Customer Reviews

Cutey Honey - Collection 2

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you've read any of my previous reviews, then you know that I'm not a huge fan of fan-service. I think its shameless and I believe that animators use it to keep your attention while they struggle to keep the story going. This is why weaker anime can sometimes thrive, because it allures subconsciously to our more carnal section of our brains (philosophical, huh?). New Cutey Honey, however, isn't one of those anime. Fan-service dominates this series, but it runs parallel to the story, and is really meant to bring about laughs more than anything.

Honey is an android capable of changing into many different forms, all with their own special skills and uniforms. Unfortunately, that means she must end up in the buff for at least a few moments while the old uniforms shreds away for the new one to come. Though clearly shameless, it's usually funny because no matter how modest she attempts to be it just doesn't work. She must use a vast array of uniforms and skills in order to battle the evil Dolmeck, the man responsible for taking control of an entire city. Helping Honey is a young boy--who blushingly idolizes Honey--and his family, including the lecherous grandpa and the boy's criminal parents. When mixed together, it adds an interesting and unique cast.

Though filled with action and some drama, this is not a drama in any way. It's pure slapstick comedy from start to finish, never meant to be taken seriously. The animation quality is pretty high for an anime of that time, and Go Nagai, one of the legendary directors and animators, applies his well-known style. I'd recommend this to people who either enjoyed the original Cutey Honey series, are a fan of Go Nagai and his many anime, or like anime similar in design such as Golden Boy, then pick this up. Rated 17+, though, I would keep it away from children.

Let's get right to the point. Cutey Honey is in no way an "award-winning", nor an "award-worthy" anime. If you're looking for an anime that will amaze, mentally challenge, and/or force you to ponder greater thoughts in life, this isn't it. However, if you're looking for a few good laughs, and are not particularly bothered by almost endless, and pointless female nudity (not really graphic), then maybe this is for you. This anime has some violence, but no strong sexual content. The English dubbing is done by a credible team at ADV.

The story is not particularly strong, deep, and/or complex. However, some of the characters are all very likeable, and they'll probably grow on you, as they have on me. The anime starts weak, but it eventually gets better as the episodes progresses. There are a total of 4 episodes on this DVD. I regretted buying this anime during the first episode, was mildly interested in the second, curious by the third, and won over completely by the fourth. I'm looking forward to the rest of the unfortunately short series.

yeah, I forget! With Honey's bouncy breasts and ample derriere- jutting, the words in the title song are somewhat lost. Cutey Honey is a fun anime that I plan to keep watching. In this first volume, the title character makes her debut. A demure secretary for Mayor Light, Honey Kisaragi discovers her true identity with the help of a dirty old man, Grandpa Danbei. Honey can "change" appearance and costume into just about anything, including a gorgeous mermaid, depending on what the situation calls for. All she has to do is yell "Honey, FLASH!!"

In Cosplay City, where all the buildings close up look suspiciously like The Flintstones' houses, there are all kinds of He-Man reject villians attacking anything right and just. Mayor Light is the last bastion of justice for the city. Little Grandpa Danbei, whose body is really a cyborg, enhanced with powerful weapons, knows Honey's secret. His grandson, Chokkei, and Chokkei's parents, live with him and Honey. Chokkei's dad is also a pervert. One disturbing scene shows an enraged Chokkei's mom, naked and ranting about what a good body she has, after she has captured her husband and father-in-law spying on Honey in the shower. The scene is disturbing because Chokkei is grabbing his naked mom, trying to stop her.

Where does Honey come from? Much more of the mystery of her past has yet to be revealed. In the third episode, it is revealed she is an android. The main He-Man Villian Reject, Dolmek, comments that Honey, the "lovely warrior" is part of a prophecy. What is the prophecy? Is Honey unknowingly playing into the bad guys' hands?

