"Sukeban Deka" season one drama, recap three of 24 episodes

 

Air Dates: April 11 to October 31, 1985 Thursdays at 7:30 pm on Fuji-TV

Based upon the manga by Shinji Wada, there were some differences between the manga and this series such as two new characters but for the most part what took place in the manga was followed... Subs by Mashhamid though a few others have also subbed this series

Ratings: Average for all 24 episodes was 13.04%, the high was 17.0% while 9.6% was the lowest and that happened twice. This episode's rating was 13.7% which was .2 higher than the previous show and this aired on April 25, 1985

 For my first two 'comeback dramas' after taking a four month break picked a pair of ancient ones, good timing for this series as it aired exactly forty years ago! No solid reasons for picking these but thought the pair, the other was "Shoujou Commando Izumi", would be easier to recap as they're both 25 minute shows and though I do enjoy 45+ minute episodes they can take a while to write up. Sure many of you readers may have a basic knowledge of these DEKA series which were very popular back in the 1980's as there two more seasons after this plus some movies. But there were also many films in this genre that were released from about 1970-74 though they weren't nearly as innocent as this show or movies but do recommend those 1970's films which are among my favorites.

 May do a bit of editing to these first few paragraphs though then again may delete them and throw in some other thoughts or info, we'll see how things work out. Did say I was hoping for a pair of easier dramas for my return to recapping but neither one will be as easy as expected. This one especially and have a strong feeling the Bio section will be needing a lot of editing as we go along plus I bet there are going to be many characters who come and go. Will admit I was really confused about many things after viewing the first show which was only so-so until the end and wondered did I make the right decision as this is a long series with 24 episodes. However the second show was so much better and didn't begin writing this up until viewing that one, that does happen often where the first show is working out the kinks. For the previous series did five batches of three recaps as it was a fifteen episode show which worked out well. So was going to continue that with this series and have eight batches of three recaps but now I'm not sure what to do, am leaning on going back to having two at a time and will decide that at the end of the next recap which is the post below this one.

 The heroine in this series was Yuki Saito who was eighteen when the show began in April 1985, she turned nineteen while it was airing. Wouldn't call Yuki a superstar but she's an actress most drama fans should know of as she's been so busy over the last forty years appearing in too many dramas, movies and stage plays to count! Yuki is also a singer who has about ten albums and 25 singles along with doing many other theme songs to dramas, she does the ending song to this show. Yuki is now 58 in age and she was an attractive woman back in her twenties and thirties, not saying she looks bad now but as mentioned is getting up there in age. Enough of an intro as there's always another mini section after the main character bios which are below and will be editing them quite often.

 Most of the action will be taking place at the Takanoha Academy high school but in episode one the setting was St. Annes school which did slightly confuse me. Episode two is when Saki enrolls at Takanoha Academy and we didn't meet most major characters until then or at least the main students. Most of these photos at the top are of Saki holding a Yo-Yo, it's no ordinary one! When it flips open it shows the Police Crest as Saki is an undercover detective and what power it has. The Yo-Yo can smash through steel and if a person gets hit with it they're down for the count, the steel string is very long and can also double as a pair of handcuffs.

 Yuki Saito as Saki Asamiya.... There is so much to say about Saki and not enough space! Saki's mother Natsu is currently on death row for killing her husband Toshiya, that happened when Saki was six in age which was eleven years ago. For the next nine years don't know yet what became of Saki but by the age of twelve she was a delinquent. She did enter high school but was expelled from Takanoha Academy at the age of fifteen and sent to Kanto Kita Juvenile Center but there was something about Saki or perhaps her circumstances which attracted the attention of the two men below this bio, Jin and Shirei. They're the top two executives of the very secret government department Dark Agency, they've recruited Saki to become an undercover detective as being a teen will allow to work much more efficiently at high schools. Of course Saki refused at first but the offer included an apartment, clothes and such plus a huge kicker. Which is that if Saki successfully completed a mission her mother Natsu's death penalty would be voided though would have to finish a prison sentence. To that offer Saki agreed but the Dark Agency did renege on their end of the deal and came up with an excuse for Saki to do another mission which she reluctantly said yes to so think that scenario of Dark Agency using Saki will continue on. Know more changes will be done to Saki's bio but that covers what we learned in the first two episodes. Saki's mother Natsu is in the bottom screenshot, don't think we'll be seeing her too often.

