Studio: Go Nagai, Dynamic Planning, Toei Video Company

Translation: ADV Films (1998)

Rating: 3/5

The city is under siege by the forces of darkness. Lord Dolmeck sends his forces to wreck havoc amongst the citizens. Only Cutey Honey stands in his way. She is a champion of Light, able to transform herself into different girls, each with her own specialty. The transformation is done by shredding her costume on the fly, revealing her nude body before it is wrapped by the new costume, hence one of the appeals of the show.

The tone of the show mixes humor with action and sexiness. The villains are at times serious and other times rather children's cartoon-like. For the most part the series characters and storylines are more kids oriented but the nudity and sexual situations are adult oriented, creating a bit of a surreal juxtaposition.

Villains are almost all female and usually turn out to be grotesque monsters. Honey turns into Lovely Warrior Cutey Honey, who uses a sword, for the final battle. Kind of reminds me of Voltron. Then again the villains are at base humans and they die in the end so once again we have kids show themes mixed with adult themes.

The first four episodes are a standalone arc. The next four episodes were the start of an eight-episode arc but the production company cancelled the last four episodes. Overall I liked the series though a bit too childish for my tastes.

Principal Characters

Honey Kisaragi/Cutey Honey (Jessica Calvello) - Mayor Light's secretary

Chokkei Hayami (David Nance) - teenaged kid doing his best to help

Danbei Hayami (Tristan MacAvery) - Chokkei's grandfather, combat specialist

Daiko (Tiffany Grant) and Akakabu Hayami (Greg Stanley) - Chokkei's mom and dad, and inept criminals

Lord Dolmeck (Bryan Bounds) - Big bad guy boss

Black Maiden (Tamara Lo) - Dolmeck's lieutenant

Mayor Light (Jason Douglas) - city mayor trying to do the most good

Natsuko (Jenny Strader) - former thief who joins the group in episode 5

Episode Synopses ***** SPOILERS *****

Episode 1. An Angel Descends

Chokkei Hayami is a teenage boy in Cosplay City, a city wracked by evil doings. He looks up to Mayor Light, who promises to do all he can to improve the city. A band of moto-mutants attack the mayor and they're beaten off with the arrival of Chokkei's grandfather, Danbei.

Lord Dolmeck is intrigued by the challenge. He sends Deathstar (Laura Chapman) to test Mayor Light. Back at Danbei's house, Chokkei sees a statue. It is of the Cutey Honeys, champion maidens who will appear during the city's greatest need. Chokkei remarks that Cuty Honey looks like Honey Kisaragi, the mayor's secretary.

Danbei realizes that it's her and they rush back arriving just in time to help fight Deathstar. But Deathstar is too strong. Danbei tells Honey that must pray for the strength to fight the darkness. She does and is tranformed into Cutey Honey. Cutey changes from an armored girl to a hotrod girl to a sword-wielding girl as she fights and finally defeats Deathstar.

Episode 2. The Sweet Trap of the Jewel Princess

Cutey Honey moves in with the Hayami family. On a shopping trip she catches the eye of the Jewel Princess (Carol Matthews), who decides to add Honey to her collection of beautiful girls trapped in crystal. But the Jewel Princess's initial attack is thwarted by Cutey. Cutey, Chokkei and Danbei track the Princess back but they find that she now has the help of Lord Dolmeck's minion the Virtual Hacker (Paul Sidello). Cutey gives up in order to save Chokkei and Danbei but when the Jewel Princess reneges on the bargain Cutey Honey breaks free from her prison and destroys both villains.

Episode 3. A Singing Voice is the Devil's Temptation

Our heroes track down a distributor of the mutagenic drug that creates monsters. Saline (Marcy Rae) is a singer who is quite protective over her microphones, one of which she throws into the crowd at the end of each performance. Cutey Honey poses as another singer in order to investigate. Her cover is blown and she has to fight Saline. During the fight Honey's secret is revealed: she's an android! After the battle Chokkei is kidnapped by Peeping Spider (Guil Lunde) and taken to Lord Dolmeck's skyship.

