• New Cutey Honey

    1994

    published in Empire No.63, Sydney
    Complete Collection

    2006

    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.