Sukeban Deka Review

Hi!

Well, it’s not much farther to the end. I don’t have many reviews left, and once today’s is put up, there’s only 9 left. I’m really gonna miss this marathon of reviews, as it’s been a lot of fun doing all of these. Even the ones that I don’t like, still provide some kind of entertainment for me, and perhaps for you. So, let’s jump right into Sukeban Deka, and see how this gritty Shojo holds up to today’s standards.

Story/Setup
Taken from the anidb page:

“Having spent time at a juvenile corrections facility, teenage delinquent Saki Asamiya is given a chance to redeem herself and delay her mother's possible death sentence by working as an undercover cop. Armed with nothing but a special yo-yo, Saki's assignment is to return to her high school and investigate on the corruption and mysterious deaths among the students. But in order to find the answers to the condition of her school, she must confront the wealthy and powerful Mizuchi sisters, who moved in and have taken control after her previous expulsion.”

Before I go into the story for this, I should note that the OVA is based off of the manga of the same name. The comic was quite a famous series, being printed in Japan from the mid 70s (January 1976) to early 80s (December 1982), yet never getting printed in the west. The manga was (From my understand, at least) filled with drama, action, girl power, and some emotional & funny moments. As for the OVA, it’s essentially a shortened version of the manga. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but because the source material was filled with so much depth (Again, I’ve never read this, as this is only known from research), it feels weakened here. Despite that, there’s definitely some meat on this OVA’s bones, and there’s some entertaining value to it all.

Setting
For the most part, Sukeban Deka takes place within the school that Saki is sent to. There are other places the OVA goes to, but those moments are quite as important to the story as the school is. On the surface, it looks like any other school in Japan: you’ve got the students, teachers, various classrooms, etc. Underneath the surface, however, is an entirely different story. Thanks to the Mizuchi sisters, there’s a palpable aura of fear all over the place. They have such an iron grip over the school and those within, you’d suspect that the place would start to crumble if even one person managed to wriggle out of their grasp.

Characters
Sukeban Deka has a good, if somewhat predictable, cast of characters. I say somewhat predictable, because you can guess to a certain extent what some of them are going to do in the story, and what’s going to happen to them by the end. Having said that, it’s still fun to root for the good guys, and for seeing the bad guys getting their asses kicked. I definitely have a love (Not that kind of love!) for the main girl Saki: she’s a natural fighter, never backs down & has a stubborn side to her, yet there’s times where she can activate, so to speak, a cute side to her. There’s plenty of other characters to watch, but you know that Saki is the one to keep an eye on. 

Animation
There’s a very distinct look & feel to Sukeban Deka. In particular are the character’s design: they all seem to bear a resemblance to the original 70s manga. On top of that, the eyes of many of the characters have their own feel to them. Reimi Mizuchi (One of the villains), for example, has eyes that go from villainous to serpentine when the moment expects them to. There’s plenty of other characters sadly that don’t look as good or distinct as some of the other are, and some of the backgrounds aren’t quite so detailed, but overall this is a nice looking OVA.

Voice Acting
The voice acting in this sounds like a typical ADV Films title. This isn’t necessarily bad, as a good majority of their shows have some good voice acting behind them, and Sukeban Deka is no exception. Many of the actors that worked with ADV Films at the time put their voices into this, and overall it sounds just nice. Yes there are a couple voices actors that are more over the top than the rest, but that actually adds to the fun of the OVA. The voice actor that I immediately recognized was Amanda Wynn Lee, who voices Saki. She really brings out that character’s tough, serious, and fun sides, not to mention how sensitive she can be.

Episodes & Episode Length
Sukeban Deka is a hefty OVA. Almost as long as Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion, to be exact. Whereas that movie was almost 2 hours long, these episodes (There are two of them) are about 50 minutes each, making this viewing experience almost an hour and 40 minutes. Although there’s nothing massively adult (There’s at least 1 scene of a girl bathing in the nude), there’s some violent moments that might disturb lesser viewers. Keep this one to the dark folks!

Availability & Pricing
This is another one of those ADV Films titles that has becomes obscured by time, and is difficult to locate these days. Over on Amazon, there’s the original VHS releases (There were 2 tapes, with 1 episode on each tape) and there’s the DVD release (With both episodes on it). Although there are more of the individual tapes (Ep1 tapes start at just 2 dollars new, and just under 2 dollars used. Ep2 tapes begin at a little over 3 dollars in price, while used ones are a little over a dollar and a half), the DVD edition will probably be of better quality. As for price, new DVDs being at 25 dollars (This is more fair than say Miyuki-Chan in Wonderlands, as the episodes are longer, and there’s probably more content on the DVD in general), while used copies begin at almost 4 and a half dollars.

Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are.

General Impression & Rating
Sukeban Deka is one of those OVAs that while it was fun, it’s not necessarily something that I’d watch over & over. There’s enough faults within that you’ll notice them, and if you’re a serious fan of anime or not, you’ll have problems with them. For me, while this OVA’s problems irked me, they didn’t bother me enough to the point that I didn’t have fun. Again, I’d watch this show once in a while, but not all the time.

Sukeban Deka gets a 7 out of 10.

See you all this Friday, when we’ll look at one of the most enchanting children’s anime ever made. Until then, stay Otaku!