"They brainwashed her into unlocking the full potential of the human body, and turned her into the perfect weapon using a combination of hypnosis and exploding obstacle courses." Jesus christ, it's Jason Bourne.
I remember finding a reboot version movie for the yoyo girl show at the local DVD store. It was the same actress from the original show all grown up and she was recruiting the new yoyo girl. I wish I could remember the name.
I've grown up in Japan and this was the show for like a month and I always want to be Izumi to be my dream girl. Shoujo Commando Izumi is still lives in my memories
As Kabob 007 points out, her rocket launcher is played by an M72 Light Antitank Weapon, a single-shot rocket launcher not designed to be reloaded and reused. "Fire and Forget" normally refers to a weapon which autonomously tracks its target when launched, so the operator doesn't need to steer it to the target.
i like to imagine that when izumi went to school she kept on accidently using her heightened combat instinct on students or teacher who made the mistake of sneaking up on her. like imagine izumi's friend coming up trying to be cute, she attempts to cover izumi's eyes and say 'guess who?', but izumi just snaps her arm.
So a genderbent Sosuke Sahara from Full Metal Panic. I would totally watch that. The school hijinks episodes from Fumofu were the best. Not the mecha action.
SPOILERS: That's actually touched on in one episode. Izumi's friends encourage her to go to prom and eventually she agrees. When she arrives all the boys want to dance with her. When one of them tries to cut in Izumi judo-flips him. One of her friends, Keiko, comments that Izumi never lets her guard down even when she seems to be having fun.
"That rocket launcher... its a Kawisaki M-83.... the feeding clip is perfectly synchronised with the dual-targeting system for instant lock-and-fire... oh my god..."
@@xtin918 That would be Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Seriously, I wonder how much has Japanese media explored office drama, would be interesting considering the nation's infamous workplace culture
@@ArcturusOTE Aggretsuko is a series about Japanese office drama but with animal characters lol. The main character vents her stress and frustrations with her boss and asshole co-workers through singing hardcore metal at a karaoke bar.
Such a shame the show lost its way after a few eps. Honestly the idea of a super warrior trying to live a normal life, only to have it intruded on constantly by her dark past, would have been amazing if they’d focused on the psychology of it. It sounds like it had a lot of potential. Maybe it should’ve been a movie instead of a series.
That one is basically the manga and anime "Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet" also known as "She, the ultimate weapon" a title which is more revealing about the content. At first the anime looks rather stupid, but then becomes really good getting constantly darker and more serious as the story advances. And the parallels more and more obvious with Japan in WWII keeping fighting until complete destruction of the country and massive deaths.
@@mohammedsami6907 is not, the characters spend 90% of the run time crying and it just becomes annoying. Or maybe I'm just not into those melodramatic animes
Ok hear me out.. Sukeban Isakai A 1980's Sukeban school girl is magically transported to a mideval fantasy kingdom. But she refuses to touch any weapons or magical items (because she thinks it's a setup) and just beats the crap out monster's and dragons with a gang leader attitude and her mits.
Mits aren't enough. She needs a trademark item synonymous with high school girls. Like... a pencil case she bashes people with, or grabs the pencils out and uses them as shivs. Charm bracelet that in the isekai world gather magical- a'ight ain't none of you'se stealin' dis idea y'hears?
@@bar-1studios Hmm.. what about a set of chalkboard erasers? She get transported while cleaning them. She can use them to sweep up magical runes (witch just so happen to be similar to chalk) and disrupt incantations. And then! she can clap them to cast spells.
@@VagabondTE they're also made of heavy wood. So she can just smash regular guys over the head. Have you ever heard of Brandon Sanderson's _The Rithmatist?_ Magic system based on chalk graffiti & 2D Arcade Games th-cam.com/video/xCI85V1LO5A/w-d-xo.html
I have a feeling Izumi's show writing would be better if she was treated like Golden Skull was. She's an overpowered monster you barely know about and the local kids who happened to somehow soften her heart summons her when they get in trouble. She could have a tsundere like neglectful older sister delinquent image and you could use the episodes to shone a light on who she is, her amnesia, her past and how she came to be. In the meantime, the friends could become their own little squad of sukebans who slowly learn how to fight smaller threats without Izumi. You could have a whole thing where the friends WANT to thwart the bad guys who happen to be related to Izumi's shadow organization and Izumi wants the opposite.
I miss batshit insane stuff like this from the '80s. Nowadays everything has to be grounded in realism, and audience has been so submerged in supposed realism that they'd reject a premise like this right away.
Yeah, people need to realize PG-13 doesn't mean the show will suck. There are MANY adult,gritty, realistic garbage films out there( there's TOO many now and most of it is a Cringefest) and MANY PG films where its really good. All about execution, creativity and quality control. Most FAIL( Star Wars for example). Also, like any entertainment product, if the product has no "fun" factor in it, it'll never succeed.
We're glutted with superhero movies and tv shows, and you say we're grounded in realism? 1970s-80s 'fantasy' was about bionic limbs and self-driving cars -- stuff that's pretty much ordinary tech by now. The 80s were so grounded in realism that even Captain Kirk became an LA street cop for a while.
