Re: Cutie Honey

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Re: Cutie Honey

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Postby Ray » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:18 pm

I don't watch Magical Girl anime, but someone told me Anno directed one. . . At First I said 'no way man', that's impossible. He pulled it up and showed me. . .Re: Cutey Honey. I watched it purely because Anno's name was on it. . .and . . .I liked it. . .and not for the reasons you guys think!

Image

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJWDdNEirg

One hour later, I'm all like. Is this for real? But. . .honestly. . . Is this for real? The man who directed NGE, the soul crushing despair fest Tragedy of Shinji Ikari, the man who ended the world by turning everyone into tang. Is the same man who directed THIS, this hilarious over the top Fanservice Fest? Holy Cow! Talk about subverted expectations!

Moyoco, wherever you are, I thank you for bringing this genius out of the depths of his depression and despair and in doing so indirectly giving me one of the most confusing and entertaining things I've seen in a while.

Whats the history behind this? Why did Anno choose to direct this? Why hasn't it gotten an English Dub? Who composed the Music? Why is there so much freaking fanservice? (don't answer that last one.)
Last edited by Ray on Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Postby pwhodges » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:22 pm

What's more, the anime version followed the live action film version that Anno also directed.
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Postby Xard » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:35 pm

Yeah you should check out the live action film too. It's pure fun loving campy gold. Storyline is mostly same, somewhat more streamlined and focused more on Honey-Naoko relationship - and of course it's much more wholesome than the lewd OVA.

Anyway, my very positive review of Re:Cutey Honey is here. It's great little OVA with wonderful directing and animation both by Anno and the episode director crew that worked under him. Needs more love western release where etc.

As for your questions...

View Original PostRay wrote:I don't watch Magical Girl anime, but someone told me Anno directed one. . .


It's actually quite debatable whether or not Cutey Honey counts as magical girl anime. It was huge influence on the genre yes, but it was not mahou shoujo series in the first place. It was popular enough with girls that it was eventually turned into familiy friendly aimed at girls Mahou Shoujo fare with Cutey Honey Flash...but Re:Cutey Honey is definetly no Flash in Mahou Shoujoness direction.


View Original PostRay wrote:Whats the history behind this?


Well Cutey Honey had one of those anniversaries coming up which meant it was time to bring the franchise back alive for upteenth time, of course. GAINAX and Anno were drafted on the project god knows why exactly. I guess Anno's love for Honey was well known in the circles and Nagai likes Anno so "why not him *shrug*".


View Original PostRay wrote:Why did Anno choose to direct this?


It's actually nowhere near as out of character as you seem to think. Keep in mind Anno's first work after Eva was the hilarious shoujo romantic comedy Kare Kano. Really, I think the contrast is bigger when you contrast Anno's work on Cutey Honey to his first two experimental, thoughtful and throughoughly serious arthouse fare live action features. Jump from Shiki Jitsu to Honey is enormous.

Anyway, as said it's nowhere near as out of character as you think. First of all Anno is HUGE Go Nagai fan and has been since he was a small kid. Secondly Anno has special respect and love for 1970s Japan which he sees as a time when the nation was still positive and filled with energy and belief in human progress. In particular this shows up in his love for 1970s popular culture. He has used songs and BGM from the decade in his own work quite a lot and Yamato & Gundam are his two biggest influences.

What's more Anno has been doing his own "retro-1970s" anime since the beginning. Nadia on the whole is long, passionate love letter to era and its popular culture.

When you see Re:Cutey Honey in context of Nadia instead of Eva existence of OVA makes perfect sense.

In the end Re:Cutey Honey is characteristically Anno and not only stylistically. Both the live action film and the OVA (esp. in its final episode) has at its core all of Anno's pet themes about human communication, loneliness and love and whatnot. The presentation just happens to be happy, over-the-top entertainment mode instead of NGE's gloomy navel gazing.

So no, Re:Cutey Honey is not that big jump for him. Surely his happy marriage to Moyoco led him into more easily and openly celebrating his otaku love for things but overall it brings out nothing NEW about man's character.


View Original PostRay wrote:Why hasn't it gotten an English Dub?


Because it has never been licensed, duh. As for why: beats me. You'd think as GAINAX co-production helmed by Anno it would've been easy sell to, say, FLCL crowd.


View Original PostRay wrote: Who composed the Music?


:google:


View Original PostRay wrote:Why is there so much freaking fanservice? (don't answer that last one.)