I am a little confused. Honey's changing involves the magical girl genre, but she is an android. So is she magic or mecha? In anime, the two are rarely combined. Oh, well, maybe I am overthinking it. Let's watch the jiggling, round chest and fabulous physique. "She's the Girl With The . . . Uh . . . "

Vol. 1 starts out with the world slipping into dark times. Crime is out of control, and a master villian, Dolmeck, is up to no good. A generation earlier, the legendary warrior Cutey Honey vanished during her final battle with the evil Panther Zora. Both are persumed to be dead. However, a prophecy predicts that when a geat darkness threatens to consume the world, than a warrior of light will appear. Needless to say, Dolmeck is the great darkness that threatens to consume the world, and Cutey Honey is the warrior of light who must stop him. Cutey Honey is an android who was created in the image of her maker's dead daughter. Before he was killed by Panther Zora's agents, he implanted in Honey a device that allows her to whip up whatever she needs out of thin air. This same machine allows Honey to transform herself into various different bodies that would be best suited to a particular situation. For adventures under the sea, she can transform into a mermaid, for adventures requiring stealth, she can transform into a ninja, well you get the picture. Honey reappears when a homicidal toady tries to kill the mayor. Fortunately for the mayor, an amnesic Honey had been his secretary all along, and this attack restores her memories. Honey soon meets up with a friend from the old days, a dirty old man who is intended to provide comic relief, and his family. Before the video ends, Honey has time for one more battle, this time with the Jewel Princess, a truly twisted individual who likes to freeze beautiful women and put them on display in her own private gallery. All of the villians are unique and memorable. The most vivid are Peeping Spider and Black Maiden, Dolmeck's two lieutenants. Peeping Spider, can spin webs, see things on all light spectrums, and has eight legs. The Black Maiden looks like a strung out nude Vogue model encased in a robot that serves as her life support system and means of transport. The video ends with Dolmeck and company still needing to be stopped, and Honey determined to do so. Will the second installment of our heroine's adventures be as thrilling as the first? Well, you'll just have to wait till I review vol.2 to find out.

Vol. 2 starts off with Honey battling a montage of baddies with a rousing rock song playing in the background. The singer of the song is a young women named Selina. Not only is she a popular rock star, but she also hands out a drug that turns people into horrific monsterous versions of themselves. Both the Jewel Princess and the gun-wielding toady from vol. 1 used these drugs. Honey is soon onto to Selina. She is tipped off to Selina when the last villian she dispatches in the opening montage dies uttering her name. When Honey confronts Selina, the Peeping Spider captures her young friend Chokai(I'm not sure on the spelling of his name so please bear with me.) This sets the stage for Honey's final battle with Dolmeck and his minions. During this epic confrontation, Dolmeck's master plan revealed, as is the secret of the Black Maiden. All of this provides great entertainment. However, it is easier to follow if you watch this volume shortly after seeing vol.1. Also neither volume provide detailed information on Honey's past. If you pay close attention, everything you need to know is revealed, however, I suspect it would all make sense quicker if you have seen the 1972 TV series that this is a sequel to. Although it is a cartoon, the story of Cutey Honey is not for children! There are acts of graphic violence. It is not uncommon to see people get eviscerated. Also, each of Honey's metamorphoses leave her temporarily nude while her clothing rearranges itself. Needless to say, her dirty old man sidekick, and most male viewers, greatly enjoy these scenes. Both vol. 1 + 2 are available either dubbed into English, or in the original Japanese with English subtitles. Some of the jokes in the dubbed version are different than in the subtitled version, but the important elements of the story are the same. A major complaint of Japanese animation fans is that when a video is dubbed into English, the voices don't really match the characters. This is true with some of the supporting players in this story, but major characters like Honey and Dolmeck are just fine. Although their lines aren't always delivered in the same style as their Japanese counterparts, I think that in the case of the major characters it is more a different interpretation of the dialog rather than a lack of acting skills that spawns this difference. At this point you must be wondering does Cutey Honey live happily ever after, or is there an even greater evil than Dolmeck lurking in the shadows? You'll just have to wait for my review of vol.3 to find out.

