The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

It wasn't bad. I kinda liked how you talked about each of the "common" depictions of her, though I can see this being a problem with other characters who's fandom depictions aren't as varied.

If you want to continue with it, I personally have no problems with it, though I do enjoy the dialouge stories too.

That's a theory I've seen a few times before. The only real problem is that Rumia is also an unidentified youkai

When you're working for someone that can control fate, circumstances aren't going to turn out bad enough for you to leave

Common fan theories, but nothing canon

Oh, and another thing: Part of what I found interesting about Meiling is that she's a Scarlet. Sakuya is a mere sixteenth night, slightly less than the Eternally Young Scarlet Moon that she serves. But Meiling is an equal

Oooh, that's a really good and interesting point you have there. Of course it could be that Meiling has worked for the Scarlets long enough for Remilia to consider her to be family. In the picdump there's a picture of Meiling protecting a young Remilia & Flandre; there might be something in that maybe. Sakuya has worked for the Scarlets for a presumably comparatively short time, Patchouli has worked for (or with?) Remilia for at least 100 years. Meiling may have been with the Scarlets for all Remilia's life for all we know.

Or perhaps Remilia named Meiling 'Hong' so her destiny would be tied to the Scarlet family forever. Sakuya is mortal, destined to one day die, and so inderturing her forever would be pointless.

It really depends on whether you think Remilia is proud and selfish but is kind to those close to her, or as a cold-hearted manipulative sociopath. But we'll save that for the Remilia discussion. I will state that canon seems to favour the former interpretation.

A Day In the Life

"Mornin' Sakuya!"

The tall, green-clad youkai girl smiled sweetly at the silver-haired maid.

"Mmph... Moring. Breakfast in tweny..."

Sakuya needed less sleep than most other humans, but still was groggy upon waking. She certanly wasn't mean, but could be blunt for a few minutes.

"Thank you!... Oh, right! When you were sleeping, the Mistress suddenly decided to hold a birthday party for Miss Flandre! Tomorrow! So sweet of her, especially after all the girl's been through..."

"Yesh, thas nasss... Tomorrow? TOMORROW!?! Suddenly!?! I'm... I'm so sorry, Meiling. I'm not going to be able to make you breakfast today. I'm going to have to get to the village for supplies!! Now, um, if you'll excuse me..."

And with that, Sakuya suddenly vanished, having moved miles in the blink of an eye.

I guess I'll handle breakfast for the rest of us... Meiling thought to herself, and smiled.

This is gonna be fun!!

And with that, the gatekeeper went off to make breakfast for herself, the demon, and the librarian.

There were no survivors.

At least as far as the bok choy were concerned. Meiling made a simple breakfast of rice porridge and the admittedly unusual choice of vegetable dumplings. She wasn't great at most food, but she knew how to cook her own cuisine, darnit.

Meiling prepared a tray of the food and began the walk to the library, conveniently across the hall, on Miss Patchouli's request. Upon entering the absurdly spacious halls of Voile, Meiling was greeted by a smaller girl, this one with a pair of wings mounted on her head and back. She smiled just a tiny bit, terrified of being too forward. Meiling smiled back, of course, and the two of them marched down the halls of books, neither speaking a word.

After walking past ten aisles of bookshelves (of ninety-six books each), they found themselves in a small, circular area, featureless save for a pair of desks, each covered in piles of texts and literature. Oh, and a pale girl in a purple-pink nightgown. She always seemed to just fade away when she was in her element. Koakuma took the tray of food from Meiling at this point, a small nod from the redhead assuring Miss Knowledge that, no, Koakuma did not prepare this meal.

Breakfast duties finished, Meiling stepped outside and took her position at the gate. The day was mostly uneventful, though at one point she felt the need to reprimand Cirno and Wriggle for mentally scarring Daiyousei.

All in all, just another day.

The title and the story speak for themselves.

Oh, Remi and Flan are asleep. That too.

edited 24th Jul '11 12:40:01 AM by Pulse

Very nice. Gives a nice idea of what Meiling's duties and daily activities are, and shows that she is indeed skilled in all the arts. All of them.

Only complaint is the "no survivors" line.

I took me a few times to get it. It just comes at you like a sudden news broadcast.

And then we will stir until do—THE COMBINE ARE DEAD!

edited 19th Jul '11 1:58:15 PM by Horselesshorseman

So cute! ^_^

Although there were a few spelling mistakes: Line 3: morning, twenty; Line 5: breakfast; Line 11: porridge, vegetable; Line 12: conveniently, Voile; Line 13: redhead

Sorry if this sounded rude...I'm just trying to be helpful.

Chinese Girl

Yes! Another one of my favorite characters! I love Meiling!

