The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Oh yoouuuu. Stop apologizing so much, you're gonna get wrinkles of some sort! Your post was fine!

Yeah, Kisume's tone is... strange, but I think I like it? Well, I like what I was going for, anyway, though it's not my place to say if I really achieved that! It took a while to get used to it, because we aren't used to thinking of a character that looks like her as a person who talks like that. At first, I completely overshot and was about to go all Spock Speak for her, but that just wouldn't do. So after some retries, I went with an experimental mix of Spock Speak, poetic speech, dry wit and less dry wit*

. Challenging!

The idea I wanted to get across was that Kisume can't prove that Yamame's way is the good way, but she wants to believe that it is because she just loves Yamame so much. I think I kinda lost track of that central idea when I wrote that paragraph! Ah well.

And yeah, I think part of what I wanted to accomplish here is the idea that, after all the sadficking and grimdarkitude is over, the way is paved for some lighthearted and idealistic action with costumes and car chases.

Nooooooouuwww. I'm not a fanfiction writer. I'm quite happy with this format. I'm not planning to write anything of a much larger scope... not for Touhou or any other series. I'm just doing this for fun, and as practice for my own project that I want to get off the ground within the next year.

"Very much"! Oooh, that makes me happy. Also makes me happy for people to keep pointing out those small details. Makes it really worth it to spend a few seconds thinking those up. Though, I only made up "Falling Apple Month", as a sort of callback to a small joke from "Welcome to the Underground". "Water (Week)Day" is actually a translation of the Japanese term for Wednesday.

Funny to call her the more grounded one. In a sense, it's correct, but in a way, she's also sheltered and only knows the world second-hand, since she hasn't really, well, "participated" in it. Yamame is comparatively more flighty and quite possibly airheaded, but she's also an influential idol singer and made for a pretty competent tour guide, so apparently she knows how to take care of herself?

And yeah, those oni. I think that's one of those occasions where it's worth taking a somewhat darker look at things. We always like to idealize oni as lovable rascals, which is pretty neat, but they obviously have some weaknesses as well, and keeping some sort of working order in their little submountain town is going to be one of those things.

Well, by the time I'm replying to this, it's aready far too late. But as I can see, you were not affected too harshly.

... I like talking about my characters, haha. Aheh. ANYWAY!

SO MEILING OR WHAT

SPEAK YOUR MINDS, YOU

Wednesday, the 5th of August? (EDIT - dangit, you ninja'd me with the answer! I thought you were referring to the archaic month names. August was once "falling leaf month.")

I love the bit about people being forced to leave their personal buckets.

PS - MY VOTE GOES TO THE GREAT WALL OF THE SCARLET DEVIL MANSION!

edited 17th Jul '11 1:13:15 PM by Durazno

Meiling's fine. You are aware that this probably means that the vastly popular Scarlet crowd will soon follow.

Heart of Stone

Iku ==> Dragon ==> Meiling

I find this character progression suitable. Please proceed with the martial artist.

edited 17th Jul '11 1:14:14 PM by yarrunmace

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped

so what if Iku got 2? (I'm not coutning hisoutensoku as you need SWR to unlock her in that)

Cirno got 6! (Eo SD, PCB, Po FV, St B, hisoutensoku, and HER OWN GAME)

Aya only got 5 appearances, 2 of them being her own games.

Youmu has 7 appearances now counting TD (and Sanae has 6 also, again counting TD, though she seems to have bene elevated to main character status, hence appearing in the extra stage of DS alongside Reimu and Marisa)

Sakuya also has 7 appearances, so I fail tosee what everyone's complaining about.

