The Case Files of Yakushiji Ryoko

The show's cast. From left to right: Junichiro Izumida, Ryoko Yakushiji, Lucienne, Marianne and Yukiko Muromachi.

Yakushiji Ryoko is a Superintendent in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and with her lackey/slave/chew toy Assistant Inspector Junichiro Izumida They Fight Crime, though more often than not the cases end up involving the paranormal. While being in the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau, Ryoko is the daughter of JACES President Hiroko Yakushiji, who is an ex-MPD high-ranking officer. As such, she is the "official" Yakushiji known in the public to be standing ready to succeed her father. Think Law & Order meets The X-Files meets James Bond and you have a rough idea of what the show's like.

Notable for featuring an adult female protagonist above the age usually considered attractive who is still Badass and incredibly competent while also being extremely sexy.

Created by Yoshiki Tanaka and Narumi Kakinouchi, the series is a franchise that consists of a drama CD, an anime and manga series that has been concluded with 11 volumes alongside light novels.

As of 2012, the series has not been "officially" made available to the Americas, Europe, Oceania and the Middle East. The manga and anime's been released overseas so far to China and Taiwan and perhaps to the various Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. But not the novels as they're still in Japan.

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The franchise contains Examples Of:

• Adaptation Distillation: While the manga did take some aspects from the light novels as some of its stories were available with the former, there's no way that the anime did the same. But the production team did a bit of a good job with a reference to the Tokyo Nightmare novel.
• A Wizard Did It: With regards to the digital pictures the newspaper reporters had when the camera was destroyed after being ambushed by a JACES tactical team. Same with the giant frog's appearance near Azabu-Jūban.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Usually the maids, but they shine after confronting thugs outside Ryoko's penthouse apartment and in the Black Spider manga/novel arc.. Ryoko with Marianne in the last episode after facing JPP tactical teams.
  • Izumida fighting alongside Yukiko in the Black Spider arc.
• Between My Legs
• Beware the Nice Ones: The last episode features Yukiko going Rambo with two Howa Type 89 assault rifles while laughing maniacally. Once she runs out of bullets, she falls over. When she confront Ryoko on why she was not told of Nonogase's true allegiance, Yukiko was very angry that she was about to throw the water from the nearest glass onto her when Ryoko avoided it by twisting a bit with Yukiko's arm.
  • Izumida, where he shows off his unarmed combat skills to the max in the last episode. Or in any incident where Izumida must fight.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Ruriko (and the Japan Private Police) with Shiba and an extremist faction in the JGSDF.
• Big Fancy House: Ryoko's penthouse, though it's unknown where it is in the Greater Tokyo Area. She even allows Izumida to stay with her when it's not possible for him to go back to his own place.
  • Don't get me started on the Yakushiji family estate.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Majority of the JGSDF forces in the last two episodes. But don't you wander if the JGSDF bodies on the street were killed by Yukiko going nuts before the brainwashing ended alongside their counterparts in the JPP?
  • All JPP guards encountered in Okinawa.
• Brown Note: The Ultrasound Bug, which drives people to suicide.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Ryoko is something of a slacker who is often found shopping, bossing around her underlings and enjoying the finer things in life... while also being incredibly competent at her job, speaking several languages and being a graduate of Tokyo University.
• Busman's Holiday: As expected, her vacation to Okinawa ends up involving an investigation of the supernatural. It's implied she did it on purpose.
• But Thou Must!: Ruriko offering Monami the chance to be the "true" Ryoko by joining her and having Izumida to herself after Ryoko is taken care of.
• Call Back: There's a mention to the Tokyo Nightmare novel in the first episode. Only those who have seen/know about the novel series would understand this reference.
• Camp Gay: One of Ryoko's contacts is this after being forced out of the Ministry of Finance due to a government scandal.
• Chest Burster: In the Black Spider arc, especially how it was able to surprise Ryoko and the others in BC in an ambush.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Ryoko, though it depends if this is the case.
