The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Childish Mind

"Hey, Iku."

"Hm? Oh, greetings, Eldest Daughter. Is there any particular reason you've sought me out?"

"I'm bored and I saw you floating by."

"I...see."

"Any reason why you're floating around here?"

"Ah, no, not today. Ever since you placed that keystone at the Hakurei Shrine, I've had little to do besides-"

"Yeah, don't care."

"I'm...sorry?"

"I said, I don't care. Are you deaf?"

"There's no reason for you to be rude."

"Bah. Whatever. I'm a Celestial, I can talk however I like to anyone I want, even a messenger from the Dragon Palace."

"Have you no manners?"

"Don't need 'em in Heaven."

"But I always thought the enlightened ones were the perfect beings of grace and harmony. But alas, it seems that there's always a black sheep."

"Hey! I am more perfect, graceful, and harmonious than you could ever wish to be!"

"Oh my, it seems I've struck a nerve."

"Quiet you!"

"You realise that there's no use lying to me? I can read the atmosphere, and I can sense how anxious you feel. Tell me, Eldest Daughter, are you really as perfect and elegant as you claim to be?"

"Sh-shut up!"

"You claim to be perfect, yet you almost caused a cataclysmic event. All to give yourself something to do. You're arrogant, prideful, mean-spirited, selfish, and rude."

"Quiet!"

"You know who else I could attribute most of those qualities to? The Lunarians."

"Don't you dare compare me to those aliens!"

"But it's true, isn't it? Unlike the peaceful and enlightened residents of Heaven, you certainly do stand out. One might say you're a social alien in their society."

"SHUT UP!!!"

"..."

"...I'm a failure of a Celestial, I know that all too well. But what else is there to do?! I'm not elightened! I can't just sit around eating peaches and drinking tea for all eternity! I was literally bored enough to kill! And it'll probably happen again in the future!"

"...So you're lonely?"

"Wh-what?! When the hell did I say that?!"

"Like you said, you're a failure of a Celestial. The other's are content with simply ignoring your rebellious ways, are they not?"

"...Yeah."

"But that's changed recently, has it not?"

"Huh?"

"That Oni has moved in recently. Suika, was it?"

"Well, yes, but what does that-"

"Has it been boring since then?"

"...Not nearly as much, no."

"And isn't the reason you sought me out because the Oni left to see her own friends today?"

"...Are you a Satori in disguise?"

"Haha, no. I'm just really well versed in reading the atmosphere. Also, you're very easy to read anyways."

"Umm...sure."

"Well then, I hope this has been an enlight-...A great learning experience for you. It's getting late, so I must be off for now."

"...Ah! Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Umm...Iku can you-I mean will you be-...Dammit I'm not used to this!"

"Hmhm, sure, I'll be your friend."

"Well...good! I expect many things out of my friends, so you better be prepared!"

"Of course, of course~."

I was interrupted by hour long interruptions three times in the process of writing this, so I apologise if it seems disjointed.

Looking through her spellcards, I noticed a pretty awesome theme in them. I could probably squeeze some kind of write-up out of them. Oddly enough Fawriel didn't think they were notable. I knew we couldn't trust him.

Sword of Worry and Joy indeed.

edited 4th Jul '11 6:47:30 PM by Clarste

Even though I do dislike Tensei and see her as, well, a villain, I enjoyed that. I liked how it points out how much of a vain selfish jerk she is while at the same time humanizing her. And watching Iku basically talk circles around Tenshi and reveal her insecurities and peeves by reading the atmosphere was pretty fun too.

edited 4th Jul '11 6:58:53 PM by Otherarrow

I think the major problem would be that if her parent are enlightened, they're probably above such petty mortal concerns as their daughter's behavior and thus there's no hope of reform for her unless Iku steps in.

Heh, Meta. I liked that. Iku sounded like Spock!

Now then, let's rock. That was a pun. 'Cause she uses the keystone... yeah, I'll do my thing now.

Of Note

Her original name "Chiko", means "earthly child", while Tenshi means "heavenly child"

Her power is manipulation of soil. While she can do damage with earthquakes and mudslides, she has managed to adapt new powers with her weapons: the Keystone and the Sword of Hisou. The Sword locks on to her opponents weakness, and it can hit the weak spot of MASSIVE DAMAGE. The keystone is just her Ying Yang Orb, so to speak. Though it also can cause earthquakes.

Her incident was caused by her boredom. She does enjoy her sheltered upbringing, however.

Her profile indicates her entire family is full of delinquents. Interesting term there. Not criminal or villain; delinquent.

She's very spoiled and sheltered. Her profile describes her as somewhat emotionally crippled, and she may or may not have anger issues. Also, overconfident.

Tenshi is not immortal, however even shinigami are not immune to the danger of her blade. The only one strong enough to kill her is only a simple ferrywoman.

One of her spellcards makes her immune to pain. Marisa calls her a masochist in her grimore. That's right, it's canon.

Music

Wonderful Heaven is... well, wonderful. Very powerful, makes for a nice final battle theme.

However her last spell theme... wow. Just wow.

In other words, I like Tenshi's music.

Overview

I like Tenshi. There, I said it. She's pretty cool. I mean the whole destroy Gensokyo because I'm bored and spoiled is a bit annoying, but its not like rich people can't be villains. Except she's more than rich, she's a Celestial, an enlightened being. I guess maybe I'm looking past the whole "spoiled brat" thing, but as a character concept, she's pretty cool. Also, she's not really enlightened, but she lives among them. I like the power of the Sword of Hisou too. Being able to lock on to weaknesses and use them makes her much more threatening as a final boss.

