You're most definitely wondering how I came up with a username as interesting as sunfishdreamworld. This is something I've been wanting to write about for a while now, and this site gives me a good excuse to do so! I came up with my username near the end of summer in 2022, so it's kind of weird to think about how “new” it still is, at least, compared to the other username that I had for nearly 7 years...
I've always been a fan of horror, but in 2022, I was really interested in liminal spaces, especially locations that had water where water shouldn't be. I know that's weirdly specific, but there was something about this subgenre of horror that I found intriguing and even comforting. This tumblr post kind of explains it (and the last person and everyone else in the reblogs totally gets it.) I've also been a fan of weird usernames I would see online from time to time, or those music playlists on YouTube with cryptic titles.
In 2020, I watched a video that featured this girl. You've probably seen her before, especially since she was really popular a few months ago (for some reason). I was immediately captivated by her off-putting face, and the website that she's from is even more bizarre. The name of it stuck with me too. イルカの夢でさようなら, or “Goodbye in the Dream of a Dolphin”. You can probably already see the parallels between that and Sunfish Dreamworld. It wasn't until not that long ago when I found out that Iruka is a musical artist who isn't so mysterious, and I was kind of sad that this wasn't some sort of weird unfiction where no one knew where this girl came from or what the point of her was. It felt like knowing where she came from kind of made her less unsettling and interesting, but now I'm just complaining!
I didn't go with the sea creature motif just because of Iruka— I've loved a lot of things related to the ocean ever since I was little. There were a lot of sea creatures that I really liked, and I learned more and more about them through Animal Crossing: City Folk. I never knew that sunfish existed until I caught one for the first time, and I've been obsessed with them since then! I love how they look in the game, and it wasn't until later when I found out just how huge they actually are.
I actually thought that Sunfish Dreamworld was too good of a name, and I even considered using it for my own horror/unfiction story (that I haven't made any progress with (yet)) instead of my online identity. It's kind of weird to think how it was just going to be a temporary username, but now, that's who I am!