The Mew Project was started by Ryô's father, Dr. Shirogane, five years before "Tokyo Mew Mew" is set. The manga never explains why the project was started or how they knew about Chimera Animas and the aliens, but Dr. Shirogane does mention that they must learn how to inject animal genes into human DNA in order to fight the aliens. In the anime adaptation, Dr. Shirogane discovered the fossilized remains of an ancient civilization called the Chimera during an archaeological dig and began researching the race of people who lived there with his assistant Keiichirô Akasaka. This would eventually become the Mew Project. A laboratory explosion and a fire that kills Dr. Shirogane and his wife, leaving then 10-year-old Ryô orphaned. He moved back to Japan, with Keiichirô, to continue the Mew Project. According to the anime, the lab explosion was caused by a Chimera fossil that woke up setting the house on fire.