Kamipress: What do you think about when making a Kamishibai story? Rebo: "Well, mainly I think about what I'd like to see in a story, and what would please others too. Tis' no small task, of course. I like to make sure I can appeal to a wide audience. Thus, I try to resist the urge to overdo the drama and lighten it up a little. Simone was the first to point out how said it was going."
Kamipress: What is the hardest part (for you) about making a Kamishibai story? Rebo: "Drawing. My drawings betray me, they're actually pretty good as far as computer art goes, but those are only the end result. I've had to redraw countless pictures over and over again to get them to look right. One new character I'm working on is holding up the works since I can't seem to even get him to look mildly decent:P"
Kamipress: What's your favorite part of making a Kamishibai story? Rebo: "Showing it off^_^ I put my sister, Doo, and my friend, Simone, in the credits for a reason, ya know, and that's because I show it off to them first. After I finish a chapter, I then proceed to get reponse from those who read it."
Kamipress: How did get into Kamishibai? Rebo: "Long Version-I've been following Kamishibai since it was first invented. Seriously! I was new to KiSS and then suddenly, there's this thing called "Kamishibai" up, so I downloaded it. I wanted to do a story, but I had no ideas at all. I don't have some of the first stories, such as the Kafka series, since they didn't seem to interest me. Then the first batch of the multi-parts began to arrive, and a lot of them were really good, so I got em'. However, in 1998, I lost interest in Kamishibai, since the stories weren't ending, and it seemed to me that people were just slapping up pictures, a story, and sending it in, and they just weren't thrilling me. Then there were also a lot of big files, and I didn't have the modem speed for downloading them. So I stayed away for a long time, and one day, in the Spring of 1999, I found out about Get Right, then I decided to see what was up with Kamishibai...and found out that quite a lot WAS! So I rediscovered all these Kami tales and such, and I'm still downloading some of the older stories and really enjoying them. After reading Hikawa Hijinks!, I came up with an idea for my OWN Kami, called "SoulQuest." The characters looked like rip-offs of hers, and then I got stuck, so I thougt that maybe I'd give up...then LoveQuest came, with it's own drawing style, and I am now making a series! HOORAY!"
"Short Version-Hamsters made me do it."
Kamipress: What is on your wish list for kamishibai? Rebo: "An ending to the unfinished stories^_^ Though I'm not going to force authors to finish, but this IS a wish list!More animation frames! Even though I don't do particularly fancy special effects myself, I do rely on flashing effects and such, and I've had to scale back a few because I ran out of room, thus causing me to have to change the sound effect I was using."
"More Kamishibai updates, but I actually have much praise for Dov Sherman for at least trying to keep up, since he's running so much of the site by himself."
Kamipress: What are some of the things that influenced LoveQuest? Rebo: "Long Version-LoveQuest began when one day in English class, about a month before school got out, and we had a sub who let us goof off that day. But I was really bored, and trying to find something to do, when I suddenly got this idea for a comedy fantasy tale where a spoiled princess is unable to get anyone to marry her, so she takes her maid with her and forces a dragon to capture so that a prince will come and rescue her so that she'll HAVE to be married, but in the end, the prince comes and rescues the maid and leaves the princess behind. When I began to plan it out at home, I decided to have it go very, very differently, more serious, with a princess, Amelia, who was somewhat tom boyish, pining for her lost prince, then suddenly receiving telepathic messages from him, so she sets off to rescue him. Michael was also not really a major character, so he didn't really have a name or anything. Actually, he had one scene, and that was it. Doren was the villain, but there wasn't a real reason for it, and he had no name yet. Karista was what the maid became. About a week later, I was acting out the beginning and came out with a beautiful introduction line for the story, and wanted to have it audio, inspired by Batchix's Rapunzel. And that is the intro that LoveQuest has for each chapter, just not audio. LoveQuest was named as sort of a joke about the title of the other series, SoulQuest. I got all the names in various ways, Karista's was inspired by Chibi Alex's character, Kerica (I changed it around), Edward the Bear was to make him sound a lot like an English king (and also a joke about how his facial hair looked on him^_^), Kasha was inspired by my friend, Simone's, bird, Doren from a woman I knew named Dorn...and I'm spent!"
"Oh yes, I also got a lot of influence from Greek, Roman, and Japanese mythology, but I added that later to spice up the story some more^_^ "
"Short Version-A strange hamster spirit possessed me and that's how I did it!"
Kamipress: Who are some of your favorite Kamishibai artists? Rebo: "This is cruel;_; Okay, then, in no particular order...Chibi Alex, Kaze Neko, Lisa Liideman, Firefly, Rebecca Rudeen, Dave13, Cooper, Shael Gaelick, Lieko-chan, Giniko-chan, Sailor Dragon, Root, Kodachi Batchix, and that's about it! *Whew*"
Kamipress: So what are some of the Kamishibai you're considering for the future? Rebo: "Well, the aforementioned SoulQuest, since I've given the characters a face lift, but I'm getting kind of stuck with it still. However, it will be about a man who accidentally unleashes a powerful wizard who was sealed away thousands of years ago, and the wizard possesses the man with the spirit of his most powerful servant, a demon, so the guy is somewhat turned into a demon himself. He is constantly fighting for control over his mind with the demon, and has to struggle with his own issues anyway, along with some of the other characters in the series. I think I'll try to figure out more of how the series will go before I work on it anymore, but I hope I can get it all straightened out and continue. I'm also working on a funny story, Pokemon: The Perfect Collection, about one obsessed Pokemon TGC otaku's quest for the one card he needs to complete his collection, but it's kind of slow right now. It might pick up, though^_^"
"Oh yes, and I do intend to have a second series follow the first LoveQuest series, which will focus on Teran and delve into deeper into the talismans and such."
Kamipress: What are your favorite animes? Rebo: "Okay, let's see...Sailormoon, Utena, Ah! Megami-sama!, Tenchi Muyo in all of it's various incarnations, Project A-ko, Kiki's Delivery Service, Slayers, and I am still quite culturally deprived as far as a lot of anime titles go, since that's pretty much all I've ever seen:P I'm working on it, on a limited budget:P"
Kamipress: Why do you tend to comment on the action of the scenes? Rebo: "Because I'm somewhat mocking them, plus the fact this story is so serious, it needs comedy relief. That's also why there's the silly omake at the end of each chapter, to show that we're not ALL serious. Though there's some really, really serious chapters coming up that are actually quite sad, so I may not have comedic endings for those ones, so as not to spoil the mood. Or I just might anyway^_^ I try not to overdo it with the comments, since forced humor is just not funny."
Kamipress: What inspired the artwork? Rebo: "Well, I had a Sailormoon tape box with me when I started to draw it, two in fact, so Sailormoon is a BIG factor. Doren's appearence was modeled after Zagato from Rayearth, particularly the eyes He was redrawn several times, I might add-First his head was too big, then he looked to bony, then I found a spot in between that was JUUUUUUUST right! A character that is coming later was modeled after Gourry Gabriev from Slayers. And...that's it!"
Kamipress: So do you have any additional comments, concerns, or thoughts for us? Rebo: "More hamsters needed...the great Hamster Spirit commands you to add more hamsters to this website..."
Thanks for your time Rebo and I'll work on that hamster thing.
