DVD Review: R1 Sukeben Deka: The Movie

Okay. So it should be clear now that we are not dealing with high art here. Sukeban Deka is pure pulp. You can’t take a movie like this any more seriously than you would chasing your cat onto your hard wood floors and watch them try to take the corner. In a movie where a team of young girls attempt to infiltrate a ‘heavily guarded’ fortress under the cover night in bright pink and silver jumpsuits, only ducking for cover AFTER the spotlight has passed them you got to put your ‘guffaws’ aside and just enjoy it for the schmaltz that it is. It’s purely entertainment.

That being said there is a lot of the absurd that you just have to accept. Yes, a single glancing blow to the underside of a helicopter from a Yo-Yo will result in an explosion. Yes, the bus was on the highway a second ago but you can’t have the shovel of a backhoe crash through the windshield unless you magically transported that bus onto a construction site. And I know, I know, that Saki just beat up a few henchmen and left them lying on the floor but if they’re in the way then she and the villain have no room to fight. Thus, they must be magically whisked away as to not get in the way. And anyone who says that Yo-Yos and marbles aren’t perfectly suitable and deadly weapons will have a hard time accepting them as such in this film.

It would be hard to believe that I still find a fault with this film as outrageous as it is. But I do. Sukeban Deka relies too heavily on the audience’s familiarity with the source material. Because of this it can’t stand on its own. This movie itself was used as a bridge between the second and third television series. It was followed by two more movie sequels and an OVA anime. One of the greatest difficulties in adapting any television series for the big screen is that you have to appease those who have been following the show but also make first time viewers feel that they aren’t missing anything. I don’t want to assume anything but then again I see no reason why the producers of this film would ever think that the movie would have to take a time out to make sure that everyone was caught up. It should fit a whole lot better with someone who has watched the first two season leading up to the film. But for the uninitiated like myself I found myself getting lost in the plot.

And if I may bicker one more time I found the marbles and the Yo-Yos horribly underused. A lot more fun could have been had with them. If I had anything to say to Fukasaku Kenta as he was preparing the updated addition to this series would be to have fun with the weapons of choice. It was just fling, hit and die. Take a moment to display their prowess. Granted we’re using j-pop stars as our leads but surely they can pick up a trick or two to display instead just whacking people with them.

Nonetheless, if you like highschool girls beating up grown men with marbles and yo-yos and you haven't found a film that satisfies your sick and twisted fetish then may I suggest Sukeban Deka.

Director: Hideo Tanaka
Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
Region: Region 1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Tokyo Shock
Extras: 'Making Of' documentary, promo trailer, image gallery, preview trailers