Setting Based on Late 80's/Early 90's Anime

Okay, I had an idea for a story and setting based on the early era of the Western anime fandom (late 1980s and early 1990's), specifically the violent Darker and Edgier fare that was prevalent in the West at the time. Think of the stuff Manga Entertainment released at the time. (Now that being said, the story will still be work safe, albeit R-rated due to violence and Cluster F-Bomb language)

The concept itself is a mix of a Genre Throwback and a Parody, with copious amounts of Black Comedy and Dramedy. The actual plot and setting is what needs to be constructed.

The actual physical setting is a city that blends Japanese and American elements together, the setting being 2017 AD (which looks suspiciously like the 80s and 90s and less like the actual 2010's in terms of fashion and aesthetics) but it may progress onward into either a Cyberpunk or After the End scenario later on.

The opening plot is a parody of the opening to AKIRA, with a conflict between two gangs, the Outcasts MC and the Jokers (A parody of both the Capsules and Clowns from AKIRA, as well as parodying the real-life Outlaws MC biker gang and the Juggalo subculture respectively), and the main character is Sammy Speed, a Biker Babe who is Sergeant-At-Arms of the Outcasts MC and a gruff Action Girl akin to a lot of the female heroes of the time (as well as an Expy of Revy from Black Lagoon in terms of personality)

The Outcasts being the initial protagonists and the Jokers being their enemies is a set up for the opening story arc, but I want the Jokers gang to be more of a Starter Villain with more characters and story arcs down the road.

But I need help in building the story and setting from here, making interesting characters, settings, factions, and story arcs, as I am a very inexperienced writer.

edited 12th Jan '15 12:09:56 AM by PaulieRomanov

Y'know, I've been wanting to do a story like this (even got around to sketching characters) but never got around to it.

The thing with most of these anime is that they were pretty brainless in terms of premise (though the actual stories may have some depth). At the time, knocking-off of more successful stuff (like Akira) was basically the standard because, at the time, there was no guarantee that an OVA would turn a profit. So, they'd go for bottom-of-the-barrel entertainment (violence, sex, simple story) in an attempt to get as many people to buy it as possible. It was very much like the grindhouse movement in American film.

So, my first advice is to keep the premise simple and wear your influences on your sleeve.

As far as story suggestions: the government is experimenting with some kind of super-weapon that the main character gets their hands on. The super-weapon takes the form of some kind of robot suit that the main character uses to fight people. That's the plot for about 100 90's OVA, it's a simple story (pretty much a superhero story) and it leaves some room to expand on.

Well, the obvious route is to have the Jokers (after taking a thrashing by the Outcasts) be captured and experimented on by a Corrupt Corporate Executive's Mad Scientist program, giving them Body Horror and/or Lovecraftian Superpowers. They're then turned loose in order to see how well these powers work in the wild, and when the Jokers go after revenge on the Outcasts, it gets your (anti-)heroes involved in the plot (possibly with Sammy Speed or someone close to her acquiring powers, either from contact with the transformed Jokers, or being given them by a third party who opposes the forces the Corrupt Corporate Executive is meddling with).

edited 14th Jan '15 1:54:25 PM by RavenWilder

Excellent idea

I apologize for the thread necromancy, but I have thought about revisiting this idea

This gonna be a cyberpunk setting of some sort from the start? In any case, sounds kickass. All my money.