 

Koji Naka as Kyoichiro Jin.... The top agent for Dark Agency and is Saki's 'handler'. Jin was a cool looking man and was very respected by his superior Shirei. Jin is very skilled at martial arts and drives a yellow Porsche 911.

 Hiroyuki Nagato as Kurayami Shirei.... Leader of Dark Agency and the person who recruited  Saki to be an undercover detective at high schools. To me it appears Shirei is the one toying with Saki and saying he'll void her mother's death sentence to keep her doing missions, think Jin does have a soft spot for Saki and doesn't like seeing her used. Shirei had been a judge at one time and was one of the six on the panel for Natsu's murder trial! Perhaps that's why he chose Saki to be a secret detective as he had been keeping tabs on her for about a decade and felt she was finally ready for action! Don't know if it will continue on for the whole series but when Shirei appears in screen we never see him clearly, he is an older man and maybe keeping his face obscured adds to the mystery.

 The remaining characters are all from Takanoha Academy which is a high school, in Tokyo? No characters appeared in the first episode so these bios will definitely need to be edited for future posts, the top characters are the students. Don't think any teachers will be key to the stories but will add a pair in plus the principal. Saki had attended this school when she was fifteen in age but had been expelled in her first year and sent to a detention center, she's now returned to the fury of many who remember her!

Chiaki Watanabe as Miyako Yumekoji.... She too is a delinquent girl but unlike Saki was never sent away to a detention center and is very intelligent though her ego is a bit too large. When Saki had been expelled Miyako took 'control' of the school or in other words has become the leader of the school's undesirables. Who are females and you never see girls have male underlings in these shows or films, of course those henchmen(women?) are Yes People who bully others. None of that group of Miyako's followers will have large roles but we will be seeing them often enough, the names of the main four girls are Tomiko, Hanako, Masayo and Tamami. That's them in the first screenshot below, Miyako is on the left and in the center of the second screenshot. Miyako is a very attractive teen and for now hates Saki with such a passion so a theme for the first half of the series will be of her trying to take Saki down. Of course Miyako doesn't know Saki is an undercover detective and had felt she returned to Takanoha Academy to take control of the female gangs which was not the case.

 Yasuyoshi Masuda as Sanpei Nowaki.... That's an odd name and don't recall ever seeing either of those before. Senpai wasn't at Takanoha Academy when Saki was enrolled there two years ago, when he first saw Saki in present times it was love at first sight for Senpai!!!! Who had no idea of Saki's past but was so enamored with her ultra coolness plus she was attractive. Unsure(doubt) if Saki will ever return Senpai's feelings of love but think he will become a trusted ally. By the third episode Sanpei has become friends with Saki, not best friends yet but he is her only one.

 Jo Onode as Taro.... Haven't seen him to date so have no screenshot for the character but included him for now as this role is supposed to be important. Same goes for Mai Tachihara who plays Kazuko Hasegawa, she too we didn't see in the first three shows. 

 

 Genji Kawai as Miyagawa.... Principal of Takanoha Academy and he probably won't be an important character but should be in most episodes, he's the older man sitting at the desk.

 Hiraizumi Sei as Numa Juzo.... PE teacher at the academy and also the home room teacher of Saki's. Juzo was strongly opposed to Saki being able to reenroll at the school but like all didn't know she was an undercover detective. He also works in  the guidance department and can be extremely strict though usually is fair to all except not at first towards Saki.

Previous recaps

 There is one woman English teacher who may be added in to the above but that should be it for the cast or least for now. There will be some new storylines and characters added into the series as we go along so off course will add in any major characters and keep editing to the existing characters also.  Have said om other dramas how in a way it could be easier to wait until the entire series has been finished or pick a certain show to wait until, say the midway point. Then you could go into one post and click on the links for each episode as doing it that way makes it so much easier to read plus this is the only was you can read them in order quickly as searching could take a while.

