Welcome to our Focus on a Fan feature - this time coming as we launch a new monthly fandom focus upon characters in our favourite manga. So who could we hunt down to do justice to this Death Note Month of Light Yagami? Only one contender really.
The rest of this post is given over to the Goddess of our Old World, the inimitable Maru-Light!
The rest of this post is given over to the Goddess of our Old World, the inimitable Maru-Light!
| Hello all~ So I was Maru-Light for a brief stint on MangaBullet (but an ongoing stint on DeviantArt). The lovely Matilda hunted me down recently after a 5-year absence from the Death Note world, to inform me that it’s Kira month on Death Note News and could I please contribute to the Focus on a Fan, to which I couldn’t say no. So about me, (which admittedly is kind of weird, but here it goes). I devotedly cosplayed Light/Kira (in addition to L, B, Mello & Matt) between the years 2008 – 2011, and featured my pix both on MangaBullet (briefly) and DA, where most of it still is. I founded the Kira Worshippers Group there, (which could probably use some new activity). I actually wasn’t aware MangaBullet had a demise, and I haven’t been very active on DA either lately. When I am, it’s mostly through my Ball Joint Doll face-up work, and no longer my cosplay. These days I mostly haunt a forum for an original novel series Anda-Chan and I have been working on. I have really limited my involvement in fandoms outside my own thing. I lost the cosplay bug a few cycles after we stopped cosplaying Death Note (really was my biggest passion, and since then being inspired to cosplay has never been as strong.) My “bros” (MB’s Anda-Chan & Blairbender) and I went through a brief stint cosplaying My Chemical Romance (I was Gerard, that was an odd experience) and flirted with doing Hannibal but never got there. Anda and I segued into a bit of Joker & Harley (so.much.make-up) and then Star Wars (even.more.make-up), before moving into an apartment together, which suddenly featured a new round of rent and a depleted source of cosplay funds. That, and getting to cons lately, has been a tall order. So while it was a good run and fun while it lasted, we’ve since moved on to stranger pastures. |  |
We entered into the bizarre, but Zenful world of urbexing for a bit (that’s urban exploring for laymen), which roughly translated into avoiding-getting-arrested-while-exploring-abandoned-asylums-and-taking-photographs-of-urban-decay.
On one such excursion, while covered in roof soot at an abandoned Victorian Mental Institution in upstate New York, Anda whipped out a ring and popped the question—so we’re engaged now.
On one such excursion, while covered in roof soot at an abandoned Victorian Mental Institution in upstate New York, Anda whipped out a ring and popped the question—so we’re engaged now.
I guess you can say we’re flirting with wedding plans, which usually goes from “I want an awesome VICTORIAN wedding in a mansion” to “meh, lets just do pizza and call it a day.”
Think maybe we’ll do a court ceremony and blow the money on a trip to the Caribbean instead (which admittedly is one of our addictions and seems like a more responsible investment of funds, unless the wedding becomes the best Halloween Party Ever, in which case we can justify the expense.)
And besides, I have my heart set on a replica of Mina Harker’s red dress from Dracula as my wedding scrubs, so maybe I’ll get the dress, do a court ceremony, eat the pizza and then go to the Caribbean. Sounds like a plan.
Think maybe we’ll do a court ceremony and blow the money on a trip to the Caribbean instead (which admittedly is one of our addictions and seems like a more responsible investment of funds, unless the wedding becomes the best Halloween Party Ever, in which case we can justify the expense.)
And besides, I have my heart set on a replica of Mina Harker’s red dress from Dracula as my wedding scrubs, so maybe I’ll get the dress, do a court ceremony, eat the pizza and then go to the Caribbean. Sounds like a plan.
When Maru-Light and Anda-Chan were L and Mello. *little tear* The Good Old Days.
ANYWAY, so we’re living together and still writing together. We used to pour all of our efforts into a Death Note fanfic tome called The Redeemer Series, but I just sent Matti an article longer than anyone wants to read about why we don’t write that anymore.
[Coming soon to a Death Note News near you - Matti]
Instead, we’ve been hard at work on an original series called Breaking Across Devotion, which we’re adamant we're going to publish; otherwise my purpose on this planet is pretty moot. Write or bust, basically.
