#Hayami Danbei

[cuteybunny]

Evolution of Honey and the Hayami Family

1973/Shin/Flash/Universe

[slimegirl-scientist]

Cutie Honey is a difficult franchise to love.

this probably does not come as a surprise to anyone at all familiar with Go Nagai’s work.

he writes about his passions: boobs, violence, and the mechanical. notice how nowhere in there did I mention “women.” Cutie Honey is one of the first magical girl properties out there, but reading the original makes it very clear that Go Nagai wanted an excuse to write about a catholic high school student who was frequently naked more than anything else. the original run also has an incredibly gross lesbian stereotype, even if it does feature Sister Jill explicitly having a crush on Honey. Aki Natsuko, Honey's recurring best friend, does not survive the manga either. all of the men in Cutie Honey (Danbei, his son Junpei, and Seiji Hayami) exist to objectify and sexually harass Honey, no matter what form. it’s a mess.

I’ve specifically been watching Cutie Honey Flash as of late. Flash took over Sailor Moon’s time slot and a lot of its animation staff after Sailor Stars ended and you can tell. it’s stylish, it’s gorgeous, and it’s hand animated. that’s not where my problems lie with it. watching early Sailor Moon makes me think the show is more about Tuxedo Mask saving Usagi from her own incompetence more than Sailor Moon learning how to use her powers. this isn't to say that women cannot be bad at things, more that it feels the show centers him during fights more than her because he's usually the one to end them. Cutie Honey Flash takes this up to 11. not only does Seiji show up most of the time, there's also the Twilight Prince who bestows knowledge on Honey as well as her father who appears at the end of a story arc to basically say "you haven't suffered enough and we need another 15-20 episodes. peace." it's very frustrating to have a show about such a capable character undermined by centering it around a bunch of men.

Flash was very much made to carry the Sailor Moon torch. those brave bastards at Toei thought they could sanitize Cutie Honey enough for that specific audience and I applaud their efforts. it didn't really work. what they did succeed at is making the show incredibly straight. Seiji is less of a creep in this version, but he's billed as a "young adult" who has a job as an investigative journalist who just… hangs out around a high school? kinda rubs me the wrong way as Honey is 16 in high school (at least in the original). you're expected to ship Honey and Seiji as early as episode 3 where Honey is defending wedding dresses from Panther Claw operatives and appears to be excited by getting straight married with him. the climax of the series is a confession of love between the two in episode 37.

by far the most frustrating part of Flash has been the second arc. after 13.9 episodes of straight hell, the show teases a new character (because long time antagonist Sister Jill has just died). you don't get to see her until the next episode. said episode, "The Entrance of a Mysterious Warrior! Prelude to A New Destiny," episode 14, is some of the gayest shit I've ever seen. I cannot accurately describe my reaction to seeing this episode after assuming (correctly) that the series would be terminally straight. Seira Hazuki, or Misty Honey, is introduced as a foil to the Honey Kisaragi we know and love. she is incredible. instead of having a heart choker, she has a gemstone on a thigh strap and pulls up her already very short skirt before transforming. she wins a rapier duel against Honey Kisaragi and again against Cutie Honey. Cutie Honey with a blade held to her chin on the ground is not something I will soon forget. her lavender hair (and blue while transformed) contrasts Honey's perfectly.

Seira is sadistic, angry, full of hatred, manipulative, sensual, just generally the best thing ever. she and Honey share an origin in that they're both artificial humans created by Honey's dad. Seira makes this known very clearly. she spends all of episode 14 besting Honey in everything while adoringly referring to her as "onee-sama." this is the first time in the entire show that I remember Honey blushing so much. she spends half of episode 16 beating the shit out of Honey with tennis balls. she cannot transform into different disguises as Honey can, but Misty Honey is noticeably stronger than Cutie Honey and has a different finisher move. Cutie Honey's "Honey Lightning Flare" has nothing on Misty's "Honey Sexy Dynamite," which zooms in on her lips as she whispers "sexy." it's fantastic.

