cutie honey the live is an a+ series and you should watch it
Lately I've been rewatching Cutie Honey the Live and it's reminded me how much I love the series and how underappreciated it is. *__* I seriously think it's one of the best written toku shows I've ever seen. SO UM YES BASICALLY I'M GOING TO REC IT TO YOU NOW IN THE HOPE YOU'LL LOVE IT WITH ME AND I'LL HAVE PEOPLE TO SQUEE AT AS I REWATCH IT.
Story
If you're not already aware, Cutie Honey is a well-known magical girl in Japan. Her most notable attribute is probably her ability to transform into lots of different disguises, as well as her magical girl identity, and the fact that rather than being an ordinary school girl like many other magical girls, she's actually an android.
Cutie Honey the Live takes this premise and runs with it, giving us Honey Kisaragi and expanding on her story. Though the main character is definitely Honey, Cutie Honey the Live is more about the bond between Honey and her friends Miki and Yuki than anything else. The overarching theme throughout the series is the connection between the three and how it's changed and influenced by the circumstances around them.
Because I don't want to spoil anyone I'm going to try and keep spoilers out of this as much as I can, but when they are included they'll be whited out. Most of them are revelations about characters that are shown a couple of episodes after their first appearance (YOU HAVE TO FIND OUT HOW THE SERIES ENDS FOR YOURSELF OKAY) but I know some people like to keep their viewing experience as pure as possible (and with a series as awesome as this I totally get why, even though I'm usually a spoiler whore myself *__*), so.
Characters
Honey Kisaragi when we first meet her is a silly, light-hearted school girl who already knows her identity as Cutie Honey and uses it without a heartbeat to protect her friend Seiji. Even in battle she's constantly smiling, making jokes and just generally being completely freaking adorable. *__* I'm not going to lie, the entire "cutesy happy girl" character archetype is one that annoys me at times but I love Honey so much. ♥ She's disarmingly sweet and beneath the persistently cheerful exterior, desperate to be liked.
Though even Honey doesn't know very much about her past other than she's an android capable of transformation into various costumes, she displays an almost complete lack of curiosity towards who she was. She's more concerned with who she is, and so we don't start finding out that much about where's she from and who she was until Miki sets the story in motion, which leads me to...
Miki Saotome, Honey's opposite. Miki is cold, serious, quiet and completely uninterested in Honey when she first meets her. All Miki really wants is to be alone and yet all Miki really fears is being alone. So it's understandable that Miki is trapped in her own mental prison, unsure of what to do or who to reach out for. While Honey doesn't care about the past, Miki can't stop thinking about it and it colours her every interaction with Honey and the rest of the cast.
Add all this to the fact that not only is Miki's mind under siege, but her body is turning against her; chains and jagged edges are ejected from her body, crawling out through her skin in periods of time that are rapidly becoming closer and closer together.
In a lot of ways, I guess Miki is the most distant of the trio. In most of their interactions Honey and Yuki stand firmly together while Miki seems somehow closed-off. By the end though it was pretty obvious why this is and my heart kind of broke for Miki. ♥
Yuki Kenmochi is a brat. And I say this with affection, okay, she's my favourite character. ♥ But she's a brat, there's no way to deny it. A spoilt rich girl who's given everything she wants by her parents, Yuki lives an ideal life. When she wants something, she gets it. That's not to say Yuki isn't a pleasant person to be around - on the contrary, she's accomodating, charming, polite and sweet. In many ways you could even call her a Yamato Nadeshiko.
So it kind of comes as a surprise that behind the sweet smiling mask, Yuki is insane. Seriously insane. What came off as simply the attitude of a spoilt little rich girl at first is more than that; a ruthless desire to get her own way, even if it means killing anyone who stands in it.
When Yuki first showed up, I wasn't interested. I saw her as a boring bit character and nothing more. As it became clear she was here to stay and her personality began to show more and more, she overtook Miki to become my favourite and stayed there for the rest of the series. ♥ I'm fascinated by her, yo.