Because it's freaking Go Nagai adaptation and of manga that is fairly legendary for its fanservice, even by Go Nagai standards.
Last edited by Xard on Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Ray » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:58 pm

Performed by Kumi Koda 'The Christina Aguilera of Japan'.

Well. . .that explains a lot. Also, I found a decent english fandub of the opening song, I don't know how authentic it is to the original one, but I like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi6YBrdrxO8

I hope Anno does more like this after Rebuild is over and done with!

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:16 pm

I think Anno handed off directing Re: Cutie Honey to different directors for each episode, so you're really seeing their creative direction, and not Anno's. He did over see the production, though.

The live-action Cutie Honey is all directed by Anno, and it's awesome. I mean, it nowhere near one of his best works, but it's really fun to watch and at times gets a little emotionally heavy. Great fun to watch.

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Postby ElMariachi » Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:16 pm

@ Ray : Something you must know, and that many people (especially Western audiences) tends to ignore, is that Anno is a massive goofball! He's the kind of guy who's not afraid to admit that he's a shameless Otaku, or who participated in a clip for Gainax cosplaying Ultraman!

Many people remember his depressive phase because it's from here that come out Evangelion, his Magnum Opus, but he's a lot more sympathetic before and after his depressive period.

FYI, he also directed Kare Kano, the adaptation of a Shojo manga! And that was barely one year after End of Evangelion!

PS : and now that you realized that Magical Girl animes can be great, go watch Madoka! :devil:
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Postby Xard » Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:27 pm

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:I think Anno handed off directing Re: Cutie Honey to different directors for each episode, so you're really seeing their creative direction, and not Anno's. He did over see the production, though.


See my review that I linked. First two episodes were more hands off though they still show Anno's influence in general storytelling and aesthetic style but third episode is full-on Anno festival with Anno having personal credits as co-storyboarder, co-director and co-episode director (!!!!) in addition to Chief Director credit he gets for each episode. It's 100% Anno through and through and it's not like he had nothing to do with other episodes.

View Original PostRay wrote:Performed by Kumi Koda 'The Christina Aguilera of Japan'.


Err, Kumi Koda is rnb and she only sung the OP song. She did not compose any of the music - OP itself is the same old legendary Cutey Honey OP that has been used since original 70s series so it's not like she wrote OP either.

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Postby Kendrix » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:11 pm

Ray wrote:Why did Anno choose to direct [magical girl thing]?



...remember where Rei-chan got her name from and several VAs were drafted over from? Yeah.


I guess that when he's done with all the artistic brooding at the end of the day, he needs to do something to satiate his inner Kensuke.


Also, I realy need to watch this.
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Postby Gob Hobblin » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:21 pm

Every time I think of Hideaki Anno, I keep seeing him, in my mind's eye, bouncing around like a child on Sarushima Island. Because it was where Kamen Rider was filmed, and he remembered where every scene was shot.

The guy is one of us. He likes his silly anime as much as the next person...and occasionally, he will direct a few.
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Postby Kendrix » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:25 pm

Yeah, this whole "pretentious artistic troll guy who hates us" image is largely myth.

Even EVA doesn't really come from this 'pointed finger' perspective it's often taken from, and there's quotes to substantiate it.
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Postby Gob Hobblin » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:30 pm

^

Though, in all fairness, NGE was supposed to be a lighthearted story about table-tennis before he came along.

:|

...That is a fact that I just made up right now.
Though, Gob still might look good in a cocktail dress.
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Postby Xard » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:17 pm

View Original PostKendrix wrote:Yeah, this whole "pretentious artistic troll guy who hates us" image is largely myth.

Even EVA doesn't really come from this 'pointed finger' perspective it's often taken from, and there's quotes to substantiate it.


Anno says different things based on time and context. In some texts and interviews he is VERY harsh about otaku and makes clear just how disgusted with himself and the whole subculture he was around the time he made Eva, in others he maintains only those within the culture have the needed understanding and perspective that makes insightful criticisms of it possible so outsider otaku bashers can fuck off while sometimes he claims Eva is just "studying" otaku instead of "criticizing" them (that from one recent interview).


Eva does have thousand pointed fingers and there's no dodging of the fact through some post-series, Rebuild era "hey come to think of it these new eva fans ain't as bad maybe I should treat them less harshly in words" shifts. The fingers legitimize themselves through the fact said fingers are simultaneously pointed at himself too so there's no holier-than-thou smugness to it.


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