Synopsis:
Honey Kisaragi, mild-mannered assistant to Mayor Light, soon realizes that she is actually Cutey Honey -- a fighter for peace and love! Honey can change not only her clothes and hair color at will, she can muster up a wide array of weapons ranging from swords to guns as well. Honey works with the Hayami family in order to protect the greater good, fighting all sorts of bad elements who would threaten the city. The young Chokkei Hayami seems quite taken with her too...

Review:
New Cutey Honey is yet another offering from Go Nagai, the same man who has brought us "Devilman" and "Kama Sutra" among others. Here we have a magical girl of sorts called Cutey Honey. Cutey Honey fights evil via her transformation power "Cutey Honey Flash". Flash is right. Whenever Honey flashes, all her clothes melt away after which a new costume would cover her naked body inch by inch... but not before we all get a good look at her boobs, butt, and legs. She also gets the appropriate hairstyle makeover and weapons to match whatever role it is she is playing. She can be a police officer, a martial artist, a samurai, a rock star... whatever kind of person is needed for the situation. Cutey Honey can become just about anybody, which is very convenient for her struggle with evil.

New Cutey Honey is a definite fan service fest. Aside from the fact that Honey flashes several times in an episode, she is pitted against equally busty female enemies who also have no qualms about showing off their anatomical proportions. One of the series' main flaws is that the episodes follow more or less the same formula: a. Some baddies threaten the city; b. Cutey Honey and company arrive to finish them off; c. The head honcho (almost always female) becomes a ferocious monster; d. Cutey Honey puts an end to her. It's only a question of what Cutey Honey will transform herself into in order to save the day. Well, at least the episodes aren't just stupid excuses to flaunt some flesh and actually make sense (*cough* Amazing Nurse Nanako... *cough*). There are also some hints of a possible romance between Honey and Chokkei, it's just that I couldn't take it seriously because I felt that Chokkei was too prepubescent for that sort of thing.

The art and animation are quite good, albeit some of the character designs take some getting used to. Cutey Honey herself is pretty. Both Chokkei and his dad look effeminate, while the mom comes off as rather masculine. Grandpa is the typical lecherous little old man... I guess. There's also a lot of violence and some amount of blood due to all the fighting that ensues. The English dubbing is not bad, although not exactly what I'd consider great either. I noticed that majority of the scenes involved either shouting at the top of one's lungs or murmuring incoherently in low voices, which was irritating to say the least. If it's of any interest, "bitch" is probably the most repeated word in the series.

New Cutey Honey is overall a watchable series. All the flashing and fighting can be fairly amusing, and I thought there was enough going on to hold one's interest. I consider it one of Go Nagai's more worthwhile efforts.

Miscellanies:
New Cutey Honey is comprised of eight episodes. Devilman and his bird lady foe make a cameo appearance in the opening sequence.

Screenshots

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