Manga
The original work of the franchise was the Cutie Honey manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai that ran in Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from October 1973 to April 1974. During the same time, other short manga series were published in different magazines than the original, and by different creative teams.[19] These included two manga made by Ken Ishikawa, another two by Yū Okazaki, one by Chizuko Beppu, one by Yoshiko Suganuma, and another by Masatoshi Nakajima.[20] Nagai's 1973 manga was republished in 1985 as a single volume, but no further manga versions of Cutie Honey were produced until 1992.
[20]
In 1992, Nagai created a new Cutie Honey manga, simply titled Cutie Honey, set 30 years after his original. The manga ran in Weekly SPA! magazine from July 1992 to April 1993.[21] It was released in the United States in 1997 by the now-defunct Studio Ironcat, as Cutie Honey '90.[20] It has received criticism for having "bad quality" and "clumsy" looking characters.[22] Set 30 years after the original manga, Honey teams up with Officer Todoroki and the Hayami family to battle a revived Sister Jill.
Several manga adaptations of 1997's Cutie Honey Flash anime were published between March 1997 and April 1998 in various magazines.[23] These included three manga made by Yukako Iisaka,[24] another three by Shinko Kumazaki, and one by Kazushi Sasaki.
Running from August 2001 to July 2003, Cutie Honey: Legend of an Angel (キューティーハニー天女伝説) was written and illustrated by Go Nagai and published in Weekly Manga Action magazine.[25] Set in 2005, Seiji Hayami's daughter, Seiko struggles with apparitions of monstrous beings, including the Panther Claw terrorist organization, which she must defeat with the help of Hisashi Hanyu, who is Cutie Honey in disguise.
Cutie Honey a Go Go! (キューティーハニー a Go Go!) ran from November 2003 to July 2005 in Tokusatsu Ace magazine.[26] Two volumes were planned, but only one was released. The manga was not fully released until October 2007, when a complete edition was published.[27][28] An omnibus volume was released in March 2018 by Seven Seas Entertainment.[29] In this version of the tale, Natsuko Aki is a squad leader for the public safety bureau. Natsuko takes it upon herself to arrest Honey, but Dr. Kisaragi asks Natsuko to befriend Honey and help her become more human.
Cutie Honey Seed (キューティーハニーSEED) ran from June 2004 to February 2006;[26] it was "written by Go Nagai, but not drawn by him", and tells the story of a boy named Yuuta, a Cutie Honey fan, who meets an alien with powers similar to those of Honey.[30]
Honey & Yukiko Hime: Cutie Heroine Daisakusen was a digital manga published in 2008 that was written by Go Nagai and illustrated by Kazuhiro Ochi. The manga is a crossover between Cutie Honey and another Go Nagai manga, Dororon Enma-kun.[31]
Cutie Honey vs Abashiri Family was a manga published in Weekly Shonen Champion magazine in 2009 that was written an illustrated by Go Nagai. Made to celebrate Shonen Champion 's 40th anniversary, the manga is a crossover between Cutie Honey and The Abashiri Family, another Go Nagai manga.[32]
HoneyVS was a one-shot manga published in Grand Jump magazine in 2012 by Masaki Segawa. The manga is a crossover between Cutie Honey and Getter Robo, another Go Nagai manga.[33]
Oedo Honey was a one-shot manga published in Grand Jump magazine in September 2012 by Masakazu Yamaguchi. The manga is a story about Honey and Sister Jill traveling back in time to the Edo period.[34]
Cutie Honey vs Devilman Lady was a manga published in Champion RED Ichigo magazine from June to October 2013 that was written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga is a crossover between Cutie Honey and Nagai's Devilman Lady.
''Gekiman! Cutie Honey-hen was an autobiographical manga published in Weekly Manga Goraku'' magazine from July 2016 to September 2017 that was written and illustrated by Go Nagai. Chronicling the development of Cutie Honey while simultaneously retelling the original story, this manga was released to promote Cutie Honey: Tears.[35] The manga was later re-tooled without the autobiographical portions as "Cutie Honey 2023."
