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.

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.

Mayor Light (ライト市長[3], Raito shichō, voiced by Sho Hayami in its original Japanese and Jason Douglas in its English dub) vows to rein in a citywide crime wave and restore peace.

Taeko Yamada and Tamara Lo), a very young-looking red-haired girl who rides naked in a humanoid robot slightly shorter than him[7] and can psychokinetically move objects and people; and Peeping Spider (ピーピングスパイダー[6], v.b.

Hirohiko Kakegawa and Guil Lunde), who wears decorative robotic spider legs and an electronic trinocular scope, and can use stealth technology, see through objects, sense spacetime disturbances, and trap people in strong webs—attack an outdoor meeting of the Mayor and his fellow citizens.

She later confronts the biker gang and Deathstar, another female minion of Dolmeck, and inadvertently regains those abilities and lost memories before defeating the group.

Rica Matsumoto and David Nance), who has a crush on Honey and wishes to become like Mayor Light; and Chokkei's parents, who themselves attempted to rob a city bank in the first episode.

Rica Fukami and Tiffany Grant) is a self-proclaimed expert thief who can summon increased strength when her son is in danger, and a descendant of Seiji Hayami from the original TV series.

He kidnaps Chokkei and sends him to Dolmeck's airship, and Honey and the rest of the Hayamis fly there to rescue him; they fight Peeping Spider, defeat Black Maiden, and attack a large structure in the ship along the way.

After the entire Hayami family escapes the ship with Danbei's jet pack, Honey emerges alive from within a falling rock.

Chokkei has grown older and fond of Honey, and the Hayamis remain with her to fight off antagonists who transform and gain their power through direct influence by Zora.

[23] OVAs are known for their higher quality than anime television series, and Toei felt the new Honey was especially high-quality because (according to them) each episode used ten thousand cels, three times the usual number.

[26] Its English dub, made by ADV Films in 1998, features Jessica Calvello, who was hand-picked by Nagai to perform the voice of Honey.

[34] Cutie Honey's skin-tight, full-body costume uses the same design and tricolor (blue, black, and red) scheme as that of Nagai's original manga, but its chest opening—with rounded side edges—resembles the one in her 1973 anime attire.

[35] The opening sequence used in the first four episodes shows versions of Honey's original seven forms in the TV series: Kisaragi, Hurricane, Misty, Idol, Flash, Fancy, and Cutie.

[26] ADV reissued the series on two DVD collections in November and December 2000,[51][52] as a single two-disc Essential Anime edition on May 25, 2004,[53] and on a three-DVD bundle with the Kekkō Kamen OVA in April 2008.

[61] By then, ADV had divested many of their assets: the company transferred licenses to Honey and other works to AEsir Holdings, their home video distribution arm to Section23 Films, and Anime Network to Valkyrie Media Partners on June 1 that year.

The New Cutey Honey Perfect Guide, an art book with character descriptions, interviews, and detailed summaries of the first two episodes, was released by Keibunsha on May 19, 1994.

[79] The two books contain information on other series-based merchandise, such as Honey-themed telephone cards, posters, T-shirts, a 1/6 scale model kit of Honey by Noriyasu Tsushima, pencil boards, production materials, and a carrying case.

"Angel's holiday"), was released on VHS and Laserdisc on November 21, 1994; it includes 30 minutes of selected scenes from the first four episodes and appearances by Nagai, Nagaoka, Neya, Matsumoto, and Fukami.

[86] Three 1/5.5 scale Honey kits that depict her diving suit (from the sixth episode), tennis outfit (from the English-language title sequence), and Kisaragi form were created by Kurushima and released between late 2002 and early 2004.

[52] Two reviews of Honey on the website Anime Jump greatly diverged: site maintainer Mike Toole rated the series 3.5 out of 5 stars and called it "tons of fun, a light, tasty action-comedy that's ... spirited and silly and tongue-in-cheek", and praised its character designs as "letter-perfect to Go Nagai's original (quite appealing!)

character designs";[64] Jason Carter praised Calvello's voice work in his review of the 2004 ADV release, but rated it 1.5 out of 5 stars, said that much of Cosplay City "goes back and forth between looking like an ordinary modern metropolis and resembling some sort of Smurf town built of polluted marshmallows", and concluded "The characters are largely annoying, the plot is hackneyed, the nudity is absurd, the fighting is rarely more than average, and the whole thing is ultimately pointless – as the series' later attempts at developing Honey as a person make all too clear.

"[91] Reviewers have noticed Go Nagai's influence on New Cutie Honey; several considered it among the best anime based on his works, while others preferred different series.

Dozier said that Nagai is "recognized in the anime world as an influential artist and storyteller who is known for preferring extra helpings of nudity and violence in his work", and that such influence "definitely comes through" in the series.

[93] Beveridge says he greatly preferred Honey over other Nagai offerings, but that "it really doesn't rise up too much higher than thinly veiled fan service with something of a story".

[51] Scott Green of Ain't It Cool News praised "Nagai's tasteless sense of strangeness" as the series' "highpoint", saying its "bright American style superhero design, with kaleidoscopic oddity, humorously gratuitous nudity and violence" make it "amusing nonsense".

[94] In his negative review, Carter said the Devilman-based Devil Lady was a more entertaining anime with a similar "impressively built woman fighting monsters" premise.

She wrote that "the presumably male viewer is invited in, to participate in the unclothing and clothing of her nude body, while both male and female viewer alike are allowed the vicarious participation in the ecstatic transformation process", but quickly added: "Despite the regressive and voyeuristic aspects of her characterization, she is still clearly the film's hero, one worthy of admiration and emulation ... in the film's several violent scenes she more than holds her own.

"[97] Dozier did not share that sentiment: she said "Honey does have some appeal as a fighter and as someone who cares very much about the people who are important to her, but her android past and her family life aren't explored too deeply—mostly, she's too busy getting into compromising situations and fighting evil.