First off, I really like that ZUN made her chinese. I like the diversity. I wish that the fandom would stop calling her China though (is Meiling really so hard?) But considering her nationality I love it when fan artists draw her in traditional Chinese clothing.

Second off, I hate the "Sakuya abuses Meiling" meme. I would rather have them as good friends and co-workers like the fighting games make them out to be. I also like to think that Meiling has a good relationship with her mistresses and Patchouli (I find pictures of her playing with Flandre to be absolutely adorable). Then there's the mutual friendship possibilities with Koakuma; I see them as getting together to chat at the gate at times.

Third off, I really like her themes and character design. Shanghai Teahouse is my second favorite stage theme! Shanghai Alice is fine too. And about her design, I love the red hair and green clothing (that could just be because I love Christmas so much, but still).

So that's my write-up on Meiling. ^_^

It was a setup for a "herp meilin cant cook herpderp" kind of joke that was averted, and thus, I hoped, would have been funy.

And thanks, asterism. "Never try to write when distracted" should be my new motto. Also, Sakuya's speaking in I-just-got-up-at-five-and-haven't-had-my-coffee-yet. Her misspellings were intentional.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:10:36 PM by Pulse

I did like that story. I do like how it avoids "hyper-competent Sakuya" (though she does try). Bit curious about what happened with Cirno, Wriggle, and Daiyousei though. All and all, an enjoyable read.

(Lots of arrows pointing up)Hmm...Meiling is an equal. Hong=Scarlet and all. Now, is she Hong because Remilia herself sees her as an equal for some reason? Is she an "honorary Scarlet", seen as equal to the related-by-blood (har har har) family members? Is it just a way to fate-hax her into forever guarding the gate?

Regardless, she doesn't seem to worry about it too much, and seems content with being a mere gateguard, even if her skill and standing could potentially somehow put her in a higher position of power. As I said, she isn't very ambitious. I like that.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:11:00 PM by Otherarrow

No probs. Um...also admittedly in line 11...I missed that one, sorry...

If Meiling really is a dragon, it's a testament to the power of Remilia's fatehax.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:12:32 PM by asterism

Ah. Got it.

As I said, I prefer omnidisciplinary Meiling to no talent "lol China" Meiling, so it's all good.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:14:17 PM by Horselesshorseman

Come to think of it, referring to someone as China because she is Chinese does sound a bit offensive. I can't remember if Meiling has ever objected to it in canon, though.

No one has ever called her that in canon

It sounds like it could go both ways.

Since she's very proud of her culture, I could imagine she wouldn't mind it too much... if it came from acquaintances... as an affectionate nickname.

Random people saying "'Sup China" sounds like it could get annoying.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:25:53 PM by Horselesshorseman

I prefer neither, personally. Exaggerating in either direction puts me off a bit.

Anyway, we already know what "human youkai" look like. They're called magicians, and we've got 3 of them in the series already. Not sure why we need to posit the existence of more.

Also, there seems to be all this talk comparing Meiling to Sakuya, but wouldn't it be more apt to compare her to Patchouli? Despite both being youkai using their powers to help the vampires living there, Meiling is a servant while Patchouli is a guest. I find it hard to take the "honorary family member" line of thought seriously when she doesn't even have the same status as Remilia's good friend. If she is tied to the fate of Scarlet, it would be to the mansion itself, would it not?

edited 19th Jul '11 2:26:41 PM by Clarste

Patchouli is a magician, but she is not a human magician. Magicians actually aren't very human, as they have no need to either eat or sleep, being as they are fuelled by magic. Alice just continues to eat and sleep out of habit, and Akyuu posits that she will cease both activities in due time.

ON TOPIC: Meiling is not a magician, otherwise she'd be a better danmaku battler.

ON TOPIC-ER: In Meiling and Patchouli's interactions in Hisoutensoku, Patchouli is rather snippy to the gatekeeper. I don't think that they're particularly close, one spends all her time inside the mansion, the other spends all her time in the mansion's grounds.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:43:10 PM by asterism

For fun, I'm going to analyze some Meiling dialogue to pin down her canon personality, since I don't really have a good grasp of it. I shall fail.

It's difficult to pin down what Meiling is trying express here: pride, strength, guilt, honesty, modesty? I think it's pride and strength, but I'll leave it for you to decide.

That little tilde at the end makes it annoyingly suspicious. A slacking Meiling contradicts canon. Akyuu canon, but canon nonetheless.

Seems to be nothing here. Patchy's going out, Meiling's going to do her job. This raises the question of what she's keeping watch for, since she only brought it up when Patchy left. Probably a certain book thief.

She seems to genuinely care for her mistress. Also, the "Owwww..." indicates that she is weaker or equal to Remi. Makes sense, but I added it anyway.

