New Cutey Honey, Vol. 1

Two half-hour episodes feature the recently resurrected cartoon character Cutey Honey, an amazing superheroine who can change into many guises, all of them--for today's audience--requiring full frontal nudity. The format is similar in both episodes: Cutey Honey, a lovelorn teen named Chokkei, and a dirty old geezer called Grandpa team up against one of the city's archvillains and do battle, with Cutey Honey invariably going face to face with a mean supervixen in the animated equivalent of female mud wrestling. Unlike some other so-called "adult" entries, however, Cutey Honey has a fairly good sense of humor and even the sexual ribbing at both genders is mild and tongue-in-cheek. The animation is better than average, and the line-by-line writing often sparkles, but--unfortunately--the formula already seems tired by the second episode. The most interesting part of Cutey Honey is actually after the credits: when the filmmakers hold a press conference, replete with staged battles between costumed actors representing Cutey Honey and other characters--the seriousness is almost surreal. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)