Devilman, part 4

The cast of Devilman, including Akira, Miki, Ryo Asuka, and Silene, also crossed over with characters from Mazinger Z and Violence Jack in the 1991 OVA CB Chara Go Nagai World, also released in the Italian market as Il pazzo mondo di Go Nagai. This release featured the familiar characters in comical and lighthearted antics, in squashed-down "super deformed" form ("CB" in the title may refer to "chibi", a Japanese term meaning "little" or "small").

The rich story line in Devilman, in the opinion of several readers of manga, made it stand apart from other manga of the time. However, its extreme violence made it a major target of protest for the PTA and other groups. Still, the story has become a classic in Japan and has even been working its way through the U. S. over the past decade or so. The manga has been translated into English, although the only piece of Devilman anime to have been commercially released in America is the two-part late 1980s OVA.

Interestingly, Go Nagai is said to have been highly shocked that his giant-robot work Mazinger Z, which was on Japanese TV at the same time as Devilman and which he originally did not take very seriously, far surpassed Devilman in popularity. The reason was that he had worked especially hard on Devilman and only made Mazinger as a way to blow off steam.

In an essay written three decades after the debut of the original manga and TV series, Nagai commented that he designed Devilman as an anti-war work. According to Nagai, the fusion of humans and demons is an analogy for the draft, and Miki's gruesome death parallels the death of peace. "There is no justice in war, any war," wrote Nagai, "nor is there any justification for human beings killing one another. Devilman carries a message of warning, as we step toward a bright future." [See: http://www.devilworld.org/revelations.html.]

Akira Fudo/Devilman and other characters from the series have shown up in cameo appearances numerous times in other Go Nagai works. Most notable is Tomoharu Katsumata's 1973 feature film Mazinger Z vs. Devilman (Majinga Z tai Debiruman), which featured Devilman teaming up with Nagai's titular robot to fight Dr. Hell. The original Devilman TV series itself featured cameos from Mazinger Z's Yumi Sayaka (a.k.a. "Jessica" in the American version, TranZor Z), in episodes 27 and 33.

Akira has appeared in various incarnations of Cutey Honey, most notably the 1994 OVA Shin Cutey Honey. Episode one features gargoyles of Amon and other demons. Devilman appears as a guitarist in episode three, and Akira himself shows up later on to team up with Honey. In addition, the second opening sequence to the OAV featured a brief cameo of Akira fighting Silene the Demon Bird. Hideaki Anno's Re: Cutey Honey featured cameos by Akira and Miki in their trademark clothing from the original TV series, as well as Himura, a villain from the TV series.

Cutey Honey , Part 4

In the original Cutey Honey TV series, whenever Honey changes into one of her many forms, she is seen nude briefly while the transformation takes place. The series also contains a number of panty shots when Honey is in her normal human form.

The degree of nudity in the different Cutey Honey series has varied over the years. While the all-ages Cutey Honey Flash featured the least nudity (and what little there was featured no detail), New Cutey Honey contained the most openly graphic sexual content, and was probably the closest to border on hentai of any of the series (it is even listed on The Right Stuf International's website as being an "adult" title). Because New Cutey Honey is the only Cutey Honey series to have been released in the United States (or indeed, in the English language), Cutey Honey often has an undeserved reputation in the English-speaking world as a hentai title (even though it technically isn't).

Despite the presence of nudity in Cutey Honey, most of it is done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and there are no explicit scenes of sexual intercourse. Honey deals with lecherous old men, hormone-driven teenagers, and even beautiful, lesbian women in a humorous context. However, the franchise was parodied in hentai fashion in Angel Blade, part of the Vanilla Series.

