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ОглавлениеKyûtî Hanî
&
Shin Kyûtî Hanî
— Joshua Dunbar —
By the time Go Nagia’s original Cutie Honey anime debuted in 1973, the magical girl style show was well on its way to becoming an established genre in Japan. The origins of the magical girl genre can be traced back to the imported American sitcom Bewitched. Today, many viewers associate magical girls with things like Super Sentai (Power Rangers in the US)—cute girls fighting evil and engaging in good versus evil like operas, but this was not always the standard. Like Bewitched, early magical girl manga and anime series focused less on combat scenarios and more on the complications that arose from having supernatural powers in the mortal realm. One of the earliest and most notable examples, Sally the Witch, tells the story of a young girl from a magical kingdom who is sent to the mortal realm to make friends her own age. The original Cutie Honey anime was to be more along these lines, focusing more on Honey’s changing ability and less on combat. However, circumstances resulted in the show being assigned to a time slot previously held by shows designed for a male audience. In an effort to retain this demographic, Cutie Honey was adjusted to include more action sequences and nudity during the transformation sequences.
It would be a stretch to consider the original anime’s Hannah-Barbera-esque cartoon visuals pornographic-Honey resembled something along the lines of a spinning, naked Barbie doll. Limitations of 1970s animation techniques not withstanding—the show is as ambitious in its set pieces as it is sexual. Cutie Honey does not titter around with the usual fan-service. Often within the magical girl genre, the audience may be surprised by a sudden up-skirt shot or the heroine caught (or tied) up in some sort of compromising position. These moments can be jarring and leave viewers asking, “Did they intend it to be interpreted that way?” In the world of Cutie Honey, the fan-service is as blatant as it is pervasive. There is no room for the viewer to wonder or consider the intent of the writer or animator. Honey is not even safe from her school’s headmistress—a bizarre mustached woman harboring a confusing romantic obsession. Honey is aware that she holds this type of appeal, and depending on her mood, can be amused, excited, and even bored by the commotion her transformative power causes.
Initiated by the words, “Honey Flash!” Honey’s signature power allows her to change her attire into anything she wishes. The changes are not just cosmetic—a transformation into a biker or pilot grants superhuman operator skills. Even a transformation into a rock star comes with the ability to dance and sing far beyond the level of an ordinary human.
Certainly, Honey’s ever-changing appearance makes her tailor-made for a girl’s doll line, but by turns the exciting swordplay and array of monstrous villains could give He-Man and the Masters of the Universe a run for their money. By the 1990s, this cross-media synergy would become the norm in anime and manga. All things considered, Cutie Honey may have pioneered the more action-driven magical girl heroine as well as cemented the fan-service phenomena.
If the original Cutie Honey kicked off a fan-service craze, 1994’s New Cutey Honey ran it into the end zone. Slickly animated and lots of bold, brassy characters, this OVA (Original Video Animation) is a huge, fun, sexy comedy everyone is invited to. A sequel to the original series, once again Honey finds herself the object of desire of both men and women alike, and this time the transformations are even more knowing and sensational—taking the form of everything from a Chun-Li look-a-like to a leather-clad, whip-wielding S&M queen. This dominatrix form is taken during a battle with the nude—except for a few well-placed diamonds—Jewel Princess. Honey seems to be having a bit of fun with both the Jewel Princess and the viewer:
“If you can call yourself a Princess, Princess, just call me the Queen!”
While some might write New Cutey Honey off as either tasteless nonsense or a combination of the worst sexist anime tropes, there are many aspects that elevate it beyond similar offerings and other, more traditional magical girl anime. Remarkable production values, appealing and sometimes absurd character designs (a Go Nagai trademark), beautiful color palettes, and well-choreographed action stood out in the over-inflated (thanks to the enormous success of Sailor Moon) magical girl market. The transformation sequences, of which there are many, are incredible. Transformation sequences are are a hallmark of the magical girl genre. Often this animation is elaborate and costly, resulting in the reuse or recycling of the same sequence many times throughout the run of a series. Unlike many magical girls shows, the animation in New Cutey Honey’s transformations is never recycled—each one is unique and they never fail to impress.
Of course, the degree and frequency to which her naked body is revealed also set Honey apart. The nudity in New Cutey Honey is certainly more realistic and gratuitous than anything presented in the original 1970s version. Although undeniably sexy, it can be interpreted as a big, cheeky, laugh at the whole genre. Magical girl series, such as Magical Emi, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Sailor Moon all feature varying degrees of fan-service or exploitation of their female characters. So while New Cutey Honey is certainly more explicit than those shows, the major difference here is that Honey is in on the joke. During a dangerous encounter with a punk-rock villainess, Honey finds herself cornered. To escape, she feigns an infatuation, professing her love and pressing her body against the woman’s. Alarmed by the advance, the villainess tosses her out:
“Ugh! Get out of here—I’m not into THAT!”
Having escaped into the alley, Honey giggles and admits to herself that she enjoyed the sensation of the woman’s breasts against her own:
“That was too close … but I sort of liked it too!”
In another instance, Honey momentarily breaks the fourth wall and reveals she is wearing a steel bra:
“My contract says I have to wear one of these—if my breasts were damaged, fans everywhere would be grieving!”
This lively sense of humor is also displayed in the joy she receives when teasing and mocking her opponents. Witty and self-aware, in these moments Honey is reminiscent of a female Spider-Man, though she’s more self-assured than most superheroes. Many times she defeats her opponents utilizing both brain and brawn. She is a mature and principled tough girl whose kindness and empathy for others is extolled as often as her physical attributes.
The dub done by ADV Films is worthy of mention for several reasons. New Cutey Honey is a frenetic carnival of excesses—the scenarios range from the zany to the deathly serious. The English direction and performances capture the high energy and excitement of the material. Honey is voiced by Jessica Calvello (hand selected by Go Nagai) and the actress rubber-bands between sexy, aggressive, comedic, and vulnerable moments with an ease and understanding of anime not typical of the period (though typical of many of ADV’s high quality productions). Her laugh is a pitch-perfect mischievous purr.
Sadly, the series ended after only eight episodes. The first four episodes tell a complete story arc regarding Honey’s revival and her battle with Dolmeck, “The Lord of Darkness.” The remaining four take a more monster-of-the-week approach, and while the episodes are clearly building toward an encounter with a revived Panther Zora (Honey’s ultimate adversary), the episodic nature means that the series doesn’t end on a cliffhanger despite its cancelation.
There are many other adaptations of Cutie Honey, most recently a 2016 live-action film. The original anime and it’s OVA sequel however, are often cited as the best interpretations of Go Nagai’s work. In many ways, New Cutey Honey feels like a culmination of every magical girl series that came before it, albeit with each genre-defining aspect ratcheted up to eleven. Many viewers may at first find themselves struggling to reconcile the voyeuristic nature of the transformations with the portrayal of a powerful female hero. It may help to consider that sex appeal and strength are not mutually exclusive, but in many ways it is these seemingly contradictory elements that make the series so exciting. Honey’s combination of grit, grace, sexiness, and strength—as well as her creator’s willingness to push the envelope—have established her as one of Japan’s most beloved heroines.
Joshua Dunbar is a freelance illustrator and art educator and holds an MFA in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. A lover of all forms of Japanese media, he is currently working on his first creator-owned comic inspired by the Magical Girl genre and late twentieth-century animation. You can find his work on his Instagram at @j2dstar or joshuadunbar.com.
