New Cutie Honey

New Cutie Honey (Japanese: 新・キューティーハニー, Hepburn: Shin Kyūtī Hanī, also known as New Super Android Cutey Honey or by the ADV Films title New Cutey Honey) is a 1994 Japanese anime series in the Cutie Honey media franchise created by Go Nagai. Inspired by continued popularity of the original 1973 Cutie Honey television series, and first announced by Toei Video in October 1993, it was the only Cutie Honey anime production to be licensed for distribution in the United States until Discotek Media released the 1973 series on DVD in November 2013. Unlike the original, it was developed as an OVA (original video animation), a type of anime made for home video. The OVAs were released by ADV Films in the US, and have also been sold in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. Set one hundred years after the original, it follows protagonist Honey Kisaragi, along with her friends from the Hayami family, as she fights criminals in the fictional Cosplay City. Honey, a female android, has a device within her that allows her to transform into various personas, or summon weapons and other powers, by shouting "Honey Flash!" The first four episodes contain a complete story in which Honey battles the forces of Dolmeck, a man feared even by other criminals. In later episodes, she defeats other enemies empowered by her returning former nemesis, Panther Zora. The series staff planned to make at least twelve episodes, but it ended with eight in 1995. A 2004 DVD release included a scripted but unfilmed ninth episode—a Christmas story—as a drama CD. New Cutie Honey includes many characters and cameos from or based on prior works by Nagai, such as Mazinger Z and Devilman. It has inspired merchandise of its own, including many scale model kits of Honey. ADV's English language dub of the series features Jessica Calvello, whom Nagai picked for the title role. Critical responses to the series have focused on its production values and voice work, and have explored Honey's transformations—which often tear off her clothes and show her naked body as they occur—in relation to her strong character traits. It has also been compared and contrasted with other anime based on Nagai's works.