AMA: Jamie O'Hara/GOATkari

[Hikari Kanno]

ask me shit u sick cunts

 

[Holly Arrow]

- What is your all time favorite and/or top 3 animanga?

- An accolade/match you would revisit for the first time blind?

- Why does Zoro beat Tanjiro in swordplay?

- What landed you on Gulia for a picbase?

 

[Hikari Kanno]

- What is your all time favorite and/or top 3 animanga?

- An accolade/match you would revisit for the first time blind?

- Why does Zoro beat Tanjiro in swordplay?

- What landed you on Gulia for a picbase?

Berserk, Fist of the North Star and Tower of God even though its manhwa but same thing.

Probably winning Grand Rampage. I legitimately didn't expect to win it and even nowadays its something that I tend to forget that I did. Remember being stretched thin with work at the time and never took the moment to enjoy it/take it in.

I've never watched One Piece so imma assume he's just a bum and that he doesn't.

I had been watching Stardom for a bit throughout 2020 and knew she would get to where she is today eventually. When Jack sold me on IDOL-GUN it made sense to go with her. Not just for the sake locking down a pic base I'd assume would be popular today, but I just felt like she fit everything I wanted the Hikari character to be both then and in the future/now.

 

[Holly Arrow]

I've never watched One Piece so imma assume he's just a bum and that he doesn't.

read it

 

[Jamie O'Hara]

Ye u bozos

 

[Bhris Elite]

Any dream matches/rematches you look forward to having with either character?

Did you purposely leave so you didn’t have to team with me ?

Favorite characters to write for?

Also not a question but I didn’t get to say it on chat but I really enjoyed the match you wrote at PFP 🫡

 

[Jamie O'Hara]

Any dream matches/rematches you look forward to having with either character?

Did you purposely leave so you didn’t have to team with me ?

Favorite characters to write for?

Also not a question but I didn’t get to say it on chat but I really enjoyed the match you wrote at PFP 🫡

I think we're long overdue to run me vs Impact back. Shits been like 5 years and I'm pretty sure its the only time we have faced one another.

I would NEVER do such a thing...like never...ever... ...

Probably Hikari. I've put more focus, more detail into developing the character through her experiences, both positive and negative, than I have for any other character be it Jamie, an old alt or just writing other people's characters in segs and matches. There's a challenge to it that I've never dealt with before but its been fun and rewarding as well.

ur welcome legend

 

[Theron Nikolas]

What are the things that you do in order to get into the correct mindset to write for either Jamie or Hikari?

Why are you such a bih?

Why was Alex Twal's try the greatest sporting moment of 2023?

How long until the Knights realise that they paid massive overs for Kayln Ponga and start shopping him around to other clubs?

How badly does Queensland beat NSW tonight?

 

[Jamie O'Hara]

What are the things that you do in order to get into the correct mindset to write for either Jamie or Hikari?

Why are you such a bih?

Why was Alex Twal's try the greatest sporting moment of 2023?

How long until the Knights realise that they paid massive overs for Kayln Ponga and start shopping him around to other clubs?

How badly does Queensland beat NSW tonight?

I tend to have an overarching concept for both that adjusts to their current situations. For Hikari now it's the 'dreamer' mentality where so much of the approach is anchored on this ides of not relenting on aspirations; a willingness to be crippled by them in pursuit of realising her ambitions. Whereas Jamie it's more about his place as a proper veteran. They're not really unique or special concepts, but they're distinctly different enough that it makes switching from one to another easier; though at times I still feel like they bleed into one another.

No u

Greater euphoric feeling than any drug I've ever consumed.

He's literally our best player most weeks and has been Queensland's best player on numerous occasions. He's justified his price tag more times than I care to remember. Our next best player after Ponga is a winger about to go to the Roosters, after that its a Hooker whose been injured 75% of his time here.

Bad enough that I don't have any reason to watch Game 3.

 

[Drake Armstrong]

ask me shit u sick cunts

What’s some of your favorite literature to read? Do you take inspiration from such works when you write?


Given how long your characters have been around, is there anything you would do differently if you could go back in time and change your approach?

 

[Hikari Kanno]

What’s some of your favorite literature to read? Do you take inspiration from such works when you write?


Given how long your characters have been around, is there anything you would do differently if you could go back in time and change your approach?