The “B-A-D” series is literally about rock stars and serial killers, and - to prove life weirdly imitates art - as of the last year+, Anda and I have been working in the music business, as a concert photographer and copywriter respectively.
It’s been a pretty incredible experience. We go to at least 4 shows a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Anda shoots rock stars in the photo pit [Still Mello! - Matti]; I get to watch and sometimes write about it. Along the way we’ve met some of our hero bands including Black Veil Brides, Nothing More and Like a Storm. It’s nuts. We’ve covered bands like Slash and Myles Kennedy, Frank Iero & the Cellabration, Six A.M., Marilyn Manson, The Pretty Reckless, Breaking Benjamin, Motionless in White, and a ridiculous amount of others for Music Existence.
We’re hoping to expand our careers deeper into the industry, and maybe actually get paid for this stuff (imagine that, not working for free.)
[Coming soon to a Death Note News near you - Matti]
Instead, we’ve been hard at work on an original series called Breaking Across Devotion, which we’re adamant we're going to publish; otherwise my purpose on this planet is pretty moot. Write or bust, basically.
The “B-A-D” series is literally about rock stars and serial killers, and - to prove life weirdly imitates art - as of the last year+, Anda and I have been working in the music business, as a concert photographer and copywriter respectively.
It’s been a pretty incredible experience. We go to at least 4 shows a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Anda shoots rock stars in the photo pit [Still Mello! - Matti]; I get to watch and sometimes write about it. Along the way we’ve met some of our hero bands including Black Veil Brides, Nothing More and Like a Storm. It’s nuts. We’ve covered bands like Slash and Myles Kennedy, Frank Iero & the Cellabration, Six A.M., Marilyn Manson, The Pretty Reckless, Breaking Benjamin, Motionless in White, and a ridiculous amount of others for Music Existence.
We’re hoping to expand our careers deeper into the industry, and maybe actually get paid for this stuff (imagine that, not working for free.)
Anda and Maru at work
Meanwhile, I was featured as the face of an album for New Jersey band A Midnight Tragedy, as well as in one of their music videos - where I definitely proved to myself that I can’t act for nothing, but I still enjoy getting covered in make-up and blood. So it was a lot of fun. (See pic below right from the video shoot.)
 | Let’s see, I also fell down the tattoo rabbit hole. Someone once warned me that if I started with ink, it would become an addiction and I’d throw away all my money. I didn’t believe them. I should have. I’ve been steadily getting inked for a few years now. Last spring I began what’s turning out to be almost a full back/side/eventually leg piece, which is nuts because I never planned that, but it’s happening. I got a raven inked on my ribs over the summer, and it was seriously the worst pain of my life, but somehow a proving grounds. In the end, I think I’m just a masochist because I can’t wait to go back and keep getting work done. |  |
Right now Anda and I are planning our first trip to London in the spring. Gonna hit up all the Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes haunts, because we’re morbid, and maybe even track Matti down for some tea. [Kettle's on - Matti] Definitely looking forward to it, since we’ve been writing about it forever, but have yet to get the full experience.
As for Death Note, every now and then I really miss it. I itch to cosplay Kira and L again, but then I realize my wigs have gone the way of the dodo and I’m just not in the mood to duct tape my boobs down anymore. I still miss writing about them too, but my heart’s moved into another creative universe and I’m committed to seeing it through.
For now, Anda’s in the kitchen cutting onions for soup and has managed to burn even my eyes here in the next room. So I’m going to cut this short, and when my ability to see comes back, I’m going to binge some episodes of Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
As for Death Note, every now and then I really miss it. I itch to cosplay Kira and L again, but then I realize my wigs have gone the way of the dodo and I’m just not in the mood to duct tape my boobs down anymore. I still miss writing about them too, but my heart’s moved into another creative universe and I’m committed to seeing it through.
For now, Anda’s in the kitchen cutting onions for soup and has managed to burn even my eyes here in the next room. So I’m going to cut this short, and when my ability to see comes back, I’m going to binge some episodes of Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
 | If you’re so inclined, you can find me here: Posted as part of the   |  Maru-Light's tips on cosplaying Kira will be coming along later in the month; as will her article explaining in detail what happened to her and Anda-Chan's The Redeemer Series. |