@@joeschembrie9450 First a reminder that the comment was made three years ago, so things have changed slightly. Secondly, yes, we're still more grounded in realism than we were in the '80s. Mostly because writers are considering things like consequences and trauma that come about because of the actions of the characters, and how all of that affects the entire setting and surrounding cast. You can stretch the suspension of disbelief for things like chickens that lay glowing eggs, but if the characters don't act like real people then the audience gives the media in question a lot more scrutiny. In the very show Kenny talks about in the video you have a main character who fires a friggin' rocket launcher into crowded areas and it's just dismissed afterwards. Like nobody's going to freak out that entire buildings are coming down because of somebody armed with heavy anti-tank weaponry. Meanwhile even in something as ridiculous as a Marvel movie, if even a single window shatters out into the street people become concerned.
I love your videos! One thing that may have led to this show changing gears to have Izumi start attending school and the downfall of the show could be that Eirin, the film and tv rating board of Japan might have told the show runners that it was too violent for the audience they wanted to be rated for. I'm just speculating, but nowadays, it seems like as soon as you show underage people doing anything illegal, like not going to school, or using firearms, then you get blocked from the general audience, or even the PG-12 or PG-15 (limited general) ratings. I tried to find evidence of this, but no English sites had any concrete information on what constitutes as "violence" in Japanese tv ratings. I'm pretty sure that this happened to the show, purely based on what seems to be allowed or not in current Japanese anime. For example, the anime Tokyo Ghoul features a lot of violence, but they never show wounds being inflicted, only the blood that comes afterwards. They put dark shadows over all violent acts, and you wouldn't do that to a show unless you were forced to. I don't think it's possible to find Japanese tv made after 1998 (when Eirin revamped their rating system) where characters under 18 aren't in school. There are so many shows where it makes no sense at all that some characters would bother with school (if they're being chased by demons/murderers/etc.) and yet they "have to" be in school with the explanation that they need a disguise or some bs. Not attending school, as well as the possession of firearms are so illegal in Japan, that I am convinced that this affects audience ratings for tv. The entire basis for the satire in the show Kill La Kill is that they push all of the restrictions to their extremes while remaining on the safe side of what is allowed for youth audiences, as if to laugh at the absurdity of what you could potentially get away with, yet the rules are so strict on certain things. I am willing to bet that some people at Eirin saw Shoujo Commando Izumi and decided that there was no way this was appropriate for youth audiences. If anyone who reads Japanese could confirm my suspicions, I would be so grateful.
@@kennylauderdale_en mostly the appreciation of obscure stuff in general. Never heard of Sukeban Deka but it looks super cool. I love older, more obscure stuff. A friend of mine introduced me to Combustible Campus Guardress and Ushio & Tora (well before the 2015 remake) after he made a trpg inspired by them, so finding stuff that's kinda out there is really fun.
*Shadow Organization boss:* "Mwahahahaa! At last, I found the PERFECT subject of experiment for my new bio enhancement power program!" *the only smart henchman:* " B-But, boss. It's a merely schoolgirl. And a delinquent sought after by the police to boot! Besides, her rebellious character will make her a pain to contr-" *Boss:* "Perfect, I said! Notify the scientists to get ready to start on her phase 1 of B.E.P. !"
I dunno, having a covert ops military program based on, say, magical girls/witches is something to behold. Bonus if they're a Multiversal terror or defense group, even.
"i dont think anyone really knows how youtube works anymore" laughed way too hard at that with how well thats aged in the last few years, stumbled across a few of your videos and as a long time anime fan i've enjoyed the ride so far, consider me subbed my guy.
Also it's not technically part of sukeban deka. They planned to make it sukeban deka 4, but decided to make it it's own thing. I really recommend those first 3 episodes if you can find them.
So if the problem is the lack of people to fight due to her enhancements than why don’t they give the same enhancements to the organization members? They could easily write off Izumi as being an expendable test subject for the experiment since she was already assumed dead. They could give her a bit of a struggle that way.
It was stated that Izumi was the only successful test subject. It's not until the last few episodes that the organization manages to duplicate the results and produce their own enhanced fighters.
@@michaelandreipalon359In the case of this series Izumi prevailed over other enhanced humans due to two reasons- 1) More experience. She's had her biofeedback powers for longer so she better understands how to use them. 2) Mindset. Izumi is more creative and adaptable. Her foes are so single-minded that they lack flexibility.
This girl is basically an apprentice Umbran Witch. She can slowdown time using passive Witch Time and has the strength of an Umbran Witch, probably can't age, can "dance" with martial arts, and knows to use weapons that go boom. She'd be a perfect Umbran
At 10:39, I realized something sort of cool. Izumi is wearing a VFA-195 patch on her jacket. It's interesting seeing my current squadron represented in an 80's delinquent girl show. 🙂
These days I've been wondering a lot about what the hell the TV series I saw in my childhood (at 9 to 10 years old) were for some reason. Thanks for your video. It helps my understanding !!
