Cutie Honey
(2 Disc NTSC DVD)
(2004)
review by Samara's Madness

There are very few words to describe the intense and engrossing viewing experience that is “Cutie Honey”, a film based on the widely popular mother of all chick mangas (including “Sailor Moon) of the same name. If you have only a passing knowledge of Japanese culture you might feel a little alienated; contrariwise, if you have a moral objection to an animated property crossing over into the live action realm you might come away with a similar distaste. For people like me however, it’s damn near close to the perfect movie.
The opening sequence finds our heroine, Kisaragi Honey, humming softly to herself in the bathtub. She receives a call from her uncle Utsugi and hears the awful ruckus of a kidnapping. Wrapping herself up in a towel and springing into action she screams “honey flash” hoping to activate her superpowers. It soon becomes clear that she’s too low on energy to become her ultra sweet, ultra powerful alter ego Cutie Honey. Kisaragi starts to panic and in the greatest hook ever funs out onto the streets of Tokyo in a bra, panties and a garbage bag. She sprints inside a family mart (the Japanese equivalent of 711), cleans out their stock of onigiri (rice balls) and soda and races back down the street consuming her commercially made junk food stuffs. After her appetite is properly sated she gives transformation another try. Success! Honey flies off into the wild blue as a properly contrasting ball of fuchsia incandescence. The ensuing battle with the samurai armor clad Gold Claw is truly a sight to behold.

I can honestly say the “Cutie Honey” is one of the BEST LOOKING films I’ve ever had the esteem fortune of watching. The colors are so vivid and alive they almost seem to breathe. Blazing golds, deep reds, and fluid aquas are spread liberally throughout the film and in such a way that’s almost hypnotic to watch. From the moment you press “play” on your DVD machine you will be literally unable to tear your eyes away without massive blood loss. In that same vein, the costumes are lush and beautiful as well. Honey, along with the villain cast, is incredibly well dressed with meticulous detail put into every stitch and every rhinestone with colors so bright they’re almost toxic. It is truly a sight to behold.

The special effects are also astounding. Even for a movie burn out like me who is so desensitized to even the best CGI, its hard to notice where the live action stops and the animation begins. Transformation sequences are incredibly seamless, and even when the reality sets back in you have a hard time pinpointing exactly when it happened. Not ALL of the special effects are quite that good, but even when they are less than stellar the production team still manages to make it look stylistically campy, so I can’t fault them for it. But even when you DO notice something like that another sequence comes along that makes you gasp with wonderment (a scene in the films second half where Scarlett Claw’s face splits open and she starts to spew fiery death is nothing short of spectacular… and a little creepy).

As far as performances go the cast shines just as brightly as the spinning, Technicolor carnival world they inhabit. Eriko Sato is the spitting image of Go Nagai’s original Honey. Cute, and sweet with a china doll face and an ass that won’t quit, she is really the perfect choice to fill Kisaragi’s naïve and childlike shoes. Thant’s not to say she can’t act with the best of them. A scene where Honey fries Cobalt Claw to a crisp and her screams of pain are replaced by Honey’s own cries of grief and agony are truly saddening and quite touching. Mikako Ichikawa’s portrayal of Aki Natsuko is, like wise, to a T. Her growth from an aloof, by the books detective to an open caring woman (by the grace of Honey of course) is very well done and you really notice the change from start to finish. Even Jun Murakami as the mysterious journalist Seiji Hayami does well for a role that’s pretty much fluff. He gives an endearing quality to a character that’s essentially very sleazy and untrustworthy. It’s alright though, in the end we find out his true intentions and he’s really not such a bad guy. The villains too are very good in their roles. Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Sie Kohinata, Hairi Katagiri, and Mayumi Shintani as the four members of the secret occult terrorist organization Panther Claw are elitist, egotistical and unintentionally hilarious with voices as distinct as their personalities. Everyone does so well in their roles that I can’t complain about a single cast member, which is rare for me.

The action in “Cutie Honey” is almost to dumbfounding to describe. Inventive camera angles are used interestingly and effectively and while it’s no martial arts epic, the cinematography keeps things well paced and fast. Speaking of cinematography there’s an excellent process they used to attain camera shots that would be literally impossible to get otherwise, and they’re done in a half cell half live action style that lends a breathtaking animated fluidity without losing the photo realism of the rest of the film. And while there ARE some animated sequences peppered though out the movie, nothing looks quite as impressive as Eriko Sato performing awe inspiring Aeon flux like flips through the air and disarming a brood of screaming fast missiles. Even the score is a fun, poppy 70’s throwback that’s very fun to listen to. It’s bright calliope organs and sweet vocal embellishments really get stuck in your head and also had a tendency to undercut a few unwittingly disturbing sequences (for example when Cobalt Claw possesses Kisaragi’s supervisor and she begins to skitter across the ceiling like a manically cackling spider)

The particular version of “Cutie Honey” that I’m reviewing is a two disc special edition and as you might have already inferred it has a butt load of extras. It’s biggest draw, however, is also it’s biggest drawBACK. Are there a lot of extras? Yes. Are they interesting? Well, it’s main extra is a making of featurette with cast and crew interviews and a behind the scenes look at the special effects and that’s not even counting the two music videos and the theatrical trailers, so I’m willing to argue, yes. The problem is that all the extras are in Japanese with no subtitle option, so you’ll have to be content being oblivious to what everyone is talking about… and that’s a MAJOR problem, considering that it renders the extras all but useless to the average viewer. It’s a shame, because I know there’s useful information in there somewhere, I just can’t say where it is.

All in all, despite the debacle with the extras, “Cutie Honey” is a solid film to add to your collection if you’re an anime fan. I’ve even had people who have very little concept of anime and the Japanese culture like this film, which just goes to show it’s universal appeal. It never takes itself too seriously, but doesn’t go so far as to slip into parody. The colors and costumes are engaging, action scenes are well directed and innovative (truly), and the story is all at once sweet, funny, endearing, and heartbreaking, which is a tall order to fill. It even has a good moral. In the words of Kisaragi Honey “if loving and hating someone is the same I think I’d rather love someone”.