The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I'm not sure if it's neccesarily incompetent. That said, they do apparently have budget and money problems.

It's not infallible, which, as these things go, is less competent than we've been led to expect from the forces that make our afterlife run?

Now I'm seeing Shinki trying to organize some sort of work visa program to attract talent from foreign mythologies but facing resistance from protectionists and xenophobes who want to make Makai great again.

Anyway, good angel(?) talk. Coming up will be Mugetsu and Gengetsu, followed by Keine, and then the Crocodile Dundee to Sakuya's nameless mugger. But first, please watch your step and check your seat before sitting down, you don't want to squash

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna

Appearance:

Stage: The Small One's Great Ambition ~ Little Princess
BGM: "The Exaggerated Castle Keep"^note The stage 6 theme. This song feels like you're being rushed. Together with the last boss after this and the ending themes, there are 3 songs with the same melody. Since I tried doing that this time around, it gives them all a sense of togetherness.
Theme: "Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess"^note Shinmyoumaru Sukuna's theme. I made it a cool song fit for a small body. It's not very heavy, but since it is a last boss, I gave it a nice expansion, and I think it feels good as a result. Huh? She's not small? Well, then please beat the game
See also: "Magical Power of the Mallet"^note The ending theme. I tried adding in parts of the last boss theme to the end. Doesn't the it turn into different impressions for each?

Spellcard Motif: One Bonk Makes You Large, The Other Makes You Small
Spellcards: DDC, ISC, ULiL
Small Bullet "Kobito's Thorny Path," Mallet "Grow Bigger!" Bewitched Sword "Shining Needle Sword," Mallet "You Grow Bigger!" "Attack on Dwarf," "Hop-o'-My-Thumb Seven," "The Seven Issun-Boushis," "Inchlings' Hell," Shining Needle "Oni-Slaying, Eye-Stabbing Needle," Mallet "Lavish Banquet of Legend," Inchling "One-Inch Samurai with a Half-Inch Soul," Fishing Sign "Adorable Tai Gong Wang," "Grow Bigger, Oh Green Giant!", Big Catch "Midair Giant Rotation Fishing Method," "Country of Illusion, Blefuscu"

Write-up:
An itty-bitty princess. Shinmyoumaru is descended from a tiny hero of legend who defeated an oni, used its treasure to make himself larger, and married into royalty. Later members of this bloodline lacked his wisdom, however, and after recklessly abusing the Miracle Mallet, they wound up banished to the land of the oni. The Miracle Mallet was forgotten until Seija Kijin found it and convinced Shinmyoumaru to use its powers to start a revolution, without telling the inchling of the price the Mallet would demand.

Shinmyoumaru is somewhat naive, in other words - after all, she trusted a youkai known to be a pathological liar. She also has a complex about her height, and will use the Miracle Mallet (or any other magical artifact) to grow from thumb-high to child-sized. But other than that time she was manipulated into plunging Gensokyo into social upheaval and making the Incident-resolving protagonists even more violent than usual through their possessed weapons, Shinmyoumaru's mostly harmless. Maybe even less harmless than most Gensokyans, in fact, since she had to be put into protective custody in a bird cage after returning to her inchling size.

Relationships:

• Seija Kijin (former co-conspirator)
• Reimu Hakurei (former landlady)

edited 10th Jul '16 11:37:06 AM by Tacitus

Shinmyoumaru is an interesting antagonist in that she was tricked by Seija and she is the last boss as opposed to a stage five boss.

I'm not sure how much credit Shinmyoumaru deserves for that, or if we should say that it was Seija who turned the convention of the Stage 5 boss being subordinate to the Stage 6 boss on its head.

My big question about Sukuna concerns her family backstory - her profile says they were banished to the "world of the oni" when they abused the Mallet, okay. So where is that? The wiki seems to think this explains how the Shining Needle Castle wound up in Gensokyo, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to call all of Gensokyo oni country. So was the Castle sent to the Underground, where the oni wound up after leaving Gensokyo? Or is the "world of the oni" someplace else entirely, like their own private Makai?

The world of oni is someplace else entirely. Satori lists it alongside the outside world and makai as places spatially removed from Gensokyo, when she's explaining things to Koishi in her ULiL ending.

Er... pretty sure on that anyway.

edited 11th Jul '16 8:14:53 PM by Clarste

It might be referring to the "Hell of oni" that Eiki is associated with, and/or Former Hell. Though it could just as easily be somewhere completely unrelated.

Well, any possibility opens up further questions. If the oni have their own "world" distinct from Gensokyo, the Former Hell and Current Hell, why didn't they all relocate their instead of heading underground? And wherever it wound up, how did the Shining Needle Castle get to Gensokyo from there? Wait, it was probably the power of the Mallet, never mind.

At any rate, it probably wasn't fun to be an inchling. At best you're trapped underground with a bunch of particularly hated youkai all higher than you on the food chain, or else you're in a dimension run by some of the strongest, most brutal youkai out there, or you're literally in Hell. Small wonder Seija was able to win Sukuna over with talk about standing up for the little guy.

Shinmyoumaru was a desperate inchling who was looking for away out of her bitter hell and Seija used that so that she could get her hands on the mallet. The world of Oni is a very frightening place for anyone when you consider their reputation and strength.

She's an interesting contrast to other "final boss" characters who came before her, I think. First there was Byakuren, whose accompanying "incident" wasn't anything dangerous, and her goals sounded noble but end up raising lots of moral issues the longer you look at them. Then there was Miko, whose debut once again didn't threaten anybody, and she never planned to bring harm to Gensokyo, but her ends and means were both pretty iffy. And then Sukuna shows up with this selfless, noble goal to save the weak from the depredations of the strong, and she's the one who causes chaos and ends up negatively influencing the heroines' behavior, all because she made the spectacularly bad decision of trusting someone she should not have.

It's like, she's really sympathetic up until the point she tries to make things better, while the others are bringing order and understanding and other positive stuff in a self-serving manner. So is this commentary on the dangers of altruism and trying to transform the world, or what? Something Objectivist about self-interest being the only goal worth working toward?

Also, she's really small, like, tiny. I think the technical term for her is "smol."

Or perhaps it is a commentary on careless altruism? Sukuna is noble but she is also very careless who fell into something that she could get out of.

It seems more to me that it's a jab at people getting really into and crusading a cause they ill understand and can only argue for by parroting what others have said.

That makes some sense.

I mean, at least she had a plan - use the mallet to empower a bunch of C-list youkai and create some tsukumogami to bolster her ranks - but what exactly was her next step after "overthrow society?" Establish some sort of small-fry government? Declare herself a little empress? Did she even know the Mallet's effects were temporary? And could she even control all the youkai she was affecting?

I guess that's the other big difference between Sukuna and the previous two bosses. Byakuren has a path to follow toward her goal of human-youkai harmony, even if she's blind to her missteps along the way, and Miko has already achieved part of what she wanted, and is able to adapt to the situation she's found herself in. Shinmyoumaru's just a kid getting in over her head, who only got as far as she did because someone else wanted to see the chaos that ensued. We can only hope she's learned something from this so she doesn't end up causing another Incident in the future.

edited 15th Jul '16 8:45:54 PM by Tacitus

Shinmyoumaru is a kid who just got her hands in a situation that she had no control over.

Well, she always could have chosen not to cause an Incident, but yeah, once it started she probably had no way of stopping it, or affecting its outcome... and between that and the fact that she was being played, I'm starting to see some similarities to the villain of the next Touhou game.

Still, things are probably looking up for the little one. She's out of oniopolis, if nothing else, and Sukuna seems to have wised up to Seija's tricks. As per usual, Sukuna made a friend out of Reimu, so that's a powerful ally at her back. She's distinct from other characters in that she doesn't have a role to fall into, but that means Sukuna can try and make her own way in the wider, larger world. And maybe contact with other people will help her mature-

Or not.

Just wondering - is there anything in ULiL that would suggest that Sukuna and Mokou became buddies at the end of it? I stumbled upon a few pieces of fanart of the two and was wondering if there was a reason for it. I can't find anything when I read through the scripts, but maybe I missed something.

I wonder about the same thing as well.

I don't think they ever even meet in ULiL, versus mode aside.

It might just be the amusing contrast between this aloof, hardened, fire-flinging, badass tomboy and a naive little shrimp. Like playing Cirno off Mokou, just without the added fire-ice elements.