The Cutie Honey theme song, titled simply "Cutie Honey," is considered by many fans to be one of the classic anime theme songs of all time. In the original 1973 television series, it was sung by Yoko Maekawa, who also performed the ending theme, Yogiri no Honey (Foggy Night of Honey). Other vocalists to have sung the Cutie Honey theme include les-5-4-3-2-1 (Shin Cutey Honey 1st opening), mayukiss (Shin Cutey Honey 2nd opening), SALIA (Cutey Honey F 1st opening), Kumi Koda (Cutie Honey live-action movie main theme and Re: Cutie Honey opening), GO!GO!7188 (included in their [[Tora no Ana]] anime cover song album), Okui Masami (included in her Masami Kobushi anime cover song album) and Ahyoomee (from Sugar, who did a Korean cover). The Mayukiss version (the second opening theme to the Shin Cutey Honey OAV) was sung in English, although its lyrics were not a direct translation of the Japanese lyrics. In the Spanish dub, all versions of the opening theme were dubbed by Patricia Acevedo, who was the original Spanish voice of Honey Kisaragi.

The original Japanese lyrics (in Romaji) and a closer (though still loose) English translation can be viewed at this site.

One thing that many of the versions of the theme song share is Honey's playful declaration, "Kawaru wa yo!" ("I'm going to Change!") at the end of the song. In the English dubbed version of Shin Cutie Honey, the line was spoken by voice actress Jessica Calvello as, "All right, it's time to change!" And in the Spanish versions, the line spoken is "¡Yo voy a cambiar!"

The theme song showed up again in the 1974 Toei mahou shoujo TV series Majokko Megu-chan, in a scene in which the heroine, Megu, watches Misty Honey (the pop idol form of Cutie Honey in the original series, not Honey's arch-rival from Cutey Honey F) on TV performing the song. Interestingly, Yoko Maekawa also sang the opening and ending theme songs to Majokko Megu-chan, a series which itself made heavy use of "panchira" and "fan service" humor.

The theme song also showed up in the 2006 anime Princess Princess. In the seventh episode, "A Chorus Concert with Sweat and Tears", the Princesses perform a shortened and faster version of the original theme song. Mikoto also exclaims the phrase "I'm going to change now." at the end of the performance.

Cutey Honey , Part 3

After her return, Honey moves into the home of Danbei Hayami, a cyborg guardian and "dirty old man," as well as Danbei's grandson Chokkei, and his parents Daiko and Akakabu.

The series, originally intended to be a 12-part series ended at episode 8. While the first 4 episodes which contain a complete story was considered a success, the second set of 4 episodes, intended to set up the final 4 episodes failed to generate new interest in 1995. Toei did not fund the production of the last 4 episodes and the series concluded without a true ending. In 2004, when this OAV series was released in DVD in Japan, the scripted but not filmed episode 9, a Christmas story, was turned into a CD drama. The remaining three episodes were never scripted.

The series is full of nods to Go Nagai's other work.

Many of Danbei's weapons are miniature versions of those used by Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer. The first two robots were created by the scientist Dr. Kabuto. In fact, his appearance in Shin Cutey Honey matches how he looks in the Mazinkaiser OAV, and Mazinger Z manga.
The villains stand behind a Devilman gargoyle at the end of the first episode.
In a prison episode, Honey turns herself into an inmate who looks exactly like Kouji Kabuto. She also teams up with Akira from Devilman in the same episode.
The second opening sequence to the OAV also features a cameo from Dr. Kabuto as well as a scene of Akira Fudo fighting his arch-nemesis Silene.
The designs for Chokkei's parents, Daiko and Akakabu are based off the parents from Go Nagai's Deliquent in Drag.
In episode 2, there is a bust of Mazinger Z on her nightstand, and one of the villain's captives looks looks like Sayaka Yumi.

In 2004, Gainax produced a live-action Cutey Honey film, starring popular Japanese model Eriko Sato as Honey Kisaragi/Cutey Honey. Directed by Hideaki Anno, the film loosely retells the classic story of Cutey Honey's battle to defend humanity and avenge her father against Panther Claw. Villains Honey faces include Sister Jill, Gold Claw, Cobalt Claw, Scarlet Claw and Black Claw. The film also features a cameo by creator Go Nagai.