Seiji Hayami
Seiji is Honey's first friend, a private detective living in voluntary poverty with other homeless people. Though when we first see him he's actually fleeing from attackers and desperately calling Honey for help, he's Honey's biggest support system and a loyal friend. He has crushes on both Miki and Yuki, both unreturned.
Panther Claw
The villains of the series, Panther Claw is a massive crime organisation with four different leaders. Though there's fierce infighting for power amongst the four, they are each of them formidable villains for Honey. Later in the series they take a special interest in her, having worked out she's an android, and become that much more dangerous to Honey as they work specifically to capture her.
Trio
I said earlier that the relationship between Honey, Miki and Yuki is the main point of the series and it is, to the point that when I began talking about their feelings for each other in their character profiles it got so big it needed its own freaking section.
Miki shows up some time before Yuki, so let's start with her and Honey. Honey adores Miki, maybe more than she loves anyone else we're ever shown in the series. From Miki's first day at school Honey latches on to her, convinced that Miki is her new best friend, and makes her affection very obvious. Miki is not pleased. However as the series progresses Miki's dislike for Honey grows into a grudging respect and then into trust that if Miki ever needs her, Honey will be there. She may think Honey is annoying and loud and unnecessarily chirpy but maybe that's okay, because Honey is annoying and loud and unnecessarily chirpy and always by her side.
Yuki has a crush on Honey. That's not me being a femslash tinhat, okay, that's honestly canon. It turns out Yuki's "what I want I will get" way of life extends to people and it happens that Yuki wants Honey. Honey is completely oblivious to the fact that her friend feels this way and sets Yuki up with a besotted Seiji, much to Yuki's disgust. Cue Yuki dragging Honey along on every date with Seiji she goes on. Honey, though she doesn't return Yuki's romantic feelings, loves Yuki almost as much as she loves Miki; Yuki is her playfriend, the one she goes to when she wants someone to be childish and happy with and Yuki's only too happy to oblige.
This is where the trio falls apart. See, maybe it's misleading to call it a trio at all. Honey loves Miki and Miki loves Honey and Honey loves Yuki and Yuki loves Honey but Miki and Yuki hate each other. Yuki resents that Miki is "stealing" Honey from her, sees Miki as a competitor for Honey's attention and affection, and Miki simply doesn't trust Yuki (and it doesn't help that Yuki so clearly wants Miki out of the picture). There's an ongoing fight between the two throughout the series, one that Honey is mostly oblivious to, which is unfortunate since Honey is really the only one who can stop it.
Etc
I watched the first episode of this on a whim after hearing a little bit about it from other people and I wasn't very impressed. The first episode honestly does no justice to the series, guys: it's stupid and infantile and kind of uncomfortably intense in its focus on Mikie Hara's body at times. But I decided to watch a few more episodes to see if the series got better and I'm so glad I did. ♥ Because this series is an amazing mixture of funny, light-hearted moments and darker, even tragic parts. Honey, Miki and Yuki are beautifully written characters with intricate backstories and personalities; the struggle for power within Panther Claw is genuinely interesting to watch; the fight scenes are gorgeously choreographed (especially Yuki's but maybe's that just me being biased) and honestly, I just kind of wish the series had been longer.
Aside from that, this series is amazingly gay. *__* It doesn't stop at Yuki's crush on Honey. Miki has a female admirer of her own, to start with. And to be honest I think there was more than a little subtext for both Honey/Miki and Honey having something going on with her roommate Nacchan (NACCHAN GIVES HONEY UNDERWEAR AS A PRESENT).
ALSO THIS FANDOM NEEDS FIC LIKE, YESTERDAY. *__*
You can watch Cutie Honey the Live (subbed by Spork and Massuki Fansubs and I know it doesn't mean much to you now that the entire series has been subbed but I just want to say that they were amazingly fast subbing this series when it was airing ♥) on Veoh. It's 25 episodes long.
