The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

[1]

Oh, cool, thanks. So let's see what Reimu has to say to them.

Well, doesn't look like she flies into a rage upon sight of the poverty god, but as for a win quote against Jo'on...

Not sure if Reimu is clueless, or trying to out-scam the god of scams. But at any rate, Shion probably isn't the still-hidden god of the Hakurei Shrine, no matter how much that might explain.

Joon and Shion Yorigami:

A conniving duo said to bring grand misfortune to all who meet them. Joon is a pestilence god who enjoys reckless splurging, while Shion is a poverty god who is dour most of the time. Understandable, given her incredibly bad luck.

I say conniving duo, but really it is Joon who is most conniving. Her charisma must be over the moon, being able to convince her victims to throw their savings away.

Joon lives life in the fast lane, throwing her "hard-earned" cash at anything that catches her eye. Given her quick spending habits, she's the type that ignores saving accounts completely. She also doesn't really value what she purchases with her wad of cash, I bet. ...Hayate would not like her one bit.

Shion's a depressing individual. While hanging out with Tenshi may have brightened her spirits, there's still the fact that her going all-out will hit everyone in the vicinity with misfortune. Herself included. I wonder if Hina could contain Shion's misfortune effectively.

I'm picturing Hina frantically going down a line of Nagashi-bina dolls. pumping misfortune into them, putting them in the river, and moving on as the little boats begin to smoke and smolder. Alice is on hand, working on overdrive to put together dolls to keep up with demand, but it's just too much and the scene ends in an explosion.

Fan artists have had other ideas.

I'm kinda wondering how Jo'on's gimmick is supposed to work in a closed system like Gensoyko. It's not like she can skip town once her scam runs its course, there is only one town. And a limited number of rich people to attach herself to, so what, does she keep track of where her current crush is spending all his money and make plans to move in on that shopkeeper next? Are wealthy singles just not warning each other about the smooth-talking chick in the flashy extra-Border clothes, or has she become an accepted part of society, a way of keeping money in circulation?

From the looks of it, Shion gets about 50% more fanart than her sister, which I attribute to her Woobie status making artists want to depict her getting fed and pampered. The flipside is that a lot of the other fanart is of her flopped on the ground looking pathetic, so maybe it balances out.

Her outfit's so bright she's gotta wear shades
The Napoleon of your bank account
She's one of the loudest characters in the setting even if she's not making any noise
A portrait of sorts
Why am I suddenly craving fast-food hamburgers?
So is there some gold-hoarding entity running around somewhere to balance her out?
Maniacal
Megalomaniacal
Goddess of swag
When you're suddenly hit with the emptiness of your materialist existence
Brass knuckles are for peasants
Specter of the 1980's
Shades of yellow
Stylin' and stylized
Never enough
Sheya does very distinct eyes
I never noticed her toy until I went through all this fanart
Izzat like the evil twin of those good luck kitties?
Like sapphires
Blue Mokou?
Wishful thinking, girl
Wonder if Hina felt something when Shion went all-out like this?
Fan artists like to feed her
That terrible duo
From our favorite Mexican fanartist
Good sisters support their sibling
Nothing sacred
Disco deluge
So are Shion's debt stickers trophies of sorts?
Raving
Ride the purse
Take your treasure where and how you can
Look ready for a spin-off RPG
Fit for a crime drama AU
Discount jewelry
Persona!
Follow that food
Barking up the wrong tree
Like asking someone who ate your lunch to give it back
She has become Player 2
They're both getting a little closer to heaven
Little 'un gets around
Midget's fallen in with a bad crowd
Though Shion seems to be doing alright
Be warned...
...there is a price
The practical fruit-hat
A worthwhile pairing
Team Destitute Vagrant
Heartbreak in the child post
Featuring an undead feline
Game over
Containment protocols
Gyate... or not\\ Old money vs new money
One way to dispose of an income
Every accessory has a story
Maybe it's better she doesn't have any
A tale of loss, conflict, and nonconsensual snuggles
In dreams
Yuyuko has some competition (animated)

As you are caught in these tunes' rapture, you are unaware of the emptying of your wallet. Such misfortune.

Tonight's Star Jam
Stars of Ego
An Elegant Night for Misfortune

Need to combine the first two remixes for the Cheeki Breeki Slam Jam.