but she's a queercoded villain. her personality is described as being a byproduct of being raised by Panther Claw, quote "with no love given to her." love a good homophobic trope, especially on the character constantly spouting a yuri calling card. as much as I adore her, she is the only character who really says "onee-sama" on the regular. and, of course, she dies. her death acts as a power up for Honey because she also has an Atmospheric Condenser or whatever the show calls the magic choker. the ultimate show of spite for me specifically is that the last episode of Cutie Honey Flash is a 3-year time skip. Honey and Seiji are about to be married. their child is named Seira Hazuki. women should not be made to be mothers like this. the show made my favorite character a symbol of cishet normativity. I will be mad forever.

it feels like this idea should be a slam dunk. Cutie Honey at its core is about a woman who is a bit of a trickster, is talented with a sword, and has to learn how to love and survive after dying and being remade as an android. something about women made to be weapons learning how to be human resonates with me as a trans woman. she and Aki Natsuko are frequently shown as joined at the hip, Sister Jill has an undeniable crush on her, and Seira Hazuki exists. there's more than enough legroom to write a sapphic and trans version of this story without having to change much of anything. unfortunately, Go Nagai cannot be trusted with any of the intellectual properties he creates. the men in the series feel like they exist to rob Honey of agency and reduce her to eye candy.

if you’re at all interested in Cutie Honey, just watch Re: and the self-titled live action. Hideaki Anno knows what he’s doing and I believe he believes these girls are gay. Cutie Honey a Go-Go is also fun and has a similar flavor but will forever be unfinished.

[retrosofa]

This week let's take a look Cutie Honey episode two: "Night of the Fire Peony, Dance of Swords."

Screenwriter: Masaki Tsuji

Art Director: Eiji Ito

Animation Director: Masamune Ochiai

Director: Hiroshi Shidara

The museum featured at the beginning of the episode is supposed to be the real life National Museum of Western Art. You can see Rodin's The Thinker as well as The Gates of Hell.

The artist of the ill-fated sculpture in this episode is “Pecasso,” a thinly-veiled play on the real-life artist Pablo Picasso. Although he’s best known for his paintings, the real-life Picasso did in fact create sculptures as well. However, the sculpture featured here appears to be fictional.

If you look very closely during Sister Jill’s oration, you can spot Akira Fudo from Devilman in the crowd. There’s also a girl who looks like a incorrectly colored version of his girlfriend, Miki Makimura, that appears as well.  The animation director for this episode, Masamune Ochiai, previously worked on the Devilman TV series.

The staff for this episode had a lot of fun with inside jokes. The name of the hospital Seiji is admitted to is called “Yabuhebi Hospital.” Yabu hebi is the abbreviation of the saying yabu wo tsutsuite hebi wo dasu or “poke a bush and a snake comes out.” An English equivalent would be something like “let sleeping dogs lie.” 

Later, Honey brings Fire Claw to the "Ichiryu Hotel." Ichiryu means first-class, top-ranking, etc. Basically saying it’s one super swanky hotel.

This episode marks the animated debut of the Hayami patriarch, Danbei Hayami. Like Junpei, Danbei is a character recycled from Go Nagai’s Abashiri Family manga. In the Abashiri manga, he was known as Daemon Abashiri, father to Kikunosuke, Goemon, Naojiro and Kichiza. It was originally producer Toshio Katsuta’s idea to incorporate Daemon and other elements from The Abashiri Family into Cutie Honey. He would later include Daemon and Kichiza in UFO Robot Grendizer as Danbei Makiba and Goro Makiba.

Danbei is said to have been born during the Meiji era, which was between 1868 and 1912. Realistically, he would’ve been born towards the end, which would make him around 62 years old during the series.

Danbei was voiced by the late Kosei Tomita, who would go on to voice Danbei/Daemon in UFO Robo Grendizer, The Abashiri Family, New Cutey Honey and finally, Cutie Honey Universe.

[love-moonrise]

[selketshaula]

Shin Cutie Honey (1994)

[amicus19]

This guy is so fun to watch and he's one of the funniest characters in Shin Cutey Honey.

[hotwaterandmilk]

The Cutey Honey Flash cast team up for tarot cards The Magician (featuring Honey), The Tower, and Judgement. Illustrations provided by series mangaka, Iisaka Yukako. These cards were scanned from my copy of the October 1997 Ciao furoku tarot card deck.

