When getting a Gainax anime about which you know absolutely nothing…anything may be expected. I have a genuine respect for the courage of this studio to “boldly go where none have gone before”, sort of speaking and RE: Cutie Honey is what I would come to call ‘a Gainax work’: bold, outrageous, introspective at times and entertaining because of quite a set of wrong reasons.
From a completely insane plot line to the insane characters, RE:CH is a thrill to go through, best compared to FLCL in terms of achieving comedy. It may not be as random, it may not be as insane and it may simply try to take itself too serious as the finale approaches…but it’s a fun ride all the way through.
As I researched this 120 min OVA I found out about the classic Cutie Honey series from way back in the 1970s; anime of which I never heard before, let alone catch even a glimpse of it. But, the aged origins are quite transparent in the OVA. Gainax did a bang-up job in making a anime by the standards of the year 2000 in terms of graphics but it kept the same way of animating the characters as you’d see in an old anime (more on this a bit later however).
Add in a lot of the studio’s bold style and spice it all up with a dash of James Bond and the anime is ready to either sink of float, just like all other Gainax works.
Whoever may be willing enough to get over RE:CH’s extreme sexual content, extreme jokes, somewhat goofy characters, totally inane plot and absurd action may just find a comedy that hides quite a bit of substance, even if the time it has is too little. But, when do OVAs have time to develop?
Certainly not now, certainly not ever…
Animation
As I was saying, the roots of this OVA stretch back for about 30 years. In its new shell, it has been brought up to date visually but, in a more unique way. Indeed, we have a lot of shiny colors, visual fluidity of the action, beautiful details and all that. But the character and world designs are insane to say the least.
For one…the monsters are the most ridiculously looking things I’ve seen this side of Scryed’s alters. It goes with the flow of the anime but that doesn’t excuse it from being totally idiotic at times, visually aggravating and simply too infused with fan-service (gross fan-service most of the time) to be likable.
The human characters on the other hand, were simply beautiful. If you deduct the police force that is…that was hilariously stupid. But aside from that, what’s supposed to be sexy is, indeed, sexy and what’s supposed to be comic…is comic. Heck…who can hate pretty girls?
But I did mention something about keeping an old style of animation for the characters, didn’t I?
What I meant is that, not in few cases, the movement of the characters is simply ridiculous. Characters take a back flip and in the process pass through a series of stances that last for 2 or 3 frames and then the stance changes. Or, in other moments, the characters’ bodies simply become elastic and stretch beyond the normal limit of any human being. Such things are usually something you’d see in an old anime and I would applaud Gainax’s way of bringing it into a 2004 production…IF it wouldn’t have looked so ridiculously dumb.
But something in all of this actually works. Some scenes are completely rendered in 2 or maybe 3 colors (that hint of James Bond that I spoke of). It gives the anime quite the sense of style in such moments, with vague references to old spy movies.
The general line is this: the anime looks good and it also goes extreme with its animation, from over-simplification to over-detailing. It’s not an eye sore but it isn’t something quite pleasant either; except maybe for the fan-service; as I’ve said: as long as the girls are human, they’re hot.
Sound
“Pa pa paia pa pa papaia paia paia pa…waaaaa”
God this part of the soundtrack is both extremely annoying and, somehow, extremely catchy. The tune is played out throughout a lot of the more fast-paced scenes and it manages to stick with you in the end, rotting away at your nerve endings, at your very mind...argh, the pain…
Ok, I’m exaggerating. It’s not as bad as I make it sound to be, especially since the music is proportional to the comedy or drama elements on screen and it works perfectly.
Also, both the opening and ending songs are amazingly good and pleasant to listen too, fast paced as is the entire anime.
Apart from this…the music is fine throughout most of the anime and the voices are rarely annoying.
The sound is good in general so no need to go into further details with this.
Story
Story wise, there’s not much to be expected from an anime that, from the first five minutes, throws a piece of ass in your face and a pair of breasts. And, even as it goes on, fan service literally floods the screen and there seems to be no chance for a coherent story-line at all.
