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Disappointing is the word that defines Cutey Honey ‘90. To think this is the sequel, the final arc in Honey’s vengeance, makes me sad since I’m a fan. In this one you have the usual Cutey Honey experience, weird ecchi, a lot of blood and violence, but the main gripes with this one are the plot, certain characters and pacing.

What happened between the first manga and this one and why did it take 30 years to things to happen? How the Hayami managed to be rich? Why did Honey say the Panther Claw are demons from another dimension when Dr. Kisaragi said to her that ... they are female cyborgs in the original manga? How did even Honey jump to this conclusion? And from this last one, depending on how its answered, can make even more questions.

Talking about the Hayami, Seiji appears only once, Junpei twice and Danbei appears more but he seems out of character, honestly, the story would stay the same if they didn’t appear at all. They introduce a boring character called Todoroki who just wants to have sex with Honey and its not a funny nor interesting partner/side character, talk about boring.

I have found the art to be interesting, although nothing spetacular and the panneling feels a bit off, sometimes it cuts the flow while you are reading. If you like Nagai’s drawings, as I do, you may like it artwise.

As a big fan of the series, it saddens me that the Panther Claw saga ended in such a rushed way, if you REALLY want to know how it ends, read it all, if you don’t like shallow and rushed things, just jump this one.

Cutey Honey Universe was gonna fail from the start, it doesn’t matter the director, animation studio or whatever it is. It reached a point I can’t think the series will get an actual nice and REALLY faithful adaptation, it simply cannot be animated, and no, its not even because of the weird ecchi this series has. This anime is the last nail in the coffin of Cutey Honey, the anime that somehow could revive it, ended up killing it.

The visuals are stale, the animation is ok and when it tries to really do something it plays safe or it feels off, you listen probably two ... or three songs EVERY EPISODE from the entire ost, and the writing is pretty much the worst aspect of it, some characters actions and motivations are the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a while, you’re gonna get pissed when is the MAIN PROTAGONIST who does this kind of crap.

Oh yeah, the plot only starts to move from episode 6 onwards. Such waste of time.

To summarize it all, Cutie Honey Universe feels like it tried but it failed miserably. If you’re a fan, skip this, its painful to watch, If you’re new to the series, just watch Re: or Shin.

Just finished it, to sum it up, could be the best Cutey Honey anime but it wasn’t.

Shin takes place 100 years after the original manga (ended on a cliffhanger), Honey apparently forgot who she was, which is odd, no one questions it and it is never explained, a new villain appears and an old-known villain too, our heroine needs to stop them, a simple and “solid” plot… Then the problems begin to arise, the pacing. Shin is unfinished, initially it was supposed to have 12 eps and only 8 were made, however, the main plot for it only last for 4 episodes, what would have ... played out better for 12 eps was put into 4, thus it resulted in a very unforgettable, rushed and stale story for the series, which is a shame because it could be so much more, after episode 4 it goes back to your “villain of the week” structure with no real plot and also crossovers, just Honey beating the villains, it is not bad but its nothing different from the others, the anime could do justice to the “Shin” on its name. My other main problem with it is a character that is introduced and his relationship with honey, he’s a kid and barely develops character through the anime, him and Honey barely have known each other and the anime induces you to think they are really good friends because of a few scenes it has shoved down your throat, Honey acts to him like she was his mother and in even worse cases, like a lover, making her look like a shotacon, the major problems end here.

The visuals for Shin are probably the best for me, even so, its not perfect, background art was inconsistent for a while, in the first ep the backgrounds are different from the rest, leaving the feel that it wasn’t in the same city to begin with, afterwards it goes back to being your average city. I enjoyed the animation for the most part, it played really safe and was weird sometimes but when it really wanted to show off, it did well and this surprised me. The soundtrack screams 90’s and if you’re a fan, you’ll definitely enjoy it, Shin’s OP 1 has the best rendition of the Cutey Honey theme song and the OP2 might be the best of the series, visually speaking.

Shin might not be the best because of certain choices, yet, it got close to it. If you enjoy Cutey Honey, want a solid experience and doesn’t mind some inconveniences, this one is for you.

The anime on its own is fine, as a homage for Cutey Honey, its pretty much the best you’ve got, the character design is charming, the visuals are bright and interesting, the soundtrack for the anime has a lot of songs with the motif of the Cutey Honey’s first anime opening, which is nice to hear throughout the anime, and that’s were the good points end, pretty much.
Only the first episode leaves that big impression on you, due to the fact that Hiroyuki Imaishi is directing it, so its natural you will have that colorful environment and fast action, the other two episodes left ... the feeling you’re watching an entire different anime, they’re not that bad, but it plays like a low-budget mahou shoujo and the third episode might be Hideaki Anno’s weakest direction, because the anime could have a really good last episode to redeem episode 2 (it dragged on too much), however, it only was a huge Evangelion reference.
As for the ecchi, theres a lot , I kinda dislike it, but its a Go Nagai work after all, don’t let the ecchi stop you from watching this, there’s also Yuri, that I also disapprove, but only in a few scenes, the way it was implemented felt forced, it was a bad choice in the end. That is all you really needed to know. As a reboot, this works fine, but as an adaptation? Not really, some of the changes really bother if you read the original manga, only a few transformations from the og for Cutie appear and Natsuko changed way too much, but it is still enjoyable.

Anyway, watch it.