Maria Tachimi's Draw My Life

Transcript
Maria: "Hello, and welcome to Draw My Life."

[Maria draws her birthdate]

Maria: "I was born in Florida, in 1981, My mommy was Japanese and my dad was American."

[Maria draws her grandparents and her parents]

Maria: "My grandfathers never got on, to the point they were on opposite sides during WWII, my mommy's side being a Japanese POW guard and my other grandfather being a POW inmate, but they did have moments they relaxed."

[Maria draws her mother speaking in Japanese "こんにちは" (Hello) "おはよごじます" (Good morning) and "マリアちゃん" (Maria-chan)]

Maria: "Mommy could only speak Japanese and she taught it to me, I was fluent and could read it by the time of the age of four, this annoyed my grandfather Mikey, I also spoke English aswell."

[Maria draws the year 1984]

Maria: "As a little girl growing up in the 80's, my mommy often collected manga, she read a manga called Akira and said if I was a boy, I would of been giving the name Akira."

[Maria draws Derek Armstrong]

Maria: “Derek, my killer’s father was a so-called child welfare advocate, I was diagonsed with a coconut allergy and he wanted me taken away, He would be a thorn in my side until I died.”

[Maria draws Transformers toys]

Maria: "I loved Transformers growing up, this was very unusual for a little girl at the time, but, I was not alone in this, mommy loved Seinen manga and the occult, Ichiro isn't too bothered by this."

[Maria draws an angry woman and her hiding upstairs]

Maria: "When I got my first Transformers figures, it was not a very pleasant experience, a day after my birthday, I recieved Thundercracker and Prowl, Thundercracker was this blue F-15 jet, he looked really pretty with his blue colors, and there was this woman who was planning to buy him first and she screamed running after my grandpa, uncle and father, this would traumatise me until my dying say."

[Maria draws the woman chasing her male relatives and a blue F-15]

[Maria draws the words "Second World War"]

Maria: "My grandfathers were on opposite sides during WWII, Ichiro, mommy's daddy, was in a POW camp working as a part-time guard, and Mikey was in the same camp."

[Maria draws her great-grandparents Aiko and Kenta]

Maria: "Ichiro told me he was fed once in every few days or so, so sometimes, great-grandma took him out of the camps to spend a few weeks off to recover."

[Maria draws her and her father taking part in a Civil War reenactment]

Maria: "Daddy used to bring me to American Civil War reenactments, by the time I was 4 until my death, I usually wore uniforms from both sides, but since I had relatives that fought on the Confederates, it was more popular for me."

[Maria draws the actors]

Maria: "It was a nice acting community, some of the actors brought their kids and I was the only half-Japanese one, basically, the 1980's was a decade where you could smack your kid, eat Kinder Eggs, dress in Civil War uniforms and swear infront of your child."

[Maria draws her tarot ritual]

Maria: “A week after I turned 4, I went under a pagan ritual in my family that used the Major Arcana, my card was The World, the most powerful card, so, the number 21, the card, and the traits were associated with me in my family.”

[Maria draws children crying after seeing Transformers: The Movie]

Maria: “I saw Transformers: The Movie, I went with friends, Alot of the Transformers died, including some of my favorites, but Galvatron, pardon my language, was fucking awesome!”

[Maria draws the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure logo]

Maria: “Me and mom love Shonen Jump, despite it’s name, It’s very gender-neutral, my mom’s favorite?, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure since it debuted in 1987, The first JoJo, Jonathan taught me the meaning of forgiving your worst enemies, as he couldn’t bring himself to hate Dio when he took his last breath.”

[Maria draws an angry Derek holding a copy of the book]

Maria: “The Docks didn‘t like that one bit and kept getting the Concerned Bastards on us, Derek was a neighbor from hell, before my uncle moved to Japan with his wife and my cousin, He would play the WWII-era Anti-Japanese song, You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap, after that, he played the Addams Family on repeat, much to everyone’s chagrin.”