It's also rare for extra bosses (discounting a certain 2 which have 2 and 3 exta stage appearances respectively, onw of those non-Touhou) to appear in multiple games - didn't stop most of them getting 2, with Suwako getting 3, Ran technically getting 5 (counting Ia MP, IN and SWR, even though in those she was just Yukari's means of attack, but NOT counting her appearance in the phantasm stage), and Yukari getting just as many, and Alice getitng 7! (MS, PCB, Ia MP, IN, St B, SWR, hisoutensoku)

so, yeah, don't consider getting just 2 appearances anything special because one of those is guaranteed for all but hte newcomers to be an Aya game

I hope not. Almost all the Scarlet Devil Mansioneers are popular enough to carry a discussion on their own perfectly well. There's no need to cluster them all together. Unless of course we get some great momentum going.

Oh, is that true? Nice.

Edit: I forgot to insert a reference to Yamame using her manipulation of disease to heal it

and making a parallel to "social diseases"

noooo the missed opportunities

edited 17th Jul '11 1:18:56 PM by Fawriel

Meiling will guard this topic!

What? I think it's funny.

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

*insert obligatory Parappa The Rapper joke*

GO MEILING!

edited 17th Jul '11 5:33:20 PM by Pulse

I sure said that!

Jao?

Final thoughts on Iku: she's got some unique design elements going on, but I never had much interest in her. I thought she'd be kind of boring, like an angel - a construct built for a single task, but with little in the way of personality. So I'm glad this thread introduced me to the notion that she might have spent her life training for her big day, and that she certainly has an existence outside ferrying missives for her masters.

I bet she'd be something to see in a danmaku duel, gracefully swimming through the air, her ribbons billowing and swirling around her like a mermaid's hair... and then zzzap.

Sure, you're no fanfic writer, you've just penned a number of short stories built around a common narrative that sets up a greater story arc for the Underground, done with a distinct style and characterizations that, I might add, leaves the reader eager to learn what happens next. Definitely not a fanfic.

Well, if you ever feel a need to take a break from your other work and unwind with a little more of this not-fanfic, I guess we'll just have to learn to put up with it.

I'm with Tacitus; assuming you actually want to continue writing this, I'd be more than happy to read it. It has exactly the right amount of insanity to be a great action-comedy, at least thus far!

edited 18th Jul '11 1:18:45 AM by Pulse

I sure said that!

Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper Hong Meiling

Appearance:

Voice: Manzai with Patchouli

Theme:
Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17*

, Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea (Hisoutensoku version)

Stage: Scarlet Border
Scarlet Land
bgm: Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea*

Spellcard Motif: Rainbow Colors | Flowers | Chi
Notable spellcards: EoSD, IaMP, StB, Hisoutensoku
Flower Sign "Selaginella 9", Rainbow Sign "Wind Chime of Colorful Rainbow", Colorful Sign "Colorful Light Chaotic Dance", Extreme Light "Glorious Morning Star", Flowery Sign "Mountain Breaker", Brilliance "Rainbow Brilliance Palm", Colorful Flip "Fluttering Petals and Falling Leaves", Colorful Flower "Rainbow Taijiquan", Colorful Brilliance "Rainbow Taichi", Rainbow Sign "Intense Rainbow Fist", Fiery Attack "Roc-killing Fist", Chi Sign "Earth Dragon Sky Dragon Kick", Chi Sign "Fierce Tiger Energy Release", Star Chi "Earth-moving Star Bullets", Colorful Sign "Vivid Color Downpour"

Write-up:
At the edge of the Misty Lake, there lies the Scarlet Devil Mansion, a dark lair that houses some of the most fearsome and cruel beings Gensokyo has known. At the gates, a friendly face with scarlet hair welcomes all visitors. It's not until an unwelcomed guest tries to pass that one has to realize that the gatekeeper is a youkai as well.

A very human-like being with a fervent pride of her home country, she is a master of martial arts able to control her chi to perform spectacular energy attacks straight out of a shounen manga, and has excellent taste in danmaku and flower arrangement.

Nonetheless, while her fighting style is a sight to behold, she is not one of the stronger youkai of Gensokyo. Is she a weakling, or is she just out of her element in a danmaku battle? Or could it be that she holds back out of respect for her superior Sakuya? Whatever the case may be, it's unlikely that the guardian could be even nearly as strong as the people she guards.

