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Here it is! Sorry I'm so late in posting, but I think you'll enjoy this interview with Takushi Rena where we talk about three of her biggest ongoing projects: Kingdom Hearts: Arcana, the Traces roleplays, and Overbit Chaos. And more is coming! Because we spent the entire 25 minutes talking about all the cool stuff she's been doing with those projects, she generously spent another 15 minutes to answer all your questions from the Interview Thread! That audio Q&A should be up sometime this weekend. Until then, I hope you enjoy the interview below.
Interview:
https://soundcloud.com/khi_hidden/khinterview-takushi-rena
Q&A:
https://soundcloud.com/khi_hidden/kh...akushi-rena-qa
Other places to follow Takushi Rena's work:
Tumblr: http://overbitchaos.tumblr.com/
DeviantArt: http://zettapoke.deviantart.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/overbit_chaos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khoverbit ; https://www.facebook.com/zettapoke
FanFiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/574887/Takushi-Rena
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TakushiRena
Interview:
https://soundcloud.com/khi_hidden/khinterview-takushi-rena
Spoiler Show
Hi KHI. This is Hidden, bringing you another KHInsider Roleplayer Interview. And today I have a very special guest with me—our forum’s own Takushi Rena!
Hi, it’s Takushi Rena, Rena for short. I’m one of the roleplaying mods, and I’ve been here for 10 years now (which is ridiculous!). I created the “Traces of” roleplays and I am also an artist and a writer. Thanks for having me!
So to start off, our first question actually comes from Eternal Dream: What does your name mean?
As stupid as this sounds, it means “taxi fox”. When I created the name I was obsessed with Digimon, so I took the name “Rena” from Renamon, and then was like “I need a surname” and I thought, “Well Takushi sounds really cool!” Then I find out a couple of years later it means “taxi.” So Rena is French and taxi [Takushi] is Japanese—it’s really weird!
Well a lot of your stories and roleplays these days include Japanese, so is that a language you’ve learned more of since choosing your name?
A little bit. I took one class in high school. But I’m very, very interested in the language so I’m trying to teach myself a little bit. That’s why I use it a lot.
Alright, cool. So jumping right in then—one of the big projects you’ve got going on right now is the new Kingdom Hearts: Arcana. Can you give us a brief intro to what that is? How is it different from just a regular roleplay?
In the past I’ve seen a lot of roleplays on different sites that use their own section, and members can create their own roleplays that follow the same storyline but stand on their own. So when I started creating this, I was thinking of a Kingdom Hearts I roleplay that was sandbox style. So something where it follows one big storyline, and there’s these different event roleplays which affect all the stories across the board. Members can make their own individual roleplays, they can battle or roleplay with their friends, develop their characters and… anything, pretty much!
There’s been talk before of having a universal roleplay for the whole section, where all the roleplays fit into one large, overarching story. Is that the idea here?
Oh yeah, that’s definitely the idea.
And this isn’t the first time that’s been at least talked about on the forums. I think they were talking about turning KH Eclipse into that at one point?
Yeah, I talked to OmniChaos about that when I was coming up with this idea. He told me to just go for it; it’s the same sort of idea, but it’s my own spin on it I guess.
And how did you come up with the specific story idea, the idea of just doing a Kingdom Hearts I alternate universe roleplay?
It took me awhile to come up with the storyline. I went back and forth between a Birth by Sleep keyblade masters storyline and a Kingdom Hearts I storyline. My big thing with a lot of roleplays is if characters should have keyblades or not. And I know that sounds strange, but in a lot of roleplays that I’ve seen, everyone wants the keyblade. This was especially true in 2004-2005, and that was a long time ago, but I saw a lot of people who were always wanting the keyblade. And at the time keyblades were really only for Sora, and I wanted it to be special, so that’s why I always do only three keyblades in a roleplay. So my thing with this roleplay was either everyone gets a keyblade or nobody does. And I actually went on the forums and pretended like I was making just a little roleplay, and everyone really liked the KH1 style idea, so that’s what I went with. They helped me figure out what I was going for, and then I just sprang it on them that this was going to be a giant roleplay, and they were like “Oh cool!”
Well great, it does sound fun! So what can we expect from the story? We know that it’s an alternate universe, we know that it’s set in the KH1 timeline, but that’s really all the information you’ve given us so far. Is there anything, any little bit you can reveal to us at this point, or are you waiting until it gets started?
