The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Your intepretation is similar to mine, except mine would go further.

"Ummmmm, could you let go?"

nom, nom, nom

"Hey, this isn't funny anymore - holy crap, what a viselike grip!"

(mouth still clamped on)"Myu cnnot 'scape m' h'ngah!"

"Oh, for crying out lou-OW! REIMU, PLEASE HELP ME DISLODGE HER BEFORE SHE GNAWS OFF MY LEG!"

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

Well here’s a less ambitious writeup for you. First post, so hey. I’ve been meaning to post for a while, but never really wrote anything until now. I would’ve posted Reisen earlier, but I kind of wrote the two as a pair sort of thing. I’m not too fond of what I wrote; I made the two of them sound like big jerks. I was just thinking about quotes and such and went with it to its conclusion, but I can’t just ignore what I wrote. Seems like it would be a waste. Thinking back, the names would fit a “scientific study” kind of approach really well.

Tewi Inaba ~ Terraleporidae Secundulagus
If you want to be happier, it means holding deeper emotions.
There isn’t really any other description of Tewi other than that she is a flat out liar. She gets enjoyment out of lying to people and trying to take advantage of them. She does this to Medicine, Shiki, the Road of Liminality/Chuu Road/Whatever it is, and Reisen obviously. She isn’t really straightforward about what she does and only gets concerned when she’s on the spot or in danger, or rather that she doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions. When approached by a person with a funny hat holding a weird rod, her idea of the best course of action is to call her out on bothering her. It isn’t until Shikieiki says what her job is that Tewi is polite to her. After, she begs the Yama to help her. Being in Muenzuka, you’d think she would expect something like that, given her intelligence and age. The only thing she’s completely honest about is that she lies. One would assume that she does it for her own enjoyment, and “tries spreading happiness” as a prank, but thinking about it, I would say that she really wants others to be happy…partly because it’s fun and partly because happy people give better reactions from pranks.
She seems incredibly childish for someone over 1300 years old. I like to think that for a long time, Tewi was a serious, polite and kind rabbit until she just got bored with it when she had to cross a river in a certain location. She decided that her little trick was fun and then began tricking all the time, losing her serious attitude in favor of having fun.
Summarized, Tewi’s a jerk because she’s just having fun and doesn’t really mean to hurt or genuinely anger others.
One thing that I find great about Tewi is the methods that she claims people will find happiness with. She tells Reimu to rotate her Torii/shrine, tells Sakuya to essentially become a Hermit, and tells Youmu to stab herself.
I think it’s also kind of interesting that her bullets are almost never fired in straight lines. The lasers in “Ancient Duper” are really the exception, and their only purpose is to trap you, which isn’t exactly a straightforward tactic. In contrast, Reisen’s danmaku fire mainly in straight lines, straight lines that disappear and move a lot in weird ways, but remain straight lines, nonetheless. And speaking of that…

Reisen Udongein Inaba ~ Lunaleporidae Perturballagus
The reason some get along and some don't is because all individual living things have their own wavelengths.
Reisen had abandoned the moon during the Lunar War and fled, forever marking her as a traitor. She was taken in by Eientei, and began following Eirin’s commands. As time went on, she became a pseudo-apprentice to Eirin, selling her medicine and studying under her. Her seemingly happy life is, however constantly troubled by the white hare and her concerns about the moon.
SWR states that she can “change her personality completely”, I’d say that her personality changes are subtle enough to just be noticeable or that she affects the environment’s wavelengths to appear to act different to those nearby. One thing I noticed was that while she acts somewhat like an earthling and Eirin wants Eientei to do so, Reisen shows some of that Lunar Ignorance when beating Tenshi or anyone in Hisoutensoku. Even though she’s been living with them for however long, she still considers herself to be superior to the earthlings. Maybe this would be an example of changing her personality? She acts kind to people, but reverts to her “lunar self” secretly, or when she proves that she’s better than her opponent. Going back to the short danmaku discussion I mentioned it the Tewi writeup, her danmaku fire in straight lines mostly. The danmaku are straight, but they lie about their locations and move; they‘re not honest. In fact, I’d go so far to say that this is one reason Tewi likes to trick Reisen more so than others is that she wants to help her not be such a secret jerk. There’s no need to have two jerks in the house.
Summarized, she really wants to get over her lunar pride and join the earthlings, and can try her best to hide it or keep it to herself, but it’s inherent in her past that it isn’t that easy to remove.
This isn’t really about Reisen herself, but I found it interesting. A majority of her dialogue (at least in Po FV) is discussing the wavelengths of people. If one goes by her SWR profile’s description of wavelengths, then she ends up describing Lunasa, Cirno, Tewi, Medicine, and Komachi as being induced with madness. Yuka, Sakuya, Youmu, and Merlin have long or easygoing wavelengths. Marisa and Aya are in the middle, while she says Reimu goes back and forth between the two. Unless I have them backwards or something.
Also, in her Po FV scenario, Medicine talks about purity and sin with her for a bit.