Cutey Honey is an acquired taste even for anime fans, but it's endlessly pleasing to its fans. This isn't just because of its frequent nudity or its interesting battles, it's also because it has colorful, likeable characters and a very creative premise. Honey, able to change from one female form to another at will, has near-limitless means of trouncing her opponents, but she's not indestructible and part of the fun comes from how she figures her way out of certain sticky messes.

The DVD is low on extras but the picture and sound quality are excellent and it's great to have all the episodes in one package. The English dub isn't the best I've ever heard but since there is the option of watching it in Japanese with subtitles I'm not complaining. This is a good collection and it's a shame there were never more episodes released. Cutey Honey is a fun and funny series that leaves you wanting more.

Back in the early 1970s, Go Nagai and the animators at Toei thought up Cutey Honey. Busty, bouncy, very pretty, violent, and often naked, Cutey Honey was one of the first world-famous magical girl superheroines. And American critics have had a field day ever since proclaiming that they of course are not fans of naked girl androids, and reassuring us - and anxious parents - that the plot is pretty silly, the animation hopelessly old-fashioned, the characterizations paper-thin, and the whole thing is really only a marginal show at the very best. And certainly NOT FOR KIDS! Well, I won't argue with people about it, but -- and there *is* a but.

If "Cutey Honey" is so bad, why does it get all those 5-star reviews? Because "Cutey Honey" is thoroughly enjoyable. If you're old enough, you'll remember when movie theatres showed cartoons - Daffy Duck, for example - and they were simply entertaining. The episodes on these two DVDs are precisely that kind of cartoon. Heroic good guys! Evil bad guys! Funny grandpas! Gorgeous naked android girls! Lots and lots of them, in an unabashed celebration of a kind of animation that has become very rare today. Yet I have read reviews of "Cutey Honey" that solemnly tell us that the video transfer is really excellent. If you're watching "Cutey Honey" for its excellence of video transfer, maybe you should watch the test patterns instead, because "Cutey Honey" is not about excellence of video transfer. It's about Heroic Good Guys, Evil Villains, Funny Grandpas, and Naked Android Girls, all running around loose in a cartoon world without a shred of reality to it. The violence is about as serious as Coyote falling off a cliff, and if you're going to tell me that Mayor Light is "unrealistic," maybe next you'll tell me that Bugs Bunny isn't a biological rabbit either.

"Spirited Away," "Innosenzu," "Ergo Proxy," and "Akira" this is not. "Cutey Honey" is a high-speed romp, a comedy done in the grand manner without any pretensions at all. If you like cackling villains with tattoos and blue eyebrows or if you like naked android girls who are the heroine, you will LOVE "Cutey Honey." And, if not, well, maybe you're missing something, or, if you're old enough, maybe you've forgotten something. Once, cartoons were fun. Nothing serious, no great messages, no philosophy, just fun. And "Cutey Honey" is pure entertainment. So sit back and enjoy it, and forget about the excellence of the video transfer. Very highly recommended.

This series and Project A-Ko were what got me interested in anime years ago, and I was thrilled to see this come out on DVD. A very entertaining yet brief (8 episodes) show, that was great if you are a fan of superheroes. Not an overly serious show, but great character designs, artwork, lots of laughs and fan service type nudity, mixed with great action in a villain of the week style format. The only complaint I had was that it seemed as if the 2nd half of the first DVD seems like the climax finale to the series, and in fact was the best 2 episodes. The 2nd DVD just felt like filler episodes.

Cutey Honey - Essential Anime Collection (Vols. 1 & 2) Cutey Honey is a cute, fun and sexy series. I have always enjoyed this series and had to include it in my anime collection. If you love good anime give Cutey Honey a Holla. Definitely not time wasted.

This collection is the better alternative to buying the more expensive single discs separately. I love Cutey Honey. I had the original VHS tapes years ago and was glad that a collection of the eight episodes had finally been released. The extras on the DVDs include cosplay performances and interviews with the voice actresses.
Sadly the number of episodes belies an unfinished work. I have a feeling Go Nagai wanted a continuing series, but never got around to making it so. Still, for all fans of Cutey Honey this is a must-buy collection.