"Sukeban Deka" season one drama, recap five 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 9.6% which was one of the two shows that had the lowest rating, don't know why that was  This aired on May 16, 1985 and the show was preempted twice in May of that year as there were no episodes on the 9th and 23rd.

 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.

 

 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 .... Episode three .... Episode four

 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 once again have the drama's theme song "White Flame" aka "Shiroi Hono" that was sung by the show's heroine Saki aka Yuki Saito.  The video has many short scenes from the series plus unlike the previous one is subbed in English and it may help watching as the song is quite good plus you can see some of the action scenes that are discussed in the recaps. 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?

  

 

 

 Usually the title doesn't appear until the two minute mark or sometimes later, for this show it was the first thing we saw. That's right above and after three consecutive episodes that were set at the Takanoha Academy Saki's mission took her to a different school which will happen now and again. Because of that we didn't see much of the regular cast, just one fellow student at the beginning and end which meant the above bio section didn't need any editing. This was a coolish story as it involved some black magic, hence the title of "Black Mass at 2:00 am" and right above is the 'Wizard' who was a student and was hypnotizing Saki at the time. Sure many have seen the "Eko Eko Azarak" movies which get a high rating from me and in those much black magic was used. Those films began ten years after this drama, the above Wizard had also chanted Eko Eko Azarak a few times during this 'cursed mass'. The movies were based off the mangas which were released from 1975 to 1979 so that's why those words were said as the manga had been out a while before this series aired. Before I give away too many spoilers let's get to the recap and to date this was the second best episode, so far the fourth was the top show but all have been solid to now and will include the first episode despite it's sluggish start.

 Bit of an upbeat beginning to this show for in the top screenshot we see that Saki may be going on a date to a concert and bet it's her first ever one! That boy Sanpei Nowi could be Saki's only friend at Takanoha Academy and he's been infatuated with her since the first time Sanpei laid eyes on her in the second episode. That was a short scene and we didn't see Sanpei until the very end nor anyone else from the high school. For in the second screenshot above just as Saki and Sanpei were passing by a high rise apartment building a teen girl jumped off and of course died instantly. The pair rushed over to the girl but were too late to do anything though did discover a few things. One was that photo in the locket which is in the third screenshot, who could he be and while older than the deceased girl he wasn't old enough to be her father or young enough to be her boyfriend, hmmmm. The girl did have an ID on her, Kaori was this girls name and the ID was from her high school, Katoria Academy. That is a very exclusive school for those from wealthy families so the mystery for Saki was who really was this girl and why would she want to end her life? Watching that girl Kaori jump did shake up Saki as that girl too was seventeen in age and Saki would really like to be a part of the investigation to solve the death. Which is what she told her Dark Agency handler Jin above, he may not have a huge amount of screentime but he is a very integral part of the series. Jin could feel Saki's pain but also told her undercover detectives are not allowed to pick and choose what their assignments are. The Dark Agency is a very mysterious government group and we know so little about them, wonder how many other teens work for them and are there any other spies such as Jin?

 Saki had asked to be sent to Katoria Academy to find out why someone such as Kaori would jump from a roof as students there have such bright futures. That suggestion was nixed by Jin as him and the Dark Agency leader always choose their missions, he once again used Saki's mother's possible impending execution to keep her in line and Saki is getting so fed up with those threats. The leader at Dark Agency is an older man named Shirei, we seldom see him but does contact Saki in each show. Sometimes by phone or a cassette, in this episode it was via a VHS tape which were becoming much more common in 1985. When we see Shirei his face is always obscured and it was on this VHS tape, to the puzzlement of Saki the leader did assign her to Katoria Academy but the tape had been created before Kaori's death. Don't know why Jin had to pull rank on Saki as he does like and respect her immensely but perhaps it was to remind her of who is the boss? On the tape Shirei explained two other girls from Katoria Academy had also recently committed suicide, those two are in the bottom screenshots above. So Kaori's death now makes it three students who have killed themselves so Saki was enrolled at the exclusive school immediately thanks to the Dark Agency. Who can create believable identities for their undercover detectives, the next day Saki appeared at Katoria Academy as a new student and claimed her father was a banker. To me and the other students Saki didn't sound too convincing and of all bedrooms to be assigned to the one she got had previously been used by the now deceased Kaori!!!!

 Once again the first two paragraphs of a recap were a bit lengthy but more seems to happen in the first ten minutes of dramas compared to the last ten or so. Those girls in the top two screenshots are very key to the happenings at Katoria Academy, especially the second girl. Her name was Konno and she's the assistant dorm director, the main leader is Ayako who is in the first screenshot. In the beginning mentioned that in Kaori's locket was a photo of an older man, thanks to Jin Saki knows the man's name is Takenaka. He's a music teacher at Katoria Academy and is such a heartthrob to the girls there. So much that it appears the three girls who have killed themselves to date.... Yukiko, Yuko and now Kaori.... all had such massive crushes on Takenaka so if they couldn't have him why continue living?!?! In the fourth screenshot above is Takenaka, he was okay looking but not at the level where girls should be swooning over him. In that screenshot you can see Saki telling the man about how the three dead students were so in love with Takenaka, doesn't he feel any guilt about their suicides? Not really and to Saki he was a hard person to figure out, Takenaka seemed to be a decent man and never once took advantage of a student as he knew it was morally wrong. But then again Takenaka did nothing to help those three students nor did he try to convince any other of Katoria Academy's students not to fall for him so in a way it seemed like a no win situation for the music teacher.

