Some manga have immense staying power, remaining popular long after their original run ends. Shinji Wada's Sukeban Deka is one such manga. The series was a massive success when it first started in 1976. Now, 38 years after it originally ended, the series is getting two new spinoffs.
The manga magazine Princess has announced that its February issue will feature two new Sukeban Deka spinoffs. The first is by Saori Muranaga and is entitled The Sukeban Deka Who Leapt Through Time (Toki o Kakeru Sukeban Deka). The second is an early preview of a new title by Ashibi Fukui called Re: Sukeban Deka. This manga will start being serialized in the March issue of Princess, making these the first manga based on the Sukeban Deka franchise since 2004's obscure and short-lived Sukeban Deka If.
Sukeban Deka told the story of Saki Asamiya. Sakai is a delinquent schoolgirl who gets arrested. However, she is offered a deal to avoid prison if she agrees to become an undercover detective. Sakai originally turns down the offer, but the police blackmail her by saying that if she doesn't take the deal, her imprisoned mother will be executed. Sakai, not willing to have her mother come to harm, relents, and takes the deal. Sakai is given a metal yo-yo that acts as both a weapon and a police badge and is asked to infiltrate schools around the country to investigate and put a stop to criminal activity by any means necessary.
Sukeban Deka started in Hana to Yume magazine in 1976 and ran until 1978. Shinji Wada then moved on to a different serial. However, it was very unpopular. So, Sukeban Deka was restarted in 1979 and ran until 1982. The manga was dramatically popular, selling over 20 million copies of its collected tankōbon releases. It also spawned a whole host of adaptations including, a three-season television drama, a 1991 anime adaption and three feature films. The third film, Sukeban Deka III: Asamiya Saki, did receive an American release that quickly became an infamous cult favorite due to the American distributor deciding to change the film's name to Yo-Yo Girl Cop.
The manga also spawned a whole genre of girl gang films that were massively popular during the 1980s and the early 1990s in both Japan and the USA. It was also a major influence on several anime series, most famously Kill La Kill, whose ending sequence is nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the ending sequence from the Sukeban Deka TV show.
While little is known about the new Sukeban Deka manga spinoffs it is still stunning to think that a series can have such a long-lasting impact on manga and popular culture as a whole. While Shinji Wada's passing in 2011 means that he will be unable to see this reblossoming of his creation, we can only hope that these new manga spinoffs will introduce a whole new generation to the delinquent detective and her dangerous yo-yo skills.
