Columns Interview Series Part IV: dye882003/ookamidesu

Introduction: Our motto for Mai-Multiverse has always been "Anything Goes" and truer words were never been spoken the day our group was formed, starting with ShizNat Webs. All to open the creative envelope so-to-speak and entertain you in a more contemporary manner. We have the word "Multiverse" attached to "Mai" because although we represent all forms of the Mai franchise, we also welcome general anime/manga fans to enjoy our presentation. The key word is "Multiverse", welcoming those who've never experienced Mai-HiME/Otome and allowing them a chance to discover this great franchise. Mai-Multiverse extends far beyond strict confines the Mai-HiME/Otome fandom was famous for, taking it into the wide open environment of broad based entertainment. We at Mai-Multiverse think that Mai-Series fans are quite frankly tired of having their intelligence insulted by traditionalists. We also think you're tired of the same old simplistic theory of "ShizNat fanfiction is the only Mai-fanfiction worth mentioning".

Therefore we've embarked on a far more innovative and contemporary creative campaign that, while it goes against the grain, is far more invigorating and extemporaneous than anything else out there.

Due to the nature of our Mai-HiME/Otome Entertainment, we advise some degree of parental discretion for our fans 17 and under. We're hard working S.O.B.s who strive to bring you this insane and fantastic world known as the Mai-Multiverse. For about a year nao, ShizNat Webs and Mai-Multiverse has become a great source for young and old Mai-Series fans alike. One of the reasons is because the times have changed and so have we. This vibrant creative direction
has resulted in greater attention for the Mai-Series. So many fans within the time line of our existence have expressed interest in our circle, whether it's to download a simple image of Mai Tokiha, meeting one of our talents authors and artists or wanting to take part in our translation projects.

ShizNat Webs and Mai-Multiverse Forum are the cure for the common fandom.
Thank you very much.

~ Luu

The following in an interview with dye882003. The following questions were chosen by some of you out there, who want to know more about this beautiful young lady and the vast worlds she brings to life in writing.

---

Q: - Tell us your real name, age, preference and which country you come from (you can show a smexy pic if you want. :3 )

I prefer to keep my real name to those who already know it. I’m currently a 22 year old lesbian, born and raised in the US. However, I am 100% Chinese, as both my parents hailed from China and came here before I was born. ^-^;

Q: What started your interest in writing? Did it come naturally to you?

I don’t really remember why I started writing, but I remember it was about 6 or 7 years ago. I started off writing in the Harry Potter fandom, and that lasted until about last year, when I switched over to Mai HiME.

Writing came surprisingly natural for me, but even so, I will admit that I cringe after re-reading what I wrote 5 years ago. I’m a critical of myself like that. No matter how good I think I am nao, I know that a few months from nao, I’ll read something I wrote and think that I can make it better. Very Happy

Q: Which series appealed to you more? Mai-HiME or Mai-Otome?

Mai HiME, because it matched my reality more than Mai Otome. I like watching things that I can relate to, such as going to school and having girl problems. Not so much becoming a political weapon and debating the rights and wrongs of my power. ^-^;

Q: Within the ShizNat community, there are some people who feel Nao fits nice in-between the two. Your feelings on Nao Yuuki's character and why do you think people would pair her with Natsuki Kuga?

I don’t like Nao Yuuki. At all. I love Zhang, but I strongly dislike Yuuki. This is because of the fundamental way in which their characters are portrayed. Yuuki had the mindset that no one can be trusted and that in order to survive in this cruel world, one must become merciless and rely on oneself. That’s fine with me. My problem with her is that she whines too damn much about her situation. And that she doesn’t know when to back down from a fight. She thinks she’s all that, but in the end, she was crushed pretty easily. I also feel that she lacks self-awareness, which is something she shouldn’t lack given the way her life has turned out.

I think people pair her with Natsuki Kuga because in the anime, Kuga mentioned that Yuuki is just like her if she no friends. So, in a sense, Kuga could relate to Yuuki, and therefore understand the younger redhead. That right there makes a connection between the two that an author can use to their advantage. Also, I think if Yuuki’s character had made friends and ended up being a somewhat likable character, she’d probably turn out to be a tease, and we all know Natsuki likes to be teased. Why else does she hang around the Kyoto brunette?

Q: ShizNat can be considered overrated in the eyes of many fans. Do you feel their time has expired due to the overwhelming amount of attention they get? I hate to think the 'stock' of the other Mai-characters are at an all time low because of those two. Makes me grateful to your fan-group, MM. Feelings?

I do think that some people should venture out and pay attention to the other pairings present from the anime, such as Chie/Aoi and Haruka/Yukino. And I do think that ShizNat is a bit overplayed. But I suppose I can see why so many fans are devoted ShizNat shippers. After all, I can’t really see Fate with anyone but Nanoha.

Regardless, I think it’ll do the fandom some good to seee more variety with our pairings. One of the MM members, zanekal1 loves to do random crack shippings like ShizMidori. And that’s something that I love about her. She ventures out and challenges the ‘norm’.

Q: Who do you prefer more, Nao Yuuki or Juliet Nao Zhang and why?

Zhang, because her character doesn’t whine like Yuuki. Unlike Yuuki, Zhang is actually aware of the things that happen around her. She doesn’t cause unnecessary trouble, and she knows when to bow out of a fight. And the fact that she has a gang that willingly follows her shows that she has great leadership abilities.
She also embarrassed Kruger, which is something Yuuki will never be able to do to Kuga.

Q: In your eyes, how much of an impact does the Mai-Series have on the yuri/shoujo ai community?

Hm, if I were to quantify it... let’s measure this “impact” by pretending it is a physical object. In my case, I will use a sphere as an example. If Utena has an impact of 30 cubic meters, I would say that the Mai-series has an impact of maybe 20 cubic meters.

Q: Your ChiexAoi story 'I'll Be Your Romeo' was such a delight inspired by Shakespeare, though still maintaining originality. What are some of your favorite Shakespeare works?

Romeo and Juliet is a classic, but certainly not my favorite. The one that entertained me the most would probably be Twelfth Night.

Q: How were you and your stories received on fanfiction.net?

I think my stories and I were received well on fanfiction.net. I’ve been given a lot of support from fans when I started writing in the Harry Potter fandom. At the time, I recognized a number of usernames that regularly reviewed my stories and it made me happy that there were people who thought my stories were good enough that they went through and reviewed all my chapters, even though they read the whole thing in one sitting.

Q: Is 'Needing You, Needing Me' a personal story for you?

Not at all. It’s completely fictional. I haven’t drawn any of my own life experiences into the fic, though Shizuru’s character does portray my playful side sometimes.

Q: Some authors say that great writing comes from education. Others say it comes from the soul. Then we have those who say it stems from life experiences. What's your case?

I think great writing comes from great ideas AND the execution of that idea. Therefore, I would have to say it’s a mixture of education, soul, and experience. I don’t believe that there is one straight way to good writing. I think one must go through long and arduous journeys for that to happen, whether it is to improve your writing style, experience new things to gain perspective, or a realization that turns something ordinary to extraordinary.

Q: Were there any authors in the Mai-HiME/Otome community that inspired you? Who would you recommend?

I can’t remember any names and it’s not really specific to Mai HiME, but there has been a few times where I read something and thought to myself, ‘I want to try that writing style’.

As far as recommendations go, I like works by Blue Lone Wolf and DezoPenguin. I’m really bad at remembering names, so it’s probably best to just check out my fanfiction profile page for list of authors that I enjoy reading from.

Q: Do you have any funny/sad stories about your writing career?

Funny and sad? Hm... well, about half a year into my writing career, some things happened that really depressed me. That was a period of time when I wrote just to let out my feelings, since I wasn’t allowed to show my depression openly. Neither friends nor family.

As for funny... well, I don’t think there’s anything funny about my writing career. Unless, of course, you count the fact that my very first fanfic was Ginny/Neville. Yes, my friends... my first fanfiction was a het romance piece. XD.

Q: Your first impression of the Mai-HiME manga?

‘It’s so different from the anime... it’s like I’m reading something that’s just an entirely new concept.’
Of course, I knew that the fundamental concept wasn’t new, just the storyline. But still, that’s what I thought after reading the first chapter. I mean, seriously, straight Natsuki? What were they thinking?

Q: What makes Mai-manga not as appealing as the anime? It's sad as I enjoy them too!

Because in the manga, Natsuki is straight and pinning for Tate. Of all the guys to pin over, why Mr. Sideburns? Well, I do admit I liked Tate better in the manga, but still. I would have preferred that she just dumped him and went after Mai. nao, that would be interesting. I believe the appeal has disappeared because ShizNat was broken up in the manga.

Q: The origins of your famous user-names, dye882003 and ookamidesu?

There’s nothing particularly special about my usernames. Dye is my nickname in real life. Sometime when I was in high school, I tried to create a yahoo account with just dye88, but it was already taken. Therefore, I had to choose something else, and just decided to use 2003 for reasons I will not disclose.

As for ookamidesu... I was changing fandoms from Harry Potter to Mai HiME. And I like wolves, so I just decided to use ookami, since that is Japanese for wolf. Ookami was taken... so I tacked ‘desu’ on. Just cause I didn’t feel like using numbers this time.

Extras:

Q: Are you a general fan of anime/manga?

Yes I am. I was first introduced to manga when I was in high school. I was a freshman, and one of my first friends was into it. She lent me her Love Hina mangas, and that got me interested. Another friend got me into anime by lending me her DVD collection of ‘SHE, The Ultimate Weapon’. It was so sad... but I loved it.
From there, I just started looking for scanlations and streaming videos online.

Q: Your Favourite stories in Literature?

I like to read anything that I think is well-written. There are several books that after I’ve finished reading it, I’ll think, ‘Wow, that was really good... but I’m never reading it again’. Most of these, of course, were readings required of me in high school.

To name a few books that I would re-read:
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Q: What yuri anime/stories would you recommend? (Hint hint: Include a list of your favorite yuri couples!)

Hm... I recommend reading the mangas Girlfriends and Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo. Favorite pairing there are obviously the main characters, Mari/Akko and Nana/Hitomi.
As for anime, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Maria-sama ga Miteru. For Nanoha, my favorite shipping is Lutecia/Vivio. You can blame RadiantBeam and their Shadow-verse stories for that. As for Marimite, I don’t really have a favorite pairing, but I like Shimako/Sei.
Yuri in literature, I would suggest reading Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I won’t tell my favorite pairings here, just because I don’t want to spoil anything for the readers in case they want to read it. Very Happy

Q: In any story involving two women in love, what are you looking for most? Humor, angst, etc?

In any story involving any romance at all, I never really cared much for the genre, whether it is humor, angst, comfort, whatever. What I love to read is the chase. Whether the author portrays it as a good thing or a bad thing, I love reading about the moment when a person realizes that they are in love and to the moment where they ‘get the one’, so to speak. Or.. ‘lost the one’, in some cases.

That’s part of the reason why I am so engrossed with stories like ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ by doublecheeseburger and ‘Kruger, Natsuki Kruger’ by lonely jester.

Q: What kind of music you listen to?

Hm, this is a tough question, considering I’m not much of a music person. I guess the genres that I listen to the most are pop, R&B, and hip hop. I also listen to some country music. To name some people on my ipod playlist, I have Evanescence, Elliot Yamin, Lady GaGa, P!nk, Mariah Carey, Mario, Fort Minor, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift. ^-^;

Q: You have written stories for the Harry Potter Franchise. Can you tell us a little about that?