I actually don’t have a lot planned. What I’ve put out on the forums is what I’ve got planned. But there is something that Omnichaos is planning (I won’t say what that is!). I didn’t plan out a lot, because I wanted everyone to build up the story themselves and make it their own. So that’s why I just made the basis and then everyone can go off and do whatever they like!
You and Omnichaos are both moderators of the roleplay section, correct?
Yep!
So are both of you acting as the roleplay leaders or how does that work?
I think I’m leading it more, but he’s definitely a part of it too! It’s more my thing than his though.
I guess the last question is: we’ve already seen two people have their templates up so far. When can we expect to actually see the roleplay start?
I would like to start it the first week of July, but I need more people to join it first, so if anyone would like to join I would greatly appreciate it! But my goal is definitely the first week of July.
So more people should join, and then it can get started sooner!
Yes!
Another big project you’ve done, and are still doing in fact, are the “Traces” roleplays. So first off, for the people who haven’t been here ten or so years, how many Traces roleplays are there and when did they start?
There are three canon ones, and then there’s one non-canon one that I made literally because I was bored. That would be Traces of Reality, and it’s a Dr. Who inspired roleplay, and I know that sounds weird, but…. The roleplays originally started in 2008, and this doesn’t really have a big impact on the story, but at the time I was obsessed with the Dark Knight. I don’t think there’s a lot of influence on the story there, but that was definitely an influence on one of the characters who is my villain character. So when I think of those roleplays I think of the Dark Knight.
Is that villain character Aoi?
Yep! At the time, I think one of the main reasons I started it was because I had redesigned Aoi. But his redesign was actually influenced a lot by the Joker, so that’s why I connect the Dark Knight so much with the first roleplay at least.
That makes sense! So we already know Traces of Reality, the alternate universe, “non-canon” non-canon roleplay. What are the other three?
They are Traces of Aftermath, Traces of Solitude, and Traces of Chaos.
And what’s the relationship between those roleplays? Are they taking place at the same time, are they sequels?
They’re sequels.
So it’s one story going over the course of three separate roleplays.
Yeah, it’s very long….
So that story has been going for, I guess, six years then?
Uh, started in 2008… yeah, six years! Sorry, I had to count!
And of course you’ve been a part of all of them. How has the story changed—the tone, the characters? Have you seen a definite progression in it?
I’ve definitely seen a progression, it’s kind of a fine line though. There’s a progression, but it’s not very prominent. The first roleplay was very KH1 inspired, it was supposed to be this fun adventure. And then the second one turned ridiculously darker. And then the third one… turned chaotic, as ironic as that sounds.
Appropriate.
Yeah!
Did you plan for it to go that long, did you have a story in mind that would take that many roleplays to get through?
Nooooo. When I started it, I was just like “This sounds fun, I’m gonna make this!” And I did, and then everybody liked it, and then they were like “Let’s keep going… and going… and going!”
So the story escaped from you at a certain point.
Oh yeah, it definitely did!
With a story that long too, I’d be curious, have you actually had to go back and retcon parts of it? Parts where events in the first one don’t quite match up with events in the second one, and you have to say something like “That character wasn’t really dead, we just thought he was dead!” or “He got better, somehow”?
Yeah, there’s a great example of that, or actually two examples. My character Aoi tends to… change his mind a lot? Because things don’t work out. One of the main things in this story—or it ended up being one of the main things—is he’s a being called a parasite. He takes control of someone else’s body, uses that as his host, and then he can transfer himself to other people. He transfers part of himself into my character, Rena, just because she has a keyblade. He uses her as his puppet, but then he sometimes decides to try and kill her! And I’m like, “What are you doing?” But there was also something that happened recently: Aphex’s character, Derrick, died because Aphex was leaving the forums, so I decided to kill off Rena too. Both of us realized, “This is a bad idea!” So now they’re both ghosts and we’re trying to bring them back! There’s a lot of retcon.
You’d almost need it for a story going on for six years, with basically no planning beyond the first year I guess!
Yeah. And I actually learned my mistake there, and with this story I’m writing I know I can’t go back and try to change anything, so this is actually a great exercise in things not to do while writing!
You did something right though, because the stories have been very popular for quite awhile apparently.
I’m actually incredibly impressed that they are, and super thankful that they are, because these are really fun!
