Sylva Greene: “Welcome once again, everyone! I’m your host, Sylva Greene, and this is ‘Season Three in Review.’ As always, I’m here with the author of ‘Legend of Aki: Rebirth,’ Stukasa.”
Stukasa: “This is becoming a regular routine, isn’t it?”
Sylva Greene: “It certainly is! And that’s not a bad thing. It’s always good to go back and reflect upon what’s happened before moving forward, wouldn’t you say?”
Stukasa: “Definitely. You need to remember where you’ve come from in order to understand where you’re going. That’s something that applies to both the author and the readers.”
~ TIME MANAGEMENT ~
Sylva Greene: “So, let’s jump right into it and address the elephant in the room, shall we?”
Stukasa: “By all means.”
Sylva Greene: “Season three was supposed to be the final season.”
Stukasa: “That was the plan, yes.”
Sylva Greene: “But the story isn’t over.”
Stukasa: “No, it isn’t. I wanted to keep going all the way to the end, but I’m just not writing fast enough. Real life has been kicking my butt pretty hard this year. A lot of unforeseen things came up, things that drained a lot of my free time. I’m still making good progress, but sometimes ‘good’ isn’t good enough. It used to take me a week, week and a half to finish each story part. Lately it’s been taking me closer to two weeks. That half a week difference may not sound like much, but over the course of a season it starts to add up. I realized I was falling behind and had no choice but to take a break in order to catch up.”
Sylva Greene: “And then wrap up with season four, presumably?”
Stukasa: “Right. It’ll be a few months before I’m ready to start releasing again. I’m aiming for three. Realistically it may take four. I’m just trying to avoid a six-month gap like what happened between seasons two and three.”
Sylva Greene: “Six months? Really? It didn’t feel that long.”
Stukasa: “Well, I tried to fill it with a bunch of side stories. Maybe that’s why. It’s partly my fault, too. I was supposed to write three single-part stories to fill the gap, but I ended up writing two three-parters and two one-offs. That’s a total of eight parts—five more than I planned! That alone set back season three by a month and a half. But I don’t regret it. I had a lot of fun writing those stories, and I think they helped refresh people’s memories of some of the key players in season three, people like Rho and Irene.”
Sylva Greene: “Speaking of which, it was nice to see Rho come back and become part of the regular cast.”
Stukasa: “I like writing Rho. She’s a fun character who brings a slightly different perspective to the group. And thanks to her ‘special ability,’ she can sneak into places where no one else can.”
~ A NEW COAT OF PAINT ~
Sylva Greene: “I noticed a few other changes this season, some obvious and some not so much. Can you tell me what was different in season three?”
Stukasa: “One change was the character portraits. When the new tier six graphics came out, I knew I wanted to replace all the old portraits with the latest and greatest versions. It took some extra time and effort—more than I intended—but I think the end result was worth it. Another change came from the upgrade to PSOW itself. I didn’t realize it until I tried posting the first chapter of the season, but the new format only allows five songs per post. Any more than that and it’ll give you an error message. So I’ve been trying to keep the number of songs per post to five or less. That’s no problem ninety percent of the time, it’s only a problem in the long chapters where there are a lot of mood changes. A couple times I had to use one song for two different scenes, just because I was already at the song limit.”
Sylva Greene: “What about changes to the story itself?”
Stukasa: “I structured this season a bit differently than the previous ones. Season three was more concentrated and focused in its scope. Almost the entire season was dedicated to the battle against Zero One, and most of it took place on
Ur in just a handful of locations. Rauth’s lab and the ARKS Command tower, primarily. By rooting the characters to one general place, I was trying to create a different dynamic. There was this slow building of tension that increased a little more each time until it finally reached a breaking point. I’m still not sure about the result, whether people prefer that to the relatively quicker pace of previous seasons.”
Sylva Greene: “The readers will have to be the judge of that. Hopefully they at least understand you were trying something a little different.”
Stukasa: “Well if they didn’t before, they certainly do now!”
