History Series / CuteyHoneyTheLive

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So you've got the license to a [[Anime/CuteyHoney famous anime franchise]] and you made [[TheMovie a live-action adaptation]] that was pretty damn popular despite the fact it was quirky as hell. Where do you go from there? Why, make a twenty-six episode live-action television show!

''Cutey Honey: THE LIVE'' is quite possibly one of the most indecisive series ever produced. At times, it attempts to be a deadly serious and dark drama with [[HumansAreBastards the very worst traits of humanity]] on full display. Then Cutey Honey comes along and the show turns into a bubbly, light-hearted [[{{Tokusatsu}} martial-arts]] romp with heaploads of hilariously blatant {{Fanservice}}. The combination is both strange and unique, and when the show takes a sharp right-turn into CerebusSyndrome it becomes an incredibly sombre tale about the value of life and the [[EvilFeelsGood nature of evil]].

'''Main characters include:'''

* Honey Kisaragi/Cutey Honey: Our favourite transforming RobotGirl is back, and she's even more of a clueless [[TheDitz Ditz]] than ever before. [[GenkiGirl Annoyingly happy]]. [[AllLovingHero Loves everyone]]. By "Flashing", she can transform her outfit into any form, including a red battle costume. Has [[{{Fanservice}} boobs]].
* Seiji Hayami: An incompetent but lovable private detective who is working on a thesis on Japan's seedy underworld; to achieve this end, he lives in a slum. He has a special friendship with Honey, but often has little to no clue about what's going on. Is very tall.
* Miki Saotome/Sister Miki: Miki is a [[TheStoic stoic]] loner who happens to have the same power to Flash as Honey. However, her power is flawed and causes metallic objects to be absorbed into her body, whereupon they are (painfully) forced out through her skin later. Has plenty of dark secrets. Wears blue.
* Yuki Kenmochi/Sister Yuki: The third of the three Flash girls. A rich girl who is much closer to the ShelteredAristocrat than the {{Ojou}}. When she transforms, she turns from a kind, slightly clueless girl into a merciless, ice-cold fighter. A {{Schoolgirl Lesbian|s}} with a massive crush on Honey, she gets put through the emotional wringer more than any other character and ends up as a PsychoLesbian. Wears white.

'''Then there's the QuirkyMinibossSquad, Panther Claw:'''

* Yuji Nakajo: A genius who can sprout wings with razor-sharp feathers, and has three split personalities: an adult, a child and a complete monster. [[spoiler:He later gains a fourth personality, a CreepyCrossdresser]]. He runs {{Deadly Game}}s and has his clients bet on the outcome.
* Duke Watari: A European gentleman who speaks SurprisinglyGoodEnglish.[[note]]Creator/MarkMusashi is half-Japanese, and was born in Japan but raised in America.[[/note]] His gimmick is that he screams, "SHIT!" when someone commits some minor slight against him. Oh, and he has razor blades in his feet. He kidnaps homeless people and converts them into living weapons to sell to the highest bidder.
* Mayumi Karasugawa: A PsychoLesbian who can swallow whole hen eggs and regurgitate them at will. She can also transform into her own battle costume. Develops an unhealthy obsession with Miki. Her job is to scout out new members of Panther Claw through the private school she runs. That is, when she isn't spending too much time with her [[TeacherStudentRomance female students]].
* Hiromi Tanaka: An old and energetic fish-seller who turns out to be the secret ruler of her town's underworld. If the fact that [[ImprobableWeaponUser she fights with frozen fish]] that [[{{Hammerspace}} she pulls out from under her apron]] doesn't blow your mind, the rocket launcher she keeps in her stomach will. Her husband usually follows her into battle and is something of a BadassNormal.

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!!This series contains examples of the following tropes:

