Cutie Honey

The original works of the franchise were various manga series, one made by Go Nagai, two others made by Ken Ishikawa, another two by Yuu Okazaki, one by Chizuko Beppu, one by Yoshiko Suganuma, another by Masatoshi Nakajima, and an animated TV series.[18]

Nagai's 1973 manga was republished in 1985 as a single volume, but no further versions of Honey were produced until 1992.[18]

A 1992 manga series was also created by Nagai; set 30 years after the originals, it was released in the United States in 1997 by the now-defunct Studio Ironcat, as Cutie Honey '90.[18] It has received criticism for having "bad quality" and "clumsy"-looking characters.[19]

Several other manga versions have also been produced.[20] The first, Cutie Honey, the legend of an angel (キューティーハニー天女伝説, kyūtī hanī tennyo densetsu, lit. Legend of the Tennyo), ran from 2001 to 2003.[21] Set in 2005, Seiko Hayami struggles with apparitions of monstrous beings, including the Panther Claw terrorist organization, which she must defeat with the help of Hisashi Hanyu, which is in fact Cutie Honey. The second, Cutie Honey a Go Go! (キューティーハニー a Go Go!, Kyūtī Hanī a Go Go), ran from 2003 to 2005;[20] it was not fully released until October 2007.[22][23] An omnibus volume is planned for release in September 2017 by Seven Seas Entertainment[24] In this version of the tale Aki Natsuko is a squad leader for the public safety bureau. Natsuko takes it upon herself to arrest Honey but Prof. Kisaragi asks Natsuko to befriend Honey and help her become more human. When Natsuko arrives home that night, she finds that Honey has come to live with her. The third, Cutie Honey Seed (キューティーハニーSEED, Kyūtī Hanī Shīdo), ran from 2004 to 2006;[20] it was "written by Go Nagai, but not drawn by him", and tells the story of a boy named Yuuta, a Cutie Honey fan, who meets an alien with powers similar to those of Honey.[25] There is even a one-shot that was serialized in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine in 2012 that is simply titled "Honey VS."[26]

Toei Animation produced an anime television series, also titled Cutie Honey, simultaneously as the manga was being drawn. It was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) on October 13, 1973 and ran until March 30, 1974. The TV series is much tamer than the manga version, removing much of the violence, gross out humor and lesbian undertones, but retaining Miss Alphonne's attraction to Honey. While the manga was marketed as "SFコミックス" ("science fiction comics"),[27] the Toei anime is considered, at least in retrospect, a magical girl series.[28]

Outside Japan, the only country in which the original Cutie Honey TV series was released was France, where it aired under the title Cherry Miel ("Cherry Honey") from August 1988 to February 1989,[29] On November 26, 2013, Discotek Media released a DVD boxset of the complete series in North America.[30]

For an anime television series, the original Cutie Honey achieved respectable ratings in Japan, and some of its cast and crew have worked on other major titles. The series achieved a peak rating of 11.6% for episode 18 (broadcast February 11, 1974) and generally scored ratings of around 8–10%.[31]

In 1994, the original video animation series New Cutie Honey was released. The series, which ended with eight episodes in 1995, pays homage to some of Nagai's other works, including the Mazinger and Devilman series. It is set after the events of the original version, in a cyberpunk-like future. While the first four episodes contain a complete story, the last four episodes take a monster of the week approach.

Some of Cutie Honey's forms in the TV series, as shown in Tokuma Shoten's Cutie Honey Roman Album Archive book. Clockwise from top right: Kisaragi, Misty, Idol, Hurricane, Cutie.

When the series was released on DVD in 2004, a scripted but unfilmed episode 9, a Christmas story, was released as a drama CD. The eight filmed episodes were released by ADV Films in the United States. Jessica Calvello, the voice of Honey in the English language version, was hand-picked by Nagai. Until Discotek picked up the first anime, this series remained the only Cutie Honey anime to be commercially released in the US.

Toei Animation also produced a shōjo Cutie Honey series, known as Cutie Honey Flash. It began broadcasting on TV Asahi on February 15, 1997, and aired until its conclusion on January 31, 1998. Employing many of the same animation staff as the recently-finished Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, including Miho Shimagasa, Flash features very similar character designs and fits the more traditional mold of magical girl series. It uses hand-drawn animation; according to Shimagasa, the use of digitally animated characters on hand-painted backgrounds was planned and tested, but later rejected. The series was also broadcast in Germany.

