New Cutey Honey
(Complete Collection)
(dr. Nasuchika Nagaoka 1994)
published in Empire No.66, Sydney, 2007
Based on a 1973 TV series, the eponymous 'new' Cutey
Honey is actually a reincarnation of the original android. Cutey is as buxom as the puerile mind can imagine: her 'super powers' come from a device implanted in her bosoms, which when energized engage a transformation that shreds her clothes in numerous 360° slow-mo tracking shots. Momentarily naked, she is then re-assembled into an array of lurid tight-fitting costumes as she shouts "Honey Flash!".
As dumb as that sounds, New Cutey Honey is representative of a stream
of anime and manga which is seriously tongue-in-cheek (or bomb-in-boob). Principally
a soft erotic parody of super heroines, the exploits of Cutey Honey recall the
best of 30's-era pulp serials, here rendered in 90s-style anime. The Good are
almost nauseatingly noble, while the Bad are deliciously demonic. The irony of
the series is iron-clad, as most of the characters declaim their resolve in high-theatrical
mode. Yet Cutey never fails to erupt into bulging action against porno action
nymphs like Panther Zora, the Jewell Princess and Saline. Wild and wacky, riddled
with some suitably gory violence and hilarious titillation, New
Cutey Honey is an unbridled mash-up of super-histrionics, lesbo-suits and
psychotic demons.