• Cloning Blues: Monami, Nonogase and Ruriko are all clones, but the first two don't know it.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: How Ryoko, Izumida, the maids and sometimes Yukiko responds to an all-out attack by armed mooks.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Several in the first episode alone and a running theme. Ryoko's on the fast track to becoming one herself in order to hector everybody she can into joining her own company so that they won't join its main competitor the JPP, which aims to turn itself into a real military and get rid of the JSDF permanently. This is what some of the Western fans of the franchise didn't like.
• Crazy Prepared: Ruriko being able to create another clone of herself in the anime's ending. It implies that someone's supporting her from the shadows.
• Creator Cameo: Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka making an appearance in the first episode.
• Cult: A major enemy in the first few episodes, the Tsukuyomi Party.
• Cyanide Pill: The assassin had combustible drugs to kill herself. See Driven to Suicide.
• Did Not Do the Research: When Ryoko and Izumida are in British Columbia, the duo are visited by a RCMP officer in ceremonial uniform. Unless the officer had visited them after attending some important matter (e.g. attending a talk session with students/participated in a police/RCMP-led ceremony), Narumi Kakinouchi's in the wrong!
• Disproportionate Retribution: Ruriko's plan to take down the Yakushiji family with Ryoko as the main target by using an anti-terrorist exercise with gunships and a tank to kill her.
• Double Agent: Nonogase for Shiba.
• Driven to Suicide: The assassin in the second episode after Ryoko reveals her allegiance to the cult.
• Driving Question: We all like to know what happened to the original Ruriko and Nonogase since they're just clones. And who made another Ruriko clone after all? Also, who was responsible for conspiring with Ruriko to put Ryoko's name in slander?
• Dual Wield: Yukiko using dual Howa Type 89s.
• The End — or Is It?: The ending for the series does show Ruriko's clone was made yet again. Ryoko told Izumida that she wants to hunt down the people/persons who conspired with Ruriko. Although one would wonder if the ratings and the fanbase in Japan would qualify for another season.
• Foreshadowing: You know the nightmare of a Ryoko-like person shooting herself in the noggin'? That person appears to be Monami, or possibly an earlier, failed clone.
• Fun with Acronyms: JPP or Japan Private Police. JESS or Japanese Empire Security Service. The only abbreviation unknown is JACES. (That is, if Yoshiki Tanaka ever gave out an acronym defintion)
• Gaia's Vengeance: How one can interpret the entirety of episode 7.
• Ghost City: Everyone in Tokyo was told to stay off the streets due to anti-terrorist training by the JGSDF. This is due to Ruriko's work of course.
• Government Agency of Fiction: Shiba, which has covert divisons of the Japanese government based in the "Shiba" building. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has a covert division of its own based in the building that does black ops.
• Government Conspiracy: In covering up the "true" nature of most of the cases Ryoko participates in.
  • Near the end of the show, the JPP and JGSDF (The latter under the crooked Defense Minister) team up with Ruriko and Shiba.
• Groin Attack: Ryoko interrogates a suspect by keeping her foot on his groin. Ouch!!!
• Hanlon's Razor: The answer to most of the cases Ryoko, Izumida and sometimes Yukiko and Kishida are involved in.
• I Did What I Had to Do: The maids destroying the mutant mangrove tree in Okinawa on Ryoko's orders. She walked away upset after Marianne fired napalm to take it out with Yukiko agreeing to it since its victims inside the Tadomura estate were beyond saving.
• Improbable Weapon User: The dual maids using an airport baggage cart to knock down a purse thief in Narita Airport.
  • Lot of more instances in the manga. Ryoko uses a pool cue to beat up some mooks. In the Black Spider Incident in Canada, Izumida decides to use his necktie. His friggin' NECKTIE, ya hear?!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: See Corrupt Corporate Executive.
• Kaiju Defense Force: A rogue faction of the JGSDF participate in an anti-terrorist exercise, which is meant to take down Ryoko.
  • Most of the JPP's manpower comes from ex-SDF personnel.
• Kill All Humans: The anti-terrorist robot that went berserk, killing armed JPP personnel since it was meant to kill armed terrorists in case of an armed assault on a nuclear power plant.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: But it can still tell between armed people as enemies and those who aren't.
• Meganekko: Yukiko
