Cutey Honey Collection #1 (DVD)

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Released in 1994 in Japan and in 1998 in the USA by ADV, "New Cutey Honey" is an eight-episode OVA series update of the popular 1970s television show "Cutey Honey" by well-known manga and anime artist Go Nagai. You don´t need to have seen the original TV show to appreciate the OVA series. "Collection 1" contains the first four episodes.

Without watching the DVD, you can get a general idea of what the show is about from looking at the front cover--it consists of a shot of Honey´s gravity-defying body barely concealed behind tiny flying scraps of clothes. While there is plenty of eye candy in the series, there is also an entertaining plot...er, well, there´s plenty of eye candy.

The first episode, titled "An Angel Descends", basically just introduces the main characters. In Cosplay City, almost everyone leads a life of crime. Chokkei, a young boy, and his Grandpa Denbei meet the mayor´s lovely secretary. Grandpa Denbei urges the secretary to transform herself in order to defeat the city´s bad guys. At first, she doesn´t understand, but after praying for the power, she regains her lost memories and transforms into Cutey Honey. First appearing in silver armor, then transforming into a biker girl, Honey defeats an entire biker gang. She then transforms into her red headed form to fight the biker gang´s leader. The biker gang´s leader jabs a red ampoule into her own breast, turning into a humanoid monster. Honey beats her pretty easily anyway, and the episode ends with Honey transforming back into her blond form. The first episode also introduces Dormeck, a powerful villain who will be a behind-the-scenes force that challenges Honey.

So far, the show is sort of decent. The idea of a city full of thieves has some comic potential, and the characters are likeable. The animation quality is good (no lurching and so on). The backgrounds, especially the buildings are well done. I especially liked the architectural style, with all of the buildings looking like they weren´t so much built as they were organically grown.

Episode 2, "The Sweet Trap of the Jewel Princess", begins at Grandpa Denbei´s house, showing that Honey, Chokkei, and Chokkei´s parents have all moved in. One night, the Jewel Princess attacks Honey in her bedroom and attempts to kidnap her. After a brief fight, the Jewel Princess is forced to withdraw. I say brief, but actually the fight was a bit lengthy because a lot of time was spent on showing Honey transforming so that we could see her humongous rack again and again. (I have to wonder...when she shouts "Honey Flash!" before she transforms, is that a catch phrase or just fair warning to the viewer?) The rest of the episode involves Honey fighting the Jewel Princess and another villain, Virtual Hacker. Honey transforms a few times, and the Jewel Princess uses a red ampoule on herself before being defeated. Honey decides that the red ampoules are probably important.

This episode is pretty much filler. No new important bad guys are introduced, and the plot is not advanced much.

The third episode is called "A Singing Voice is the Devil´s Temptation". Cutey Honey finds herself at odds with a rock singer named Saline, who distributes red ampoules in her microphones. During the ensuing fight, Saline uses an ampoule on Honey. Instead of transforming, Honey remains human, much to everyone´s surprise. From the shadows, a special light shines on Honey, revealing that she is actually an android. After defeating Saline, Honey watches as a spider monster kidnaps Chokkei and flies off to Dormeck´s flying fortress.

I´m not sure that this episode counts for plot advancement either. I mean, someone uses an ampoule and turns into a monster. You didn´t need a bad guy to tell you this--you´ve seen it in every episode. Also, the dire situation in Cosplay City has been completely abandoned, and all that´s left is the thinnest plot possible to go between Honey´s transformations. The characters have not really been fleshed out, so I wasn´t really fussed about Chokkei´s fate. Still, there is one more episode on the DVD.