Episode one .... Episode two

 You do see those characters at the end of most of these kinds of dramas, ones where the story is ongoing. Those Hiragana characters spell out Tsudzuku which means To be continued, of course it means the story and that car is Jin's yellow Porsche 911. For each recap will have a video for this series and hopefully there can be a new one for each post and there aren't as many as I thought. For today have a different kind of video that doesn't have anything to do with the show. But it does feature the drama's heroine Yuki Saito singing her 1986 single "Into a Dream", Yuki was an attractive woman when she was younger plus I really enjoy 1980's J-Pop. Below the video will be a screenshot of what the episode's title was, those you saw in the previous drama I reviewed and was having titles much more common in the 80's?

  

 

 

 Did some editing to a few character's bios plus added in four new screenshots to that section. Also added in the links to previous recaps, as I said in that section it could be easier to just check out one post and from that read all of the previous recaps. This was a solid episode, the first show got off to a sluggish start but most kinks have been worked out and think I will be enjoying this series. I have such a backlog of dramas to view, will get to most but unfortunately there will only be enough time to recap a few of them. The screenshot right above shows Saki's left hand, that X is a cut she received when she was six years old. At the time Saki had been chasing after the police car that was hauling away her mother Natsu for murdering her husband Toshiya! Saki had tripped which is how she got the deep cut and of course never caught up to the car, in these episodes when Saki gets a bit down she looks at that X scar for inspiration. The mother Natsu is right below, that opened the show but it was the only time we saw her plus the Dark Agency didn't have to use the ruse of Natsu facing her execution to get Saki to complete a mission and why did she have to wait eleven years for it to be carried out? On to this episode's recap that had the title of "Uncover the Bomber!".

 In that second screenshot is Saki's only friend at Takanoha Academy who is Sanpei Nowi, he's a decent young man and for him it was love at first sight when he saw Saki! Doubt if she will ever have the same feelings towards Sanpei but Saki does like him quite a bit and she can act like a normal person around him. Like everyone else at the high school Sanpei doesn't know Saki is an undercover detective for the secret Dark Agency but he will eventually learn that and perhaps become her partner(?). During that brief scene we also met Sanpei's friend Shimizu, he's a bit of a goofball and though we only saw him for five seconds at the time he's so key to the main story. Also above passing by Saki and Sanpei was Miyako and her devious cohorts. Miyako controls the girl gangs at Takanoha Academy and still thinks that Saki has returned to lead those gangs again which is far from the truth. Miyako and her group are important to this series but weren't at all in this episode. It's 8:20 am, all the students were in their homerooms and waiting to go to their classes which begin at 8:30 am. 

 As you can see in the fourth screenshot above there was an announcement at 8:20 am, in ten minutes a bomb will explode at Takanoha Academy and that's courtesy of Rescue Man! That's somebody no one had ever heard of, he did tell everyone where the bomb was located which was in the Chemistry lab but it was just a bunch of small fireworks which went off but caused no damage. The next day another warning came at the same time, a bomb was planted in the music room which also turned out to be some fireworks. On the third day Rescue Man repeated his antics by placing firecrackers in the art room, once again there was no real bomb but he's starting to become quite annoying. The Takanoha Academy staff above had a meeting on what to do, many wanted to report Rescue Man to the police. But the principal Miyagawa nixed that suggestion, no one has been hurt nor has there been any major damage to the school so for now it's not a police matter and they should handle things internally, Which did happen of course as Saki will come to the rescue and this wasn't a case she had to be blackmailed to solve the case for what happens at school affects her personally though she didn't get involved right away.  As a matter of fact the PE/Guidance teacher Numa accused Saki of being the bomber which is right below. He is a fair teacher but knew Saki from when she had first attended Takanoha Academy and didn't want to see her return.

