Tokyo Mew Mew Exposed Part 3 Ichigo and Kish(u)

We  will look at the toxic relationship between Ichigo and Kish(u). It starts off with him giving her a non conscenting kiss in the manga and both anime adaptations.

Through out the 2003 anime (and some aspects of the reboot) he stalks her, berates her, screams at her, choked her and attacks her due to  not only his infactuation  but his goal of  taking over the Earth for Deep Blue along with Tart and Pie his comrades. As an alien his goal is to steal the Mew Aqua to acheive his goals, Ichigo defends the earth and they are on opposing sides.

Um.... no she did not like the kiss. She was caught off guard.

Does THIS look like the face of a girl that wanted her first kiss stolen?

(I cannot believe this was given the ok to be published)

In the 2003 episode we see that Kish(u) knows where she lives and he constantly wants her to romantically love him. He does not see her as a person but a prize to be won. When he has a melt down over why she likes her boyfriend and not him and attempts to attack her in a craze, it genuinely disturbed me when I watched this because I knew something was wrong. 

In the manga the same scene occours and  she is taken aback by that reaction. He only cares about his needs and how Ichigo can fufill them. Kish(u) never respected that Ichigo is taken and happy with her boyfriend (despite the mystery behind him and his true identity. That is for another discussion)

This is disturbing

Infamous scene in 2003 anime when he dies 

Ichigo  was often afraid or scared around him and this dynamic being protrayed  is teaching girls to be nice to creepy guys even if they stalk, harass, manipulate or gaslight you. 

Sometimes he is nice to her in the series but that is what an abuser does they fake niceness just to reel the victim back in again. This dynamic is a trauma bond that was affecting Ichigo mentally and that negatively  impacted her behaviour.

When the final battle came and he took a blow for Ichigo it is framed as romantic, he nearly kisses her before he dies.

(I  felt relieved by this because he would leave her alone.)

We see that Ichigo  is trauma bonded to him and this dynamic is not healthy to be protrayed in a work and framed as 'romantic'.

May I remind you she is 12-13? NO CHILD SHOULD BE GOING THROUGH SOMETHING  LIKE THIS.

It does not matter how nice you are to an abuser they will never change, they will destroy every bit of you until you loose yourself and we see that with this dynamic. 

This messaging is common in the MG or Shojo genre and it needs to stop promoting this  because this influences girls to try to 'fix' people that do not want to be fixed or stay in an irrepairable relationship.

The amount of times I saw Ichigo x Kishu AMVs in the 2000s and fan art that  plays into the publics facination with the bad boy persona and the common trope of good girl and bad boy.

 In reality these relationships rarely work out due to the good girl over compensating and sacrificing herself to fix the bad boys trauma or baggage, usually getting into drugs, partying or changing her style to be more revealing.  A modern example of this relationehip is Lore Olympus on Webtoon ( which is also problematic). In this dynamic the younger woman has to change to acomodate his lifestyle, and his needs rather  than it being an equal partnership. Sometimes these relationships end up being toxic/ abusive/ dominant in some form by intimacy or the behaviour  towards the woman as she becomes older.

She has a boyfriend as seen by her remembering Ayomaya as the Blue Knight in the first panel but once again Kish(u) is invading her personal space.

 

This pairing is romantacizing  a predatory relationship and just like Prince Diamond x Usagi, there is an unhealthy fixation on pairing a victim and an abuser which influences people to justify and rationalize abusive relationships or young girls to think being abused is normal.

There should be more awareness that these relationships and unhealthy and are not to be an  aspiration to get into or stay in these relationships . In reality these types of dynamics will get an individual  mentally and in some cases physically hurt.  Instead of waiting for a person like Kish(u) to change please make a safety plan and leave as soon as possible. The power of love does not make people change nor do you need to sacrifice yourself for another. Get away safely and swiftly from these types of people.