Buckle in, folks, today’s review is going to be a lot of expository commentary for a payoff that may seem small to you, but is hella powerful to me.

Our story begins in 1985, with the creation of the Hana no Asuka-gumi! (花のあすか組!) manga series by Takaguchi Satosumi. It ran for 10 years and, in that decade, told the story of a suicidal girl Kuraku Asuka, who was saved by a manipulative and sociopathic two-bit criminal, Kijima Yohko, who happens to be the half-sister of Asuka’s best friend Doumoto Miko. Yohko was a horrible person and Asuka and she fell passionately into a toxic and unstable relationship. Neither of them had the emotional wherewithal to confront what we can see were intense feelings for one another, so like the street gang kids they were, they just kept beating the crap out of one another. Yohko functionally sold Asuka to the leader of all the girls gangs in Tokyo, where Asuka became Hibari-sama’s favorite toy and Minister of the Left. When Asuka left Hibari-sama, she never forgave Asuka and has spent the last nearly 30+ years trying to get her back. Yohko ends up dying in a fire to save Asuka from…well from the next shitty thing she’d do to Asuka, really.  

In 2003, in Shin Hana no Asuka-gumi! (新・花のあすか組!) Asuka returns from America, and is immediately dragged into another war with Hibari’s organization, the Zenchuu Ura, (which is pattered after the Imperial Court, with area masters from the 23 wards of Tokyo, unaffiliated “outside” groups and absolute HORDES of special teams, which I will not list, because we could be here for ever.) Suffice it to say, typically Asuka “saves” the life of a young girl, who was dragged into shit over her head, fights off the Zenchuu Ura and shrugs. This  series ended in 2009, but in Volume 5 something unbelievable happened. I reviewed that volume in 2007, but let me quote a passage. I assure you it is salient:

In Volume 5, something I wrote in a Hana no Asuka-gumi Fanfic actually happens. Now, that’s really no big deal. I make it a point to try and stay in character when I write fanfic…or at least write the characters in a way that’s plausible, unless it’s total crackfic. But in this case, I did something sort of odd, even though I thought it completely plausible. I had the dead Yohko talk to Asuka in her head. Imagine my complete surprise, nay, shock, when I started reading the chapter in Feel Young magazine and dead Yohko started talking in Asuka’s head! I think my reaction was something like this:

“Oh. My. God.”

/still pause/

“Oh. My. &^$!ing good god.”

/Me holds the book up and suddenly breaks out into a spastic dance of hysterical fangirly joy./

P.S., I wrote the story years before the new series ever began.

To make it all better, Miko’s reaction to Asuka’s confession that dead Yohko is talking to her practically came out exactly the same as in my story too.

So since the ’00s, my weird little conceit has been canon – dead Yohko talks to Asuka inside her head. Exactly the way I imagined she might, even the same sentences, in the same way, for the same reason. A+ for plausibility, Erica.

In 2018, 9 years after Shin Hana No Asuka-gumi! ended, Hana no Asuka-gumi! BS Hen (花のあすか組! BS編) ran for two volumes. This was mostly focused on cyberbullying and expanding Hibari-sama’s influence. NOW she has groups outside Tokyo though the Honeybees, a kind of fan club that also runs underground contests and other miscellaneous money- and victim-making prospects. I think this story was mostly to see if this series still had selling power. Welp, yes it does, because the next year, Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ) launched. It is now finished at 9 volumes. And let me tell you….a LOT has gone on.

But you don’t care about the School Wars or all the new groups that have popped up, or that Tenshi has now ascended from pretending to be a boy in a boy band to running her own special forces, along with other godly-named fighters. Or that Asuka LOST this battle and was unable to save the girl and – for the very first time – she completely lost her cool and had a major meltdown.

Here is why I am telling you about Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 7. Of course…it’s Yohko. Dead Yohko whose voice can still be heard by Asuka, as clearly as if she were standing there.   The thing is no one but Miko and the rest of the Western Outside Group knows about Yohko. Well, Hibari-sama and her aide-de-camp, Kasuga, but they don’t care.

So, as the School Wars are about to start – once again it’ll be Asuka vs everyone – former Area Master (head of a Tokyo Ward gang) Akae comes back, with her hair shorn to look like Yohko. She knows Yohko is Asuka’s only weak spot – and she seems to know the whole story. She tells the others that Yohko is the only person Asuka cared about, that she was everything to Asuka.

