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NEWS: Pop Idol to Star in New Anime Series

I didn't believe the Playboy bit was true... <sigh>

Now that April Fools' Day is over, it's time to shed some light on how this idea came about:

Back in the mid-1990s, I noticed that videogame companies were capitalizing on the fighting game genre like crazy, all thanks to Street Fighter II. Then, CAPCOM tried something different by making a fighting game out of the horror film genre. So that gave me an idea: how about a fighting game with pop singers?

And so in 1996, I collaborated with a college friend in developing a shounen-type manga titled Pop Fighter: Legend of the Electric Youth ( 電気青年伝説 ). The story took place in the mid-1980s, where a teen pop idol named Debbie was to perform in her debut concert when a group of terrorists appeared from out of nowhere in an attempt to capture her. At this point, this was where Debbie first demonstrated her skills in Shotokan Karate and street fighting. She also had an ally patterned after Jon Bon Jovi, and the main villains were based on Michael Jackson, Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice. There were even plans to expand the story further to the '90s, where Debbie faced the Spice Girls.

So why did I choose Debbie Gibson as the basis of the manga's primary character? As PF was supposed to be a parody of martial arts anime and pop music, I wanted this story to be really cheesy. The problem was that pop singers in the mid-1990s weren't cheesy enough, so I looked back into the '80s. Some of Gibson's songs sounded like they'd actually fit in anime. As a matter of fact, some of her song titles would make good names for fighting attacks (hence her two finishing moves being called "Electric Youth" and "Out of the Blue").

During the time this manga was being conceptualized, my colleague was very much into Ranma 1/2; thus, the artwork was heavily inspired by Atsuko Nakajima's character designs. We were also hoping to blend in the art style of CAPCOM artist Bengus (Street Fighter Alpha).

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Pop Fighter never went off the ground. I was hoping to revisit this project and actually finish it this year. That all changed when Gibson decided to pose for Playboy. All the time spent to develop a character with a clean image went down the drain simply because the basis of that character decided to flaunt her sexual libido.

But that doesn't mean Pop Fighter is completely dead. I have plans to start over from scratch with a new storyline and all-new characters. Brooke Hogan looks like a good character basis...

I'm suprised you didn't include Paula Adbul in your Pop Fighter series.In any case,let how PF turns out!

BTW, did anyone here pick up the Playboy issue with her on it?