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS NOT TO JUST CAPSLOCK SQUEE THROUGH THIS ENTIRE POST HOLY SHIT.
Story
If you're not already aware, Cutie Honey is a well-known magical girl in Japan. Her most notable attribute is probably her ability to transform into lots of different disguises, as well as her magical girl identity, and the fact that rather than being an ordinary school girl like many other magical girls, she's actually an android.
Cutie Honey the Live takes this premise and runs with it, giving us Honey Kisaragi and expanding on her story. Though the main character is definitely Honey, Cutie Honey the Live is more about the bond between Honey and her friends Miki and Yuki than anything else. The overarching theme throughout the series is the connection between the three and how it's changed and influenced by the circumstances around them.
Because I don't want to spoil anyone I'm going to try and keep spoilers out of this as much as I can, but when they are included they'll be whited out. Most of them are revelations about characters that are shown a couple of episodes after their first appearance (YOU HAVE TO FIND OUT HOW THE SERIES ENDS FOR YOURSELF OKAY) but I know some people like to keep their viewing experience as pure as possible (and with a series as awesome as this I totally get why, even though I'm usually a spoiler whore myself *__*), so.
Characters
Honey Kisaragi when we first meet her is a silly, light-hearted school girl who already knows her identity as Cutie Honey and uses it without a heartbeat to protect her friend Seiji. Even in battle she's constantly smiling, making jokes and just generally being completely freaking adorable. *__* I'm not going to lie, the entire "cutesy happy girl" character archetype is one that annoys me at times but I love Honey so much. ♥ She's disarmingly sweet and beneath the persistently cheerful exterior, desperate to be liked.
Though even Honey doesn't know very much about her past other than she's an android capable of transformation into various costumes, she displays an almost complete lack of curiosity towards who she was. She's more concerned with who she is, and so we don't start finding out that much about where's she from and who she was until Miki sets the story in motion, which leads me to...
Miki Saotome, Honey's opposite. Miki is cold, serious, quiet and completely uninterested in Honey when she first meets her. All Miki really wants is to be alone and yet all Miki really fears is being alone. So it's understandable that Miki is trapped in her own mental prison, unsure of what to do or who to reach out for. While Honey doesn't care about the past, Miki can't stop thinking about it and it colours her every interaction with Honey and the rest of the cast.
Add all this to the fact that not only is Miki's mind under siege, but her body is turning against her; chains and jagged edges are ejected from her body, crawling out through her skin in periods of time that are rapidly becoming closer and closer together.
In a lot of ways, I guess Miki is the most distant of the trio. In most of their interactions Honey and Yuki stand firmly together while Miki seems somehow closed-off. By the end though it was pretty obvious why this is and my heart kind of broke for Miki. ♥
Yuki Kenmochi is a brat. And I say this with affection, okay, she's my favourite character. ♥ But she's a brat, there's no way to deny it. A spoilt rich girl who's given everything she wants by her parents, Yuki lives an ideal life. When she wants something, she gets it. That's not to say Yuki isn't a pleasant person to be around - on the contrary, she's accomodating, charming, polite and sweet. In many ways you could even call her a Yamato Nadeshiko.
So it kind of comes as a surprise that behind the sweet smiling mask, Yuki is insane. Seriously insane. What came off as simply the attitude of a spoilt little rich girl at first is more than that; a ruthless desire to get her own way, even if it means killing anyone who stands in it.
When Yuki first showed up, I wasn't interested. I saw her as a boring bit character and nothing more. As it became clear she was here to stay and her personality began to show more and more, she overtook Miki to become my favourite and stayed there for the rest of the series. ♥ I'm fascinated by her, yo.
