The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

While the regular player characters and the youkai know what the purpose of Gensokyo is, which is some sort of youkai protection zone, the humans of the village seem oblivious of this fact. And even if they know, they don't seem to know the Clap Your Hands If You Believe nature of the youkai. As evidenced by that one Forbidden Scrollery chapter where Akyuu told Kosuzu something along the lines of "conflict between human and youkai is fundamental to Gensokyo's existence", but refused to elaborate further.

That kind of contradicts earlier entries in P Mi SS though, where it was mentioned Ran and Yuuka can stroll around buying tofu and flowers respectively in the village. Maybe it's just because they're so freaking powerful the humans choose to just leave them alone.

I'm pretty sure most youkai don't know how it works either. It seems to be something that only particularly educated people are aware of, human or otherwise.

Neiter Ran nor Yuuka's eyewitness account in PMISS implied it was a regular thing. In fact, in both cases the shopkeepers seemed surprised and a bit confused. Probably too shocked that it was happening to do anything about it. They probably came running to Akyuu afterward, to complain.

Also I did mention that it's unclear how effective their policies are. It's one thing to say youkai aren't allowed, and it's another to enforce it. From what we've seen in FS, humans mostly seem too terrified of them to do anything but call for a specialist.

edited 23rd Oct '14 12:16:51 AM by Clarste

The human village is a village of humans.

The primary human settlement, they don't take kindly to youkai walking on their turf. On one hand, rude, but on the other, outside the village youkai eat humans so...I can see why they'd be uneasy.

The Human Village is officially leaderless, but has Keine as its guardian and the Hiedas as the "rich family who has the most power and influence". They also have a secret cult of crazies who want to be rid of all youkai. The scamps.

Despite the (needed?) unease between the two races, youkai come into the human village to shop and drink and such, but it's not so much peaceful coexistance as it is the youkai either not revealing or drawing attention to the fact that they are a youkai (such as Sekibanki), or just being so dang powerful that no one dares question them (to their face anyway).

Or everyone being distracted by religious figures and masks beating the shit out of each other, as in the case of "the one time Suika and Yuugi came to visit". That isn't a normal occurrence.

The human village is probably the primary safe haven for whatever poor fool wandered into Gensoukyou, given that they aren't eaten before they get there.

Uneasy coexistence based largely on people liking money.

A decent summation of civilization, that.

Maybe it's not so much the threat of danger but the intrusion? Like "your kind has all of Gensokyo to run around in, why do you have to come into the one part of it that's ours?"

Hmm, might be able to bring in the racial dynamics of ghettos and slums if one wanted, but that's depressing. Ignore this and the previous sentence.

Interesting. But sensible. The humans need to be ignorant about their importance so they won't abuse their critical status and turn their dealings with youkai into "you can't afford to oppose me, so do as I say." And the youkai need to be ignorant lest they abandon their antagonism towards humans and therefore stop being youkai. The leaders of both communities need to be in on the secret, and subtly direct their people to avoid a mutually-disastrous confrontation, or the exposure of the truth.

If only the village had a proper newspaper, they could write Letters to the Editor instead of waiting for their complaints to appear in the Chronicles.

I always wondered about this, exactly who was in charge there. Obviously the settlement has little use for foreign policy, and the farmers and craftsmen shouldn't require much direction, so the most organized entity could be the security force.

Ladies who can bench-press mountains get to drink wherever they damn well please.

Though it is interesting that Yuugi came up for that... we might need to revisit this later.

Its kind of funny that Akyuu and family are default in charge-ish but she cheerfully moderated a debate where Miko claimed that the village totally needed Miko-shaped leadership.

Only to be expected. Poor Miko comes from a time when emperors had more than purely symbolic authority, while Akyuu's a bit more world-wise. This attitude may be why the village never saw the need for an official head of government.

Also, where is it that the Hiedas are said to be in de facto command of the village? I was quite surprised to hear it mentioned elsewhere.

I think its that the villagers keep going to Akyuu whenever there's a problem.

Funny you should say that, given that Miko herself ruled as regent for a authority-less Empress. Because, well, Prince Shoutoku took over. Prince Shoutoku is actually first on a big list I once saw of "people who ruled instead of the Emperor". So it's all her fault, basically.

