Cutie Honey Universe was neither. It looks fine with some occasional very interesting visuals (such as in Episode 6) undercut by some quite rough moments. Music was also fine. I quite like the new theme actually but that the original theme is missing is a slightly disappointing. Some of the action and fight sequences were also genuinely quite good. Not great but not terrible either.
Any flaws I felt with the visual and audio presentation however were minor compared to the problems I had with the overall tone, plot & characters. The story had difficulty maintaining anything asides from negative momentum, slipping and sliding to its eventual sad misguided conclusion. The 'fanservice' and 'comedy' moments, standard Go Nagai tropes, were not well used and only served to bring any story momentum to a screeching halt. Too many characterizations were illogical, insubstantial and ultimately infuriating.
Ultimately anything good that Cutie Honey Universe achieves is really undermined by bad writing and misguided direction. Not recommended.
