Roblox Scala (Manga)

Roblox Scala is a 1998 manga created, produced and manufactured by the Roblox Group. This line was the first attempt at making a female centered manga. This manga series (along with the infamous anime) would later be rebooted as Roblox Friends in 2009.

Plot

In the original manga follows Saki Lee, a quirky 12-year-old child who thinks everything should go her way; that was until one day she met someone named Yumi Watanabe, who decided that Saki had to meet her friends. The only problem is that Saki, the main protagonist, is a sociopath who thinks that the world is only centered on her. At the end of the comic, Saki becomes non-Anti-social.

In the new comic Saki, who is now 15 is a new high school student, who was previously in homeschool; she meets her 3 new friends Yumi, Ami and Noriko; they hang out every day after school.

Controversy

The manga was considered a controversial manga, due to the fact that the main protagonist was called an idiot by many of the characters, which offended female activists. In 2000, the manga was pulled off shelves from Luobuese libraries, then public school libraries. Eventually, the Roblox Group’s website took down its online copy of the manga.

Trivia

• This manga would later have an anime. The protagonist was voice acted by Saki Watanabe; the plot of the anime is way different than the manga; the anime was The Roblox group’s response to the criticism.
• Originally, there would be nine more issues of the manga series. However, it was scrapped after The Roblox Group discontinued the series; however, in 2009 it was announced that there would be a new female centered Roblox product that would be released in 2012.
• The main protagonist has two official names. The first one is May Lee and the second one is Haruhi Lee (have note that The name Haruhi Lee is only used for both the Robloxian merchandise based off the manga and the Robloxian Cartoon Network English dub of the Anime, not the original manga or anime). In the first season May/Haruhi’s voice actress in English was singer Becky Tennyson, but in the second season (the second season ran from 2003 to 2004) onward she is voiced by Saki Lee.
• There exists a live show based off the manga. However, it has an alternative ending to the manga, as Doremi confesses her love to Yumi. This was also controversial due to the subject matter.
• Tim's story in the Roblox Friends: The Beginning of a Friendship episode, Campfire stories, which aired on May 8, 2024, references this manga. This was no coincidence given that the manga had celebrated its 26th anniversary.
• There exist 9 official parodies videos based off the manga/anime. These parody videos are live action and have no canon relation with the manga or anime.
• In 2000, the manga attempted to be remade after the controversy was too much for the authors to handle. This time, it centered on a typical Luobese high school life rather than focusing on the original. This recreation actually was received well by the public and was given an anime adaptation 2 years after the remake was created. It also received an animated movie in the same year.