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(More customer reviews)YO YO GIRL COP is the English language release title for SUKEBAN DEKA: CODENAME ASAMIYA SAKI, a 2006 Japanese movie based on the original "Sukeban Deka" series detailing the exploits of female special agents operating undercover in high school. The new film is something of a sequel to the 1985 TV series, insofar as the main character, Saki Asamiya, is presented as the daughter of the original "Sukeban Deka" (delinquent girl cop), also codenamed Saki Asamiya, and played in this film by the TV actress who played the part in 1985, Yuki Saito.
What's special about this film version is the casting of four Japanese female pop singers from Hello! Project in the main roles, all of whom do extraordinary jobs. Solo artist Aya Matsuura, one of H!P's greatest talents, plays Saki, while Rika Ishikawa, formerly of Morning Musume and current lead singer of the trio, Biyuuden, plays Saki's chief antagonist, Reika Akiyama. The two girls generally display adorably sweet and sunny dispositions in their J-pop day jobs and have appeared together in games, contests and fun bits over the years on Morning Musume's TV show, "Hello Morning," but are called on here to play unrelenting tough girls, complete with climactic yo-yo battle, and do so with utmost spirit and conviction. The supporting roles of Tae and Kotomi, two girls bullied by Reika and her gang, are filled by Rika's sidekicks in Biyuuden, Yui Okada and Erika Miyoshi, both appearing in their very first film. They provide the film's emotional core by playing wounded souls whose victimization brings to the fore the criminal plot behind a website ominously named "Enola Gay" and designed to attract suicidal teens and promote a wave of suicide bombings. It's Saki's job to get to the bottom of all this and she takes the two bullied girls under her wing in a series of extremely touching scenes.
The heavy melodramatic tone (which matches that of the original TV series) may put off viewers expecting a more tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top style of anime-inspired Japanese action a la CUTIE HONEY, a live-action comic book superhero spectacle from 2004. This one is much more somber and a bit slow in getting to the far-fetched fight scenes that a film like this needs. The final yo-yo battle between Aya and Rika, filmed on location in a sprawling abandoned factory in winter weather, is quite a sight to behold, but one wishes a Hong Kong action director with a more imaginative touch and greater experience with female fighters (paging Corey Yuen!), had been brought in for the action scenes.
Still, if one feels sympathy for the basic situation of a damaged soul like Saki pulling herself together to serve a greater good and redeem herself by smashing a cynical plot to manipulate vulnerable teens, one can find this a reasonably gripping high school-themed thriller. And those who are already fans of Aya Matsuura and Rika Ishikawa can simply sit back and marvel at this whole new side of them.
One of the great attractions of this DVD is the inclusion of a special 41-minute feature, "Yo Yo Girl Mission," which chronicles the making of the film and the process by which two endearing J-pop idols are transformed into karate-kicking bad girls and mortal enemies. One can see their normal "amiable" selves in conflict with the "menacing" behavior required of the characters, leading to frequent breakups into laughter during shooting and a charming bit at a press conference where Aya cutely chides Rika for such laughter. And when the petite and eager-to-please Aya insists on doing her own stunts and gets rigged with cables for a "wire-fu" maneuver, it just increases our high regard and admiration for her. She's also seen in a dual interview alongside Yuki Saito, who plays her mother in the film, but shares no scenes with her. The two even compare their yo-yos.
Aya is heard on the soundtrack singing two songs with Miki Fujimoto, another ex-member of Morning Musume and Aya's partner in the H!P duo, GAM.
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Item Name: Yo-Yo Girl Cop; Studio:Magnolia
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