Also, prior to Prince Shotouku the country wasn't even politically united , so the Emperor was more like the pope than a king. You respect the divine authority of Amaterasu, but local matters were left to local rulers and local gods.

edited 25th Oct '14 4:55:56 AM by Clarste

Like the Mononobe and other clans. And as for gods I suppose Suwako and Kanako count.

edited 25th Oct '14 5:04:59 AM by joergenjetsam

I'm pretty sure I'm the only fool to consider PC-98 as official.

In other words, Rikako's lab's there, just on a rarely traveled road, so most villagers won't even know what she's cooking. And Kotohime's family's one of the prestigious clans of the village. As influential as the Hieda Clan? Not even close. More on those two when it's their time under the sun.

The Human Village

The Human Village has been very slowly more and more defined. We've seen the temple school in action, we've seen some more attitudes of the villagers and we've seen more of how youkai are viewed there.

Akyuu does seem to be the de facto leader, as has been mentioned; which puts Reimu's interrupting of SOPM in a slightly different light. Perhaps the villagers were worried for Akyuu's safety, or perhaps they totally would have asked Akyuu to break it up first if she hadn't been the culprit to begin with (Say, if Keine were hosting instead). Whichever it is, I don't think Reimu is on most people's speed-dial.

It seems that youkai aren't welcome, but if they can disguise their nature, then there's no trouble. Sekibanki lived there, Udonge sells stuff there, and Mamizou makes visits on occasion, and none of them really cause a stir because they aren't noticeably youkai while there.

I think there's a sort of don't ask don't tell vibe. Villagers know that anyone they walk across might be a Tanuki or something instead, but it's kinda rude to accuse someone of being a youkai, so unless they show themselves to be (which they shouldn't!) no one's the wiser. Especially since if you do accuse someone of being a youkai, and they are, then you just put your neck on the line in hoping they don't make you mysteriously disappear.

I suspect "Mysterious Circumstances" is a fairly common cause of death.

In stage 2 of DDC we also see a bit more of the Human Village. Very little more but it does show that there's a Canal or something like that, and also it seems to have paved roads/sidewalks/whatever. And they seem to like hanging gardens or something, too.

I still wonder if all the humans of the village get some sort of special power once they get around a certain age. 100% of the named humans so far seem to have it (Kosuzu has her reading, Keine has concealing history, Akyuu has eidetic memory, and Unshou has super-fish-dipomacy.) I suspect most of them are wonderful abilities like "Power to the extent of knowing when planting season starts", but hey, that sort of thing is pretty darn handy.

I feel I should remind folks of the Kappa's weather-prediction Statue in town, even though it's not terribly relevent. I suppose it's a good example of daily interaction with the 'supernatural', and the important part of village life that it is.

Apparently a few outsiders stay in Gensokyo after getting spirited away (Akyuu might just be referring to Sanae, here? I can't recall). That... whew. It's a huge sacrifice. Say goodbye to running water (electricity is kinda-almost around, though) and other modern conveniences. Still, I could see some less city-oriented folk being inclined to live in this interesting new world or finding true love there and refusing to leave, despite the risks.

The latter is how I imagine the Human village keeps inbreeding relatively low. Even a bit of new blood here and there from an outsider does wonders for increasing the viability of a smaller population.

Speaking of population, I'm still thinking maybe 1000 or so humans maximum live in Gensokyo. It's perhaps a village, still, but a large-ish one, and it seems to cover a fair amount of space.

See, I figure, the population needs to be big enough that the first assumption on meeting someone new isn't immediately "That's a youkai in disguise". But it's not too much bigger, since there's just not enough room for many more people; Gensokyo has been described as a small valley, and the village is rather spread out.

edited 25th Oct '14 5:07:55 PM by Antimatter625

Something to keep in mind is that Reisen was posing as a traveling merchant. Given that there's only one Human Village, all travelers are automatically youkai or gods. Anyone who bought anything from her had to have known she was a youkai, they just pretended they didn't.

Hmm. I like the idea of daring caravans making the rounds to all the hermits and magicians and whatnot who don't live in the village proper, but given the ubiquity of flight it probably isn't much trouble for them to do their shopping.

Though how does someone like Alice or Marisa get furniture and stuff? Do the local stores make deliveries? Well, Alice probably has a squad of dolls haul stuff home for her... awww, that's a cute mental image.

Oh. 'kay... well, I can think of two ways to rationalize this. First is that the people figure the Hieda have a hotline to someone able to take care of youkai problems, so either household soldiers or youkai exterminators like Reimu (even if they don't know her by name). Second is that Akyuu's got a reputation as the village sage, so she'll tell them what to do the next time Yuuka comes to the flower shop. Downside is, that option greatly improves the odds that Akyuu will be imprisoned within a crystal at some point.