Sorry for being late on this

Not quite these days. I went through a phase where I read a lot of classic novels, around 2015-2017. Stuff like Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley but I don't think they had much influence on my writing. I think that's mostly down to my career as a designer and now as an Art Director where copywriting is a natural skill that I've picked up. Writing headlines that tell stories in just a few words or grab people's attention, its the creative workshopping that flowed well into my promos.

I don't think I have a lot regrets, I don't know whether I would have changed things all too much; I played my cards right throughout the last decade with both characters. Approach has never quite been an issue for me, but I've definitely underestimated how taxing a creative career is on promoing. It's difficult to be wired from 6-7am or whenever I wake up through to 7-8pm coming up with creative pitches and solving problems all day and then coming home to promo; creativity is absolutely a muscle that gets tired and worn out when you're reliant on it. If I were to go back, I'd go back a few years and sharpen my writing a bit more to be able to be a bit off the cuff and straightforward just so I wasn't always putting the pressure on myself to maintain that a high creative standard in every paragraph of every promo I've written.

 

[Bronson Daniels]

im pouring honey on you goat

- any underrated anime's you've seen recently?

- what are your thoughts on how eaw has evolved and been shaped in the last few years, considering how much influence you have over a massive number of people here?

- biggest inspirations for your characters?

- anything you'd still like to achieve as jamie?

- thoughts on giulia in wwe?

- do u still go to bat for cody rhodes on reddit??????

 

[Hikari Kanno]

im pouring honey on you goat

- any underrated anime's you've seen recently?

- what are your thoughts on how eaw has evolved and been shaped in the last few years, considering how much influence you have over a massive number of people here?

- biggest inspirations for your characters?

- anything you'd still like to achieve as jamie?

- thoughts on giulia in wwe?

- do u still go to bat for cody rhodes on reddit??????

I've probably watched the least amount of anime over the last six or so months than I have in years, but Golden Boy and The Big O were two series I watched a few months back that were really fun and enjoyable.

I love it. Its in such a healthy state with brilliant talent coming through and such stacked spots on every roster with people throwing their best out at one another. Sometimes I genuinely feel like I can't keep up.

Inspiration comes and goes a lot and nothing really sticks long term outside of many one or two things. Whenever I tell a story as Jamie, I write it in the tone and with the pace of someone like Don Draper, really emphasising certain remarks and ideas, slow building with a great high note. But with Hikari, its more of a collection of lessons I've learned over the years and tapping into whatever works best for any given response. In a way, Jamie is a decent bit of inspiration for Hikari, albeit at times a little too much.

I'd like to win one last World title. My first EAW World Championship reign was...uhhhh...a little shit so correcting that would be a nice way to cap everything else off. I like having little 'negatives' that kinda stain a career, like never winning King of Elite despite a few tries at it or failing to cash in CITV; sure it would be nice to reverse the latter or win KOE after so many tries, but I think with the context of everything else, its a nice little part of the legacy. I'd just like to replace a title reign that was pretty badly botched by a pretty awful human being.

Happy for her. I don't really watch much WWE at all, but she's got the star power to be absolutely massive in the US and I'm glad she'll get that chance to really shine in a place where all the things she does best are emphasised and put first.

Fuck Reddit man.

 

[Jay Jerry Johnson]

- There's always room for improvement, so do you think there's anything else you'd like to develop in Hikari Kanno's character besides aiming for the Universal Women's Champion title or adding to her storyline?
- Is there a band you personally like that isn't widely known?
- What do you find most challenging about promoing as both characters besides maintaining the pace of playing characters?

 

[Hikari Kanno]

- There's always room for improvement, so do you think there's anything else you'd like to develop in Hikari Kanno's character besides aiming for the Universal Women's Champion title or adding to her storyline?
- Is there a band you personally like that isn't widely known?
- What do you find most challenging about promoing as both characters besides maintaining the pace of playing characters?

I find development through the stories told are the best way to further a character. Taking on the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, and making all part of your character's identity. Show the scars as often as you show the accolades. Its been the basis of Hikari for the last two years and I think for as long as I have her/am around it will continue to be that way. She'll change and evolve through the success and failures she has, rather than forcing a certain idea. Let it all come naturally through storytelling.