Is she a good guardian? She famously takes a nap at noon every day, or a nap for the entire day, depending on whom you ask. Is she lazy, or are accounts wildly exaggerated? Is she incapable of keeping intruders out of the mansion, or is it just Marisa who eludes her iron grasp? Is she just employed as a gatekeeper to provide a friendly face for good PR?

What is her relationship with the other occupants of the mansion? Is her relationship with Sakuya an abusive one? Do the two share a healthy level of professional respect for one another, or possibly even stronger feelings? Could it be that Meiling even helped raise the presumably human Sakuya when she was still a child? Does Remilia scoff at her, or are they close friends who share their comic books like good children? Is she a slave, or are the two mistresses in fact like children to the motherly gatekeeper, particularly Flandre, who would benefit the most from her harmonious strength?

Is your Meiling a buttmonkey to her more competent fellows? Do people forget her name? Is she a powerful and dignified martial artist? A nice and motherly soul? What is her relationship to the other residents of the mansion, and why is she with them? And is she really a Dragon?

There are many questions to ask, and many answers to choose from. Or will we manage to find the questions that remain unasked?

Relations:

• Remilia and Flandre (mistresses)
• Sakuya (so many possibilities)

Alternate Character Interpretations:
Guardian of the Gate - Hong Meiling
-by asterism

Like No One Ever Was
-by Horselesshorseman

Chinese Girl
-by KHfujoshigirl98

Hong Meiling – Rainbow Ward
-by Kyler Thatch

Rainbow Gatekeeper of the Devil
-by Metaflare

A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma. Wrapped in Green
-by Otherarrow

A Day in the Life
-by Pulse

Pasts
-by Tacitus

Nameless Gatekeeper ~/~ Parts Unknown
-by yarrunmace

edited 9th Oct '11 2:42:42 AM by Fawriel

Oh hells yes. Favorite character.

Time to do my first actual writeup, not just a ministory.

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

Some fan works have actually turned this one on its head, showing that Meiling can in fact stop intruders with her eyes closed.

Oh Jesus Hell I wanna SEE that.

Hmm, I can see where you're coming from. I think Iku is probably the definitive example of a "style character", as I call them sometimes. Characters who have great concepts and designs and are really interesting and all, but they just don't have a lot to work into a story. Any sort of narrative that explores her sphere of existence some more would give her the opportunity to develop into an amazing character, but as it stands, all we have there is Tenshi and a bunch of boring enlightened people. Not much to work with without making stuff up wholecloth. And so she remains an interesting bit of background flavor and the star of a whole bunch of cool pictures.

Well gee wiz I guess I might as well inflict this on you guys some more in the future and bask in your spiteful adoration or something geez.

Oh by the way, I dare you to not only post a picdump, but to find a picture of Meiling that is sufficiently tasteful and well-drawn to suit your standards, yet also juicy enough to deserve the link description of "Meiling Service". I dare you.

Now Meiling, she's pretty alright. Though after some walking through the park thinking about her, I started thinking about the 'Mansion in general, and I'm not sure if that's a route I want to go down yet because that would just inevitably lead towards an SDM-cluster that would mean we're wasting some of the most popular characters in the series before we're even at the halfway point!

Anecdote: I went to a new age-y festival a few days ago, and the security person guarding the entrance to the concert area was a girl, kinda tall, with a super-friendly and pretty face. I decided that she is, in fact, Meiling. And now I want to see her perform crazy martial arts.

Also, here's a kind cool little thing from canon: The wiki translates one of Meiling's lines as "need to lay it on thick", but what she says in the original is "背水の陣", which, if I understand it correctly, is an idiom that literally translates to something like "a battle formation with its back to the water", to which Reimu responds "what, so you alone are the formation"?

