Cutie Honey (2004)

Cutie Honey (2004) is the kind of superhero movie that remembers the point of dressing up: to have fun, to look fabulous doing it, and to turn a night at the movies into a burst of pop-art adrenaline. Hideaki Anno leans into comic-book exaggeration with a wink and a grin, staging Tokyo as a neon playground where transformations are spectacle, action is punchy, and the whole thing moves with giddy, contagious energy. Eriko Sato makes Honey irresistibly watchable—confident, playful, and charismatic enough to sell both the camp and the heart without ever begging you to take it “seriously.” If you want grounded realism, this isn’t your stop, but if you’re in the mood for a bright, cheeky, high-spirited action romp that knows exactly what it is, it’s a blast.

Cutie Honey (2004) is Hideaki Anno cutting loose with a loud, candy-colored tokusatsu love letter that wants to be equal parts superhero action, cheeky comedy, and knowingly trashy pop art. If you’re expecting sleek fight choreography or modern VFX polish, you’ll probably be wincing a lot—the CGI and matte work can look downright crude, and the whole thing leans hard into kitsch that some viewers will find more embarrassing than charming. The performances are pitched to match the cartoonish tone, which means “broad” is the default setting and subtlety isn’t invited. Still, if you can meet it on its own terms—as a hyper-stylized, campy romp with a game lead and some fun transformation energy—it can be a goofy good time rather than a serious action film.