The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Definitely. She and Reisen are both pretty level-headed.

Funny how one of the most down-to-earth characters is not only from the moon, but induces insanity as her special power.

I enjoy the irony of that as well. Reisen's a fun character. She's also one of my seconds in SWR along with Suika and Remilia (my main is Yuyuko)

edited 26th Apr '10 11:35:06 AM by Zudak

Koishi actually has some interesting potential. If I'm reading her profile right, her closing her third eye not only caused her to stop reading minds, but also closed her heart. So she acts on her unconscious feeling because she can't really care about things anymore. And the metaphorical way powers tend to work means that her heart is closed to others, so they ignore her.

Reisen is a character I like, but she scares the fucking CRAP out of me.

Seriously, reading her actual profiles makes her sound like some kinda cosmic horror eldritch thing in the form of a bunny with sex appeal.

Now back to my mega-post-thing and songdumping.

^ Let me guess one of the things about her that scares you:

　It's common knowledge that light is made of waves, but there's more to sight than just that.

Space itself is waves, and the creatures, things, and of course, light in it are also all made of waves.

Naturally, the thoughts and feelings of living things also consist of waves, and their wavelengths determine personalities.

Reisen can control these waves.

That's definately part of it, along with

"She can change her personality completely to match her circumstances."

So, basically, Reisen is the ultimate of not being able to tell anything. She's, I think this is the right term, somewhat sociopathic with the ability to apparantly completely change her personality to match whatever she needs for the current situation. For all we know the cute, helpless bunny appeal is all one big facade to rule us in.

Combine that with the ability to make us go insane and such and it starts to get highly disconcerting.

I also wonder if her ability to manipulate "waves" could also extend to soundwaves. If it does, then theoritcally she could also make you hear anything she wanted you to or not hear anything she wanted you not to hear. Which is even more creepy.

And so on and so forth.

EDIT: Also even more of her SWR profile seems to suggest she can become invisible. For added freakout.

edited 26th Apr '10 3:00:47 PM by Ruki Motomiya

I don't have any favorites since I like all the characters, including Aki sisters, so I feel like a cop-out.

They all have different strengths for what story they are best in, some are better in more comedic stories while others are better for dramatic stories.

It all depends on the writer and how they use the character.

With the exception of Tenshi as a masochist, since I hate, hate, hate that interpretation of her.

^^That's why Reisen is so awesome. She's a total subversion of the whole "cute bunny girl" thing.

^That meme annoys me too

edited 26th Apr '10 3:10:50 PM by Zudak

Oh, and this eyewitness account from PMISS

"It was early in the morning, and I'd gone to cut bamboo in the forest.

From out of nowhere, I could see huge amounts of bamboo below me.

My hips started aching, then the rest of my body, too.

Then, I saw a strange youkai rabbit.

She was looking at the sky and muttering under her breath.

It looked like she was talking to someone, but there was nothing there but the setting moon ...

I decided to leave because of the eerie atmosphere, but then she turned around and realized I was there.

And all of a sudden, she completely vanished.

I wonder if it was just a dream ..." (The old woodcutter)

I also wonder if her ability to manipulate "waves" could also extend to soundwaves. If it does, then theoritcally she could also make you hear anything she wanted you to or not hear anything she wanted you not to hear. Which is even more creepy.

Wait, that's your concern? Based on the quoted bit of text, she can control matter waves and space waves. Rather than making you hear what she wants you to hear, she could phase you out of existence or turn your arm into a tentacle. Rather like Sakuya's spacetime, Reisen's got the power of theoretical physics on her side and can do whatever the hell she wants. Maybe.

I need more Reisen avatars. I don't really have... like, any, I don't think.

Imagine if she were to team up with Yukari. Remember one of Yukari's attacks: "Border of Wave and Particle"?

Hey, I just thought of something. Did Koishi even appear in Touhou Tag Team Dream? The series prides itself on including absolutely everyone big and small from the windows games in a meaningful (or at least non-short) way, but I can't recall Koishi even appearing. Or did she appear and we just didn't notice it?

Looks like the thread's getting De-Facto hijacked by Reisen. Koishi barely even got anything. Fine by me, though, because as long as she is not relegated to the role of "Eirin's chew toy" Reisen is one of my favorite characters. Especially in serious works. She's got one of the most stable and least one-sided personalities of any character, a tragic backstory that people actually pay attention to, and a seriously awesome power which can plausibly be as strong or weak as the author needs and allows them to do all sorts of fun things. Reisen seems to have a good track record for being developed into a lovably round character from works I've seen, and at worst she's a breath of fresh air in the form of a sane, serious and intelligent character among the swarms of battle-hungry loonies and childlike Youkai. Also, she has a reasonable chance of bringing a gun or some other technology into any story, and heightening the series's Anachronism Stew is a plus in my book. Also also, my third favorite song in the series, which can be both a tear-rendingly beautiful ballad or a pants-shittingly intense action or horror piece depending on the arranger and sounds pretty damn impressive in its original form.

