Dignity?
Okay, fanart isn't really the best source of information, but I can't really recall a single picture where "dignity" really describes her.
Really? She definitely has her dignity in HM. She has this swagger, of sorts.
I consider Mamizou to be awesome, personally. She's... how do I put this...
She gives pep talks to youkai she feels need it, she makes Kosuzu supply her with tsukumogami, she spreads pro-tanuki propaganda...
And she gives off this slight Yuakri'esque vibe while doing all this.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Me too, but in the "bored goof-off" sense.
edited 5th Jul '14 12:32:32 PM by Chabal2
Shikaisen of Ancient Japan
Ability: The ability to manipulate feng shui
Threat level: Low
Human friendship level: Unknown
Main place of activity: Human Village, etc.
An ancient human who cursed herself to sleep for a very long time. She is attempting to become an immortal hermit by way of escaping from the cycle of reincarnation through a temporary death. But in actuality, it has not gone that well, and as expected she is being watched by shinigami.
Unlike Toyosatomimi no Miko who also came to live in current times using the same method, she has been unable to adapt to Gensokyo, so it is believed that she is inflexible. The same could be observed in her past. Of the two religions that came from the continent back when she was alive(?), she couldn't adapt to Buddhism. Instead, she clung to Taoism, which was more similar to the ancient faith of Shinto. She continues to practice Taoism to this day, along with supposedly serving Toyosatomimi no Miko. But from the way she looks and acts, it seems like she is still halfheartedly dragging along the ancient remains of her past, unable to let go. On the other hand, it could be said that that's just who she is.
Her power has a token relation to Feng Shui, or so it is saidnote , but because of the similarities in terms of worshiping nature, what she uses is nearly identical to Shinto. It was an ability she acquired before she studied Taoism, and remains unchanged. For that reason, even though it seems antiquated, none of its traditional dignity can be felt either.
Her personality is gentle, but perhaps because her way of thinking has not changed from ancient times, she's completely out of sync with normal people. At least on that point, it can be said that she has the air of a hermit.
Currently, she acts together with Toyosatomimi no Miko, and sometimes she does training by herselfnote .
Shikaisen
The most important task of being a hermit is fighting against the limited human lifespan. This often takes of the form of fights against shinigami, but it is not easy. It can be said that hermits are a race who make continuous efforts to stave off death above and beyond what humans do.
Among them, shikaisen are hermits who try to escape their lifespan by behaving like the dead.
While there are many ways to become a shikaisen, it seems that the method she used was to "completely abandon the body, transfer the soul into a particular object and, when the time comes, the object will take their form while their corpse becomes the object." The object she used is said to have been a plate.note
Since they have already abandoned their body and flesh by the time they resurrect, there is some degree of freedom to the forms they can assume, but it said that most shikaisen will choose to look similar to their old appearances. This is because of their attachment to their appearance, as well as so others can recognize them. For this reason she has her old-fashioned look, while Miko changed to a look more suited to modern times.
Approach
It seems like she simply enjoys strengthening her power by training. She does not appear to have any hostility towards humans, so there should be no need to fear her.
On the other hand, she seems to be hostile against youkai for no real reason. Perhaps due to being unable to adapt to the ways of Gensokyo, she is acting on the memory of when humans were afraid of youkai. Because of this, she is constantly surrounded by conflict.
Although she may save humans from youkai, her interference is unnecessary most of the time, so she is more of a nuisance. It is best to stay away from her.
Futo! Kyaa!
On a more serious note, back in the day, plates were a luxury only afforded by the most rich and powerful in Japan. They had to be imported from Korea or China.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Dreams of Revenge
Huh, interesting!
I've heard of tanuki and kitsune before, but not these. What are they?
Locking you up on radar since '09
Tanuki and Kitsune are the animals.
T He two you quoted are specifically their respective youkai versions.
Thing is, we still use the animal names. Like how we call Tewi and Reisen rabbits reasonably often.
edited 5th Jul '14 2:12:08 PM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
What exactly does manipulate feng shui mean? I only know it as "yuppies pay money to rearrange their furniture".
edited 5th Jul '14 11:23:27 PM by Chabal2
shtyupid fat internets.
you ruinsh it!
edited 5th Jul '14 11:23:18 PM by Chabal2
The implication is that it's what she calls her ability, but that it really just seems to be a mix of Shinto and Taoism. But really, Akyuu doesn't know. So she guesses and assumes, as per usual.
