Yo-Yo Girl Cop (2006)

Studio: Magnolia Pict Hm Ent Release Date: 12/31/2007 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Nr Product Description

Yo! Listen Up!

Nobody does it better. And I don't mean Bond, James Bond. The Japanese cinema has become explosively action oriented in the post Kurosawa era.
This ain't your Daddy's kind of Japanese movie. Just enjoy the action.
I love it!!!!!....and I'm 60!!!! I've read all the over analysed critics here-to-fore and I think that's just silly. It's a Japanese franchise and this incarnation is far down the road from the original manga. Just sit back and enjoy the ride...cause we don't live in Japan...and we're not going to get all the cultural references. I do agree with the reviewer who recommended that you watch it in Japanese with English subtitles. If you can stand that (and I have a couple of grown children who can't...have to have the english sound track) you'll enjoy the movie more. They never dub the voices right. October 11, 2008

Sukeban Deka Revamped

One thing that I hate about Japanese movies being available in the U.S. is the silly way titles are localized. Yo Yo Girl Cop is a stupid title for a long running Japanese TV series called Sukeban Deka. The distributors should have left the title alone and just called it Sukeban Deka.
I first saw Sukeban Deka when I met a lonely male college student back in Osaka. He wanted to practice English with me, so we went to his student apartment that had a filmsy door that looked no thicker than cardboard. Anyway, he wanted to show me a Japanese TV show from the 80's called Sukeban Deka. When I first saw the show it reminded me of the A-Team meets 21 Jumpstreet. I say the A-Team because hundreds of bullets are fired at the school girl cops without any injuries and 21 Jumpstreet because of the undercover cop angle. There is really no Western comparsion and that's what I like about it.
After watching the show, I found two movies that were made back in the 80's. I even went to a bookstore called Bookoff that sells used manga and got the whole series.
So when I saw the title Yo Yo Girl Cop, I knew what it really was.
The new movie is good in that it modernizes the series for a whole new generation that is growing up with cell phones and the internet. One of the differences between this new movie and the old one is that the old show focused on more than one girl. The old movies spent a lot of time telling the story of how the girls would bond together and form a group. There was more emphasis on teamwork and everyone had a vital part to play in the mission's success. Unlike the A-Team, Sukeban Deka members in the movies did die. In this new version, the bonding developed only between two characters, Matsuura Aya playing Saki Asamiya and Yui Okada playing the bullied Tae Konno.
The whole film is about bullying and how someone uses the internet for the wrong purposes which recall the Iwai Shunji's All About Lily Chou-chou. Both films show the damaging results of ijime (bullying) and what happens when society turns away and pretends nothing is going on.
Anyone who travels to Japan to teach at the middle and high school level has probably seen bullying going on.
Anyway, the story is a little weak because the original movies were a lot more fun and filled with more humor, as well as exciting action scenes. They way the girls would work together is sadly missing from this new edition.
The best part of the new film is the ending. The fight is almost as good as anything from the old movies with a new twist added. In the old movies, there was always a big martial arts fight that would involve everyone brawling. This version tones down the big fight but it does add modern filmmaking techinques that make it look just as good as the old movies.
If you want to see some great martial arts sequences by a strong female fighter then take a chance and watch Yo Yo Girl Cop. September 13, 2008

Don't bring the kids

I rented this expecting it to be cheesy, but in a good way, like Shao-lin Soccer. This movie didn't even get the cheese right.

When one sees that a movie is about yo-yo combat, one expects, well, yo-yo combat, not 90 minutes of people strapping bombs to themselves, then regretting it after someone sets a timer remotely. The whole story made no sense whatsoever. The only redeeming feature was the yo-yo battle at the end. It was ludicrous, silly and cheesy, but at least it was what it was supposed to be.

There was promise in the girl's failed first attempt to use the yo-yo, but the amusing scenes, that logically should have followed in which she increased her proficiency at the yo-yo, never appeared.

It seems like half of the dialogue in the beginning is pointless profanity, so it ceases to be appropriate for the only audience it could possibly captivate: small children. The acting is...well...not acting, I'll just put it at that. Actions have no recourse: after yo-yo girl causes thousands of dollars of damage in the mall with her errant yo-yo, what does she do? She goes back to school, of course! So should everyone else involved with this film. June 24, 2008

A bit short on Yo-Yo fights, but get it for Aya Matsuura!

A delinquent Japanese teenager is brought back from the U.S. to work as a secret agent in exchange for her mother's freedom from prison. She is expected to infiltrate a high school and find out the truth behind a mysterious website called Enola Gay, which, along with teaching bullied kids how to blow themselves up with homemade bombs, displays a ticking countdown to an unknown event on the verge of happening. The beautiful teenage spy sent in to save the school is given a deadly metal yo-yo as a weapon and a very special codename: Asamiya Saki. Oh, and she's also given a uniform that is reason enough to buy the DVD (see cover image).

Based on the Sukeban Deka manga, TV series, and films, "Yo-Yo Girl Cop" is a well-established Japanese franchise. This causes one of the problems an American viewer will likely have with the film. I'm sure there is a lot of nostalgia and referencing to earlier incarnations. For example, the original television Saki, Yuki Saito, plays the mother in this film. From the bonus behind-the-scenes featurette, which is very thorough, I get the impression that she is playing her original character in this small cameo. As for the new Saki, she is played by Aya Matsuura and is the main reason I blind-bought this DVD. Aya Matsuura, as I understand it, could be considered the Japanese Hilary Duff. This is her first film, and I first discovered her through some of her music videos on YouTube. She is the height of adorable meets hot in the same way Hilary Duff is, and has that pop teen queen/actress thing happening too. Sadly, she has to wear a frown and a tough girl image for most of this film, and she's the kinda girl whose beauty really comes out when she's all girly smiles and cutesy acting, like in some of her amazing music videos. Still, I can't knock getting to see her in that uniform (again, see cover image). The plot of this film is... actually okay, but it plays out a bit goofily at times, and I personally feel it needed a lot more hot yo-yo action. Did I just say that? Well, it's true, the yo-yo fighting is surprisingly cool, and there was nowhere near enough of it considering the title. Of course, that's just the English title, but I still think it should have more. The opening credits with the silhouette of Saki really teases the viewer in this regard.

The most important thing I can offer about this film is to suggest you watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles. The first time, I watched it with the English dubbing, which is what comes on automatically, and I found it all to be quite silly and didn't care for the voice they gave Aya Matsuura either. Watching it again with the original Japanese dialogue and the English subtitles, it seemed like a much better film. A lot less campy and downright bad, as it appeared the first time. There are still problems, like the idea that Saki has fallen in love with a creepy guy she's barely encountered, but it's actually a decent flick when watched with subtitles. I was hoping to like it a lot more, but I do like it. The DVD, as I said, comes with a juicy behind-the-scenes featurette and also the film's trailer. If you're a fan of Sukeban Deka or Aya Matsuura, you'll want to get this one. Otherwise, it's hard to predict how you'll feel about it, but it's a fairly decent undercover teen, Anime-style film that could have used a bit more action.
May 29, 2008

Goofy name; great movie

This was a very enjoyable movie; slickly produced and quite stylish. There's plenty of action and there's a lot of heart in it too. I especially enjoyed the theme of loners finding friendship. The acting is a little bumpy at the very start of the movie but by the end everyone has hit their stride. There a lot of funny parts too, like the scene in the mall where Saki uses her yo-yo for the first time. Nice costumes and very pretty actresses. Good show all around. December 31, 2007

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