kukuruyo

Another snippet for the future Sukeban and senpai

So since i’ll be slowly designing and thinking stuff for Sukeban for a year, i may as well do updates on ideas and the process.

So far everything is preliminary. Some of the stuff i’ve come up with is very solid but it’s mostly scenes, enemies, development, etc. Many of the specifics are still on the air or i have an initial idea but it’s subject to change. Even the main cast can change because what i have in mind can be adapted easily. So everything i’ll say can change completely for the final product, and i would like to hear what you think as well.

So for starters one very important thing about the setting. I know it’s kinda inevitable due to the nature of the two main characters, but i’m wary of making the story set in Japan. One of the reasons my stories are set in fantasy or sci fi worlds is because i think it’s very easy for a story set in the real world to become “cringe” without enough knowledge of the place. I would know, most of the depictions of Spain in media are absolutely ridiculous, and while i find them funny and don’t really mind, it would also be hard to take them seriously.

I’m accustomed to see many young artists in Spain who try to do manga and they think that means they have to set it in Japan, despite their only knowledge being a couple of anime. They end up doing very cringe stories and i would really like to avoid ending like them.

Since i’ve been interested in Japanese culture for several decades, i think at this point i at least have enough knowledge as to do a story in Japan if only touches their culture in the superficial, so that’s the route i would like to take. If i set the story in Japan, i want to make it in a way that focus completely in the School and avoids getting into a territory that could turn it ridiculous.

The main idea i have for this is also the main theme idea, which is that the protagonists are sent to a special school for delinquents (a reformatory?). Makes sense for sukeban and it’s not hard to make sensei involved. This school would have dormitories and shops, so i could make the entire story without leaving the school premises. That school would organize fighting tournaments between the students so they release their anger and then go to have relatively normal classes. Kinda like those anime from the early 2000s about academies with fighting involved, although we go to the opposite end of the social class.

I would also want to use this theme to justify throwing in characters from other nationalities, and make them all very stereotypical. The objective here is that if everyone is a walking stereotype, having a stereotypical japanese school doesn’t seem ridiculous.

With that setting i could divide the story between parts of fighting and parts of relatively normal school romcom with dumb and funny characters.

Again this is a preliminary idea and a lot of things could change here.

As for the characters, aside of sukeban and senpai, i have a few others in mind. I’ll keep the rivals and secondary cast out for the moment. I have in mind to have 4 girls as the main fighting characters, and 3 or 4 more non-fighters. one of the girls is obviously Sukeban, and another of the girls will be an Ojou-sama, simply because i’ve always wanted an ojou-sama in the main cast.

The other two are a little more in the air, but i’m considering making one of them a spaniard and use her for jokes about Spain separating what’s real and what’s stereotype. But i’m unsure of this one because that’s one of the things with potential of turning the comic “cringe”, although maybe i’m biased there because i’m spaniard and outsiders don’t see it that way.

I guess this will be seen differently from the US. I mean, hollywood has turned the US into basically the “canon” setting for movies, so for americans it must not feel cringe to see americans in movies. But most entertainment in Spain is very cringe so the idea of stories with spaniards in them can be a little…eh

With all of this said, there are a series of decisions i have to make.

First, as i mentioned in an earlier post, i have to decide if i set the story in an era were sukebans existed (in the 90s) or i make it modern and she’s just anachronistic. The anachronism itself wouldn’t be an issue, tons of stories today involve Gals, and gals have also been extinct since the late 2000s. If anything it would be funny to see a sukeban in the 2020s.

Basically the two options have advantages and disadvantages. Setting it in the 90s makes the story more unique, as i don’t think there are many romcoms or fighting manga today set in that era. It also has the nostalgia factor which can be a powerful one (although maybe it’s starting to feel overused and people tire of it). But it also slants the target audience towards more adult readers, while at the same time being a genre that usually younger people like. It also requires research to make sure what references i can throw, not only from entertainment but from culture. This wouldn’t be an issue in the west since i lived the 90s, but remember this would be Japan.

In a story set today, there are tons of references i can throw regardless of place, because we are super interconnected and globalized. Most important stuff is known everywhere. In the 90s with barely a starting internet it wasn’t so easy. I could reference the Power rangers but could i reference the A-team? Did it even emit in Japan?

Tbh i’m very undecided myself. I think the comic would be more popular if i set in in modern times, and it would also have its kind of magic to see an anachronistic sukeban. But going to the 90s would make it less generic and would have a nostalgia feel. Which in part is a problem because nostalgia clouds judgment. Many people quickly says “90s”, but i don’t think most people think this things through when casting votes and may have voted 90s just based on nostalgia and then not even read the comic or find the 90s setting really relevant. It’s also relevant that, since i’m going to focus the story in the school anyways, there aren’t really going to be THAT much things referenced. Once you get past showing the different technology in the school (old tvs, radio, etc) there aren’t going to be that much stuff to throw “90s stuff” there. In the long run it may end up being a handicap.

Another issue is the name of the comic. So far i’m calling the humor pages i do “Sukeban and senpai”, and it fits. But will it still fit for the regular series? Having 4-6 main characters and having a half part of battle, is it right to focus on two of the characters in the title, and for it to be a humorous one? or would be better to use a name that divides the attention? (like, Delinquent Girls, for example). I could also call it just “Sukeban” but then the protagonism would focus on her.

I’ll also have to think real names for the characters, or even if i want their names to ever appear. Maybe i can just use nicknames for everyone like goblin slayer. It could work. This would make more sense if the story was modern, because nowadays people use their internet nicknames irl, and it would make sense for people to call her “sukeban” since she would basically be the only sukeban XD

So some are those of my issues to solve right now. Some can be decided sooner or later. The name doesn’t really matter much right now. The setting is more important since there are things for the plot that would change depending on it. For example, the way i thought the starting sequence would involve a mobile phone. So if i finally decided to go for the 90s i would have to change it to a radio or something.

So i would like to read what you think on the topics laid out today.