All Night Dekko

**All Night Dekko** (オールナイトデッコ) was a shojo and gag series by Fujio Akatsuka and Mitsutoshi Furuya, published in Shojo Friend through 1970.

## Overview

Inspired by Toei's "Pinky Violence" genre of films emerging at the time, this work revolves around the five-member "All Night Group". These five bad schoolgirls wander around their city at midnight, to indulge in all the fun that they can get up within the confines of 8-page stories.

However, after the eighth chapter, this setting was gradually done away with as the day-to-day home lives of the All Night Group were unveiled and more focus began to fall upon gag situations related to these themes. While the title before had the emphasis on the "All Night" part, the final stretch was more prioritizing of Dekko herself and her own family, especially her father, while the other All Night Group members stopped appearing. The series was then wrapped up with the fourteenth chapter, owing to its lack of popularity in the magazine and inability to eclipse other gag works of Akatsuka that were going at the time. Still, the end of the series managed to bring the focus back to the five girls, if showing an adventure that happens within the daytime.

At the time of its announcement as well as in the credits for each chapter, *All Night Dekko* was billed as a work authored by Fujio Akatsuka and with its art duties by Mitsutoshi Furuya. However, in reality it was the latter who wound up more responsible for the series; this was due to Akatsuka having been busy with handling other works of his own. A system similar to The Genius Bakabon's Old Man and the early chapters of No-Good Father was in place, with Akatsuka coming up with rough sketches and story ideas, while the completed designs and artwork would be Furuya's own.

As this series has never received reprint, there is question on whether the rights would belong to Fujio Pro or to Family Planning. There are some motifs in it that are clear of Furuya's inspiration, however, such as specific guest characters and the elaborate night scenes. The fact that Akebono had ultimately counted the series as a "Mitsutoshi Furuya" work when originally planning to reprint it may also lend more to the theory of the rights going to him after his separation from Fujio Pro. But in the end, the authorship question remains unclear and not officially stated by either company, as well as if it may ever see book form.

## Characters

### Dekko

A short, strange young woman with an absurdly large head (similar to that of a certain *No-Good Father*), freckles, and thick glasses. She is the leader of the All Night Group, dubbed "Mama" by her friends, and wears a dark cloak that covers up her body. Her name derives from that sizeable cranium, which she often uses to headbutt her targets as an easy way of fighting.

Although her home situation is initially a mystery, it is soon revealed and winds up taking priority in the plot. Dekko's father's design winds up being a rather rough prototype to Furuya's later creation Mr. Dokudami, though all her family members (father, mother, and younger brother Chibou) bear huge heads like hers.

In the final story, Dekko falls in love with a handsome, taller boy but this young man only tricks her and the rest of the All Night Group into being lead into a punishment and forced study session by their teacher.

### Baka Yakko

A young woman who's a great fool, comparable to that of a certain snot-nosed singing child. She tends to dress in very frilly, feminine clothing and has a large bucktooth. Her design can also be occasionally seen to be used on male characters by Furuya, with there being little difference in the character's presentation other than their fashion sense.

Yakko is pampered and adored by her father, who wants her to consider him the favorite of her parents, while her mother takes objection to just how clingy he is to her.

### Maxi Jun

The fashionista of the group; the "maxi" part of her name derives from her oversized trenchcoat she often wears early on, and other large articles of clothing like a long vest seen later in the series. Her mass of curly hair tends to be hidden by a hat, but is exposed in a fight in chapter 7 and is also visible in the final story.

When not dressed in her maxi-type fashions, Jun can be seen to be slender and on the taller side. She and Kiku remain the more mysterious members of the group who did not have their family situations and home life explained in the series.

### Kiku

A topless member of the All Night Group, seen to have dark skin and short coily hair atop her scalp as part of her "Black look"-type design. Later on in the series she occasionally gains shinier eyes. She is often seen sticking her tongue out in her facial expressions.

As with Jun, the series ended without any further explanation and insight into Kiku's home life (and how her family would take their daughter modeling herself after an African, or if they also had similar aesthetic).

### Shime

A tall, slim, shy-looking schoolgirl who still wears her sailor suit uniform late at night and carries her school satchel around. Her family all have large, oblong heads like she does. Her height lessens some through art evolution, but she remains the tallest of the group.

Shime's attempt to withdraw from the All Night Group starts the first conflict and adventure we see, as she is smitten with a boyfriend that they plot to abduct. She is shown to fancy other guys through the series, and is easily caught with the rest of the All Night Group when they're tricked by their shared new "boyfriend".

## Serialization

The series ran for these 14 untitled chapters, from issues #18 to #31 of the magazine.

1. (#18)
2. (#19)
3. (#20)
4. (#21)
5. (#22)
6. (#23)
7. (#24)
8. (#25)
9. (#26)
10. (#27)
11. (#28)
12. (#29)
13. (#30)
14. (#31)

## Reprints

Akebono Publishing had announced plans to reprint this title in the afterword of *Let's La Gon* vol.1, with a tentative slating for sometime in 1974. Furuya's "Woman Planet" was also to get a reprint by the company in that volume as extra content. This was also announced in the volumes for other Furuya titles such as *No-Good Father*, as part of advertising more "Mitsutoshi Furuya classics".

For whatever reasons though, the volume edition of those titles never happened and *All Night Dekko* has not been seen again since its original release.