A new tie-in manga for Cutie Honey Nova premiered online on April 1, 2025. Written and drawn by Naoto Tsushima, this new story follows Honey as aspires to be an idol at St. Capella Academy while battling against Panther Claw. New chapters are uploaded the first and fifteen of every month on Hobby Japan Web.[36]
Anime
1973 TV series
Toei Animation produced an anime television series titled Cutie Honey, simultaneously as the manga was being drawn. It was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) on October 13, 1973, and ran for 25 episodes until March 30, 1974. The TV series is much tamer than the manga version, removing much of the violence, gross out humor and lesbian undertones, but retaining Miss Alphonne's attraction to Honey. According to Go Nagai, the TV series ended after 25 episodes due to NET executives getting unhappy about the nudity. While the manga was marketed as "SFコミックス" ("science fiction comics"),[37] the Toei anime is considered, at least in retrospect, a magical girl series.[38] Character designs were done by Shingo Araki, musical score by Takeo Watanabe, scripts by Masaki Tsuji, Susumu Takaku, and Keisuke Fujikawa, while episode directors included Tomoharu Katsumata, Osamu Kasai and Hiroshi Shidara. The series stars Eiko Masuyama as Honey Kisaragi.
1973 TV series
Toei Animation produced an anime television series titled Cutie Honey, simultaneously as the manga was being drawn. It was broadcast on NET (now TV Asahi) on October 13, 1973, and ran for 25 episodes until March 30, 1974. The TV series is much tamer than the manga version, removing much of the violence, gross out humor and lesbian undertones, but retaining Miss Alphonne's attraction to Honey. According to Go Nagai, the TV series ended after 25 episodes due to NET executives getting unhappy about the nudity. While the manga was marketed as "SFコミックス" ("science fiction comics"),[37] the Toei anime is considered, at least in retrospect, a magical girl series.[38] Character designs were done by Shingo Araki, musical score by Takeo Watanabe, scripts by Masaki Tsuji, Susumu Takaku, and Keisuke Fujikawa, while episode directors included Tomoharu Katsumata, Osamu Kasai and Hiroshi Shidara. The series stars Eiko Masuyama as Honey Kisaragi.
Outside Japan, the original Cutie Honey TV series was released was France, where it aired under the title Cherry Miel ("Cherry Honey") from August 1988 to February 1989,[39]
New Cutie Honey
The original video animation series New Cutie Honey was released in 1994 and ended with eight episodes in 1995. The series stars Michiko Neya as Honey Kisaragi.
100 years after the decisive battle with Panther Claw, Honey Kisaragi now works as the mayor's secretary in the crime-prone metropolis of Cosplay City. One day, after being attacked by minions of the Demon King Dolmeck, who dominates the city, Honey regains her former power and memory and awakens as Cutie Honey. Honey faces a new battle against Dolmeck who is planning to revive her former nemesis, Panther Zora.
The series staff planned to make at least twelve episodes, but it ended with eight in 1995. A 2004 DVD release included a scripted but unfilmed ninth episode—a Christmas story—as a drama CD.[42] The eight filmed episodes were released by ADV Films in the United States. Jessica Calvello, the voice of Honey in the English language version, was hand-picked by Nagai, though he originally wanted Winona Ryder.[43] Until Discotek Media picked up the first anime, this series remained the only Cutie Honey anime to be commercially released in the US. Discotek Media released the series on Blu-ray in August 2019.
Cutie Honey Flash
Toei Animation also produced a shōjo Cutie Honey series, known as Cutie Honey Flash. It began broadcasting on TV Asahi on February 15, 1997, and aired until its conclusion on January 31, 1998. Employing many of the same animation staff as the recently finished Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, including Miho Shimagasa, Flash features similar character designs and fits the more traditional mold of magical girl series. It uses hand-drawn animation; according to Shimagasa, the use of digitally animated characters on hand-painted backgrounds was planned and tested, but later rejected.
The series stars Ai Nagano in her debut, as Honey Kisaragi. Nagano originally read for Natsuko Aki but was asked to read for Honey instead.
The series was dubbed and aired in Germany and South Korea.
The series is unrelated to the previous anime productions, being more of a re-imagining of the story. Most of the characters from the original TV series return, with the exception of Junpei, Naojiro, and the staff of Paradise School. The anime also introduces Misty Honey, a rival and self-proclaimed younger sister of Cutie Honey, whose name was chosen through a contest in Japan. Honey has a larger array of transformations as well, including versions of her original forms Hurricane Honey and Cutie Honey.
An anime film, Cutie Honey Flash: The Movie, was released in July 1997. The film takes place between episodes 19 and 20 of the television series.[46]
Re: Cutie Honey
Gainax, along with Toei Animation, produced Re: Cutie Honey, a three-episode OVA series that adapts and expands on the 2004 live-action film, Cutie Honey. It was first shown on the Animax satellite television network, with the first episode airing on July 24, 2004, two months after the live-action film was released. DVD releases for each episode followed, with the first on September 21. While Hideaki Anno directed the series in general, each episode also had its own director and the three episodes differed in style. This time, Honey is portrayed by Yui Horie.