• Meido: Marianne and Lucienne, and later Monami starts being trained as one.
• Millionaire Playboy: Ryoko's father, and when Monami first shows up they initially think she's a bastard kid of his.
• Mistress and Servant Boy: Ryoko and Izumida
• Mood Whiplash: The opening scene of the first episode provides a prime example. We see a young woman standing in the sunlight as the wind blows around her. And then she shoots herself in the head. It's All Just a Dream, but damn!
• More Dakka: The plot to kill Ryoko in an anti-terrorist exercise with small arms-armed goons from the rogue JGSDF and the JPP alongside Apaches and Type 90s.
• Necktie Leash: Ryoko to Izumida, once again showing exactly who's in charge. Later Monami becomes fond of doing this to Izumida.
• Nothing Personal: Nonogase to Izumida as he needed to fulfill his role as a double agent with JACES and Shiba.
• Ninja Maid: Ryoko's maids, Marianne and Lucienne. They're also French for some reason. Both are experts in small arms handling and infiltrating into various places.
• One Woman Army: Ryoko heads down to a deserted downtown Tokyo to defeat Ruriko and Shiba, but her attempts were defeated when JGSDF tanks and gunships block her way.
• The Ojou: Ryoko is the heir to a massive security corporation, and she's actually called "Ojou-sama" by several people who work for it.
• Otaku: Several different ones, not necessarily anime and manga related (such as Nonogase, a security buff) while Kishimoto is more of a traditional example.
• Panty Thief: A sight gag in the second episode shows a JACES operator taking one down in a montage of images.
• Playful Hacker: Lucienne is an expert in computers, especially hacking.
• Private Military Contractors / Law Enforcement, Inc.: The JPP, which does contracts for security duties abroad in war-torn countries. In real life, a Japanese PMC would probably have problems being tolerated in the Japanese public.
  • Depending on your view, JACES.
    • Ruriko mentions to the corrupt Defense Minister on the strong ties between the JPP and the JSDF with JACES and the National Police Agency. You can see the source of manpower for these two corporations.
• Product Placement: A Nikon camera in the 3rd episode is branded as "Mikon", most likely to avoid any legal troubles with the actual company.
• Red Shirt / Redshirt Army: The JPP.
• The Rival: Yukiko and Ryoko, who call each other "Oyuki" and "Oryo" respectively. The franchise mentions that they were like this ever since their university days in the University of Tokyo.
• Running Gag: Izumida blocks Kishimoto from talking about the Leotard. Whatever it is, we'll never know.
  • Yukiko and Ryoko always getting into fights for no good reason, especially if the latter wants to do this a lot on purpose.
  • See Necktie Leash.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: When Yukiko turns to this, prepare to hide/run away/get away from her.
  • Nonogase near the end of the TV show.
• Screw Destiny: Monami supposedly to be the "true" president of JACES. Ryoko screwed that up and allowed her to live with her maids in France.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them / Screw the Rules, I Have Money: How Ryoko tries to solve cases and take down the bad guy while using police/JACES resources whenever she feels the need for it.
  • The former for Shiba, when they were able to get the media to slander Ryoko.
• She Fu: Ryoko's main fighting style, though it appears to completely take her opponents off guard as a result of all the Fan Service it involves.
• Shoot the Dog: Episode Seven. One word: napalm.
• Slipknot Ponytail: When the Tsukuyomi agent lunges at Ryoko in episode two her hair comes undone.
• Sneezing: Happens at times.
• Stealth Clothes / Spy Catsuit: Ryoko has this in the anime. In the manga/novel, Izumida, the maids, Kishimoto and Yukiko get a chance to have one too.
• Tank Goodness: In the last episode when the maids hijack a Type 10 MBT to take out rogue JGSDF Type 90s.
• To Be Lawful or Good: The conclusion of the episode when Ryoko and Izumida confront a rogue DK Pharmaceutical scientist who went to hiding with a monster child and treated it like her own son since it'll die eventually due to unstable cells, leading to degeneration.
• Tower of Babel: Ryoko mentions this after she and Izumida investigate the Ginza Tower as being too tall since it makes the horizon very ugly.
• Vetinari Job Security: No matter how corrupt Ryoko is...she has the advantage of not being Ruriko.
• Weirdness Magnet: To quote Yukiko, "trouble follows wherever [Ryoko] goes." This also extends to Monami.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: Ruriko Isurugi.
• Will They or Won't They?: With regards to Ryoko and Izumida in the entire franchise.
• Zip Me Up: One of the many ways Ryoko torments Izumida.