Summary: >

Once there was a young pretty girl that stayed in her room all the time. Why did she stay in her room? Because she was in PRISON. Saki Asamiya is a girl that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and was thrown in prison. While she's tough as nails, she's actually a good person at heart - bet you haven't heard that before. When a school is going out of control to the point where even the police can't handle it, they decide to give Saki a chance to clear her name. Well that and get her mother off death row, so I guess you could say she didn't have many options - sit in a cell and rot, or clean up a school. Of course if a school is bad enough that you bring in convicts to clean it up, you KNOW it's bad.

So of course there's an evil villain. There's three actually, the Mizuchi sisters. Armed with only her yo-yo/weapon/badge type thing, Saki is not about to back down!

Thoughts: >

Ok, now first some history. Sukeban Deka was originally a manga in the 70s. Then it was a live action series in the 80s. Now it's an OAV in the 90s. The anime incarnation starts at the very beginning of the manga thankfully, so you don't really need to do any research to get into this series. Another interesting note: The TV series has had enough of a cult following that the DVD market generated enough revenue to warrant a NEW Sekabon Deka movie in 2006. Crazy stuff! Well first of all you have to admit that the premise is pretty bad-ass. I mean you got this school being terrorized so you get this girl out of prison to fight them. And while the traditional "bad school girl" weapons include razors and clubs, Saki will whoop your ass with a Yo-yo. A freaking Yo-yo! =P But you can also see how this also means that you're not going to see anything inspirational nor all that original either.

I suppose that is why Sukeban Deka is sort of lost in the annals of history at this point as far as anime goes, because it's not the sort of thing that stands out in any way. Most newcomers to anime will probably give you a weird look even if you mention the title. And that's sort of funny because pretty much everyone who sees this title agrees that while there is nothing special about it, it's still likable for some reason. And that's where I sit as well. I couldn't put my finger on the reasons why this anime is a bit more captivating than it ought to be, but that's the way it is.

It also has surprising good action sequences as far as animation goes. You'd think that a title that is the successor to some 80's TV series would be overrun by the cheese factor, but it's well produced. The story and feel is also quite dark. I mean obviously you won't see the likes of this title gracing the Hallmark channel just because of the schoolgirls beating the shit out of each other alone, but aside from that there are more than a few tragic themes and brooding elements woven in. It doesn't try to tug at your heart strings to make you depressed or anything, but you're not going to get any warm fuzzies here ... unless the schoolgirls beating the crap out of each other gives you warm fuzzies. Well why not? Keep in mind that this is an action based title that clocks in at a total of an hour and a half. There are limitations to how much story can be stuffed in during that time frame, and it shows to some extent. Characters aren't developed as well as they could be, etc.

So the bottom line is that it's worth checking into if you're just looking for an old schol show to watch. There are other anime titles I'd recommend over this one, but I don't think most anime fans would find this title disappointing either. It's action that's a bit deeper than your typical action type anime.