Based on the 1973 Go Nagai manga, Re: Cutie Honey is a three episode OVA produced by Studio Gainax and Toei Animation, which was released from July 24, 2004 to September 25, 2004.
Once again, a mysterious organization known as Panther Claw make their presence known by terrorizing Tokyo and giving the cops a run for their money. Police are further baffled by the appearance of a lone cosplaying vigilante who thwarts all of Panther Claw's evil schemes before disappearing. That cosplayer is Honey Kisaragi (Yui Horie), the result of the late Professor Kisaragi's prize experiment. A master of disguise, Honey can instantly alter her physical appearance and outfits. But with a push of the heart-shaped button on her choker, she transforms herself into Cutie Honey, the scantily clad, sword-wielding warrior of love and justice.
This series used the premises and characterizations from the Cutie Honey live-action film from the same year by Hideaki Anno. Anno was also part of this series, but while he served as the anime's chief director, each episode had a different director.
After 19 years, Discotek Media announced in 2023 that they would be releasing Re: Cutie Honey in the West, with a dub to boot!
This series provides examples of:
- A-Team Firing: Natsuko is smart enough to take advantage of this; she either doesn't move or walks into the barrage of enemy bullets, and simultaneously takes out the Mooks firing at her with just a few well-placed bullets of her own.
- Adaptational Badass: Rather than being a Damsel in Distress and Muggle Best Friend, Natsuko is a skilled government agent here. Seiji also gets a considerable upgrade from Action Survivor and Distressed Dude to a hyper-competent Mysterious Protector and undercover NSA agent.
- Adaptation Personality Change: This incarnation of Honey is a bit more "cutesy" than previous ones, as she has a ditzy but loving personality combined with a hot-blooded temper.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Downplayed as Natsuko's been portrayed as having vaguely romantic feelings for Honey in other adaptations, but she's explicitly shown to feel more than friendship for Honey in this series.
- Age Lift: Honey and Natsuko are both teenagers in the prior shows, but in this one, Honey is an adult who works at a temp agency, while Natsuko is a police inspector.
- Alertness Blink: Being Denser and Wackier and all.
- And the Adventure Continues: The ending has Honey and Natsuko fighting crime together.
- Badass Normal: Natsuko is highly proficient in firearms including the high caliber and semi-automatic variety able to take out several Panthers using one of their rifles after knocking it out of his hands.
- Battle Couple: Implied to be what Honey and Natsuko are at the end of the series.
- Berserk Button: Addressing Natsuko as "Na-chan" will make her very upset. Too bad Honey is oblivious, although Natsuko eventually softens up and allows Honey (and only Honey as Seiji can attest) to call her that.
- Blood Knight: Re: Cutie Honey's version of Natsuko guns down Panther Claw mooks with a smile on her face that would make Akira and Ryoma proud.
- Honey herself is not immune from this either; especially in the first episode. She does a few smiles as well when going into battle.
- Casting Gag: In addition to featuring a few actors from previous Cutie Honey and Go Nagai dubs returning to play their roles, the English dub features a number of these, which generally can be divided into one of two camps: instances where actors who performed in previous Cutie Honey dubs were cast in other roles, or cases where a cameo from another Go Nagai work is voiced by an appropriate actor.
- Honey's pervy boss dresses like Lupin III note , so naturally he was cast to Tony Oliver.
- Mike Pollock plays one half of a buddy-cop duo, just like in the live-action movie dub.
- The Henchins, both in Japanese and English, are voiced by the actors for Seiji and Natsuko. Rather than their English voices for this dub, however, Scott Gibbs and Bryn Apprill, their voices from Universe, were cast as the Henchins.
- Brett Weaver voices a cameo appearance from Shingo, the main character of Susanoo, since he bears a resemblance to Akira from Devilman, whom Weaver previously voiced for New Cutie Honey. In tandem with this casting choice, Luci Christian was cast as Shingo's friend Sayuri, since her and Weaver are frequent co-stars.
