K'thardin's Interview with Long T. Tran (The Evil Dr. Tran)
Editor's Note: Some grammar and capitalization corrections and one censored word to fit the FFdotNet rating given this fic. please visit kthardin dot dragonsanime dot com for the site! This was gotten through Wayback Machine, as this is no longer on the site. Published with permission from K'thardin.
I'm speaking to the Evil Dr. Tran, the third in our interview series. How are you doing today?
I'm doing fine. . Just Peachy.
Okay... can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Sure! well...It was a dark and Stormy night and my mom was going through labor and...uhh do you want me to go that far down the road?
Umm...no that won't be entirely neccessary.
Ok ok ok. First off, I'm a lonely writer of tenchi Fanfics currently living in Houston, Texas. I'm currently planning to major in Music and English I love music because it soothes my soul and I have knack for getting inspirations from moods of cetain types of music. Then I convey whatever feel on to paper. I love to write because of the inspirations I gain from music.
Wow! What got you into anime?
I got into anime when I was really young, about 4 to 5 years old. I think one of the first few animes i got into was Robotech, Starblazers, Voltron (Lions), and Transformers. Does GI JOE, count even for it's american theme?
Well, as I recall it was made by the same guys as Transformers so I guess you could add it in there. What about these shows did you like?
I liked them because they were different. At that time, (which was in the early 80's), I had to choose between Care Bears, My Little Pony, Heathcliff, and the dreaded Rainbow Brite. Oh and Karate Kid the cartoon series was on as well. I didn't like it that much. Oh yeah! And do you guys rememebr that girlie rock cartoon show, JEM?
I do remember that one.
Anime question: I started to really get into anime when I first saw The Ultimate Teacher. I thought that it was the freakiest, twisted anime i've ever seen. It was sick and yet hilarious. I bought my first very first anime called "Super Atragon" It was ok. I bought it just for the action. I guess I consider myself as one for the second generation anime fan. (the first generation anime fans watched Speed Racer, Starblazers, Early Gundam, and Voltron. The second generation anime fans grew up watching (Akira, Tenchi, OMG!)
Heh... what drew you to Tenchi when you saw it for the first time?
I first saw Tenchi when I rented TMiL. (EDT shudders) okay, I first saw TMiL and I thought that the show kinda dragged for me. I guess it was because I didn't know the characters all that well. When I first saw Ryoko, I thought that she was a Lum rip off. Then I noticed that she had more personality. Then I saw the first volume of Tenchi TV, two years ago, I thought it was hilarious. Then for some unknown reason, I couldn't get enough of Tenchi. So I kept buying the TV volumes as they were released. Then that damned UPS strike happened and the flow of release for Tenchi TV was disrupted.
I remember that.
I got really nervous and focused my attentions onto the OAV series. I was desperate for anything new of Tenchi.
When in fact... that was the old Tenchi?
Then I started to collect the OAV series and noticed in the quality of story line and animation. It was very intriguing. Yeah! And that's how I fell in love with the Tenchi Muyo cast.
What got you into fanfiction?
It was about year and half ago during the UPS strike. The OAV series was all collected, (including Pretty Sammy), I was still waiting for the strike to be over. I got restless and wanted something new about tenchi. After watching the series so many times on video. I mean who wouldn't? I was bored. So I surfed the net looking for Tenchi fanfics to read and I stumbled upon Ryan Anderson's web page. I read Love's Labor Lost and thought that it was fantastic. Then I read The Ball; I thought it was excellent and romantic
Heh. How did you know about the forum of fanfiction in general?
(sighs at the word romantic) I don't know, I just figured that there would be people out there who actually took the time to write some since the UPS strike happened. I'm into Tenchi fanfics just to get that WAFFy feeling. I'm addicted to a good romance story if it's interesting to me. I've always wondered what people would write about as far as resolving Tenchi's dilemma of Choosing Between Ryoko And Aeka. I guess that's why its so fun to read fanfics.
Who's your favorite Tenchi character and why?
Ryoko, she's the most dynamic of the characters. At first I didn't like her because she was so impulsive but I saw that romantic gentle side of her and BOOM! all thoughts of dislike disappeared. I thought she was only a one track minded person but she has that sensibility I found very atractive. She cared when it looked like she didn't. She has comapassion when I thought she didn't. (Ex. Aeka during the Kagato incident in OAV.) Ryoko was full of surprises.
Who is your favorite seiyuu and why?
Hmm, I don't really have many subtitled anime (because I'm cheap) but my favorite seiyuu is probably Tress MacNeille.
What did she do?
She's the voice of Dot and Babs Bunny from Animaniacs and Tiny Toons. I also liked Rob Paulsen, he's the voice of Yakko and Pinky.
Why her?
I like her because like the Japanese voice actors she can convey humor into the characters.
And him?
Because he's Pinky and Yakko! Nuff Said. . .
But my fave japanese voice actress is probably Megumi Hayashibara. She was cute in Nuku Nuku.
Ah! Is Ryouko's Love your first fanfic?
No, my first fanfic was Kiyone's Leave. (Shudders) You can tell by the grammar and the layout of the story. I did not know what i was on during that time. I was in a Bond craze when i was aniticipating Tomorrow Never Dies to be released. And I figured the best way to get my writing abilities to be furbished I decided to see whether I can write Kiyone into a Bond-like atmosphere.
Actually, the first fanfic I wrote was when I was in the 8th grade and I wrote a Star Trek fic. And yes, I did it in Script format and it was Self Insertion!! O
What inspired you to write Ryouko's Love?
I gained inspiration while I was driving home from work. I was listening to some anime music and a funny image crept into my head. I imagined seeing Tenchi and Ryoko falling into a pit and they were in an embrace while they fell. They were looking into each others' eyes and realized at theat moment on how they needed each other. It was really strange. Then another image was even stranger; I imagined Ryoko recieving a cell phone call from Tenchi while she was getting off at work. Ryoko was wearing a white lab coat and strangely, she was wearing lenseless glass frames. She looked like a mother. Tenchi was calling her up to remind her to pick up their daughter form school.
Weird.
And from that point on I went into a wild frenzy to think up a story from that. At this point I was waiting for the next chapter of Aikan Muyo to come out and was waiting for LLL to come out with a new chapter. I started to write because I didn't want to be on the sidelines anymore. I wanted to help entertain readers as well. It's weird, I know.
Hmm...what kind of comments have you gotten...both good and bad, about your works?
At first when I first started out with Ryoko's Love, readers were stating on how intersting and different the storyline was. I've recieved praises on a how much potential the fic has. the only complaint people had was grammar. So I kept writing as time progressed. Until the chapter 3 rolled around I was starting to run out of ideas for the Tenchi cast of the future. (Yui, and all...)
whistles innocently Heh...how long have you made people wait for one of your fics?
At first readers only had to wait 2 weeks to a month for each chapter to be released; the longest was 6 months or somehting I had two creative 'slumps', one during the Prologue chapters and one during the Alpha chapters. The first one was about how to write the storyline after the Ryoko's reawakening. That one was remedied by deciding to write a prequel to all the events that happened in prologue. The prequel (AKA: Alpha) was meant to explain everything that happened to the Masakis; the second slump occurred after the release of Ch. 4A: Aeka Canon. I was at a loss on how to continue on the series. I did not know how resolve Aeka's story, I did not know how to make Tenchi and Ryoko's relationship feel "fresh". For 6 months I toiled around writing only a few words per day, trying to regain that creative jist I needed. It was horrible. I recieved emails from readers wanting me to continue, which I was trying to. It reached a point where I was about to quit writing the fic altogther.
So what got you going again?
Around this time, "No Need for Sasami" was released. I didn't read it yet until chapter 9 was released. I came around to read NNFS and I was amazed on how the author took the characters of TM! and gave them alot of personality. I was inspired.
What do you think of Shorin's take on your works?
I thought it was one of a kind. I was really apprehensive at first to read it because it was Yui and Shoji he was borrowing. I didn't read it because I was too scared that he would demolish them or kill them off. I didn't want to read it because I was afraid that I would end up stealing some of his ideas even though it was kind of a fic of my fic.
Fanfiction of fanfiction...heh.
But the end result was absolutely oppisite, I ended up being really involved in reading about HIS characterizations. Yeah, something like that. But I do recall some Ranma fics doing the same as well.
What were some notable things that really got you interested in this fic based off of yours?
Ryoko's personality was really astounding as well as the other characters. What made the fic was the characters.
And they guy Nathaniel?
Man! I felt sorry for Nathan, talk about a bad vacation!
LOL! What I meant was...did you like how he interacted with the characters of Ryouko's Love?
Yeah, I did. I think it was the author's way of talking to me thorugh his character to mine. Of course, I could be wrong.
Ah. Any fics or really cool plans for the future of your current fic (that you are willing to part with that is)?
Well, I'm releasing Requiems 1, 2, and 3 to conclude Ryoko's Love Alpha and I plan to head onto writing Ryoko's Love Beta The requiems will be interesting to the readers, I hope. The first requiem just delves into alot of action Requiem2: Air will delve into the aftermath of the conflicts and will start leaning more and more towards Beta. Ultimately in requiem 3: The series will end at Ryoko's imminent death.
You do realize that is like the third generation Masaki wife to die at such an early age right?
Yeah. But on a somewhat 'technical level'. It's a soap opera. I know.
Hmm...well, that's about it then. Any final comments or words of wisdom?
Yes! For potential FF writers out there please keep Fanfic writing alive. Keep writing and creating. This is the art of entertainment write free, live free and god bless! You can tell I'm a liberal, too. . v :Does a Mihoshi number of vegging out: Anymore extra questions from the readers?
Nope...that's it. Thanks for this.
Not even about plot elements or the characters?
Sure...if you want to include it.
Mmm, nah. except for... "I'm King of the World!!"
Heh... such is the words of the current winner of the Winter 98 polls.
1191 (censored) dollars for Tenchi OAV DVD?! :looks innoncently: no...
Damn.
btw, I just want to thank Mag-chan, the Twins, K'thardin, Happosai, Shorin, Heino, and especially Gensao for helping me out a great deal.
Cool.
Without these guys I would've quit along time ago. . v
Alrighty then. Well, if that's it, I have to go now. It's like 3:00 am here.
Ok, good night sweet dreams!!
I'll talk to you later, man... and thanks again.
You're welcome.