It's pretty much the same as Reisen's manipulation of waves, which gets labelled manipulation of insanity. Even if the insanity part is merely a specific extension of the wave part.
Futo's ability could just as well have been, "ability to do the same stuff as the avatar."
Although, I like the idea of Futo being this insanely skilled interior designer.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Er, miss, about this theme you're going with...
Plates! More plates! PLATES EVERYWHERE!
"I mean your ability isn't really-"
"FENG SHUI, vagabond!"
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
I didn't spend hundreds of years as a plate to be lectured on decorating by a mere mortal! There will be plates on the floor, the walls, upon the ceiling even!
But the walls are made of paper-
PLATES!
Ghost of the Descendant of the Gods
Ability: The ability to cause thunder
Threat level: Very high
Human friendship level: Low
Main place of activity: Unknown
A ghost of an ancient person. As she carries a grudge against humans, her nature is that of a vengeful spirit.
She serves Toyosatomimi no Miko as a vassal along with Mononobe no Futo. However, unlike Futo who became a shikaisen along with Miko, Soga is still a ghost because she seems to have been set up by Futo.
Futo and Tojiko were originally mutual enemies from the struggle over Buddhism. Tojiko's side won in the end, but it seems she had agreed to Futo's appeal to work together in secret. Futo's idea was "We'll let Buddhism rule for now, but after Miko revives as an authority figure, we will both revive as her officers."
She used a jar for her temporary body.note Although she would have preferred it to be something that would not decay for a long time, Futo switched it with an unfired jar. After Tojiko moved her soul into it, it quickly eroded. Having lost any sort of physical body, she became a ghost.
As for why Futo would do such a thing, it is likely because of the grudge she held after the struggle that led to the downfall of her family in the past. While it seems she realized she was tricked immediately after becoming a ghost, she also realized that not having a physical body is actually quite pleasant, and currently it appears that she has resigned to be a ghost.
Her personality is ill-bred, yet tender-hearted. She also has a hot temper. When angered, she literally makes thunder fall, so she is very dangerous.
Ability
Making thunder fall is actually a common ability for vengeful spirits. Vengeful spirits are also clusters of anger, but as being reprimanded is also called "having the thunder strike", anger and thunder have a very close connection.
For small vengeful spirits, they can only make a rumbling sound at most, but as their level of resentment increases they can make crackling sounds, and great vengeful spirits can actually cause thunder.
She seems to be a fairly high class vengeful spirit, as she is able to make thunder fall.
Approach
Vengeful spirits are dangerous beings to both humans and youkai.
The way to deal with her is to do your utmost to never get close to her. If you do come across her, try not to cross her.
Fortunately, her grudge has almost dissipated, and she is turning into an mere thunder-causing ghost. If you take care not to provoke her, there should not be many problems.
Incidentally, as idiots and thunder are said to love high places, thunder strikes high placesnote . If you happen to anger her, you should lower your stance.
Aw yeah! Tojiko, you're amazing.
Also, the "why Futo killed Tojiko" part seems to be pure conjecture. Akyuu likes to use "it seems", but here she used "it is likely", indicating less information to back up the claim.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Wait, so does she only cause thunder as in loud noises, or is there lightning as well?
Considering her attacks in TD, and that she can kill people with it. I'd say there's lightning as well. Thunder is the sound of lightning after all, you can't have it without the other.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Gentlemen. I am here to brag.
I've beat Keine's last word spell. Emperor of the East, more specifically.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
That is a lot of laserdakka.
Here, I uploaded it.
Now, if I could get it on youtube...
Since Japanese language does not draw a strict line between thunder and lightning, I think it's pretty safe to say that she can command both.
Oh and yeah, I'm back from Oslo. I'll get a post up before I leave again, for Spain this time.
And yay, Futo!
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
Right, I've now beaten Eirin's last word, and Sakuya's. Heaven spider's butterfly catching web and Deflation World being the two's names.
Now then. Onwards!
Part IV
The Present and Future of the Hated
Marisa: The underground was terrible. There were no decent youkai, and the environmental conditions were awful, everything from hot to cold to humid. Not to mention everyone trying to kill humans like me. Come to think of it, have any of you ever been down there?
Miko: I've never been underground, but I have seen youkai who appeared to live there.
Byakuren: I went there a few times, checking to see if we had left anything behind in the place where the Flying Vaultnote was sealed.
