Sukeban Deka


Sukeban Deka is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Shinji Wada and serialized on Hana to Yume. Sukeban Deka has been adapted into three live-action television series, an original video animation series and three feature films, the latest of which was released in 2006 as Yo-Yo Girl Cop.

Plot

A 16 year old delinquent schoolgirl named Saki Asamiya is offered by the police to become an undercover detective to escape prison. She initially refuses, so the police blackmail her by offering to pardon her mother, who is on death row for killing her husband, eventually forcing her to accept. Put under the tutelage of officer Kyouichiro Jin, she is given a metal yo-yo that doubled as a weapon as well as a police badge and made to infiltrate high schools around Japan to investigate and stop criminal activities. Her first destination is her very former school, Takanoha High School, where Saki's place has been taken by the three Mizuchi sisters and their ring of illegal activities.

Characters

;Saki Asamiya
;Kyoichiro Jin
;Dark Director
;Sanpei Nowaki
;Junko Yuina
;Agura
;Chie
;Kaoru
;Mio Kaido
;Hikuidori
;Gozo Mizuchi
;Emi Mizuchi
;Ayumi Mizuchi
;Remi Mizuchi
;The Elite Four
;Ayumi's Followers
;Remi's Followers
;Blue Wolf League

Publication

The creation of Sukeban Deka was the result of a misunderstanding between the author Shinji Wada and the editors at Hakusensha. Wada was developing a highschool drama, but the publisher expected detective story starring a high school student. At an impasse, Wada decided to combine the two concepts. Wada first published a pilot chapter titled "Kōsha wa Moete Iruka?" in Hana to Yume magazine on August 5, 1975. Later, Sukeban Deka became a serial, starting from January 5, 1976, on the same magazine. Disappointed by the fact he could never end a complete serial before, Wada planned earlier in production a dramatic final scene in which the protagonist would die. The last chapter of this original planning was serialized on December 20, 1977, and was followed by an epilogue on January 20, 1978.
Following Sukeban Dekas conclusion, Wada started a new serial, Pygmalio, on March 20, 1978. However, after one year of serialization, the series was poor received by readers, and Wada stopped it to restart Sukeban Deka. Wada dubbed it as "part 2", and Sukeban Deka resumed on February 5, 1979 announced as a "new series". The manga ran regularly on Hana to Yume until its December 5, 1982 issue.
Since the original serialization, Sukeban Deka has been printed into four different collected editions; the original tankōbon publication started on April 20, 1976, and ended on April 25, 1983. Hakusensha released a six-volume aizōban edition between March 3, 1987, and April 29, 1987, and a twelve-volume bunkoban edition between March 23, 1995, and June 21, 1995. The last reprint was done by Media Factory, who acquired the rights from Hakusensha to publish a spin-off series, Sukeban Deka If. This alternate story was published into a single tankōbon on June 23, 2004. Following it, Media Factory published twelve collected volumes between August 23, 2004, and July 23, 2005.

