Line #52 Manga/HoneyHoney


1	%%
2	%% Image selected per Image Pickin thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17128437330.26107700
3	%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4	%%
5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1000009114.jpg]]
6	%%
7
8	''Honey Honey'', or ''Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken'' (lit. "Honey Honey's Wonderful Adventures"), first a 1966 manga series by Hideko Mizuno, Creator/OsamuTezuka's assistant and one of the first successful female mangaka. Later it was made into a 29-episode anime series by Creator/ToeiAnimation for the Kokusai Eiga (MIC) company in 1981 and telecast on Creator/FujiTelevision from October 1981 to May 1982.[[note]]It did not air in network time on the Fuji network, and ended up airing on Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem or Creator/NipponTV affiliated stations, or not at all, in some areas. In some cities, the series didn't air until 1984.[[/note]] The manga also got a re-release in 1981 to coincide with the premiere of the anime.
9
10	The story begins in Vienna, 1907 (sort of) with vain Princess Flora's[[note]]Typically Romanized this way, although her name would actually be pronounced in {{Engrish}} as ''Florel''[[/note]] nineteenth birthday celebration, where suitors from all over the world are gathered to try to get their hands on her vast fortune and her hand in marriage. The classy masked bandit named Phoenix crashes the party and declares brashly that Flora wouldn't be nearly as beautiful as she is without her ring. Shocked at Phoenix's brashness and fed up with her suitors' motivations, in a fit of rage, she tucks her priceless diamond ring, the "Smile/Star of the Amazon[[note]]depending on the dub[[/note]]", into a cooked fish and chucks it out the window. A little white cat named Lilly eats the fish whole, swallowing the ring along with it. Flora then declares that she will marry whomever can retrieve the Smile of the Amazon and return it to her.
11
12	Lilly belongs to Honey, a young orphaned waitress who has owned her since she was a little girl and considers Lilly like a younger sister. Phoenix catches up to her and asks her for her cat, her closest companion, and Honey demands 100 million for her while running off in a hot air balloon along with Lilly. From then on, it's all about the wacky chase over all of Europe (and beyond), in a race to retrieve a missing ring, with even more surprises in store for the princess, suitors and Honey & company. These surprises range from encounters with more racial stereotypes, Film/KingKong, the evil Slag, Vikings, and more...
13
14	Note that unlike most early shojo series, Honey Honey refuses to take itself seriously (except once or twice, towards the end, and that doesn't stick too much).
15
16	Not at all to be mistaken with ''Manga/CutieHoney''[[note]]although Masaki Tsuji was the head writer on both shows and series director Takeshi Shirato worked on both as well, as did several others[[/note]] or ''Manga/CandyCandy''[[note]] although both Candy and Honey Honey share [[Creator/MinoriMatsushima the same Japanese voice actress]][[/note]], the latter being a {{melodrama}}. Also no relation to the hit song by Music/{{Abba}}.
17
18	The rights to the series are currently held by Enoki Films USA, although the series has had no American re-release since the mid-1980s. Some English dubbed episodes occasionally turn up online, though.
19	----
20	!!Tropes related to the series:
21	* AdaptationDyeJob: Early promotional artwork for the anime depicts Honey as a brunette (and Phoenix as blond). She remained a brunette even in some merchandise released ''when the show was already on the air''. In the finished product, she became a blonde. Also, Lily has white fur in the anime, but is colored pinkish-purple on the covers of manga re-releases that utilize the anime character designs.
22	* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: In almost every dub, except the Portuguese dub aired in Brazil, which used the Japanese closing theme for both the opening ''and'' closing.
23	** The Italian OP was performed by Music/CristinaDAvena
24	* AnimationBump: Episode 22, "Snowbound Castle", in general features some of the best animation of the series, directed by Toei veteran Akira Daikubara.
25	* ArabOilSheikh: One of Flora's many suitors, all of them encompassing one offensive racial stereotype and playing it for laughs.
26	* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The opening animation, along with the accompanying theme song (at least in Japanese, English, and Italian), suggests the viewer is in for a straightforward ''shoujo'' adventure. Only Honey crashing into a banquet table while dancing suggests this series is going to be anything ''but'' a straightforward ''shoujo'' adventure.
