Time for the final volume of the Tokyo Mew Mew manga (although there's always the sequel series, A la Mode waiting in the wings if you start suffering from withdrawal...). After reading this, I can't wait to see it animated...

Deep Blue Revealed
A string of revelations has left Ichigo without the urge to fight. Knowing that the future of the Earth is at stake, the rest of the team try and persuade her to pull herself together and get back in the fight, but whichever way Ichigo turns it seems like she'll have to hurt someone important to her, and it's too much of a decision for her to make. Will she finally take the decision to defend the Earth one more time, or is this Ichigo's last stand?

You Love the Earth
The final battle is well under way, and Ichigo's on the trail of Mew Aqua - hopefully enough of it to help her win. Problem is, she's on her own now - the rest of the girls have fallen behind her - but when Ichigo finally faces Deep Blue, she gets some help from an unexpected ally...

A Transfer of Power
The battle is over, but all is not well. Not everyone has survived the battle, and some difficult decisions must be made before those left behind can return to their normal lives...

Extras
Petite Mew Mew - another story from the Mew Mew Kindergarten
Meow Meow! - Reiko Yoshida talks about her cats, and how their appeal somehow transferred into Ichigo's personality.
Staff Hamsters! - the Tokyo Mew Mew staff drawn as hamsters!
Postscript
Mew Mew Thank You!

Call me a philisitine, but for me 'climactic final battles' don't work so well as static images on a page, but that's pretty much all this final volume is (apart from some very touching after-battle scenes involving Ichigo & Masaya). While slower, dialogue scenes work great in manga format, fighting works so much better when it's animated.

Bearing that in mind, I was a bit disappointed with this volume, purely because of it's heavy focus on battle. That said, it is the "dramatic conclusion", so I wasn't really expecting anything else, and I'll admit there probably weren't any other ways it could be done.

The story makes up for its shortcomings with some touching moments, though - and not just the ones between Ichigo and Masaya - which make the manga worth reading regardless.

There are a few good extras here, as well, with the adventures of the Petite Mew Mew making a welcome return - sugar rush on a page, but great fun to read.

As a series overall, TMM has covered pretty much all the bases you would expect from a mahou shoujo story, but very much has it's own feel and identity. I even had me cheering on the bad guys on occasion (go Kish!), which goes to show just how well they were developed. It probably won't come as any surprise, but Tokyo Mew Mew comes highly recommended - go get.