How’d you come up with the original idea, what was the original story that started the whole thing?
The original idea came from this fanfiction that I was working on at the time. I have a tendency to reuse my ideas, so I admit that now. The premise of this fanficiton, which is called Pieces of Heart, is Sora, Riku, and King Mickey died somehow, and the keyblades disappeared. So in this roleplay three new keyblade masters appear, but the problem is their keyblades cause destruction instead of helping the worlds. So that’s pretty much the premise for the whole thing.
Another main thing about the Traces roleplays: they have a very impressive roster of characters!
Yeah, it’s a huge list.
Many of which are your own! You have at least five characters throughout the three roleplays?
Yeah, but I only really use three now.
Who are those three?
They are Rena, Aexrn, sometimes called Aex, and Aoi.
Those are the three that I noticed, and Aoi also had a Nobody right?
Yeah, the thing with him is he is a Nobody, but he is also this parasite that I was talking about before. And he also has a Nobody, but it’s the same person, only… someone else is controlling him, I guess. It’s confusing!
So you have those three main cast then. Were any of those characters original to the roleplay?
Aexrn is the only one.
And who is he again?
He’s Rena’s Nobody.
But he’s a little different than a regular Nobody, isn’t that the case?
Yeah. He was created by one of kingdomkeylight’s characters. He went inside Rena’s heart and managed to cause her Nobody to come into existence. And as bad as it sounds –this will sound horrible!- at the time this whole scene was going on where he was basically talking to Rena’s other half. There was a name that was decided and what she would look like and everything, but kingdomkeylight decided all of that! And he’s an awesome dude, but at the time it made me so, so mad! So I was like, “You know what, I’m not doing any of that, I’m going to make my own character!” So I made him a boy and gave him a completely different name. It was awful. I have a really cool character now who I really like, but now I feel horrible for it!
I’m sure it’s been resolved.
Yeah.
So it wasn’t even originally your idea to bring the character into the story?
Nope!
How did you end up with the character then, just because it was your character’s nobody, so you got control that way?
Yeah. This whole scene happened that I was talking about, and then he came into existence in Twilight Town.
And he’s shown up in other works since the Traces roleplays, is that right?
Yep!
Let’s talk about that then. In fact, all three of your main characters, Rena, Aex, and Aoi, also show up in your fanfiction, specifically in Overbit Chaos. How are the characters different between those stories?
Aex is… well actually Aoi is the biggest difference, I guess. In this story his name is Xiao, which is actually his Nobody name, and I made him a good guy, which is kinda weird but it works for him! And then Aex isn’t Rena’s Nobody now, he has his own backstory. He lived in another world, had his own family and everything, and that was taken from him by this other character named Enigma. And then Rena’s story is pretty much the same. In Traces she grew up in this world called Cuscio Bay, and the same thing happens to her in Overbit Chaos.
This is something I’ve been curious about across a number of roleplayers and writers on the forums. You have the same characters—they have the same names, they have some elements in common—but you significantly change them across stories, Aoi being probably the most significant example here. Why do you change the same characters, or if you’re going to change them that much, why not start with completely new characters for a new story?
I think it’s because I like these characters way too much to let them go. With Overbit Chaos, I don’t think any other characters would work as the main cast.
That’s interesting! So it’s like you have a story on the one hand, and these characters on the other, and you’re basically casting what characters would go best in the story, is that about right?
Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
How long have you had those characters then, Rena and Aoi?
Rena, in a different form (her name was Chris when I first created her), I created back when I was twelve. But she’s developed significantly—she was like three different characters before she turned into Rena. Aoi has basically been the same character—I created him around the time that Chain of Memories came out, around 2004. At the time he was just a Nobody, he was a jerk, and he had a bow and arrow, which I find interesting because now he runs around with a knife and a gun.
He’s upgraded.
Yeah!
So these characters have been going on longer than any individual story that you’ve had?
Oh yeah, definitely.
And you develop them through ongoing stories, or how have they changed so significantly?
I actually develop them through roleplays. There was this roleplay I had called Pieces of Heart, and that’s how I created Aoi; but then I also used that roleplay to make my own fanfiction, and certain aspects of that roleplay ended up in my fanfiction; but I scrapped it, and turned the premise into Traces of Aftermath; then because I liked what was going on with my character so much in the Traces roleplays, I took bits of that and put them into Overbit Chaos!
