The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

What about ones that were born from objects? More mineral than animal or vegetable.

edited 4th Mar '11 10:38:46 AM by Bocaj

Youkai are an arbitrary collection of supernatural beings with no particular similarities other than not being human.

So they don't really have defining traits aside from being supernatural and not human is what you're saying?

What about ones that were born from objects? More mineral than animal or vegetable.

Minerals aren't living. They can't have a biological classification, because they aren't biological to begin with. Though I suppose Japanese mythology doesn't much care about details like that.

No, I'm saying that that's what they are. Byakuren even argues that gods are a form of youkai.

However, what they are labeled is human-eaters. My point is that taxonomy is not necessarily based on truth.

That's what we call animism.

edited 4th Mar '11 10:44:44 AM by Clarste

I'm pretty certain youkai have been retconned from naturally eating humans to naturally attacking humans. Which can include mock kidnappings, picking fights, and generally screwing with people

I was thinking that Marisa is on her way to becoming a youkai of some kind, but not necessarily specifically a magician.

The Marisa in this picture makes me think a bit of Komachi's description of her rainy spirit: "Drizzling rain is thin, gloomy, and unremarkable, but it has a gentle quality about it." Seems kind of unfitting for Marisa, doesn't it? Like, on every front.

(I think this is the third time I've brought up Komachi, actually. That description is just kinda sticking with me, I guess...)

Those qualities have been brought up a few other times. A case could be made that that's Marisa's true self, which she's trying very hard not to be

Or just a side of her we never see because it's always the middle of an Incident.

Doesn't particularly appear in the fairies manga, WaHH, or 'Soku, either

Well, the emphasis on "ordinary" magician might fit the unremarkable part. But I don't really know. Anyone know if there's any hidden wordplay with that?

Her last name means "drizzle". There really wasn't any other weather they could have given her.

The Marisa in this picture makes me think a bit of Komachi's description of her rainy spirit: "Drizzling rain is thin, gloomy, and unremarkable, but it has a gentle quality about it." Seems kind of unfitting for Marisa, doesn't it? Like, on every front.

DAMN

... Okay, so. I like the idea of it being her "real" self that she's trying to escape from. Ties well into her possible rebellion. What do we know about her parents? Her father was some wealthy guy, right? A nobleman? Well, not necessarily. Maybe they had a lot of children and she was just one of many. Maybe he wanted a male heir. Maybe they just educated her to be a cute and unoffensive girl. Aah, the possibilities!

On a related note, Bewitching Kaiseki. Wriggle's story.

Her father is a less interesting and less youkai version of Rinnosuke. No wonder she chose Kourin.

Less interesting than Rinnosuke?!

Is that possible without going into negatives? Dad Kirisame is so uninteresting that he makes things he stands next to uninteresting?

He's a regular human as far as Akyuu knows. He lives in the human village, same with Ryu-kami-oh knows how many nameless regular humans and he runs a curio shop like Rinnosuke, except that unlike Kourindou the Kirisame-ya doesn't carry anything magical.

On the whole "Marisa mortality" issue - I like the idea that after shopping around and considering her options, she decides "meh, not worth it" and stays "normal." 'cause really, becoming a youkai or whatnot would rob her of her title as Gensokyo's badass normal. And then you can toss out the Mayfly–December Romance issue and have Alice (or your favored ship) come up with a way to return to/achieve human status.

I do have to wonder where everyone's getting such a strong "anti" to her "heroine", though. In canon, I suppose she does some stealing in the endings and stuff... apart from that, I got a much more personable vibe from her dialogue than I got from Reimu or others. She seems like a really easy-going person to me when it comes to talking to people.

Yeah, Anti-Hero just doesn't fit her nearly as well as Loveable Rogue. She's not the Punisher, she's closer to Gambit. She's got Anti-Hero potential, but pretty much defies it all in favor of pretending to be a Magical Girl. While robbing people.

Marisa Kirisame - Vessel of a Star

Now we know what the plot twist/EX-boss of Ten Desires is going to be.

