Sci-fi and Sparkles: Shoujo and Scott Design an Anime (Part 2)

Hello everyone and welcome to the second installment of Shoujo and Scott Design an Anime. This collaboration was a lot of fun and I am glad that Shoujo invited me to do this with her. We have very different tastes when it comes what we in enjoy in anime, so here are to make one that works for both of us. You all can find part 1 here.

In this conversation: SJ is Shoujo’s words and S’s are mine. If you are reading this on my website or mobile reader, you all get the added bonus of having our text be in different colors! I’m in orange and Shoujo is in pink!

Scott: I like this quite a bit, Shoujo. I am not a very good person when it comes to building characters in my head because I think my head is better suited for a lot of technical aspects. I heavily approve of the main love interest being an engineer for no reasons at all I am sure. Also, the police officer sounds pretty interesting to me because I am sure plenty of plot related hijinks like our ship going the wrong way could happen because of that. The nurse character sounds pretty awesome. Are we just focusing on these characters and having some minor interactions with the command crew like the Captain and such along the way, or how does the format of this anime/whatever this is work?

Shoujo:I think that while they should of course interact with the captain and such, we should probably focus MOST on our main cast so that the audience can grow to connect with them and care deeply for them. We should probably start to flesh out some of the technical aspects of this universe. Are there any sci-fi staples we should be cognisant of? Like, does each planet operate under different political systems? How many citizen alien species live on most planets? Does each galaxy share a unique language?? So many things to consider! (And do we even address the language barrier, or do we let those things go the way of the dodo for cinematic expediency and convenience?)

S: I am slightly leaning toward a governing system like in Babylon 5. All the races are very individualistic in nature, but they have an intergalactic meeting room where dealing of economics and war like things could be discussed. Maybe this archeology trip has held the interests of many races from that group, so that council put together a crew, and this is what we got. Also, maybe each race should number in the various outputs of the billions with half to a quarter of their race live on the capital planets, and of other worlds they all take a chunk out of what is left. (I also feel cheap with the languages by giving everyone one on the ship a chip on their outfits that automatically translates what everyone is saying so everyone knows what is going on). I still feel like all of that is incredibly vague though. Does that all sound terrible?

SJ: No, I don’t think so. I’ll admit this isn’t my area of expertise, but it sounds logical to me. I particularly enjoy the idea of having translators built into their clothing. That could create some fun hijinx if they stop working or even a romantic moment wherein it is discovered that one of the love interests has been attempting to learn the heroine’s language so that they can communicate without the assistance of technology. (Be still, my heart.) I can also see why various societies would all be concerned about what lead to this uninhabited system, and if each system operates like our own with only one (or a few) planet(s) fit for life, it stands to reason that the species number would stay reasonable for intergalactic organizational purposes.

S: Right? I was kind of thinking of how awkward swimming would be because people would be without these chips on or something. A lot of fun things could happen with them and can lead to so many situations. I am kind of wondering about the races though. Should we decide how many they are and what color they are as well?

SJ: Sure thing. I’m down with things like tails, too. Just not creepy things like 1700 eyes or egg laying. Ya know? I’ve always been scared of aliens since I was a kid! 😛 Anyway, let’s design some aliens! So the pink alien with the big eyes that sparkles? What if her species has different pastel hues for their skin and hair? Maybe some planets have evolved in ways that make them very homogenous but other species are of various races like humans?

Also, how many there are probably will depend on how many systems have been discovered. Thoughts?

S: I think keeping the amount of alien types for this space reverse harem low would be a good idea to make sure things don’t get too complicated. Maybe five or so besides humans? I like the pastel alien idea, it sounds cool! Also, I was playing around with the idea of a race of cat eared and tailed people and a race of dog eared and tailed people that just can’t get along? That sounded incredibly funny to me. Do we need a species that are like space elves in Fantasy shows?

