While the recent YO-YO GIRL COP was a disappointment, it led to two things: I got myself a yo-yo (and I'm proud to say, I learned some basic tricks!) and I bought the only dvd-releases available with english subtitles of the "Sukeban Deka"-franchise. Since this series isn't widely known outside of japan, here a very short and rough outline (courtesy of wikipedia and the Sukeban Deka entry on Encyclopedia Idollica): "Sukeban Deka or "Delinquent Girl Cop" started as a manga series in the 70s and was made into a tv-series in the 80s. It ran from 1985 to 87 and is divided in three seasons, each of which starred a new girl. The heroine of the series is an girl cop that goes undercover to investigate crimes, committed at schools. Sort of like "Jump Street". But then, "Jump Street" never had pretty girls, wielding a steel yo-yo as their weapon of choice!
When the tv-series ran out, the stars of Sukeban II and Sukeban III were featured in a couple of movies.
When SUKEBAN DEKA – THE MOVIE starts, Yôko Godai(Yôko Minamino),the second Sukeban, has just resigned her undercover job to become a normal student. But then she stumbles into a refugee from a very strict school for delinquent boys and girls. she learns that the pupils in that school are being brainwashed and made into a sort of fanatical stormtroopers for a mastermind who wants to overthrow the government.
Yôko quickly rallies her tough friends - including her successor as sukeban, the enthusiastic young Yui (Yui Asaka) - and forms a plan to storm the school and free the pupils. And so, one night, five girls in bright pink coveralls paddle to the rocky, Alcatraz-like island and sneak to the fortress-like school. Oh, I forgot: before they start the sneaking, they change from their overalls to traditional japanese school uniforms – perhaps not the beast thing to wear in a raid....
Fights, double-crosses and sacrifices follow, including some cool yo-yo-wielding with an utterly ridiculous super-yo-yo.
The plot is very straight and to the point, the action not too shabby (nearly everything is obviously done by stunt-men), and Yôko Minamino and her friends are looking quite good with their yo-yos, marbles and bizarre weapons.
SUKEBAN DEKA - THE MOVIE 2: COUNTER-ATTACK FROM THE KAZAMA SISTERS not only has a long and tedious title, the movie itself is much less fun than the first film. Yui (Yui Asaka), the third Sukeban Deka, has been transferred to new "student police" that aims to stop bad behavior among youths, raids discos and bullies everybody who strays from the straight and narrow. One day, Yui has enough from the fascistic group and resigns. Now her former colleagues go after her and her sisters and Yui must go in hiding. She finds refuge with a group of outsiders that try to live an alternative lifestyle on an abandoned property. From there she starts - together with her new friends - her resistance-fight against the fascistic police-troop that plans - once more - to take over the government.
The action is much less believable than in the first movie and Yui isn't nearly as tough (and nimble) as Yôko. The plot is quite convoluted and the movie slower than the first outing. A nice time-waster, but not much more.
Interesting in both movies is the distrust of authority, they convey: The enemies are always law & order types, the only good persons are outsiders - Yôko's bad-girl friends in the first movie, the group of punk-like squatters in the second feature. Even the only nominally positive authority figure - the boss of the sukeban dekas - is a real bastard: He manipulates his girls and lies to them, only to steer them into suicide missions.
The SUKEBAN DEKA movies can't be compared to the "real" sukeban movies of the 70s. Those earlier exploitation films with Miki Sugimoto, Reiko Ike or Meiko Kaji were gritty films with a lot of blood, violence and even rapes, and the stars were girls with a real bad ass attitude. These later movies aim for a younger audience and entertain them pretty nicely. While I prefer the older flix, these juvenile movies have a certain charm - and a film with deadly yo-yos, thrown by pretty girls can't be all bad, can they?
2 comments:
So what that some of the action in this movie was impossible. It was hilarious when she blew up the plane with her yoyo! The background music was awesome also. The theme of overthrowing a corrupt government is good. I think it's realistic that some governments use too much power without a proper reason.For example; The United States of America is the result of overthrowing corrupt government of the past. It's the peoples duty to rebel a little in order to make a better government. Anyhow, the movie was really cute. I would recommend it to anyone that has an interest in Japanese films.
I recently bought and saw both Sukeban Deka movies and rather enjoyed the first but not the second.
Moreover,I agree with the review, the second film was simply too too much. An example being the scene in the river, after that painfully convuluted 'chase', where SD3 is able to defy gravity and somehow do a forward soumersault from the water onto the boat a few metres above, fully dry I might add. I gasped in uttter disbelief and then chuckled at the abject silliness of the whole movie. Later on, the flame thrower scene produced the same results.
Ultimately, I have yet to see the new film, Yo-Yo Girl Cops or whatever it's called but ultimately I guess I don't want to see it. Why? I've had it with remakes, rehashes and shameless cash-ins, like Dragonball Evolution but that's its own debate.
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