Shinji Wada Passes Away

Creator of Sukeban Deka Manga has Died

[Source: Anime News Network] Manga creator Miyuki Noma reports that Hakusensha and Akita Shoten staff members notified her that Sukeban Deka creator Shinji Wada passed away. He was 61. Wada is best known for creating the Sukeban Deka manga series about a high school girl who works as an undercover crime fighter. The manga inspired a video anime project and several popular live-action series and films. His other works include Pygmalio and CROWN (with artist You Higuri). He launched his most recent manga, Kugutsushi Rin, in Akita Shoten's Mystery Bonita magazine in 2006. [Source: Miyuki Noma via Dan Kanemitsu] The series follows a delinquent schoolgirl who is taken in by the government and forced to fight crime to redeem herself. She is given the codename "Saki Asamiya" and a metal yo-yo that doubled as a badge and made to infiltrate high schools around Japan to investigate and stop criminal activities. The creation of Sukeban Deka was the result of a misunderstanding between the author Shinji Wada and the editors at Hakusensha. Wada was developing a highschool drama, but the publisher expected detective story starring a high school student. At an impasse, Wada decided to combine the two concepts. Sukeban Deka was published from January 1976 to December 1982, making Shinji Wada a popular manga artist during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The manga had contributed to the creation of the Sukeban Deka series before it faded into obscurity for a short time from the late 1990s to 2006, when Sukeban Deka: Codename = Asamiya Saki was shown in theaters on September 30, 2006. As of 2007, the manga has been reprinted by Media Factory, who acquired the rights from Hakusensha. Media Factory collected them into 12 volumes; the original edition was 22 volumes. Three feature films have been produced. The first movie, Sukeban Deka The Movie was released in 1987, and closely follows the TV series. The movie also includes the same actresses, Yoko Minamino and Yui Asaka. However, for the second movie, Sukeban Deka the Movie 2: Counter-Attack from the Kazama Sisters (1988), Minamino didn't return. The third movie Sukeban Deka III: Asamiya Saki, was released in 2006. It was directed by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Aya Matsuura as the new Saki. Her fellow Hello! Project members Rika Ishikawa, Erika Miyoshi and Yui Okada from Biyuden, and Masae Ootani from Melon Kinenbi also star in the movie. Yuki Saito from the original Sukeban Deka TV series makes a cameo appearance in the film. Out of all three movies, this title is most known and is more accessible, due to it being released on DVD in the U.S. by Magnolia, and in the UK by 4Digital Asia. For its American and UK distribution, the movie was retitled, Yo-Yo Girl Cop.