Kyûteî Hanî

From master of pornographers...sorry, I mean "mangakas" Go Nagai another shot of him at cheap pornography through this vomit-inducing thingy, hands down one of the worst if not the worst animation product ever made in history period (even worst than Angel Cop, if you can believe it). The animation totally sucks compared to older series like Mahou Tsukai Sally from SIX YEARS PRIOR (!), the action is completely nonsensical, the characters all are insufferable, the chara design is all based around gynormous tits and an assortment of other gynormous tits backed by the ugliest "female" design ever concieved by an human mind because hey, Go Nagai is a 1000000% pornographer other men must like nothing else more than tits AMAIRAIT?!, everything still reeks as a third/fourth rate attempt at emulating the exploitation movies the theatrical branch of Toei produced at this same time with nothing particularly engaging or interesting to begin with the lone exception of the intro song and the Seiyuu performance provided in particular by the woman who voiced master of thieves Fujiko Mine in the Rupan Sansei series. Awful stuff that I sincerely don't get how it turned to be so influential in the first place in the whole magical girls show genre, and an honest embarassment in the career of Shingo Araki, who went from this absolute inanity to Versailles No Bara and Saint Seiya and conquered the world. It's legitimately the first time in my whole Otaku career that I hold the belief the following live actions (both the movie and the series) are above and beyond this abomination. Avoid like a minefield at all costs.

The story of Cutey Honey, a sexy android who can transform her self into a myriad of forms to defeat her evil enemies, the beast women. SUPER campy, like Speed Racer, but far raunchier with a fun sense of humor, Cutey's probably not for children. Our heroine transforms in to various ridiculous shapes to defeat the bad-guys; A Dirt Biker Racer so she can drive any vehicle; a Flight Attendant that can parachute using her cute dress; a Camera-Girl wielding her camera as a weapon; a Fashion Model who beguiles the enemy with fabulous looks! The show comes from the same demented mind that brought us Devil Man, Go Nagai.

The show's very psychedelic and smacks of a very high cartoonist. It's great! A lot of fun to watch, with VERY catchy tunes and background music.

For 1973, to have something this sexy was quite a deal. Not sure this would air unedited in America today. It turned out to be too much for the Japanese, where it was pulled after 25 eps. Still, it had a fanbase that refused to let it go, so Nagai later gave us Shin Cutey Honey, Cutey Honey Flash, the live-action Cutie Honey movie, and something called re: Cutie Honey. More recently still, there is Cutie Honey: The Live, a live-action television series.

And that isn't counting the manga, such as the latest Cutey Honey: Legend of an Angel.

She seems to have more powers and gadgetry in this, the original 1973 series, than in Shin Cutey Honey, but isn't as powerful as in the live-action movie. Still, her main power is that she can change into a chef, a ninja, a jet pilot, a rock star, etc.

While Christian imagery abounds in this series (stained glass, Madonna and child paintings and statues, crosses), I don't see the same level of allegory in this series as in the later Shin, in which Honey is obviously meant as a Christ-figure (she has no sin nature and spends a lot of time with two thieves).

All incarnations of Cutey Honey that I have seen to date are worth checking out.