Title: Sukeban Deka fever...YO YO GIRL COP in the house!
Brian Camp - July 20, 2007 07:00 PM (GMT)
I’ve been on a real “Sukeban Deka” kick lately. The big occasion was seeing the latest Sukeban Deka movie on the big screen at the New York Asian Film Festival where it played on July 4 under its English release title, YO YO GIRL COP. (Its original title is SUKEBAN DEKA: CODENAME SAKI ASAMIYA, from 2006.) I dug out my two-part SUKEBAN DEKA anime from 1991 and watched that. I also dug out three tapes of “Sukeban Deka III,” the live-action TV series from 1986, and started watching those episodes (six so far). And then, on Tuesday of this week, YO YO GIRL COP came out on DVD and I picked up a copy at Virgin Megastore. Now, everyone in America can revel in the glories of the Sukeban Deka franchise and its yo-yo-wielding Japanese schoolgirls, and, more importantly, the abundant talent and charm of the movie’s two stars, J-pop singers Aya Matsuura and Rika Ishikawa. (Please watch it with the Japanese track; the English dub job is horrible.)
There’s so much to write about here and it’ll take up way too much space, so I’m going to focus on the real gem of this whole collection, the “Making of” featurette contained on the DVD, called “Yo Yo Girl Mission.” It’s 41 minutes and chronicles what it was like to turn two sweet and sunny J-pop girls into the scrumptious, unholy badasses they play in the film. One of the great things about the movie is the opportunity to see these girls in a new light. Well, in the “Making of” piece, we get to see them go back and forth between their tough characters and their normal perky selves, often in the middle of a tense scene where they break into laughter. As the narrator so helpfully informs us, “Saki Asamiya’s personality is cool and edgy. It’s very different from Aya’s amiable personality. Aya had to make quite an adjustment.” Co-star Yui Okada (also a pop singer) declares that “the edgy Matsuura is cute, too.” Aya wears a “bondage-inspired battlesuit” for the final yo-yo fight and she insists she never wears skintight outfits and found it “pretty embarrassing.” But then after getting used to it she says it made her “feel a little stronger. The costume helps me act.” As we watch Aya rigged up with wires for a flying-fu stunt, the narrator tells us, “For a pop singer, filming these scenes is very foreign. However, Aya Matsuura insisted that she film the sequences herself without a body double.”
Rika also has to wear an “outrageous outfit” during the final battle and she says, “It wasn’t just the costume. My makeup made me look bitchy and menacing as well. Plus, I’m hurling my yo-yo around. It was liberating. I liked it.” (Just to watch Rika say these lines is worth the price of the DVD.) At the mid-production press conference, she declares, “This was my first attempt at playing an evil character. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the script.” At which point, Aya very cutely chides her for laughing during their scenes together. (Clips from press conf are seen here: Sukeban Deka news item)
One thing bothered me about the “Making of” featurette. There was no footage from the original “Sukeban Deka” TV series. So there was no context supplied. And two of the original “Sukeban” cast are in the new movie and are interviewed on camera for the piece. (We even see Aya and the original Saki, Yuki Saito, compare their yo-yos.) Why no footage of them from the original series? It’s all Toei, so there’s no rights issue. And why not some footage of Aya and the other girls in J-pop concert or TV show performances just so we can see what they’re like in their other careers?
Anyway, it’s still a great piece and, in some ways, better than the actual movie (which, however flawed it may be, I still find gripping and immensely enjoyable).
The “Sukeban Deka III” series is worthy of a whole other post, but I’ll wait till I see all the episodes I have first.
