Anime Review: Cutey Honey Oav
Review New Cutey Honey
Things are rather grim in Cosplay City. There is a mayor by the name of Mayor Light who can handle the problems of crime and corruption in the city. Of course the local lord of Darkness doesn't really like this, so as would be expected of a lord of darkness he sends someone to kill him. This is where his secretary, Honey Kisaragi comes as unbeknownst to her she is a super hero. She is in fact the lovely warrior Cutey Honey, who can change into various costumes and gain powers depending on what costume she chooses. So it is up to Cutey Honey to save Cosplay City from the forces of darkness.
The Cutey Honey Oav that I am reviewing is an Oav based on a TV series in the 70's by Go Nagai. It is often considered to be one of the shows that spawned the idea of the Magical Girl. This show is not for kids, however. One of the main reasons for this being the Honey Flash, Cutey Honey's Transformation sequence. Let's just say when she changes outfits, you really see her change her change clothes. Not only that Honey herself is quite developed.
If you were able to read between the lines in the last paragraph you can probably guess that this show has a lot of fan service. Damn right it does. It is one of the main reasons to watch the show. It has most or all of the basics you would find in a fan service show, right down to the dirty old man. One thing to be said in favor of Cutey Honey is that it fully understands the use of fan service as integral to the show as opposed to simply being used as a crutch.
Not only does Cutey honey have fan service there is also quite bit of action. I am particularly impressed with the action sequence in the beginning of episode three that condenses what would normally be several episodes of just fight the monster of the week down to about three minutes. It's something I wish happened more often.
The animation for Cutey Honey was rather nice. One thing that stands out is the character designs. On one hand you have Honey, whose character design is very good (heh heh heh) and on the other is her adopted family who looks very odd and cartoony. Especially the cybernetic old man. Then again Honey's family is largely there for comic relief so it isn't that bad.
Overall Cutey Honey is a good Oav. Especially for something based on an old (and according to the rumors a new one in production) TV series. If you like fanservice you will like Cutey Honey. I give Cutey Honey a rating of good.