[pervyking]

Konogoro hayari no onna no ko Oshiri no chiisa na onna no ko Kocchi wo muite yo HANII Datte nandaka Datte datte nanda mon Onegai onegai kizutsukenai de Watashi no HAATO wa CHUKUCHUKU shichau no IYA yo IYA yo IYA yo mitsumecha IYAA HONEY FLASH!

[fuckyeahbathscenes]

From Cutie Honey episode 13 (1974)

[demifiendrsa]

Cutie Honey Universe reveals Junpei Hayami, Danbei Hayami, Alphonse, Pochi, Miharu Tsunen, and Naoko Sukeban.

Junpei Hayami (voiced by Yuka Terasaki)

Danbei Hayami (voiced by Kousei Tomita)

Alphonse (voiced by Minoru Shiraishi)

Pochi (voiced by Ryou Naitou)

Miharu Tsunen (voiced by Yuu Kobayashi)

Naoko Sukeban (voiced by Romi Park).

[franco-ikari]

CUTIE HONEY: A série com o maior número de reimaginações em suas adaptações

Seguindo uma série de posts sobre a franquia Cutie Honey irei começar com as suas primeiras adaptações, o anime de 73 d ox OVAs de 94 aue continuam sua história. Crisdz por Ho Nagai Cutie Honey é um mangá Shonen do gênero ecchi sendo seu precursor,no entanto hoje rm dia ele é considerado um Mahou Shoujo e o primeiro a ter uma super heroína lutando contra vilões. O mangá original que saiu aqui prla New Pop é bem ruinzinho e difícil recomendar e tudo porque apesar de Nagsi ser um autor importante que trouxe a primeira Mahou Shoujo heroína e o primeiro robô pilotado por um humano era 7m autor que gostava de ser polêmico e controverso tslvez peka rigidez das editoras de mangá ds época, o fato ê que Cutie Honey possui um humor bizarro e de extremo mau gosto como colocar personagens caricatos e bizarros fazendo coisas indecentes,eu não sei se ele acha engraçado mas é be incômodo na leitura. Felizmente as suas inúmeras adaptações tanto em anime quanto Live Action nos livram disso e são infinitamente melhores que o original, coisa bem rara. Então vamos fsr uma olhada em cada uma delas

O primeiro anime de 1973

Produzido pela Toei Animation praticamente junto do mangá a Toei fez algo que muitos que muitos que viram Saint Seiya e Sailor Moon vão familiarizar: uma adaptação toda diferente da original onde os produtores eliminam os elementos polêmicos ou estranhos da obra e a deixam mais comercializâvel e atraente. Honey manteve apenas o fanservice e a história base. Apesar do mangá explicar melhor sobre a Honey e o dispositivo Solidificador de Ar que gera seus poderes o anime é mais agradável de assistir. Ele tem um formato similar aos Kamen Riders da época com o monstro ds semana e um plano inimigo diferente. O pai de Honey e sua amiga Natsuko tem designs diferentes do mangá. No anime a Phanter Claw quer roubar o dispositivo Solidificador de Ar criado pelo professor Kisaragi e o matam. Este está na androide que criou Honey que usa pra se disfarçar e lutar como Cutie Honey. Com ajura da família Hayami com o patrisrca Danbei,o mais velho jornalista Seiji e o mais novo Jumpei, Honey luta pelos próximos 25 episódios. Na metade da série a amiga de Honey Natsuko morre durante ataque onde a escola onde viviam é destruída. A personagem aparece menos que no mangá mas ainda sim é bem triste até. A série é simples como a época pedia e bem datada mas artisticamente tem seu mérito com uma ambientação bem criativa nas cores e cenários. Foi esse anime que fez a ovra famosa inclusive servindo de inspiração em outras como Sailor V de Naoko onde Minako usa transformações e a apresentação que Honey só usa no anime. Utena também vebe muito dessa fonte e s partir daqui os Mahou Shoujo mudariam drasticamente . Pense em Cutie Honey como o Hokuto no Ken do Mahou Shoujo e Sailor Moon o Dragon Ball pra entender sua importância histórica

[cuteybunny]

Members of the Hayami Family

[retrosofa]

After I finished Mahou no Mako-chan, I decided I wanted to re-watch some other magical girls shows I haven't seen in awhile. Last weekend I started watching Mahoutsukai Chappy or "Chappy The Witch." I haven't seen it in 10 years and honestly, I barely remember anything about it. Chappy is more or less a ripoff updated retelling of Mahoutsukai Sally.

