Sukeban Deka

Title: Sukeban Deka Overall: Rent Keywords: 1991, Action, Drama, High School, OVA Notables: IKURA Kazue KAMIYA Akira WADA Shinji YUKI Nobuteru A horrific accident has taken place at Takanoha High School--but evidence is mounting that it may not have been an "accident" at all! The school is held in the iron grip of the nefarious Mizuchi sisters, daughters of a corrupt but highly influential politician. What's needed is someone who can infiltrate the school and collect evidence to bring down the Mizuchi family. The police turn to Saki Asamiya, once a notorious female juvenile delinquent at Takanoha, but now incarcerated in a reformatory. Saki's Mother is a prisoner as well, and the threat of her execution persuades Saki to accept the job.

Overall	Art	Animation	Character Design	Music	Series Story	Episode Story	Reviewer
Rent 4							Stretch	#
Sukeban Deka Though I normally prefer comedy and sci-fi Anime, the unusual premise of this OAV series (a deadly power struggle between teenage girls?), it's exotic title (which translates to something like "trouble-maker schoolgirl detective"), and the fact that it could be had for about 10 cents per minute of air-time hooked me (I'm talking about a 2004 sale of VHS tapes). The charachters have a sort of pleasant absurdity to them. Saki's trademark weapon is a weighted Yo-Yo which can cave your skull in. Sampei falls in love with Saki at first sight, though she initially wants nothing to do with him. In case there is any doubt just how evil the Mizuchi sisters are, drawings of venomous snakes are interspersed with their appearances. At least one of them actually seems to have the eyes of a snake, while another sometimes displays a glassy, soul-less stare. Each seems to exemplify a human flaw, namely greed, vanity and simple cruelty. Fights are fast-paced, exciting, and a bit outlandish as charachters leap to incredible heights in the air. The animation is pretty good, considering this OAV came out in 1991. SD employs what another reviewer described as the "Go Nagai style of anime/charachter design". Sometimes scenes end with a still drawing done in a different style than the animation. What did I like most about Sukeban Deka? The plot achieved a nice balance between being simple and predictable and being unneccessarily complicated and confusing. Saki is a likeable charachter, who starts out just wanting to get the job done, but can't help making a couple of friends. When things get personal she tracks down the Mizuchi sisters one by one and deals with them. There's very little "fan service", just a brief shower scene in Volume 1. The story is unusual in that it has a female main charachter, yet sexuality has little or nothing to do with it. I may be wrong, but I don't recall Sampei ever striking a villain or kissing Saki. What didn't I like? Though I can accept the notion of a Yo-Yo as a lethal weapon, seeing Saki use it to carve a path through literally dozens of opponents is going a bit far. Then again, maybe making this story believeable wasn't exactly a high priority. Where else have you seen a High School that has become the home base of organized crime, involving extortion, mind-controlling drugs, and a helicopter gunship to boot? Be warned that certain scenes, near the end, might be considered disturbing--a man is impaled, and a brainwashed girl commits suicide--definitely not for kids! 4/04 Last updated Monday, April 21 2008.