Sylva Greene: “Last time we talked a bit about the villains in the story. Now that season three is over, I’d like to revisit that topic. Let’s start with Zero One.”
Stukasa: “Sure. What’s interesting is that my decision to make Zero One a villain was one of the last major changes I made to the outline. I liked the idea so much that I ended up devoting an entire story arc to it. It felt perfect to me because that’s exactly the way Lee likes to do things. He doesn’t want to dirty his own hands, he’d rather let someone else do it. And who better than one of the main characters of the story? Immediately there was this very complicated and emotional dynamic between Zero One and the rest of the group. This wasn’t someone they could go after without consequences. Taking down Zero One meant taking down their own friend, their own family. But that’s what they had to do. It was a story about doing what needs to be done, even if that means making the choice you don’t want to make.”
Sylva Greene: “Just to be clear, Zero One and Rho are still alive at the end of the season, correct?”
Stukasa: “They’re still alive, just in pretty bad shape. It’ll take some time to repair them, which gives me a convenient excuse to shift the focus of the story in season four. There are still a number of unfinished plot points to take care of. Akasha’s story, for instance, not to mention Shankar and Lee are still out there.”
~ MEASURE OF A MAN ~
Sylva Greene: “And the Hunter as well. The conversation between him and Lee seemed to confirm a certain theory about Lee’s past…”
Stukasa: “I think I know where you’re going with this. So just let me say: yes, Lee and Kaylee are the same person. The side story I wrote last season, Interlude 2.4, was actually Lee’s own past.”
Sylva Greene: “So that means…”
Stukasa: “Lee is biologically female but identifies as male. I tried to explain it in a very discrete way in the side story. Maybe a little
too discretely, since I don’t think anyone caught on right away!” *laughs*
Sylva Greene: “Was that always planned to be part of Lee’s backstory?”
Stukasa: “Since before I started writing, yes. I left a lot of subtle hints throughout the story, mainly in the way I described Lee. I said he’s rather small and thin, with a slender body and hands. He always wears gloves and dark sunglasses. One reason for that is because he doesn’t want to be seen as female. He wants to be treated as a man. Growing up, he had a very overbearing father and a weak-willed mother, so his opinion of women isn’t very good. There was this scene in chapter three where the doppelganger of Councilor Lane was running a hand up Lee’s thigh, and he stops her halfway. At the time, the readers probably assumed the point of the scene was to show that Lee is a serious guy—which is true. But if you read it again knowing Lee’s circumstances, it takes on a whole different meaning as well.”
Sylva Greene: “Why did you decide to take the character in that direction?”
Stukasa: “To be honest, I wasn’t planning to mention it at all. It doesn’t impact the story in any way. When I originally came up with the character, way back when I was writing my outline, Lee was just a regular guy—well, more or less. The problem arose when I tried to make his character portrait. I only have four characters in the game, two playable plus two support partners. This was before Episode Four came out so we didn’t have that extra slot to play around with. I needed Lee to be wearing the suit and glasses. That look is distinctive, it makes or breaks the character. That meant I had to make his portrait in the actual game, not the character creator. But the only male character I have is a Newman, which didn’t work. I was stumped until I came up with the idea of using a
female character and making it look male. So I actually used a female Deuman base and hid the horns, that’s how I made Lee’s portrait. After that I got to thinking. I thought it would be fun if I actually included that into the character’s backstory. But like I said, I never planned to acknowledge it. It wasn’t until I decided to write Interlude 2.4 that I changed my mind. It still won’t impact the story, though.”
Sylva Greene: “A rare case of function following form.”
Stukasa: “I work in mysterious ways.” *laughs*
~ UNSOLVED MYSTERIES ~
Sylva Greene: “Getting back to the topic of season three, what part or parts did you enjoy writing the most? Is there anything you would have changed?”
