(Also known as "Where the HELL did he come up with this stuff!?)
Well, Complex Thoughts was derived from several things....
1:I have always been interested in psychic phenomenon, both in the real world and in the world of fiction. Ever since the wierd nightmares I'd been having during my Junior/Senior year in High School, i started developing a morbid fascination with this stuff....
2:My initial love for Anime it'self. I was introduced to Anime in my high school years, and I was changed forever. My first real exposure was "Vampire Hunter D" when it came on at god only knows how late on WTBS. I was hooked instantly. After that, I was pursuing the stuff wherever I could find it. I like the stories, the quirky characters, and the plots that left you saying "What the HELL was that?!".
3:not long after my intro to Anime, I got into Manga as well and stayed hooked. My favorites were (and still are!) Ogre Slayer, Vampire Princess Miyu, and Gunsmith Cats. Ogre Slayer in partciular wanted me to explore a quasi-horror/thriller theme involving the innocence and power of youth....
4: Complex Thoughts is my idea of a an Anime I'd love to see, pure and simple. It has elements of psychic phenomenon, fragile adolescent emotions and paranoia. Good stuff indeed in my book. I hope that with this story I can express these elements adequatly....
The characters, too, have their own theories behind them....I'll get to them at another day...
MIYAMI AYA
As NPC's go, Miyami Aya is probably the most important and where much of my creative energy went. In actuality, Miyami Aya is based off another heroine in a piece of fiction I wrote in High School. Not a headstrong or excessivley beautiful heroine, I considered her quite the change from many I'd read in other books and anime. Instead, she was a meek, plain looking, but very smart young lady with an inner willpower that drove her subtly (this is actually a rare trait....). So is the case with Aya. Although attractive, it is offset harshly by her inner fear of close realations, being that she has been trained to fear them. Her inner demon is a childhood fear that never seems to be in reach, but always surfaces long enough to cause her trouble. She is, in many ways, an ideal tragic heroine.
CARLA ROMANS
Carla was added to give a less serious edge to the story. Instead of being a sad and brooding image like Aya, or a near omnipresent force like Mitzumi, she is just a girl that revells too much in her desire for melodrama and vice. She is smartmouthed, sarcastic, and very very curious. In a way, she's a reminder of the youthful energy that was lost by Aya, Sasa, Mitzumi, Megumi and Ryan, and a foil to the tragic elements in the story.
MITZUMI KAMAMURA
Mitzumi was also based off another character in a short story I wrote long long ago named Sophia. Sophia was the psychic manifestation of a terminally ill 8 year old child who, upon slipping into a coma, released her entire psychic essence to become a permenant manifestation of her perceptions. Mitzumi is similar, having a powerful telepathic link to so many of the staff and youth of Project Orpheus. Her mental illness renders her very incabable of interacting with the outside world most of the time, but her perceptions are EVERYWHERE. She seems to know the truth behind the illusions, "from Madness comes Wisdom". Much as Carla is a foil to show what youthfulness may remain in Project Orpheus's children, Mitzumi is an image of that innocence that was shattered.
OTHER INSPIRATIONAL STUFF
TV
I usually shut off the TV while I'm writing, it's quite a bother and the lack of quality really hurts my thought processes. If I DO, I turn it onto CNN or American Movie Classics. If I have Anime on hand that may pertain to what I'm writing (in the case of Complex Thoughts, appropriate Anime would be NG:Eva, Vampire Princess Miyu pt.4, or Key:The Metal Idol), I put it on.
MUSIC
Music is ESSENTIAL to my writing. Without proper mood music, I can NEVER do anything that's worth any adjective of quality. Here I have listed the mixed tape I use when I'm writing for Complex Thoughts, group/artist then the songs by them I use. Consider it a sort of Soundtrack for this thing if someone ever makes it into an actual anime. Also, many of these songs I consider to be the "theme" of one character or another, that is, I hear the song, and I instantly think about that particular character.
*Kim Wilde-Kids in America (rare as HELL, but a great song for almost any anime venture)
*Men At Work-Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive (Mira Heckyll's theme, duh!), Helpless Automaton (Sasa's Theme), I Can See it In Your Eyes.
*Stevie Nicks-Blue Lamp (Mitzumi's Theme)
*The Police-Invisible Sun , Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon, Every Little Thing she Does is Magic
*Pink Floyd-Run Like Hell, In the Flesh, Comfortably Numb, EVERY song from "Dark Side of the Moon".
*Thomas Dolby-Scream Kiss (Noa Kanamemi's theme) , Hyperactive (Carla's Theme)
*Billy Idol-Eyes without a Face
*Red Ryder-Lunatic Fringe (Karl's Theme)
*Timbuk 3-Life is Hard
*Kraftwerk-T.E.E, The Robots, Computer Love
*The Eagles-I can't tell you Why
*Laura Brannigan-Gloria (Aya's theme)
Whew! Quite a list, huh? Guess that soundtrack will have to be a double CD set (are ya lissenin, Pioneer?). If you noticed, most of this stuff is 80's music. Call me un-hip, but I like this stuff, it's outstanding for this puropse. I mean, I also love listening to stuff by Ministry, Poe, Daisy Chainsaw, Nazareth, Nine Inch Nails, and Old Sex Pistol albums, but hey, YOU try writing an emotional piece with Johnny Rotten in the background! Kinda hard, huh?
INSPIRATION ANIME/MANGA
Finally, these are the series that gave me ideas for this game. Smart cookies will find elements of every one in Complex Thoughts
-Neon Genesis Evangelion (especially the ones that DIDN'T involve the mecha!)
-Key:The Metal Idol
-Domu (little known Katsushiro Otomo Manga about a psychic war between a 10 year old girl and an elderly, malicious psychopath. Like all of his work, it is NOT for the squeamish!)
-Mai The Psychic Girl
-Vampire Princess Miyu
-AD Police Files Episode 2