Adaptations

Television series

The television series, though technically one series made up of three seasons, are essentially self-contained and separate, aside from sharing the same basic themes and premise, and starring popular Japanese idol singers in the main roles, each one replacing the previous as the new Asamiya Saki, taking on her cover identity and yo-yo weapon.
Sukeban Deka, the first series from 1985, starred Yuki Saito as the titular character Asamiya Saki. Saito's own song Shiroi Honō was used as the theme song. Lasting 24 episodes, the series adapted the first part of the manga and was relatively faithful to it, only changing minor points, though it deviated more towards its conclusion. Unlike the manga, where Saki died at the end of a late arc unrelated to the Miuchi sisters, the series produced an early ending in which Saki seemingly died in a burning building along with her enemy Remi Mizuchi.
The popularity of the first series allowed it to be followed up by Sukeban Deka II: The Legend of the Girl In The Iron Mask in November 1985. This sequel starred Yoko Minamino, as Saito chose not to return in order to focus in her singing career. In accordance, although the series did base most of its storylines in the second part of the manga, Minamino portrayed an original character named Yoko Godai, a mysterious girl from Kansai forced to wear iron masks for most of her childhood. Yoko was liberated from the mask by a police agent named Nishiwaki that offered her a place in the Sukeban Deka program, and she accepted in exchange for help to find her disappeared dad. In the process, Yoko would be given the name of her presumably dead predecessor, Saki Asamiya, and a similar yo-yo weapon.
Sukeban Deka II contained connections to the first series, as Hiroyuki Nagato returned periodically to his role as the Dark Director, while Nishiwaki was revealed to be a former coworker of Kyoichiro Jin. However, in a departure from both the first series and manga, where Saki worked alone most of the time, Sukeban Deka II added two sidekicks for the main character: Yukino Yajima, the refined heiress of a rich family from Kyoto who was also a Japanese martial arts expert, and Kyoko "Marble Okyo" Nakamura, a street-wise Osaka native who excelled at street fighting and the usage of marbles as weapons. Despite those changes, the series actually surpassed the first in popularity, lasting 42 episodes and bringing the possibility of a third installment.
After the closure of the second season, Toei conceived an independent spin-off named Sukeban Ninpucho to air before Sukeban Deka III. It would be based around ninjas, taking inspiration from Sho Kosugi's ninja cinema and Shinji Wada's own manga Ninja Flight, as well as from Star Wars. However, early into production it was decided to merge both Ninpucho and III into a single series. The result was the official third season, Sukeban Deka III: Ninja Girl Romance. Launched in October 1986, it starred Yui Asaka as another original character after Minamino declined to return. Yui Kazama, a country girl from Kyushu who was recruited by the Dark Director and given the role of the third Saki Asamiya.
In the story, Yui was sent to Tokyo to meet up with her long lost sisters, Yuka and Yuma, and they inherited the family's ninja art in order to solve the menace of a psychic terrorist known as the Emperor. Now turned into a trio of kunoichi, they would battle the villain and his army, helped by their mentor Kazuya Yoda and the agents Reia Kido and Obiwan Osho. At the end, it would be discovered that the Emperor was the father of the sisters and that Yui had a brainwashed twin sister. Yui herself rarely used the Saki Asamiya moniker and showed a very different personality compared to Saki and Yoko, and the series was more focused in fantasy than serious urban crime drama.
Despite a strong premiere and an ambitious length of 42 episodes scheduled in advance, Sukeban Deka III rapidly lost its momentum and didn't do well. During its airing the first feature movie of the franchise was released, Sukeban Deka The Movie, which acted as a crossover between II and III, but it didn't help the franchise to recover its success. Ninja Girl Romance had its last episode on October 1987, and it was only followed by the feature film , which featured the characters in a more traditional plot and gave conclusion to their series.

Feature films

Two feature films of the TV series were made, followed by a sequel 18 years later.
Released in 1991, it follows closely the events of the first volumes of the manga. It is drawn in the style of the manga, particularly the character designs. One such example is the style of the Mizuchi sisters eyes, an example being Reimi Mizuchi, whose eyes would often shift to show off a more villainous appearance, or would narrow like a snake's.
Saki Asamiya is given a chance to delay her mother's execution by working as an undercover cop and infiltrating Takanoha High School to investigate some mysterious deaths among the student body. Once there, she comes face-to-face with the powerful Mizuchi sisters, who moved in and have taken control after her previous expulsion.

Reception

The original manga has been described as a "massively popular gang girl series", and has sold over 20 million copies in Japan. Erica Friedman of Yuricon classified it as "one of the three classic girl-gang series" along with Hana no Asuka-gumi and Yajikita Gakuen Dōchūki. Moreover, Friedman said Sukeban Deka influenced both and is "the origin of the whole girl-gang madness that filled the 1980s". She also stated the series paved the way for series such as Revolutionary Girl Utena and PreCure. The series' popularity has proven to be longstanding as the TV drama's DVD rerelease sold 130,000 copies in 2005, which prompted Toei to produce the third live-action film. By 2013, it still affected popular culture with the TV drama ending inspiring Kill la Kill anime ending.
Regarding the content, Friedman commented on the atypical level of violence and sex for a shōjo manga. She also noted the mix of shōnen and shōjo art style, and concluded that it is a shōjo that can appeal for the shōnen public. Carlos Ross writing for THEM Anime Reviews about the OVA stated that Sukeban Deka "is Asian action drama faithfully translated into the cel medium, and done well, to boot." Chris Beveridge, writing for Mania Entertainment, felt the OVA was "a middle of the road release". Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies states that the characters "are nicely drawn", the blossoming relationship between Saki and Sanpei "is handled convincingly", and that "teenagers will relate to the story's themes of betrayal, powerlessness, and being an outsider". Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy's The Anime Encyclopedia description of the series said it had an "essential silliness", although it is an "entertaining one-joke knockabout".