But, it’s not as it would seem. Underneath all of this, there is a pretty well rounded up story that simply flows between all of that nudity and sexual oriented jokes. There is a story of revenge, a story of secret origins…a story. To the anime’s defense, although it’s only 3 episodes long it manages to do quite some stuff in the allocated time. It’s rushed, even with the 40 minutes long episodes, but it doesn’t waste its time on idle banter or such stuff.
The story of how Cutie Honey and Sister Jill are entwined is possible the best aspect of the narrative line that there is. I was actually pleased to see the utter stupidity of the motives that Panther Claw used as reasoning for their crimes. I’m sick and tired of grand plans to succumb the world in darkness, to control the world, to enslave the world…to screw over the world in any and all ways possible. The reason that the villains put up is quite simple and effective: have fun, make Jill-sama happy, torture Cutie Honey. Ok, it’s stupid…but it’s original at least and it strays from the classic anime story-telling.
And I mentioned the problem of secret origins and revenge. Some things simply don’t match up* in different scenes but otherwise, it answers most of the questions that may appear or it leaves some problems to our discretion of guessing, but with enough references and material so that it doesn’t simply become a stupid guessing game.
Even if this anime is initially presented as being a brainless, light-hearted, sexually offensive flick…it attempts drama. Yes, you’ve read well…DRAMA. And, as it would happen, there’s always a “BUT”…it doesn’t reach the quality it could’ve reached as a simple comedy, but it doesn’t lose much momentum either. The flash-backs, the tears, the stupid abuse of the “invading the heart” ploy…well, it’s not as bad as it would sound to be. Gainax usually pull off such eccentric combinations of elements and this is no exception. Combined with a few scenes most abundant in quality action, drops of comedy and some…ahem, hotter bits…the end result is an anime that is enjoyable for people that are willing to see beyond the weirdness of it all, beyond the clichés regarding the “heart”, beyond some moments that are simply too convenient and beyond all the brainless sexuality.
No, it’s not a masterpiece by any means, it’s not something that would write history as a great anime…but it’s fun to watch and simply be swept away by its charming presentation.
Character
The same humorous and insane presentation that the story has is also found as far as the characters go. Yes, it’s a gross over appreciation to call the characters original since, let’s face it, we’ve seen the vengeful girl with superpowers, the uptight police woman, the secret agent that always knows more than he tell, the old farts that run the fate of thousand, the insane servants of evil…they’ve been done before, in almost all anime regarding girls with superpowers of sorts.
Honey is the normal, lovable dimwit, with the IQ of a grape, the obsession with making new friends and the same ability to resist harsh words as Hiroshima’s resistance to nuclear weapons. Drop a few harsher words on her and she’s lost for humanity for a quite some time, in her own little world.
But, here comes Na-chan, the oil to Honey’s water. And a beautiful friendship is born in the same old fashion anime has taught us: first fight, then love (whoo what love hehe). Basically, it two characters complementing each other’s personality all over again…but you can’t hate the anime for this since both are great characters to whom you may grow attached in the hour and half time that the show runs.
As far as the villains go, all I can say is: DAMN UGLY. RE:CH has some of the ugliest critters I’ve seen in anime. And they’re supposed to be women…yuck. No development for the bad guys (except for the boss lady, but that was unavoidable), little development for the secret agent fellow (he’s a secret agent, he’s supposed to be mysterious, no?), and quite a bit for the main girls.
All in all, the characters are pretty much basic material. You can’t expect something extraordinary of them since it’s been done and done before. All you can expect is to gain some sympathy for them.
Value
An overall mediocre-good anime, RE:CH delivers a few laughs, a lot of action, and a bit of substance. Combined with the feel-good ending it sticks in your face and the insane humor…it’s a darn enjoyable piece. But only to be watched with an open mind and a taste for the weird. Otherwise, it may just flop…BAD.