 After that encounter with Saki Numa tried going to his gym to instruct a class but was held back by the police, they're now at the school investigating! That was baffling to Numa as the principal Miyagawa had vetoed the plan of having the police involved, Numa rushed to the principal's office to see what was happening? In that third screenshot is a note that Miyagawa showed Numa, he gotten a note with the same message the day before a bomb threat. The notes told Miyagawa to resign for he's such a lousy principal and if he doesn't then future threats may be of real bombs! So that's why Miyagawa called in the police, while that conversation with Numa was going on in rushed the science teacher Michihara. He too said future threats could be for real bombs as the night before potassium chloride and a few other ingredients to make a bomb were stolen from the Chemistry lab!!!! So it appears the Rescue Man won't be fooling around anymore and of course now the mystery is who is this person? In the beginning did mention Sanpei's goofy friend Shimizu, to me he appeared to be an honor roll student but that wasn't so. After school that day Saki did notice Shimizu going down the street and was going to greet him but he quickly slipped very suspiciously into a shop, something didn't seem right to Saki and she'll be proven correct with that assumption soon.

 After leaving the shop Shimizu was trailed by the man in the fourth screenshot, he wore a mask so his identity was unknown but he did have a noticeable mole. This man is the person who stole the bomb making ingredients from the Chemistry lab, he knew that Shimizu was the Rescue Man and has ordered him to make a real bomb which I guess isn't as hard as it seems. This man roughed up Shimizu a little bit but the boy wasn't hurt, he did agree to make a real bomb and think Shimizu was looking forward to it. That evening Saki received a message from Dark Agency, it's kind of funny how when she's about to get a call a buzzer goes off on her cat's collar. Saki's mission is to find out who the Rescue Man is and to prevent a real bomb from exploding at Takanoha Academy, she didn't need any blackmailing for this assignment. Saki did receive an envelope with some info and also a photo, the man in the second to last screenshot above. That's the science teacher Michihara who to Dark Agency was the most likely person to have planned this potential bombing. Two years ago Michihara had been suspended for hitting a student, the principal Miyagawa was the one who handed out the punishment and Michihara wants his revenge! Which is to see Miyagawa resign, Michihara was the one who had sent those threats to the principal and how did he know that Shimizu had been planting those fake bombs? Michihara was also the man who had accosted Shimuzu earlier and was also the person to have stolen those things from the Chemistry lab.

 Final segment, there were about 6-7 minutes to go in the episode and what took place is right above and the first four screenshots below. It's now the next day and while Saki was walking with Sanpei down the hall there was an announcement, a real bomb will be going off in five minutes! Immediately Saki knew it had to be hidden in the principal's office as Michihara wanted to see Miyagawa hurt badly. But Saki also knew that Shimizu had to be involved, she was going to tell Sanpei that just before that announcement took place. While rushing to the principal's office the pair spotted Shimuzu and chased him into the boy's room. There Shimizu had a bit of a breakdown and was telling Sanpei how he had hated school so much plus was doing horribly in his classes. That was a big surprise to Sanpei and us viewers plus during this scene he did admit to being Rescue Man. Saki was able to knock some sense into the slightly delirious Shimuzu, a few slaps certainly helped and Shimizu said he would show them where the bomb was hidden. By this time most of the school had been evacuated so it was a quick dash to Miyagawa's office and there were only two minutes until it detonated! Shimuzu made the bomb which wasn't that large, he said he could deactivate it but Shimuzu's nerves got the best of him and he couldn't stop the countdown as in ten seconds the bomb would explode!

 But leave it to Saki and her trusty state of the art Yo-Yo!!!! Right above you can see the bomb's circuits were frying and that was courtesy of Saki using her Yo-Yo to smash it, in the nick of time as there was only four seconds to go until explosion! Right after is when Shimizu explained to Saki and Sanpei about being threatened to build the bomb, by now Shimizu knew what a horrible mistake he had done in making the bomb and think this was his only appearance in the series. At the time Shimizu didn't know who had accosted him but recalled the man had a large mole meaning it had to be Michihara! With only about a minute to go Saki dashed to the Chemistry lab and still there was Michihara wondering why didn't the bomb go off? He was stunned to see Saki who used her Yo-Yo to knock the creep to the ground and pin him under a desk. Saki had brought the bomb with her and left it with Michihara with the clock ticking! The bomb did go off but it wasn't a powerful explosion, Michihara wasn't too badly hurt which meant his target of Miyagawa wouldn't have been too hurt either. With that scene the show concluded and we only saw the top spy for Dark Agency Jin for about a minute but he is a very important character. After this post is the recap for the fourth episode and haven't viewed it yet.