History Characters / TouhouMainCharacters

* FlyingBroomstick: Almost always shown riding her broomstick in the games. Oddly, she uses it for attacking but not for flight in the fighting games (though this was changed in ''Hopeless Masquerade'', where fights take place entirely in mid-air). WordOfGod states that she rides the broom because she feels it's essential for a magician, in ''Lotus Eaters'' Marisa implies that she can't fly without it, since she's shown to be envious of Reimu's ability to effortlessly fly over a crevasse while she has to climb since she left her broom behind.

* FlyingBroomstick: Almost always shown riding it in the games. Oddly, she uses it for attacking but not for flight in the fighting games (though this was changed in ''Hopeless Masquerade'', where fights take place entirely in mid-air). WordOfGod states that she only rides the broom for appearances, to keep up the CuteWitch motif; she can fly on her own just like anyone else if she wants to.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: Although some characteristics in Reimu's design aren't consistent, she has purple hair in the UsefulNotes/PC98 era. Afterwards, however, she has blackish hair instead.

* YourSizeMayVary: Not herself, but her gohei, which is shown to be [[ExaggeratedTrope wildly]] different lengths across the title screens of several games. In the title screen of ''EoSD'', it's about the size of her hand, while in those of ''SoEW'' and ''WBaWC'', it's longer than she is tall.

* {{Miko}}: In the PC-98 games she wore a traditional miko's outfit (white haori, red hakama). In the Windows games she wears a much more customized and non-standard outfit, though it still keeps the traditional red and white colours. Job-wise, she has all the usual duties a real miko would have (keeping the shrine clean, collecting donations, etc.) while also dealing with incidents.

* NunTooHoly: While she's a {{Miko}} who defers to gods and treats youkai as enemies, she only does so because it's her job; she doesn't discriminate by such things personally. As multiple characters have commented, Reimu's attitude would be great for a hermit ([[EnlightenmentSuperpowers in the Taoist sense]]) but doesn't really fit a shrine maiden. She also has some gaps in her training, to the point where she didn't know until ''Double Dealing Character'' that tsukumogami should receive prayers to becalm them, and ''doesn't know what god she's serving''. Part of this may be due to [[Characters/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom Yukari]]'s influence.

** Marisa is a playable character in ''Suibotsushita Chinshuu Jigoku''. Her storyline is also entirely non-canon and is pure {{Filler}}; she is literally playable in the game because she is Marisa.

* WolverinePublicity: Has been in every Touhou game since her debut in ''Story of Eastern Wonderland'' except for ''Shoot the Bullet''... where she appears as the game's logo anyway. Furthermore, she has been the game logo for every ZUN-made Touhou game made in the Windows era except for ''Double Spoiler'' and ''Fairy Wars'', even though she does appear in both games.

* TheWorfEffect: Is on the receiving end in ''Antinomy of Common Flowers'', being one of the first to fall for the Yorigami sisters's slave-switching strategy, causing her and Koishi to defeat each other.
** She suffers this in ''Suibotsushita Chinshuu Jigoku''; where the only time she is fought is as the initial boss of a character's story, and canonically loses every matchup [Against Reimu, Murasa and Yuuma]. This gets even worse when you add that characters generally seen as rather weak such as Yamane and Kogasa are fought after her. Marisa ''does'' claim in Reimu's route that it's an off-day for her, but that dosen't explain Yumma's route which occurs some time after.

* Also suffers this in ''Suibotsushita Chinshuu Jigoku''; where the only time she is fought is as the initial boss of a character's story, and canonically loses every matchup [Against Reimu, Murasa and Yuuma]. This gets even worse when you consider characters generally seen as rather weak such as Yamane and Kogasa are fought after her.

* Also suffers this in ''Suibotsushita Chinshuu Jigoku''; where the only time she is fought is as the initial boss of a character's story. This even holds true for Yuuma's story; where Marisa is fought before the likes of even ''Yamane''.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: While some aspects of her design are inconsistent, she has {{red eyes|takewarning}} and [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow red hair]] in her debut. However, she has {{yellow eyes|OfSneakiness}} and [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow blonde hair]] elsewhere. This was eventually reversed starting around ''100th Black Market'', and since then she has had red eyes again in ''Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost'' and more recent covers of ''Lotus Eaters''.

* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: Has yellow eyes, fitting for her habits of lying and stealing. Averted in her debut and more recent media, in which she has {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}.

* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: While some aspects of her design are inconsistent, she has {{red eyes|takewarning}} and [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow red hair]] in her debut. However, she has {{yellow eyes|OfSneakiness}} and [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow blonde hair]] elsewhere.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Her eyes are red in her debut in ''Story of Eastern Wonderland'' and in the title screen of ''100th Black Market''. She's also a powerful fighter, with Genji once even {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing the "Take Warning" part.

* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: Has yellow eyes, fitting for her habits of lying and stealing. Averted in her debut, in which she has {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}.

** Her characterization in the manga can also fluctuate from series to series, changing how grumpy she is, how tolerant she is of youkai, and [[PerpetualPoverty how desperate she is to make money]].

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', she gets defeated for perhaps the first time in-canon by Watatsuki no Yorihime, who interpreted her presence on the moon as an invasion.
** She canonically loses to both Yuuma and Flandre in ''Gouyoku Ibun''; and Marisa in ''100th Black Market''
** [[spoiler: She loses to Zanmu in ''Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost'' after she refuses Zanmu's plan and the latter decides to "stop letting her win". Notably the first time in a main-line game Reimu has been 100% confirmed to have lost.]]

** She canonically loses to both Yuuma and Flandre in ''Gouyoku Ibun''

** [[spoiler: She loses to Zanmu in ''Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost'' after she refuses Zanmu's plan and the latter decides to "stop letting her win".]]

* FinalBoss: She's the last character you fight in the regular final boss's Story Mode of ''Immaterial and Missing Power'', ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', and ''Hopeless Masquerade''.

'''Windows Era -- Main Games:''' ''Characters/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'' | ''Characters/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'' | ''Characters/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'' | ''Characters/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'' | ''Characters/TouhouFuujinrokuMountainOfFaith'' | ''Characters/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'' | ''Characters/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'' | ''Characters/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'' | ''Characters/TouhouKishinjouDoubleDealingCharacter'' | ''Characters/TouhouKanjudenLegacyOfLunaticKingdom'' | ''Characters/TouhouTenkuushouHiddenStarInFourSeasons'' | ''Characters/TouhouKikeijuuWilyBeastAndWeakestCreature'' | ''Characters/TouhouKouryuudouUnconnectedMarketeers''\\

* {{Leitmotif}}: More so than any other character. Marisa has ''six'' themes so far with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cgiEa74RPs "Love-Colored Magic"]] / [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RBJ4NMOBV0 "Love-Colored Master Spark"]] being the most recognisable.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted, one can think this is the case due to the Spellcard Rules, but they are only in place to maintain Gensokyo's balance in the general sense, not in the individual sense. In fact she is not above "needless" killing, and she will if she finds reason to. The Jinyou from ''Manga/ForbiddenScrollery'' made the mistake of thinking she was under this rule, and it cost him dearly.

* UnskilledButStrong: Subverts the "unskilled" part somewhat, as she worked very hard for her powers, unlike most other inhabitants of Gensokyo. However, her personal philosophy is that danmaku is all about power, so her basic attacks are usually very dense and unstructured. And when push comes to shove, she will throw all pretense of finesse out the window and just start Master Sparking half the screen and/or trying to ram her opponent, which is borderline breaking the Spell Card rules, as lampshaded by ZUN himself.

* GreenEyedMonster: Some works hint that she was (is?) jealous over how [[BrilliantButLazy Reimu]] never had to expend any effort to become strong while [[HardWorkHardlyWorks she had to work hard to even reach her level]], and in ''Antimony of Common Flowers'' her Dream World self ([[BeneathTheMask which states your true feelings]]) reveals that she secretly resents how Reimu and Yukari are always the ones saving the day and not her.