like a little girl and her thoughts aren’t taken as seriously. We meet Mint’s brother and he seems like a pretty good guy, but Mint’s fascination with Zakuro makes a lot more sense when she sees a girl her age have the agency and freedom to be who she wants and take the world by storm. It’s something Mint has always wanted, and becoming a Mew Mew paved the way for that path as well. Zakuro joining the team as a Mew Mew brings everything full circle for her and really gives her the strength to hopefully be like Zakuro, surpassing her current self and growing. I also like that she gave that whole confrontation on the roof a lot of thought and realized why Zakuro may have reacted the way she did. Mint acted like a total fangirl the entire time and didn’t see Zakuro as who she truly is. Mint only knows a glorified version of Zakuro that she shows off to the public, but she doesn’t know who Zakuro truly is as an actual person. And the way she confronted her wasn’t as Zakuro the person, it was from Mint the fangirl to her “Queen”. Zakuro does seem to be a “lone wolf” (pun intended) but maybe knowing her mistake, Mint may be able to swing Zakuro their way. Even if she still faces that fear and anxiety she knows she has to face her on a personal level, as a person and not just as her idol.
The battle today was the first step to Mint taking her goal head on, and I have to admit I thought it was badass when she pointed her bow right at Kish and threatened to let Ichigo go. Kish still hasn’t done much of anything and I don’t get why he’s so obsessed with Ichigo but he continues to be gross. The Chimera Anima this time was Mint’s dog, Mickey. And I have to say, Mickey has to be one of the ugliest dogs I’ve seen in anime lol. For some reason they drew it’s teeth to be super sharp, and those eyes are alien like so that didn’t help either. Still, I understand the sentiment of not wanting to hurt your precious doggy. But now with Zakuro’s safety being a threat, it’s up to Mint and Team Mew Mew to find and protect her!
I hope we get Zakuro’s proper transformation sequence next time, and I hope we get a better group transformation sequence. We got a sneak peek of Lettuce’s too because I almost had forgotten that we never saw her properly transform either. You know, for a magical girl series you’d think they’d highlight their transformations a lot more. :/