God, a year ago I would have said Sleep Token but I don't know if they're still relatively unknown or have a decent footing in the music scene. Otherwise Casey, Lorna Shore if you want something much heavier, Electric Callboy and tremendous artists like Mylets, Bilmuri, Plini and Medium Build.

More or less what I replied to Drake about before. Being in a creative job where all day I'm zeroed in on coming up with ads, campaigns, writing copy for jobs here and there, working with designers etc its a surprisingly taxing on promoing. I feel at times I write pieces where I genuinely think my craft has never been better, but trying to get that time to sit down and really be my creative self, with the standard I've set for myself and the standard others expect is tough. I missed a week two weeks ago because I was so tied up in a brilliant pitch that I just couldn't muster the creativity to spill just any words on the page; even when the Voltage deadline falls on a Sunday for me, a week full of being up till 1-2am putting ideas together just drained my creativity. It's something I've become properly aware of after really struggling last year, especially with Territorial Invasion and so I just need to keep finessing my process to account for the toll my job takes on me.

 

[Holly Arrow]

- In your eyes, how do you see the difference between Jamie and Hikari? Less from a promo standpoint, more from their current impact and influence on EAW, how you go about telling their stories or where you see them ending up once you call it a wraps for e-fedding?

- How do you personally view EAW now compared to how you felt when you first came in/reached the top?

- What made you decide to return with the Yhwach character, and what about the namesake inspired you to use it?

- Why did you tell me the Bleach dub sucked when it had my lord and savior Patrick Seitz as Isshin?

 

[Hikari Kanno]

- In your eyes, how do you see the difference between Jamie and Hikari? Less from a promo standpoint, more from their current impact and influence on EAW, how you go about telling their stories or where you see them ending up once you call it a wraps for e-fedding?

- How do you personally view EAW now compared to how you felt when you first came in/reached the top?

- What made you decide to return with the Yhwach character, and what about the namesake inspired you to use it?

- Why did you tell me the Bleach dub sucked when it had my lord and savior Patrick Seitz as Isshin?

Jamie was just me being me. Learning, developing, growing. I had my hopes and expectations, but the character just naturally developed through what I learned over the years. He was raw, vanilla, didn't have much of an identity aside from a few monikers to kick around. Hikari is taking all those lessons and going through a new journey with all that in mind plus a little bit of doing so in a new era of EAW which I'll touch on next. Jamie's spot is that proper father figure kinda spot, proud of his children, proud of what EAW has become, Hikari is the child going through phases, more bold than Jamie was in his rise and dealing with different issues, different consequences for her actions etc. In terms of where I see them ending up, who knows. Jamie's time will come eventually and I think I've got a solid idea when, I'll be happy to cast him off sailing towards the sunset by any means. With Hikari, I think her story has naturally become one of persevering and becoming the Universal Womens Champion will be that really nice highpoint. Whatever comes next after, whenever the wheels fall off for her, who knows. Its less certain for her.

I felt EAW when I joined had an old guard that was pretty difficult to break into. I felt the opportunities were there for people, but not quite what they are today, and it was much more on the fly, so a little more uncertain whether or not someone was going to get their fair break. Someone like Cam is a good example of being overlooked and put aside in favour of others definitely less deserving just because of cliques. These days, the community seems significantly more healthy and open; people are going to get what they deserve based on the effort they put in. Less being overlooked for the sake of mates etc.

So Yhwach was a character that I pieced together over a good while, maybe a year or so. Just as a side piece that I never really believed I was going to bring back. Much of the character was designed around a lot of the arrogance Jamie had picked up over the years and the more aggressive side I wrote in the feud with Kass. Believing in his God status, being untouchable, being immeasurable. It was at a time where I wasn't sure if I was going to bring Jamie back at all, so if I did, Yhwach was going to be the last real arc for the character, one that aimed to tarnish his 'good natured' legacy and all that, sever the indecision that Jamie would have had with returning as opposed to staying home and being a day, with the intent that Yhwach would get comfortable being the big bad guy in EAW to a point where he turns on destroying his family instead in order to preserve his place in EAW

As for inspiration, ya know. I absolutely love Yhwach as a villain in Bleach and felt the imposing nature of the character fit perfectly with the character so it made sense. Basically how Yhwach is presented is how I imagined Jamie walking through EAW on his last run.

I'm a man who likes to surprise people. Don't get mad pls.