While Ichigo Momomiya is on her first date with Masaya Aoyama, she is bathed in a strange light and sees herself being merged with a cat. Afterwards, she begins to display cat-like behaviors. The next day, Ichigo follows Masaya into a park, where a strange jellyfish-like creature takes over a rat's body, turning it into a monster
Ryou and Keiichiro tell Ichigo that the creature she saw was a parasitic alien, called a chimera anima. To stop them, the Mew Project infused five girls with the DNA from specific endangered species, enabling the girls to become "mew mews". Ichigo begins working at Cafe Mew Mew while searching for the other four girls who bear the Mew marks
Ichigo meets a shy and timid girl named Lettuce Midorikawa. Later at the café, Ichigo sees her with three other girls, who are trying to coerce an unwilling Lettuce to try to photograph a rumored school ghost. Ichigo "accidentally" dumps parfaits on them to get them to leave Lettuce alone
Upset about her first kiss stolen, Ichigo avoids Aoyama, even declining a date with him. While looking for chimera animas, Masha leads her to the park where she runs into Masaya. Resolved to forget the kiss, Ichigo agrees to spend time with him
The school rhythmic gymnastics team sees Ichigo avoid the path of an on-coming bus by leaping over it, and the team recruits her. A promise from Masaya to come and cheer for her at the competition changes Ichigo's participation from reluctant to enthusiastic. After Ichigo's spectacular individual performance, Kish attacks with a chimera anima
While cleaning the café, a woman approaches Ichigo and Lettuce and begins speaking to them in English (Spanish in the 4Kids dub), but they cannot understand her. Masaya appears and translates for them. The woman, Mary McGuire (Maria Rivera in the 4Kids Dub), is a pianist who Ryou asked for a performance at an upcoming formal party to reward the girls for their good work
Returning from the grocery store, Ichigo stops to rest on a bench. A young girl, Pudding Fong, begins performing acrobatic tricks in front of her and then demands a tip. Ichigo gives her a piece of candy then runs off
The girls win a day-trip to a resort in the mountains. On the way up the mountain, they stop at a shrine to eat lunch where a boy named Masazou Aoyamada yells at them for desecrating the shrine of Bacchigappa, the god of the mountain. The girls find a natural hot spring and stop to relax
While at Mint's house to borrow a dress, Ichigo meets her older brother, Seiji, who is going to study abroad. She is saddened to learn that they have grown apart after seeing an old photo of the two. Wanting to help the siblings reconcile, Ichigo invites him to attend Mint's next ballet performance
One night, a mysterious girl saves two people from a chimera anima. At the café, the girls read a newspaper article about the incident and realize that none of them is the girl shown in the picture. Mint arrives and recognizes the girl as Zakuro Fujiwara, a famous model whom she idolizes
Mint is upset by Zakuro's rejection, and the others try to cheer her up. Ichigo and the others go to talk to Zakuro. Meanwhile, Kish approaches Zakuro and offers her a deal to return her body to normal if she joins him
Masaya takes Ichigo to Inohara Park to show her a large cherry tree that is unusually blooming out of season. The next day, Keiichiro discovers that five cherry trees have been infected by the aliens explaining the early blooming. The Mew Mews set out to destroy them simultaneously, or the trees will release a poison dangerous to Tokyo
Worried Masaya discovered her identity, Ichigo avoids him. Later, Ichigo intends to cheer for Masaya during a kendo match but is unable to face him. Later, a jealous Kish attacks him with a chimera anima capable of recreating itself when attacked
Keiichiro begins making a beautiful birthday cake for someone, and the girls ponder whom it might be for. Later, Ichigo meets a woman named Rei studying butterflies. She later learns that Rei is Keiichiro's ex-girlfriend, and the intended recipient of the cake
The girls wonder about Masha's usefulness beyond just detecting chimera animas and eating the parasites. The discussion leads Masha to question his confidence. While the Mew Mews fight a chimera anima, he tries to fight alongside and ends up swallowed by the monster
Lettuce meets a young man named Norihiro at the library. She falls in love with him and begins going there every day to see him. When he gives her a present, the girls encourage her to tell him how she feels
