The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

I agree with all of your points, more or less.

Say, if Chen is a Chinese Girl, does that mean that Ran stole her from China?

Not necessarily. I mean, Hong Meiling is Chinese too.

Its not stealing if she paid for her.

The SDM crew is canonically from the outside world, though

Wanna give your writeup a title, Chagen?

@Tacitus: I'm rather taken with Aura.

A title?

Hm....Gensokyo's Shounen Heroine.

 ^{Or for some Gratuitous German for no reason whatsoever}

edited 22nd Feb '11 10:52:27 AM by Chagen46

Are we done here? I'd of expected more discussion here, but no one is posting

I've been too busy to essay but I hope to soon.

I have some reading to do, but I hope to make an essay on Chen as well.

Je veux essayer d'écrire un essai.

I'm sorry. I only speak American.

But if I translate that, I'll lose the pun on how "essay" comes from "essayer" which means "to attempt"!

I want to attempt a... a... a temptress!

"Essay" can be used as a verb in English to mean "attempt," though it's pretty uncommon.

I'm so sorry. I've done a terrible thing to a perfectly good pun. I just hope that, as it grows up crippled and bitter, that it may one day forgive me.

A Feline, First and Foremost

In some sense, Ran covers her master's weaknesses. Diligent, focused and mindful where Yukari is lazy, playful and careless, remembering what Yukari forgets and drudging away when Yukari would rather not, Ran sees to it that the Yakumo's duties are carried out. The Youkai of Boundaries has much to teach her, but also, perhaps, a little to learn.

Likewise, Chen has the qualities that her master lacks. The drive to grow ever stronger and seek new opponents or friends. The independence to strike out on her own, exceeding her orders or blowing them off as a matter of course. The... sigh, okay, I guess she's also pretty cute sometimes, but I don't think that's particularly important here. Even if she were useless for anything else (and she's not), the vibrancy and verve she brings to the Yakumo family would be more than worth her contract.

However, no feline is a stranger to darkness and secrets, and Chen understands far more than her masters realize. Bounding along the hidden ways that only cats know and slinking through shadows no mortal eyes can pierce, she sees every corner of Gensokyo. Ran can only understand Yukari's powers and form through calculation, but Chen simply sees and knows. Sometimes she shares the information she intuits or finds on her nightly jaunts, sometimes not. If nothing else, she's inherited the Yakumo caprice.

She may not be as dependable as her master, but perhaps PMISS wasn't quite fair to her. Swift, clever and resourceful, Chen's very useful to have around... when she can be bothered to come. She is, after all, a cat.

edited 24th Feb '11 9:27:05 PM by Durazno

Nice.

While I personally don't have much to say regarding Chen, I think she's not as much of a kid as most fan works make her out to be. Sure, she's more than a bit of a doofus as her actions in BAiJR show, but she's still very capable in her own right. During the first encounter in PCB, she has a clear sense of purpose and her interactions with the protagonists are mostly in a polite tone. Well, until they're deliberately pushing her buttons anyway.

Yes, but she is cute, therefore she must be little babby child.

THE FANDOM HAS SPOKEN

edited 25th Feb '11 5:39:27 AM by StarkMaximum

Did you really expect anything better out of Japanese Otaku, masters of sexism and passive aggressive misogyny?

Apparently it's good enough for Yukari, so...

Not to say that there's any shortage of passive-aggresive misogyny on this side of the Pacific... or even continuing to leap over the Atlantic as well. I see your point, though.

So, how do we feel about starting a new poll? Last call for the Yakumos? (Well, not really last since you can always come back to them, but still.)

For the next character, Marisa, since I think she'd generate more of a discussion if that's how we're alternating here.

Or, if we could chose a location, the Human Village.

So, how do we feel about starting a new poll? Last call for the Yakumos? (Well, not really last since you can always come back to them, but still.)

Yes. Marisa's hat deserves to finally get its moment in the sun!

Despite how frequently it appears in fanwork, it's an oddly underappreciated character. You never really hear anyone talking about it, do you?

edited 25th Feb '11 1:39:29 PM by SuperDimensionman

It is a gorgeous hat, isn't it?

That's a vote for Marisa + her hat, then? Okay, I cast mine for those two as well.