Sorry I'm late to the party, but someone released English subs for this series and I just finished watching it! You can sense the shift in the production as the series goes on. The Biofeedback sequence isn't all seziure enduced flashes after the first few episodes is kinda the dead giveaway. I personally like these types of shows, and especially the music. I knew there was some kind of spinoff from the Deka series, and I guess you answered it for me when you said this was supposed to be season 4. There's a lot of similarities between the 2, especially with the style of music, montages, and even the look/quality.sound/call it what you will. SD3 went from being a high school girl gang series and then turned into Japanese folklore, so it's almost like it goes from the grassroots plot and they got bored halfway thru the season, much like IZUMI did. Thanks for more info!
I kind of want to make a fan manga based on this now. Have a retelling of the first few episodes. Make some new scenarios, enemies, and challenges for Izumi to overcome. Maybe throw in some twists along the way to add to the story.
I honestly think this series would have been the best opportunity to introduce full-blown monsters and super humans into the mix to give Izumi a proper challenge per episode. Can you imagine Izumi taking on various members of the Neos Empire from METALDER?
Thank you for doing this. I got a bit of one of the early episodes once and like some mad crazy search for a drink or meal you once tasted in some long night. Great,just great!
Thank you so much for reviewing these. I've been buying the DVD's off of eBay and Amazon JP and it's changed my world! I'll add Azumi to my list. I share it with my friends and it's just been so much fun watching how fun and cheese some of these are. Sukeban Deka and Hana no Asuka gumi are the only ones I have so far but good Lord it's like my joy for the shojo genera lived again because of you!!!
interesting.. thanks for reviewing shoujo commando izumi! my friends at one fandom (sukeban deka) talk about this series sometimes and i dont really give a sh*t at the first. but after watching it, i am quite sure that the show is also quite worth to watch.
Wow, I'm amazed that this was a thing, and that it was a part of a much larger series of "high school girls with weapons" trend especially since I associate the 80's with buff dudes doing that stuff.
Hong Kong filmmakers produced a lot of what became nicknamed "girls with guns" films in the late '80s and early '90s. although the characters in those were pretty much always adults.
Good video, Kenny. I remember a few months back how excited you were to look into this series lol. Such a shame it didn't turn out to be as awesome as it could have been or that it had little success.
Loving that thumbnail Kenny. One would think a girl with a gernade/ rocket launcher getting chased by a detective and a mysterious coorperation would write itself.
The show has some nice cars as well. Episode 11 shows a Nissan Skyline R30 TI and a rare black and red Honda Prelude XZ. Fun fact is that episode is the only existing video footage of that rare Prelude and all other photos of that car in those colors were only taken in the 20th century.
_This reminds me of The Machine Girl (2008)..._ _Which reminds me of Planet Terror (2007)_ _...This "came full circle, " Wow your video just said that too!_
Wait, 11:00 is from a tv series? I never saw people say that it was a Vietcong, I always saw it being claimed as Fusako Shigenobu of the Japanese Red Army.
I strongly disagree. Izumi learning to readjust to society and proving that she was not the living weapon the organization tried to turn her into was awesome. Plus her friendships with Keiko and Saori were heartwarming.
Sounds like the show should've all been episode 3. The first two episodes set the stage with Izumi getting framed and diving to save herself; then follow that with her being taken and trained by the organization. You could've made the entire rest of the show be the organization abducting Izumi's friends and Izumi trying to track them all down to free said friends and destroy the organization so no one else goes through what she did. Build Izumi up gradually so she doesn't feel as game-breaking as she is and you're able to stretch the story out to however many episodes it had. It feels like a simple solution.
Zombies!? Ninjas!? You have to review Sukeban Deka Season 3 next. It sounds amazing. Shame this series didn't keep it's quality but it does sound good.
Thanks to remembering this video, when I was browsing shows to play on my stream and saw this I had to check it out. I'm so glad I did. This show is a lot of fun and my viewers dug it too.
Once again, nice video man. I remember reading in a blog some time ago that one the supossed reasons for the show not being more popular and being pulled earlier was because Izumi actress didn't had the same fanbase to support it, like the other sukebam action actresses/idols. Oh, and apparently the band A-JARI also did the music and a cameo in other sukeban series, called "Rebellion League of Girls in Sailor Uniform" back in 1986.
Thanks for diving into this series, the analysis of why it failed + what it could have been was very interesting, and I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.
"They brainwashed her into unlocking the full potential of the human body, and turned her into the perfect weapon using a combination of hypnosis and exploding obstacle courses."
Jesus christ, it's Jason Bourne.
spartan456 It's Venom Snake or Jason Bourne.
😂👏🏼😂👏🏼👏🏼
Ghost in the Shell?
Then they go on to kidnap her friends. Seriously what did they think was gonna happen?
sir ,i couldn't give you 400th like bcs i'm the 399th like
80’s America: Care Bear
80’s Japan: Girl with Rocket Launcher
60's America : THE WILD WEST
"80’s Japan: Girl with Rocket Launcher"... and Kamen Rider Black. Seriously, the 80's must have been the golden age for Japanese action shows.
@@TheXev also black rx
And tetsuo the iron man
80's America: The A Team
No Wiki page, no IMDB, Kenny, cheers for digging out and showing the world these gems.
