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Want me to be honest? Well, I think Berry is a HUGE Mary Sue. Like, almost the god of Mary Sues. Almost.

She used to be my favorite.... until I realized she was a huge Sue. D: I still like her, she's just no longer my favorite.
She has her good points and her bad points;

Good points:

She's cute, she's not an idiot. She's sweet but still manages to have realistic flaws, such as being selfish and shallow.

Bad points:

While she has her flaws, they are very few. Flaws help make the character more human and realistically identifiable. Take those flaws away, and the character is flat and less enjoyable. This is, unfortunately, a thing Berry lacks.
She also steals the spotlight from the other characters, something Ichigo never did. While Ichigo DID have the spotlight most of the time, the other characters were more than just decorations with names. The same cannot be said for Berry, who seems to be the only useful Mew Mew come a La Mode. The other Mew Mews weren't really needed other than to tie the first series and a La Mode together. Other than that, they had no plot importance. Even Ichigo was shoved aside, as if she had never been leader OR saved the world from destruction.
There's also the fact that the other characters accepted her instantly, even though that was an OOC action for some of them. For example, I doubt Mint would have been so welcoming towards Berry at first, probably instead taking an "I'm not sure about her" stance. Ichigo also seemed too accepting, considering it would probably have seemed to her like her friends had replaced her with some new chick. Hell, that's pretty much what Berry was; an Ichigo replacement, even though one wasn't needed.
A better role for Berry would have been for her to be another side Mew, and if necessary, a temporary leader until Ichigo returned.

All in all, a completely unnecessary Mary Sue. However, she has some redeemable qualities, in my opinion, that cause me to like her.

Berry would have been better for a stand alone series. If A La Mode was the first TMM series, or took place long after the first series so that the already existing characters wouldn't have been able to serve much of a purpose anyway (like Digimon season 2, where most of the season 1 cast were past the age and time of being important characters), Berry probably would have been more enjoyable. But to go through 7 books and 52 episodes of a series, getting used and attached to the current characters, only to have them shoved aside for ONE person is just idiotic.

Actually, I think I would have liked Berry more if she was a regular Mew, rather than a lead one, yet still had a lot of importance. That would have been an interesting aspect, like if Sailor Mars had an entire (albeit smaller) season dedicated to a plot surrounding her; she's still a side Senshi, and nowhere near being a leader, but she would serve a somewhat larger purpose than most co-characters. Something like that would have been good for Berry and A La Mode.

I agree, the two animal thing was stupid and pointless. :/ She wasn't really all that much stronger than Ichigo. She didn't even do a ton of fighting. So I don't get what the point behind that was, unless Ikumi wanted a Playboy Bunny without sacrificing the catgirl aspect.

Pfft, I laugh at the last sentence. XD
But sorry about a slow reply, but it's school, and all.
But anyway, what I said earlier may or may not have made sense to anyone. So I'll just explain rather than fix.
So earlier, I was merely comparing Berry to Ichigo, since you are right, she's just her replacement. As much as I don't like Ichigo, as I said, at least all the rules that applied to her weren't broken.
If anyone needs examples, here are some....

~All mews, when transformed have hair and eyes that match their signature colors. Except Berry, because she's special.
~Everyone has weapons based from instruments (Yes, a whip is a percussion instrument, and Mint's can be counted as a harp.) Again, except Berry.
~Berry is suddenly stronger than the other Mews without much fighting, and/or for no adequately explored reason.
~Berry has two animals. Again, no adequately explored reason other than what you suggested above.
~Ooh look, a new Mew! Let's obsessively stalk her and constantly remind her how great she is! We're all Mews demoted to extra because of this new person who randomly came outta nowhere! Let her hog the sppotlight, no one likes us, right?
~Why the hell does she have 3 colors, when everyone else has two? Oh yeah, I forgot....

Am I missing anything? Sorry if I offend anyone. You can still like Berry after this, I'm just laying down the afcts. You judge this, I just present information.

I like Berry, but part of me can't stand her. I agree; she should've been a temporary leader until Ichigo came back from London.

I really felt a bit hurt when Ichigo was tossed away for this new mary sue kid.

Of course we all love tokyo mew mew despite "the berry a la mode incident". Yet again feel free to go ahead and throw your spears and knives at me people, my principle remains the same. Firelibra296, on the mint and berry question...really I think that in the begining when mint was a complete snob and was treating ichigo like crap, well she probaly after all that happened throughout the next few volumes she learned something.....well that's best i think of right now without running to look back at the manga. But also a question that probaly has many answers.