Retasu Midorikawa

Retasu Midorikawa or Lettuce is one of the main characters from the Tokyo Mew Mew anime and manga.

Lettuce is the third member of Tokyo Mew Mew to be introduced and her DNA is merged with a Fin-less Porpoise. She is a shy, second year junior high student who attends Okumura Junior High (Excalibur High School in the English anime adaptation) and works at Café Mew Mew.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Lettuce is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of the Multiverse's Cutest Team.

Appearance
Lettuce has a light skin tone, dark blue eyes, and long dark green hair that she keeps in two long braids down her back. She wears large round glasses with thin frames. She has several different outfits and a modest style of dressing. Her café uniform consists of a green dress with light green trim along with a heart shaped white apron, with light green and white ribbons, like the other Mews, but only hers is green. She also wears black shoes with light green socks and laces.

When transformed, Lettuce has bright green hair and eyes to match. She does not wear her glasses when transformed. Her hair is kept back with a long pale green hair accessory in a sort of low ponytail instead of her signature braids. She gains two long white antennae on her head. Lettuce wears a dark green swimming suit-esque unitard with fin-like additions on in the front and back, along with arm puffs, a garter on her left leg, and a choker with her Mew Pendant. Her flat boots are the same dark green colour and reach her knees, and she has no accessories on her hands. Lettuce's Mew Mark is located above her chest.

Lettuce's weapon is a pair of castanets called the Lettustanets, or the Lettuce Castanets. They have a light green and dark green pattern with gold trim, with a pink ribbon at each hinge. They both have a golden bow with a pink heart in the middle, the right castanet with Lettuce's Mew Mark, and the left one with Ichigo's. Her attack is Ribbon Lettuce Rush.

Personality
Lettuce is a sweet girl who is rather shy and timid. She is shown to have low self esteem, thinking that she'd never have friends, but she slowly became more sure of herself after becoming a Mew. Lettuce is very polite and often refers to people formally, including her family and friends. She dislikes fighting unless absolutely necessary and would rather resolve things peacefully than resort to fights.

Abilities
Mew Lettuce's transformation begins with a kiss on her Mew pendant and a declaration of her metamorphosis. Her pendant begins to glow while her DNA morphs, initiating the sequence. Lettuce parts her hands from the Mew Mark on her chest, and she twirls into a flurry of bubbles, causing her Mew uniform to appear. She performs a final spin as her antennae sprout from her head and she lands safely on the ground, clapping and striking a pose. Retasu's DNA is infused with the DNA of the Fin-less Porpoise, a cousin of the dolphin, so Mew Lettuce's legs can transform into a porpoise's tail when she is underwater (if she is in possession of Mew Aqua), greatly improving her ability to swim. She is the third girl to join the Mew Mews and, at first, is afraid to use her powers, but this changes because of Ichigo Momomiya and Minto Aizawa's encouragement.

Weapons and Attacks
Mew Lettuce's attack stems from her weapons known as the Lettustanets. During her attack sequence, she rises up into the air with her arms crossed over her chest. She then parts them and manifests the Lettuce castanets in each hand. Playing a small rhythm with them, she spins around and then fires a blast of watery power at the opponent.

Trivia

 * In Mew Mew Power, Bridget is shown to be intelligent, while Retasu is not mentioned to be especially smart.
 * Retasu's eyesight improves as Mew Lettuce, no longer needing glasses to see.
 * Even though she can swim as Mew Lettuce, Retasu at first could not.
 * The fin-less porpoise (known as the "Sunameri" in Japan) look like small beluga whales, and are called 'fin-less' because they have no dorsal fin. They are found in the coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific.
 * Retasu's birthday, April 29, is the "Day of Green" in Japan.
 * In Mew Mew Power, the beginning portion of Retasu/Bridget's, transformation is cut due to the brief nudity and 4Kids high standards of broadcast.
 * She shares her surname with voice actor Midorikawa Hikaru, who voiced Keiichiro. Although, the kanji used for "Green" is different.
 * In Berry Berry Mew Mew, Retasu speaks formally in the first half of episode 3 and speaks informally later on; while in the original Japanese version, she speaks formally all the time.
 * Retasu's name means, Lettuce Green River. "Midori" means green, while the character for "Kawa" means river.
 * As a pastime, Lettuce enjoys making dolls.
 * Retasu's favourite foods are shortcakes, grapes and stewed foods.
 * Her least favourite food is shiitake mushrooms.
 * In both Cantonese dubs, the translated name they chose for her, Hueng-Choi, actually means "Parsley".