Wow! So your projects definitely bleed into each other.
Oh yeah!
That actually reminds me of a question that I forgot to ask about Arcana. Of course we already have a lot of KH-themed roleplays on the forums already: will we be seeing characters or scenarios from those roleplays in the Arcana section?
I don’t think very much from me. I’m not even sure if I’m going to use my Kingdom Hearts characters in that roleplay. I’m still trying to figure that out. So I’m not sure if there’s going to be a lot of crossover.
So it probably just depends on each roleplayer?
Oh yeah.
I do want to talk a little bit more about Overbit Chaos. Can you just give us a general premise?
The premise is very similar to Traces of Aftermath—see I copy my ideas! It starts out with this character named Enigma—he has a name, I’m not telling anyone what it is! Sora, Riku, and King Mickey find out that after they defeated Xemnas, the World that Never Was reappeared (in KH2 it had disappeared along with Xemnas). So they think, “Oh, this is weird, let’s go check it out!” They go to find out what’s going on, and they get into a battle with this character named Enigma. He ends up killing them all and destroying the keyblade! In the script that I wrote, he grabs Sora’s keyblade and splits it in half. I wanted to prove that he was a guy not to be messed with. Because of what he did, the Heartless are invading the worlds, destroying them one after the other. And they destroy these two worlds: Cuscio Bay and Luniary Town. Cuscio bay is Rena’s world and Luniary town is Aex’s world. They both end up in Traverse Town, but Rena obtains a keyblade through what happened to her. She basically fell into darkness and had the strength to get out, and she ended up getting a keyblade. So they meet and they just start going on adventures between worlds and everything. But something’s not right when they seal keyholes, because by sealing keyholes they end up destroying the world! So Rena tries to go do her own thing by helping people, while Aex is obsessed with sealing the keyholes and is like “we have to go to every world, seal the keyholes and protect them!”, and they collide and horrible things happen! So yeah, that’s basically the premise.
Wow. So it sounds like you’ve got this planned out in pretty good detail a significant way already, is that right?
Yeah, I’ve actually written two sequels for it and scrapped one of them. I haven’t finished writing the actual story yet… well, I wrote the actual story, I haven’t finished revising it.
Okay, ‘cause I was gonna ask, on the forums I think all we’ve seen of it so far are a few really small snippets and teasers, and two drafts of the first chapter, is that right?
Yep. I keep releasing teasers because I’ve been planning on releasing this for so long. I think, “Eh, it’s going to come out eventually, I might as well tease it until it does!” That’s pretty much the reason behind that.
So Overbit Chaos has already been going on for at least a few years; I think the first draft I saw on the forums was from 2011.
Yeah, I called it a “secret ending”. It was because of Birth by Sleep’s Final Mix secret ending. I watched a play-through of Aqua going through the realm of darkness, and I was like “This is really cool! I should write a story about this!” and that’s where it all started pretty much.
But did you already have the idea of the story in your head, or was that really the beginning of Overbit Chaos?
The premise I had already gotten down because at the time I was working on Pieces of Heart, and that gotten way too much out of hand, so I scrapped it in favor of Overbit Chaos.
So Overbit Chaos, even just by itself, you’ve been writing for at least three years, but if we take it all the way back through its influences in Traces and Pieces of Heart, it’s also a pretty long-developing story.
Oh yeah. It’s pretty much been going on since I was twelve.
What keeps you interested in a single story for such a long time?
I think what keeps me interested in this stuff is my love for the characters. I’m really interested in the stories I’m writing about and stuff, but at the end of it I love these characters way too much. The main reason I’m still sticking with Overbit Chaos, even though it’s been going on for as long as it has, is because I love Rena, Aex, and Xiao way too much for their story to be untold.
Great! We look forward to reading more of it.
Yay! Thank you!
In fact, I recently discovered that the parts that we see of Overbit Chaos on the forums are only the tip of the iceberg. Could you describe some of the other projects you have going on with Overbit Chaos and where we might find them?
The biggest thing, and I just cast for this a month ago, are a series of radio dramas that I’m doing. Three of them tell the backstories for the three main characters, and then the last one is the scrapped main prologue. I posted it on the site, I think it’s the first post in the Overbit Chaos thread, but I turned that into a script version and I’m turning that into a radio drama. And then I’m making videos and trailers –I’m actually making what I call CMs, 15 second commercials— and I’m going to release them progressively, a week from each other, leading up to when I’m gonna announce the release date for the story. And I draw way too much art for this story too, so there’s that. And I have a tumblr page, Facebook page, Twitter page, and a website coming soon!
