Go Nagai’s Godmother of Magical Girls returns to western shores, finally on Blu-ray.
Any long time/serious anime fan has likely at least heard of the man named, Go Nagai. A legend, Nagai is responsible for Mazinger Z (Super Robot genre), the mother fucking Devilman, Harenchi Gakuen (which was among the first erotic manga in Japan), and the above-titled Cutey Honey series. Nagai’s Cutey Honey was essentially the raunchy progenitor of the Magical Girl genre we know today.
First appearing in Weekly Shounen Champion in 1973, the series follows a gynoid (fembot) named Honey Kisaragi, who transforms into the red-headed Cutey Honey to fight against the evil forces of Panther Zora using the power of Love (of course). According to Go Nagai, Honey is the first female protagonist of a shounen manga series.
The various tropes that the original Cutey Honey anime/manga series introduced would go on to become staples of Mahou Shoujo, core among them being…
- A school-aged girl utilizing transformations/magical objects for super powers.
- Particularly well-animated transformation scenes that can offer “flashes” of fanservice depending on the show’s rating.
- The school girl waging a seemingly endless battle against similarly-transforming monster girls/female warriors.
The Cutey Honey series would continue past the 70s into multiple manga, anime, OVA, and live action adaptions.
Each anime adaptation tends to have a similar “origin” story for Honey, and they keep Honey’s general look and assortment of transformations/powers relatively similar with core cast members often being reused or being re-imaginings of their past selves.
Honey’s animated productions include,
- Cutey Honey (Toei 1973) – The original classic series, toned down heavily from Nagai’s original manga and very tame by today’s degenerate-standards, but a good piece to show where the industry came from none-the-less.
- New “Shin” Cutey Honey (Toei 1994) – Basically Cutey Honey Gaiden, OVAs created to showcase what Cutey Honey could be when uncensored and animated in the twilight of Japan’s animation boom. Easily the most aesthetic-looking Cutey imo.
- Cutey Honey Flash (Toei 1997) – Created in response to the success of Sailor Moon (and sharing many of the same animation staff), Cutey Honey Flash significantly toned down the violence and nudity found in New Cutey Honey to create something purely for young girls. Ironic that…
- Re: Cutie Honey (Gainax/Toei 2004) – The hidden gem of Cutey Honey, an uncensored OVA series just like NCH. Gurren Lagann-era Gainax + Uncensored Cutey Honey + Evangelion’s Hideaki Anno directing = That’s all you need to know! Now go watch it and ask for an official damn release from somebody.
- Cutie Honey Universe (Ashi Prod. 2018) – Released just last year, CHU is a perfect microcosm of modern anime’s problems, and a good look at how far japanimation has fallen since the early/mid-2000s. Everything is off here, and the look of the show is as bland as it gets (though par for the current year course). The plot is an edgy mess that doesn’t have the brains or balls to go full Madoka Magica, but clearly wants to try even though that was Never The Fucking Point. Go watch it for yourself, the alternate dimension budget-saving fight scenes alone will have you cringing. The work was apparently created to “celebrate” 50 years of Go Nagai, but instead it just makes you want to hug the classics closer…
As of this writing, only Cutey Honey, New Cutey Honey, and Cutie Honey Universe have been released stateside. Both Cutey Honey Flash and Re: Cutie Honey have yet to get a physical release here.
What I’ll be covering today is the first episode of the newly released and finally on blu-ray, New Cutey Honey.
Cutey Honey’s continued popularity 20 years past its original release prompted Toei to take another crack at the series. Unlike the original anime, this series would be released in an OVA format, OVAs being known for their higher quality, and containing none of the censorship that gimped the original. Apparently, Toei used ten-thousand cels for New Cutey Honey, 3x the usual number (though budgetary issues with OVA 8 show you cuts were clearly made near the end).
Toei had plans to make at least 12 OVAs, but considering the 90s were when Japan’s economy decided to commit seppuku, only 8 episodes would be created by 1995. A 9th episode Christmas Special would only make it past the scripting phase. This special is available along with other extras on the new BD release from Discotek.
The plot of New Cutey Honey is set one hundred years after the original in the fictional Cosplay City. The first 4 OVAs tell a sequel story to the 1973 series with Honey battling the forces of Dolmeck (the super thug) alongside returning character Danbei Hayami, one of her allies from the first series. Danbei’s kin are also along for the wild ride.
The latter 4 OVAs move into a freak-of-the-week plot where Honey fights the acolytes of a resurrected Panther Zora, naturally since the series was cut short it has a rather open end. Each block of 4 OVAs has their own OPs/EDs which is very much appreciated since OP2 is vastly superior to OP1.
Like other Go Nagai adaptations, New Cutey Honey often references Go Nagai’s past characters or has outright cameos of them multiple times. Like Mazinger’s Professor Kabuto and the mother fucking Devilman.
Alright, enough background shit, let’s get into episode 1’s fanservice.
Visually both OPs/EDs look crisp, are catchy, and show Honey doing various things with the occasional fanservice nip-slip.
As mentioned above, New Cutey Honey features Danbei’s kin, which includes Chokkei (his great grandson) and below is his granddaughter Daiko, resident gang-leader and MILF.
More on her in future episodes.
You know, I think this character is a reference to Bruno from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns…
Besides the symbol-pasties, shoulder-high gloves and sub-machine gun, Go Nagai himself has referenced Batman as an inspiration for New Cutey Honey’s dark futuristic aesthetic. Tim Burton’s 89 Batman specifically when referencing the cityscape of future Cosplay City.
The transformation scenes contain the most nudity, but the hand drawn animation is such 90s goodness that I never seem to notice, it’s just amazing to watch the scenes play out and how Honey will move as she is wrapped up in her next cosplay. This shit being made back when it was all drawn onto individual cels just boggles my mind, what sheer effort. It’s god damn art to watch it flow, and it looks nice and crisp on BD.
It’s a show with monster girls, heads up that many of the tits you will see going forward in this series will be fetish-tier.
but Honey is of course, the draw.
Probably the best thing about Cutey Honey is Honey’s design itself. The skin-tight leotard works great as a way to spawn fanservice out of the either. The coloring is simple yet stark, and Honey’s blue eyes contrast amazingly with her pink hair. Overall she has a simple enough design for anyone to draw, but has enough distinct touches to make her look original and beautiful.
moving on
This is one series that everyone needs to watch for the spectacle. A classic heroine from a series that inspired shows like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, many of which I would wager you all saw growing up.
Cutey Honey Flash and the batshit Re: Cutie Honey may still be Japan exclusives, but New Cutey Honey selling well on BD may motivate one of these companies to at least license Re: – which all of you should watch in addition to New Cutey Honey.
Until next time,
I’ll be reading part 7
