Director: Yasuchika Nagaoka
Screenplay: Higashi Shimizu, Isao
Shizuya and Sara Uemura
Based on the Go Nagai manga
Voice Cast: Michiko Neya as Honey
Kisaragi; Junko Iwao as Natsuko; Kousei Tomita as Danbei Hayami; Rica Fukami as
Daiko Hayami; Rica Matsumoto as Chokkei Hayami; Sho Hayami as Mayor Light;
Taeko Yamada as Black Maiden; Wataru Takagi as Akakabu Hayami; Yusaka Yara as
Dolmeck; Hirohiko Kakegawa as Peeping Spider
Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles
I reach an iconic character in anime and pop culture, and like her persona, of a heroine able to transform her costume and persona, Cutey Honey varies per adaptation since her 1973 manga. Created by Go Nagai, a 1973 television series co-existed at the same time of this manga, to which New Cutey Honey is set a hundred years afterwards, with the character becoming flexible in the type of narrative tones you could create with her. The character is fascinating from the get-go as, with the capacity to have been sold to a female audience, a strong female heroine who can transform in a variety of costumes and personas, Honey's manga was actually penned for a young male audience originally, with mind that some of the adaptations, especially New Cutey Honey, emphasised the titillation of each transformation involving the costumes disappearing. That Honey is also an android is a weird touch, as she acts like a human being and can even feel pain, but she is a striking figure who naturally stood out. In her main form, a tomboy with vibrant short red hair who fights with a sword, this character had the potential to also be a strong female lead as much as an eroticised super heroine.
Nagai, never one to shun his kinky side, would have not minded this OVA adaptation's direction, which he had his involvement in including even hand picking the English dub voice actress, Jessica Calvello, for the ADV Films dub1. Cutie/Cutey Honey has however had multiple variations - a 2004 live action film directed by Hideaki Anno, another sci-fi live action film in 2016, a 2004 OVA Re: Cutie Honey produced by Gainax and involving Hiroyuki Imaishi, a live action television series, and in 1997 a three season series Cutie Honey Flash (1997-8) which took over the television slot the final original Sailor Moon series - so this character has sustained herself for a long time.
New Cutey Honey is a slight work, which is not an insult but in mind that this was meant to be pure entertainment. Eight television series length episodes, just over twenty minutes each, this is split into two halves with different opening and ending sequences. The first follows a narrative of a cabal of villains led by Dolmeck, desiring dominance over the main setting of Cosplay City, the last four episodic stories of Cutey Honey fighting a variety of villains, feeling like the OVA series was cut off from a grander plan to continue. The narrative's centre is Cutey Honey herself; set a hundred years after the original series, once she realises who she is, Honey is ahead with fighting villains with a new gang. A dirty old man Danbei Hayami, a returning character in the franchise whose android body however makes him a powerhouse as well as still be alive in this world, and the Hayami, the parents two former rival gang members, and their son Chokkei a teenager who develops a crush on Honey.
One of the biggest factors to bear in mind for this adaptation is that, juggling between seriousness and comedy, a lot of this includes sex comedy. As an OVA title, this can have as much female nudity as it wants, a paradox in Honey being a potentially strong character yet her gimmick involving her clothing exploding off and reforming into different costumes. The bigger concern, and what has aged, is when the comedy includes the likes of groping or trying to spy on someone in the shower. We have not really progressed decades later, and these being adults is at least more palatable is not defendable, but this in tone is something that does stand out. Thankfully it does not detract entirely, and the character's various forms over the years means that even the sexual side of her persona has been played with in very different ways. It is just that here, you will at least roll your eyes at least once or not feel happy about some of the jokes, none of which is an issue in regards to this having some much nudity and sexual humour but some of how it is dealt with.
What also stands out however is how entertaining this still was. This is a spectacle, a pure colourful piece of pop, a monster/villain of the week narrative but allowed to be more lewd and adult. The playfulness of a Saturday morning cartoon is here, with slapstick and background pedestrians that stand out against the regular characters for absurd effect, but also tonal whiplash as, due to be adult, you can still have deaths. It is somewhat alarming and unpredictable, in a positive way to the content here, that a villainess, despite playing to a dated predatory lesbian undertone, has been capturing and turning innocent young women into decorations in her lair, all preserved in a way that they cannot be brought back unless magic had existed in this world. The show does get serious at moments, but this is definitely an exaggerated fun piece but one that reminds me that this is still a Go Nagai property, the creator of Devil Man and Violence Jack. Even some of its dated content can suddenly pull out something unexpected, such as that villainess being surprised by Honey turning into a dominatrix and that clearly being played out in a way that might subvert the aged aspects greatly.
It is also well made. This is a big, bright production, even in spite of a central location of a giant grey dystopian city, where its theme tune about the lead character is a catch earworm to adore, and the show has enough behind its production to make everything shine. This is a case of spectacle taking priority, which is not really an issue here as, for the criticisms you can have especially about the dated aspects, nothing here was bad. No bad episodes, no dull patches, one episode the highlight where of a female pupper master who, whisking the cast to a feudal Japan setting and armed with human marionettes from samurai fiction, also allows for the lead to dress up as pop cultural figures of ancient Japan. That one episode has Cutey Honey dressed as Jushin Thunder Liger, a legendary professional wrestler who looks like a space alien crossed with a Power Rangers villain in his distinct horned mask with white and red aesthetic, really goes to show how much of the show is gleefully indulging itself.
That the episode where that visual reference appears is also about a prison island, where a pain fixated female leader forces gangs to fight her minions to the death for her sadist pleasures, reminds you how ridiculous this show is but knows. Go Nagai also created Kekko Kamen, which was him just wanting to create a prank character, an almost all-nude heroine, and here especially by the final episode, a children's show character of a gold obsessed female thief who stole a dimensional teleporter, you see that this franchise character is allowed to just be a playful farce. One that is as broad and exaggerated with more sexual humour than could be possible for a weekend morning television show. New Cutey Honey does have a strange structure in that its most dynamic narrative ends in episode four, only to progress with a variety of episodes which vary between the serious to this final one, ending on a gang of disgruntled police trying to force a taxi driver to ship them all back to the city. For the DVD release in Japan, the closest thing to a continuation of this adaptation was a CD drama, effectively a Christmas based episode, which does suggest this had plans to continue at least for a few more episodes. What we got was nonetheless memorable, and again, this like many iconic characters from manga and anime manage to last due to how her world could be altered and reinterpreted, so Cutey Honey is a figure I will find interesting directions with as the adaptations continue to exist.
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1) As referenced in the following.
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