Sukeban Deka

Plot

Saki Asamiya, a 16-year-old sukeban, is blackmailed by police into becoming an undercover detective to save her mother from execution. Under officer Kyoichiro Jin, she wields a metal yo-yo weapon and badge, infiltrating high schools to stop crime. Her first mission is her former school, Takanoha High, now run by the Mizuchi sisters.

Characters

Saki Asamiya is a bitter, natural-born fighter who enjoys scuffles and is blackmailed into detective work; she never backs down and uses a steel-loaded yo-yo as a weapon. Kyoichiro Jin, her mentor, is a long-haired English-Japanese former Scotland Yard officer who is cold-blooded and protective. The Dark Director, a shady police officer, recruited Saki and oversees the Sukeban Deka program. Natsu Asamiya, Saki's mother, loved only her other daughter Miyuki, abused Saki, and was arrested for beating her husband to death; despite Saki's efforts, Natsu hates her and later joins Shigaraki to have Saki killed.

In the TV series, Natsu is a completely different character who never abused Saki and was not guilty of her husband's death. Sanpei Nowaki is Saki's ardent admirer who calls her his goddess and follows her everywhere. Junko Yuina, Saki's best friend, is a shy, quiet artist; in the OVA, Emi Mizuchi sabotages her, leading to Junko's kidnapping, drugging, and death on train tracks. In the manga, Junko was killed by Ayumi's gang, made to look like suicide, but Saki noticed a venomous snake bite.

Agura, Saki's rival in prison, is a tough, masculine woman who grows to respect Saki and later acts as Chie's bodyguard; she appears only in the manga. Chie Mishio, also called Chii, is Saki's kind friend in prison, released to high school where she joins a biology club and discovers a butterfly species named after her; she and Agura become involved in a missing persons case. Kaoru is also a character.

Media

Sukeban Deka originated from a misunderstanding: Shinji Wada was developing a high school drama, but the publisher expected a detective story starring a high school student, so he combined the two. A pilot chapter was published in the August 5, 1975 issue of Hana to Yume, and the serial began in the January 5, 1976 issue. Wada planned a dramatic ending with the protagonist's death; the last chapter of that original run was in the December 20, 1977 issue, followed by an epilogue in the January 20, 1978 issue.

After starting a new serial, Pygmalio, which was poorly received, Wada restarted Sukeban Deka as part 2 in the February 5, 1979 issue, running until the December 5, 1982 issue. The manga has been collected in four editions: 22 tankōbon volumes (1976–1983), a six-volume aizōban (1987), a twelve-volume bunkoban (1995), and a twelve-volume reprint by Media Factory (2004–2005). At Otakon 2026, KiraKira Media licensed the series for English publication on their Omoi app.

Wada also published two parallel-universe short stories in Melody magazine (1998–1999) and two more in Monthly Comic Flapper (2003), later collected in a tankōbon volume published on June 23, 2004.

Reception

The original manga has been described as a massively popular gang girl series, selling over 20 million copies in Japan. Erica Friedman of Yuricon called it one of the three classic girl-gang series and the origin of the girl-gang madness that filled the 1980s, influencing Revolutionary Girl Utena and PreCure. The TV drama's DVD rerelease sold 130,000 copies in 2005, prompting Toei to produce the third live-action film. By 2013, the TV drama's ending inspired the anime ending of Kill la Kill.

Friedman noted the atypical violence and sex for a shōjo manga and the mix of shōnen and shōjo art style. Carlos Ross of THEM Anime Reviews stated the OVA is Asian action drama faithfully translated into cel medium. Chris Beveridge of Mania Entertainment felt the OVA was a middle of the road release. Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies said the characters are nicely drawn and the relationship between Saki and Sanpei is handled convincingly.

Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy's The Anime Encyclopedia described the series as having essential silliness but being an entertaining one-joke knockabout.