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)
