As mentioned previously, there is a glut of moe anime hitting the television in Japan right now. One of which is a re-hash of a re-hash of a re-hash of the classic Go Nagai series Cutey Honey. The first remake emphasized the fanservice aspects of the title, the second tried to readjust the theme to better fit the Magical Girl craze of the mid-1990’s. This time around, in three 90-minute chunks of OAV glory, we see more of an emphasis on the seventies-nostalgia take on things. The magical-girl elements are still there, and it just wouldn’t be Cutey Honey without fan service, but stylisticly I must say that this one outpaces all previous incarnations of the title.

The story revolves around Honey Kisaragi, the perky daughter of Doctor Kisaragi. After his daughter died, the brilliant doctor created an android in her image. Now this android simulacrum of Honey Kisaragi battles the forces of evil, running around in tights with a sword, occassionally “transforming” into alternate forms. Mostly this involves her current outfit exploding off of her and a new outfit re-forming around her, giving her new abilities. The villains amount to a bunch of monsterous “bosses” and mobs of cookie-cutter henchlings that enjoy wrecking havok on Tokyo.

Add in an uptight police detective, a mysterious-but-charming man claiming to be a newspaper reporter, and a lot of bold, retro colorschemes and background music, and you have an enjoyable, if somewhat shallow 90 minutes of fun. Anime Forever is a group that is fansubbing it for us beigokujin.

Editorial note: at some point, the creators of Cutey Honey material started spelling it “Cutie Honey.” For the purposes of consistency, I am using the spelling I was originally exposed to.