1upmushroom wrote:Ah yeah I saw this in the true ghosbusters forum. Awesome stuff. Any characters made?
Written, yes, but I feel I'm far better suited to mechanical design. (I'm utterly crap at drawing human characters. Can never get it quite right.)
PROFESSOR KUBOTA (name TBD--this is a placeholder)
46 y/o, 5'3", portly, balding, wears spectacles. Looks like a Japanese Jason Alexander.
------------------------------------------------------------
Prof. Kubota is a madcap quantum physicist at a university (I haven't decided which one--I wrote these in my notebook in a white-hot rage). He was recently disgraced for misappropriating grant money, not that his colleagues admired his work or anything. Just before he was dismissed from the university, he began work on his magnum opus: proof that ghosts had a physical presence in our world. His lab assistant, Megumi (more on her later), handled the "ghost" stuff, while he handled the complex equations and data.
Kubota misused the grant money to purchase a Ghostbusters franchise and build prototype equipment. Initially, he and Megumi struck out like Batman and Robin, but the strain of catching ghosts proved too much for the professor. He realized that he would need a team to help him....
Creator’s notes on Kubota: Kubota and Megumi work together so well because they are perfect foils for each other: she’s a cold, clinical scientist with an abnormal interest in the paranormal, and he’s something of a “big kid†in terms of how he goes about his scientist thing. He only got in trouble because he didn’t think his plan through. He selects his team of Ghostbuster employees very carefully; he looks for people who sort of amble through life without a purpose. In a way, once he’s out of the university, the Prof becomes something of an outcast himself. I myself believe that the misappropriation charges were trumped-up, and that his peers had always had it in for him because of his unconventional research.
MEGUMI: 30, female, shoulder-length black hair, pale skin. Think of a female version of L from Death Note--and yes, she does have the strange eyes and dark circles under them.
Prof. Kubota’s research assistant, Megumi is a student of the paranormal. She sees her superior as her “engineerâ€, and supplies him with the data and research while he handles the calculations and builds the equipment. One would think that something was going on between the two of them, but Megumi is actually rather cold—something like a female Gendo Ikari. She came from a family of spiritualists, and, at nine years old, watched helplessly as a séance went horrifyingly wrong.
She lived with her aunt and uncle thereafter, and the trauma of that night burned in her memories. She vowed to understand the forces of the paranormal so that she might one day conquer her nightmares. This is why she is so cold and aloof—dealing with the Spirit World is extremely dangerous (and her research has brought up some bloodcurdling stuff), and she would rather not get too attached to anyone if (or when) something terrible happens. It’s only when she goes out to help Kubota on a few busts and sees that the equipment works and can catch ghosts that she opens up a bit, but she’s still very reserved early on. Dealing with the other Ghostbusters opens her up even more.
In spite of her icy demeanor, Megumi admires the original Ghostbusters’ groundbreaking work, and even suggested the idea of buying a franchise to the Prof.
JIYUKO: 25, female, light brown hair cut in a “bobâ€, drinks and smokes
Jiyuko, whose name means “free spirit†(I tip my hat to Sara Backer and her novel American Fuji), is a snarky cynic. But she is in no way a “downer†to the team; Prof. Kubota often finds himself chuckling inwardly at her barbs. It’s more that she doesn’t take things seriously because no-one has taken her seriously or had any kind of expectations for her.
She has a reputation for being a party girl, and is putting herself through design school by compensated dating (enjo kosai). However, she’s adamant about not having sex with her clients, as most of them are sleazebags (about 7 out of 10) and her “self†is the only constant she knows—she will not throw that away on a whim, or because someone is paying her to do so.