It sounds like a badass boast that never lived to see the light of day.

edited 18th Jul '11 1:55:41 PM by Fawriel

Rainbow Gatekeeper of the Devil

As we all know, Meiling has many various interpretations of her character. Some have her as lazy as Komachi, others make her out to be hypercompetent, and then there's the canon of an ordinary youkai doing her job. I'll be taking a look at all three.

The Lazy Gate Guard

This is the version of Meiling that you're most likely to find in older fanworks. This Meiling is almost always sleeping on the job and lets anyone through the gate, as guarding it would be too much effort. It's a wonder she can even keep her job. Because of this, Sakuya constantly gives her motivation, in the form of knives (which is where that particular interpretation came from).

Youkai Girl at the Gate

This Meiling is the most common, and the most Canon. Though she is strong, physically, she's not very good at danmaku and so protagonists tend to be able to break through the gate. Even though she's a guard, she won't go out of her way to be intimidating; in fact, as long as you don't try to break in, she's very much willing to have a friendly conversation with any passerby.

Chi Master of the Seven Colors

The last, and least common, Meiling interpretation. She can lift boulders with ease and do many other such feats of physical strength. Punching through a speeding train withough so much as flinching is something she's very much able to do. No one will ever go through the gate of the Scarlet Devil without her say-so. This is also where you're likely to see "Meiling is totally a dragon!" interpretations.

Last Word

While all three Meilings have vastly different capabilities, they all do have one thing in common. A burning passion to protect the residents of the SDM, and sometimes the entirety of Gensokyo itself. No matter how much she slacks off or shows off, she will always be willing to protect what she loves.

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

Funny thing about that last part, Meiling has fairy backup. And they're quite resilient too. I don't think anyone else has fairy backup.

edited 18th Jul '11 2:10:08 PM by hassanico

Of Note:

Meiling's ability is manipulation of chi/ki/qi. This is pretty much the power of every martial arts anime protagonist ever. It fits her, now doesn't it.

Due to arguments over her name, the fandom decided to call her "China." After Hong Meiling was confirmed as the proper pronunciation, it's been downgraded to a affectionate nickname in most circles.

From Touhou Wiki: Meiling's win quote against Sakuya in Touhou Hisoutensoku does not imply that Sakuya abuses her, but rather builds a formal, friendly setting between the two. Meiling telling Sakuya that she always goes easy on her could hint that the two sometimes have friendly battles. If it were a formal match, she would (and could) very easily take the Chief Maid down. As Sakuya greatly cares for Meiling in canon (as well as advises her on the importance of not slacking off), this can be taken to some credibility.

Speaking of slacking, Meiling is often portrayed as lazy in fanon. While her naps are canon, Akyuu implies trying to sneak past her while she sleeps is a good method of suicide.

Due to her name and motifs, she is thought to be a chinese dragon Youkai. Some fans go the other way and say since she's lazy and Chinese, she's a Panda Youkai.

Meiling has worked at the SDM (mansion not troper) for many years. Most likely longer than the human Sakuya. Apparently though, this still puts her below Sakuya in the chain of command of the SDM (still talking' 'bout houses.)

Meiling is also the SDM's (house) gardener.

Like Cpt. Murasa, she is often referred to by her last name. I just do it because everyone else does, but why do you? She isn't ranked like Murasa, so there's no formal obligation. 'Merica.

Akyuu mentions people seeing her practicing. So she definitely isn't slacking when it comes to her skill in martial arts.

Meiling often chats with people who pass by the SDM (Still not troper). She's nice like that.

Music:

I really prefer Shanghai Teahouse to Shanghai Alice. Really, really prefer. It's one of my favorite themes in all of Touhou, and I was very happy to see it remixed in 'Soku.

Overview:

I guess I like Meiling. She stands out among the hectic cast of Gensokyo. I'm glad that Tasogoro did a fighting series, because that really gave her her time to shine. Even if she's a side character in both her appearances. Fandom likes to make fun of poor Meiling, and it's kind of sad because she's really so determined in canon.