Seiji Hayami
Seiji is Honey's first friend, a private detective living in voluntary poverty with other homeless people. Though when we first see him he's actually fleeing from attackers and desperately calling Honey for help, he's Honey's biggest support system and a loyal friend. He has crushes on both Miki and Yuki, both unreturned.
Panther Claw
The villains of the series, Panther Claw is a massive crime organisation with four different leaders. Though there's fierce infighting for power amongst the four, they are each of them formidable villains for Honey. Later in the series they take a special interest in her, having worked out she's an android, and become that much more dangerous to Honey as they work specifically to capture her.
Trio
I said earlier that the relationship between Honey, Miki and Yuki is the main point of the series and it is, to the point that when I began talking about their feelings for each other in their character profiles it got so big it needed its own freaking section.
Miki shows up some time before Yuki, so let's start with her and Honey. Honey adores Miki, maybe more than she loves anyone else we're ever shown in the series. From Miki's first day at school Honey latches on to her, convinced that Miki is her new best friend, and makes her affection very obvious. Miki is not pleased. However as the series progresses Miki's dislike for Honey grows into a grudging respect and then into trust that if Miki ever needs her, Honey will be there. She may think Honey is annoying and loud and unnecessarily chirpy but maybe that's okay, because Honey is annoying and loud and unnecessarily chirpy and always by her side.
Yuki has a crush on Honey. That's not me being a femslash tinhat, okay, that's honestly canon. It turns out Yuki's "what I want I will get" way of life extends to people and it happens that Yuki wants Honey. Honey is completely oblivious to the fact that her friend feels this way and sets Yuki up with a besotted Seiji, much to Yuki's disgust. Cue Yuki dragging Honey along on every date with Seiji she goes on. Honey, though she doesn't return Yuki's romantic feelings, loves Yuki almost as much as she loves Miki; Yuki is her playfriend, the one she goes to when she wants someone to be childish and happy with and Yuki's only too happy to oblige.
This is where the trio falls apart. See, maybe it's misleading to call it a trio at all. Honey loves Miki and Miki loves Honey and Honey loves Yuki and Yuki loves Honey but Miki and Yuki hate each other. Yuki resents that Miki is "stealing" Honey from her, sees Miki as a competitor for Honey's attention and affection, and Miki simply doesn't trust Yuki (and it doesn't help that Yuki so clearly wants Miki out of the picture). There's an ongoing fight between the two throughout the series, one that Honey is mostly oblivious to, which is unfortunate since Honey is really the only one who can stop it.
Etc
I watched the first episode of this on a whim after hearing a little bit about it from other people and I wasn't very impressed. The first episode honestly does no justice to the series, guys: it's stupid and infantile and kind of uncomfortably intense in its focus on Mikie Hara's body at times. But I decided to watch a few more episodes to see if the series got better and I'm so glad I did. ♥ Because this series is an amazing mixture of funny, light-hearted moments and darker, even tragic parts. Honey, Miki and Yuki are beautifully written characters with intricate backstories and personalities; the struggle for power within Panther Claw is genuinely interesting to watch; the fight scenes are gorgeously choreographed (especially Yuki's but maybe's that just me being biased) and honestly, I just kind of wish the series had been longer.
Aside from that, this series is amazingly gay. *__* It doesn't stop at Yuki's crush on Honey. Miki has a female admirer of her own, to start with. And to be honest I think there was more than a little subtext for both Honey/Miki and Honey having something going on with her roommate Nacchan (NACCHAN GIVES HONEY UNDERWEAR AS A PRESENT).
ALSO THIS FANDOM NEEDS FIC LIKE, YESTERDAY. *__*
You can watch Cutie Honey the Live (subbed by Spork and Massuki Fansubs and I know it doesn't mean much to you now that the entire series has been subbed but I just want to say that they were amazingly fast subbing this series when it was airing ♥) on Veoh. It's 25 episodes long.
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS NOT TO JUST CAPSLOCK SQUEE THROUGH THIS ENTIRE POST HOLY SHIT.