Creator’s notes: I find Jiyuko the most interesting out of the Ghostbusters. It’s not fair to call her “stupid†or to assume that she doesn’t care…her cynicism stems more from disillusionment than apathy. Truth be told, she’s absolutely brilliant at design, and has an always-active “designer’s eye.†She finds Prof. Kubota’s prototype equipment more terrifying than the ghosts she encounters, and one Friday night she hooks up with him under the pretense of enjo kosai. Once she succeeds in that, she delineates to him her ideas of the new equipment and uniforms over the course of that weekend. (The gag here is that she had to put on a lot of makeup to hide her lack of sleep—she literally spent three days and nights’ worth of her free time hashing out all this stuff.)
I have in mind an idea that her older brother probably liked Super Sentai shows, and those subconscious memories inspired details like the girls’ uniforms having attached skirts.
TETSUO: 20-ish, BIG guy, messy, unkempt black hair/general appearance (though handsome in his own way)—is the spitting image of John Belushi
The youngest (or second-youngest) of the Ghostbusters, Tetsuo is an angry young man. Bullied endlessly throughout his childhood, he has grown stronger and, unfortunately, belligerent. Prof. Kubota found him in jail after a bar fight, saw potential in him, and give him a business card.
Ghostbusting has helped Tetsuo work out some of his issues as he battles ghosts like a crazy man. His attitude toward his fellow Ghostbusters’ well-being varies from indifferent to actively antagonistic—sometimes he (intentionally or accidentally) frags his own teammates with the Shock Blast or Boson Dart, especially when he feels he’s been slighted in some way (whether or not it was one of his fellow ‘Busters). The equipment’s Aura Shield absorbs some damage, but it’s still not good form to intentionally hit your own side.
Jiyoku sees something in him, too…she sees that he’s a “genuine†person in a world full of fakers.
TOJI SUZUHARA (Angelic Days continuity): 22, tall, athletic build, handsome
The second-youngest Ghostbuster, Toji is the most level-headed of them all. Shortly after humanity won the war against the Angels, NERV disbanded, and he was left searching for a job. He has held down meaningful employment for a few years at a time, but nothing really grabbed him by the collar and said “Look, I’m here!†Now married to his high-school sweetheart, Hikari, he has been going from place to place, being turned down time and time again…until he finds an ad in the paper for Ghostbusters Japan. Warily intrigued, he goes there and is accepted immediately. And he comes in at the best possible time (for him): the team is on the verge of breaking apart—Tetsuo’s on probation for fragging Megumi; Megumi is giving everyone the silent treatment; Jiyoku is questioning the point of it all; and the Prof is at his limit.
Immediately, Toji declares himself the Field Captain of the team and whips them into shape. He puts his firearms training from NERV to good use as he shows the others how to aim and fire the Nutrona Wands. With his guidance, they develop and practice complex maneuvers to efficiently capture menacing spooks while causing as little property damage as possible.
Redstar wrote:However, I'm just not getting a real Japanese "feel" out of these designs. Perhaps their uniforms would make that more apparent?
The uniforms are currently based off of race car gear; it makes them look a bit more "posh" than just about every other team. The "Japanese" feel comes more from my perception that Japanese designers are very good at making everyday things look like toys--the Kia Soul and other cars are evidence of this. It's also more to demonstrate a greater level of "comfort" in the gear: the computers and "guts" have miniaturized to the point where they can be hidden behind ABS plastic paneling, the wand can do more, etc. The biggest inspiration, though, is a book I bought at Chicago State University's library book sale. It was a big brochure from the 2003 International Design Conference in Tokyo, and all the stuff in that book got me thinking, "Hmm, I could use this stuff for something." They have a term for this kind of ergonomics--
Kansei, I think it is.
Actually, what you're looking at is inspired by Dyson's vacuum cleaners. The whole premise was based on the idea that a team in Japan would strive to make their equipment look like they
aren't thermonuclear accelerators. On GB.net, I stated that no-one in Japan would really want to have a franchise of their own because of this. Someone told me that I needed to explain this further...then, Dai'ichi happened almost two or three days after I'd posted. (I
was about to reference the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were the first things to show the potential horror of nuclear technology, but the Dai'ichi plant disaster seems to have thoroughly scuppered nuclear power in Japan once and for all!)