The data gathered by Masha reveals that the aliens originally inhabited the earth, but had to leave because of changes in the environment, ending up on an even worse planet. Ichigo is upset at this, but Ryou reminds her that it is not an excuse for trying to kill humans. Ichigo goes on a date with Masaya, which cheers her up, but the next day she is sick with a cold
While the four Mew Mews are fighting the chimera animas created by Pie and Tart, the Blue Knight battles Kish. He is injured while protecting Ichigo, but the arrival of the other Mew Mews causes the aliens to retreat. Before leaving, the Blue Knight tells Ichigo that he was born to protect her
At the beach, the girls enjoy swimming and playing in the water. However, Lettuce does not know how to swim. A girl named Iruka is being picked on for her inability to swim despite having a name meaning "dolphin"
When Pudding falls sick, Ichigo, Mint, and Lettuce agree to go to pick up Pudding's little sister Heicha from school. Heicha's teacher explains that Pudding's mother died and her father is always traveling, so Pudding is the primary caretaker of her five siblings. However, the little girl refuses to leave the school with the others, but Pudding arrives to get her
Mint has a strange dream in which she is talking with her merged animal, the ultramarine lorikeet. Later at the café, Ryou and Keiichiro tell the girls about a substance called mew aqua and its power. After her dream, Mint is concerned about their mission
As summer break comes to an end, Ichigo has to scramble to finish all of her homework before the start of school. The aliens also are enjoying the last day of summer and are avoiding working, but finally send Tart to continue their plans. Though she has no time left, Ichigo agrees to go on a date with Masaya, but just as she arrives, she is called back to the café to help clean up the mess made by water pipes
Ichigo discovers that her school friends Moe and Miwa have developed crushes on Ryou and Keiichiro. Though Ichigo fears her friends will be disappointed, she agrees to help them. They make gifts for the boys, but when they go to the café to present them, the boys are busy searching for mew aqua and ignore them
Zakuro takes Ichigo to the rehearsal of a jewelry company premiere where she befriends a clumsy crew member named Tsukiko. Tsukiko really wants Zakuro to wear a rainbow stone necklace for the show, but both the stage manager and Zakuro reject it for being too modest. Ryou, Keiichiro, and the aliens all believe the stone is made from mew aqua
When Ryou and Keiichiro discover that mew aqua is most likely to be found underground, Ichigo cancels a date with Masaya to search for it. Ryou and Keiichiro decide to use an ancient rod unearthed at the archaeological site where they first learned about the aliens. Meanwhile, the aliens are already underground, searching with chimera animas
The Mew Mews attack the cocoon at the top of Tokyo Tower but are unable to destroy it, and a huge moth hatches from it. It moves too fast for the girls' attacks to hit it, so Mew Ichigo jumps onto its back to try attacking it from there. Kish interrupts, causing her to fall, but the Blue Knight saves her
Hours late, Ichigo arrives at the meeting place. At first, she thinks Masaya has left, but he appears near her and tells her that he was waiting for her and that he loves her. Ichigo's cat ears pop out, but she hides them with a handkerchief and tells him that she loves him too
As a cat, Ichigo gets lost while trying to escape from a large amorous cat. She finds herself standing in front of Masaya's house, where he discovers her and takes her inside. That night while he's asleep, she decides to kiss him, but accidentally kisses his dog instead
Ichigo meets a cat at the train station and discovers that, even in her human form, she can understand him. The cat, named Asano, later comes to the café, and tells her that he is searching for the cat he loves, a Lilac Point Siamese named Jacqueline whose owner moved away. The girls agree to help him find her, but learn that her owner has taken her to a cat fair to find her a fiancé
When Ichigo's father finds out that she has a boyfriend, he does not approve. He demands that Masaya defeat him in a kendo match before he will allow them to continue dating. Ichigo complains to her mother, who explains that her father loves her and just wants to protect her
Mint surprises the other girls by inviting them to a tea party. When they arrive, they meet a spoiled, wealthy girl named Kanna, who declares that she is Mint's "eternal rival." A box arrives, containing something Mint wanted to share with everyone
While the Mew Mews are battling one of Tart's chimera animas, a young man named Yuebin Ron appears and defeats it with his bare hands. An apprentice of Pudding's father, he has come to spend a night competing with Pudding so that he can be the successor of the family's fighting style. He defeats Pudding, and tells her that she must also now become his fiancée