Simultaneous to the release of the Cutey Honey live action film, Gainax also produced a new three-part OAV (Original Animated Video) series entitled Re: Cutey Honey. The OAV tells the same story as the film, although with significantly more detail and plot elements added. A radical departure from the style of previous Cutey Honey incarnations, Re: Cutie Honey uses simplistic animation and bold lines that are heavily influenced by the original Cutie Honey TV series. The simplicity of many of the backgrounds and characters creates a distinct visual style that has its supporters and detractors, like the original.

At Anime Expo 2006, Bandai Entertainment announced they will release the movie in 2007 (DVD to be released on April 17), but it is unknown whether they licensed the OAV or not.

Cutey Honey , Part 2

The OVA continued the story several years later, with Honey not having aged, but having forgotten her true identity. Once she recovers her memory, she continues to battle evil. In this stage, her shapeshifting powers have increased to the point of being able to imitate any person's form (but not to change gender, curiously, even when mimicking a man). The notion of a shape-shifting android can, of course, be traced back as far as Hirai and Kuwata's science fiction manga series, 8 Man. In some respects, Cutie Honey was an overtly sexualized version of the earlier character; significantly, Honey's deceased father is a dead ringer for 8-Man's creator, Doctor Tani.

The manga contains even more violence, gross out humor, and nudity than in the original TV series. In the manga the whole Saint Chapel School was lesbian, including Honey's best friend Aki Natsuko. While the Panther Claw were androids in the anime (excluding Sister Jill and Panther Zora), they are referred to as cyborgs in the manga. Honey does not join Paradise School, nor does Danbei have a nephew named Naojiro in the manga. The idea of Paradise School, and the characters Naojiro and Goeman (a teacher at Paradise School) were borrowed from another Go Nagai manga, Abashiri Family. However there is a female character in the manga that looks like Naojiro, named Naoko. She was the "boss" of Saint Chapel, while Naojiro was the "boss" of Paradise School. The manga ends in a similar (although a bit more comical) way. However, the story completely ended in Cutie Honey 90's.

The Ken Ishikawa manga follows a more episodic formula like the TV series. The art work is quite crude, and inconsistent. Unlike the TV series or original manga, Honey always knew Panther Zora was the leader of Panther Claw. Sister Jill does not even show up until the last chapter of Ishikawa's version. Like the original manga, and TV series the manga ends with Honey defeating Sister Jill, and continuning her battle with Zora.

Also notable is that creator Go Nagai based Cutey Honey off of two classic tokusatsu superhero shows, 7-Color Mask (1959) and Rainbowman (1972), which both featured superheroes with 7 different forms (7-Color Mask had 7 disguises and Rainbowman had 7 different superhero forms). Both shows were created by Yasunori Kawauchi (who also created Japan's first superhero TV show, Moonlight Mask ["Gekko Kamen", which itself became an anime in 1972], which Nagai spoofed as Kekko Kamen).

Honey is notable for being mischievous for a Japanese female hero, often teasing her male friends and mocking her enemies in combat. When transforming into Cutie Honey, she gives a brief rundown of the forms she has previously taken in that particular episode, and then declares, "But my true identity is..." before yelling "HONEY FLASH!" and transforming. Such pre- and post-transformation declarations (as well as the nudity during the transformation sequences themselves) have since become common for other transforming magical girls, such as Sailor Moon and Wedding Peach.

Many years after the events of the first series, the citizens of Cosplay City are struggling with the criminals attacking it. Into this chaos, a new mayor, Light, has vowed to reign in the criminal element and bring back peace. However, the dark lord Dolmeck, along with his sidekicks Black Maiden (actually Panther Zora) and Peeping Spider seek to derail his efforts. However, when it is learned that his secretary Honey Kisaragi is the legendary Cutey Honey, she resumes her campaign to save the city with the power of love.

