According to manga artist Yuri Narushima, she began the manga with "a dramatic feeling in mind" and wanted to "start off with a comic book for young girls (shōjo manga)."[REF]
After discovering that a North American version of Planet Ladder was being simultaneously released, Narushima designed the cover of volume 6 to be "export friendly", describing it as "like Japanese style, but slightly off" [REF].