--Amanda Winn as Saki Asamiya, Sukeban Deka
###
Whenever
you watch anime, you have to expect the unexpected. A futuristic cop drama could suddenly turn
into a magical girl show and back again in the blink of an eye. But Sukeban
Deka, the story of a teenage detective who uses a government-issue yo-yo as
her weapon, probably takes the prize for the most unexpected (and
unappreciated) anime out there.
Based on a shoujo manga by
Shinji Wada from the 1970's, Sukeban Deka
(which roughly translates as "Delinquent Detective") is the story of
Saki Asamiya, a lavender-haired teenage girl sitting in a prison cell for
causing trouble at her school. A man
referred to only as The Dark Investigator offers her a deal--she can work for
the police as an undercover teenage detective, infiltrating high schools and
fighting crimes the police normally couldn't reach...or her mother, on death
row for murdering her husband, will be executed. As long as Saki agrees to be a detective, her
mother's execution will be postponed until she can be set free.
Saki has no choice but to agree,
and soon she's back on her old stomping grounds--Takaoka High School. Unfortunately, she's not top dog anymore--the
three Mizuchi sisters are the queens of this school. Emi Mizuchi is famous for her art, but it
turns out that all she does is copy other artists' work and pretend that it's
her own. Ayumi Mizuchi is treated like
royalty and pretends to be very lady-like, but in fact runs a righteous
extortion ring and drug trade within the school. Reimi Mizuchi is president of the student
council, but yeah, she's evil too--she ends up brainwashing all the Takahoka
students into doing whatever she pleases.
Add into the mix a cute but
personality-free girl named Junko who paints like an angel and keeps getting
her shirt ripped off, along with Saki's would-be boyfriend, Sampei, and you
have the ingredients for your a-typical early 1990's high school drama...or do
we? Sukeban
Deka has some familiar school drama moments, such as the awkward first
meeting between Saki and Sampei (where he declares her his goddess) and Saki
and Sampei hanging out at Junko's apartment, but that's not the thrust of its
two forty-five minute episodes. The real
meat of this series is when Saki starts striking back against the Mizuchi sisters
and their illegal activities, using her indestructible yo-yo, fighting skills,
and street smarts to dish out plenty of payback.
Even though this OVA only has
two episodes, the hero characters grow, adapt, and change at a satisfying
pace. Saki turns from a wild school yard
brawler to a responsible teenage detective and heroine. Sampei shaves his head (at Saki's
request--you have to see it to believe it) and is a real help to Saki in the end,
along with being a good friend. Saki's
police liason, Kyoichiro Jin, is one of those long-haired bishonen detective
guys who probably inspired the characters in "Fake," but takes on the
role of keeping Saki grounded in reality when her anger gets the better of
her. Even Saki's principal, Numa, gets
in on the action, agreeing to help the girl he once hated.
And let's not forget that
there's plenty of fighting, too, and the majority of it involves Saki and her
yo-yo. Anime is known for its dramatic
poses, long sweeps of the hands and feet (before a punch or kick), the shouting
of attack names before you use that attack, and the colorful backgrounds that
appear behind the characters as they perform said attacks. Sukeban
Deka uses all of these mainstays in its fight scenes, but not to the point
to overkill. Director Takeshi Hirota
knew exactly which notes to hit on the anime keyboard, and he hits them all
just right.
The character designs were
adapted from the original manga by Nobuteru Yuki, who also worked on Cleopatra
D.C., another favorite of mine.
Nobuteru's large eyes, long faces, and shoujo leanings all add a nice
touch to the proceedings here and give Sukeban
Deka a unique style that it can call its own.
Takashi Takaomi's music is a
combination of synthesizers, electric guitars, some nice bass, and occasional
orchestral interludes that accent each character's struggle to escape the hell
their school has become. The battle
themes are particularly memorable, especially the one where Saki busts into the
arcade and starts raising all kinds of hell with her karate moves and her
yo-yo.
I've watched both versions of Sukeban Deka (dubbed & subtitled)
and, oddly enough, I prefer the dubbed version, which features the talents of
old ADV Films mainstays Amanda Winn, Tiffany Grant, Kurt Stoll, Jason Lee, and
Rob Mungle. Amanda Winn landed the role
of Saki Asamiya, and she was born to play this part. The hard edge to her voice, her screams of
frustration, and her comedic timing couldn't be better. Tiffany Grant plays Junko, and while she does
an admirable job, there's little she could do to elevate this character. Kurt Stoll takes Sampei's wackiness and
off-the-wall humor to the umpteenth level and makes this character a lot more
entertaining than he was in the Japanese version. Jason Lee and Rob Mungle star as some of the
heavies employed by Ayumi Mizuchi to keep Saki in line. Even ADV producer & dub director Matt
Greenfield gets in on the action as some of the obnoxious background
characters.
If you're expecting an anime
version of the live-action Sukeban Deka
movies released by Tokyo Shock, then
you'd best look elsewhere. The Sukeban Deka OVA remains faithful to
Shinji Wada's original manga and gives us a presentation that's definitely
suited for the anime style. But don't
let that deter you from picking this up, because this show has it all--action,
romance, angst, drama, humor, and tragedy, all in a neat two-episode package. So if you're in the mood for an early 90's
anime flashback or just a quick, entertaining watch, look no further than Sukeban Deka.
(And here's a fan trailer someone made for Sukeban Deka, if you can get past the thirty seconds of random intro clips...)
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