Kanako: I go there regularly.
Marisa: Yeah, now that you mention it, it was all your fault that I had to go down there to begin with, huh?
Kanako: *chuckle*
Marisa: I hate you.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
@Lem: Great, have fun in Spain.
When in deadly danger, When beset by doubt, Run in little circles, Wave your arms and shout.
Kanako's Opinions on Gensokyo's Problems
Akyuu: Excuse me for interrupting, but it seems the reason Marisa went underground had something to do with Ms. Kanako. Could you please explain that?
Marisa: Whoa, you surprised me. The secretary shouldn't just pipe up like that. Um... why was it again? Because Kanako was rampaging underground?
Kanako: I do not rampage.
Miko: I can easily picture her doing it.
Kanako: What was that? No, excuse me. I was thinking I could use the troublemakers underground for the sake of Gensokyo's future.
Miko: Use?
Kanako: But before I go into more detail, what do you all consider the imminent problem we must solve in Gensokyo?
Byakuren: Hmm... Food supply problems? It's a rather small and confined space, after all....
Miko: Political problems, perhaps? It would quickly collapse in the event of any unrest.
Marisa: The Millennium Problems? They look pretty bad.
Kanako: You're all wrong. It's energy problems. Where do you think the energy we are using now is coming from?
Byakuren: Food and digestion?
Miko: Religion and austerity?
Marisa: Um... uh...note
Kanako: You don't need to think up a joke. Our energy comes from the outside world which is connected by land. Don't you understand? The wind and the rain and the sun are all part of the outside world. Even electricity and fossil fuels: We are currently living on the leftovers of the outside world.
Marisa: Is that how it is? What about the power of magic or spirits?
Kanako: Those are different. We've isolated the things which rely only on human will, so spiritual forces like magical powers can be perfected in Gensokyo alone.
Marisa: Then there's no problem. How is there an energy crisis?
Kanako: Have you never thought about it? Something like "I want to try out one of those mysterious machines from the outside world"?
Marisa: Huh? We can use those in Gensokyo, too?
Kanako: Yes, we can. The tengu and the kappa already do, and that's exactly why we need a kind of energy that is also used in the outside world. While currently we are just using their leftovers, I'm looking forward to when we can create an even more splendid world.
Byakuren: Doesn't that mean we will become exactly like the outside world? Wouldn't that lead to the ruin of Gensokyo?
Kanako: I am not saying this so we can take the same path as them. Rather, because the attitudes in the outside world are starting to change, I am afraid Gensokyo may self-destruct if we ignore this problem.
Miko: Huh?
Kanako: The change in attitude I am referring to is the one from "technological innovation above all" to "environmentalism above all". In the outside world, they are starting to see the use of energy as itself evil.
Miko: In other words, they have started to conserve. How would that impact Gensokyo though?
Kanako: Because people have seen that there is a limit to the supply that was thought to be inexhaustible, many of them have become concerned about wasted energy. Consequently, the leftover energy given to Gensokyo will become reduced. There is even the danger of losing our supply altogether.
Byakuren: I don't know much about the outside world so I don't really understand this topic. How far into the future is this danger you speak of?
Kanako: You could see the change gradually occurring over the past 30-40 years, and it's become more obvious the last 10 years. It's not going to happen overnight, but I think there will be dramatic changes over the next few decades. There is only one option available, and that is developing Gensokyo's independent energy resources. Which is why I went underground.
Uhuh, cause your plans of modernizing Gensokyo have been going so well, Kanako.
edited 8th Jul '14 10:55:23 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
So I visited Alesia (last stand of the Gauls against the Romans, cause of many an archeogeopolitical debate, and originator of a depressing amount of chauvinist propaganda) today. Very cool, especially since they had a demonstration of (supposed) Gaul fighting techniques. It turns out that shields, while protecting your body from blows and thus highly suspect to mighty Khorne, can be weaponized when used correctly, not only via the obvious Shield Bash but also by thrusting it into exposed body parts with a punch (they were heavier at the top than the bottom, allowing them to slide naturally into position like an arm-length pauldron).