Anyway, picdump. Kinda nice to do one on a character who doesn't get a lot of cheesecake, which isn't to say that some artists haven't come up with inappropriate uses of the Miracle Mallet's potential.

Perhaps her most iconic image, thanks to YouTube
As tall as a flower
As short as a mushroom
Only thing cuter than one Shinmyoumaru...
...Is seven of her
Lit from the side
Good detail on her robes
Dual-wielding
Nice eyes
The power of the Mallet
By a waterfall
Looks like one piece of a pair of scissors
Proper princess hair
Sukuna age progression
Dizmathik usually offers a distinct take on a character
As does Koto Inari
Terajin's take on her remains my favorite
Also, river salamanders
It's adorable until you realize that to her they're the size of velociraptors
She is not a topping
When even a minnow is a big catch
Not like they make canteens her size
Row your bowl
You can fly, though
Little infiltrator
She'd be a terrifying assassin
Slayer of fruit
Never try to eat something bigger than your head
Just think of the diabetes
Death by chocolate
Knight of doge
When you're not in a hurry
Battle hamster
On the attack (animated)
Little warrior
It's that lower lip that sells this one
Maybe Mokou's rubbing off on her
"You want me to put the Mallet down?!"
It's like a little claymore
It's how you wield it
Tiny but fierce
She's seen things, man
I'd wish for the same thing if I were her
Have to hope she doesn't sneeze
Attack on lunch (animated)
Found a friend her size
Found a friend not her size
Little storyteller, tall tales
It probably isn't mockery
Sincerest form of flattery
Just don't overcook her
I'd love to see them meet in canon
Youmu can finally be someone's "cool big sis"
You're supposed to wait until they die, Orin
Much better
We all knew this was coming
You'd think the Mallet wouldn't work on one of its own
At least one of them is hamming it up
Tiny portions of liquor
The picture says a lot
A powerful scene
Deku leafin'
Autumn's bounty
Winter's warmth
And Sagume too, why not
Wait, that's not a needle
Game over (animated)
Victory
The horrible aftermath
Depends who you ask, as always
Another goodie from Giselebon
The manga comes to life (animated)
"It must be an effect of the Mallet" (animated)
It's like an obstacle course for her (animated)
Like most sleight of hand, the secret involves a midget
If you haven't caught on yet, this comic is pretty good
Goddammit
She's just along for the ride
Making friends
Making enemies
Teaming up with yourself
You're filled with a small amount of determination
I kind of want a human-sized one now

Hmm, so how ironic is it that the picdump for the smallest character in the series still wound up with 89 items?

edited 18th Jul '16 9:52:40 PM by Tacitus

Sukuna is a rather small human, I wonder if she is similar to the titular Borrowers from novel and film?

The strongest pipsqueak ever. Her counterattack shall be desperate and brutal!

Collected Power
Weakest to Strongest
Loud-Soft Offense
Spirited Defiance
The Cornered Fights Back
Kobito at Rest
Rise of the Dominated
The Strength of Weakness

The inchlings forgot the knowledge and the wisdom of their ancestors because they are so short-lived. I wonder whether they're as short-lived as humans.

Indeed. The Inchlings live short lifespans and the wisdom of their ancestors got lost over time but we humans are similar are we? Sukuna wanted to find a way out of her hell but lacked the wisdom to use the mallet and she got manipulated by Seija.

I'm not sure if they ought to live shorter are longer based on their size, but I have a feeling the inchlings' life expectancy is less than ours. Just the deaths to housecats alone, geez...

Possibly? Scavenging what you need to survive and remaining unseen while doing so might be a good strategy in the world of the oni even if you're not an inchling.

The Strength of Weakness

Oooh, another channel to explore. This guy's remixes seem a bit loose at times, but I do love me some good bombast. A good find - this will tide me over until Tutti Sound and/or WAVE get around to covering "Little Princess."

On the subject of music, Sukuna's theme is just amazing, easily in my top five. It's a lot like Mokou's in that you can hear it tell her story - the danger and tension, the hope that turns to desperation, and a short-lived triumph. You can also say it feels more heroic and powerful than the character who goes with it, which seems appropriate for a young idealist misusing a powerful artifact.

That might just be their youkai "hook", the thing they have to do to keep from going poof in a puff of logic, in the form of stealing food from unwitting humans or youkai.