Books: Crown Vol. #1

Two names. The first is You Higuri, she of Cantarella and Seimaden and a slew of other titles familiar to shōjo fans. The second is Shinji Wada, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many people reading this went who?”. And I’ll probably catch Heinz 57 varieties of hell for this, but the second name actually got me more excited about this title than the first.

Back in 1975 — when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and George Lucas was ripping out his beard trying to write the first draft of something he called “The Star Wars” — Wada created a shōjo manga series named Sukeban Deka (スケバン刑事), which could be variously translated as “Bad Girl Detective” or “Delinquent Teen Cop”. Said series starred Saki Asamiya, a tough-as-Nine-Inch-Nails teen sprung from the hoosegow by the Powers That Be so that she might better infiltrate the nation’s crime- and corruption-infested schools on their part. In lieu of a gun or a knife, Saki carried a yo-yo — albeit one made out of high-tech ceramics that could smash heads or strangle opponents with its wire.

You can probably guess this was no flowers-and-hearts love story. Deka was a sprawing, violent, operatic saga that spanned continents and concluded with a Femme Nikita-like existential twist. It also created a set of cultural tropes in Japan as striking and recognizable as Rei’s plugsuit and blue hair, and a whole slew of live-action films, a TV series, an anime adaptation and a recent theatrical remake (directed by Battle Royale II helmer Kenta Fukasaku). Wada went on from that to create a number of other shōjo titles — Amaryllis the Thief, Shark Girl — but Deka remains the one thing he’s best remembered for. It was a first-of-its-kind product, made no apologies for its glorious excesses, and got away with it thanks to a gallery of terrific characters, Saki herself being first and foremost.

Article originally written for AMN. Click here to read full text.