Customer Reviews

Sukeban Deka - The Movie

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A classic of Japanese cinema? Well, no. But as fun, campy adventure movies go, this is a really nice one. The movie is based on a successful Japanese TV series in mid-1980's Japan (itself based on a manga of the early 1970's by Wada Shinji), in which tough, delinquent (but not too delinquent) high school girls work as secret agents investigating crimes for some weird branch of the police (hence the title: "sukeban"="juvenile delinquent girl" and "deka"="detective"). In the TV series, there were three Sukeban Deka agents (after one retired, another took her place when a new threat to Japan/the world showed up), each of which used a distinctive yo-yo weapon in addition to good old punches and kicks. The main character in this movie is Sukeban Deka #2 (played by Minamino Yoko), who is rejoined by her cohorts Kyoko (Sagara Haruko) and Yukino (Yoshizawa Akie) and teamed up with her successor #3 (Asaka Yui).

In the movie, Sukeban Deka #2 and the other girls are all trying to lead normal lives--you know, graduate high school, get into college, work part-time jobs, study abroad, and all that. But of course fate throws a monkey wrench into these well-laid plans. They discover that at a boot camp reform school on an isolated island in Tokyo Bay the school principal is in fact training the kids to be neo-fascist paramilitary shock troops whom he plans to lead in a coup d'etat of Japan. Naturally the heroic young ladies have to stop him and rescue the kids (at least the ones who haven't been totally brainwashed by this sort of Mishima Yukio-esque program of "tough love"), dealing with a host of challenges and set-backs and squaring off against a seemingly impervious principal and his army of villains.

This movie being based on a prior TV show, the moviemakers assume some knowledge of the characters on the viewer's part and so they don't work too hard to establish the characters' personalities and back stories here, though some judicious flashbacks and conversational references more or less do the job. Still, some scenes must be just plain cryptic to anyone who never saw the show--for example, at the end, two unidentified girls never before seen in the movie abruptly show up and congratulate Sukeban Deka #3 (these are Kazama Yuka (Onishi Yuka) and Kazama Yuma (Nakamura Yuma), SD#3's cohorts)*. It must be admitted too that some of the action scenes are somewhat implausible or a bit clumsily done...but frankly, that actually adds to the enjoyment.

The movie is unrated, but there's nothing in the movie that wouldn't be Rated PG here in the States. Just good, clean, campy fun.

*For anyone interested, if you have a region 2 DVD player and can comprehend spoken Japanese reasonably well, the entire Sukeban Deka TV series is available at amazon.co.jp. There are five DVD sets for each of the three Sukeban Deka incarnations, making for fifteen in all (most of which are double sets).

Ive been a big fun of yoko minamino since her debut in 1985. I watched all Sukebandeka series on TV back in 1980's and loved them all.

I enjoyed watching this movie, however, I wish if there were more scenes of Okyo, Yukino, and Yui using their weapons. Personaly I think that battle scene is the best part of Sukebandeka. All three girls, Okyo, Yukino, and Yui rarely used their weapon at the last part of the movie. Yukino even didn't use Fukusa; which appeared in the TV series quite often. Saki's ultimate yoyo was quite awesome.

It is a great movie with cute Japanese girls in it. I remember Sukebandeka The Movie was quite success for an idol movie in Japan.

Don't be fooled by the neat cover graphic that Amazon has accompanying the DVD information, that's not the true cover art. The cover art that came with my DVD was a washed-out, garish and almost amateurish scan cover that looked dreadful (what was Tokyo Shock thinking?). Thankfully, the DVD itself was good quality. Both movies will definitely please those fans of the original "Sukeban Deka" TV series. "Sukeban Deka:The Movie" takes place after the events of Season 2 and features Minamino Yoko, who was the second actress to protray the heroine Asamiya Saki. "Sukeban Deka: Counter Attack of the Kazama Sisters" features Asaka Yui as Minamino's replacement and take place midway in Season 3 of the series. Minamino is quite fetching in her role while Asaka brings a youthful spunk and charm to her character. The action for both movies is a step above the TV series (although not what you would call big budget). Both movies do get a bit campy at times especially towards the finales but all-in-all both are fun movies that will have viewers entertained (so as long as you suspend logic). Bonus features are a bit scarce but do include production specials and the original trailers.

Only 4 stars because of nostalgia... and I used to be a big Nanno Yoko fan in late 80s to early 90s in my early teenager days.
I've seen this movie several times on VHS back in the days - but when it came out to the stateside, I just had to buy one for the nostalgia.
2nd Sukeban Deka was always my favorite SD series. In this SD, you'll see the 2nd and 3rd fighting together, and see the old cast one more time.
Theme song, written by a famous singer-song writer Kisuki Takao - Door of Paradise - is a nice mollow yet catchy song - although I don't really condone Nanno being the master diva. ;)
(Well, she's got cute voice - I give that at least).

Anyhow, watching this recently, it just gave me this silly grin on my face all the way through - to the last Terminator scene. LOL. However w/o any previous knowledge and nostalgia for this TV series - I don't think anyone would enjoy this film like I did - unless one's really into B movies.

the statement by JT maruyama "Sukeban Deka: Counter Attack of the Kazama Sisters features Asaka Yui as Minamino's replacement and take place midway in Season 3 of the series." is incorrect. The story, in fact, occurs after the end of Season 3.