So this is an all-enveloping project!
Yeah, it’s insane.
That’s cool. Is there one site in particular where we can follow the progression of the story, or do you plan on bringing all of that to the forums at some point?
I’m planning on posting chapters weekly on the forums once it comes out, and on fanficiton.net, but updates and everything are gonna be on the tumblr page.
Well maybe we can link that on the thread as well, that’d be really neat for them to see.
Yeah, I hope they like it.
Alright, well thanks so much! We’re already at half an hour, so I think at this point were going to end this interview. If we have time later, maybe we can do some Q&A with some of the questions on the thread. But that’s what we have for now! So again, thanks so much for being on the interview.
Thank you so much for having me!
Alright, and until next time, I hope everyone listening enjoyed this. We’ll bring you another Insider Roleplayer interview as soon as we can. Thanks, bye!
Q&A:
https://soundcloud.com/khi_hidden/kh...akushi-rena-qa
Hi, KHInsider. This is Hidden, once again, and, in a special feature for this interview, Takushi Rena has agreed to answer the questions from the forums, since we didn't have time to get to them in the main interview. So, I'm just going to read straight through them and see what she has to say to your questions, too!
Whoo-hoo[laughs]
First question comes from Sugar Lips, formerly KitKat... formerly other names, and she has five actually, so... One: Did you start writing or roleplaying first?
Roleplaying! Definitely roleplaying. [laughs]
Really? Even before you wrote any fanfiction [or] any other stories like that?
Yup! I used to roleplay on Neopets when I was like... 11, and, at the time, I was told that I was a horrible writer by my elementary school teachers (so that was quite discouraging), but I started roleplaying on Neopets and that's how I got into writing!
Wow, well, I'm glad you proved them wrong!
Yay! I hope so, at least! [laughs]
Two: Do you ever take characters from your stories and use them in your RPs?
I do it the other way around: I use characters from my roleplays and put them in my stories!
Three: Were you inspired to work on Kingdom Hearts: Arcana after working on Kingdom Hearts: Overbit Chaos? It seems like you have a theme of making three RPs that tie in together into one big story.
I actually wasn't inspired to work on Arcana after working on Overbit Chaos, but, when I started Arcana, I was thinking it would be a Birth by Sleep style story... Well, actually more KHχ-style story with the Keyblade Masters and everything, so that's kind of what I was going for at the time. Overbit Chaos didn't really have any influence over it.
Alright, and are you really six years old?
[talks like a little kid lulz] Yes! I six and a half, I's gonna be 7 in July! [laughs]
[laughs] That's pretty convincing!
[laughs] Thank you!
Alright, five, last one: Do you ever base your characters off of anyone?
Aoi is guilty of this, Rena is also guilty of this. Rena was based on me when I was 11 [or] 12 (because I was stupid at the time), but, as she's progressed and developed and stuff, she's turned-- she's been less inspired by me and more inspired by Rapunzel and other Disney characters. But people still say, "Hey, you're just like Rena!" and I'm like, "No, I'm not!"
But Aoi was influenced by a lot of characters, and he's also influenced a little tiny, tiny, tiny bit by two people. It's my uncle and a friend of mine whose actually on KHI (and I will not mention his name 'cause he might get mad at me), but my uncle kinda treated me the same way that Aoi does -- at least when he's nice. He treated me similarly when I was little, so that's kinda the reason for that.
Max has two questions. The first one also dealing with your age, so we'll go ahead and ask this question. Why does your profile say that you're six?
[talks like a little kid] Because I's a time traveler from Galifery and I have a Tardis and... I actually changed that because I asked [Shamdeo] if I could do it, and he was like, "Yeah, sure, whatever," and he changed it back to five and now I'm magically six years old!
Wow! It's amazing how that happens after a year.
Yeah, it [is]! That's so weird!
And, you kind of answered this one already, but when [did] you [start] roleplaying and what was your first roleplay?
I think it was a Digimon roleplay... Don't hold me to that, but it was [in] 2003... [laughs] I don't remember!
[laughs] That was a while ago.