I think the song is a duet, if an off-kilter one in that each 'player' isn't confined to a given instrument. The opening somber piano part represents Shion, then Jo'on comes in on the guitars and nudges Shion into the background. Jo'on carries on with trumpets for a good bit, then Shion pipes up with the guitar, and so on - there's a brash performer playing over a darker performer who occasionally takes over and works in harmony with her partner.

Unless of course I'm working backwards and trying to force the music to comply to the characters' relationship.

It seems like either way, you will end up in debt if you are not responsible with your money. There two sisters are proof of that.

Well, Jo'on at least teaches the lesson of being careful around flashy women who show a sudden suspicious interest in you, and not to blow through your finances trying to impress them. But it sounds like Shion just sort of happens to you regardless of your lifestyle, in a best-case scenario subjecting you to a little loss instead of a big one. Not much of a lesson to be learned from that, just a shrug of "things could be worse, you know."

Still want her to be hobo buddies with Mokou.

Mokou needs a buddy...she has no money to spend though.

Mokou has several buddies

There's her life coach Keine, her frenemy Kaguya, and she recently started hanging out with Kfuto due to their shared love of arson

What about Sumireko?

And don't forget that she's on good enough terms with Mamizou to fist bump each other.

If anything, Mokou has many friends.

I'd say we're getting off-track, but the fact is we've run out of tracks to run on. At least I think we've covered everyone, I'd hate to think a character got overlooked...

Honestly, I'm not sure how to wrap things up. We could declare a "talk about any character" period, but that might be better left to the main Touhou thread. Or maybe it would be best to just let this thread drift off the front conversations page.

So, any final, final thoughts, comments, observations, or wry witticisms?

Maybe there should be a gap before the community moves on to the New New New compendium.

I cannot believe that it is over. I don't know if I have anything to add but I really like how it helped to to understand the characters better.

And I can't believe it's been four and a half years since the topic started. That's kind of scary.

But it's good to hear that the thread served its purpose. Even if we didn't always come up with an innovative new take on a character, we at least clarified what some of them were.

I would strongly advise as such, to whoever ends up managing that thread (it won't be me, I've been doing it for too long). The second compendium would be a tough act to follow in any circumstance, but jumping into the third afterward, after so much was said, probably didn't do this thread any favors. A break would provide time for new material to come out about the characters to fuel future discussion, as well as for more people to discover those characters and bring in fresh perspectives on them.

I would also advise a return to the voting system, rather than letting a random number generator dictate the conversation. While that did keep obscure and unpopular characters from languishing on the backburner until the end of the thread, the lack of interactivity may have hurt interest as well. Perhaps a return to the first compendium's tier system would be better? Cycling through major, minor and background characters, letting people vote from each category? Not that I'm sure how to categorize the characters like that.

At any rate, it's been a good run, and a big thanks to everyone who participated. It's strange to think it's over, after so many years, but nothing lasts forever. Except a few of the characters we discussed, of course.

So when do you think the Compendium can have a return, Tacitus? When the next game comes out, I wonder?

We've discussed newly-introduced characters in past threads, and the results tended to be a brief recollection of what little we knew about them from their game profiles and dialogue, seasoned with a lot of speculation. Since the thread's stated purpose is to compile different takes on the characters, looking at them before the fandom had really started doing things with them didn't give us much to work with.

But as I said, I have no intention or interest in managing the next thread, so it isn't my decision when it starts.

Shakes off the dust of this forum So it would be cool if we do this again right? It would be neat, right?

Informality aside, I feel like five years is enough for the general consensus of Touhou interpretations to start feeling new again. We've had four games release since the end of the last thread, and at least 16 new characters to discuss - and that's not counting the development of characters we've previously discussed. And as someone who used to love these threads when I was younger, I'm all for hosting another round of these.

I'd like to hear your suggestions while I start preparing links and stuff, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on something in specific. Should I host this next one cross platform? In my opinion, it'd be interesting to hear what other demographics have to say about these girls.

Five years. My knees.

I'm not sure what you mean by "cross platform." Like, multiple forums at once? Making announcements on them newfangled Discits and Redcords?

Well, whatever works. The Touhou thread proper is fairly sedate these days, mainly announcing new manga releases, and speaking for myself, after three TCAICs I'm just not sure how much I'd have to contribute for a fourth. So for a New New New Compendium to be successful, the more ways to draw in participants and fresh blood, the better.

Maybe calling it the Fourth Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium would be better. Or the Fourth Touhou Alternate Character Interpretation Compendium, to bring it in line with the actual page title.