In the final page, Akae, looking like Yohko, walks out to face Asuka who is in the middle of a battle.

Friends, I screamed.

It’s been almost 40 years since Asuka met Yohko, while nursing a broken hand after a fight she lost in Shinjuku, it’s been 30 years since Yohko died in fire. Asuka is one year older and Yohko is still the most important thing in the world to her. I love this series so much. ^_^

My reviews here about this series have been sporadic and mostly incoherent as I try to explain the complicated structure of the Zenchuu Ura and the whole series, but there is a category for it: Hana no Asuka-gumi. Of these reviews, let me suggest these two for fun.

2006 – Drama CD: Hana no Asuka-gumi Gaiden (花のあすか組外伝) – this was one of two Drama CDs for the series. I still haven’t found time to listen to the other, but this one is one of my prize possessions for reasons that will become obvious if you read the review.

2011 – Yuri Artbook: Kuraku Asuka Mairu! (九楽あすか参る!). This was another item that absolutely centered my obsession with Yohko and Asuka’s relationship, in a literal sense. As well as giving space for Hibari-sama to be a complete freak.

So, look, I know none of you are running out and reading 52 volumes of an untranslated 40 year old gang girl series  – except Ashley, love you! – but IF you want to read a 40 year old gang girl series with 52 volumes of manga, two movies, a live-action TV show, 2 anime OVAs, 2 Drama CDs and 2 novels, make it Hana no Asuka-gumi!.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

Seriously, I screamed.

As we ended, so shall we begin. We ended the year on a Live-action adaptation of a Yuri manga. Sadly for us, Kakera, was not a particularly good adaptation.

Happily for us, Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO was an *excellent* adaptation of my favorite obscure manga series ever.

A quick synopsis: Kuraku Asuka is a girl who had been bullied in middle school. Brought right to the edge of suicide, she finds purpose in fighting for her life – both literally and figuratively. Through an acquaintance with Kijiima Yohko, a sociopath who involves Asuka with the girl-gang underworld of Tokyo, Asuka is reborn as the best fighter in the city. Asuka becomes involved with the underground organization that runs the girl gangs, the Zenchuu Ura, and the leader of that organization, Hibara-sama. After being the second-most powerful person in the Zenchuu Ura, Asuka leaves Hibari and becomes friendly with the “outside Group” in Shinjuku. That “Omoteban” is run by the lovely Hime, and has members with the elemental names of Kai, Mizu, Hi, etc… Also involved with the Omoteban is Asuka’s best friend, Doumoto Miko…the half sister of Yohko.

You got all that? Well that’s not half of it, and I’m grinning as I type, because no matter how long I spend explaining this series, no matter how many times I explain it, it will never be clear unless you read the whole thing. ^_^

The series was super popular in the 80s, with both manga and TV series. The manga came back for an extended epilogue a few years ago. An absolutely dreadful movie was made in the 90s, which had one awesome scene but was otherwise excruciating. In the meantime, the creator had gone on to become best known for her BL series.

In 2009, the manga was undergoing a renaissance and some genius decided to make a Live-action movie – the movie that hadn’t been made the first time but really, really needed to be made. And so, we now have the opportunity to enjoy Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO! (花のあすか組 NEO!). And thank heavens for that!

This movie is so close to being exactly right that the few kvetches I have are ridiculous. Asuka is played by none other than the daughter of Takaguchi Satosumi, the series creator. She’s too tall (Asuka is a shrimp,) but otherwise, she’s great.

The plot is taken from the manga itself, so if you’ve read the the thing, you’ll know the plot the instant it begins.

Mizu is the first to show up, and Miko is…perfect. Hime was sort of off, and Yohko is all crazy all the time, and not quite perfect – her hair was all wrong – but she was a total sociopath and nice and violent, so that was fun. What had me dancing around was the appearance of Kurenai, scar and all. No Hibari-sama, but I could forgive that, as it would have been deeply confusing if you weren’t a fan. Why you would be watching this movie if you weren’t a fan, I can’t for the life of me guess, but it could happen. The fights were *excellent.* Everything I could have hoped in a totally serious adaptation of one of the silliest series I’ve ever loved.

Ratings:

For casual viewers of cheesy Japanese live-action movies – 7

For me – 9

So to start off the new year, run and buy Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO! for a taste of the good ole days when girl gangs ruled the streets and school of Tokyo.