Bodysuit 23 #587

Bought the original run of the Cutie Honey manga as it was on sale for like $16 hardback. I watched some of the anime years ago when I had Texas A&M buy the dvd set for their library so I wouldn't have to buy it myself, but I knew the show deviated from the manga. It had a similar history with Devilman where the manga and anime were created roughly the same time, but Go Nagai went his route while the anime staff took his stuff and made it fit the TV format. Cutie Honey ain't no Devilman. Whereas Devilman had a pretty compelling story despite its age and wonky art, Cutie Honey feels incredibly bare bones. Sure, you get plenty of sexual harassment, such as having Honey pretend to be a bronze statue and a young kid probing her pussy with his tongue, as was popular with young children at the time (/s), but as a whole it left me wanting more. Good for weird Go Nagai shenanigans, but not much more outside of that. My biggest issue is that it sorta ends without a true conclusion to the conflict. The evil organization Panther Claw is after this incredibly technology that exists solely inside Honey, and the Japanese branch tries to capture her so they can send it to their leader. The manga ends with Honey defeating the Japanese branch, but there's still the rest of the organization out there. Hell, a vision of the leader goes "I'll get you!" a la Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. But that's it. That's the end of the manga. Honey is naked as the lyrics from the TV show theme is plastered next to her as she tries to use her powers to get dressed again but can't. I don't regret it, because I do enjoy some wonky Go Nagai shenanigans, but I find it hard to recommend. Unless you really want to see the origin of the transforming magical girl where she's naked for a split second trope.