* AdaptationalVillainy: Professor Kisaragi, Honey's Father/Creator.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The three main characters are outcasts in their school due to the weirdness that surrounds them. Miki especially has a hard time since she's a massive {{Tsundere}} on top of it.
* AssKickingPose: Honey really wants to have one with Miki since [[GenreSavvy that's how it's supposed to work]]. Miki is less than keen on the idea. Honey does get one with Yuki, however, and when all three girls finally go into battle together, they do end up posing. See the trope below.
* BackToBackBadasses: A few examples -
** The aforementioned AssKickingPose Cutey wanted with Miki consisted of this, essentially. There were moments, however, when the two girls had to stand back-to-back for the purpose of strategy. At one point when this happened, Honey tried to pose and Miki quickly caught on to what she was doing and walked away.
** Yuki and Honey go back-to-back a couple times. Most notably towards the end of the series when [[spoiler: Yuki turns evil without Honey realizing it. Their pose ends up being an example of when RivalsTeamUp. At this point, Yuki has a TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou viewpoint]].
** Hiromi Tanaka and her husband do this a few times as well.
* BerserkButton: If Duke's image is tarnished such as getting his suit torn or getting cut while shaving, he goes ballistic.
* BlessedWithSuck: Miki and Yuki. When they flash (turn into their android forms), they usually teleport chunks of metal inside of themselves. It is quickly pointed out that the more they do this, the closer to death they become.
* BodyHorror: The examples above, plus the various cybernetic enemies. They usually end up a twisted mess from the process.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Honey is brainwashed in a two-part episode and Panther Claw often brainwashes their victims into being cybernetic killing machines.
* BreastAttack: Miki does this to Mayumi at one point, likely in response for Mayumi contantly groping her female opponents in battle (see page image).
** Miki also does this twice to Honey's friend as a way to bully her.
* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: Shouting "Honey Flash" activates the girls' powerful android forms.
* CatchPhrase: Honey Flash!
** For Duke Watari, it's "SHIIIIIIT!".
** For Seiji Hayami, it's "How [[GratuitousEnglish demonish]]!"
* CerebusSyndrome: It starts off as a silly action series with a few creepy bad guys. By the end of the series, it gets a little depressing.
* CerebusRollercoaster: There are a lot of wacky hijinks, the kind of things that would happen in the original series taken UpToEleven. It can also become ''insanely'' bleak. Near the end, the wacky seeped away and it was a very dramatic final arc.
* ClipShow: Episode 13 highlights the past episodes and clues the viewer in that things are about to get a lot darker.
* ClusterFBomb: Whenever Watari is even the slightest bit perturbed. In [[ForeignCussWord English]].
--> "SHIIIIIIIIIIT!!!"
* CoolBike: Honey can "flash" one up when she needs to.
* CreatorCameo: In the DVD-exclusive 26th episode, Dr. Kisaragi is portrayed by Creator/GoNagai.
* CreepyCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Yuji's fourth personality, Hikaru.]]
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Basically every cybernetic character (re: half the cast) is not in a good mental state by the end.
* [[spoiler:DecoyProtagonist]]: Played with towards the end of the series.
* DeusSexMachina: At one point, Honey gets captured by Panther Claw. Miki tries to find her but the only person who knows where Honey is located is Mayumi Karasugawa. It is heavily implied that she uses the opportunity to exchange the information for certain favors.
* ElegantGothicLolita: Miki fits this trope.
* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler: Yuki ends up being this for Honey and Miki.]]
* EvilMakeover: [[spoiler: Yuki changes her look once she hits her HeelFaceTurn.]]
* FourIsDeath: Four divisions within Panther Claw, each with its own general.
* FunbagAirbag: A Panther Claw agent meets his fate by finding his way into Honey's cleavage. She then proceeds to reverse motorboat him into submission.
* GratuitousEnglish: Duke Watari alternates between Japanese and English, almost every other sentence.
* HeroicSacrifice: Honey and Miki make several physical sacrifices throughout.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: The final battle. [[spoiler: It doesn't work entirely.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy [[spoiler: Honey's father went to some extreme ends to bring his daughter back, resulting in Miki and Yuki losing their own famailies and being turned into cyborgs with no memory.]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil: See above.
* LoveRedeems: {{Subverted|Trope}}: Honey tries this every single time and it ''never works''. The worst was with Nakajou. At one point did no less than tell it to her ''straight'' that he'd helped her once before ''not'' because he's actually a nice guy at heart, but because getting her away from the other generals would mean that he could have all the profits from taking her apart to get the Flash device in her guts to himself, and as such, she really, ''really'' ought to quit helping him. She didn't listen and it didn't end well.
* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: Invoked very '''very''' much in regards to Miyumi's ''*ahem*'' rivalry with Miki.
* ManchurianAgent: Effectively what Duke does to his victims, with far worse consequences.
* {{Mooks}}: Panther Claw has them. One of them is revealed to have fought Honey a few times in the series, suffering physical and emotional trauma in the process. The funny part is that the {{Flashback}} shows previous episodes where Honey randomly beat a mook. Turns out it was the same guy all along.
* MoreThanMindControl: Honey's brainwashing mentioned above.
* MouthfulOfPi: Honey happily calculates a large stream of numbers in class, much to her classmates' annoyance.
* PsychoLesbian: Mayumi.
* PrecisionFStrike: Watari has an incredibly filthy mouth, but only drops the F-bomb once when Honey escapes from him.
-->'''Watari''': "...the fuck?!"
* RantInducingSlight: The slightest grievance will cause Watari to shout "'''''SHIT!!!'''''", tell off whoever pissed him off, then often go their boss, yell at them, and order them to fire the person who slighted him.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Yuki's eventual fate.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Essentially why Miki and Yuki were turned into cyborgs and why Honey was created.]]
* SexSlave: Mayumi turns her female students into this and desperately wants Miki to be one (Honey too but to a lesser extent).
* SirSwearsALot: Duke Watari often shouts "'''''SHIT!!!''''' when his hair trigger is set off.
* [[spoiler: SplitPersonalityTakeover: Yuji spends the rest of his screen time as Hikaru after she was created.]]
* StealthClothes: The girls can just "flash" some into place.
* SupportingProtagonist: The series is named after a single, famous Japanese character but it quickly shifts gears and ends up being about a trio of girls with the same power. [[spoiler:In fact, one could argue that Yuki and Miki are much more competent and skilled than Honey, making her almost obsolete in battle.]]
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Duke Watari often switches between speaking Japanese and perfectly fluent English on the spot.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Kisaragi Honey as a result of this has almost little to do with the original iteration of the character, who was a GuileHero.
* WeCanRebuildHim: Honey is busted up at one point and needs repaired.
**[[spoiler: Happens to Duke after being sliced into pieces by Yuki. He ends becoming an emotionless cyborg in the process.]]
* WidgetSeries: It's very strange and very Japanese.
* YouKilledMyFather: Yuki and Miki have this reaction to Honey's long dead father.
----

[[spoiler: Happens to Duke after being sliced into pieces by Yuki. He ends becoming an emotionless cyborg in the process.]]

