Hana no Asuka-gumi!

Hana no Asuka-gumi! (Japanese: 花のあすか組!, lit. "The Glorious Asuka Gang!") is a Japanese manga by Satosumi Takaguchi serialized in Monthly Asuka. It was adapted into a television drama series, two live action films, two OVAs and two drama CDs. It is one of the series with delinquent girls (sukeban) popular in the 1980s.^[1] Two new manga series were published, one from 2003 to 2009 and the other from 2007 to 2008.

Hana no Asuka-gumi!
花のあすか組! (Hana no Asuka-gumi!)
Genre	Drama
Manga
Written by	Satosumi Takaguchi
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Magazine	Monthly Asuka
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	1985 – 1995
Volumes	27+6
Further information Original video animation Shin Kabukicho Story Hana no Asuka-gumi! Directed by Atsutoshi Umezawa Produced by Kadokawa Shoten Tohokushinsha Film Toei Video Company Written by Kenji Terada Studio Toei Animation Released June 10, 1987 Runtime 48 minutes Television drama Directed by Hideo Tanaka Toshio Ōi Morio Maejima Produced by Takashi Ishihara Osamu Tezuka Written by Junki Takegami Sukehiro Tomita Kazuhiko Gōdo Yūichirō Tatsumi Kenji Kuwata Music by Toshiaki Tsushima Studio Toei Company Fuji TV Original network Fuji Television Original run April 11, 1988 – September 26, 1988 Episodes 23 Live-action film Directed by Yōichi Sai Produced by Haruki Kadokawa Kazuyuki Satō Yū Ōkawa Sōgaku Koga Written by Yōichi Sai Music by Masahide Sakuma Studio Toho Released August 13, 1988 Runtime 100 minutes Original video animation Hana no Asuka-gumi! Lonely Cats Battle Royale Directed by Atsutoshi Umezawa Produced by Noriaki Ikeda Akira Sasaki Written by Kenji Terada Music by Kenji Kawai Studio Toei Animation Released March 23, 1990 Runtime 52 minutes Audio drama Written by Yōko Sugimoto Original run October 23, 1991 – April 23, 1992 Episodes 2 Audio drama Hana no Asuka-gumi! Gaiden Directed by Kazuya Torishima Written by Kazuya Torishima Released March 20, 1997 Manga New Hana no Asuka-gumi! (新・花のあすか組!, Shin Hana no Asuka-gumi!) Written by Satosumi Takaguchi Published by Feel Young (web comic) Original run 2003 – 2009 Manga Written by Satosumi Takaguchi Original run 2007 – 2008 Live-action film Hana no Asuka-gumi! Neo Directed by Yutaka Tsurita Released April 25, 2009 Manga Hana no Asukagumi! BS-hen Written by Satosumi Takaguchi Published by Feel Comics Demographic Josei Published August 9, 2018 Volumes 2 Manga Hana no Asukagumi! Infinity Written by Satosumi Takaguchi Published by Shodensha Magazine Manga Jam Demographic Josei Original run July 9, 2019 – November 7, 2021 Volumes 9

Recently, in July 2019, a new manga series was released called Hana no Asukagumi! Infinity and it ended on November 7, 2021.^[2]

Reception

More than 10 million copies were sold of the manga by November 2005.^[3]

Media adaptations

Anime

There are two OVAs: Shin Kabukicho Story Hana no Asuka-gumi!, released on June 12, 1987^[4] and Hana no Asuka-gumi! Lonely Cats Battle Royale, released in 1990.^[5] Lonely Cats Battle Royale was thought to be lost until an anonymous individual mailed a tape of the OVA to anime enthusiast and youtuber Kenny Lauderdale in 2019.^[6]

TV drama

Hana no Asuka-gumi!
Starring	Megumi Odaka Natsuki Ozawa Hikari Ishida
Narrated by	Ryou Nakanishi
Ending theme	"Get a Chance" sung by BaBe "BLUE WIND" sung by Megumi Odaka "Kanashige Dane" sung by ASUKA-GUMI
Composer	Toshiaki Tsushima
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	23
Production
Production company	Toei Company
Original release
Network	Fuji Television
Release	April 11 (1988-04-11) – September 26, 1988 (1988-09-26)

A television drama series was broadcast on Fuji Television from April 11 to September 26, 1988.^[7]

Cast

• Megumi Odaka as Asuka Kuraku
• Natsuki Ozawa as Miko Dōmoto
• Hikari Ishida as Harumi Kōzuki
• Shiori Sakura as Hibari
• Risa Honda as Kasuga
• Masami Hayami as Kaze
• Mika Chiba as Hayashi
• Emi Wakui as Hi
• Kyōko Ninagawa as Yama
• Megumi Ishii as Kyōko Kuraku

Live action films

Two live action films have been produced: the first, directed by Yōichi Sai and released on August 13, 1988^[8] and the second, Hana no Asuka-gumi! Neo, directed by Yutaka Tsurita and released on April 25, 2009.^[9]

References

1. Yuri Manga: Sukeban Deka Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine Review by Erica Friedman of Yuricon in Okazu
2. "CD Japan- Hana No Asuka Gumi! Infinity 9 (Feel Comics)". CDJapan. Archived from the original on 2022-07-03. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
3. "NTTドコモ/ i-mode公式サイトに 電子コミックサイト「恋 ｺﾐ」オープン！！" (PDF). Sega Sammy Group. 2007-01-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
4. 花のあすか組！ 新歌舞伎町ストーリー (1987). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
5. 花のあすか組！２ ロンリーキャッツ・バトルロイヤル (1990). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
6. "The Anime With Zero Clips or Screenshots Online - Hana no Asuka Gumi 2". YouTube. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
7. 花のあすか組！ (1988). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
8. 花のあすか組！ (1988). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
9. "花のあすか組 NEO! (2008)". allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2014.

External links

• New Hana no Asuka-gumi! at Shodensha (in Japanese)
• Hana no Asuka-gumi! at IMDb
• Hana no Asuka-gumi! Neo at IMDb
• Hana no Asuga Kumi BS Hen on CDJapan
• Hana no Asuka-gumi! (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia