The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Obviously, she had to test them out first. Reimu was Rika's stage 1 boss.

From what we've seen of the nuclear fusion reactor the Moriya shrine has set up, it wouldn't necessarily be entirely out of place.

Her hair turns purple in the Extra stage? Maybe she is Rikako. Or Rikako's mother.

Actually, yeah, the underground would be a pretty good place for something like that.

You could even get Hell's bureaucracy to help fund it, let condemned souls labor away on the production line. Except instead of license plates they're helping build tanks. Or possibly being repurposed into weapons themselves. On second thought, maybe the Ministry of Right and Wrong wouldn't go for it.

Why didn't I notice that? The biggest obstacle to this theory is of course the matter of Rika aging between games while Reimu doesn't - or at least they aren't aging at the same rate. Then again you've got Alice running around as a not-child, so maybe this isn't uncommon in Gensokyo. Lots of adjacent dimensions, wrinkles in reality that someone could get lost in for a few years, etc. If Rika grew up into Rikako, maybe her experience with Reimu led her to try and distance herself from magitek items and focus more on the fundamentals.

There just isn't much fanart of the Yin-Yang Tank, Evil Eye Sigma steals the show.

• Alphes style
• ZUN style
• Fang
• Cracklin'
• Dose pants
• Nameless Stage One Midboss getting some love
• EES gets more, though
• This is a scary tank
• Oh what the HELL, Yukari?!
• An alternate explanation for the EX-stage
• Probably for the best the factory's not around anymore
• Still don't know why they're in the same pic
• Wonder why she didn't add a pilot's seat?
• Bah, I'm hearing the SFX
• D'aww
• Reimu must have a heart of stone to say "no" to a face like that
• Kappa done jacked my robot!

Any last words on Rika?

R.I.P?

But really, she seems to be the theatrical typpe, even going so far as to dress up for the Extra Stage. Does she participate in Amateur Dramtics as a sideline? Or is she just naturally inclined towards showiness?

Is there a reason the Tank is an Evil Eye or did she just think it looked cool? I like to think if you look it in the eye you'll be paralysed for a few seconds. Then you'll be shot, so no-one ever realises this happens and just assumes she's actually accurate.

I still think she isn't a scientist like Rikako. Well, OK, she is a scientist compared to the kappa, but she isn't "SCIENCE!". She is a engineer. She builds things and lets them loose because it's fun. If they get destroyed, she will try to see what went wrong and improve on the design.

Aside from that, I got nothing.

edited 6th Jun '13 7:23:58 AM by Otherarrow

I postulate that Rika was shamed by her involvement and Rikako was on some level trying to avenge her/show her up.

Would've put this up last night, but the forums were up and down, so I wasn't sure whether the silence was due to that or a genuine lack of conversation. But things look pretty quiet now, so...

Mima

Themes: "Angel's Legend"*

"Complete Darkness"

"Reincarnation"

ZUN's remix

Stages:
Hell
BGM: "Eastern Strange Discourse"*

Sealed Demon ~ Eastern Recorded Sealing of a Demon, and...
BGM: "Eastern Record of the Sealing of a Demon ~ A Phantom's Boisterous Dance"*

Attack Marisa "Borrowed":
Orreries Sun

Signature Attack That Fans Made Up:
Twilight Spark

Write-up:
A character as old as Reimu, Touhou's first recurring boss, the first boss to have a clearly-defined flunky, and one of the first to subsequently become a playable character. A character who appeared in four of the five PC-98 games before vanishing in the transition to the Windows series. If a Touhou fan remembers only one of the PC-98 characters, it's Mima.

Mima is some matter of ancient evil spirit, though she'll deny being dead and can become upset if you call her "evil." First encountered in Hell during Highly Responsive to Prayers, Mima returns as the major baddie of Story of Eastern Wonderland out to get revenge on humanity for some unexplained slight. After her evil plan is foiled, Mima settles for hanging out at the Hakurei Shrine and making fun of Reimu, beginning a proud tradition for future foes to follow. She battles over the right to enter the "ruins" of Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream like the rest of the cast, and rides out during Mystic Square to put an end to the demonic incursion from Makai because she already called dibs on the human world.

She has some sort of history with the Hakurei Shrine; Mima knows a great deal about how Reimu's Yin-Yang Orbs work, and indeed intended to use their power for herself in SoEW, while her profiles even go so far as to describe her as "like the deity (evil deity) of the Shrine by now." She's also widely regarded as Marisa's magical mentor, in that Mima scolds Marisa to train harder in PoDD, the witch used variants of Mima's attacks in her first appearance, and on top of that Mima is one of the few characters Marisa has addressed respectfully. But a combination of ghostly amnesia and compulsive lying makes determining more about this evil-ish spirit difficult.

Fanworks abound that attempt to explain where Mima went and what would happen if she returned, and her enduring popularity has led to the fanonical power boost seen above. A faction of diehards holds out hope that the next Touhou game will herald Mima's triumphant return, even after thirteen disappointments.

Relationships:

• Reimu Hakurei (neighbor, frenemy?)
• Marisa Kirisame (minion, student?)
• Shinki (strangely nervous at the thought of intruding upon her turf)
• Soga no Tojiko (a fellow fog-footed ghost in a green dress who caught a lot of flack for not being Mima)

Alternate Character Interpretations
"Grand Non-Unified Mima Theories"
by Horselesshorseman

"A Link to Her Past"
by Tacitus

"The Ghost of Gensokyo Past"
by Antimatter 625

edited 13th Jun '13 9:43:33 PM by Tacitus

Now here is an underappreciated gem from the PC-98 era. Or the opposite of that I guess.

Already with the Mimas? OK, sure.

Mima is a evil spirit who denies being dead, and seems to flip flop on if she is OK with being considered evil. She has an unknown connection to the Hakurei Shrine (one that even she might have forgotten) and has designs on the human world, though after being beat up by Reimu a second time, these evil schemes became more "evil daydreams" and her last two appearances have her as a incident resolver, even if one for selfish reasons.

Marisa is her minion, and the respectful way Marisa refers to her and how Marisa used (and still uses, if I recall) some of her attacks brings the idea of a "master and apprentice" style relationship. I can kinda see why a rebellious runaway would latch on the supercool magic using ghost who wants to destroy the world.

So who is Mima? Why was she in Hell? Why did she want to wipe out humanity? What is her exact relation to Marisa? What is her connection to the Hakurei Shrine? Where did she go? The world may never know, as she hasn't appeared since Mystic Square.

Mima has been alluded to at least twice in the Windows era: the first I learned of is on the cover of one of Akyuu's Untouched Scores, but what that means, if anything, is dubious. More recently, I learned that apparently Reimu comments on the time a evil spirit took over her shrine in Curiosities of Lost Asia.

As for Mima as a character...yeah, I can kinda get why she was cut. Reading over her dialouge over her three appearances, I don't think it was so much that she was redundant with Marisa as it was that ZUN didn't really know what to do with her. To me at least, while not irreconcilable, Mima's three voiced appearances have somewhat noticeable personality differences. She is a fairly standard "destroy the world evil overlord" type in SoEW, more snarky and arrogant than anything in PoDD, and a consummate liar in Mystic Square (people often say that lying regularly is her main thing, but she really only does it in Mystic Square). So yeah. I have trouble grasping Mima as a character because...her character was never all that consistent.

She has a nice design at least, and can apparently make her ghost feets into normal feets if she feels like it.

EDIT: I wrote more than I thought I would. Sorry.

edited 6th Jun '13 2:25:19 PM by Otherarrow

Mima already? Has the conversation died down that far?

Of Note

Mima has various magical abilities. She may be a spirit, but she is still a highly adept mage. Her magic is more powerful at night.

Mima is called a vengeful spirit, but she's most accurately an "Akuryou" as opposed to Tojiko who is an "Onryou." I don't know the distinction, but I thought I should bring it up.

She was sealed within the shrine, but with her power she can break the seal easily. This is one of the many reasons that fans expect her to make a return.

Mima is described as having a deity-like existance at the Shrine. Some fans speculate she is the Shrine's deity, and use this to justify her return. Mima's long sealing in the shrine has lead her to know many of its secrets.

Mima has a close, if undefined, relationship with Marisa. Mima is the first person that Marisa spoke to respectfully in canon, although this is PC-98 dialogue. In addition, Mima scolds Marisa to train harder. Thirdly, Marisa has recently become capable of using several of Mima's signature techniques, such as "Orreries Sun." Some fans speculate that this undefined relationship will bring Mima back into the series.

Like Yukari, she doesn't store long term memories. This seems to lead to her "human-ish, not human" appearance.

Music

Mima's a big name so she gets the old format. Let's begin, shall we:

Angel's Legend: Alright, get hype... oh not again... this is a shared theme. What did I post last time? Hmm... looks like I postponed it for Mima... how thoughtful. Well, it's repetitive, but like I said before it's upbeat and powerful. This is Mima's first showing and even without any clear story you know she means business. I mean, she shares her theme with a giant swarm of eyes. She's clearly up there in the danger zone.

Complete Darkness: Mima's up to no good this time! She's the villain and she knows how your weapons work. Genji's telling you to run; you can't beat her this time, but you can't deny the fight, why? Because the music is too epic to surrender! There is only victory! Once again, SOEW seems like a Reimu story, but Mima really seems to be Stealth Mentoring her. It makes sense though. Who was Mima's true student? Marisa. Who's Marisa's friend? ...Okay, everyone is an acceptable answer, but I was aiming for Reimu. Both hang out at the shrine and jump on incidents with mild acceptance. Sure, Marisa's a bit more outgoing, but at the end of the day she and Reimu subscribe to the same school of heroism. Perhaps that school was Mima's?

Reincarnation: Yo, sit down, because I'm about to drop some truths on y'all. Now calm down, I'm just keeping it real. Complete Darkness was pretty good, but Reincarnation is the best Mima theme of all time. Drop the mike! This is just too good, it can't even get any better. Oh wait, yeah it can! 'Cause ZUN remixed that song, made it better. Take in that new song sound, because you've heard it before, and it's still just like Christmas. WHAT AM I EVEN SAYING!? DOES IT MATTER!?

Overview

So, there's a lot of theories about Mima, because we haven't seen her for a while and everyone want to figure out how she can come back, or why she hasn't. So, I'm going to just go through the theories here for fun. Not my usual method, but hey... we all know who Mima is!

Mima has Possessed Marisa: The least likely theory in my opinion. Sure Marisa has gained a lot of Mima's mannerisms and attacks, but by that logic she'd potentially be possessed by Patchouli or Yuuka, too. To be honest, this may have actually been a throwaway joke, but I'm including it because it's not completely insane, just mostly. Marisa grew up around Mima, it's hard to imagine her not adopting her mannerisms.

Mima is Marisa's Mother: This one is harder to argue. I don't believe in it, but there's little evidence to the contrary, not that that gives it any points in the other direction, mind you. Rinnosuke makes no mention of Marisa's mother, just her father, who sounds like he wasn't a fan of Marisa running off to study magic in the woods. This may be because of some magic related death of the mother, but more likely it's that humans in Gensokyo aren't fans of things that aren't completely human. It's also not known how long Mima has been sealed in the shrine when she makes her first escape, but we know that she's been there for "quite a long time." I can't imagine how the time frame for this theory would play out. However, I can see Mima as a surrogate mother if something did happen to Marisa's mom.

Mima is the Hakurei Shrine's Deity: This is an interesting one. Mima refers to herself in private as just a ghost, so during the tenure of PC-98 she's certainly not a god, but she's explicitly called a "quasi-deity." In Mystic Square, Shinki makes Mima question just how one would become a god, though she pauses and says it's probably best to remain a ghost. Kanako has shown us that gods can claim the territory of another god, so it's plausible that if Mima changed her mind she could take over. We also now know that the Hakurei Deity's Blessing aids in the extermination of Youkai. Sounds like something Mima could grant.