 That conversation was overheard by a student, we didn't know who it was nor did Saki as the girl fled the scene before being seen. Though Takenaka is the most important part of this story after that scene we only saw him for about thirty seconds until the end but he had no part of any of the three girl's deaths. Which Saki was musing over that night while trying to sleep which didn't happen as it seemed a church organ was heard close to 2:00 am so she began to roam the halls looking for the source. Which Saki did find and you can see those screenshots above, also a few below as what was taking place in an eerie room was a cursed ritual or what Saki called a Black Mass. The hooded figure had been saying a few lines with the words Eko Eko Azarak being repeated, she was chanting for the now dead Kaori to be sent to Hell!!!! This unknown red hooded figure wasn't alone as she had at least five assistants clad in black hoods, Saki was discovered and dragged into the ritual. You would have thought with Saki witnessing this hellish Black Mass she too would have been killed but that wasn't the case... yet! The leader in the red hood certainly knew her black magic as she hypnotized Saki into forgetting all that she had seen at this happening and the spell did work. To the fury of Saki's Dark Agency handler Jin who visited her early the next morning. Saki was in a trance like state and couldn't give Jin any info so is Saki's mission now doomed? Not quite as Jin himself knows a few tricks and was able to rid Saki of that spell so she did reveal all she witnessed to Jin. But that info wasn't too detailed as the identities of the girls in hoods was unknown plus did this dark group have anything to do with the three suicides? However to Jin knowing that this leader could perform hypnosis made him think the girls could have been in a trance when they killed themselves, it'll now be dangerous for Saki as she must now play a round of If you can't beat them join them!

 Final segment, what took place is in the above screenshots and the first six below. There was only 6-7 minutes to go in the show but a lot did happen as once again a lot was crammed into a rushed ending. What I meant by If you can't beat them join them is that the three dead girls all had crushes on Takenaka so Jin thought it best for Saki to also fall for the teacher and to let all know that to see what may take place. Though not all admit it most of the girls at Katoria Academy also have huge crushes on Takenaka so of course none were happy to hear that Saki also now had one though don't think any were jealous. Save for one girl who is right above, the assistant dorm director Konno and her name was misspelled there. Konno isn't that attractive though wouldn't say ugly, she feels that of all the girls at school Takenaka may like her the least because of her looks! So that made us viewers a bit suspicious of her, along with the dorm leader Ayako the pair tried to give Takenaka a gift but why at the same time? He did refuse their gifts and what infuriated Konno to no end was that he had accepted a gift from Saki, right around then is when we began to suspect who was under that red hood. Later that evening Saki was dragged from bed by a group of those wearing black hoods and brought to that ritual room. Where once again Saki was put under a hypnotic spell by the girl wearing a red hood, sure you can figure out who this mysterious wizard is now. Saki did feign at being put under a spell but we knew it was all an act, there was no way she would fall for that hypnotic trick twice which she says below. This group of Witches? Wizards? ushered Saki to the school's roof, thinking she was under her spell the red hooded girl(Konno) said Takenaka was waiting for Saki with open arms so run to greet him!

 Which meant a four story fall but we did see Saki comply and land on the ground which is above, that did baffle me a bit for how could Saki have survived? The only thing I thought of was that Saki had a figure of herself created and planted that on the ground earlier which may be a bit farfetched but possible. When the group of wanna-be Wizards arrived where the body was Saki jumped out of the shadows shouting that their evil ways were now over! We had a strong feeling who this Wizard was though perhaps Saki didn't and she finally took off that red hood to reveal that it was Konno who gave a sob story that fell on deaf ears. Which was of her not being too attractive and because of that she would never have a chance with her dream man Takenaka! What happened with Saki earlier as far as almost killing herself was because of being hypnotized, Konno had done that too with the three dead girls as she put them under such a powerful spell. Being a bit warped Konno figured with so many girls killing themselves Takenaka would notice her in a romantic way but I doubt if that would have happened. Don't know what happened with Konno but the police were arriving to take her away, during this time Saki also gave the teacher Takenaka a lecture about how he should have handled things better and how dare he call himself a teacher! The episode did end on a happy note for in the final few seconds Saki was back at Takanoha Academy and was about to go on her first date ever with Sanpei which is right below. That wraps this recap up and these posts are getting a bit long which is a positive as it means quite a lot is taking place in these shows, the post below this one is for the sixth episode.