Cutey Honey , Part 1

Cutey Honey or Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー, Kyūtī Hanī?) is a widely known anime and manga series created by Go Nagai in 1973.

Cutie Honey first appeared to the public on volume 41 of the 1973 edition of the manga "Shōnen Champion". Volume 41 was the October edition of the manga and was released 13 days prior to the start of the TV series.

The Cutie Honey TV series began on the 13th October 1973 and ran until 30th March 1974. The series was aired in France in the late 1980s under the title Cherry Miel (Cherry Honey).

Although an android, the main character Honey is considered a prototype for the transforming magical girl character (previous "magical" girls were characters who had "magical" powers, and/or used magic, such as Sally the Witch, another Toei series), with a few key differences.

Being an android, Cutey Honey's powers are mechanical rather than magical (a device known as the Fixed System of Air Elements).
However, in the 1997-98 shōjo anime adaptation, Cutey Honey Flash, Honey Kisaragi does transform by magical means, though she is an android.
In the live-action Cutie Honey movie and its animated adaptation, Honey's transformation powers come from the Imaginary Induction System, called the I-system for short. The English letter "I" also sounds like the Japanese for "love" (愛; ai).
Despite its elements of nudity and sexuality, the original 1973-74 Cutey Honey was intended for all audiences in Japan.
Cutey Honey is considered to be the original template for the group of magical girls who are active fighters, particularly in the "darker" magical girl series aimed at male audiences rather than female. Honey herself is referred to and parodied overtly in many manga and anime series over the years, perhaps most famously in Sailor Moon. Like Cutey Honey, Sailor Moon has a tendency to "speechify" before a fight in an amusing way. This would occur as a three stage speech, recapping whatever alternate forms she had taken earlier in the episode, and culminate into her transformation into Cutey Honey and announcing herself as Ai no Senshi! Cutey Honey! or "The Warrior of Love." She was also known for fighting attractive, yet bizarre, exclusively female monsters as well.
In 1994, the first OVA sequel (Shin Cutey Honey, known as New Cutey Honey in English) was released. To date, this is the only version of Cutey Honey to have been licensed and released in the US. Jessica Calvello, the voice actress who plays Honey in the English-language dub was hand-picked by Go Nagai [citation needed].
In 1997, a new shōjo version of Cutey Honey assumed the timeslot that the long-running magical girl anime Sailor Moon had recently vacated. Cutey Honey Flash was a cuter, gentler version aimed at the young female audience that Sailor Moon had kept entertained for five years. This is the most popular version of "Cutey Honey."
In 2004, Studio Gainax released a live-action tokusatsu film version starring Eriko Sato in the title role along with a new OVA series (Re: Cutie Honey) animated by Gainax.
At Anime Expo 2006, Bandai Entertainment announced they will be releasing the live-action Cutey Honey in the US in 2007.

Honey is an android girl created by an elderly scientist to be his "daughter". She had no idea she was an artificial being, and she also attended a Catholic school. She found the truth about herself on the day her "father" was killed by members of a villainous organization called the "Panther Claw". She discovered that by saying "Honey Flash!" she could transform into a red-haired female superhero, with great strength and agility, as well as a sword. In fact, she had several other forms, all beautiful women with different abilities. (Her "real" form has long blonde hair.) She was able to transform with the device in her body, Fixed System of Air Elements. Honey continued to get revenge against the Panther Claw (and its woman-android agents) while attending school, until defeating them. Aiding Honey in her quest for revenge is the Hayami family. Hayami Danbei, his two sons Seiji, Junpei, and later on his nephew Naojiro. The organization "Panther Claw" is ruled by Panther Zora, and her younger sibling Sister Jill. Their main goal is unlimited wealth, and obtaining the Fixed System of Air Elements Device. The original series ending leaves the story open-ended, with Honey defeating Sister Jill and discovering Panther Zora is the true leader of Panther Claw.