Mima is Marisa's Teacher: This one is everything but confirmed. It's clear that Marisa will at least take orders from Mima, though I can't explain the change in hair color after she became a playable character. Still Marisa clearly at least wants to emulate Mima, at least in magical skills if not personality.

So there we have them, the "Grand Non-Unified Mima Theories."

edited 6th Jun '13 3:34:05 PM by Horselesshorseman

Oh yeah, I do agree that Mima being in a mentor sort of role to Marisa is more or less confirmed, at least in my mind, especially concerning their interaction in PoDD.

Morality Pet back in her "destroy the world" days maybe?

edited 6th Jun '13 3:34:17 PM by Otherarrow

Mima has the power to the extent of "x happens, fans take this as a sign that Mima will be back in the next game."

edited 6th Jun '13 3:42:01 PM by Bocaj

I thought her ability was "power to the extent of turning her ghost feet into normal feet"

There is a reason she doesn't mention it.

edited 6th Jun '13 3:43:59 PM by Otherarrow

It's my firm belief that if Mima does return to the canon, watch out for the slew of doujins having Marisa be all conflicted about fighting her. It'll probably go something like: Mima wants to kill Reimu. She orders Marisa to help. Marisa has a bizarre BSOD with flashbacks. Take your pick of ending.

edited 6th Jun '13 4:04:14 PM by WestTxTapper

I don't think that ZUN would go for such a plot, at least not seriously.

West isn't saying that ZUN would make that plot, but rather that doujin artists would make it after Mima's return.

If Mima made a return some banter would get thrown around, she'd get her head staved in with a yin yang orb/melted with a master spark and then she'd attend a party with everyone else.

Her absence would get at most a "remember me?" "No." " :( " or "haven't seen you in a while" as acknowledgement.

I'd love to see ZUN just to throw Mima into the background of a bad ending with no explanation.

See how long it takes for people to realize she was there.

edited 6th Jun '13 4:24:40 PM by Horselesshorseman

Whops. I should have read again, my eyes are heavy...

edited 6th Jun '13 4:24:48 PM by RN452

Clearly, if Mima returns, she will be as a playable character, and thus there is no need to acknowledge her absence because (more likely than no) no returning characters will be featured as bosses.

The only nod will be in her ending, where she will comment about going on vacation and losing track of time.

Losing track of time will be her new gimmick btw. (Going back to my earlier complaint about her not really having consistent personality traits)

When Mima comes back, it'll be as a very-much-alive magician.

It turns out she just resurrected herself off-screen while Reimu wasn't looking.

Also she might be one of those unusually-difficult stage 2 or 3 bosses.

edited 6th Jun '13 5:10:25 PM by Leylite

"You always had trouble defeating me, Reimu!"
"Years ago, I did. These days I spank gods and oni. Have you even gotten any stronger?"
"Level 2 boss? What the hell!?"

Mima can't make a return, that's her thing, not appearing. It's like Asagi from Nippon Ichi's works, if she ever got her own game she'd lose what makes her special. Wouldn't mind seeing her in some non-game work though, just because.

About Mima herself. I theorise that she died as a human during the transition from old hell to new hell. Everything was really busy and off shedule so she just walked out of the front door before getting judged.

She became a ghost because she died but never really left this plane of existance so can switch between corporeal and incorporeal forms at will. She was a magician, but not a powerful one, her power only really got going when she settled down to study for several centuries and made mortal enemies of the Hakurei.

Everyone knows you can't have awesome powers develope if you don't have a mortal enemy or two, particularly if you aren't.

She was found in "New Hell", not Old Hell though.

Also, Asagi's non-main character status is a running gag in-universe. Mima's absence hasn't really been noted.

edited 6th Jun '13 6:09:56 PM by Otherarrow