Stukasa: “I think the scene I enjoyed writing most was in chapter 15.4 when Zero One and Colton were heading to the lab with the soldiers. They were aboard a pair of troop transports flying quietly over the city at night. That was one of the first scenes I imagined when I was coming up with the outline for season three. And I really love that song by Thomas Newman. I’d been waiting to use it for a long, long time. As far as things I would change, I wish I could’ve spent more time with the group as fugitives. After they escaped from the lab in 15.4, I wanted them to go into hiding for a while, with Zero One trying to track them down. Ultimately I decided it was unnecessary, and ended up cutting that part because I was running short on time.”
Sylva Greene: “There were a few mysteries this season that have yet to be explained. Akasha hatching from that Darker egg was the biggest one. Then there was the power outage in the ARKS Command tower during chapter sixteen. Irene was supposed to cut the power, but she had already been killed at that point. So who or what caused it? And finally, let’s not forget the shadowy figure standing next to Shankar in the very last scene.”
Stukasa: “You saw what happened with the Darker egg in chapter fourteen. More or less, anyway. That Breeahda-like Darker stuck one of its tentacles into Shankar’s neck, then laid the egg that Akasha hatched from. What exactly that means, though, I can’t tell you. Not yet. About the power outage and shadowy figure, all I can promise is that both will be explained eventually. You know I wouldn’t leave the readers hanging like that!”
Sylva Greene: “Fair enough. What
can you tell us about Akasha’s condition?”
Stukasa: “She got a lot smaller. That’s the most obvious change. I don’t know if the readers fully understand the difference yet, since she didn’t make much of an appearance this season. To put it in perspective, she’s a full head and a half shorter now. Not only that, she looks younger, too. While she was supposed to look about twenty before, she looks more like fourteen now. She’s a young teen. Here, I’ll show you a side-by-side comparison shot.”
Sylva Greene: “Wow, that
is quite a difference!”
Stukasa: “It is. The ironic thing is that despite how small she looks now, she’s actually not. Look at her height in that image. She’s five-foot-six now. That’s slightly above average height for a female.”
Sylva Greene: “Hey, she’s taller than me!”
Stukasa: “Right! When you think about that, you realize just how big she was before.”
~ BACK TO THE FUTURE ~
Sylva Greene: “Let’s end this interview with the usual question: what can we expect next season?”
Stukasa: *laughs* “A lot of everything! Season three was a very personal story. Season four is going to be a lot bigger in comparison. The stakes are higher. Everything’s on the line. I don’t want to give away too much, obviously, but Shankar is going to have a much larger role. The Darkers will be out in full force. It’s going to be one big roller coaster ride from beginning to end.”
Sylva Greene: “You said earlier that you want to shift the focus in season four. Which characters, specifically, did you have in mind?”
Stukasa: “There’s Akasha, of course, who was absent for most of season three. I’d also like to spend a little more time with the newest family in town—Selena, Delfoy, Marten, and Charmie. There was all this fanfare when I brought them back to
Ur in season three, then they practically disappeared for the rest of the season. I want to spend more time developing those characters now that they’re finally back. Also, I’d like to give Aki’s brother Alpha more of a role. In the past I struggled to find something for him to do, but I have an idea for season four that I really like. We’ll see how it turns out.”
Sylva Greene: “What about side stories? Do you have anything planned between now and the start of season four?”
Stukasa: “I have one side story written that will be released about a month from now. I may or may not decide to do more. It depends if I come up with any good ideas!”
Sylva Greene: “As always, thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with me.”
Stukasa: “Thanks, Sylva. And thank you, everyone! I’ll see you all again soon!”
I wanted the readers to worry about Rho's fate, coming on the heels of Irene's death. But I enjoy writing her character too much to kill her off that easily!
As a reminder, though, she was in Zero Three's body when she got damaged. That means Zero Three is stuck in Rho's body until she gets repaired. Just wanted to point that out.
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I was certain it was going to be part of his backstory though, but with the way you had to create him it makes a lot of sense. Reminds me of when I created Tatsumi, who was Cocona presenting as male, using her as a base!
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