is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in Weekly Shōnen Champions 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an android girl named Honey Kisaragi, who transforms into the busty, red or pink-haired heroine Cutie Honey to fight against the assorted villains that threaten her or her world. One of the trademarks of the character is that the transformation involves the temporary loss of all her clothing in the brief interim from changing from one form to the other.
The Cutie Honey franchise spans many works, including numerous manga series, three anime television series, two OVA series, two drama CDs, three live action adaptations, and four stage plays. The first anime aired in 1973 and is considered a magical girl series in retrospect. In addition, the theme song of the series has become one of the most famous theme songs in the history of anime, and is widely known in Japan, even to those unfamiliar with the series. Despite the many different Cutie Honey works made, this theme song continues to be sung in all live-action and animated works (except Cutie Honey Universe), with different arrangers and singers. According to a Bandai survey, Cutie Honey ranked first in the "Favorite Characters" surveyed in April 1997 in two categories: girls aged 3 to 5 and girls aged 6 to 8.
Story Honey Kisaragi is a regular, 16-year-old Catholic schoolgirl, until the day her father is murdered by the "Panther Claw" organization. After his death, she learns she is actually an android created by him and within her is . With her cry of "Honey Flash!" she can use the device to transform into the sword-wielding red-haired heroine, Cutie Honey. This device, or similar devices, have been used to explain her powers in all later Honey versions.
While attending the Saint Chapel School for Girls (in Cutie Honey Flash, the school is co-ed instead of being an all-girls school), Honey seeks revenge against the Panther Claw organization, which is ruled by Panther Zora and her younger sibling Sister Jill. Zora wants "the rarest items in the world" and seeks to steal the device within Honey created by her father, which would allow them to "create an endless supply of jewels". Meanwhile, Jill, leader of the group's division in Japan, "only wants the finest riches" and has a crush on Honey.
Honey is assisted in her quest by Danbei Hayami and his two sons: journalist Seiji and the young Junpei. Danbei and Junpei are based on the characters Daemon and Kichiza from Go Nagai's earlier work, Abashiri Family. Nagai's manga also borrows the character Naojiro from that series—reimagined in a female form as Sukeban Naoko—while the anime adaptation incorporates Paradise School along with the characters Naojiro and Goemon. In this version, Naojiro serves as Paradise Academy's gang leader, while Goemon is a teacher.
Honey is mischievous for a Japanese heroine, 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. At school, Honey is something of a "class clown" who enjoys teasing and pranking her teachers Alphonne and Hystler. Much of the comic relief in the series comes from Honey's exploits at school. Hystler initially sees Honey as an incorrigible pest, while Alphonne is attracted to Honey and goes out of her way to be nice to her. Honey's best friend and roommate at school is the cute, freckle-faced Natsuko "Nat-chan" Aki. In the manga, Nat-chan, as well as the other students, had a crush on Honey; this crush was omitted in the TV series.
Honey has a large array of transformations in the series, her most common personae including:
Hurricane Honey (biker), the top female racer in Japan. Misty Honey (singer), a singer with a dusty voice, who cross dresses. Idol Honey (stewardess), foreign airline stewardess. Flash Honey (cameraman), a reporter who blinds her opponents with her camera's "flash." Fancy Honey (model), a classy model who uses a long-stick cigar as a weapon. Cutie Honey (heroine), a sword-wielding warrior of love.
Production In 1972, Nagai wrote that the idea to create a hero with seven transformations was pitched by a Toei Animation producer. His inspiration for this character came from classic shows that featured protagonists who took seven different forms, including the Bannai Tarao mysteries. and Warrior of Love Rainbowman (1972).Rainbowman and Seven Color Mask (1959), both created by Kōhan Kawauchi, were two tokusatsu (live-action) shows involving transforming superheroes (another Kawauchi creation, "Gekko Kamen", is parodied in Nagai's Kekko Kamen). His decision to make the protagonist a "female android" came from female characters from his previous works, Harenchi Gakuen and Abashiri Family, and from the character Maria from Metropolis. The series' working title was Honey Idol, as stated by Go Nagai the booklet of a DVD release. Nagai revealed in the afterword of a later manga rerelease that Honey Kisaragi's name is a reference to the 1965 American TV series Honey West.
Originally, Cutie Honey was meant to be a shōjo series like the later Cutie Honey Flash, and was planned to focus more on the relationship between Honey Tachibana (original name for Honey Kisaragi) and Shun Kazami (original name for Seiji Hayami) as well as lacking any nudity or excessive violence. A great deal of merchandising was initially planned, such as 'changing' dolls of Honey. The manga was slated to run in the monthly Ribon magazine, and the series was set to air Mondays at 7:00 pm on NET (now TV Asahi), a timeslot previously held by magical girl series, but the timeslot was given to Miracle Shōjo Limit-Chan instead and Cutie Honey was set to air Saturdays at 8:30 pm on the programming block Majū Kaijin Daihenshin!!! which previously aired Micord S and Devilman. Because of this, Cutie Honey retooled into a shōnen series, making it the first magical girl series for young boys.
Although the series had done well in the ratings department, especially compared to its predecessor, Microid S, it was canceled after only 25 episodes, the primary reason being concerns over salacious content. The cancellation took producer Toshio Katsuta by surprise, as he was sure the series would last for three or four seasons. His confidence was why Paradise Academy was introduced so late into the series. Katsuta and Go Nagai both decided the series should end with Honey's final battle with Sister Jill, leaving Panther Zora at large.
Media
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. 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. Nagai's 1973 manga was republished in 1985 as a single volume, but no further manga versions of Cutie Honey were produced until 1992.
Magazine Original run Artist Shonen Champion – Go Nagai Bouken Oh – Ken Ishikawa Nakayoshi – Yu Okazaki TV Magazine – Yu Okazaki TV Land – Masatoshi Nakajima Eiga TV Magazine – Ken Ishikawa Tanoshii Youchien – Yoshiko Suganuma Otomodachi – Chizuko Beppu
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. It was released in the United States in 1997 by the now-defunct Studio Ironcat, as Cutie Honey '90. It has received criticism for having "bad quality" and "clumsy" looking characters. 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. These included three manga made by Yukako Iisaka, another three by Shinko Kumazaki, and one by Kazushi Sasaki.
Running from August 2001 to July 2003, was written and illustrated by Go Nagai and published in Weekly Manga Action magazine. 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.
ran from November 2003 to July 2005 in Tokusatsu Ace magazine. Two volumes were planned, but only one was released. The manga was not fully released until October 2007, when a complete edition was published. An omnibus volume was released in March 2018 by Seven Seas Entertainment. 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.
ran from June 2004 to February 2006; 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
Anime 1973 TV series