SJ: Ooooh. Okay! Can the captain be a dog ear guy and the doctor megane be a cat ear guy? (I don’t know why the captain should be a dog ear, just that it feels right. Maybe because dogs are denoted as loyal?) How about cat ears, dog ears, vaguely elf-like (various races within species), pastel people, and one set that are all different shades of gray? Then of course humans. What if the main love interest is be shade of gray (who knows what other species he could be! Hmm! Maybe the missing one?!). OR AN ELF! And in my head, the security guard is a human. What do you think about the electrical mechanic, pilot, and MP? If the dog ears and cat ears don’t get along, though, we could make the electrical mechanic a dog ear because he already doesn’t get along with the doctor! Maybe we need some lizard people for reptilian variety, but they don’t have to be main cast. Just to pad out the retenue a little. You know? And maybe also a background species with skin various shades of blue with eyes the same and hair that always floats around their heads?  We want our main cast to stand out, so we shouldn’t have too many/only people that look like them around the ship. I might be going a little crazy here. This is not my knowledge base! lol

(Also, Andrew Love should totally voice our mechanical engineer. He’s got the pipes for it. Phew. That man.)

(Sorry if that was unnecessary 😛 But also, Greg Ayers? Makes a great electrical engineer.)

(The ones that are gray could all have bright red hair. I’m losing myself to this. Send a search party.)

S: I will leave the voice cast to you, haha. Catching up with these newer voice actors is hard for me even though I am still trying my best to do it. Ok, how about we have the lizard people and the race of blue people as both our background species so while they are varied, they never look like our main cast? Also, definitely a yes on the doctor being a cat eared alien and captain being a dog eared alien. So yes on having a variety of cat eared and dog eared people as well. Oh yes, I definitely like having the main love interest being a little different from everyone by being a grey skinned alien. Especially if that species comes in different varieties of grey because that would make sense to me. Man, does it feel like we have most of this figured out? Should we turn our idea into an anime studio and get paid?

SJ: Haha! How cool would that be! I wish it would indeed see production some day! I think I’m going to sketch out a few of these characters! I wondered if it was indeed possible to create a title that would exemplify both sci-fi and shoujo without making sacrifices of either genre, but I think we’ve done it. Thanks for working with me, Scott! This has been tres fun!

OOOOh, I would like to see some of those sketches! I am not sure if a title would be possible either, but I think that is ok. Everything else is pretty great. I’m glad you invited me on this, Shoujo. It was definitely a blast.

Let this prove to everyone that shoujo and sci-fi can indeed coexist! So, to summarize, we have the following:

(Wait, what year does this take place, and what are we going to call our anime? That last one is very important!)

S: (Ummmm…..random number generator says it happens 2675 AD. Yup, totally scientific process for deciding that. Also, it is possible to come up with an awesome title for this?)

SJ: I’m partial to things that sound ominous but still super vague, like Terror in Resonance. How about… Argo? Because some legends say the Argo was the first ship to sail the sea? Our cast is sailing into the unknown. They could call their ship the Argo. Totes down for other suggestions, though.

S: No, that sounds good. No lie. Now we also know the name of the ship as well, so thumbs up! It’s very classic science fiction anime in that way.

S: Well then, without further ado…

In the year 2675, intergalactic exploration has reached new heights. Alien species commingle between solar systems in matters of science, trade, military, and socialization. Our heroine has grown up within this world and is pursuing a degree in interstellar archaeological sciences when the discovery is made: an abandoned solar system on the outskirts of explored space. A series of unfortunate events sees she and two of her closest friends settled aboard the Argo, an exploratory vessel manned by various species all working to uncover the same truth; what exactly happened in this lonesome system? The Argo brings opportunity to meet many new faces, both unendingly kind and standoffish. Can a ragtag group of newcomers handle the pressure of galactic exploration into what is basically uncharted space? And when disaster strikes, can they come together, or will the secrets they seek to uncover tear them apart?

… sound good? She needs a name. How about Yumi?

S: How about we just let you write synopsis for things for now on? Also, Yumi is good. It’s an adorable name!

SJ: Why thank you! You’re too nice, Scott. 😛 Anyway, I suppose we’ll end it there for today? I hope all of the readers have as much fun reading this as we did writing it!

S: I think we did good work today and I feel like this is a good stopping point. In the end, all that is in the hand of the viewers.

SJ: Agreed!

Thank you for reading everyone!