I remember finding a reboot version movie for the yoyo girl show at the local DVD store. It was the same actress from the original show all grown up and she was recruiting the new yoyo girl. I wish I could remember the name.
It was actually a pretty famous manga series in Japan.
LMAO
The only real anituber
Years later and no one is like this with any comparable quality, although ive found one or so channel
I've grown up in Japan and this was the show for like a month and I always want to be Izumi to be my dream girl. Shoujo Commando Izumi is still lives in my memories
She was really a beautiful girl
@@NeoKurow
SHE'S JASON BOURNE!
@@NeoKurow she was very breedable but not submissive
Can you get it on dvd or something though
@@jackculler1489 Do you actually hear yourself?
Michael Bay's first waifu.
I'm not surprised if she somehow inspired the creation of Lady in Devil May Cry series.
You could say she's
Michael's Bae.
@@vicentetemes5793 You deserve props for that...
And explosions.
@@vicentetemes5793 Have a like, fool! XD
*_"I loove a fast woman"_*
She inspired kill la kill though
There's also the "Girl with a machine gun" series in Japan, it's pretty neat, just add girl with a weapon and everything is just gold.
All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.
Said Jean-Luc Godard.
Name pls
@@solid7442 Naruto
@@solid7442 gunslinger girl
@@solid7442 Boku no pico
Love how the phrase “Fire and Forget” is on her Bazooka. Really plays into the whole Lost Identity and Memory angle they seem to have been going for.
Probable Koz It's not a Bazooka, it's the LAW!
Probable Koz whoa thats deep
Oh I thought it was saying to take out your enemy and forget them. As in no sympathy or regret.
@@gh0rochi363 I may have been reading too much into it lol
As Kabob 007 points out, her rocket launcher is played by an M72 Light Antitank Weapon, a single-shot rocket launcher not designed to be reloaded and reused.
"Fire and Forget" normally refers to a weapon which autonomously tracks its target when launched, so the operator doesn't need to steer it to the target.
i like to imagine that when izumi went to school she kept on accidently using her heightened combat instinct on students or teacher who made the mistake of sneaking up on her. like imagine izumi's friend coming up trying to be cute, she attempts to cover izumi's eyes and say 'guess who?', but izumi just snaps her arm.
Is just like Sonya in Kill me Baby. 🤣🤣🤣
So a genderbent Sosuke Sahara from Full Metal Panic. I would totally watch that. The school hijinks episodes from Fumofu were the best. Not the mecha action.
SPOILERS:
That's actually touched on in one episode. Izumi's friends encourage her to go to prom and eventually she agrees. When she arrives all the boys want to dance with her. When one of them tries to cut in Izumi judo-flips him.
One of her friends, Keiko, comments that Izumi never lets her guard down even when she seems to be having fun.
So overpowered she'd make Solid Snake blush.
The Boss's prequel story
The most BIZARRE thing is that konami was behind this shit the WHOLE FUCKING TIME!
"That rocket launcher... its a Kawisaki M-83.... the feeding clip is perfectly synchronised with the dual-targeting system for instant lock-and-fire... oh my god..."
Best comment.
She's his grandma.. Or sister.
The 80’s had it all. Predator, Terminator, Alien, Evil Dead, Commando, Rambo, and this.
Ape Theory@bruce lee: hold my beer.
"this"? corny, sissyy, hentai fake stunt movie? 🤣👎
Shoujo Commando Izumi vs. Predator would be awesome (so would the others but of the ones you mentioned Predator is my favourite.)
This is it. I now feel like all Japanese media is one uniform away from high-school drama madness, no exceptions.
Yahtzee already said it, Japan explores all genres of fiction through the sub-genre of schoolgirls.
@@inendlesspain4724 what are they gonna do, office lady fiction?
@@xtin918 That would be Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
Seriously, I wonder how much has Japanese media explored office drama, would be interesting considering the nation's infamous workplace culture
@@ArcturusOTE Aggretsuko is a series about Japanese office drama but with animal characters lol. The main character vents her stress and frustrations with her boss and asshole co-workers through singing hardcore metal at a karaoke bar.
@@RaxusXeronos Heck, a couple of relatively recent isekai start with “I was an office worker, died, and will now actually enjoy myself.”
Such a shame the show lost its way after a few eps. Honestly the idea of a super warrior trying to live a normal life, only to have it intruded on constantly by her dark past, would have been amazing if they’d focused on the psychology of it. It sounds like it had a lot of potential. Maybe it should’ve been a movie instead of a series.
I wonder how much further they would have taken the sukeban series, would we have seen a girl with her own gundam wing?
That one is basically the manga and anime "Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet" also known as "She, the ultimate weapon" a title which is more revealing about the content.
At first the anime looks rather stupid, but then becomes really good getting constantly darker and more serious as the story advances.
And the parallels more and more obvious with Japan in WWII keeping fighting until complete destruction of the country and massive deaths.
@@jmdesp yo what the fuck
Thats pretty interesting
@@mohammedsami6907 is not, the characters spend 90% of the run time crying and it just becomes annoying. Or maybe I'm just not into those melodramatic animes
@@adrianinha19 it's a better manga
Considering most Gundam pilots stole their Gundams it's really just one step away.
