Sukeban Deka

Sukeban Deka is a quick watch with loads of action and a badass protagonist with a yoyo. What's not to love?

Saki is an ex-delinquent turned secret detective. She's investigating the Mizuchi family. The dad and his three daughters, who are attractive and popular in school. Saki then meets two other students, Sanpei and Junko. Sanpei is basically the perverted comedic relief. Junko has more depth. She's a poor student attending an elite school, and she has to work a job after school. She's a talented painter. She's rescued by Saki one night, which starts their ... friendship. The principal is a good guy that wants to get the school under control, and to actually teach his students. He's a perceptive guy who knows when something bad is about to happen, and he can tell when people aren't good. A gut feeling that he learned over time.

But they're only part of the story. The overall story is Saki vs the Mizuchi sisters. The Mizuchi sisters are popular and beautiful rich girls who use daddy's money to get whatever they want. It's an interesting back and forth between them and Saki, and it's over the top. Though I highly recommend the series. It has action, drama, delinquents, and a badass protagonist. Did I mention that she fights with a yoyo? Yeah, she fights with a yoyo! Seriously, watch it.

The only issues are: the dub has some great voice actors, but others are hilariously bad. The pervert trope is strong, but he at least can be funny, which pulls from the sad moments. It shows it's age, though some people might like the retro vibes. I definitely think a remake is due. It's a great series, and I would definitely be down to see a 2 hour movie or a 12 episode anime adaptation.

First off, I watched this, and all of the other OVAs on my watched list as part of a project where I'm watching every subtitled OVA I can get my hands on. I watch each of them mostly blind, so this following review, which is my first attempt at one, is not coming from a mindset of being a fan of the manga, artist, or tv show, as many of these reviews seem to be.
Personally, I thought the story was ok for the first half of the anime. There was a certain point though where it all went down hill for me, with a plot ... device that I found so terrible that it dropped my opinion of the anime by quite a bit. I am not going to say what it is here since the guidelines say no spoilers. It wasn't that the story as a whole was ridiculous (it was, but really that was to be expected with this sort of anime and isn't a negative point) it was simply just that one plot point. The rest of the story was engaging enough, despite many plot holes and some ideas that weren't fully explored, and I wasn't bored at any point so I'm not going to put this in the below 5 garbage bin.
The art was very good, and the animation was surprisingly smooth for this sort of low budget early 90s OVA. Though the character design was very cookie cutter with cut and paste style faces that made all the main female characters look like they were men in drag.
The sound was a mixed bag, while there was good use of effects and music to set the tone, the mixing it's self was sub-par, with the music or sound effects often times being too loud in the mix and making it hard to hear the voices of the characters.
All and all this anime can be frustrating at times, but there is some fun to be had with it so I recommend it if you have nothing else to watch and just want something to fill some time while you choose what to watch next or if you're looking for something to watch with some beer and snacks.

Organized crime has risen and a group of students are killed in a bus crash which is said to be an accident. The police trace the source to Takanoha High School. The people under suspicion are three ruthless sisters named the Mizuchi Sisters. These girls rule the high school and they're lead by their wealthy father Gozo Mizuchi. Lacking the evidence to put them behind bars due to Gozo's financial influence. The police black mail Saki Asamiya to infiltrate the high school, with the mission being to provide evidence to bring them down. Saki was a student at the school who ruled with an iron ... fist, and is currently serving a prison term. Her mission soon becomes personal, when one of the sisters see her as a threat and decide to get rid of her.

Sukeban Deka throughout the years has been considered a cult classic and has developed quite a rabid fan base. Besides this OVA, there have been numerous live action movies and a TV series. Based upon this evidence it must have done something right, but I never found out what that was.

Sukeban Deka is your average good vs. evil story, which features the super strong girl Saki putting the beats on everyone with her weapon of choice being an unbreakable yo-yo. Saki fights like a demon with this thing and although it can be kind of fun to watch at times, it never ceases from being too corny for me and just not in a good way either. In all honesty, this weak premise is clearly what has kept me away from the live action movies.

The OVA is an action series at heart with a revenge theme that attempts a bit of drama. I cannot stress the word "attempt" enough. The couple of dramatic scenes that are present contains most of the clichés you can think of. You can actually predict the sudden rainfall that must always appear when a character whom is suppose to be a somewhat tragic figure or so gets dusted off. The little scenes with the pep talks on reminding the main character who she is and her mission... It rains during those moments too (symbolism... without it life itself would be impossible).

This series delivers a great deal of fast paced action. There are numerous fight scenes, but I found most of them very boring especially by early 90's standards. At least they become slightly better later on. The violence and brutality really does escalate and there's a good dose of blood. The characters to me were uninteresting for the most part. This also includes Saki despite her character development; and if there is one thing I can't stand, is a comic relief whom doesn't get the job done, that bald dick-head is not funny. However, the Mizuchi sisters for me are no doubt the show stealers. They have a very wicked charm that plays on humanity's greedy and self preserving nature. Each sister has her own single goal and will take any measures necessary to achieve it. I feel they were well used overall but the metaphor is forever beat on, and it gives away the inevitable outcome involving them. The snake motif is not cleverly used at all, and I feel it's too in your face.

The animation is ok at best and that's pushing it. The fight scenes are energetic, however they do contain a bit of reused cels and stills at times; but I just can't get over the lack of choreography here. The action scenes didn't do too much for me. At least the OVA has a solid soundtrack that never really gets old and is fun to listen to.

Sukeban Deka is a less than average watch overall. This is something even action fans should come into only if they're very curious, because there are tons of better action-filled anime to choose from.

Highs: Interesting villains, somewhat decent fight scenes

Lows: Metaphor is overkill, annoying comedy relief, unintentionally funny during dramatic moments