The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Why Aya? She comes off fairly well in Bunkachou

I'm vaguely disturbed by how negative Tacitus is making her look using canon quotes. I blame inexperience on ZUN's part! Or Aya. I blame Aya! Grr! Grrr!

I'm sure you could make any Touhou character look bad using only canon quotes. Except maybe Konngara.

It depends on the interpretation I guess. The "shikigami are precious things" could be interpreted the complete opposite way.

And the bitchiness and the whining might just be her upset that she's having to deal with the fallout from Yukari and Yuyuko's mess and that Chen got twice beat up because of it.

Oh, alternate interpretation thread, you let us spin characters every which way.

Tenko – Heavenly Fox and Heavenly Child ~ The beast that was tamed and became the herald of a new world order

Many hundreds of years ago, war was being waged in Japan. Haughty leaders sent men to slaughter each other for ends that were not their own. Only their lives' ends awaited.

One night, one of the lords woke up from his sleep to see the visage of a beautiful young woman. She told him to not be afraid. Her tails glowed golden in the moonlight. I can help you win this battle, she said. My eyes see all that light can touch. A gentle wind seems to play with her proud nine tails. A star twinkles in her narrowed eyes. That night, plans were hatched, and the lord thought himself sure to win the battle.

The same night, in the house of the enemy, a lord woke up from his sleep to see the visage of a beautiful young woman. She told him to not be afraid. She can help him win this battle.

Human quarrels mean nothing to a kitsune. An ancient and powerful creature that had just reached the highest level. It was time to put those abilities to the test.

Armies were lead in enigmatic ways. Each side seemed to know what the other was planning. Each leader was being advised by the same creature, trying to one-up itself in a game of human chess. Lives were saved by avoiding ambushes, lives were lost to traps, lives were saved through the aid of a miraculously skilled swordsman, and yet others were lost to another such soldier's blade. The kitsune was not content pulling strings. Whenever possible, her whims took her to the battlefield. Her whims guided her humanoid form. Saving lives, taking lives. Human life means little to a kitsune.

As the battles drew to an end, both lords thought themselves close to victory – the divine insight of their advisor would allow them to have their opponents' fortress infiltrated and their leaders assassinated. The lords slept well that night, and never woke up again.

Human greed is despised by kitsune.

As this fox went on her way after having proven herself the victor in a battle of wits with a worthy opponent, something broke. Something did not seem right. As she turned around, the Youkai faced the Kitsune.

After all, a nine-tailed Kitsune can see all that light can touch. And that is just what the Youkai needs...

Many years have passed since then. The beast was tamed. The destroyer of nations has become the guardian of a world.

Ran is now a spiritual-minded and mild-mannered woman. She is under the care of the Youkai who has created a new world, and as such, this world is also hers to care for. A more dignified fate is not something any creature can ask for.

Not too long ago, she took in a stray cat who had only just turned into a youkai. The girl is a little rough around the edges, but means well and proves to be fun to have around. With a little education in the finer ways of living, she will certainly grow into a wise and strong woman as well.

Ran sighs softly. As she sees each petal falling, each river flowing and each blade of grass swaying in the wind, with Chen playing in their midst, discovering the world bit by bit, she can't help but feel like this entire small world has become her child. A child that will grow strong and beautiful.

Kitsune care very much about beauty.

edited 1st Feb '11 2:05:52 PM by Fawriel

So Ran values Chen, but perhaps more as a status symbol (my shikigami) then as, say, a surrogate daughter. Also, Marisa is an unrepentant jerkass. I'm wondering at the "precious things" translation, unsure whether or not it's a product of the meme or the source for the phrase.

It has nothing to do with the meme, and the wording in Japanese is completely different. And honestly I'm not sure why either of them are translated as "precious thing".

The IOSYS song is "Marisa wa taihen na momo wo nusunde ikimashita". Which would mean "Marisa stole the serious thing." Or perhaps the "troublesome thing". You can get "precious thing" out of that but it's a stretch.