Yeah... It's kind of fuzzy... [laughs]
Alright, CD-Man... Sorry, I can't recall if you answered this one on the forum or not, but what was your favorite roleplay that you were a part of?
Definitely the Traces roleplays. I like Traces of Solitude the most, just because of what happened at the end. There was a lot of stuff going on with Aphex's character, Derrick, and... there was this big fight at the end between [Derrick and Rena], and it was really cool! And it was super awesome.
Awesome! And, conversely, what was one of the more disastrous RPs?
Umm... I know you were in it... I keep forgetting the name!
[laughs] Unnatural Selection.
Yes! It's named after a Muse song! I should remember that...
That one was the only one I can call "disastrous," only because a lot of people were interested in it and then, as soon as it started, it died, which was really depressing.
Yeah, it was. I was sad that that one disappeared so quickly.
Yeah... I kind of wonder if it's because of the Final Fantasy XIII influence... But I don't know. It was a really cool idea at the time! I kind of like to redo it, actually.
Maybe! [Could] be a future project.
Yes!
Alright, Professor Ven... I do know that you answered these, but I have to ask these questions, anyways. Which is... How do you do how you do, and if you didn't do how you do, would you still be doing how you do?
I do it... like a badass! That's how I do it. And then I put on my sunglasses and say, "Aw yeahhhhhhh!" [laughs] Something like that!
That's the best answer!
Yes!
Alright, waffles or pancakes... We already established it was waffles, I believe, and... So wait, what was this about Disney World? You mentioned, in your answer, that that was a part of your life somehow.
I actually worked there for 6 months in 2012. It was the greatest moments of my whole entire life, and I miss it so much!
Well, that's cool! That would be a neat opportunity.
Yeah, I actually worked in, like... food service, and it was insane sometimes because people would pour into the restaurant and it would be raining and I'm like, "There are people everywhere, what do I do?!" And people would yell at you and stuff, but sometimes, it was really fun 'cause I would stand outside with a puppet and talk in a Southern accent. [laughs] It was interesting, but very fun. Oh! And I also got to be a pirate, which was the coolest thing ever.
Rhapsody... I know that you did answer her questions, but I'm going to go back to question eight, because I'd like to see if the answers stay the same without reading on the thread (no cheating!).
Okay!
So, your characters are drunk. Classify them: angry drunk, happy drunk, touchy-feely drunk, depressed drunk, obnoxious drunk, trying hard to look sober drunk.
Okay... Trying to remember...
Rena... That wasn't one of the options, but Rena would be the confused drunk because she would be wandering around, going, "Why is everything upside down? What is going onnnnn?" And she'd fall on her face like an idiot!
And then, Aex would be the depressed drunk because he's already depressed a little bit in the story and alcohol would just make it worse. And he'd be like, "Why does everyone I love die?! Whyyyyyy [cries]"
And then, Aoi would be the angry drunk and he would be yelling at everybody, I think... I think he would be the angry drunk? He's already really grumpy.
It makes sense, yeah.
Yeah, he would just be more grumpy!
Then there was... Kage? Yeah! Kage is from the World Ends With You roleplays that I've done. He's ridiculously flirty, so he would just be going up to all the women, wherever they were at, and he'd be like, "Hey ladiiiiiies" and he'd just fall on his face. [laughs]
[laughs] Alright. Are these elements that will make it into your roleplays or fanfictions at some point?
I hope so because they sound ridiculously entertaining!
Yeah, it does! I think you should make one just for that scenario.
Yeah... Yeah, I think I would actually. Like a short story! Have all of them together, get them all drunk, and then just... ridiculous things would happen.
The stuff that literature's made of.
Yes! [laughs]
Alright, getting to OmniChaos... He has two. Who is your favorite character that you've made?
I would probably say Rena, but actually Aoi is my favorite! Because… I love playing villain characters, but he’s also a really nice guy! He has the tendency to… go crazy and try to kill people, but at the same time he also cares a lot about the people that he cares about. And it’s really cool to see the difference between him when he’s an asshole and him when he’s a nice guy!
Okay. You want to be his friend.
Yes!
Alright, who is your favorite character made by someone else?
Actually [there are] two. Derrick, who was made by Aphex, is literally one of my most favorite characters ever, and I tend to draw him a lot. He showed up in the Traces roleplays, and he and Rena are actually dating, which is really cool because that’s never happened in a roleplay before!
