The Original Story

Right from the start, Yoshizumi Wataru wanted the story of Marmalade Boy different than what it eventually turned out to be. She wanted to have Miki and You really be brother and sister... You goes to college in Kyoto to forget about Miki, leaving her behind in Tokyo where Ginta comes to tell her that he'll be there for her. When You graduates, Meiko is there to meet up with him. It was supposed to be Miki with Ginta and Meiko with You (By this time, she still did not plan to have Ginta and Meiko end up with Arimi and Shinichi). This was probably the reason why Rumi, in Manga #1 told Miki not to fall in love with You. But it was a bittersweet ending and that lead to her editors not liking the idea and her not liking it either, so she changed it.

The title "Marmalade Boy" pertained to Miki and not You. Originally Miki was suppoused to be a boy with short blond hair that was very ordinary (Although she's basically You's double). The male characters of the show were females in the original and the girls were the males. The original version of Meiko was a boy that looked a bit like Ginta, who was having a relationship with a teacher, You was a very cute girl with long black hair that hid her feelings and Ginta was suppoused to be a short blond haired girl that shared Meiko's personality traits, except without the whole teacher thing.

The editors also wanted the hero to be changed to a girl because the main audience of Ribon magazine readers are girls. Plus, Yoshizumi writes that back then, if a woman writes about a man being the lead character, he might be seen as being "unmanly" and she didn't want that. The famous line about Marmalade that Miki used to describe You was thought of by chance while Yoshizumi was writing the story.

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