Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Cutie Honey Universe
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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To be "fair," the statue thing comes from the original manga where Junpei actually goes down on Honey while she's pretending to be a fountain. It was also totally out of place & uncomfortably long in that. I'd ask why they thought to include it in CHU when previous adaptations (afaik) haven't, but the buy the blu-ray light lines answer that question.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5317 |
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I fount the statue scene pretty funny, I loved the banter between Junpei and the old man. I wonder if the show will continue with the classic monster of the week formula and then have the last 2 or 3 episodes be a final story arc or open it up to a more ongoing story in a few episodes. There may even be second season planed, but I doubt it.
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StarFan13
 Posts: 336 |
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This anime will have 12 episodes we're in week 4 in this anime. 8 more weeks to go.
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1dbad
 Posts: 709 Location: Texas |
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This week's episode felt underwhelming after how good last week's was, but it can only go up from here.
Universe is actually my first experience with the franchise, so I can't really compare it to anything else at the moment. But I'm enjoying it and definitely interested in checking out some of the other incarnations. Hopefully Universe will help renew interest in the franchise to where we can get official releases of some other Honey series. (I'm most interested in Re: and Flash, from what I've heard secondhand) |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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At this point in the show, I’m finding myself more detached from it than I ever thought I would be after the first episode. So far, I’m still sticking with it, but I think I can now see why some long-time fans may be disappointed with this iteration. The animation is having some inconsistencies problems and lots of still-shots are happening, more than I expected there to be in this type of show. I hoped that this show would at least be smack in the middle of my “most wanting to watch” list for Spring, but right now, it’s at the lower end of it and I’m feeling slightly let down. At least episode 5 had Tomoyo Kurosawa voicing reporter Honey. Her voice acting in that scene was honestly my favorite part of the episode, even if I feel that she deserves more. I’ll be hoping that things can pick up significantly for the show sooner rather than later.
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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The animation's the problem?!?
NONE of the Cutie Honey anime series have had consistently great animation. Re: Cutie Honey had highly stylized drawing much like Kill la KIll has VERY spare animation. The 1973 original series definitely started stronger in production values but by mid-series it was definitely gasping and had creaky animation! Even New Cutey Honey had its issues and the eighth episode was barely finished in places! The problem with CHU is the direction, or lack of it, and the odd artistic choices. I don't think casting a half-dozen actresses for all the different forms of Honey helps when you can't make the MAIN version of the character interesting with ONE actress! They definitely didn't help themselves NOT using the classic theme song but the show so far has been mostly joyless. The classic theme still might have enlightened it and made it more enjoyable than it has been so far which is a point you can't understand if you HAVEN'T seen any of the past version of Cutie Honey anime! It has been mostly joyless since Episode 1, even with brief turnarounds that were moderately better in Episodes 2 and 3. They're almost halfway done with the show with this "new take" that oddly throws away some of the good stuff past CH series had and introduces inexplicable changes (her hair grows longer and turns blonde when she loses energy?) and a rudderlessness I never felt with the other CH series I've watched. I can't see HOW they're going to sell this series on physical media if they/Sentai even bother to at this point. (My recommendation -- DON'T BOTHER if it doesn't get better after Episode 6; save the money and license a GOOD series, even if it isn't Re: Cutie Honey, Cutie Honey Flash, or a re-license of New Cutey Honey!) I don't know how a dub can save a series from what is assuredly mediocre art direction (extra-dimensional speed line battlezones?!? This ISN'T TRON, it's supposed to be Cutie Honey!) and bland storytelling despite the attempts at fan service which is just more icky instead of ecchi if that makes sense to any one. And yes, I did read the original manga recently and "closer adaptation" or not (the "statue" scene is in the manga but adds ZERO to the story other than to be a grossout point), this anime is worse than the 1973 manga which had its moments but lurched around unlike the concurrent 1973 anime series which was far better-scripted and paced. The 1973 anime and manga ran at the same time so it's not like either was a direct adaptation of the other. They ran the same basic storyline but the anime was handled better, IMHO. This is one case where I think the TV series/movie was BETTER than the comic/original book! It's a shame because I really like Cutie Honey the character but I haven't liked this series so far... It will definitely discourage re-licensing other parts of the anime franchise if this one sinks like it's looking it will so far... Yeah, they better not bother going past 12 episodes with this version because it's not helping the case to do more of it! Maybe they'll try again for the 60th anniversary of Go Nagai's business ventures (or 50th of Cutie Honey, herself) but it's a shame this is the best(?) they could do for Cutie Honey now and Go Nagai's 50th year in the anime/manga business! Devilman and Mazinger Z had decent recent entries but Go Nagai's (arguably most famous) creation has a dud entry which is a shame considering there has to be interest in the character considering in the last fourteen years there was a 3-part OVA anime series, TWO live-action movies (the first was the live-action directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, the second which was awful and missed the point of Cutie Honey), and a live-action tokusatsu series. At this point, the nicest thing I can say about CHU is that it still hasn't done "The Last Jedi" or Star Trek: Discovery levels of credibility damage to Cutie Honey and embittered fans of the character as badly as SW and ST fans have been by recent developments in their respective franchises... Of course, CH is nowhere NEAR as popular as ST, SW, or even Gundam in the West. It's not as if there hasn't been another recent creative misfire of Cutie Honey (see Cutie Honey: Tears if you dare; it's a joyless movie) but this one is happening on a major anniversary and makes you wonder about the decision-makers and production committees... |
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MarshalBanana
Posts: 5317 |
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Maybe it is because of the new Devilman, but people don't seem to know, or remember, that Go Nagai makes campy ecchi Manga. And this has that down to the T, surely no one was expecting a traditional narrative arc.