edited 10th Jan '11 4:53:55 PM by Swasfews

@Swasfews: Honestly, the faux-latin names just make me think of Coyote and Road Runner. Which, in a way, is kind of like Reisen and Tewi, if Reisen were ever to try using Tewi's traps against her. They've got that same "intelligent butt monkey vs. cunning, cheeky trickster" feel to them.

Time keeps dragging on.

Watch as she cunningly acquires Lunarian knowledge and disciplinary techniques. And flight technology, I guess.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Tewi-chan, why are you flying?

She's only ten years old.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Welcome, Swasfews!

I don't think you made Tewi sound like a jerk, but I can see what you mean about Reisen sounding like one.

Truth! A depressed person is just gonna be all resigned and sigh bitterly and all, and where's the fun in that? What's the point in taking someone down a peg who's already down? And it'd be like picking a fight with a cripple, too! Trickster's honor! Trickster's honor!

It makes sense for Reisen to be arrogant, I suppose. I wouldn't know about it being necessary to lie about one's feelings of superiority in order to be kind to people... Condescension can be subtle, and it can even be genuinely well-meaning. But I guess it does fit with the danmaku-analysis. Though, in the end you mention that she actually wants to get over her arrogance, so I wouldn't necessarily call it a lie when she's hiding the deeply ingrained superiority complex...

Either way, it's good to give Tewi a reason like that to prank Reisen. Teaching the haughty a lesson is one of the big virtues of a trickster, after all!

Buuut aside from this, activity has been slowing down, and I'm afraid I can't think of anything to really contribute about Tewi in essay form, sooo. As much as it pains me to have to change this avatar, we should start considering which character to talk about next. And as much as I'd been itching recently to talk about Ran, we should get to work on a lesser-used character next. I wouldn't be opposed to Kaguya, since we're already in the area. There was a vote for Hina in the last voting period, too. She's also good!

Hina was my vote. However, considering the season we're in, I'll also suggest Letty

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

Hina, Letty or Yukari (who's shot up the ranks of "characters I like" recently, oddly enough).

Time keeps dragging on.

Do you really have something to say about Letty? I'm just wondering because it's not that long ago that she was discussed in the earlier thread, and it... was less than fruitful.

It's odd for Yukari to be popular?

^^ I usually don't have much to say on a character until after the discussion starts. But, to be honest, I probably have more to say on Hina than Letty

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

Wait, now that I think about it, it might be better to wait with Hina's discussion until Clarste's liveblog is finished... that game might turn out to be quite relevant for her.

@Clarste: Whoops, didn't notice that Faw wanted lesser-known characters. Apparently I fail at reading comprehension. So scratch that.

@Faw: I could probably squeeze out a few paragraphs about Letty.

Time keeps dragging on.

We'll see, but I wouldn't delay things for it. Heck, even if the game doesn't end up that way we can still use the wild mass guessing for alternate interpretations anyway, can't we? Isn't that the point?

Zuul demands Orange. Failing that, a Letty is fine too.

With this new creative bent to the compendium I'm sure we can create things to talk about.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Oh, thought the whole House of Eientei would be covered before moving on. Ah well.

I vote Hina or Letty, if only because I don't much about them.