Works whose Reisen I especially loved? Hmm. Gotta give Usually Dead his props again, of course. Aside from that, Misadventures in Gensokyo has a Reisen who's actually good enough to get Anonymous to keep its collective pants on after the halfway point or so in hopes of a Reisen end (still haven't finished but I have to assume they succeed). And on the Fan Fic Recommendations page I gave a hearty endorsement for the thread three Reisen story, which tied with the thread four Sakuya story for the title of "worth more than everything else in this entire six thread series combined".

By the way, nobody's mentioned yet that old theory that the entire fifth stage of IN was an illusion. Well, now I have.

Koishi did appear in Touhou Tag Dream.

I'd have to look for the specific, but I know she appeared when Satori went to talk with Yuyuko and Kanako. Kanako reached out and grabbed her when she was hiding herself in preparation as a secret weapon type.

Like, up to and including the boss fight with Reisen?

There was definitely some illusory weirdness going on there, though. The corridor was all twisty and way too long right from the start.

That's it though? I mean, even Yamame got more screentime than that. Koishi's a freaking ex-boss, and the sister of the leader of the underground faction, and she only got that one scene?

She's, I think this is the right term, somewhat sociopathic with the ability to apparantly completely change her personality to match whatever she needs for the current situation.

I'm not sure if I'd call that sociopathy, exactly, though people with Antisocial Personality Disorder tend to have that skill. But what if her changing personality were completely genuine?

My take:

Reisen is able to make herself a sociopath, but she could also make herself a sensitive friend to all living things, conniving prankster, brutally efficient soldier, contemplative sage, freewheeling mental five-year-old or whatever else the situation calls for. It's not an act; she's actually reaching into her own heart and changing the waves there, and her feelings are no less real for being manipulated so. She wakes up every morning and has no idea who she'll be that day. (I know I've heard of a character like this somewhere.)

Whoever she was before, Reisen's just in a bad place right now... which is still freakin' terrifying, given her powers. Now that I think about it, this take would make her kind of like Yuka in that having a conversation with her is a potentially pleasant game of Russian roulette. And like Flandre in that she's an adorable eldritch abomination. Hm...

She may have more, I dunno. But then again she is not on any of the tag teams.

Warning: Massive post, Koishi giant writeup, etc. etc.

I compiled a Koishi Playlist. It's probably going to end up my largest, as it's at 31 songs already and I haven't come CLOSE to finishing Hartmann's Youkai Girl remixes,

Ruki's Choice: IOSYS ~ Primula <—— Delightfully insane

Siestail <—— I swear this melts my teeth every time.

Nostalgia ~ Touhou Vocal 13

Illusionary Metal/Prog Rock 54 <—- Also has a nice image.

Touhou arrange 74 <—— Really love this, prob my fave.

Touhou arrange 1107 // stray girl

Arrange Last Remote feat. mintea

Bubble Records - Goblin Girl (Hartmann's Youkai Girl)

Girl Revolution

I couldn't pick a real favorite, but Koishi had a VERY good arrange amount across the board. Last Remote pulled up a lot more arranges then I thought and a lot of them were good and Hartmann's Youkai Girl is a well known, fun little toy. You might want to check this one out for the next day or so, because I'm still adding Hartmann's Youkai Girl remixes to it. It'll probably get around 9 more.

Also, I just noticed Fawriel subscribed to me, so thanks for that bud! XD

As usual guys, feel free to point out songs you liked, songs you didn't, repeats etc. etc.

Koishi Komeiji...

As I said before, slowly becoming one of my favorite characters. Her power is pretty neat, she has an interesting backstory and a nice design. Hartmann's Youkai Girl and Last Remote help, plus that I love Satori too.

Dearly unloved by the fanbase, it seems. It's hard to find SERIOUS work with Koishi, which is really sad for me. I always thought Koishi could be really well suited to serious works as well as humorous. Of course, I'm probably fanboying this here.

Anyway, hm, as for Koishi's character...

My basic interpertation puts her as a kind of reverse-Kuudere. On the outside, she's somewhat energetic and smiling, but inside she's very cold and distant from people and the world around her. As a result of closing her third eye, it's become a lot harder to connect with everything around her. Thus many things she does are more of a superfical form of friendship, in terms of emotion, then a true bond.