"No! I must kill the spirits!" Marisa shouted.
A familiar voice said "No, Marisa. You are the spirit."
And then Marisa was a Mima.

"Drizzling rain is thin, gloomy, and unremarkable, but it has a gentle quality about it." Seems kind of unfitting for Marisa, doesn't it? Like, on every front.

Those qualities have been brought up a few other times. A case could be made that that's Marisa's true self, which she's trying very hard not to be.

I guess she's a weird inversion of the quiet, withdrawn girl who turns out to be a party animal - Marisa acts like a hellion, but deep down she wants to go home and write emo poetry while watching thunderstorms roll in.

So Marisa's known layers = Incident-solving hellion -> studious magician -> gentle depressive. Possibly more, perhaps hidden inside her hat.

Or maybe Komachi is just hilariously wrong. "You'll become a ghost that is always in the background, I bet. Neither ascending to heaven nor reincarnating, just a spirit eternally waiting for judgment in Higan." Really? Marisa spending eternity sitting around?

Hmm.

Or maybe she's keenly insightful. Maybe Marisa has a Shrinking Violet nature, but she constantly fights it because she doesn't want to stay in the background. Maybe she'll avoid reincarnation because she likes who she is, and will shun heaven because it doesn't have any appeal. Maybe she has a motherly soft side that most people rarely see over all the yelling and petty theft.

What do we know about her parents?

Marisa's Perfect Memento article mentions that she's "the only daughter of the proprietor of the Kirisame-ya second-hand shop in the village, but it appears she's cut off all relations there," with the footnote that "As this is a private matter the details are unclear, but it may be related to the fact that the Kirisame house doesn't deal in magical items." So it's implied/possible that Marisa's parents disapprove of all the Sparking.

On a nearly unrelated note, I wonder if Marisa's non-traditional hair color(s) stems from her magical talent.

On the whole "Marisa mortality" issue - I like the idea that after shopping around and considering her options, she decides "meh, not worth it" and stays "normal." 'cause really, becoming a youkai or whatnot would rob her of her title as Gensokyo's badass normal. And then you can toss out the Mayfly December Romance issue and have Alice (or your favored ship) come up with a way to return to/achieve human status.

Writers have the strangest ideas about immortality. "It would be terrible if she outlived her lover by hundreds or thousands of years... so let's make her mortal too! The other one has a sure-fire path to immortality just a few decades of study away, but screw that! Let's kill 'em both!"

Most writers are human, I guess.

Well, we do have two immortals and the majority of the non-human characters will probably outlive the last game in the series (assuming the games proceed in real time).

Actually, the humans will probably outlive the last game in the series even if it takes place half a century from now, and they'll still be in their 20s. Reimu and Youmu actually seem to have gotten younger from UFO and PCB respectively, regardless of what ZUN says.

Most writers are human, I guess.

Oh, I get it. It's the whole "sour grapes" thing taken to a completely irrational extreme.

edited 6th Mar '11 5:23:55 AM by SuperDimensionman

I was going to do a write-up based on Mari's Drizzle Tempermant, but I can't figure out how to transcribe my ideas and we already had a lot of conversation about the temperment already. That, and I'm almost sure that at least half of the idea was stolen from another troper.

So, here's the short version.

Marisa ~ Drizzle (Abridged)

Mari runs away from home at a young age because she doesn't want to become like her stodgy parents. While hiding out in the village, she comes across the witch hat. She takes the hat and decides that it's completely outlandish—and she loves it. She takes it and wears it as as symbol of boldness to separate herself from her boring parents. Her cultivation of the witch imagery is based on that moment.

Don't worry about that. Even if your ideas did come from the discussion or another troper, it'll be nice for someone coming through in the future to have another perspective condensed and linked in Mari's profile.

That, and I'm almost sure that at least half of the idea was stolen from another troper.

Almost all of my writeup on Reimu was snatched by Fawriel but I posted it anyway.