My vote goes to Letty, 'cause I want to see if we can get anything interesting out of her this time around. Failing that, I'm with Zuul.

After some more thought on the yuki-onna, I do think that I have a lot to say on Letty.

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

I'd like Flandre or someone.

By the way, I noticed that my interpretation of Kasen isn't linked on the front page.

Or any Kasen thing, actually.

I have a message from another time...

Welp, the ice cold lady it is, then!

And yeah, I haven't updated those things for a while now. It seems like a pretty daunting task to catch up on especially now that the end of the semester's approaching. Maybe I'll find some spare time to do that in soon.

What Winter Left Behind Letty Whiterock

Appearance:

Voice:

Theme:
Crystallized Silver*

Stage: "The spring of silvery snow"
''"Cherry petals should have fallen like snowflakes... Yet it was still silver with snow."
bgm: Paradise ~ Deep Mountain*

Spellcard Motif: The Cold
Notable spellcards: PCB, StB
Cold Sign "Cold Snap", Winter Sign "Flower Whither Away", White Sign "Undulation Ray"

Write-up:
A curtain of snow blocks the horizon and fills the cold air with a crystal glow. The humming of the wind tears through your ears. As you look for a landmark to help you find your way through the freezing hell, you notice a figure in the distance standing unhindered by the conditions, blending in almost perfectly with its surroundings. You run. You picked the wrong time to be wandering about outside.

Letty is a youkai of winter. A sort of yuki-onna. It is not known where she disappears to when the winter is over, or whether the harsh conditions around her are caused by her presence, or if she simply enjoys this sort of weather. All that is known is that she is a youkai to be feared, because she holds no warm spot in her heart for humans.

Of course, depending on whom you ask, that might as well be bollocks. Fanon mostly defines Letty by pairing her up with the ever-popular Cirno, to whom she acts like a sister or mother figure, providing a welcome source of adorable family-type action. Or a heartbreaking scene of her vanishing as Spring arrives... Canon can go either way, as she's described by Akyuu as very dangerous, whereas the games don't show her as very powerful, at the same time implying that she's not going all out, on the one hand giving her a personality that can be described as sly, on the other hand, showing her as something of an airhead. Is it a facade? Or maybe she just wants to enjoy the winter while it lasts, after all...

As a representative of winter, Letty's usual portrayal will be based more on her theme and appearance than anything else. Cool and collected, motherly, perhaps a little airheaded, and thanks to an above averagely sized hitbox, often chubby or big-breasted. Her rocking theme would lend itself well to a far more badass portrayal, which is also practiced.

All in all, Letty is to winter what the Aki sisters try to be for autumn: a respectable representative with power and an awe-inspiring presence. Or an adorable sweetheart, as it were.

Relations:

• Cirno (Hugstime!)
• Aki sisters (Friends or foes? You decide!)

Alternate Character Interpretations:
What Winter holds within
-by Fawriel

Letty-Embodiment of the Turquoise Season
-by yarrunmace

Letty-The Strongest
-by yarrunmace

edited 8th May '11 2:19:19 PM by Fawriel

(Psst, Faw. Your link to the PCB spellcards is labeled "IN".)

Somehow, I only recently found out that Letty was a yuki-onna. Prior to that, I thought she was some kind of embodiment of winter.

Anyway, Letty is one of those characters that I don't know a lot about. But from what I have seen of her, I picture her as someone who acts polite, but tends to be aloof. Or "cold", if you prefer.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

Nonsense! An oversight, me? The very idea is despicable!

I don't know if she really is a yuki-onna. I also don't know if being a yuki-onna and being an embodiment of winter are mutually exclusive.

I was rather surprised to see her acting like something of a carefree ditz in her interview with Aya. Surprisingly enough, that would make her characterization in various comics by Happy Flame Time the most accurate I've seen, canonically... Which... is not something I would expect of a Happy Flame Time comic.

Akyuu says she's a 'type of' Yuki-onna, which basically gives ZUN and fans Artistic License with her abilities and traits as we could claim any discrepancies with real mythology are due to the myth-writers having encountered a different (or more common) type.