In Tokyo, Japan, a young girl named Ichigo Momomiya attends an endangered species exhibit with her "crush" Masaya Aoyama.

After meeting Ryou Shirogane and Keiichirou Akasaka, Ichigo learns that she was infused with the DNA of the Iriomote cat.

During a battle with Quiche at an aquarium, Ichigo is in danger of losing when the mysterious Blue Knight appears and rescues her.

Masaya's personality briefly reappears and he uses the Mew Aqua inside Deep Blue to save Ichigo and Tokyo, killing himself in the process.

Devastated over his loss, Ichigo pours her power into Masaya to save his life, losing her own in the process.

They face a new threat in the form of the Saint Rose Crusaders: Humans with supernatural abilities who desire to conquer the world and create a "utopia" while taking over the remaining Chimera Animas.

Berry and her childhood friend Tasuku Meguro use their newfound feelings of love to reverse the hypnosis and cause a change of heart in the Crusaders.

[1] The story she originally presented to her editors, Tokyo Black Cat Girl, featured a heroine named Hime Azumi.

An intergalactic police officer named Masha gave her the ability to transform into a cat-girl and asked her to aid him in defeating alien invaders called the Bugs.

[2] After the production team decided to focus on five female superheroes, Ikumi was asked to reconstruct the lead character.

[3][4] Yoshida and two other editors determined each volume's plot, created a scenario by adding stage directions and dialogue, and presented it to Ikumi.

Ikumi added her own ideas and changes, creating the manuscript's first draft, which was taken to the publishers for final review and approval.

[40] The company also licensed the remaining twenty-six episodes of the series that 4Kids had not obtained, releasing them in two DVD box sets through AK Vidéo.

[43] It was later revealed that the adaptation will be animated by Yumeta Company and Graphinica, and directed by Takahiro Natori, with Yuka Yamada handling the series' scripts, Satoshi Ishino designing the characters, and Yasuharu Takanashi composing the music.

They must defend Ringo's island from Quiche, the Chimera Animas and a new alien named Gateau du Roi (ガトー·デュ·ロワ, Gatō dyu Rowa).

[53] Both Ringo Akai and Gateau were created by the manga's artist, Mia Ikumi, following design specifications from Takara.

[57][58] An additional character CD set, containing remixed versions of two songs from each individual album, followed on December 25, 2002.

[61] NEC released a second soundtrack on January 22, 2003; it contains the opening and closing themes, along with an additional twenty-nine tracks of background music.

[67] It was ranked 16th on the list of Manga Top 50 for the first quarter of 2004 in the ICv2 Retailers Guide to Anime/Manga, based on sales from both mainstream bookstores and comic book shops.

[68] Sales of the sixth and seventh volumes dropped slightly; however, both were among the top 100 best-selling graphic novels in March and May 2004.

[74] Though AnimeFringe's Patrick King notes that it is not a very intellectual series and that it avoids complex plot points, he lauded it as engrossing "brain candy" and an "endearing action-romance" that has no "delusions of grandeur".

[74][75][76][77] Criticism of Ikumi's art focused on images which regularly spilled out of panel borders and speech bubbles with ambiguous speakers.

Big eyes, cat ears, fuzzy tails, and short skirts all come together in a cuteness combo that's hard to resist.

"[74] According to Carlo Santos of Anime News Network, "Mia Ikumi's artwork is perfectly suited to the story, and it is not even all that wispy and frilly compared to other shōjo material.

Like many budding manga artist, Ikumi's greatest strength is in carefully posed character portraits, and her prolific use of tones creates unique effects while also sidestepping the challenge of backgrounds.

Critics praised it for being a modern manga that typifies the magical girl formula, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses.

[76] Others felt Berry was an overly shallow heroine and that the sequel offered nothing new for readers with the Saint Rose Crusaders' costumes and plans being nothing more than concepts borrowed from Sailor Moon.

Janet Crocker, Shannon Fay and Chris Istel of Animefringe criticized à la Mode for having the character Duke, the main villain of the arc, dressed in a white robe similar to those used by the white supremacy group, the Ku Klux Klan.

PreCure 5 due to both having female protagonists, five original team members with signature colors and powers, and similar plot lines, as have many magical girl series.

[80] The announcement of 4Kids licensing the anime series drew negative reactions from English-speaking in the U.S. fans, due to 4Kids' practice of removing cultural elements from their English-dubbed adaptations.