The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

"I AM NOW A SAINT, NOW I CAN NOT ONLY HEAR TEN CONVERSATIONS, BUT THE DESIRES OF THOSE I LISTEN TOO AS WELL! Also, it turns out people are good at heart, and don't actually need me to rule them... who wants to go to an alternate plane of existance?

edited 7th Oct '11 11:09:38 PM by Horselesshorseman

That's... pretty cool, actually. A nice little pocket dimension with unrivaled access to bus routes and schools. And it would suggest that she's in the upper tiers of Touhou's nonexistance power levels. Yukari has a rival in more ways than one, it seems.

...Hey, where you been, Boundary Youkai? We've got crossings to and from Makai and now someone's hiding her house in fractals. Has Yukari commented on this in the endings or anything?

Anyway, my key question with Miko-As-A-Name-Not-A-Job-Description is: was she always female? Did history put a check in the wrong box when it came to recording one crucial detail about this legendary figure? Did she disguise herself as a man during her reign? Was a genderswap an unintended side-effect of her post-human upgrade? Or did Yukari troll him/her when her/his mausoleum crossed the Hakurei Boundary?

And what's with the headphones? Yes, she's got the whole listening to people's desires thing, but are they representing her eavesdropping or are they her attempt to drown out all the psychic noise?

Sounds like it's time for another picd... Ah. Well, I wouldn't want to make a picdump or anything, but here are some options from Danbooru regarding her character page art. And perhaps someone might want to use one for an avatar or something. They are also NSFW. But this is not a picdump. Just a list of links to pictures.

• Badass bust
• From someone's sketchbook
• In profile
• Colorful
• From the Pixiv 1000
• From the "Wow That Was Fast" pool
• From the "I Am The King" pool
• Mischievous hydrocephalegic
• Adamant dwarf
• Backlit
• Looks troubled
• Cute lil' button nose
• No nose
• Borrowing Buddhist artistry?
• Dress looks like its trimmed with razorwire
• This dress does not
• Powered up
• Looks like an album cover
• Gensokyan currency

Oh yeah, her stage theme is "A Starry Sky of Small Desires" which is kinda a cool image that I associate with her. The small desires of course are those little spirits you collect in game, and we get to see a starry sky of them in the underground mausoleum. It seems they're attracted to Miko because she's filled with ambitions. Her dreams drown out everyone else's, and desires gather around her. She's that kind of person.

Marisa also attracts the spirits, as a side note.

That's more or less all I have to contribute in what little time I have left right now! I can tell there was some fascinating discussion going on on the previous page, but I'll need some time to wrap my head around that.

Another thing I can't wrap my head around is that there aren't more people doing something with Miko's weird gender. You'd think that fans of transsexuality and stuff would be all over that! Imagine, maybe she isn't technically female, but prefers to be referred as such! Maybe she is, but the throne demanded that she pretend to be male! Oh, the drama! Oh, the sex appeal!

edited 8th Oct '11 12:52:56 AM by Fawriel

Thank Heaven for small blessings, they say.

Well, everyone in-game calls her the Prince, so there's that.

edited 8th Oct '11 12:58:44 AM by Clarste

Miko is secretly a musician.

Well, given the sheer number of 'Lady X' and 'Princess Y' around, it's a nice change to see some masculine titles in use.

I think that apart from Miko, Tsukuyomi and Tenma use male titles, but I'm not sure.

Do they use a gender-specific term in Japanese too?

Taishi. So yes, more or less. Though to be fair, it's a masculine title without a feminine version, so there isn't much choice there.

Mm. I wouldn't put much stock in that, then.

On the topic of the inscrutable thought processes of fans, it seems that they've more or less collectively decided that Miko is short and slender a la fandom Eiki.

edited 8th Oct '11 4:41:27 AM by Bocaj

Her game art is rather skinny, but I think she's pretty tall.

Hmmm.... Miko's a distinctive case- a semi-villainous character who nevertheless seems to be lawful good. The problem is that her ideals of law and good are somewhat outdated- in her time, youkai were unrelenting horrors, the things that go bump in the night. Now, they're the shady business owners and small annoyances, the things that go *BUMP* in the night. Stop slamming into trees and walls, Rumia! I'm tryin' to sleep! Well-Intentioned Extremist is a very good way to describe her.

As for Eiki- Maybe it's just me, but I find it somewhat poetic that the judge of the dead might look like a younger girl.

edited 8th Oct '11 7:50:27 AM by Pulse

How does Miko seem to be lawful good? Her motivations never stemmed solely from fighting youkai. It wasn't even a huge concern for her until she got to Gensokyo.

Lawful I can see easily. Good, I can't.

And its not even a thing that there's moral dissonance. I'm pretty sure she knew what she was doing was socially frowned upon. That's why she did it in secret.

If they didn't waste it on being fetishy, that might actually be really interesting. I, uh, kind of don't trust the fandom, though.

Yeah, being anti-youkai does seem secondary to her compared to the "wanting to become a God/take over the world with Taoist powers" thing. In fact, before she came to Gensoukyou, did Miko even have to deal with youkai?

I am curious as to how later games/material with depict her. For all we know, she might be just hilariously misunderstanding/misunderstood and a good person at heart. (She seems polite enough. Then again, Affably Evil)

edited 8th Oct '11 10:01:57 AM by Otherarrow

I wouldn't use her behavior as a mark. Kanako has all the makings of a cartoonish supervillain despite being a rather nice person, despite her tendency to scheme. Utsuho is even more hammy and cartoonish, and she's just an idiot.

I think Miko is, in fact, short and skinny. Her in-game art looks like that, and I like her in-game art, handiness aside. It also seems kinda tragic if you think about it. She's been a genius from a young age. And even at such a young age, she was already concerned with death. And subsequently caused her own.

Even better if you subscribe to the version of Futo seen in Giselebon's comic, where she's sort of Miko's caretaker and very concerned with making the young prodigy smile.

According to History, Miko was I think 48 when she died. 48 is not young by any mortal standards.

I think history has already been screwed with enough at this point that we don't have to put too much stock into it.

Of course, I have no real argument for why history wouldn't be accurate in that case. I was under the impression that she died young, but I'm not sure where that came from.

edited 8th Oct '11 10:09:00 AM by Fawriel

48 is quite a young age to die...in 2011. In the seventh century, I imagine it was about average. Miko died prematurely, though, on account of the poison.

edited 8th Oct '11 10:12:11 AM by asterism

Being 48 would make her look older than most characters, which must make it very difficult for her to wrap her head around the fact that she is one of Touhou's youngest characters.

Actually, that must be kind of cool for her. Die an old... man?, and the next thing you know you're a youngster again!

edited 8th Oct '11 11:18:46 AM by Horselesshorseman

48's more middle aged then old.

I thought we were still talking about it in terms of the 17th century.