There’s so much to write about here and it’ll take up way too much space, so I’m going to focus on the real gem of this whole collection, the “Making of” featurette contained on the DVD, called “Yo Yo Girl Mission.” It’s 41 minutes and chronicles what it was like to turn two sweet and sunny J-pop girls into the scrumptious, unholy badasses they play in the film. One of the great things about the movie is the opportunity to see these girls in a new light. Well, in the “Making of” piece, we get to see them go back and forth between their tough characters and their normal perky selves, often in the middle of a tense scene where they break into laughter. As the narrator so helpfully informs us, “Saki Asamiya’s personality is cool and edgy. It’s very different from Aya’s amiable personality. Aya had to make quite an adjustment.” Co-star Yui Okada (also a pop singer) declares that “the edgy Matsuura is cute, too.” Aya wears a “bondage-inspired battlesuit” for the final yo-yo fight and she insists she never wears skintight outfits and found it “pretty embarrassing.” But then after getting used to it she says it made her “feel a little stronger. The costume helps me act.” As we watch Aya rigged up with wires for a flying-fu stunt, the narrator tells us, “For a pop singer, filming these scenes is very foreign. However, Aya Matsuura insisted that she film the sequences herself without a body double.”
Rika also has to wear an “outrageous outfit” during the final battle and she says, “It wasn’t just the costume. My makeup made me look bitchy and menacing as well. Plus, I’m hurling my yo-yo around. It was liberating. I liked it.” (Just to watch Rika say these lines is worth the price of the DVD.) At the mid-production press conference, she declares, “This was my first attempt at playing an evil character. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the script.” At which point, Aya very cutely chides her for laughing during their scenes together. (Clips from press conf are seen here: Sukeban Deka news item)
One thing bothered me about the “Making of” featurette. There was no footage from the original “Sukeban Deka” TV series. So there was no context supplied. And two of the original “Sukeban” cast are in the new movie and are interviewed on camera for the piece. (We even see Aya and the original Saki, Yuki Saito, compare their yo-yos.) Why no footage of them from the original series? It’s all Toei, so there’s no rights issue. And why not some footage of Aya and the other girls in J-pop concert or TV show performances just so we can see what they’re like in their other careers?
Anyway, it’s still a great piece and, in some ways, better than the actual movie (which, however flawed it may be, I still find gripping and immensely enjoyable).
The “Sukeban Deka III” series is worthy of a whole other post, but I’ll wait till I see all the episodes I have first.
Sheldon Warnock - October 23, 2007 03:36 AM (GMT)
Below are a number of Yo-Yo Girl Cop-related links.
BTW, there are at least two parodies of Yo-Yo Girl Cop (Sukeban Deka: kôdo nęmu = Asamiya Saki): Sukepan deka: bâjin nęmu = Moromie Saki, a Japanese production (Junk Film) starring Mihiro as Saki Moromie; and Sukepan deka: sukepan nęmu = Maramiya Saki (a.k.a. "Sukepan deka: kôdo nęmu = Maramiya Saki"), an American production (Los Angeles-based Dreamroom Productions) starring Ran Monbu as Saki Maramiya.
Saki threesome - Asamiya, Moromie, & Maramiya (see above - 140 KB JPEG version)
Yo-Yo Girl Cop promo photo of Rika Ishikawa (28 KB JPEG)
Yo-Yo Girl Cop promo photo of Aya Matsuura (36 KB JPEG)
YouTube: Yo-Yo Girl Cop trailer #2 page (trailer has English subtitles)
Yo-Yo Girl Cop trailer #1 (downloadable 4 MB MOV file)
Yo-Yo Girl Cop trailer #1 (streaming Windows Media)
Yo-Yo Girl Cop official website
IMDb: Yo-Yo Girl Cop
IMDb: Sukepan deka: bâjin nęmu = Moromie Saki
Sukepan deka: sukepan nęmu = Maramiya Saki (zenhan) poster (292 KB JPEG)
Sukepan deka: sukepan nęmu = Maramiya Saki (kôhan) poster (284 KB JPEG)
IMDb: Sukepan deka: sukepan nęmu = Maramiya Saki
Brian Camp - October 23, 2007 10:06 PM (GMT)
How dare you sully my beloved Aya-chan by placing her precious image next to those two sleazy...impostors! :angry: There's only one true Saki Asamiya (well, this year at least) and she's going to send her yo-yo flying straight at you if you don't watch out. :P