Yo-Yo Girl Cop [Sukeban Deka: Kōdo Nēmu = Asamiya Saki] (2006)

So I rented this movie for laughs. It's a Japanese film, but was released in the U.S. as "YO-YO GIRL COP".

Now, when I see a DVD on the shelf called Yo-Yo Girl Cop, with a cute girl standing in front of a huge explosion on the cover, I have to pick it up for a look-see.

Reading the back cover... yada yada... teenage girl... yada yada... undercover... yada yada... high school terrorists... yada yada... high tech steel yo-yo... Okay I'm sold. I rented it.

But you gotta understand, a title like this one has on the cover is really laughable, so I was expecting a reallllly baaaad movie. (For reasons unclear, I happen to enjoy many really bad movies.)

I watched it. And I liked it.

Sure, the idea of a girl going up against machine-gun toting thugs with nothing but a yo-yo for a weapon -- and totally kicking their butts -- weighs in a little thin on the reality scales. But putting that aside, it was a cool movie -- just the right amount of action and humor and drama, and the cast was pretty solid.

Plot-line goes like this: Bad-Girl "K" is recruited by a clandestine police organization and forced (her mom's being held in prison) to try and stop a plot by student radicals to create anarchy in Japan. Armed with a hi-tech steel yo-yo, and a codename (Asamiya Saki), she infiltrates an elite high school to find the terrorists, but then finds an even MORE sinister plan is about to unfold (Dunt Dunt Duuunnnnnt!).

So after watching and (surprisingly) enjoying the movie, I watched the "making of" featurette and found out the character has been around for 20 years and has quite a following in Japan. (!) There was an 80s TV series, a couple of 90s films and now this latest movie.

The REAL name of the movie is "Sukeban Deka: Codename = Asamiya Saki", which translates (roughly) to "Delinquent Detective: Codename = Asamiya Saki" (not YO-YO GIRL COP, for crying out loud!).

So now I kinda want to see the original(s).

FOUR CAT-CRADLING BRAINS