I guess that might be more fitting for some other description, but reverse-Kuudere is how my mind thought to put it.

Koishi is nomadic, so she rarely stays in one place. When she does, it's underground with Satori and her pets. This also means that anything resembling a healthy relationahip with most people isn't doing to hot. It might not be a stretch to say Koishi is the least friended character in the series.

She probably has a large variety of hobbies and interests, but rarely pursues them and mostly just does it to give her something to do and keep her occupied. She picks them up and drops them on a whim. Her hobby of looking up psychology and giving Freudian insight is probably consistant, though.

Of all the characters, she's the most likely to write slashfics. I say this solely because the idea of Koishi writing slashfics based on what happens in Gensokyo amuses me somehow.

Just like Satori, she could really fuck you up mentally if she wanted to. I'd put her slightly under Satori in terms of non-Danmaku power, but she ranks up there in terms of versatile and powerful Touhou abilities. I wouldn't be surprised if Koishi would be the type to use them, too.

I like to imagine her with some kind of walking stick or staff-like thing. I dunno, maybe because she's a wanderer and stuff. I also associate her with mountains for some reason.

Uh...jeez, what else...this seems too small so far...

Well, I guess that's all I have for that interpertation. It seems kind of short and shallow for me, but I can't think of anything else.

Another version of Koishi, a pretty popular one as I get it, is of her as a more energetic, freespirited person. I'm pretty sure Kimiko Muffin uses this type of Koishi, which might help explain it's size a little I guess. This form of Koishi is much more likely to be sociable and more true in her feelings, and is also a bit of a trickster. More likely to have a little more fun screwing around with the whole "Freudian" thing.

This version of Koishi is much less likely to use her power in an overly malicious or mind destroying way, but will make use of her invisibility for various trickery. This version of Koishi also will rarely have any reservations about satoris being somewhat shunned for their ability, which might put her at odds with Satori. This Koishi probably also sees her nomadic tendacies as kind of like an extended vacation, which is cool.

That's about the extent, I think, I know of Koishi personality-wise.

Next up is the shipping section...

Koishi/Satori and Koishi/Flandre are the two main ships Koishi is involved in. I support both pretty good, both seem to get really nice images and seem fun, but I generally support Koishi/Satori moreso.

Starting with Koishi/Flandre, just to confuse you guys more, I generally see Koishi as the more mature figure, for obvious reasons, who might even take a somewhat psychiatric or therapistic role to help curb Flandre's more asplode-y inhibitions. Flandre is a lot more innocent, but most likely the one who starts any form of relationshippial material. Probably finds Koishi really fun, which makes Koishi happy. The Koishi in this relationship is more likely to be the energetic Koishi then my version.

Koishi/Satori...it's kind of hard for me to describe, funny enough. As you can tell, my description abilities rank somewhere near rock bottom. However, they both seem to care for each other a lot, and Satori would probably be pleased to have someone with her who both wouldn't shun her and would be immune to her power, while Koishi is close with few people...but Satori is one of them. Koishi doesn't seem like the type to exactly care about things like blood that would keep the relationship non-function either and I doubt Hell has that large of a taboo in place. I have trouble describing exaclty how the relationship would go, though...

Koishi could also logically be paired up with Utsuho or Orin, Satori's pets, but this is pretty rare. I don't have much on this.

I also want to take a small second to say a little on a pairing I only actually saw in a single Danbooru picture, but I thought seemed kind of interesting and that would be Koishi/Parsee. Parsee gets jealous over a lot of things, but things like Koishi's backstory might be hard for her to get jealous over, and Koishi could probably find a way to drive in a wedge of talking. Jealously also usually starts in the subconscious, even though it's also pretty conscious, so to a certain extent Koishi could help bring Parsee's jealousy to more managable levels. Could be interesting, you know?

And...uh...

Oh, I guess I always thought satoris had a somewhat low population. Dunno why. And that should be everything for writeups.

I vote Reisen next, since we're on her track already.

Also, imagedump tiem.

KEEP OUT KEEP OUT KEEP OUT

A certain omopotemnia.

This reminds me of Lucky Star somehow.

Oh yeah, you're fucked.

Also, this.

yessssss

This reminds me of Kanon somehow...

I really like this image, both in imageness and Koishiness.

Koishi and Flandre. They'll love you to death.

Oh god, I'd say it back in a heartbeat.

hhhhnnnnggggg

Love-love.

A sensual Koishi and Satori.

SOUL TRAAAAAAAIN! ...I hope I didn't post this before.