Ran's dialog says "Shikigami tatte, yasuku wa nai." Which basically means "Shikigami aren't cheap". While "cheap" has some idiomatic meanings other than monetary cost, this is probably even more dismissive of Chen than you had thought.

Which does imply a good shikigami is hard to come by, and Chen is not expendable. Perhaps she sees a lot of potential in her.

But it also means she thinks of her as a tool, rather than a child. "Hard to replace" is not the same as "irreplaceable".

adghvakhdfmasj It's just that state they always go into when they're doing their battle taunts and whatnot. That's it. Grawr.

[mutters]

Chen's interview in BAiJR does at least hint that Ran is not quite the mother she's often made out to be, given the whole catnip drugging thing.

Canon? More like can...lame!

I always saw the catnip thing as more like Ran giving Chen a treat, like candy would be for a human child.

Catnip makes cats flip out and run around. Sugar makes human children flip out and run around. You can "control" a child by promising or withholding delicious candies. It seems to fit.

Tangentially related: one thing that amuses me about that interview is that apparently Chen has no clue how cats think. Seems like she forgot a lot after she became a youkai.

But "asshole Ran" is a better interpretation in my eyes.

Hell, I find the "asshole" interpretations of the Touhou Girls to be better in general.

-reads Tacitus's post-

...And this is part of the reason as to why I'm lurking this thread: reading just the canon present in the games makes most of the cast come off as jerks (especially the heroes). I kept wondering where people were getting these other interpretations from based on so little information. Where did this massive empire of fanon come from, so much that it almost completely overshadows canon?

But that was before I learned about ZUN's written works and all the references he instills into his characters and world. As well as the fact that Gensokyo operates on (mostly) youkai logic. Incidentally, I learned a lot of random trivia from this thread (such as the realization that most of the characters that I like are either pleasantly lazy and seem fun to talk listen to - like Komachi - or just seem friendly in general - like Meiling).

 ^*

Regarding that last point, most of these are creatures a normal human really wouldn't want to meet. The protagonists can get by because they're superpowered monster hunters, but that doesn't mean other people will fare so well. Especially when there's a large power difference.

[...]Where did this massive empire of fanon come from, so much that it almost completely overshadows canon?

There has to have been a beginning to it all, but I don't think it's possible to directly trace its lineage. It's built on an older, earlier empire of fanon, which is itself built on earlier iterations of itself, until you go all the way back to 2002, when someone first put ink to paper to write an Embodiment of Scarlet Devil fancomic that takes some "artistic license" with the characters involved.

edited 1st Feb '11 7:59:19 PM by SuperDimensionman

For what it's worth, most everyone acted like a jerk in EoSD and PCB, including Yuyuko. I'd put more stock in the character later appearances of characters from either of those two games

Its hard to be a nice person when Reimu or Marisa come knocking. There's just a natural tendency to respond to snark with snark.

Yamame might have been the nicest character the PCs meet and all she got was a "shoot her down as you pass by." I think courtesy is a weakness in Gensokyo along with common sense.

The games seem the take place when something is going wrong and everyone is either trying to fix it or trying to keep it from being fixed. I always thought the hassle just put all the characters in a bad mood.

edited 2nd Feb '11 6:44:42 PM by Parable

Well. This has been a pretty disappointing run. But I guess there's not much else coming out of this. Time to prepare for the next character. Everyone who might still have something to say about Ran should hurry now.

So, Yukari?

I support keeping it in the Yakumo family, since we might get more out of Ran that way.

...I just realized how wrong that sounded.

Yeah, maybe then she'll put out. I mean like. More ... more output.

Yeah, maybe then she'll put out. I mean like. More ... more output.

What, like calculating Gensokyo's GDP?

Yes. That.

That might be easier than it sounds. It doesn't seem like Gensokyo has much of an economy to speak of.