The girls participate in an open market where Lettuce sells a variety of dolls that she made herself, which are popular with the crowd. The last doll is purchased by famous doll maker Ayano Uemura who invites Lettuce to work with her at her workshop. Lettuce happily accepts and they make a doll together that Ayano takes to an exhibition
Ichigo meets a lonely girl named Momoka whose parents are always busy. Ichigo learns she is a fan of Zakuro, so she tells Zakuro about the girl. Zakuro later runs into the girl at a restaurant
Ichigo tries to talk to Ryou about the problems caused by her cat genes, but he ignores her. On the way to school, Ichigo changes into a cat again and gets in trouble, but is saved by Alto who also kisses her to change her back to normal. Despite his struggling, Ichigo picks him up and is shocked when he suddenly changes into Ryou
As Christmas approaches, Ichigo grows depressed as she thinks about how she is regularly lying to Masaya to hide her being a Mew Mew. Zakuro invites her to go shopping with her and tells Ichigo that since she cannot open her heart, she should give Masaya something that reflects her feelings. Ichigo chooses a necklace called "Tears for Christmas
The aliens add more energy to the mew aqua, putting the area in danger of being destroyed. The Mew Mews are able to reduce the power of the explosion, however no one had noticed Masaya was nearby. He is hit by one of the fragments of the mew aqua and knocked unconscious
Pie creates a chimera anima capable of manipulating dreams. The monster puts Ichigo to sleep and reforms itself into a replica of her to go to the café and send the other four girls into Ichigo's dreams. They transform, but as the dream is being manipulated by the chimera anima, their attacks are sent back at them
The aliens decide to use special chimera animas to release pollutants into Tokyo Bay. The Mew Mews arrive, sans Lettuce, and find themselves having to fight numerous smaller chimera animas made from fish. Mew Lettuce and Ryou arrive by boat, but the larger monster destroys it and they are thrown into the water
Zakuro is offered a leading role in a movie in Hollywood, but this would require her to move to America. She has not decided whether to take the job or not, but she tells Ichigo that the girls still know nothing about saving the Earth and that she is losing patience with them. Meanwhile, Kish learns that the conditions on his planet have gotten worse and that he must hurry to find the mew aqua so he can save his people
Ryou and Keiichiro learn that mew aqua may have been made by the aliens when they inhabited Earth. A strange type of energy begins emerging in Tokyo and trees grow out of control, turning the city into a forest. The Mew Mews find something that appears to be a large mew aqua in a tree but before they collect it, Tart arrives and turns the tree into a chimera anima
For Valentine's Day Ichigo decides to make chocolate for Masaya, with help from Keiichiro. On her way to meet him, she is attacked by Kish who knocks away her transformation pendant. Masaya senses that Ichigo is danger and comes to her rescue
Masaya begins having prophetic dreams, including one where he is invited to join the team and one where he sees Ichigo crying. The next day, his first dream comes true, against Ryou's protests and Zakuro's concerns, and he becomes a member of the Mew Project. The group goes to investigate a strange light being emitted from a river to determine if it is mew aqua
Deep Blue orders the aliens to destroy the Blue Knight. They decide to kidnap Mew Ichigo in order to draw him out. Meanwhile, Ichigo is happy to have Masaya now working at the Cafe Mew Mew
The group is searching for mew aqua around a large rock formation in the forest when the girls and Masaya get separated. Something strange begins happening and everyone transforms. Masaya transforms into the Blue Knight, but falls from the rock and returns to normal
Ryou and Keiichiro tell the girls to take a vacation, feeling the final battle is approaching and wanting them to be refreshed. Ichigo, however, cannot find Masaya to enjoy the downtime with. Meanwhile, Kish tells Pie and Tart that he is going to use the Blue Knight's powers rather than waiting for Deep Blue to awaken
As Ichigo stands in disbelief that Masaya is Deep Blue, Pie explains why they have been waiting for him. Ichigo tries to reach Masaya, showing him the bell collar, but it is useless. Unable to fight him, the other Mew Mews rush to protect Ichigo as the alien attacks her, eventually being wounded enough that they are forced back into their human forms