- The Comically Serious: Re:Cutie Honey's Natsuko fits this very much. She's the only one who retains her professional attitude even when absurd situations happen around her.
- Composite Character: The version of Natsuko from this series and the 2004 movie also has much in common with Miharu ("Histler") from the anime, who was also a disciplinarian Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist figure trying to capture Honey.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: After, Natsuko became much more open and supported Honey in the fight against Panther Claw and even allowed Honey, and only Honey, to call her by the nickname "Nat-chan".
- Denser and Wackier: This adaption is from Studio GAINAX and the soon-to-be creators of Kill la Kill, this time around.
- Dirty Old Man: Honey's boss, who ogles at her boobs in the opening.
- Extended Disarming: When asked to hand over her pistol, Nastuko leaves behind a huge pile of firearms... and afterwards transfers the spare that was strapped to her thigh to her shoulder holster.
- Food Porn: The feast Honey prepares for Natsuko in Episode 2 is shown in bright detail.
- Hot-Blooded: Both Honey and Natsuko qualify. Honey gets really riled up whenever fighting Panther Claw due to the organization being the ones responsible for her father's death. Natsuko is very eager to engage Panther Claw in combat in order to protect the public.
- Improbable Food Budget: Played for Laughs. Honey is able to eat literally hundreds of dishes at a time, and poor Seiji is the one paying for it all. In general, Honey seems to have no problem with all the food she can prepare and eat at once.
- Inspector Javert: Natsuko originally saw Honey as a public threat.
- Intimate Healing:
- It's a Medicine Kiss administered by Natsuko in order to restart Honey during the showdown with the Big Bad.
- Natsuko's solution to Honey's blue-screening in the previous episode, after realizing that the Robot Girl's skin is reacting to her touch in her otherwise lifeless body, is to strip completely naked and embrace Honey as intimately as she possibly can without actually having sex with her.
- Large Ham: Everyone, as per usual. Special mention goes to Seiji, who spends a large chunk of his screentime prancing around like a goofball.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Near the end of the final OVA, Honey's perverted boss ends up surrounded by the 10,000 women that Sister Jill kidnapped. And the women are all naked after they come back to life. He's too horrified to be aroused.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Koji, Boss, and Sayaka get a cameo in one episode. So do Akira and Miki (1972 TV series versions) from Devilman, and the original anime Natsuko from 1973.
- Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: At the end of Episode 1, it's revealed that Natsuko and Honey live right next to each other in their apartments; Na-chan is a Tsundere towards Honey, and it's implied that they get together as a crime-fighting couple in the end.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Honey to this incarnation of Natsuko.
- Maybe Ever After: Nothing concrete is said but it's obvious that Natsuko's feelings for Honey go beyond mere friendship and they work together as private investigators by the end of the series.
- Mythology Gag: The designs used for the policemen are taken directly from the original manga.
- Naked on Revival: In the third and final OVA, all of the women who had been turned into flower petals reform completely naked, much to their collective embarrassment.
- Nerves of Steel: This adaptation's Natsuko doesn't even flinch when Panther Claw starts shooting at her. She merely stands in place and fires back shots of her own. In one instance, she even walks towards the hail of bullets and towards the Panther Claw mooks shooting at her in order to take them down.
- Only Sane Woman: Natsuko in this adaption.
- Out of Focus: Despite otherwise being a straight adaptation of the movie, Seiji loses his spot in the trio of heroes alongside Honey and Natsuko and becomes more of a mysterious mentor figure.
- Plucky Office Girl: Honey works as one of these.
- Power of Love: Natsuko saves a destablized Honey with this. Twice.
- Shoe Phone: In the first OVA, Seiji utilizes one to get Honey's help.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Onigiri for Honey.
- In OVA 2, Natsuko reveals that hers in sea cucumber in oyster sauce.
