Doberman Deka is a hardboiledmanga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Shinji Hiramatsu. It was serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Jumpmanga anthology from 1975 throughout 1979, with the chapters collected into 29 tankōbon volumes. The manga has been adapted into two live-action films and a live-action TV series. A sequel titled Shin Doberman Deka was serialized in Weekly Manga Goraku from 2012 to 2013, and collected into 2 volumes.
Plot summary
The protagonist is Joji Kano, a detective employed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's special crimes division, which handles serious criminal cases. His gun of choice is a customized.44 Magnum-caliber Ruger Blackhawk. Kano's harsh methods are the subject to criticism by the media, but he does not mind the reputation at all. While Kano has no pity for serious criminals, he holds a respect for children and elderly people, as well as former criminals who want to reform themselves for their prior misconducts. At the beginning of the manga, the only members of the Special Crimes Division were Kano himself and Superintendent Hiroshi Nishitani, but they would gradually be joined by additional members such as Detective Tetsuji Miyatake, a gang specialist who was transferred to Shinjuku from Osaka; female detective Ryuko Mimori; and from the United States, female detective Judy Terao. While the series started with a hardboiled atmosphere, it gradually became more light-hearted as it progressed.
Production
When Doberman Deka was chosen to end serialization in a few months due to low rankings in the Weekly Shōnen Jump reader surveys, rookie Kazuhiko Torishima was assigned as its editor. Believing that Shinji Hiramatsu was good at action but bad at drawing women, Torishima gave him an issue of the actor and idol magazine Myojo and told him to model the face of a new policewoman character after that of the most popular idol at the time, Ikue Sakakibara. After which, Doberman Deka jumped from around thirteenth in the reader rankings to third.
Media
Manga
Written by Buronson and illustrated by Shinji Hiramatsu, Doberman Deka was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1975 to 1979. The chapters were collected into 29 tankōbon volumes. An aizōban edition was later published, as well as a bunkoban edition, which compressed the number of volumes to 18. Buronson and Hiramatsu created a sequel titled Shin Doberman Deka that was serialized in Weekly Manga Goraku from 2012 to 2013, and collected into 2 volumes.
A TV series based on the manga, titled Bakusō! Doberman Deka, aired on TV Asahi affiliates in 1980. 22 episodes were produced, which aired from April 7 to October 27. Other than the main character Joji Kano, very few elements from the manga were adapted to the series. In the TV series, Kano was a member of a motorcycle cop unit.