The series is unrelated to the previous anime productions, being more of a reimagining of the story. All the characters from the original TV series return, with the exception of Junpei, Naojiro, and the staff of Paradise School. The anime also introduces Misty Honey, a rival and self-proclaimed younger sister of Cutie Honey, whose name was chosen through a contest in Japan. Honey has a larger array of transformations as well, including versions of her original forms Hurricane Honey and Cutie Honey.

Gainax also produced Re: Cutie Honey, a three-episode OVA series. It was first shown on Animax, with the first episode airing on July 24, 2004, two months after the live-action film was released. DVD releases for each episode followed, with the first on September 21. The OVA tells the same story as the 2004 live-action film Cutie Honey, also produced by Gainax, but contains nudity and additional character development. While Hideaki Anno directed the series in general, each episode also had its own director and the three episodes differed in style.

Cover of Part 1 of Volume 2 of Cutie Honey '90, showing major villain Sister Jill holding a whip.

On December 28, 2017, a new anime television series titled Cutie Honey Universe was announced and premiered in April 2018.[32] The series, with its storyline and character designs closely patterned after the original manga, was directed by Akitoshi Yokoyama at Production Reed with Natsuko Takahashi handling series composition, and Syūichi Iseki designing the characters and credited as chief animation director. The series stars Maaya Sakamoto as Honey Kisaragi.[33]

The 2004 live-action film Cutie Honey, produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno, stars popular Japanese model Eriko Sato as Honey. The tokusatsu film loosely retells the story of Cutie Honey's battle against the Panther Claw to defend humanity and avenge her father. It was released direct-to-DVD in the United States on April 17, 2007 by Bandai Entertainment. Previously, the New Cutie Honey OVA was the only incarnation of Cutie Honey to have been commercially released in the US. It is very popular in Thai culture, and was distributed by Sutida Inc media conglomerate.

Another film, Cutie Honey: Tears, was released in the fall of 2016.[34] Unrelated to the previous, it stars Mariya Nishiuchi as a new version of Honey (here named Hitomi) in a cyberpunk world.

A live-action TV remake, Cutie Honey: The Live, premiered on TV Tokyo on October 2, 2007. Starring gravure idol Mikie Hara as Honey,[35] the series focuses on a set of three transforming girls with different personalities and a Panther Claw run by four leaders.

In 1995 a Honey game, Cutey Honey FX (キューティーハニーFX, Kyūtī Hanī FX), was developed by Datawest and released by NEC.[36][37]

Honey appears as a secondary character in Nagai's Violence Jack manga. There, Honey is the younger sister of Ryou Asuka and is living in New York City. When she hears of the earthquake that devastated Kantō, Honey and several of her friends go to Japan to search for Ryou, who has become the pet of the Slum King. Honey's friends are alternate universe versions of her transformations in the 1973 series:

In the last volume, Flash, Misty, and Cutie are killed when they fall into a spiked trap when they try to free a chained up Miki Makimura. Honey is electrocuted when she tries to rescue Ryou from the Slum King. Idol, Fancy, and Hurricane die in an explosion. The spirits of the seven women come together to form Angel Honey, whom Ryou sees in his dreams. When Ryou returns to his true form, as Satan, he fights in his sister's memory.

Also, Honey's girlfriend Nat-chan (Aki Natsuko) – or a girl strongly resembling her – appears in the Devilman manga. Her appearance is brief before she is killed by a demon.

Honey makes an appearance in the last episode of the OVA adaptation of Kekkō Kamen as a student; her teacher from the 1973 TV series, Alphonne, also makes two brief appearances there.[48] Danbei is a main character in Go Nagai's 1975 anime UFO Robo Grendizer; in episode 50 of Grendizer, Seiji Hayami appears taking pictures in a crowd. This scene also featured cameos by Hayato from Getter Robo and Babel II from Babel II.[48] In the Japanese opening of Super Milk Chan, there are moments that directly parody the 1973 series' opening sequence.[48]

A strategy video game, Majokko Daisakusen: Little Witching Mischiefs, was developed by Toys For Bob and released by Bandai in 1999, and features Cutie Honey and other magical girls.[52] An RPG, Legend of Dynamic Goushouden: Houkai no Rondo, was developed and released by Banpresto in 2003, and features Honey and other characters created by Nagai.[53]