deka wanko is peak cinema

 

well, maybe i'm exaggerating a little - but deka wanko is a really fun ride, and i wish more people talked about it in the year of our lord 2026.

 

deka wanko is a 2011 j-drama that follows ichiko "wanko" hanamori, a homicide detective with the sniffing power of a bloodhound, and the rest of her division as they solve a variety of crimes. it's based on a 2008 manga by the same name, but i haven't read it, so this post is about the tv drama only.

i'm not sure why they chose this coord to put on the cover, i think her other outfits are more fashionable lol

some background on the show and how i found it -- i'm always looking for ways to enjoy this fashion even when i'm not out and about while wearing it, so movies and film are a good way of doing that. that being said, accurate depictions can be a bit tough to find, and i'm a stickler for things being just right, so i was happy to stumble across an old blog post recommending some. i'm not a big fan of tokusatsu, so i was intrigued when the blogger detailed a brief premise of a lolita cop/detective show where the main characters wears a lot of angelic pretty. "fun," i thought, "cop shows are my guilty pleasure, and i love angelic pretty."

 

my expectations were set for a fairly conventional and just-fine short tv show. i'd heard literally nothing about the show until now - absolute crickets compared to the legendary kamikaze girls, or even lesser-known media, like these are clothes i want to wear. (side note, i want to re-read this and blog about it sometime.) the lack of chatter around it made me assume that it would be nothing special, just something i could watch in the background, occasionally pointing out dresses and prints i liked, and that would be that. but when the show started with our protagonist buying charms at angelic pretty to put on her gun, i knew i was in for something a little more interesting than that.

deka wanko exceeded my expectations a hundred times over. i won't spoil the exact plot details of this show, but i have some thoughts!

 

deka wanko is, on a basic level, a police show where cops catch criminals - well, sort of? it is that, just objectively, but with the exception of a few standout episodes, the crimes sort of fade to the background as set dressing for the real meat and potatoes of the show, which is the characters and their interactions.

misako is in this show too!

as one could probably deduce from the title of the show, wanko is the star of the show. she wears lolita in her day to day life and even while solving murders. her coordinates range from cute, to quirky, to clashy, and everything in between, and they're always a treat to see. she wears a lot of (though not exclusively!) angelic pretty, which makes sense, seeing as they're one of the sponsors for the show. a cop show is an unusual thing for AP to get involved with, but i'm glad they did. her fashion sense brings a unique flair to this drama, and i highly recommend giving it a watch for the fashion and cameos of notable frilly figures alone.

 

the appeal isn't just surface-level, though. she's a genuinely fun and endearing character. she's hard-working, positive, and true to herself -- though she can also be naive, short-sighted, and a bit immature at times. she's always great fun to watch in action, especially when she's sniffing out criminals like a police dog. not a figure of speech, by the way, her sense of smell so unusually strong that she can (and does) use it to solve her cases.

in order - koma, gara, chanko (my goat,) yana, duke, and kiri. not pictured - shige, their boss, and mikhail/michael

i'd be remiss not to mention the rest of the detectives from section 13. these men, police who work in the same unit as protagonist wanko, make up the main supporting cast. i wasn't expecting to like them nearly as much as i did, but they're all fantastic in their own ways. while we get more insight into some of them than others, each of them is hilarious and compelling in their own right. they bounce off of each other and wanko in funny, baffling, and sometimes heartwarming ways. they're a very strong secondary cast and got so many laughs out of me. (my partner and i took to calling them 'wanko's pet cops.')

deka wanko isn't a super deep or thought-provoking story, that's not really what it's here for. the main appeal of deka wanko, at least to me, is the characters and their excellent chemistry. (and the lolita fashion - of course.) it's not a story you're supposed to think super hard about, it's just something you're supposed to enjoy. live in the moment and embrace the absurdity, and you're sure to have a really really great time.

so, with all that said, if deka wanko is so good, why don't i ever see anyone talk about it anymore?

to be clear, it's not as if deka wanko has been completely unknown to the lolita community thus far. i found out about it from an old blog post, i was able to find some gifs on tumblr to spruce up this post, and i was still able to find some chatter here and there from lolitas and j-drama fans alike about the program. but as far as i can tell, discussion of the show has almost completely dried up, at least in the places where i'm regularly looking.

my personal theory is that it's a combination of a couple things. time, for one - the show came out in 2011 and it shows. i really adore that aspect of it, but to others, it could feel dated. it doesn't have quite the same timelessness or oldschool charm that kamikaze girls does, nor the same theatrical polish. secondly - the show is no longer easy to find, something i tragically found out when i tried to watch it. if you aren't in the know about where to find episodes of deka wanko, you're shit out of luck. no matter where i looked, i couldn't find it anywhere, not even on my favorite shady sites -- not even as a torrent! and yet, as recently as just a few years ago, i'd seen comments directing people towards youtube to watch the entire thing with english subtitles. of course, when i looked, i found no such thing...

this is pure conjecture on my part, but i imagine a slew of copyright takedowns were issued after deka wanko was put on japanese hulu, which is currently the only place you can legally watch it.

it's enough to drive someone to heinous digital criminal activity!

it's not hopeless, though, just annoying. if you hate the idea of piracy, you can probably use a VPN to set your location to japan and open it up on hulu. that being said, if you, like me, find this method to be too troublesome, fansubs of the series have existed for a very long time - you just have to know where to find them. someone in a community i'm in mentioned that you can watch the show on a site called myasiantv, but please not that i have not checked out the site myself. if you're going to check it out, always use an ad blocker, it's always best practice with these kinds of free movie sites. personally, i was very fortunate to find someone who very graciously shared a .ZIP with me of all the episodes plus the two specials, subtitled and everything. i am super grateful to them, and if they're reading this i hope they know that!!

(i know it's legally dubious, but seeing as you literally cannot legally watch this show if you're not in japan, i feel like it checks out morally... let me know in the comments if you would like me to send you the .zip of the episodes + specials. with stuff like this sometimes you've just gotta keep circulating the tapes!)

in conclusion - you gotta check it out. if you have even a passing interest in lolita, you gotta!! i was hooked after the first episode, but i'd personally say that to give this show a real chance, i would give it about three episodes. if you truly aren't into it after the third episode, you probably won't be into it at all. that being said, if you are still interested in the fashion aspect, at least watch episode 6 for some unabashed indulgence for the lolitas in the audience, and thennnn you can be done. 

i'll end this informal review of sorts with a few of my favorite wanko coordinates - because, let's be so honest, that too-long bright red petticoat isn't a great first impression.