Man, that´s a Michael Bay directed, Jason Bourne, Sailor Moon mixup! Fire and Forget, what catch phrase! Genious!
Yep
A girl dressed like the protagonist of shenmue and also with the fighthing style and plus a rocket luncher was a normal day in the 80s my dude
Haha, I noticed that too about the Shenmue thing!
"Just another day"
I thought it was based on Tom Cruise's look in Top Gun. Ironic enough they're bringing that back now.
Homeristro it’s cuz all of the cocaine that was rampant back then. Please, I want my angel dust back :(
Glad I’m not the only one who noticed her striking resemblance to Ryo Hazuki
*for izumi’s neutral special she wields a rocket launcher*
Ok hear me out.. Sukeban Isakai
A 1980's Sukeban school girl is magically transported to a mideval fantasy kingdom. But she refuses to touch any weapons or magical items (because she thinks it's a setup) and just beats the crap out monster's and dragons with a gang leader attitude and her mits.
Mits aren't enough. She needs a trademark item synonymous with high school girls. Like... a pencil case she bashes people with, or grabs the pencils out and uses them as shivs. Charm bracelet that in the isekai world gather magical- a'ight ain't none of you'se stealin' dis idea y'hears?
@@bar-1studios Hmm.. what about a set of chalkboard erasers? She get transported while cleaning them. She can use them to sweep up magical runes (witch just so happen to be similar to chalk) and disrupt incantations. And then! she can clap them to cast spells.
She's still gonna punch a dragon in the face tho. Because she didn't like how it was talking down to her.
@@VagabondTE they're also made of heavy wood. So she can just smash regular guys over the head.
Have you ever heard of Brandon Sanderson's _The Rithmatist?_ Magic system based on chalk graffiti & 2D Arcade Games th-cam.com/video/xCI85V1LO5A/w-d-xo.html
Just give her brass knucks. Or she finds a metal gauntlet made of a really strong metal.
Hollywood: We have the best CGI
Izumi: Hold my practical effects
Between The Thing and Robocop, Hollywood had awesome practical effect though.
I love the crazy world of retro J dramas
I know exactly where you're coming from!
Can you recommend any or any channel about these topics please
based on a true story
please never say "j drama" again
@@awaaahe Cinema Nippon channel. They mainly do videos on Japanese and other "weird" asian flicks
Yet another reason why Japan is a cultural powerhouse.
Just like the mitochondria, it is the power house of the cell
Looking at the actor running while explosions are around her reminds me of a video of a Japanese mascot running from explosions
@@kennethrapp1379 dats the one :3
What if, the running mascot is referencing that?
Pepsi Man?
@@AnimeProfilePicture i think its kumamon
Was there and allahau akbar voice over for this clip you speak of lolol
The outtro "anata wa tagetto" with that smile and that BANG melts me. 😘😘😘
I can't believe this schoolgirl *only* shot a bazooka five times. What a gyp
Nate D She tries to make her S:K Ratio has high as possible.
@@kabob0077 but she shot a *door*
@@revenevan11 That still counts as one.
I have a feeling Izumi's show writing would be better if she was treated like Golden Skull was. She's an overpowered monster you barely know about and the local kids who happened to somehow soften her heart summons her when they get in trouble. She could have a tsundere like neglectful older sister delinquent image and you could use the episodes to shone a light on who she is, her amnesia, her past and how she came to be. In the meantime, the friends could become their own little squad of sukebans who slowly learn how to fight smaller threats without Izumi. You could have a whole thing where the friends WANT to thwart the bad guys who happen to be related to Izumi's shadow organization and Izumi wants the opposite.
I miss batshit insane stuff like this from the '80s. Nowadays everything has to be grounded in realism, and audience has been so submerged in supposed realism that they'd reject a premise like this right away.
Even the Bollywood has to be submerged to realism these days
Yeah, people need to realize PG-13 doesn't mean the show will suck. There are MANY adult,gritty, realistic garbage films out there( there's TOO many now and most of it is a Cringefest) and MANY PG films where its really good.
All about execution, creativity and quality control. Most FAIL( Star Wars for example). Also, like any entertainment product, if the product has no "fun" factor in it, it'll never succeed.
We're glutted with superhero movies and tv shows, and you say we're grounded in realism? 1970s-80s 'fantasy' was about bionic limbs and self-driving cars -- stuff that's pretty much ordinary tech by now. The 80s were so grounded in realism that even Captain Kirk became an LA street cop for a while.
Something something old good
@@joeschembrie9450 First a reminder that the comment was made three years ago, so things have changed slightly. Secondly, yes, we're still more grounded in realism than we were in the '80s. Mostly because writers are considering things like consequences and trauma that come about because of the actions of the characters, and how all of that affects the entire setting and surrounding cast. You can stretch the suspension of disbelief for things like chickens that lay glowing eggs, but if the characters don't act like real people then the audience gives the media in question a lot more scrutiny. In the very show Kenny talks about in the video you have a main character who fires a friggin' rocket launcher into crowded areas and it's just dismissed afterwards. Like nobody's going to freak out that entire buildings are coming down because of somebody armed with heavy anti-tank weaponry. Meanwhile even in something as ridiculous as a Marvel movie, if even a single window shatters out into the street people become concerned.
4:56 I didn't know a fire extinguisher is flammable?
These shows need a Blu-ray release, RIGHT NOW!
And a USA Release
I love your videos! One thing that may have led to this show changing gears to have Izumi start attending school and the downfall of the show could be that Eirin, the film and tv rating board of Japan might have told the show runners that it was too violent for the audience they wanted to be rated for. I'm just speculating, but nowadays, it seems like as soon as you show underage people doing anything illegal, like not going to school, or using firearms, then you get blocked from the general audience, or even the PG-12 or PG-15 (limited general) ratings. I tried to find evidence of this, but no English sites had any concrete information on what constitutes as "violence" in Japanese tv ratings. I'm pretty sure that this happened to the show, purely based on what seems to be allowed or not in current Japanese anime. For example, the anime Tokyo Ghoul features a lot of violence, but they never show wounds being inflicted, only the blood that comes afterwards. They put dark shadows over all violent acts, and you wouldn't do that to a show unless you were forced to. I don't think it's possible to find Japanese tv made after 1998 (when Eirin revamped their rating system) where characters under 18 aren't in school. There are so many shows where it makes no sense at all that some characters would bother with school (if they're being chased by demons/murderers/etc.) and yet they "have to" be in school with the explanation that they need a disguise or some bs. Not attending school, as well as the possession of firearms are so illegal in Japan, that I am convinced that this affects audience ratings for tv. The entire basis for the satire in the show Kill La Kill is that they push all of the restrictions to their extremes while remaining on the safe side of what is allowed for youth audiences, as if to laugh at the absurdity of what you could potentially get away with, yet the rules are so strict on certain things. I am willing to bet that some people at Eirin saw Shoujo Commando Izumi and decided that there was no way this was appropriate for youth audiences.
If anyone who reads Japanese could confirm my suspicions, I would be so grateful.
"What's your role?"
"I'm just a nee-chan with a rocket launcher."
I have no idea how you ended up in my recommendations now but damn I'm glad you did.
thanks, let me know what you like about my videos. I'll double down on it.
@@kennylauderdale_en mostly the appreciation of obscure stuff in general. Never heard of Sukeban Deka but it looks super cool. I love older, more obscure stuff. A friend of mine introduced me to Combustible Campus Guardress and Ushio & Tora (well before the 2015 remake) after he made a trpg inspired by them, so finding stuff that's kinda out there is really fun.
*Shadow Organization boss:* "Mwahahahaa! At last, I found the PERFECT subject of experiment for my new bio enhancement power program!"
*the only smart henchman:* " B-But, boss. It's a merely schoolgirl. And a delinquent sought after by the police to boot! Besides, her rebellious character will make her a pain to contr-"
*Boss:* "Perfect, I said! Notify the scientists to get ready to start on her phase 1 of B.E.P. !"
Intern henchman : wait...what is B.E.P. ?
Boss: Best Evil Plan! Of course,what else do you think it means!? Now get on with B.E.P!
I dunno, having a covert ops military program based on, say, magical girls/witches is something to behold. Bonus if they're a Multiversal terror or defense group, even.
You are a hero for sharing this gold with the world
A School girl with an M72 LAW rocket launcher
*Shes the "LAW"*
One Peenoise Boi The M72 is the best rocket launcher simply because of its name and the jokes and puns that can come from it.
*" T H E L U H H H ! ! ! "*
@@kabob0077 like Black Ops once did
Judge Dredd might object...and she'd retort by sending a rocket up his nose. x___x
Average Ukrainian chick after recent supply.
“I’m just a Japanese school girl with a rocket launcher”
*This is what happens*
When Japan tries making a School Girl go Rambo
LMAO 😂🤣
That's just america
with a pinch of Nikita
"i dont think anyone really knows how youtube works anymore" laughed way too hard at that with how well thats aged in the last few years, stumbled across a few of your videos and as a long time anime fan i've enjoyed the ride so far, consider me subbed my guy.
It might be not the best Sukeban Deka series, but Izumi is a cutie 😍
IZUMI, with an I.
Eep, corrected
Also it's not technically part of sukeban deka. They planned to make it sukeban deka 4, but decided to make it it's own thing. I really recommend those first 3 episodes if you can find them.
Imagine a modern remake of this that actually does it justice.
I miss Japanese girls in live-action with thicker eyebrows. Some 80s idols and singers were stunning and different with that and other features.
Whats with the current Idol trend actually, especially in Japan?
Japan is not real
@@melvint-p9500 LOL
Agree! 80's Japanese idols look way more beautiful and unique than the current Japanese idols nowadays
I wonder if that's where Satsuki's inspiration came from
So if the problem is the lack of people to fight due to her enhancements than why don’t they give the same enhancements to the organization members? They could easily write off Izumi as being an expendable test subject for the experiment since she was already assumed dead. They could give her a bit of a struggle that way.
They tried that in the end episodes, didn't work for some reason. She's just that good.