To me, Tenshi is this overconfident individual who refuses to see her self as incorrect. Sort of like the n00b of Gensokyo. However, she's also incredibly powerful. As to the masochist angle, well, Yes and No. I'll try to work an explanation to why I say that in my write-up, since I'm going didactic this time. To be short, she's a spoiled girl who's grown up with nothing to complain about, so she's grown bored with the stuff that's good and safe and... well, become the sort of masochist she is. However, she isn't exactly a masochist even if Marisa sees her that way, because it's like a criminal continuing to commit crimes, she wanted to fail and be punished. That's part of an incident. I guess, to me, Tenshi is more socially inept than Patchy and Kaguya. They may have spent years inside their houses, but at least they can act in Gensokyian society. Tenshi has problems with that. Problems that involve violence. Lots and lots of violence.

tl:dr: I am Celestial, hear me roar.

edited 4th Jul '11 7:39:14 PM by Horselesshorseman

There was something I was going to do for her, but I've been foiled by my complete lack of artistic skill again. Oh well

So, I see Tenshi as roughly equivalent to a spoiled brat. She's never really learned to care about others or to see things from their point of view. So she does things based on how interesting it'll be, without considering how much of a mess it'll make

Oh, and she's capable of beating up Suika, who is one of the few people that've won against Yukari, but Yukari is probably the only character that beat Tenshi while she was going all out

So there's a triangle. Suika > Yukari > Tenshi > repeat

I want to see a free for all between them now

I remember in Miko Miko Suika that Yukari outright stated she hates Tenshi.

She claims to hate all celestials at first. Then they fight, and she realizes it's just Tenshi that she hates.

edited 4th Jul '11 8:31:30 PM by raigakuren

Canonically, Yukari appears to dislike celestials in general. She considers them arrogant, and it pisses her off

But that's not exactly canon, is it?

...But then again neither is my interpritation of Iku sooo :V

edited 4th Jul '11 7:58:19 PM by Metaflare

edited 4th Jul '11 7:58:41 PM by Gamer14

Wait, there is?

...Why am I not surprised.

I rather liked that writeup, if solely because I just have a ton of trouble thinking of any Touhou character as total scum. Tenshi's deeply flawed, but she's far from irredeemable.

EDIT: ... Link. Now.

edited 4th Jul '11 8:04:44 PM by Pulse

dunno if its complete yet but here's a video

edited 4th Jul '11 8:07:26 PM by Gamer14

Sword of Worry and Joy

先憂後楽. Senyuukouraku. Worry first, joy later. Feel worried before your land starts to worry, feel joy after your land has rejoiced. This is the most important principle of leadership, and the principle immortalized in the name Tenshi gave to her spellcard. Of course, Tenshi doesn't get it.

Tenshi's sword takes on many things, none of which Tenshi herself has. At times it is the Sword of Heaven's Justice, at times the Sword of Karmic Retribution, at time the Sword of Enlightened Rapture. Not once has Tenshi experienced any one of those things. She can swing that sword all she wants, but it's not going to give her what she thinks she already has, what she thinks she deserves.

What then, of the other things it takes on? Is it not also the Sword of Courageous Mettle, the Sword of High-spirited Swagger? While some might say that she certainly has the latter and perhaps a bit too much of the former, I say she lacks those as well. In some ways, that's the whole point. The sword embodies everything she lacks, but at the time it's everything she wants. Her life is "nothing", but out there, in the world stretching out below her, is "something". And she desperately wants it. Picking up the sword that embodies everything she doesn't have is merely the first step towards obtaining it. Of course, Tenshi doesn't get it.

In the end, what she holds is merely the Sword of Non-perception. The Sword of Thoughtlessness. The sword of not knowing what she already has, what she lacks, and what the difference between the two is.

edited 4th Jul '11 8:22:56 PM by Clarste

I need to get that...

Suika=axe
Yukari=lance
Tenshi=sword

:(

edited 4th Jul '11 8:37:38 PM by raigakuren

I don't think it's playable yet.

Bravo, Clarste! The in-depth reading of the sword's many titles worked marvelously for you. I could never get a point across so simply.

edited 4th Jul '11 9:08:59 PM by Pulse

My sarcasm detector is fritzing at the moment.

I'm trying for Sincerity Mode. I just always forget that inflection doesn't happen on the interwebz.

You know in retrospect, Tenshi seems to be a terrible villain. She isn't even able to get the others to gather to Bhava-Agra to defeat her, Suika did the job of spreading the word of her, and it was only through the rumor of parties that they would gather. The only one who figured it out was Patchouli.

Plus in her ending the narration says that she finally had an interesting day, so in a sense she either did this by: beating people up, which she seems to claim everytime a new challenger appears, or getting beat up in the other characters scenarios.

Plus, I wouldn't go so far as to say she's evil. No Touhou character is evil, well maybe except Mima but that's debatable, a bit of a jerk yes, but pretty much all the characters have their moments.

edited 4th Jul '11 10:34:57 PM by raigakuren

Medicine is interested in genocide and murder...

Mima pretty much had Marisa's current personality. Definitely not evil

edited 4th Jul '11 10:29:23 PM by Hylarn

Medi's also kinda timid and dumb. She apparently has only very recently left Nameless Hill.

I'm not sure how can call destroying people's houses for no reason anything but evil. And she didn't even learn her lesson the first time, since she did it again by planting the dangerous keystone in the reconstructed shrine. If this kind of pointless destructive impulse can be justified, I have to wonder what you would call evil.

Techically the fight between Yukari and Tenshi destroyed the shrine the 2nd time around.