Say it with heart(danmaku)

A little bit of envy in my life...

Suddenly DEATH.

This one is mildly disconcerting.

Koishi and Satori being super adorable.

Alternate costumes.

dat smirk

Oh-so-adorable.

Koishi looks so happy.

This is why they must never breed.

Koishi and Satori looking pretty.

Koishi and Parsee...she knows exactly how to make Parsee juuuust the right amount of jealous.

Oh god, Koishi's eye here freaks me out. Like, not her third eye, the actual eye.

Koishi posing.

Koishi's mind is a strange and wonderful place.

Koishi and Satori getting close.

Koishi looks kind of saint-like here.

Koishi wants nuclear power too! &gt;=

This is really nice.

oh god hhhnnnggggg

This is really pretty.

This is really nice.

Simple and sweet.

Heheh.

A Koishi and Satori production.

The red and the black.

This is pretty. Like, really pretty.

Daaaaaaw..

I basically just speak whatever pops into my head in this little space.

More Koishi and Satori cuteness.

More Koishi x Flanflan.

Just as flanned, says Koishi.

This kinda freaks me out.

Chibi tiem!

Uhuhuhuhu.

Koishi does a handstand. The smart way.

Koishi in a fun art style.

HEEEEEEEEEART!!

Koishi and Flan got it goin' on.

A kid at heart.

Aaaaaaaw...

This is really nice.

Get these two mad and you are FUCKED.

Love and pinch!

More chibi shenannagins.

HEART ATTACK IMMINENT

This is interesting.

D=

Daaaaaaaw...

Koishi x Satori is a ship I approve of.

See above.

I have no idea why I find this amusing.

GET DOWN, GET DOWN, GET DOWN WITH THE MUSIC...

Kooking Koishi.

MIIIIIIND CRUUUUUUSH

Sometimes, Koishi's just gotta choke a bitch.

The Flanflan and Koishi show!

This is amazing.

EDIT: Also, Koishi also appeared later in that scene, when Byakuren rescued Satori. She's also liable to appear more if Utsuho/Tenshi get in, I think.

edited 26th Apr '10 5:19:41 PM by Ruki Motomiya

Reisen's personality isn't random. She chooses what's best for the situation. If she needs to get along with people she'll be friendly, and if she needs to fight she'll be ruthless. If she needs to study she'll be curious, and if she needs to give orders she'll be decisive. I don't think there's very much that's sociopathic or abomination-like about her, she's just adaptable. If anything, her ability to change her personality makes her more predictable than other people because she'll always do the reasonable thing. Well, getting to know her well enough to figure out what she thinks is reasonable might be difficult, given that she avoids people.

I like Koishi's duds a lot better than her sister's. Nice Hat, too.

I think I like her better than Satori in general, really.

I'll note that I'd never even heard of the "Reisen can rewrite her own personality at will" thing until this conversation, and in fact most of the works I've seen with her had her decidedly not-well-adjusted enough from whatever happened to her on the moon that it's clear she doesn't have such a power in those works. Of course, it could just be the golden rule of Touhou power levels—every power is exactly as overpowered as its owner is creative with it. Just because Reisen is capable of altering her own structure doesn't mean she knows she can, and a power you don't know you have is a power you don't have.

If anything, her ability to change her personality makes her more predictable than other people because she'll always do the reasonable thing.

That's assuming that her current personality is inclined to see things rationally. (As opposed to emotionally; I don't mean that she's insane.) I suppose their might be a cold, super-rational Inner Reisen that decides these things. The Reisen that watches Reisen. She might get a kick out of that idea.

Anyway, I agree that it's not random. By "no idea who she'll be" I just meant that she doesn't always know what that day will require of her.

(Also, when I referred to her as an eldritch abomination, I was getting her mixed up with Koishi for some dumb reason.)

NINJAD BY BRICKMAN: Of course, it's possible she didn't feel like it because her current personality is petty enough to think, "Why should I bother to change my perspective? I'll just kick their asses!"

edited 26th Apr '10 6:04:03 PM by Durazno

The personality change thing comes from her SWR profile:

Personality: both carefree and crazed. Is a different person in battle.

　　　Since she is not originally a creature of Earth, she isn't much like humans at all. 　　　She can change her personality completely to match her circumstances.

　　　She is not really very kind, and sometimes she can play dumb just as well as Reimu.

Anyway, from her actual dialog, Reisen's fairly calm and rational most of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if her "metapersonality" is some kind of Straw Vulcan. The impression I get is that she's not controlled by her emotions, because she can control what emotions she feels through her will. Well, she is an alien.