It was stated that Izumi was the only successful test subject. It's not until the last few episodes that the organization manages to duplicate the results and produce their own enhanced fighters.
What is with prototypes being better than their successors in lots of fics?
@@michaelandreipalon359In the case of this series Izumi prevailed over other enhanced humans due to two reasons-
1) More experience. She's had her biofeedback powers for longer so she better understands how to use them.
2) Mindset. Izumi is more creative and adaptable. Her foes are so single-minded that they lack flexibility.
The sheer over the top 80's insanity this show has is awesome
This girl is basically an apprentice Umbran Witch. She can slowdown time using passive Witch Time and has the strength of an Umbran Witch, probably can't age, can "dance" with martial arts, and knows to use weapons that go boom. She'd be a perfect Umbran
The bancho/sukeban subculture is just the gift that keeps on givin'
And I love it, so I can't complain
At 10:39, I realized something sort of cool. Izumi is wearing a VFA-195 patch on her jacket. It's interesting seeing my current squadron represented in an 80's delinquent girl show. 🙂
Chuck Norris: So I dated a Japanese girl one time.
Pointman jesus what year is this meme supposed to be from?
@@Wolffanghurricane Well, this series is from the 80's..
Chuck Norris would of been nearly 50 when this came out and Izumi would of been 19. So that’d be weird weird
@@scatman786 Pretty common this age gap in the 80's
@@scatman786 Nah, clearly this girl is Chuck's daughter.
Thanks for going through all that trouble, digging up this vintage character!
These days I've been wondering a lot about what the hell the TV series I saw in my childhood (at 9 to 10 years old) were for some reason.
Thanks for your video. It helps my understanding !!
You are welcome. I have fun finding out about these old series too.
Sorry I'm late to the party, but someone released English subs for this series and I just finished watching it! You can sense the shift in the production as the series goes on. The Biofeedback sequence isn't all seziure enduced flashes after the first few episodes is kinda the dead giveaway. I personally like these types of shows, and especially the music. I knew there was some kind of spinoff from the Deka series, and I guess you answered it for me when you said this was supposed to be season 4. There's a lot of similarities between the 2, especially with the style of music, montages, and even the look/quality.sound/call it what you will. SD3 went from being a high school girl gang series and then turned into Japanese folklore, so it's almost like it goes from the grassroots plot and they got bored halfway thru the season, much like IZUMI did. Thanks for more info!
"Through hypnosis and... Exploding obstacle courses"
Seems legit.
Man the eighties were so batshit insane, I really love taking inspiration from all the crazy shit that occurred back then.
Damn, no Laserdisc? Now that's the true measure of a forgotten 1980's Japanese property.
Are we just going to ignore the size of that apple at 3:11
Hiroshima apples
@CYB3R2K30 Name 50. Checkmate, agriculture.
Must be an apple grown near volcanic ash.
3:53 made me laugh really hard. That mix of seething rage and santa cosplay is just perfect!
"Please kill me... or I will kill you!" 😂🤣
She's the santa who comes to your house to kick your ass when you've been a bad kid.
I kind of want to make a fan manga based on this now.
Have a retelling of the first few episodes. Make some new scenarios, enemies, and challenges for Izumi to overcome. Maybe throw in some twists along the way to add to the story.
I honestly think this series would have been the best opportunity to introduce full-blown monsters and super humans into the mix to give Izumi a proper challenge per episode. Can you imagine Izumi taking on various members of the Neos Empire from METALDER?
The closest it gets is other super soldiers.
I love chojinki metalder you're the first person I've even seen talk about it
Mah g that'd be so sick!! 😆
@@MitsuhashiTakashi Metalder fucking ruled.
Thank you for doing this. I got a bit of one of the early episodes once and like some mad crazy search for a drink or meal you once tasted in some long night. Great,just great!
"Oh I wonder when Kenny's gonna upload"
>minutes later
Okay now I guess
when the power of friendship fails... just blow them up.
Thank you so much for reviewing these. I've been buying the DVD's off of eBay and Amazon JP and it's changed my world! I'll add Azumi to my list. I share it with my friends and it's just been so much fun watching how fun and cheese some of these are. Sukeban Deka and Hana no Asuka gumi are the only ones I have so far but good Lord it's like my joy for the shojo genera lived again because of you!!!
interesting.. thanks for reviewing shoujo commando izumi! my friends at one fandom (sukeban deka) talk about this series sometimes and i dont really give a sh*t at the first. but after watching it, i am quite sure that the show is also quite worth to watch.
Wow, I'm amazed that this was a thing, and that it was a part of a much larger series of "high school girls with weapons" trend especially since I associate the 80's with buff dudes doing that stuff.
Hong Kong filmmakers produced a lot of what became nicknamed "girls with guns" films in the late '80s and early '90s. although the characters in those were pretty much always adults.
@@inversion66 By any chance was John Woo on it too?
@@ArcturusOTE John Woo didn't really do anything that counts as a "girls with guns" film. The closest was probably Once a Thief.
@@ArcturusOTE He pretty much only made "cool dudes with guns", the women in his films are pretty helpless most of the time.
Good video, Kenny. I remember a few months back how excited you were to look into this series lol.