Harry Potter was where I started my fanfiction career about 6-7 years ago. Despite not being much of a reader at the time, I was a big fan of the Harry Potter series. So, when my friend introduced me to the world of fanfiction, I started reading Harry Potter fanfics. Not too long after that, I decided to try my own hand at writing. Needless to say, it stuck with me.. Smile

Most of my writings back then were more experimental than anything, so they mostly turned out to be oneshots. Though I did try my hand at writing some multi-chaptered fics, they were usually left unfinished.

Q: In accordance with the gay/lesbian community: Does it get better?

Haha, I certainly hope so. I would say that I grew up in a pretty tolerant community, so there aren’t many people I know that are actively against homosexuality. At the same time, I’m not 100% out either though, so I have yet to experience the full brunt of hate that would be emitted if I was completely out of the closet.

Most of my friends in high school know because rumors about me dating another girl started circulating about a month before I graduated. (The rumors were false, by the way. We weren’t dating, but it was true that I had a crush on her.) I never tried to disperse those rumors and just let people gossip since I was leaving anyway. There was no point for me to hide it anymore. And surprisingly, no one said anything to me and just acted the same around me. In college, I came out pretty much the first semester. Since I went to college halfway across the state, I decided to make a fresh start for myself and just come clean from the beginning. My friends all stuck by me and were supportive. Also, I guess because of this (and the fact that I’m an extreme tomboy), I was considered to be one of the guys, so sometimes I was invited to their manly hangouts. (Yes, I like Melons, but I don’t quite understand the need to talk about it...)

I haven’t come clean to my family yet, but I want to say that I’m very happy with the support I received from all my friends. I think that as long as we have one person telling us everything will be alright, we will be alright. After all, strength comes from the support we receive from loved ones. Smile

Q: Any other non-ff.net related website/forum you visit religiously?

There was a point in time in which I visited the AnimeTalkZone forum regularly, but not so much anymore. I visit GMail and Yahoo! religiously because I am OCD about replying to emails if I have to. I always have my blogs up on some tabs in my browser too, even though I haven’t updated in a long time. DeviantArt as well. I watch some people, even though I don’t submit much.

Q: Advice for aspiring writers who want to add more to the ever-growing Multiverse of the Mai-Series?

Advice? Hm... Don’t be afraid to try new styles and venture out of your comfort zone! Challenge yourself and if you ever feel like writing but have no ideas, give yourself a prompt. Any prompt. Look around and use the first thing that pops into your head as a prompt. Like... *notices the word ‘Latte’ on my cup* “Latte”.

Mm... Caramel Latte. Go! Try creating something to that prompt if you suddenly felt the urge to write.

Q: Hollowed-Words...she's not like, available is she? LOL!

She’s not. Unless, of course, the person after her is interested in a threesome with me. In which case, I’m accepting applications. Very Happy

... I’m joking, by the way. *hides application forms*

Q: Closing comments for the Mai-fanbase?

Such open-ended questions are hard for me to answer.

Let’s see... I guess I will end this interview with this phrase: Why hasn’t anyone written fanfic for Reito/Tate yet? I thought for sure they’d be an interesting couple. You know, a closeted fairy and an insecure boy who tries too hard to be a man sometimes. Would make for good humor, don’t you think?

((Hahahah! Applications xD

*hides her own* >w>

By the way, 'Needing You, Needing Me' came to me in a dream, and I asked if she wanted to help write it.))

Nina Wáng wrote:By the way, 'Needing You, Needing Me' came to me in a dream, and I asked if she wanted to help write it.))

(( Yeah, the person who submitted that question is named 'Na-chan'. Ring a bell? ^^; ))

Kagura wrote:

Nina Wáng wrote:By the way, 'Needing You, Needing Me' came to me in a dream, and I asked if she wanted to help write it.))

(( Yeah, the person who submitted that question is named 'Na-chan'. Ring a bell? ^^; ))

(( Nope, haha, not even a little.

EDIT: Though it does kind of irk me, I kinda want to meet this 'Na-Chan'. ))

haha. im curious to know which questions were submitted by who nao. ^-^;