RetaRyo

 In the English dub, the characters are referred to as Elliot Grant and Bridget Verdant.

RetaRyo
GENERAL
Tokyo Mew Mew
Character	Ryō Shirogane
Character	Lettuce Midorikawa
Canonical?	Semi-Canon
Status of Relationship	Friends; Comrades; One-sided attraction from Lettuce
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het
Also Known As	Ryō x Lettuce, Ryou x Retasu, Elliot x Bridget

1

RetaRyo is the het ship between Ryō Shriogane and Lettuce Midorikawa in the Tokyo Mew Mew fandom.

Canon

Tokyo Mew Mew (2002)

Ryō first saw Lettuce on camera while she was visiting the Red Data Animal exhibit, a museum on endangered animals that served as an undercover means of looking for potential mew mews. Ryō saw that Lettuce's DNA was compatible with that of the finless porpoise and shot a beam to have her DNA infused. This allowed her to transform into a magical girl with porpoise-like attributes. After being discovered by Ichigo and Mint, Lettuce was brought to Cafe Mew Mew, the base of operations for the mew project where Ryō was working. They began to collaborate to protect the earth from aliens who wanted to destroy humanity. Lettuce also had to work at Ryō's cafe to help maintain the image of the base being a restaurant.

Lettuce developed a crush on Ryō at some point. The aliens later used chimera animals that were releasing pollutants into Tokyo Bay, and Ryō and Lettuce arrived by boat to assist while the other mew mews arrived separately. The monster destroyed the boat and the both of them fell into the water. Lettuce desperately tried to save Ryō, and her feelings activated the Mew Aqua around his neck. Lettuce used its power to transform her legs into a porpoise-like tail and kissed Ryō before swimming him up to the surface.

Ryō and Keiichiro could tell that the final battle was approaching, and told the mew mews to take a vacation. Lettuce, however, brought a cake to the cafe to share with Ryō. The aliens' leader Deep Blue later awakened and Ryō saw this on camera. He punched the screen in frustration, saying that this was what he was trying to prevent, before leaving the cafe to go help Lettuce and the other mew mews. Their team ended up being successful in defending the world, and the mews temporarily lost their abilities. However, when Lettuce and the others wandered back to the cafe on their own, Ryō told them that there was a new enemy and that they could all transform again.

Tokyo Mew Mew New

Ryō first saw Lettuce on camera while she was visiting his museum on endangered animal species known as the Red Data Animal Exhibit. He saw that her DNA was compatible with that of the finless porpoise and had Mint bring her outside so that he could be infused with its DNA. This gave her the ability to transform into a magical girl known as a mew mew with the attributes of the finless porpoise. Ichigo and Mint later discovered Lettuce at her school and brought to Cafe Mew Mew, the base of operations where Ryō was running the mew project from. Lettuce then joined his team to combat the aliens who wanted to destroy all of humanity.

Lettuce and the other mew mews later attended a luxury party on a cruise ship that was being hosted by Ryō and Keiichiro. Lettuce was nervous because she did not know how to swim. Ryō later brought her a beverage that he claimed would calm her nerves and she drank it before feeling more confident. The aliens Pie and Tart later attacked the cruise ship with chimera animals and polluted the water so that only the mew mews in their mew forms could swim in it. Lettuce later jumped in to save one of Pudding's siblings and purified the water after finding some Mew Aqua. Lettuce thanked Ryō afterward for the 'magic juice' but Ryō revealed that it was just regular juice and that Lettuce needed to have more confidence and faith in herself.

Ryō and Keiichiro later located a potential source of more Mew Aqua at an ocean museum and asked one of the mew mews to accompany him to investigate. Lettuce volunteered, and Ryō agreed that she was the best candidate because water was the element she was associated with. They were later attacked by Kish who tried to steal an earring that supposedly had Mew Aqua and Lettuce fell into the water. After having a vision of the distant past, a ghost told her to confess her feelings if she had someone she loved. Lettuce later confessed to Ryō on board a boat. Ryō thanked her for telling him this but said that he needed to focus on the mew project and could not give her the answer she wanted to hear. Lettuce was understanding and walked off before crying in Zakuro's arms.

Fanon

RetaRyo is a popular ship in the Tokyo Mew Mew fandom. This is due to Lettuce's known crush on Ryō, which was expanded upon in both anime adaptations. While the series later hinted that Lettuce may be matched with Pie instead, many fans find that pairing to be toxic and would prefer to see her with Ryō, as while he had a crush on Ichigo, she was dating Masaya, and the IchiSaya and Kishigo pairings were both more popular for Ichigo. RetaRyo fans were saddened when the reboot Tokyo Mew Mew New had Lettuce confess her feelings to Ryō only to be rejected. On AO3, there are currently 17 works for RetaRyo, and it is the second most popular pairing for both Ryō and Lettuce, while there are 12 that specify the RetaRyo pairing. RetaRyo most commonly rivals the IchiRyo and RetaPai pairings.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Ryō/Lettuce tag on AO3

Ryō/Lettuce tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

Ryō x Lettuce posts on Tumblr