Such a shame it didn't turn out to be as awesome as it could have been or that it had little success.
it was a wild ride. I'm glad to have watched it.
Loving that thumbnail Kenny.
One would think a girl with a gernade/ rocket launcher getting chased by a detective and a mysterious coorperation would write itself.
The show has some nice cars as well. Episode 11 shows a Nissan Skyline R30 TI and a rare black and red Honda Prelude XZ. Fun fact is that episode is the only existing video footage of that rare Prelude and all other photos of that car in those colors were only taken in the 20th century.
Anything Sukeban : exists
Kenny : "It's free real estate"
Action-based expressiveness. That's one of the great things I love about Japan. Thanks for posting.
Now I would like to see you review Sailor Suit and Machine Gun.
Thanks for the Algorithm for giving me this very wonderful Christmas gift.
I love how people debate what anime character every year is the strongest nah we compare school girls.
_This reminds me of The Machine Girl (2008)..._
_Which reminds me of Planet Terror (2007)_
_...This "came full circle, " Wow your video just said that too!_
"Anatawa Targeted. BANG"
Bang straight to my ❤️
Pretty sure it's "anata ga ta-geto" あなたがターゲット。(You are the target.)
@@gunsunnuva8346 ^Yeah. But still, my thoughts exactly.
Yeah, she was really cute in that clip.
@@danmorgan3685 very cute but I'm scared by how many teeth she has
Wait, 11:00 is from a tv series?
I never saw people say that it was a Vietcong, I always saw it being claimed as Fusako Shigenobu of the Japanese Red Army.
What a bizarre decision to switch the tone of the show after the first five episodes. What a waste.
This would have been so popular without the drastic tone shift 😔
I could it be because they ran out of budget?
I strongly disagree. Izumi learning to readjust to society and proving that she was not the living weapon the organization tried to turn her into was awesome. Plus her friendships with Keiko and Saori were heartwarming.
"she is just a girl with a rocket launcher" that out a smile on my face with the video timing.
This predates Hobo with a Shotgun by decades at least. Good work Kenny 👍.
Sounds like the show should've all been episode 3. The first two episodes set the stage with Izumi getting framed and diving to save herself; then follow that with her being taken and trained by the organization. You could've made the entire rest of the show be the organization abducting Izumi's friends and Izumi trying to track them all down to free said friends and destroy the organization so no one else goes through what she did. Build Izumi up gradually so she doesn't feel as game-breaking as she is and you're able to stretch the story out to however many episodes it had. It feels like a simple solution.
Zombies!? Ninjas!? You have to review Sukeban Deka Season 3 next. It sounds amazing. Shame this series didn't keep it's quality but it does sound good.
this channel is a gem
She is a JojoCommando
Wht did you expect?
This is the only type of shojo i want in my life (not seriously but it's my favorite type)
I love your channel. It takes me back to why I was so interested in anime and toku in the 90s.
Mecha Anime, buff dudes fighting buff dudes, Arnold Schwarzenegger... Also when did Die Hard got released, was it 1987?
Thank you for documenting this rare show
Izumi is the cutest of them all. Too bad it didn't go anywhere. :(
She's breathtaking.
Great co erage of old shows I missed in the 80s. Earned a sub.
I never knew I needed this in my life. Thank you.
Thanks to remembering this video, when I was browsing shows to play on my stream and saw this I had to check it out. I'm so glad I did. This show is a lot of fun and my viewers dug it too.
Once again, nice video man.
I remember reading in a blog some time ago that one the supossed reasons for the show not being more popular and being pulled earlier was because Izumi actress didn't had the same fanbase to support it, like the other sukebam action actresses/idols. Oh, and apparently the band A-JARI also did the music and a cameo in other sukeban series, called "Rebellion League of Girls in Sailor Uniform" back in 1986.
Interesting, her leather jacket's green colored patch was US Navy's VFA-195 "Dambusters"
Hell yeah I'm early to a Kenny Lauderdale video about sekuban action life is fun also any chance for the chainsaw one getting a series
Are you by chance talking about the one were the girl has a chainsaw arm???
We need this in this Era. Looks badass. Better than killbill
Rips stone wall from it’s... I..l wth is this One Punch Man’s mother?
Alright, this is my headcanon now!
From the looks of it yes.
Well my dear Sir, you have my full attention, as well as a new subscriber.
Look forward to seeing your next video.
Dude she took out a deck with a Shipping Pallet! Epic review Kenny.
That stunt with the bamboo spikes looked dangerous
Michael Bay, take notes.
He should keep his filthy hands as far away as possible.
I vote for Azumi vs One Punch Man short series if its so hard for the producers to figure out who she should fight next.
Megumin is gonna love this woman.
Thanks for diving into this series, the analysis of why it failed + what it could have been was very interesting, and I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.
If I saw "JUST A GIRL WITH A ROCKET LAUNCHER" on Tinder
That's a right swipe
Always get bummed when I miss your livestreams :( I liked the one I saw tho.
I was a little low on energy, I'll try to do one earlier on friday. Hopefully I'll be a little more awake, lol.
Missed it again. Always am working :(