The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Futo: OK.

Say whatever you want about Futo, but one can't deny that she really cared and trusted Miko.

edited 9th Jan '13 10:22:08 PM by asellus111

She was pretty much more courageous anyway.

Being near death can bring the best or worst of humanity.

I'm not sure what that's a response to.

Depends on the artist.

There's another aspect to this choice as well - some inconspicuous like a pot you can hide in a pantry somewhere. It's humble and meant to be put out of sight. Miko's "body" will be carried on her most of the time - so either she's confident that nobody will be able to figure out the truth about her sword, or confident in her ability to defend it from any aggressor. The fact that she's also chosen an implement of war is also significant. If she plans on ever using the sword, this would indicate that she's not willing to put herself in harm's way, but it could also mean that she's not planning on resorting to violence at any point.

Spell card duels obviously don't count.

But if someone else gets the boat a-rockin', in a way that kept her rivals preoccupied, well, it'd be irresponsible to not step in and stabilize the situation.

edited 9th Jan '13 11:59:46 PM by Tacitus

Yeah. Tojiko was no less loyal in my thinking. Miko has no issues being a puppeteer...

Which, come to think of it, might be another reason she dislike Seiga, who held Miko's strings back then. After all, Seiga got to float around the world and be awesome offscreen for a thousand years, while Miko sat in a mausoleum that whole time.

And gee, Seiga, kind of a dick move, leaving your protege to rot in a sealed mausoleum indefinitely while you go off and screw around. I guess Seiga just grew bored, and when she heard Miko would be waking up was like "Oohhh! Yeah, I remember him/her! This is gonna be saweeeeeet."

I guess to both.

Miko was a genius and a prince, but asked Futo to try the ritual because of her fear.(Worst)

Futo betrayed her own clan and allies, but was willing to die for Miko because of her courage.(Best)

edited 9th Jan '13 10:47:30 PM by asellus111

Well, Futo wasn't near death when she agreed to be Miko's guinea pig. So, that doesn't really qualify.

Hm, the way its phrased makes it sound like Miko used her awesome insight and savvy to talk Futo into it and Futo didn't really think failure was a possibility.

edited 9th Jan '13 10:54:02 PM by Bocaj

Futo put herself in that position and trusted Miko, that's very loyal.

Miko was sealed and the details to break that seal are unknown, but Seiga protected the place anyway and the momemt Myouran temple was built Yoshika was already there. If she didn't care for Miko, she would have been in Hawaii.

edited 9th Jan '13 11:08:22 PM by asellus111

Putting yourself near death isn't the same as being at near death in terms of people acting their best or worst when at that point.

And I guess it all depends on whether Miko even told Futo there was a chance she would die.

Something that's occurred to me: Tojiko was meant to become a shikaisen as well, originally. So either Miko tested the process on her as well, or she was put under after Futo; with Miko's logic presumably being that Futo is the expendable one. The fact that Futo managed to sabotage Tojiko's resurrection suggests the former, though.

Well one could argue how much did Futo knew about the ritual, after all she sabotaged Tojiko.

ninja'd.

edited 9th Jan '13 11:02:58 PM by asellus111

Knowing that she could sabotage the ritual to be a team killing fucktard is a very different matter from knowing that Miko wasn't sure the ritual would even work.

edited 9th Jan '13 11:04:52 PM by Bocaj

Also the fact that Futo could sabotage the ritual suggests she knew what was going on.

Well she knew that the subject was supposed to trade places with the object and that if an imperfect object was used, then the ritual would fail to grant immortality.

That's different from knowing that even if the object wasn't tampered with, there was a chance of failure.

Is there a chance of failure? Or was that Miko being cautious?

And she was dying anyway, you'd think she'd have nothing to lose.

Well She feared death the most.

Miko evidently thought there was a chance of failure. Probably because the information had come from Seiga.

'OK, so I don't know if this'll work or not, so I'm going to try it on you first.'
'Your Highness, what will happen to you if it fails?'
'I'll die.'
'You're dying anyway.'
'Shut up and get in the plate.'

It's a secret ritual, meaning that it was the first time Miko was dealing with stuff like that, add that her own life was on the line. She was probably very scared at that time.

edited 9th Jan '13 11:21:52 PM by asellus111

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this. Miko is like... Pride incarnate. "I'm too awesome to be allowed to die!"

Byakuren was also desperate to avoid death. They have that in common.

One wonders why Miko didn't discover sorcery instead.

I think Miko considered becoming a Youkai and probably magic as evil, also she praised youkai hunters as heroes, and even in the present she doesn't like Byakuren's aura.

Probably a matter of who/what was handy. Byakuren was a Youkai hunter; she regularly rubbed elbows with all sorts of youkai. Miko, meanwhile, was busy getting her hands dirty with politics... something Seiga just loves to throw wrenches into. I wouldn't be surprised if Miko had never even encountered a Youkai before entering Gensokyo... (Unless she was that emperor that got Nue sealed underground or w/e >_>)

I certainly don't doubt that had she the opportunity, Miko would have leapt at the chance to become a youkai magician. Sure, she talks like they're the scum of the Earth now... but now she isn't concerned about dying, is she?

Likewise, Byakuren doubtless would have taken Seiga's offer to become a Shikaisen, had she been deemed interesting enough to Seiga to catch her eye. In fact, were her brother merely deathly ill, you can bet he'd have been the test subject, much as Futo was.

edited 10th Jan '13 12:17:01 AM by Antimatter625

Miko wasn't an emperor.