Essential Reading: Erica Friedman on Sukeban Deka

Long before anyone coined the phrase 'girl power,' Hana to Yume ran one of the baddest shojo manga of all time: Shinji Wada's Sukeban Deka. The story revolves around a juvenile delinquent who's recruited by the police to go undercover at different high schools, infiltrate gangs, and bring down the bad guys using only a yo-yo as a weapon. Not just any yo-yo, mind you: Saki swings a police-issue yo-yo that doubles as her official badge.

From 1976 to 1982, Hana to Yume readers followed Saki's exploits as she was assigned to new schools and new cases. After the manga's conclusion, Saki enjoyed a second life as the star of a TV show, an OVA, and three movies. (The most recent of the film versions, Yo-Yo Girl Cop, is easy to track down on Amazon in DVD and digital form.)

Writing at The Hooded Utilitarian, Erica Friedman sings the praises of Sukeban Deka, noting the heroine's incredible self-sufficiency (she busts herself out of jail) and her cheerful embrace of adult vices (she smokes and drinks). Friedman also explains what made this manga so influential:

The art style Wada used rode the line between shoujo and shounen at a time when it was massively unpopular to do so. Saki might be shown with 'shock!' eyes, or with a murderously intense expression, and action shots were quite common. This style left its mark on many a mid-80s series, including Asuka and YajiKita. It's not unfair to say that we might never have had a Revolutionary Girl Utena, or PreCure if we had not first had had Sukeban Deka.

Friedman's essay is a terrific read, though you may finish the essay wishing that an American publisher would take a chance on this girl-gang classic. Hey, DMP, I smell a Kickstarter campaign here'