I've been finally watching this lately, and I'm pretty close to finishing it too

Cutey Honey, a pretty big game-changer in terms of magical girl history. Originally planned by manga artist Go Nagai and Toei Animation in the early 70's, Cutey Honey was going to be the next big prime-time little girls cartoon featuring Honey and sidekick/love interest Seiji keeping up the peace as she transforms into various forms.

Something along the way happened and Cutey Honey ended up getting a time slot reserved for shonen/boys cartoons - so Toei and Nagai re-arranged the show to be more appealing to that demographic including more action, goofy male sidekicks, and the very first use of the "naked transformation" 

The result is this psychedelic sexy superheroine show with Honey going up against Panther Claw, an ruthless crime syndicate bent on controlling the world and all its beautiful possessions no matter what. Between killing her father, best friend and then blowing up her school - Honey's main motive for using her powers is revenge. Which is weirdly refreshing for an children's anime heroine.

Honey's not really a "dark" or moody character though, she's a fun-loving High School girl who sneaks out of class, independent, sly and just wants to do what's right for her and others. At the time, she was still seen as an empowering role model for female viewers. She's just not afraid to stand up for whats right and isn't ready to let merciless people like Panther Claw hurt others.

It's age is pretty glaring if you're only used to modern anime, but I think it's a pretty fun to watch show. Artwise the backgrounds in this show look like groovy wall paintings XD
Honey's fights with the monster-of the-day are entertaining, I also like her weird adoption into the Hayami family (consisting of Dorky Teenage reporter older-brother Seiji, Flirtatious little brother Junpei, and old-fashioned father Danpei who all go along with Honey and her adventures no matter how useless they end up being)

Check it out if you can!

God! I have been wanting to watch this series. I seen some of it, but I think it was the remake? I don't remember. All I know it was never fansubbed all the way.

Yeah that sounds like Cutey Honey Flash, the 90's shoujo remake.

I started watching that the other day. I remember I watched the 1st episode before in High School, not really connecting to it. But now that I've seen the original, man oh man does this look like exactly what I wanted from the 1st show.

I like 70's Cutey Honey for what it is, but I'll take dramatic shoujo any day. It's a pretty glamorous update I think. It's a shame it was never finished fansubbing. I figured that would be a sure thing since it's Go Nagai and has Sailor Moon character designs (no seriously, its like the exact same art team from Sailor Moon StarS) but oh well.. *sigh*

I wouldn't mind looking up the 70s anime. I'm guessing it's been subbed completely?

Mew Ami wrote:

I wouldn't mind looking up the 70s anime. I'm guessing it's been subbed completely?

I dunno about subbed (i think it is??)

but there's a new DVD set out. It's been out for a couple months, so that probably means its been uploaded to the internet anyway if you can't get the set.

Awesome!!

I have only seen Cutey Honey Flash, but I love that series and it's amazing too!