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I'll preface this review by saying I am not that knowledgeable about the source material which this OVA is based on, I only have a passing familiarity with Go Nagai's works, such as Devilman. My main interest in this OVA stems from it being a Gainax production with the involvement of Hiroyuki Imaishi and Hideaki Anno. I also will be lightly spoiling aspects of the live action tie in film, which was also directed by Anno.

Re: Cutie Honey is based on a 1970s manga series by Go Nagai and this OVA is very emblematic of that retro aesthetic. I will not fill this review with ... needless anime history trivia, but the works of Go Nagai are highly influential to modern anime, although his works are usually seen as trashy and/or edgy. Cutie Honey is one of the first magical girls in the vein of Sailor Moon, although many aspects of her character would be considered dated by today's standards.

This OVA has the animation quality on the level of Gainax's Diebuster, but the character design and attitude of retro 70s anime. It's gratuitous in its use of BDSM themes and nudity and it's obvious to see the influence this OVA had on Imaishi's later works such as Kill La Kill and Panty and Stocking. However, given the OVA format, this anime can get away with the main character being fully naked for a majority of the runtime. This anime is not for puritans for sure, but it doesn't reach the levels of offensiveness like the aforementioned Panty and Stocking. My only complaint about this episode relates to the live action version of Cutie Honey, which is basically a retelling of this first episode beat for beat, even though the ending fight is resolved in the exact same way as the climax of the live action version. I believe it's best to discuss this OVA episode by episode given how each part of this anime is stylistically based upon it's respective episode director.

Imaishi directed the first episode, and it's the best episode in this 3 part OVA by far. It's the relentless action and chaotic horny slapstick in the "poorly animated but also really well animated" aesthetic that you would come to expect from Imaishi's other works, closely resembling his previous OVA, Dead Leaves. This first episode never lets up for a moment, it's easily the most engaging segment of the OVA. If you only watch one episode of this series, watch this one, especially if you like Imaishi's other anime series.

The second episode was by a Gainax director I was not very familiar with, Itou Naoyuki. Apparently, he's involved with the Overlord anime series, which appears to be a generic anime TV production, and the same can be said for this episode. This episode loses all the dynamic early 2000s Gainax energy and focuses on character drama, involving Cutie's destructive nature while fighting agents of Panther Claw. I'm sure if someone wrote a review of this anime while Man of Steel was relevant, they'd claim that Cutie Honey addressed the issue of "superheroes destroying an entire city to kill the villain" better than that movie did, but I digress. It's an okay episode overall, but definitely the weakest of the 3. The highlight of the episode by far was the yuri fanservice scene at the end.

Hideaki Anno, who needs no introduction, directed the last episode in the series. Most of the perverted slapstick humor featured in the first two episodes is less prevalent, as the OVA shifts into full Neon Genesis Evangelion territory. To best describe this episode, it basically recreates End of Evangelion within the context of Cutie Honey. It's the best directed out of all the episodes even though it's basically a 45 minute long Neon Genesis Evangelion reference, but it's entertaining none the less. It is difficult to take the psychological themes of NGE within the context of an ecchi magical girl/tokusatsu hero anime that features a naked heroine with bouncing fat tits, but it's what I would expect from the master, Hideaki Anno. If anything, this episode made me want to revisit NGE again.

Overall, I would recommend Re: Cutie Honey. It's not the best output by Gainax but it's easily one of their most underrated productions. If you are interested in seeing the lineage of iconic early 2010s Gainax and Trigger anime, this is a must watch, alongside Diebuster.

I thought I'd look back at some more "classic" girls with guns anime due to how enjoyable the currently airing Lycoris Recoil is, so I revisited Gunslinger Girl after dropping several years ago. The past version of me was right to drop this, because overall this show felt like a waste of time and potential.

Gunslinger Girl follows the lives of 5 cyborg girls (and their much older male handlers) who are brainwashed to work as assassins for an Italian secret society. On the surface level, this premise sounds like a good "turn your brain off" type show, however Gunslinger Girl opts to be more ... intellectual and slow paced, which is executed rather poorly. This show attempts to be an Evangelion-esque character study of child soldiers and the affects of poor parenting (daddy issues) but it falls incredibly flat on it's face, it's Achilles heel being that the characters are all bland and unlikable. Excluding the final scene of this show, there is hardly any emotional levity or depth to any of the scenes. Many times while watching this I asked myself why I should care about any of these characters at all, they all sort to blend together aside from the twin tailed Triela, who manages to be somewhat tolerable at times. All the handlers manage to be extremely unlikable and abusive, aside from Henrietta's handler Jose. I am aware that's the focal point of a lot of the drama in this series, but it's really hard to get invested in or remember any of these characters when each of them are interchangeable. It feels like we as the audience are supposed to empathize with Jose the most throughout this show but he's just a bland guy who is mildly humanistic, there isn't much depth to his character at all.

