Sukeban Deka
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Sukeban Deka | |
スケバン刑事 | |
---|---|
Genre | Action, Detective fiction |
Manga | |
Written by | Shinji Wada |
Published by | Hakusensha (original) Media Factory (republished) |
Magazine | Hana to Yume |
Demographic | Shōjo |
Original run | January 1976 – December 1982 |
Volumes | 22 (original) 12 (republished) |
Anime | |
Directed by | Tarō Sakamoto, Hideo Tanaka, Michio Konishi, Morio Maejima |
Written by | Noboru Sugimura, Tokio Tsuchiya, Akira Umino, Umihiko Tōno, Ichirō Yamanaka, Izō Hashimoto |
Studio | Toei |
Released | April 11, 1985 – October 30, 1985 |
Anime | |
Sukeban Deka II: Shōjo Tekkamen Densetsu | |
Directed by | Hideo Tanaka, Toshio Ōi, Tarō Sakamoto, Morio Maejima |
Written by | Tokio Tsuchiya, Izō Hashimoto, Noboru Sugimura, Hiroshi Toda, Ichirō Yamanaka |
Studio | Toei |
Released | November 7, 1985 – October 23, 1986 |
Anime | |
Sukeban Deka 3: Shōjo Ninpōjō Denki | |
Directed by | Hideo Tanaka, Toshio Ōi, Tarō Sakamoto, Morio Maejima |
Written by | Tokio Tsuchiya, Izō Hashimoto, Masayoshi Azuma, Junki Takegami, Kazuhiko Gōdo |
Studio | Toei |
Released | October 30, 1986 – October 29, 1987 |
Anime | |
Sukeban Deka: The Movie | |
Directed by | Hideo Tanaka |
Written by | Izō Hashimoto, Tokio Tsuchiya |
Music by | Ichirō Nitta |
Studio | Toei |
Released | February 14, 1987 |
Anime | |
Sukeban Deka: Counter-Attack from the Kazama Sisters | |
Directed by | Hideo Tanaka |
Written by | Izō Hashimoto |
Music by | Ichirō Nitta |
Studio | Toei |
Released | February 11, 1988 |
Anime | |
Directed by | Hirota Takeshi |
Written by | Hirota Takeshi |
Studio | Toei |
Released | 1991 |
Anime | |
Yo-Yo Girl Cop (Sukeban Deka: Codename = Saki Asamiya) | |
Directed by | Kenta Fukasaku |
Written by | Shōichi Maruyama |
Music by | Gorō Yasukawa |
Studio | Toei |
Released | September 30, 2006 |
Sukeban Deka (スケバン刑事, trans. Delinquent Girl Detective) is a manga series written and illustrated by Shinji Wada.
The series follows a delinquent schoolgirl ("sukeban") who is taken in by the government and forced to fight crime to redeem herself. Using a metal yo-yo that doubled as a Badge, she would infiltrate high schools and investigate strange happenings.
Sukeban Deka has been adapted into three live-action television series, an original video animation series and three feature films, the latest of which released in 2006 as Yo-Yo Girl Cop.
Plot
The series follows a delinquent schoolgirl who is taken in by the government and forced to fight crime to redeem herself. She is given the codename "Saki Asamiya" and a metal yo-yo that doubled as a badge and made to infiltrate high schools around Japan to investigate and stop the criminal activities.
Manga Characters
- Saki Asamiya
The bitter heroine of the story. Saki is a natural born fighter who enjoys getting into scuffles with various people. She never backs down and is very stubborn.
- Agura
Saki's rival in prison. Agura is a tough, masculine looking woman who dislikes Saki at first but then begins to respect her.
- Chi
Saki's kind friend in prison.
- Kaoru
Saki's hyper friend whom is also very vulnerable and ends up being attacked a lot by the other girls in the prison. To help Saki escape from prison, she ends up seducing the prison warden who is a lesbian.
- Mio
Jin's partner
- Hikudori
A scheming, sly cell mate of Saki's. She has a mole under one eye. Hikudori becomes friends with Saki at first but then betrays her and turns out to be an informant of Remi's.