You know what the tragic thing is? My Japanese History textbook is literally within arm's reach from my chair, so it would've been really easy to take a moment to double-check, make sure I hadn't forgotten anything.

Though this may explain why Miko gave up on her leadership role without much fuss.

Oh good heavens no, I was just waiting for a good moment to work the Old Guard into the conversation.

I see Meira as a step between the village's nameless youkau exterminators and a proper protagonist. She can handle threats that nobody else in the village can (with exceptions like Keine), but she doesn't sally forth and try to resolve Incidents (for fear of bumping into Reimu).

I think the prestige of Kotohime's family will probably depend on how many people connect her to it. If they're good at keeping her out of sight, or disavow her actions, they might be part of the upper crust. If not, they're probably the subject of a great deal of gossip.

For Rikako, I'm gonna break with you and stick her out in the woods like the magician she wishes she weren't. She's just a little too weird for the pre-Meiji thing the village has going for it, so it'd be easier for her to get work done without a bunch of people ostracizing her for the labcoat and jetpack. Same with Rika, sadly.

Oh good, a titled interpretation to link up.

Yeah, probably a case where you can either be paranoid about something for the rest of your life or just learn to live with it. Though it might be a good idea for people to set up Trust Passwords with their significant others, just as a precaution. Too many shapeshifters out there.

Tempting to assume that magical powers are common due to the eldritch background radiation within Gensokyo, but having too much of that among the human population runs the risk of promoting them out of "mundane" status, even if the powers are blah.

We could theorize that such powers are what makes the upper class of the village so upper. Though in such a small domain, the traditional power base of land ownership would still be effective.

Hmm. On the one hand, a dispersed population is more vulnerable to attack, but flying opponents of course undermine the effectiveness of a wall, or canals. Really, the village's status as "out of bounds" is its best defense, and so long as structures were understood to be within city limits they ought to be safe. Ish.

I'm much lazier than you, I'm not gonna bother working out how large a population would be necessary for the village to be viable. Just tossing my belief up and letting it hang in the air. Though I do wonder how much youkai blood has been mixed in after several generations spent alongside foxy kitsune and quite human-looking demons...

edited 25th Oct '14 11:33:48 PM by Tacitus

It's possible the humans of Gensokyo don't realize just how isolated they are, in general. Buuut it's more likely they do.

I wonder if there's a Flock of Wolves situation going on. It basically happened in Sado with the Tanuki...

It seems unlikely, though. Given Rinnosuke, I think most half-youkai would be 'outed' in a fairly brief matter of time. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a fair bit of youkai blood that's causing the occasional superpower in people like Kosuzu.

You know I wonder what exactly are heroines relationship with the human villagers?

The villagers don't believe Reimu does anything and distrust her because youkai are always hanging around her shrine but if a bunch of youkai/gods/whatevers are having a secret meeting they'll still ask her to do something about it.

Marisa is probably somewhat more welcome but she is a magician and magicians like to kidnap children and become youkai so they probably don't really trust her either. Plus she's a larcenous sneak thief.

I don't think Marisa's larcenous tendancies are widely known in the village. Recall when she got that karma in the form of a gaping tiger wound? People were all like "Go and be miraculously healed!" and volunteered her to be healed by Unshou. So they either don't know or don't much care that she's a thief. As I recall, Kasen and Reimu were both like "Yeah, you deserve that", but then they also knew exactly where the injury had come from.

And people seem more or less alright with her. Even her Father seems to be at least concerned for her, despite her trying to shut him out of her life entirely.

So I think public opinion of Marisa is that she's a bit eccentric since she lives in monster infested woods. But she's not someone to mess with for that same reason.

Public opinion of Reimu is probably that she's pretty much just a shifty poser or something. The shrine she runs is ingested by her nominal enemies. You know, those youkai she's supposed to defend the city against? She takes credit for a bunch of things but never seems to do anything apart from start up some gimmick or another.

In contrast, Sanae is probably "that overly preachy miko. She lives on that youkai infested Mountain, so there's pretty good evidence that her gods look out for her like she says, because she sure as hell isn't a hermit and there's no other way anyone could survive up there."

Sakuya is probably "The vampire's maid. She makes shopping runs. Try to accommodate her or Remilia might get upset, and we don't want another vampire incident."