The Re: Cutie Honey Complete DVD, released on September 21, 2005, includes a CD drama starring the four voice actresses that have voiced Honey up to then: Eiko Masuyama (the '70s series), Michiko Neya (New Cutie Honey), Ai Nagano (Cutie Honey Flash), and Yui Horie (Re: Cutie Honey).[47]
Cutie Honey Universe
Another anime television series in Cutie Honey franchise, Cutie Honey Universe, premiered in April 2018 as part of creator Go Nagai's 50th anniversary as a manga artist.[48] The series, with its storyline and character designs closely patterned after the original manga, was directed by Akitoshi Yokoyama at Production Reed with Natsuko Takahashi handling series composition, and Syūichi Iseki designing the characters and credited as chief animation director. The series stars Maaya Sakamoto as Honey Kisaragi.[49]
After Panther Claw holds hostages at a jewelry store, Honey teams up with the Panther Claw Criminal Investigative Services to fight against them. Unbeknownst to Honey, the group's key investigator, Inspector Genet, is really Panther Claw's leader, Sister Jill
Live-action films
The 2004 live-action film Cutie Honey, produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno, stars popular Japanese model Eriko Sato as Honey. The tokusatsu film loosely retells the story of Cutie Honey's battle against the Panther Claw to defend humanity and avenge her father. It was released direct-to-DVD in the United States in April 2007 by Bandai Entertainment. It is popular in Thai culture, and was distributed by Sutida Inc. media conglomerate. The film was not successful at the box office in Japan, leading to the bankruptcy of the production company, Towani, in September 2004.[50]
In this film, there have been frequent cases of mass robbery of precious metals and disappearances of young women in Tokyo. Police inspector Aki Natsuko suspects Panther Claw's involvement in these incidents and begins chasing Cutie Honey, who was seen battling them. Honey Kisaragi, who works in an office, joins forces with reporter Seiji Hayami and Natsuko to defeat the evil Panther Claw and their leader, Sister Jill.
Another film, Cutie Honey: Tears, was released in the fall of 2016.[51]
Live-action TV series
Made to commemorate Go Nagai's 40th anniversary as a writer, a live-action TV remake, Cutie Honey: The Live, premiered on TV Tokyo on October 2, 2007.[52] Starring gravure idol Mikie Hara as Honey,[53] the series focuses on a set of three transforming girls with different personalities and a Panther Claw run by four leaders. Dr. Kisaragi is portrayed by Go Nagai, the creator of the Cutie Honey series.
Honey Kisaragi, a second-year high school student who attends Shirobara Gakuen, hides her android status and lives a human life as an ordinary high schooler. She fights the mysterious secret society Panther Claw with the private detective Seiji Hayami. Meanwhile, Honey meets Miki Saotome and Yuki Kenmochi, but after several clashes with Panther Claw together, Honey gets know to the others, and their friendship deepens, forming a team of Cutie Honey, Sister Miki, and Sister Yuki.
Video games
- Cutie Honey FX (キューティーハニーFX), was developed by Datawest and released by NEC in 1995 for the PC-FX.[54][55][56] The game has an original story. The player becomes a private detective and investigates mysterious disappearances alongside Honey.[57] New Honey transformations Fantasy Night Honey, Wrestler Honey, and Command Honey were added. It is packed with over 40 minutes of animated scenes, using over 10,000 animation cels.[58]
- Cutey Honey F, also known as Cutey Honey Flash (キューティーハニーフラッシュ), is a Sega Pico game released in 1997, based on the
Stage plays
Several stage plays based on the Cutie Honey franchise have been produced, the first of which was in April 1997, when Cutie Honey F Show was performed.[62] The next time Cutie Honey would be seen on stage was in 2003, when Cutie Honey Magical Stage was held at the Bandai Museum from July to August of that year.[63]
Cutie Honey Emotional was performed in February 2020 at the Sunshine Theater in Tokyo. Cutie Honey is portrayed by former NMB48 member, Kei Jonishi. The play was written and directed by Ichidai Matsuda.[64]
Cutie Honey The Live Autumn Cultural Festival !!! was performed from September to October 2020 at Tokyo Theater 1010.[65]
Cutie Honey CLIMAX was performed in June 2021 at Tokyo Theater 1010. The play is a sequel and final chapter to Cutie Honey Emotional and Cutie Honey The Live Autumn Cultural Festival !!!.