Characters whom appeared in both the anime and manga
- Saki Asamiya
The main heroine.
- Junko
Saki's best friend. A shy, quiet girl, Junko is a talented artist and she is seen as a threat by Emi Mizuchi who vows to sabotage her.
- Gozo Mizuchi
The patriach of the antagonist Mizuchi crime family.
- Remi Mizuchi
The eldest daughter, a beautiful blonde who is completely ruthless and sociopathic. When Remi first arrives at the high school, many of the students admire her because of her striking beauty. However, throughout the entire Sukeban Deka manga series, Remi serves as a deadly antagonist to Saki.
- Ayumi Mizuchi
The dark haired middle child of the Mizuchi family. She has four hulking bodyguards who follow her around for protection. Ayumi is a drug addict and dealer, and is extremely greedy. However, she is the least evil out of the Mizuchi sisters. Despite her cold demeanor, she is loyal to her father and sisters.
- Emi Mizuchi
The youngest sister who is a artist. However, Emi often plagarizes her work from other artists, despite her inflated ego and megalomania. Emi steals Junko's work and copies from it to win an art contest.
- Sampei
Saki's ardent admirer who follows her all over the school campus.
- Jin
Saki's mentor
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.
Sukeban Deka was published from January 1976 to December 1982, making Shinji Wada a popular manga artist during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The manga had contributed to the creation of the Sukeban Deka series before it faded into obscurity for a short time from the late 1990s to 2006, when Sukeban Deka: Codename = Asamiya Saki was shown in theaters on September 30, 2006.
As of 2007, the manga has been reprinted by Media Factory, who acquired the rights from Hakusensha. Media Factory collected them into 12 volumes; the original edition was 22 volumes.
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.
- Sukeban Deka II in 1985-1986 starred Yoko Minamino as the second "Sukeban Deka", a mysterious girl with an iron mask named Yoko Godai who takes on the identity of Asamiya Saki after being freed from her mask; She will get the help of two other sukeban: Kyoko "Okyo" Nakamura (Haruko Sagara), and Yukino Yajima (Akie Yoshizawa, from jpop band Onyanko Club which will appear in two episodes).
- Sukeban Deka III in 1986-1987 starred Yui Asaka as Yui Kazama, young sukeban who takes on the identity of Asamiya Saki, but will mostly act under her true identity with the help of her two sisters, Yuka (Yuka Onishi) and Yuma (Yuma Nakamura), in story arcs inspired from Star Wars. As such, actor Nagare Hagiwara plays Yui's mentor Yoda, and Onyanko Club member Satomi Fukunaga plays her bodyguard Leia.
Original video animation
Released in 1991.
Saki Asamiya is given a chance to delay her mother's execution by working as an undercover cop and infiltrating Takanoah 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.
The OVA pertains animation bearing similarities to the style of the 70's manga, particularly in 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.
Feature films
Three feature films have been produced: the first two follow the TV series, with the same actresses: Sukeban Deka - the Movie (1987, with Yoko Minamino and Yui Asaka), and Sukeban Deka the Movie 2: Counter-Attack from the Kazama Sisters (1988, with Asaka).
The latest movie was released in 2006 as Yo-Yo Girl Cop, directed by Kenta Fukasaku and starring Aya Matsuura as the new Saki, and her fellow Hello! Project members Rika Ishikawa, Erika Miyoshi and Yui Okada from Biyuden, and Masae Ootani from Melon Kinenbi. Yuki Saito from the original Sukeban Deka TV series makes a cameo appearance in the film. This title is easily accessible to English-language audiences, having been released on DVD in the U.S. by Magnolia[1], and in the U.K. by 4Digital Asia[2].
References
- ^ Amazon US listing: http://www.amazon.com/Yo-Yo-Girl-Cop-Tak-Sakaguchi/dp/B000OU6XVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1238588316&sr=1-1
- ^ Product listing at official company site: http://www.4digitalmedia.com/index.php/details/4
External links
- Sukeban Deka (3765) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia