Back in February 2004, 4Kids announced their acquisition of anime series Tokyo Mew Mew - although at the time, they called it Hollywood Mew Mew (the Anime News Network article carrying the announcement is here). The Mew Mew Alliance was launched shortly afterwards, asking fans of the show to write to 4Kids, making clear our desire to see an uncut, bilingual release of Tokyo Mew Mew - a type of release that 4Kids typically did not do.

Since our launch, things have moved on - the name of the show has changed again, this time to MewMew Power, and it has been announced that other 4Kids shows (Shaman King and Yu-Gi-Oh!) are to get uncut, subtitled releases, thanks to a sublicensing deal with FUNimation Productions. There's still no indication of Tokyo Mew Mew getting such a release, though, and so our campaign continues. Please show your support by writing to 4Kids Entertainment and FUNimation Productions at the addresses given further down the page.

What Can You Do to Help?

Please show your support for the show by writing to 4Kids & requesting a proper, bilingual, uncut release of the show, or asking them to consider sub-licensing the home rights for the series to a company who is willing to do that for them.  4Kids can be reached at the following address:
4Kids Entertainment,
1414 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, N.Y. 10019

If you live in the UK, you could also write to their UK offices, although at this stage I'm not certain if they have the UK or European rights for the show. 4Kids UK offices are at:
4Kids Entertainment International Limited,
Unit 1 Carlson Court,
116 Putney Bridge Road,
London SW15 2NQ.

Plan B: FUNimation Productions
Now that FUNimation have shown an interest in releasing uncut / subtitled versions of at least some 4Kids shows (Yu-Gi-Oh! and Shaman King for now), it won't do any harm to write to them asking them to consider doing the same for Tokyo Mew Mew. Here's the address:
FUNimation Productions Ltd
6851 N.E. Loop 820, Suite 247
North Richland Hills, TX 76180

If you do write, please keep it polite!  State your case for a bilingual & uncut release firmly, but don't give in to the temptation to make it a flame letter - they would do more harm than good.

I'm No Good at Writing Letters!

If you're not confident about your own letter-writing skills, fear not - there's a form letter you can base your own letter on - check the links on the left-hand side.

I'm hoping to add a few more of these in the near future.  Remember, don't just print form letters out and post them as-is - take the time to personalise them.  Even better, if your handwriting is readable (I know mine isn't), write the letter instead of using a printed copy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.  What is Tokyo Mew Mew?
It's a shoujo manga & anime series (shoujo = originally intended for a female audience) chronicling the adventures of 5 young girls and their efforts to protect Tokyo from chimera animals.  For more details, check the sidebar for a list of related websites.

Q.  Why Tokyo Mew Mew - What about other shows 4Kids has licensed?
I've picked TMM as it happens to be a personal favourite of mine & is the first show I've enjoyed that 4Kids have picked up - so it's the first time I've needed to consider a letter-writing campaign.  If you're a fan of other 4Kids acquisitions and are worried about the treatment they'll receive, then write to them anyway - name your show or write your letter in a way that covers all shows 4Kids have the rights for.  All anime deserves to be released bilingual & subtitled - we just need to convince the people at 4Kids that releasing anime in that format is in their interests as well as our own.

Q.  Why a letter-writing campaign?
Because email campaigns and online petitions are as good as the paper they're written on.  Both of these take little or no effort on the part of respondents, so many companies don't feel they provide representative responses to issues.  Writing a letter takes time, which most people wouldn't waste unless they genuinely supported the cause they were writing for - as a result, letters carry more weight & have a better chance of producing the desired result.

Q.  Great idea! Do you have their email address?
Yes, but see the item above this - email has little to no effect on a company's decision making. Pick up a pen & write - it really doesn't take that much longer than firing off an email, and has a much greater effect.

Q.  I don't plan on buying any titles 4Kids own, but support your case - should I write?
Tempting as it is to have as many people jump on the bandwagon as possible, please don't write unless you're planning on backing up your words with actions. If 4Kids were to release a fan-friendly version of TMM, or any other series, on the back of this campaign & subsequent sales weren't up to expectations, you can bet they would never do it again.  Every letter sent must represent a definite sale, or we'll never persuade them to permanently change their ways.