Living The Live

I just finished re-watching Cutie Honey: The Live - the 2007 live-action TV series adaptation of Go Nagai's Cutie Honey. I mentioned the show on a previous Blue Monday installment, but as mentioned then it doesn't really qualify for Blue Monday. There is one bare breast in the show, a girl in a mob boss's bed - and they show it twice. (It's a 25 episode series, but they still managed a "clip show" featuring segments of past episodes. I believe it was after a mid-season break, used to draw in new viewers. That would also be why they inserted the bare breast shot again, repeating the lure from the first episode.)

As we saw in the comic, when she Flash!es, Honey's clothing disappears as it's reconfigured. On the TV show, they kinda/sorta hid that she was wearing a body suit in the beginning with the special effects, but along the way they just decided those details must be getting reconfigured, too, and stopped worrying about it. The crowds, of course, certainly appreciated it - as when Honey leads a group of homeless and unfortunates who have been assessed with an "Existence Tax" by Panther Claw...

One of the fun aspects of this incarnation of Cutie Honey (my favorite of the 3 live-action versions to date) is the way the embrace the spirit of cartoons at times. In that same scene, the crowd (including several of Honey's homeless friends) are unwilling to let Honey fight the battle alone. Gen-san steps up with the support of some of the gang...

And they even come together to give him some "powers" in the fight...

The 2004 Cutie Honey movie embraced the anime heritage more openly and deeply, but Cutie Honey: The Live embraced the spirit in a way i found most appealing. 2016's Cutie Honey: Tears... had some nice effects. I'll stand by the TV version.
How can i not love a hero who wraps up a fight like this:

But don't get the wrong idea. By the end of the series, half the cast (including heroes) is dead, some of them twice. Parts are light and bubbly, parts are silly, and parts are much more grim than anything in the dark & gritty reboot. But they always try to remember it's supposed to be fun. What a difference that makes.
This was one of those shows that i was watching 1 or 2 episodes a day as part of my viewing routine, but wound up watching the last 6-8 episodes in one sitting. We'll come back for a deeper look, as well as a peek at the movies after i re-watch the 2004 film. But, you know how it is at the end of a series..?
One often wants to milk the enjoyment a little longer, and so you wind up with this post.

stills from Cutie Honey: The Live (most from s01e20) (2007)

Goin' Nagai (Part the First)

Shonen Jump is likely the most famous manga publication on the planet.
In 1968, when Shueisha was preparing to launch the title, they convinced a young Go Nagai to develop his first long form series for them. Harenchi Gakuen (School Scandal) was not only a smashing success, leading the magazine to million copy sales, but it was also a breakthrough in conventions. He was the first to use an erotic undercurrent in manga. It wasn't overt at this point, just opening the door to peek through the crack. But the public loved that peek, and the editors urged him to continue and take things further. Nagai eagerly complied and nudity began to appear as things stepped up to the next level.
Today, this is considered the spawning point of Hentai.

And, today is also

As noted in the subject, this is the big one that got bumped back - and it's too big to fit in one posting. So let's get started...

Over his career, there are two big characters who have spawned many mangas, animes, movies, and tv shows - Kekko Kamen and Cutie Honey.
NOTE: I'm spelling her name Kekko, but you'll see Kekkou just as often. I recommend Kekko simply because searching for Kekko will find Kekkou, but the inverse isn't necessarily so. (With modern search AI, it well could be, but not necessarily)

If you're familiar with these two characters, you probably understand my struggle of how to explain them.
Cutie Honey is a girl who is a prototype android with the ability to Flash! (and she does when she does)
The specifics, hows & whys might vary a bit from telling to telling, as well as the number of those who can Flash!, but the essential bit is this: Flash!ing  causes a recoding - structurally and mentally - rewriting Honey to be what she needs to be in the current situation. A surgeon, a motorcycle stunt-racer, a combat specialist - Honey FLASH! - there she is.
Of course, the process destroys her clothing, leaving her briefly naked in transition - Honey FLASH! indeed.

NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.

And we're not just talking comics here. (I know, really i do. But i'm gonna do it again)
Cutie Honey has also been cartoons...

...and had a TV series...

...and movies...

...she even got a dark & gritty reboot last year:

Okay - that's the normal one. She'll get her own post, but Cutie Honey hardly really qualifies for Blue Monday.

Then there's Kekko...

Let's see now.
Over at the Big Toenail Of Satan's Spartan Academy, the staff is very concerned about the student's grades. So concerned that there are special punishment rooms and teachers to ensure they keep those grades up:

 (The school's reputation for placing students in prime universities would suffer if the grade performance dropped, you see) 

 The punishment regimes might be considered a tad... Unorthodox?

Extreme?

Reprehensible?

All of the above?

Enter our hero - Kekko Kamen:

Hiding only her face, she bares all to protect the virtue of the students of the Spartan Academy from the depredations of the staff.
That may be the most normal part of the series.

Kekko loves to make an entrance, mocking cartoon/tv/movie conventions by blaring her theme song before she arrives on the scene to make sure everyone is watching her exhibition. In fact, sometimes making an entrance is all she needs to do...



(Okay. Forget what i said in the first panel above. By the time i got to that last page i realized what a mistake trying to keep the Japanese characters unreversed while reversing the page. Beyond the ridiculous amount of work some fixes require, it's just silly since anyone reading the Japanese is going to be annoyed by the inconsistent left/right structure. I'm calling it a bad idea and moving right along.)

Meanwhile...
Kekko's main weapon might seem to be her nunchaku, but her real weapon is her body, as you saw in that last sequence. And she has a signature move to take advantage of that power - the Pubic Hair Jump (which is really kind of odd since she doesn't have any)...

...often followed by the Muffocation Wring:

 

Most Westerners familiar with Kekko Kamen know her from the rather tamer anime series. Tamer, but still keeping her signature move:

Kekko hasn't had a live action TV series like Cutie Honey has. But she's had 11 films to date, released between 1991 and 2012:

Kekko Kamen

Kekko Kamen 2

Kekko Kamen 3 

Kekko Kamen: Mask Of Kekkou

Kekko Kamen: The MGF Strikes Back

Kekko Kamen Returns 

Kekko Kamen  Surprise

Kekko Kamen Royale

Kekko Kamen Premium

Kekko Kamen Forever

Kekko Kamen Reborn

As one might suspect, the adaptations vary considerably when dealing with this source material. But, yes, again - her signature move carries through all versions:

 

In fact, in one movie we've got a full-on "I Am Spartacus!" moment...

...followed by a mass flying wedge PHJ:

Of course, if this is our hero, one has to wonder what our villains are like, no?
We'll find out more next time as we look closer at Kekko Kamen, in all 3 formats-

Kekko Kamen created by Go Nagai (bless his hentai heart)

Yeah, that should keep 'em staring for a week!

Oh, frell - the mic's still liv-   

*Ahem*
That's our show for today. Take care, everyone, drive careful, and we'll see you next time on