To me, Meiling's a bit of a generic martial arts protagonist. She's a fighter striving to be the best. Even so, she's still a very human like Youkai, and isn't willing to hurt people too badly to achieve her goal. In the meantime, she valiantly strives to protect Remi. She's not her bodyguard or anything, she's just a normal person who guards. It's what she does.

edited 18th Jul '11 2:53:11 PM by Horselesshorseman

I have no horse, and I must ride. I accomplish unlockments.

Guardian of the Gate-Hong Meiling*

Some portray her as an all powerful dragon, some portray her as incompetent and lazy and therefore a luckless victim of Sakuya's ire, some portray her as a dutiful gatekeeper. She is one of the few youkai in the series with no identified species (she is simply called a youkai). Also she is Chinese.

Perfect Memento paints a surprisingly badass portrait of Meiling. It notes she is a practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan and spends her morning performing said art. After her excercise she has a small nap, but presumably she is still vigilant and will awake in an instant if distubed. Attacking her is not encouraged, as her status as The Mario means she has no weakness that can be taken advantage of, and her martial prowess make her a formidible opponent. Furthermore, she has no qualms in calling for assistance, presumably from Sakuya.

Her personality appears to be rather easygoing, she will not chase you if you flee, and will cease her attack if you surrender. She will chat pleasantly with those who approach her in a friendly manner. She appears to enjoy battle*

, and gladly takes on all those who challenge her to a formal match in the grounds of the mansion. Due to her balanced fighting style, she is noted to be a very good opponent for a practise duel, and her fights attract a crowd from inside the mansion*

^{i.e. Remilia}

.

One imagines that her job as a gatekeeper can be incredibly dull and repetitive, which probably explains her story mode in Hisoutensoku*

. Hisoutensoku also shows that she can be boastful (claiming that she's just going easy on Sakuya), and is rather proud of being Chinese (she's delighted to find that Tenshi's studied Chinese literature). Perfect Memento notes that she is one of the more human youkai*

^{possibly only the human-turned-magicians are more human then her}

.

Personally, I don't think she's a dragon, but if she is one, I'll be prepared to admit I'm wrong.

Also the character on her hat means 'dragon'. And she's Chinese.

EDIT: I made this into a writeup of sorts. It's more analysis then story, though, so...yeah...

edited 18th Jul '11 2:29:44 PM by asterism

Heart of Stone

It just occurred to me that the SDM is a dichotomy of strong members of weaker species (Sakuya, maybe Patchouli) and weak members of strong species (Koakuma, Meiling if she is a dragon), though the Scarlets throw that off a little.

Meiling is her given name. For whatever reason, Japanese names are the only ones placed in Western order in English, so a Chinese name is typically presented FamilyName GivenName.

edited 18th Jul '11 2:25:31 PM by Pulse

I sure said that!

I dunno, actually. Hong just doesn't quite roll off the tongue for me.

Magicians are surprisingly strong. Byakuren's the only one not to appear in an Extra Stage.

Music: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 'Meiji 17' is the year Gensokyo was founded. So yeah. I'm in love with the arpeggios at the start of that song by the way.

Chinese Tea appears to have officially become Meiling's theme. I have no strong feelings on this piece. It's not my favourite but it's not terrible. Hisoutensoku's mix is very badass, as befits a martial artist of her calibur.

edited 18th Jul '11 2:26:35 PM by asterism

Heart of Stone

(Or something like that) But isn't Meiling the first name? edit: ninja'd

edited 18th Jul '11 2:25:42 PM by totoro

GLUB!

Wait, what!?

I thought Meiling was her family name. This is almost as confusing as land birds!

I have no horse, and I must ride. I accomplish unlockments.

Meiling is a fairly common Chinese first name.

Heart of Stone

Yep. I think it's because of the USA's involvement in reconstructing Japan post-war, but every other language that presents names FamilyName GivenName, is kept that way in English.

And ostriches make perfect sense.

I sure said that!