* Yuki Kenmochi/Sister Yuki: The third of the three Flash girls. A rich girl who is much closer to the ShelteredAristocrat than TheOjou. When she transforms, she turns from a kind, slightly clueless girl into a merciless, ice-cold fighter. A [[SchoolgirlLesbians Schoolgirl Lesbian]] with a massive crush on Honey, she gets put through the emotional wringer more than any other character and ends up as a PsychoLesbian. Wears white.

* Yuji Nakajo: A genius who can sprout wings with razor-sharp feathers, and has three split personalities: an adult, a child and a complete monster. [[spoiler:He later gains a fourth personality, a VillainousCrossdresser]]. He runs {{Deadly Game}}s and has his clients bet on the outcome.

* Mayumi Karasugawa: A PsychoLesbian who can swallow whole hen eggs and regurgitate them at will. She can also transform into her own battle costume. Develops an unhealthy obsession with Miki. Her job is to scout out new members of Panther Claw through the private school she runs. That is, when she isn't spending too much time with her [[TeacherStudentRomance female students.]]

** Yuki and Honey go back-to-back a couple times. Most notably towards the end of the series when [[spoiler: Yuki turns evil without Honey realizing it. Their pose ends up being an example of when RivalsTeamUp. At this point, Yuki has a TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou viewpoint.]]

* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: The final battle. [[spoiler: It doesn't work entirely.]]

* LoveRedeems: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Honey tries this every single time and it ''never works''. The worst was with Nakajou. At one point did no less than tell it to her ''straight'' that he'd helped her once before ''not'' because he's actually a nice guy at heart, but because getting her away from the other generals would mean that he could have all the profits from taking her apart to get the Flash device in her guts to himself, and as such, she really, ''really'' ought to quit helping him. She didn't listen and it didn't end well.
* LesYay: Invoked very '''very''' much in regards to Miyumi's ''*ahem*'' rivalry with Miki.

* {{Mooks}}: Panther Claw has them. One of them is revealed to have fought Honey a few times in the series, suffering physical and emotional trauma in the process. The funny part is that the FlashBack shows previous episodes where Honey randomly beat a mook. Turns out it was the same guy all along.

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Essentially why Miki and Yuki were turned into cyborgs and why Honey was created]]

* VillainousCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Yuji's fourth personality, Hikaru]].

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* Mayumi Karasugawa: A PsychoLesbian who can regurgitate whole hen eggs at will. She can also transform into her own battle costume. Develops an unhealthy obsession with Miki. Her job is to scout out new members of Panther Claw through the private school she runs. That is, when she isn't spending too much time with her [[TeacherStudentRomance female students.]]

[[caption-width-right:704:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Honey_Molestation.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:704:Yes... it pretty much is always like this.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Honey_Molestation.jpg
[[caption-width:704:Yes... it pretty much is always like this.]]

* ActorAllusion: Hayami, played by Shouma Yamamoto, goes crazy and starts fighting a group of bikers with a long pole. This is reminiscent of his previous role of DAN White Knight of the Midnight Sun in Garo: Beast of the White Night, where his Makai Weapon was a bo/spear.

* Adaptational Villainy: Professor Kisaragi, Honey's Father/Creator.

* ManchurianAgent: Effectively what Duke does to his victims, with far worse consequences

* Duke Watari: A European gentleman who speaks SurprisinglyGoodEnglish.[[note]]MarkMusashi is half-Japanese, and was born in Japan but raised in America.[[/note]] His gimmick is that he screams, "SHIT!" when someone commits some minor slight against him. Oh, and he has razor blades in his feet. He kidnaps homeless people and converts them into living weapons to sell to the highest bidder.

* ClusterFBomb: Whenever Watari is even the slightest bit perturbed.

* LoveRedeems: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Honey tries this every single time and it ''never works''.

* Honey Kisaragi/Cutey Honey: Our favourite transforming RobotGirl is back, and she's even more of a clueless [[TheDitz Ditz]] than ever before. [[GenkiGirl Annoyingly happy]]. [[TheMessiah Loves everyone]]. By "Flashing", she can transform her outfit into any form, including a red battle costume. Has [[{{Fanservice}} boobs]].

* Duke Watari: A European gentleman who speaks SurprisinglyGoodEnglish.[[hottip:*:MarkMusashi is half-Japanese, and was born in Japan but raised in America.]] His gimmick is that he screams, "SHIT!" when someone commits some minor slight against him. Oh, and he has razor blades in his feet. He kidnaps homeless people and converts them into living weapons to sell to the highest bidder.

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