For Fluid

Well, it would appear that she is immune to surprise attacks. How interesting~. Actually, it's Akyuu canon, isn't it?

Well, that's all her interesting I a MP dialogue. I'll take a break here.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:48:00 PM by Horselesshorseman

Patchy is a sickly wizard, and while people like to exaggerate how powerful she may or may not be, that fact isn't going to change. Think of it this way, who would you give better treatment and an easier lifestyle: the sick friend who probably wouldn't survive if you booted her out of your home (and can deal with your maybe out of control sister), or the loyal protector who can tend for herself, and doesn't seem to need or want the better treatment? I feel the reason one is a guest and the other a servant is because the guest doesn't have the health enough to be a servant (and Remilia isn't heartless enough to force it on her).

Also, I feel that "magicians" (EDIT:at least, the humans-turned-magicians) are different enough from the potential "youkai who happen to be human". For one, magicians are more "artificial, done with magic" while the other ones are "natural, came into youkaidom the same way a lot of other creatures do. They just happen to be humans".

As for the "Meiling can't be some form of Scarlet, because she isn't treated as such", as I said before, she doesn't ask to be treated as such. She seems perfectly content with being the gateguard, with being Remilia's servant, with protecting the mansion, and so on. Of course, all of this "honorary Scarlet" stuff is just speculation based on her name after all, so it may be just nonsense.

edited 19th Jul '11 2:54:13 PM by Otherarrow

^^I think you'd be better off using her 'Soku quotes

Patchouli is a magician, but she is not a human magician. Magicians actually aren't very human, as they have no need to either eat or sleep, being as they are fuelled by magic. Alice just continues to eat and sleep out of habit, and Akyuu posits that she will cease both activities in due time.

Somehow you seem to have missed my point? People were positing that sometimes humans become youkai and that Meiling might be one of those. Except we already know that humans can become youkai through the magician process. And while Patchouli was born youkai and presumably was never human herself, her species used to be human. I'd imagine that if, say, Tewi had a kid it'd be a rabbit youkai rather than a normal rabbit, but it's still a rabbit. Well, that's speculation; it's entirely unclear how exactly magicians are born.

And dietary and behavioral habits have nothing whatsoever to do with youkai taxonomy. Incidentally, Meiling threatens to eat Reimu, so she also falls into the "maneater" category of youkai. Well, pretty much everyone in EOSD does, and they could be joking, but whatever. Meiling's the kind of youkai who jokes about eating people.

Well, the basic idea is the fact that Meiling's profile says she's not notable other than the fact that she mentions some sort of mistress while Patchouli's profile says she's Remilia's friend. That's the core of their characters.

edited 19th Jul '11 3:00:13 PM by Clarste

Akyuu mentions that the Scarlet Mansion provides Meiling's food. Yeah.

Also, Patchouli doesn't eat. Or need to eat. She probably eats for fun, but she's the type who skips meals because of study anyway. So not needing to eat is probably good for her. And technically Remilia drinks people. But I'm rambling.

I have no idea why you're talking about this.

In Meiling's win quote against Yuyuko she (M) calls her (Y) a jiangshi, which reminds me. Yoshika Miyako. Like Meiling, Chinese. Like Meiling, a gatekeeper. She even has a similar hat. And she (Yoshika. I hate pronouns...) is apparently rather lazy (she goes to sleep after the battle with her) and stupid, like fanon Meiling. Just something to think about...

Well, I considered the profiles to be a bit influenced by what the mains know? When they fight Meiling, they have no clue who Remilia is, and Meiling only mentions her as her mistress. By the time they get to Patchy, they have more of an idea what's going on. But that is probably just my stupid fanwank.

Of course, I may not be the right person to argue with Patchy and Meiling's importance, since I like Meiling much more than I do Patchy (who I feel is actually very overrated to be honest). I admit, I do have a clear bias here, and is thus not reliable here.

I'm still going to hold on to the various theories ("Meiling is a human-turned youkai by natural means", "Meiling is a human-turned youkai through beating down enough other youkai" "Meiling is an honorary Scarlet", "Meiling was fatehaxed by Remilia" "Meiling saved the Scarlets once", "the Scarlets saved Meiling once", "Meiling has been serving the family for ages and ages" and even the old typical "Meiling is a dragon") though. The idea I have for a write-up/minific will use them. Be expecting that eventually.

EDIT:So the new Jiangshi girl was made to mock/reference fanon Meiling? Interesting theory...

edited 19th Jul '11 3:15:15 PM by Otherarrow

Are you... trying to say that Remilia shouldn't be friends with Patchouli? Like, she's a bad influence or something and she should play with a nice girl like Meiling instead? That's so... adorable somehow.

And I can't really think of another way to interpret that.

edited 19th Jul '11 3:20:34 PM by Clarste