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Rosiero
Posts: 116 |
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That's true, but Nagai's original works have dated horribly and really have no place in today's anime lineup unless some serious reworking is done. |
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Brack
 Posts: 281 Location: UK |
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CHU is reworking it. The problem is it's often a mess in what it changes and what it keeps. Part of that problem is the comic is a roller coaster of tone and hard plot turns itself. The biggest one being the section they adapted this week. From here on out, I am guessing they are going to rely on mostly original material, as after the school attack it pretty much turns into a sillier comic that ended quickly. Though I thought they would never adapt the statue scene, so who knows? |
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Mosaic
 Posts: 75 |
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I'm surprised how many people liked this week's episode. It was a poor adaptation of the events in the manga. It was unclear for nearly half the episode that the students were actually killed. Artistic censorship, or just bad direction?
How did Honey not immediately recognize Panther Claw's blimps, and why did she not even try to do anything? Did she forget PCIS was a thing? Everything made more sense in the manga, and the original TV series in regards to the school attack. |
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palom
 Posts: 23 |
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In fact, I think was better than the manga, just removing the gore element. I think was clear for everyone that they were killing students since you saw them on the walls, trees and being incinerated or receiving bomb impacts.
>How did Honey not immediately recognize Panther Claw's blimps She wasn't looking out the window, Natsuki was the first to see that, but she didn't recognize them. When the second bomb explodes, Honey look through the window and realizes what is happening. >and why did she not even try to do anything? What? The moment she realizes what is happening, she gives a signal to evacuate the school. >Did she forget PCIS was a thing? Honey's school is totally isolated in the mountains,I don't think they would have arrived on time. Also, a surprise terrorist attack isn't time to think clearly. |
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Mosaic
Posts: 75 |
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Her name is Natsuko, not Natsuki.
No it wasn't. Until you see Naoko's friends getting obliterated, it's totally unclear. Seeing them trapped in walls, and trees reminded me of Sirene/Gelmer/Agwel's attack on the Makimura household in Devilman. I figured they were drawing inspiration for that, and merely depicting the students trapped in some sort of space.
PCIS was introduced in this series to assist Honey in combatting Panther Claw. Yet they've done little to nothing. I would buy the whole "didn't have time to think clearly", but Honey had plenty of time to call them. The attack happened in the middle of the day (morning?) and went on until nightfall. Even if they couldn't do anything, the option of calling PCIS for backup should've been explored. Funny how Honey suddenly forgets she has comrades, especially Genet. It just comes off as sloppy writing. The attack makes much more sense in the manga since, it happens in the middle of the night, and Honey's only backup are the Hayami Family. |
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palom
Posts: 23 |
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>Her name is Natsuko, not Natsuki.
Lulz, that happened to me because I was playing Umineko xD. >Seeing them trapped in walls, and trees reminded me of Sirene/Gelmer/Agwel's attack on the Makimura household in Devilman. I knew that the scene reminded me of something. >PCIS was introduced in this series to assist Honey in combatting Panther Claw. Yet they've done little to nothing. Yeah, They were not very relevant for now. >The attack happened in the middle of the day (morning?) and went on until nightfall. Now that you mention it, yeah... I think the big problem here is the day/night transition they made. |
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Mosaic
Posts: 75 |
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Who is writing this? Natsuko saw Honey transform twice in previous episodes. The last episode Honey even used her own powers on Natsuko.
This series is a mess. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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This show is at least getting more engaging as time goes on, but I agree that Natsuko being surprised at Honey revealing her powers to her at the end of the episode is a head-scratcher and took me a little bit out of that moment. I’m starting to not find the boy and old man’s attempts at comedy funny at all and I’m hoping that they stop their shtick sooner rather than later. The inconsistencies are concerning and I hope that the staff can at least fix those by the end of the show’s runtime.
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