27	* BelligerentSexualTension: Between Honey and Phoenix. Princess Flora secretly likes Phoenix too, but reacts like a spoiled child whenever he teases her; Honey's more apt to react with a little teasing and/or sarcasm of her own.
28	* BreakingTheFourthWall: In virtually every episode.
29	* [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS Brought To You By The Letter H]]: Honey's purse is embroidered with the letter H.
30	* CrazyCatLady: Hamelin in episode six is a Crazy Cat ''Town'', with the townspeople, having had their children lured away by [[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin the famous Pied Piper]], substituting cats for children. Phoenix plays Pied Piper to get rid of the cats.
31	* DoubleDoubleTitle: This series is released in some countries as simply ''Honey Honey''.
32	* DubNameChange: Honey's name is almost always changed (she's Fiorellino in the first Italian dub, Pollen in French, etc.), but most of the rest of the other characters' remain unchanged. This was inverted in the Mexican Spanish dub instead. The Brazilian Portuguese dub is still titled ''Honey Honey'', but the main character was renamed Favos de Mel (meaning "honeycombs").
33	* EngagementChallenge: As per usual with the trope, sets off the plot entirely.
34	* FallenPrincess: [[spoiler:What Honey turns out to be.]]
35	* FieryRedhead: Princess Flora.
36	* GagDub: Particularly the Portuguese dub, but the original Japanese is equally silly.
37	* GagSeries
38	* HiddenPurposeTest: The Vikings capture Honey and force her to walk on red-hot coals. She thinks it's just to torture her. [[spoiler:Actually, she has to remove her shoes because they are looking for a rose-shaped birthmark that represents royalty on a young girl's foot. Guess what, she has it!]]
39	* HistoricalFiction: PlayedForLaughs.
40	* HornyVikings: Kidnapped by Vikings. Yes. [[spoiler:They turn out to be former retainers of Honey's parents (hence why they knew about the rose-shaped mark), and their leader Erik is also Phoenix's father.]]
41	* LoveTriangle: Honey and Flora both like Phoenix. This being a shojo, it's obvious who he ends up with.
42	* MeaningfulName: The nuns who raised Honey Honey gave her that name after they found her abandoned in a flower garden, surrounded by honeybees. Carries over into some of the Western dubs as well, with the original Italian calling her Fiorellino ("little flower"), the French calling her Pollen (as in bee pollen), and the Brazilian dub renaming her Favos de Mel ("honeycombs").
43	* MediumAwareness: Depending on the dub, but most characters make references to the writers or the commercial break.
44	-->'''Gustav:''' Here's a surprise, Phoenix! My new laser ray!\
45	'''Princess Flora:''' [[AnachronismStew I didn't know lasers had been invented already]]!\
46	'''Gustav:''' They haven't, but in cartoons, anything is possible.
47	* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler:The death of Phoenix's father/Honey's protector Erik]] is one of the few dark spots in an otherwise very light and fun series.
48	* {{Novelization}}: Episode 6 was adapted into a children's storybook, scanned and translated into English [[https://letsanime.blogspot.com/2011/04/the-wonderful-childrens-book-of-honey.html here]].
49	* PurelyAestheticEra: The AnachronismStew is PlayedForLaughs. It starts in episode one, including Japanese text on Phoenix's wanted poster in ''Vienna'', which Honey, an orphan, is somehow able to read perfectly.
50	** The character designs (both manga and anime) count as well, as they just ''scream'' late 1960s despite the series taking place in the early 1900s and the anime being made in the early '80s.
51	* ShoutOut:
52	** Flora is kidnapped by a giant ape and carried to the top of 70's skyscrapers in a ''Film/KingKong1933'' reference, and the show [[AnachronismStew makes no apologies for that.]]
53	** Spot the reference [[http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff228/letsanime/?action=view¤t=honeyhollywood.jpg when she goes to Hollywood]].
54	** One episode is an entire reference to ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''.
55	** Another episode references the tale of ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'', with Phoenix playing Pied Piper to rid the city of its feline infestation - and hopefully attract Lily so he can grab her. Honey's ''not'' having the latter though.
56	* WorldTour: Honey goes to nearly every corner of the world to protect Lilly, from New York to Norway to London to Tokyo.

Context Manga / HoneyHoney