The first episode is pure visual anarchy directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, all exaggerated proportions and impossible momentum, like someone gave a western cartoonist a budget and told him to break anime's rulebook. It moves so fast and with so much personality that you stop caring the plot is just "girl fights evil organization" stripped to its skeleton. The animation drops in episodes two and three, but that opening thirty minutes proves transformation sequences and fight choreography don't need serious dialogue or complex storytelling to nail you to your chair.

Panther Claw is tearing through Tokyo with impunity, leaving the police scrambling for answers. Whenever the group strikes, a mysterious costumed fighter appears to foil its plans, then vanishes. That vigilante is Honey Kisaragi, an android built by the late Professor Kisaragi, who was killed by Panther Claw. She can reshape her appearance and wardrobe at will. When danger calls for something more direct, a press of the heart-shaped button on her choker turns her into Cutie Honey, a scantily clad, sword-wielding warrior of love and justice. By day she lives a dull life as an ordinary office worker, but avenging her creator drives her fight. Inspector Natsuko Aki, who refuses to accept vigilantes, slowly grows closer to Honey as she comes to understand her motives, while reporter Hayakawa Seiji quietly watches from the sidelines, aware of her secret.