Cutie Honey

On the surface, Honey Kisaragi is a pretty normal teenage Catholic schoolgirl who skips class — until her father is murdered by a criminal organization called Panther Claw, and his dying message reveals she's actually an android he built. That's a rough Tuesday. Armed with a device that lets her reshape matter, she can shout 'Honey Flash' and transform into a sword-wielding, red-haired fighter ready to take Panther Claw apart piece by piece. All while somehow keeping up appearances at her all-girls school. This 1973 TV series from Toei Animation is genuinely foundational stuff — Honey predates Sailor Moon by about two decades and helped establish the template for the transforming female hero that's been running through anime ever since. It has the same scrappy, episodic energy as early Kamen Rider, with a dash of Devilman's willingness to go weird. The ecchi elements are from a different era, so adjust expectations accordingly, but the core of the show is a fun, action-forward romp with a protagonist who's charming and capable in equal measure. If you've watched a lot of modern magical girl or tokusatsu-adjacent anime and want to understand where a lot of those ideas actually came from, this is a clean place to start. Twenty-five episodes, light on continuity, easy to pick up.