Chappy and her family live in the magic kingdom. During a royal banquet she decides to flee to the human world with her younger brother, Jun. Her mother, father and "pet" Don soon follow, and thus their adventures in the human world begin.

Chappy is the third majokko series Toei Animation produced, following Mahoutsukai Sally, Himitsu no Akko-chan, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan. While Mahoutsukai Sally and Himitsu-chan no Akko were both extremely successful series, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan were not. Mako made decent ratings but definitely never came close to Sally or Akko's success. The series also failed to keep consistent ratings, which gradually dropped throughout it's 48 episode run. Ecchan tanked in the ratings, which resulted in it ending with a mere 26 episodes. Frantic to get another winner on their hands, Toei Animation decided to make their first "original" magical girl, combining elements from their previous series. Like Sally, Chappy was a witch from another realm. Like Akko and Mako, she had a magical item. Like Ecchan, she had a "pet mascot." The end result exceeded their expectations. Apparently Chappy was only planned for 26 episodes but got extended to 39.

The first episode, "Here Comes the Magical Family," was written by Masaki Tsuji, directed by Yugo Serikawa, and featured animation direction by Shinya Takahashi. These three men previously worked on Akko, Mako, and Ecchan. The first episode does a pretty good setting the tone of the series. There is quite a lot of Disney influences sprinkled around, namely Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. In the magic kingdom, Chappy dresses very similarly to Maleficent. Her father conjures a spell to turn a mouse and pumpkin into a horse and carriage. There's a scene where Chappy's brother and their grandfather have a magical battle that's reminiscent of Flora and Merryweather fighting over Aurora's dress color, etc.

The scenes in the magic kingdom are a lot of fun. They're pretty spooky and the denizen depicted are all eccentric and otherworldly. If you look closely you can see one of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, and there's also a demonic character aptly named "Satan King." When Chappy arrives to the human city, things are not as she had hoped for, evoking the social commentary we previously saw in Mako. As with the other series, Chappy and her family must keep their true identities a secret. There's a darker twist this time, as they fear being burned at stake.

I just re-watched the first two episodes, which were both pretty fun. Some of the darker aspects took me off guard - like the paranoia about witch burnings, as well as a scene where a biker thug attempts to assault Chappy's mother. It's not a graphic scene at all but the implication is very clear.

The animation quality is a little rocky, even for an older series. This series was produced in 1972 which was around the time of the Toei Animation Lock Down, so maybe that's why? If I remember correctly, the series has a lot of ups and downs in the animation department. Some episodes look fantastic while others are downright horrendous.

Oh, something I found very amusing: most of the cast would go on to star in Cutie Honey. Check it out:

Chappy: Eiko Masuyama (Honey Kisaragi)

Chappy's mother, Shizuko: Noriko Watanabe (Sister Jill, Mami)

Chappy's father: Koji Yada (Additional voices)

Jun: Sachiko Chijimatsu (Twin Panther)

Don, Chappy's grandpa: Kosei Tomita (Danbei Hayami)

Obaba: Nobuyo Tsuda (Panther Zora, Ms. Miharu)

Ippei: Masako Nozawa (Scorpion Panther)

The fact Eiko Masuyama and Noriko Watanabe play daughter and mother in one series and mortal enemies in another is so freakin' hilarious.

Anyways, I'll post more after I watch the first 13 episodes.

[hotwaterandmilk]

I’ve brought a few things out of storage over the holidays, including this epic Cutey Honey Flash cel I was given many years ago by a kind and generous friend. I’m not much of a cel collector so I think this is still the most impressive one I own (of the half dozen I have lol). It’s very hard to get a decent shot of it because of the size but yeah, Honey & pals all look amazing and I’m so glad I brought it out of storage~.

[animegadaisukiidesu]

[love-moonrise]