Yo-Yo Girl Cop (Sukeban Deka: Kodo Nemu = Asamiya Saki ) — movie review

The first Sukeban Deka movie in eighteen years, Kenta Fukasaku’s Yo-Yo Girl Cop (aka: Sukeban Deka: Kôdo nêmu = Asamiya Saki ) sets about introducing the cult favorite yo-yo wielding schoolgirl special agent to the reality-television generation. From it’s opening sequence, where a bomb strapped Sukeban explodes in a famous crowded Tokyo intersection (in a rather nice homage to the senior Fukasaku’s Battle Royale), one could safely say Fukasaku set out to create the most adrenaline charged Sukeban Deka yet. And, to be honest, he adds some undeniably cool and memorable sequences to the series. But does he succeed?

For those of you not familiar with the Sukeban Deka series, outside of Tarantino’s Deka mashup, Gogo Yubari (Sukeban Deka was crossed with Master of the Flying Guillotine), the basic story concerns a group of schoolgirl special agents led by the titular Deka. Each girl has a single weapon related to some form of recreation, be it origami, marbles, needlepoint, or, as with Deka, a steel yo-yo. The girls do battle with any number of nefarious terrorist organizations, from those run by island-lair dwelling fascists with crazed bionic henchmen to simple disciplinary extremists gone wild. The films feature any number of dangerous action set-pieces, mostly involving huge explosions and pleat-shirted schoolgirls kicking major ass (Check out my review of the first film, here, and the second, here).

Yo-Yo Girl Cop chronicles the adventures of Saki Asamiya (Aya Matsuura), the daughter of the very first Sukeban Deka. It’s worth noting that while previous films have dealt with successors to the role of Deka in a team setting, this is the first to depict the solo adventures of a direct blood heir. While other Deka exuded a sense of rebelliousness, with red headbands and rocker gloves, Saki Asami is a delinquent to the very core. In fact, we are introduced to Asamiya in a New York holding facility, caged, straight jacketed, bloodied eyed and muzzled. After a short but thrilling sequence where Asamiya escapes, kicking the ass of absolutely everyone in the room, she is caught again, and offered a job: continue the undercover work of the previous Deka at a local problem high school. This involves uncovering the group behind a mysterious anarchist website which proudly imparts knowledge on bomb-making and suicide techniques to teens, and subsequently, discovering the reason behind the site’s prominently displayed and ominous countdown. Doing so would not only redeem her in the eyes of the law, but save the life of her delinquent mother. But there’s one small catch: Asamiya has only three days to get to the bottom of the mystery, before the countdown reaches 0.

Yo-Yo Girl Cop starts out incredibly strong, with the first half of the film featuring some truly awesome altercations and laying the foundation for an intriguing mystery. Deka’s yo-yo is now completely CG, which makes for some impressive and dynamic yo-yo slinging, but given her inexperience with the weapon, also some unfortunate comedic mishaps. Furthermore, this inexperience leads Deka to resort to good old fashioned fisticuffs. The fights depicted are downright brutal, and feature their fair share of body harming stunts. But as cool as this is, once the film crosses its midpoint the film gets bogged down with a nonsensical back story, some really pathetic school-children (or should I say, self pitying sheep?), and an un-engaging and un-imaginative villain. I mean, compared to fascist adults seeking genetic experimentation on unsuspecting kids, mad bombers just seem not to be trying hard enough.

Part of this could be due to the makeup of the narrative. While Kenta’s film is undeniably a Sukeban Deka film, the story feels cobbled together from other recent popular anime and cult films. The bulletin-board anarchist site and the suicide bomber teen feel lifted from Sion Sono’s Suicide Circle, the violent high-school from any number of anime shows and films (Gantz, The Neighbor No. 13, and 1-Ichi certainly came to mind). The baddies, as mentioned above, are just plain unoriginal. That said, the film does redeem itself a bit toward the end, with a fairly decent yo-yo duel between a pleather one-piece clad Deka and a double agent dominatrix type, complete with razor bladed yo-yo.

As far as the visual style of Yo-yo Girl Cop is concerned, Kenta’s film is packed to the brim with post-millennial pop entertainment conventions: twitch editing, shaky camerawork, snap zooms, and stutter-frame slowdowns. At times I thought the DVD player was acting up. At others, I was simply annoyed. To be fair, you do get used to the manic cutting after a while, and certain zooms do play a stylistic part (in particular those accompanied by a “whoosh” sound to demarcate an important fact revealed in a dialog), but on the whole it’s just not my bag. Editing aside, the film is very well shot, and easily the best looking Sukeban Deka to date. As with his Battle Royale II, Kenta demonstrates ample technical talent, but fails to balance this against the film’s narrative.

Finally, the acting. Aya Matsuura does a decent job as Saki Asamiya. As this film’s Deka, she possesses a ferocity that never once belies her pop-star nature. Likewise, Rika Ishikawa, who plays the film’s female baddie, Reika Akiyama, manifests the requisite sliminess, though I wouldn’t go so far as saying she creates a truly threatening villainess. Fans of Sukeban Deka will delight in cameos by Yuki Saito, the original Sukeban Deka, and Hiroyuki Nagato, as Director Kurayami. Likewise, fans of cult Japanese cinema will also welcome the supporting roles by Riki Takeuchi and Versus’s Tak Sakaguchi.

In closing Yo-Yo Girl Cop is definitely the least of all the Sukeban Deka films. It’s bright, loud, flashy, and hip, but it’s a bit nonsensical and un-engaging in its second half. There are some choice moments to be had, but when all is said and done, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better in the original Sukeban Deka films, or other recent Japanese cult releases.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.