The story structure of this series is rather questionable as well, the second episode is nearly a recap of the first episode, which I have never seen an anime do before. It might be attempting to show a perception shift from Jose to Henrietta, but if it is it's poorly executed since it reuses nearly half the scenes from the first episode. What were they thinking?

Most episodes in this series are just "side missions" (to put it in video game terms) that feel aimless until the last half of the series, which sets up a mystery surrounding one of the girls being murdered, which could have been interesting but instead we are treated to 1 episode to uninteresting set up and 2 episodes of meandering until the mystery is just solved with a melodramatic leap in logic by the main girl. Don't get me wrong, I like a good "slow burn show" but most of those shows work because of well earned dramatic moments punctuating long stretches of careful character development (think Better Call Saul). Every episode of this show however feels aimless and is punctuated with unearned pathos.

Outside of story content, if you are just watching this show for the action scenes, don't bother, they suck and are rather infrequent. The animation and art style are very dated, this show goes for a more realistic look but ultimately it makes the show look ugly and bland. It really confuses me how this anime could get an average score of 7.40, this show lacks any substance or depth, I don't know why western otaku of the 2000's thought this show was compelling. If you want to watch a boring and intellectually dull version of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex starring 5 lolis, watch Gunslinger Girl. If you value your time (which I obviously don't), watch anything else instead.

To preface, I watched the Japanese dub of this anime. I do not care about English dubs, period. I also spoil aspects of a 12-year-old anime.

The productions of Studio Gainax never fail to have some sort of emotional effect on me, at least the productions of visionaries such as Hideaki Anno and Hiroyuki Imaishi. Although this show is a product of the latter aforementioned director, I held off watching Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt for years because I knew that its humor was not for me. After watching it, I can say it still isn't, but that's okay because this anime has more going ... for it under the surface.

I usually hate scatological and sexual gross-out humor. However, the extreme lengths that studio Gainax and Hiroyuki Imaishi go to provoke the audience is admirable. This show is a "fuck you" to the establishment, especially to the sensibilities of uptight puritanical otaku, much more so than other shows with Gainax/Trigger DNA. This is Panty and Stocking's greatest strength, taking culturally unacceptable topics such as bodily excretions and sexuality and blowing them up to a ridiculous degree.

Another strength of Panty and Stocking is its episode structure and format, which is comparable to western animation (which is intentional). This is not to say that a narrative through-line between the episodes is nonexistent, barring a few exceptions such as "...of the Dead" and Chuck-centered episodes in the latter half of the show's run. The show's staff plays within the format of western cartoons to the show's benefit by hitting the audience with as many ideas as reasonably possible within a 13 episode runtime, with a new director helming each 11-minute segment. This format is to this show's benefit since usually this show's concepts do not overstay their welcome, so few episodes drag and maintain fast pacing. Even episodes that were ill-received by viewers ("Ghost: The Phantom of Daten City being the most notable among the /a/ crowd) do not have wide-reaching consequences in the overall plot of the show, which is supported by the lack of seriousness regarding the plot in the "recap" episode towards the ending of the anime.

One aspect of this anime that is sometimes overlooked is its themes. Granted, they are not particularly deep, however, they should be noted. Thematically, this anime deals with the nature of anarchy vs. control, which it demonstrates through the lens of sexuality, with the conflict between the hedonistic Anarchy sisters and the forces of the primary antagonists, the uptight, elitist Demon Sisters and Mayor of Daten City, Corset (a character who literally wears a corset, a device used for restraining the body, which is contrasted with the extremely promiscuous Panty). Some of these themes were more thoroughly in Imaishi's subsequent anime production, Kill la Kill. However, the impact of that punk Gainax attitude resonates better within Panty and Stocking, with the protagonists disregarding the seriousness of the conflicts presented in the series in favor of shallow hedonism, including the events of final battle with the main antagonist and with the death(s) of their comrade, Garter. The classic Gainax troll ending is the icing on top of the shit-covered cake that is Panty and Stocking.

Aside from the character designs and music, this anime has little to offer.

The animation is minimal and badly directed, with many scenes confusingly edited together and at times barely comprehensible. Most of this OVA consists of an uninteresting chase scene that leads up to a very unsatisfying conclusion. The plot is practically non existent, with the mystery presented halfway through the OVA having zero payoff in the end and what few characters are introduced are uninteresting and pointless. I've seen many describe this OVA as "underrated" but it's better described as something that's obscure and boring.

Overall, I'd say the only enjoyable way to ... experience this anime is to listen to the OST or watch vaporwave/city pop/future funk videos that use clips from this OVA. Viewing this anime on it's own isn't an engaging experience.