Like most of you, I found this show/anime from watching the OP on Youtube, and I loved it. The fantastic animation quality of the opening intro, paired with an amazing cover of an iconic song to fit the modern age actually bloody worked, for some reason. It's just magical how an intro actually made me want to watch this bloody thing.
Now, this isn't the first Cutie Honey iteration I have watched. I managed to watch Cutie Honey Flash (Cutie Honey F) before this. It was lame and average. I didn't like it. It had a great story but it was waaaaaay too melodramatic and way too cheesy, and the animation is really dated. Episode 1 was just plain garbage. Episode 2 was slightly better, although it wasn't enough to make me watch more episodes. I give it a 5/10.
Despite my disappointment with Cutie Honey F, I still wanted to watch the other versions due to my anticipation of the upcoming Cutie Honey Universe, I went out my may to watch Re: Cutie Honey. This version. This anime..... oh my goodness.
The first out of the three episodes of this short, but satisfying OVA is one of those things you HAVE to watch for yourself. It is... insane, and bloody hilarious, and I mean that. If there's anything that created the birth of Studio Trigger, it is this.
First of all, art direction is absolutely fantastic. The show begins with a cartoonish art-style that is extremely exaggerated up to the point where it is done on purpose, until the show suddenly becomes the joke itself. There is... a lot of innuendo humor in this show, but unlike a large majority of stuff like this, the jokes are genuinely written in ways I didn't expect. Realistic consequence is actually present within the character's actions, and it makes the presentation of the jokes a whole lot better. Even Ren and Stimpy couldn't write better innuendo humor than what this has to offer, in my opinion. But there's more than that. The animation drastically changes by around episode 2 and completely in the third and final episode, from comically exaggerated to super realistic, as Honey is gradually unlocking more and more of her heart. It's such a purposeful decision that literally made my jaw drop. I'm not kidding.
I wasn't surprised with how immaculate the framing is, considering that this was directed by Hideaki Anno, the guy behind Neon Genesis Evangelion. The show looks great and still holds up 14 years after its release, and this is extremely impressive for an OVA. In fact, when I was watching it, it didn't have the impression that this was direct-to-video quality, especially during a large bunch of the last episode. I was at awe with how attached I was to the characters as the final episode ended.
I only have minor issues with this show, with the most glaring one being the President of The United States speaking in Japanese for no reason. But besides those, this is truly animation as an art form.
Now I know what you're thinking, "this is another one of those fanservice anime with no substance, isn't it?". Well, that's what I thought before watching it, but I'm telling you right now. It's not. It's a wild, but thoughtful story about the depths of the human heart, and it worked for me. This show really struck me. I'd even go as far as saying that I personally like it more than the first animated Ghost In The Shell movie.
So please, do yourself a favor and give this a shot. It's not fanservice, it's an experience. Just let me warn you that there's a lot of boobs.
