| Name | geikou |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Video game 2D artist, Rapid Reality, Marietta, Georgia |
| Birthday | June 18 |
| Constellation | Gemini |
| Zodiac | Secret (That would reveal my age! ^_~) |
| Bloodtype | A+ |
| Languages | English, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, French (Maintenant un peu seulement. ^^;) |
| Hobbies | Art (drawing and browsing), watching anime/reading manga, playing video games, playing piano, reading (especially epic fantasy), rock climbing, rollerblading, admiring and learning about sports cars |
| Currently reading | NANA volume 1 by Yazawa Ai |
| Currently watching | NANA, Asatte no Houkou |
| Currently playing | Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2), Age of Empires II |
Favorites: |
| Movies | The Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away), Neko no Ongaeshi (The Cat Returns), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Sennen Joyuu (Millennium Actress), HAURU no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) |
| TV Shows | Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Drawn Together, Top Gear (BBC), Doctor Who (BBC) |
| Books | A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R.R. Martin), Coldfire trilogy (C.S. Friedman), The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), The Last Herald-Mage trilogy (Mercedes Lackey), Belgariad series (David Eddings), The Prydain Chronicles series (Lloyd Alexander), The Dark Elf trilogy (R.A. Salvatore), The Princess Bride (S. Morgenstern [William Goldman]), The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) |
| Anime | NANA, COWBOY BEBOP (TV, movie), Trigun, Fruits Basket, Shoujo Kakumei Utena (TV, movie), Kodomo no Omocha, Shaman King, Hikaru no Go, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, Pita Ten, Hana Yori Dango (TV), Rurouni Kenshin (TV, first OVA), Tenkuu no Escaflowne (TV), Basara, Initial D (TV, movie), Bakuretsu Hunter (TV, OVA) |
| Manga | Yami no Matsuei (Matsushita Youko), Hikaru no Go (Hotta Yumi, Obata Takeshi), Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (Tsuda Masami), Basara (Tamura Yumi) |
| Seiyuu | Miki Shin'ichirou, Hayami Shou, Seki Toshihiko, Onosaka Masaya, Koyasu Takehito |
| Artists | MATSUSHITA Youko, OBATA Takeshi, NOMURA Tetsuya, KOJIMA Ayami, Juno JEONG, Hyung Tae KIM (I know I'm being inconsistent with the name order), Michael Whelan, Luis Royo, Kuang Hong, Jason Chan |
| Musicians | LAREINE, NEW SODMY, L'Arc~en~Ciel, MALICE MIZER, Gackt, Kanno Youko, Uematsu Nobuo, Mitsuda Yasunori, Kajiura Yuki, Tori Amos, Enya |
| Videogames | Xenosaga, Final Fantasy (VII, X), Wipeout 3, Soul Blade, ICO |
| Characters | Tidus (Final Fantasy X), Jin Uzuki (Xenosaga), Howl (Howl's Moving Castle), Baron (The Cat Returns) |
About my goals: |
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Video games are a relatively recent interest of mine, but they quickly captured my enthusiasm. I have been searching for the right outlet for my art, and games seem to fit the bill perfectly. While character design is my forte, I am open to broadening my horizons. I know that I am not exactly one's expected candidate to be a professional artist based on my education and work history. As a typical child of Chinese immigrants, I have had the importance of academics ingrained in me since day one. Throughout much of my later school career, my parents pushed me to go to medical school, and feeling my filial obligation, I turned my attention to that end, even though I was already longing to go into (Japanese comic book, at the time) art. Eventually, I was able to shake myself free of my parents to chase after my dream. While it would be wonderful to attain some modicum of fame and money through my work, honestly, that is not what I consider to be my ultimate goals. I want to create something--or at least to be a part of the creation of that thing--that truly and deeply touches people. Such a game would be one in which the player forms an emotional bond with the character(s) and story, thus leaving a long-lasting impression. There have been many games that I have enjoyed and many characters that I love--and perhaps I would even fall in love with them were they real--but none had the effect on me that ICO had. When I was playing, I felt like I was actually in love with Yorda. I could really feel "the power of holding hands," and I personally--not simply as Ico--wanted to protect and save her. That is the kind of connection I hope to be able to cause people to feel. I know that games are used primarily as a form of entertainment, but I believe that a game which is a true masterpiece transcends mere escapism and becomes a work of art. On top of that, in an age when it seems that most people are satisfied to sit around watching other people's accomplishments, I want to give people the ability to dream, and dream big, and then to go after that dream. Their dreams do not need to be art-related or even video game-related. Those dreams just need to come into existence. I have had my influences (incidentally, related to neither art nor games) that gave me that last burst of courage to go against my parents' wishes and live my dream; I hope I can be a similar influence on others. | |