Youmu's probably like "Huh? She's some little kid who comes in every so often to buy things for her mistress, whoever that is. A ghost follows her around for some reason. She's kinda dull."

Aya's "That damned tengu that keeps throwing newspapers through windows." She's not really a 'protagonist' though, huh?

edited 26th Oct '14 5:15:40 PM by Antimatter625

Marisa actually is a Human Villager, at least formerly, so she has pretty close connections to it. She's always the one saying "I heard in the Village that..." or "There's a rumor in the Village that..." so one gets the impression that she spends a lot of time there gossiping. She probably has actual honest-to-goodness friends there, shopkeepers who know her, etc. She grew up there, so it's her "turf" just as much as the forest.

Reimu is a crazy hermit (not the magical kind, the smelly kind) who brags about doing stuff with no evidence. Most of the more recent Incidents are too subtle for the Villagers to have even noticed there was a problem. They don't seem to hate her too much though since they repeatedly fall for hear scheme every other month or so. They're willing to give her a chance, but she just keeps disappointing.

Sanae... probably doesn't visit all that often. Kanako's plan seems to be to completely ignore the humans and get faith from the kappa for being a god of science. Well, and the tengu but the tengu aren't very cooperative and have no respect for gods. So I doubt Sanae visits very often. She's probably just seen as a polite but naive young lady who doesn't understand how things work.

Youmu is a boring nonentity, but even still I'd imagine she attracts attention if/when she visits. Carrying a sword taller than yourself will do that.

Sakuya comes for regular shopping trips, but at least she's not a youkai. Maybe this is where the "human-looking servants are welcome though" rule came from? "Just be more like Sakuya: she never causes trouble."

Yeah, it's kind of weird - fantastic racism against youkai, but not much backlash against folks with supernatural abilities, so maybe they don't equate magical talents with youkai-ness? And then Keine seems to get a pass since she's human most of the time, and mostly human the rest of the time.

I always figured Marisa as more of a mugger than a burglar, if muggers employed flashbangs and other explosives.

This is interesting, and complements the notion that the village is somewhat spread out. You can "belong" to it, or be considered a regular inhabitant, even if you don't necessary live in close proximity to it. The population presumably gets weirder, less human and more powerful the further you go from the city center.

Hmm. Is Rinnosuke considered a villager? Is his shop considered out of bounds like the rest of the village, or is it assumed that a half youkai is tough enough to take care of himself and is therefore fair game?

Plus, you know, the little ghost thing always trailing along behind or orbiting her. Naughty kids try to shut the door on it when Youmu leaves a shop.

So the problem is that there isn't a "human village" tag in the same way there are tags for places like the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the various shrines, etc. And most art that focuses on Gensokyo's scenery tends to overlook the village of the mundanes. So picdumping was difficult is what I am saying.

View from the mountains
View from the hills
View from the fields
Near the Hakurei Shrine, I guess... wait, that's Alice?
Sketchy street
Don't know about this Sanae, but I like the background
Lanterns and youkai
Akyuu, of course
Hieda on the street
Taoists watch from above
Medicine run with a parrot
We can only speculate on what nefarious scheme brings her here
There's more Suwako stuff like this than you might expect
Tap for Green mana
Pink village
Tall village
Preparing for the night shift
The Komejis visit, but forget some important items
How much faith do you think air conditioning would bring in?
I should've gone with an Akyuu-centric search
Someone is gonna give Akyuu such a complaint
Typical day in the village

edited 29th Oct '14 10:03:07 PM by Tacitus

Well, I don't know. A mugger would be accosting someone in say the street and taking their stuff.

For a good example, look at Reimu and the way she steals books from poor unnamed book reading youkai who are minding their own bookness.

That's a mugging.

Burglary is more like breaking into someone's home and stealing their stuff which seems more like Marisa to me.◊ See also, her trying to sneak into Kasen's home and steal her shit only to get mauled by a tiger and unfortunately healed later. Or when she tried to sneak into the Moriya Shrine and steal their shit.

Of course, she's not above armed robbery either.

Burglary is illegally entering a home with intent to commit a crime. It has to be a home, and not a warehouse or library or whatever, because the whole point making it a separate crime is that it inherently provokes a violent conflict with the residents. You could consider it halfway between armed robbery and larceny.

So all those examples are basically burglary since people live in those places.

edited 30th Oct '14 10:33:29 AM by Bocaj

Well, yeah, but the point is that it's considered a pseudo-violent crime. Unlike, I dunno, embezzling.