I also like Slief (I think that’s how you pronounce his name), and he’s [written] by sephiroth2. He’s this really cool villain, and I can’t tell when he’s being nice and when he’s being ridiculously evil! (laughs)
Alright, so that brings the list to one nice person and two ridiculously evil people, yes?
Yes! I have the tendency to like villains a lot! (laughs)
Two-thirds at least!
Yes.
King Sora X asks… a number of questions. First, what made you want to get into roleplaying in the first place?
[I’m] trying to think, because that was a really long time ago. I joined Neopets [around] 2002-2003. I was looking through the forums, and I was like “What’s this roleplaying thing? Ooh, this looks really cool! I’m gonna look at this thread! I’m gonna make my character! I’m gonna start posting! Where has my life gone? [laughs]” It went like that basically. [laughs] So that’s kinda how that worked.
Ten years later, here we are, talking about… roleplaying!
Yeah, and wasting my life, no I’m kidding! [laughs]
Out of all aspects of roleplaying (second question) and writing in general, which is the one that you enjoy and adore the most?
[It’s a] tie between the Traces roleplays and Overbit Chaos, because I really like writing Overbit Chaos, but then I like roleplaying and the Traces roleplays a lot.
But… another way to look at the question, I think, [is] when he asks “out of all the aspects of roleplaying”, so like…
Ooh! I didn’t hear that part, I’m sorry. [laughs] I’m sorry! It’s late.
Um… aspects… I don’t like writing character templates at all. But I really like in roleplays… I don’t like when it begins so much, but when it gets to a really good point, and you’re just like “I really want to see where this goes!” so you keep posting, and posting, and posting over and over again! Those parts get me the most, [they] get me the most excited, and there’s a lot of stuff like that that happened in Traces. I think it’s kind of the same way in writing too, because at the beginning of writing Overbit Chaos it’s really slow, and it’s hard to get through it. But then there’s scenes at the end that I’m so engrossed, so obsessed with, that I love reading them over and over again so much! It’s things [like that] that get me excited I guess! [laughs]
Yeah [that] makes sense! Is there any roleplayer on this site that you would consider your inspiration for keeping on roleplaying, or is it just instinct, is it built into you to keep roleplaying?
I think it’s a cross between the two, because usually when I get excited about something I’ll keep going, but those scenes where you get excited about what’s going on are written by someone else. Usually the things that get me intrigued are written by Aphex or sephiroth2 (sometimes kingdomkeylight, but he likes to take forever to post, so that’s a bad thing!), but it’s people like that who write really interesting things that keep me going I guess.
So a good community of roleplayers is important too.
Oh yeah, definitely!
What is your favorite non-writing activity to do?
[It’s a] tie between drawing and playing video games. I also like video editing a lot, even though I’m really bad at it. [laughs]
Well I was actually watching some of the Youtube videos you have, [and] I was pretty impressed with some of the AMVs you put up!
Coooool!
And you do that with, um… sorry, what’s the program?
It’s After Effects.
After Effects, that’s right. How long have you been using that to make AMVs?
At least a year, maybe two years, I don’t really know. I still don’t know how it works, I’m just like “this looks cool!”
Well I think the end product looks cool too, so people listening to the interview should go watch your Youtube videos.
Yes, they should! And thank you for throwing that out there, because that makes me feel happy, thank you!
I’m glad I found them! Alright, last question and in fact the last question from the thread: Cupcakes or Muffins?
Hmmmm… this is a very difficult decision, but I’m gonna have to go with cupcakes, ‘cause cupcakes are awesome, and they have frosting, and they’re all sugary, and they make me happy! [laughs]
And on that note, that is the end of our questions from the forums. Thanks so much for not just doing a thirty-minute interview, but staying another fifteen minutes to answer all of these [questions].
Hey, thank you for having me, and this was really, really fun!
Awesome! Well I hope we can keep the interviews going, so we’ll get this one out by early next week and then see what’s up for next month!
Okay!
Alright. So see you later KHI, and hope you enjoyed listening! Bye.
Bye!
Other places to follow Takushi Rena's work:
Tumblr: http://overbitchaos.tumblr.com/
DeviantArt: http://zettapoke.deviantart.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/overbit_chaos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khoverbit ; https://www.facebook.com/zettapoke
FanFiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/574887/Takushi-Rena
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TakushiRena
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