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Project A-ko (movie)

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Trivia:

Captain Napolipolita is a parody of Captain Harlock. But unlike Harlock, who rarely drinks, Napolipolita is a compulsive drinker.

Mari, one of B-Ko's henchwomen, is a direct parody of Kenshiro of Fist of the North Star.

In the scene where A-Ko and C-Ko go to a movie theatre, the movie being played is a parody of the 1983 anime film Harmagedon (Genma Taisen), only with KFC's Colonel Sanders playing the role of the alien Vega.

During the battle between Earth Defense and Captain Napolipolita's ship, an Earth fighter jet fires a volley of missiles on the ship. One of them is a Pepsi can (a reference to the Budweiser can missile animation in the 1984 anime movie Macross: Do You Remember Love?).

Miss Ayumi is a parody of Creamy Mami from the anime series of the same name.

B-Ko's hairstyle is a reference to Minmei's hairstyle in Macross: Do You remember Love

The title Project A-Ko is a parody of the Jackie Chan movie Project A.

At the end of the movie, A-ko's father, who looks awfully like Clark Kent, is reading a newspaper covered with articles based on the Flesicher Studio's Superman cartoons from the 1930s. Her mother, who looks awfully like Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego, is ironing and folding a Superman costume.

The anime was originally meant to be a Cream Lemon hentai, but was instead softened for more mainstream appeal.

Samantha Newark, the LA-area vocal talent who sung "In Your Eyes" (the ballad that plays while B-ko is in the bath) was also the speaking voice of Jem, the main character of the popular American cartoon of the same name. She did not actually sing any of the songs from the show.

Project A-ko (name apparently inspired by the Jackie Chan martial-arts comedy Project A) put it's team of staff and their animation studio A.P.P.P. Co., Ltd on the map. It's success also launched a a mini-franchise of five direct to video sequels and even a comic book. The six anime titles were among Central Park Media's first American releases in the USA, with Project A-ko coming out as a subtitled laser disc on July 5, 1991 and video on January 22, 1992, and a dubbed video on January 6, 1993.

Prior to its official domestic release, Project A-Ko was part of a 37-minute trailer reel compiled in 1988 by Gaga Communications in an attempt to market selected anime titles to the U.S. In an attempt to make it seem more import-friendly, Gaga Communications retitled Project A-Ko as "SuperNova." The trailer also featured Crystal Triangle, They Were Eleven (renamed "Star Odyssey"), Yotoden (retitled "Blade of the Ninja"), Nayuta (retitled "Aura"), Roots Search (retitled "Alien X"), Metal Skin Panic Madox-01 (retitled "City of Steel"), Dream Dimensional Hunter Fandora, Bubblegum Crisis (retitled "FutureScape"), Scoopers, The Humanoid (retitled "Metallica"), M.D. Geist (retitled "Thunder Warrior"), Maps: Legendary Space Wanderers (retitled "Star Quest") and Circuit Angel (retitled "Thunder Road").

This film was double bill with "Ami's Journey" when it premiered in theaters.

The film was intended to be an OVA, but the producer suggested it to a theatrical film instead. The sequels that were made afterwards were released as OVAs.

The three main character personalities are based off of blood type fortune telling. A-Ko is an O type making her energetic and headstrong. B-Ko is an A type making her orderly and jealous. And C-Ko is a B type making her sensitive and impatient.

The crater town was modeled after Yokohama, a port town near Tokyo.

No script writers were involved with the production of this film despite there being an opening credit for script writers. The whole story was in fact plan out by story boards instead of a written script.

One of the student's in the classroom resemble Oyuki from Urusei Yatsura & Yuri from Dirty Pair.

The school was modeled after an actual all-girl college in Kichijoji, Tokyo.

It was the sound director's idea for Mari's voice to sound like a man when mad, but sound like a woman when not.

Originally the story was about two schools engaged in a power struggle. But the plot gradually changed when production began and the film went from a school drama to Sci-Fi action film.

The reason B-Ko don a baseball outfit briefly was because Shigeru MORIKAWA was a baseball fan and forced the animator a to have B-Ko wear the outfit briefly.

The army of mecha in front of the school are based off of the Golem mecha from "Flying Ghost Ship".

The attack names during A-Ko & B-Ko's fight was inspired by the manga "Astro Kyudan".

Tezuka Osamu gave Yuji a compliment on the missile hopping scene being very well done. Yuri remark this unexpected praise to be one of his fondest memories.

The "Superman" like shirt originally had the "S" logo on it, but it was changed to a "C" instead because the producer was nervous that it could cause a lawsuit from DC comics.

In an interview, director Katsuhiko Nishijima took on the project because he needed funding to replace his missing teeth.

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