The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Yeah, that sounds about right; about 40-50 charas total.

I sure said that!

I really had to resist the urge to refer to you as "the Honourable SDM" when I was explaining where it came from.

That would have been a much more colourful description.

edited 10th Jul '11 4:04:14 PM by SuperDimensionman

SDM is a judge?

I wouldn't be too surprised. Anyone that manages to be a mansion, a vampire hunter and a satori probably has a law degree or two.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

His judgement is flawless.

Segway to Shikieiki goes here.

Segue even.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Relevant

I am completely blown away by that stunning relevance. I think this tops the Reimu as Calvin picture.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

That deserves either a medal for awesome or a slap in the face because the joke was...just...awful. So here:

<SLAP>

Song of the Sirens

You slapped them with a medal?

Needs more segway with Yin-Yang Orb "wheels".

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

We already did Reimu. And I take it no one wants to do Shingyoku.<missesthepoint>

I'll be honest, I only want to do Iku because I got nothing to say on her. I want to see what other people have to say. Honestly, I'd do Mary and Renko, but I read back in this thread and saw how little discussion they got (I'm pretty sure they had one of the shortest "time in the spotlight" yet in terms of posts, but I could be wrong) so I assume no one would be interested in my rambling about the future setting and my musings on their character dynamic, mysterious powers or anything like that.

Iku doesn't really dance, but some of us wish she did. So I continue to second that.

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.

I would recommend going for it, Otherarrow. Your writeup may spark some interesting conversation now and redeem those two!

Well, OK. I'll give it a shot. I don't really have so much a write up as I do have random musings/observations.

EDIT: Durazno says he'd like to link this, so it needs a title.

---

Musings and Observations on Mary and Renko.

One thing about Mary that I read while reading the fantranslations for the album story things that most people seem to overlook is that during one of the times that Mary explains her "power" she mentions that her clan has had an "inspiration" since ancient times. This suggests (at least to me) that maybe her power isn't exclusive to her, but a power passed down? From what I can tell, the only other thing we know about her family is that they are probably not Japanese, since Mary isn't. (She later refers to how the people in "this country" have trouble pronouncing her real name.)

Alternate Theory based on this observation: Mary isn't Yukari. Rather, Mary is somehow descended from Yukari. (Longshot, personally don't believe this)

The implication I got from Renko is that she'd be hailed as a genius...if she didn't decide to major in a "finished" field. Makes me wonder if down the line she'd have trouble finding a job...

Her "power" (if you could call it that) either hints some form of mystical power, or that she has knowledge enough of astronomy that she can determine the time and place by simply looking at the position of the stars. (which admittingly does sound too fantastic...)

Of course, there is also the implication that there is more to Renko than we know. Just how did she get that picture of the Netherworld anyway?

Back to Mary: One of the things that is strange about her "dream visits" to Gensoukyou. They don't appear to be to the "present day" Gensoukyou, but rather to the past. (It seems, at least to me, that her note from Perfect Memento seems to have been written during the same "trip" she would later recount to Renko in CoSS, although before she was attacked and saved by Mokou.) It's possible that her trips aren't even to one time period in particular. (earlier she recounts visiting what appears to be the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which I always assumed appeared more "recently" than the time period her note was found in)

During Renko and Mary's time, man can have tea in space and tours to the moon but they still can't reach Mars. Huh.

This is more of a fanon thing, but I noticed that Renko tends to be the "less serious one" in fanworks. While neither of them are really "silly", I always pictured Renko as far less "spacey" than Mary.

Well, that's all I got for now. Sorry for wasting your time.

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MORE EDIT: I would have liked to note the "Yakumo/Hearn" thing, but well, there isn't exactly a consensus on her name. (I've seen Maribel, Maryberry, Maerybery, and so on, as well as Han, Hearn, Harn) Kinda amusing, since she notes that Japanese people have trouble with her name...

edited 11th Jul '11 7:17:32 AM by Otherarrow

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.

It seems to me you guys are voting... so I'm voting for Sariel to continue the angel/heaven theme

I think I did something last night...

Sariel comes as part of a package with almost all of the other PC-98 characters. Probably with good reason. I suspect that all of their millimarisas combined is still less popularity than what Tenshi has.

edited 10th Jul '11 7:57:05 PM by SuperDimensionman

I'm a bit confused as to the purpose of Bhava-Agra, due in no small part to my lack of knowledge about Eastern religion. Is it a reward for the virtuous a la the Abrahamic religions? Is it a place of transitions where departed souls gradually grow more enlightened so they may progress to a higher plane of existence, such as D&D's Seven Mounting of Celestia? Or is it just a supernatural storage shelf for souls to sit on until they reincarnate? The second option makes the most sense to me, but I'm not sure there's any indication it's the right one.

As for what it's like, I mostly imagine clouds. Fluffy white clouds and maybe some peach trees. More than the enlightened inhabitants of Bhava-Agra need, and much, much less than what would be considered an enjoyable afterlife by everyone else. Beyond an impressive view of the Earth's curvature I don't think the place would have any appeal, and I'm wholly sympathetic with Tenshi wanting to cause a disaster to stave off ennui. She's almost as screwed as Mokou (again with the Mokou-Tenshi connection, sheesh), though at least she can throw her match with the shinigami one day if she wants to. I expect Suika will get fed up with lazing around and getting hammered all day pretty quickly once she realizes that's all she can do up there, and her only company is a bunch of ascetics.

It's a little tidier than the dual persona theory, certainly. Hmm. Mary's non-Japanese ancestry mucks things up a bit unless Yukari doesn't look Japanese either, in which case we'd just have to wonder why a foreign gap hag has gone so enthusiastically native. It's a workable theory, though, and it's entirely plausible that a Han or Yakumo woman's border-sensing powers grew until she transitioned to full youkaihood a thousand years or so ago.

Current earworm: "Time of Death"

Unless I'm misunderstanding something then I guess it serves as a retirement home for the enlightened. You have already done all that's neccessary with your life so now you can just relax and kick back with tea and biscuits for the rest of eternity.

And now I can't get the image of a japanophile Yukari living in America out of my head.

EDIT: I spent half an hour trying to figure out how to do quotes before i noticed the show markup help button EDIT2: and i STILL did it wrong

edited 12th Jul '11 3:49:56 PM by JacktheSnowman

Just another passerby

@Otherarrow - Want to give that a title? I'd like to link it in M&R's entry.

@Tacitus - Don't forget the Yakumo/Hearn theory. She may have taken a Japanese name when she became a youkai citizen.

"Okay, I'm now a Youkai! What should be my first priority...Oh! I've always wanted a Japanese name! :D"

"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow

There's the possibility of multiple generations before Mary was born. And I think Yukari has been described as looking foreign

I like the idea of her looking half-Japanese, personally

Heh, another border for her to be on?

Did you know that you're required to take a Japanese name if you become a citizen of Japan? I think I'd try to get Oda Nobunaga.

EDIT: Oh, wait, they got rid of that. Nevermind.

edited 10th Jul '11 10:55:22 PM by Durazno

Wait seriously?

EDIT: DONT YOU DARE NINJA EDIT ME

edited 10th Jul '11 10:55:18 PM by Metaflare

"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow

Sorry. Yeah, I just found out ten seconds ago that they abolished it in the 80s.