Episode 4. The Death of Honey? Battle for the Sacred Skyship!

Lord Dolmeck reveals that the souls of the human monsters that Cutey Honey has dispatched are collected so that he can open the gates to Hell. Cutey Honey, Danbei, Akakabu and Daiko assault Dolmeck's skyship in order to rescue Chokkei. Huge fight versus Peeping Spider and Black Maiden. Cutey Honey meets Lord Dolmeck. Black Maiden reveals herself as Panther Zorad, apparently a former major villain whom Cutey Honey defeated, resurrected by the black energies that Dolmeck has been collecting.

Lord Dolmeck battles Cutey Honey and starts beating her up. Chokkei comes to her aid and is injured. Cutey Honey gets a second wind and starts holding her own. And then she runs her sword through Dolmeck. But that's part of his plan to open the dark gates. The skyship is blowing up. Cutey Honey sacrifices herself to close the gate as the Hayami family escapes.

But wait, Cutey Honey survived!

Episode 5. [Dark Army Story] Challenge! The Fangs of the Evil Sky Monster

A mad bomber is going to detonate a small nuclear bomb and destroy Cosplay City. Before Cutey Honey can get to the bomb it is stolen by Natsuko (Jenny Strader),  youngest member of a quartet of female thieves. A chase ensues. The gang's leader, Gene (Erin Rosaire), turns into an acid spitting monster who wants the bomb to detonate in Cosplay City. Gene kills her two partners saving Natsuko and Chokkei (who ended up with the thieves) for last. Cutey Honey distracts Gene until Danbei grabs the bomb and they detonate it far away. Then she returns to deal with Gene, or more correctly, Panther Zora (Michelle Fitzgerald).

Episode 6. [Dark Army Story] The Evil of Revenge

A darkness envelops the land which is changed to an ancient Japan peopled with dummies. Yasha (Toni Navarre), the host, animates the dummies, who then attack Cutey Honey, the Hayami family and Natsuko. Honey faces off against Yasha in snake form and defeats her strengthened by the love of her friends. Turns out that the mannequins were all from the abandoned Samurai Park.

Episode 7. [Dark Army Story] Prison is the Nest of Evil

The Thug Hunters have been rounding up all criminals in Cosplay City. Daiko is caught in one of their sweeps. The rest of the group goes undercover to free her. The island prison is run by Scorpion (Kelly Manison), a cruel master who enjoys watching the prisoners die in the arena at the hands of her three top warriors. Cutey Honey frees Akira (Brett Weaver), a master martial arts fighter. Together they defeat Scorpion and free the prisoners.

Episode 8. [Dark Army Story] Temptation Shines Like Gold

Gold Digger (Kim Sevier) stole Professor Kabuto's (Phil Ross) teleportation gun and now she's going around Cosplay City stealing all the gold and killing anyone who gets in her way. Cutey Honey enlists the aid of Peeping Spider in order to pinpoint the energy readings of where Gold Digger will appear next. But her first encounter with Gold Digger ends in a loss.

Having shown kindness to Peeping Spider, Cutey Honey then lets him go free. The second encounter with Gold Digger goes even harder as the villainess turns into a lizard creature with mirage powers. But Peeping Spider returns to help Cutey Honey and directs her sword to defeat Gold Digger.

***** END SPOILERS *****

Disk 1 Extras

Press Conference (4 min) - meet the director and actors

Costume Play (4 min) - the Honeys perform a scene

Phone Messages (1 min) - answering machine greetings

Production Portfolio (5 min) - sketches

Disk 2 Extras

Actress Interview (3 min) - Japanese actresses for Honey, Chokkei, Natsuko

The Honey's Live (3 min) - at a 1995 comic book convention

Recording Session (3 min) - Japanese version of the opening song

Trailers (5 min) - clean opening animation + other Cutey Honey trailers