Turns out the Gauls pretty much only used swords, used by swinging as opposed to thrusting (I asked, sadly the guy was not able to answer where axes where concerned) and also used testudos (though less effective, as they had rounder shields). The combat demonstration was very interesting, kind of like a Stance System. Basically you had a nob out in front, holding his shield out in front of him and circle his sword around from behind (hence the round edges), and two servants behind him with spears (one a spear and shield, since the basic rule was protecting the left side via shield, in fact the gates had a quarter-circle wall just behind them, forcing invaders to present their unprotected side as they went in), and gave out orders to change positions, turn, fall back, attack, etc.
As far as dakka was concerned, we were informed that a full Roman legion had sixty scorpions, which could put out 250 bolts per minute, going 30 centimeters into a 2 centimeter plank, at 200 meters. Sadly we were not able to see them being demonstrated due to rain, but there was a reconstuction of Roman fortifications which was interesting if wet.
We also visited the castle of an exiled nobleman under Louis XIV (alongside what looked like the most British tourists in existence, including one I swear looked like Esmerelda Weatherwax Maggie Smith). Less interesting in terms of bloodslaughterrage, but I did find this phrase: "In caedes explicat alas", which translates to "In carnage he spreads his wings".
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Ohoh? Really interesting. Thanks for sharing that.
Today was odd. I finished my first week of work, and then I celebrated my boss' birthday at his house...
Interesting to say the least.
Futatsuiwa from Sado
Mamizou Futatsuiwa
◊
Ability: The ability to disguise
Threat level: High
Human friendship level: Very High
Main place of activity: Myouren Temple, Forest of Magic, etc.
She is a very unusual youkai tanuki who came from the outside world. She has a more traditional appearance and ability than the youkai in Gensokyo who have evolved unique characteristics.
She seems to have originally been the chief bake-danuki, and she possesses the appropriate dignity and charisma for such a position, but there is a high possibility that such qualities will cause new sparks here.
There were already many youkai tanuki native to Gensokyo, and as she is a foreign tanuki from the outside, they should be watched carefully to see if she will fit in.
Although her power to disguise things can also be used to transform objects other than herself, she is unable to cause hallucinations, meaning she cannot create an illusion from nothing. No matter the deception, there needs to be a base from where it originated. And even so, if that base is transformed into something that does not resemble it, it will be seen through almost immediately. For example, if she transforms a dog into a bird, it would be quickly exposed because the dog cannot fly. Even if it looks different, its nature cannot be changed greatly.
Also, she usually can't hide her tail when she disguises herself. This is true of all bakedanuki and bakegitsune, but as it is impossible for them to remove their ears and tail completely when disguised, they hide them by shrinking them to an unnoticeable size or changing their color to camouflage them. However, when they're suddenly disturbed or excited, their ears and tail will twitch unintentionally, making their disguise painfully obvious.
This is an unavoidable fact for all beasts who have large tails as a barometer of their youkai power.
In her case, she has never made an effort to hide her tail at all. It can be said that the size of their tail is a sign of their high status as a beast.
She sometimes furrows her brow as if she were far-sighted, and talks in the tone of an elderly woman, so perhaps her form is just a disguise, and she is truly elderly.note
The Mystery of Sado
Sado is a province in the outside world. Its founding dates back to the Heian era (A.D. 794-1185).
It being her old home, she says that Sado is a whole country of bakedanuki, and it seems not a single fox can be found there.
Whether in Gensokyo or the outside world, bakedanuki often mimic humans and blend into their society. In Gensokyo it's usually just to play pranks, but in the outside world there are cases where they themselves forget that they're tanuki and spend their whole lives as humans. It is said that if they lose their tails completely, they can no longer return to their original form of their own will.
In Sado, there are many descendants of tanuki. Tanuki excel at digging up objects buried in the ground, and it is said that because of this their descendants have dug up a gold mine and lived a wealthy life.
While there are many tanuki that become completely humanized, Mamizou seems take pride in living her life as a tanuki to the end.
Approach
She regularly confuses humans. She enjoys watching them when they are flustered or surprised. They have many ways to deceive others with their callous pranks, which are sometimes life-threatening, so she's highly dangerous.
However, since there should be a tail if you look carefully at whatever she transforms into, it would be a good idea to try searching for it when you are suspicious.
Also, while it's easy to expose her during the daytime, it's difficult at night. Because her deceptive powers increase more on nights with a full moon, you should be as careful as possible while walking around on such nights.
I don't know... she had to more or less transform in front of her for Reimu to realize that it was merely Mamizou in disguise.
Also, she's pretty much become chief bake-danuki in Gensokyo, if HM and FS are any indication.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable