Marmalade Boy
When Wataru Yoshizumi first started planning "Marmalade Boy", Miki, Yuu, Ginta, and Meiko were all the opposite genders of what they ended up being in the final versions, and Miki's original design looked similar to Yuu's final appearance, while Yuu was an attractive girl with long black hair and a "devilish" and "unpredictable" personality. Yoshizumi notes several reasons behind the changes. Part of the reason was that it was a request from the "Ribon" publishers, who wanted a female as the central character as the story was going to be included in a "Mother's Day" set with magnets featuring the characters. Her associate editor also expressed concerns that a male hero would be a "sissy" when written about by a female writer. Finally, Yoshizumi herself decided that she would go with a heroine rather than a hero as most of the "Ribon" readers are girls.