The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Ahhh, well we're gonna be EFF'd. If we manage to dodge curvy lasers she can use density hax to make them converge at us...or something like turning sake into lasers.

That awkward moment where Kyoro is one of Satan's Generals.

Hitori no Onigashima

"Heh. Now there's a face I didn't expect to see up here. Long time."

"Longer time for me, Suika. You look better in flesh than crystallized. Ya should've come for a visit afterwards. Talk about old times and such."

"How did you find me?"

"I snuck out the gate and through the fields and forest till I picked up the smell of that miko you accompanied that one time. She told me you went up here with some stuck-up brat that almost caused the damn ceiling to drop on our heads down there. Hell with that. So anyway, then I climbed the biggest mountain I could find and just jumped."

"Who knew that you were capable of such finesse."

"Yeah, I sure didn't. Ya live, ya learn. So what're you doing up here anyway? Made yourself too light and floated right up on a stiff breeze?"

"It wouldn't make a difference if I tried to explain it to you, would it."

"Eh? What, hey. The way I know ya, you're up here being trouble for all these stuck-up sky-folks. They are pretty tough, I'll give 'em that. Some old coot was trying to kick me straight down to where I came from. Put up a good fight. So I guess there's an attraction for ya."

"If you think that's it, alright."

"Aww, what? Come on, man. You've been so short with me since... like, the last time we talked! You were all 'hey yo let's climb some damn mountains', but what happened to that then?"

"There are no mountains underground."

"Yeah, that's about the size of it."

"That's what you said. Can't climb any mountains down there. And right afterwards, you sang songs of praise about how happy you all are down there, a 'paradise' for the oni. Then you fought that miko and lost, you enjoyed it. But you didn't care for the overworld. Even after that taste of it."

"What're you on about, man?"

"A paradise for oni! For sure, an oni needs nothing else than himself, his sake, and some random idiot to bawl drinking songs with! No matter who it is, everyone's the same if they're drunk enough, right? Hey, Yuugi, tell me. What do you do down there now? What is your new sport? Sure aren't climbing any more damn mountains. Maybe you took up digging holes? Gonna dig those holes until you pop up on the other side of the planet, sounds like a riot."

"I think we'd run out of ground pretty quickly if we did that."

"That's just the damn point! Hey, Yuugi. Look down there. Look. What do you see?"

"The land."

"The land. Clouds. Mountains. Trees. Rivers. And over there? There's a horizon. And because of the barrier, that's where it'll stay for us. We're trapped, Yuugi. But you? You're even more trapped than I am up here."

"Can't call it a trap if you walked in willingly."

"No, that's what I call being a victim of your own stupidity. Try to wrap your head around this: I turned to mist up here... and my self covered everything you see down there. That whole world you see down there. My mind was spread all over, too. It was big, really big. And I knew I could spread even further if it wasn't for that godforsaken barrier. But even then, I saw things up here. Creatures that could cause chaos down in your peaceful little cave like you have no idea. So many interesting folk, and a whole bunch of them challenged me when they noticed I was there, and those battles, man, they just lit up the whole place with those fancy magic bullets and bam-bam-ba-bam!"

"Ahahaha, now you're sounding more like the Suika I remember!"

"The battles, Yuugi! Have you ever fought a lady who just teleports crap all over the place, or a half-god from the outside world, or a really damn feisty Tengu chick, or a human witch that blasts magic out of her ass that just tastes like raw power and love? They're just so much fun to play with!"

"So why are you up here now when those guys are all down there?"

"It's not just the battles. That's fun too and all. But... why did you come here anyway?"

"Oh yeah, right. Okay, here's the deal, a pretty cool satori chick beat me in a fight and now she wants me to help her reunite the Underground and the Surface and I need your gathering skills for that."

"..."

"Sound good?"

"Reunite the Underground and... but..."

"Hm?"

"... To hell with you."

"But I just came from there."

"Heh. Cute. Look. You can't tell me to do any damn thing. While you've been down there, singing songs and wiping your ass with rocks, I've been up here, using these hands for what they were made. Don't you have hands like that as well? Those hands that are so strong they should be able to hold or break the world? Didn't it always feel when we were climbing like we were pushing the world down beneath us, with a glimpse of the sky being our reward? Hell with that. Your hands are nothing like that. You always treated our competition as a game, just a way to pass the time with your buddies between drinks, and now you don't even have that anymore. Your hands are weak and rotten. All of you oni down there. We used to be proud and sing the songs of our race from the top of the highest mountain. And now, people don't even believe I'm an oni anymore, like we never existed. How low did we fall? How low did you let yourself fall?"

"Hm."

"What?"

"I dunno. I was just reminded of some girl I met recently. I thought I got people pretty well. But I guess not, cause I saw her all wrong. She's pretty interesting. That Satori lady, too."

"..."

"Guess you, too. Didn't know you as well as I thought I did. But I guess, Suika is still Suika, right? I don't really get you as well as I thought, but I'm here now, and I'm not leaving."

"If you want my help, you know you'll have to defeat me first."

"I did it before, I can do it again."

"They call you 'The Strong' now, yeah. But that was different. This is no friendly sparring match. I'm using my powers, I'm not holding back, and I defeated opponents you can't even imagine in your wildest drunken fantasies. You don't stand a chance, Yuugi. You're going down."

"Yeah. I guess you're right, you're stronger than me. Probably wasn't as on top of stuff as I thought I was. Guess I was stronger than this at some point, too. But tell you what? If you defeat me now and I'm going down, I'll only have to climb back up and try again. And if you defeat me again and I'm going down, I'll only have to climb back up and try again. Maybe at some point, I'll get ya. And then you're coming down with me, Suika."

"Don't make me wait too long."

"Yeah."

So yeah, that's why you'll want to make a rough sketch of where your writing is going before you start.

I had a certain interesting image of Suika in my mind, though part of the reason it's interesting is that I don't fully understand it, which of course makes it... hard to write for. I guess I was working on the idea that she's got a certain bit of dishonesty that makes her hard for her fellow oni to deal with, and developed that "dishonesty" into a certain drive for self-improvement (not being content with a simple, happy life) and a less extroverted demeanor.

It was pretty neat, all the same. Not your best, but certainly not bad.

EDIT: I sound like a jackass above. I loved it, is the point, but I LOVED the rest of your work.

edited 3rd Jul '11 10:42:25 PM by Pulse

I sure said that!

Boom!

You hear that, you hear that Faw?

That was a bomb, and it had a name. You know what that name was? Faw!

Because you just blew me away! My mind got blown!

I should explain that that was sort of the thing I wanted with my Tenshi dialogue, but it became more about Tenshi than Suika. So congrats, you've done it again.

I have no horse, and I must ride. I accomplish unlockments.

Nice write-up Faw.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Awesome write up by Faw is incredible.

On-topic about Aya and Suika: This.

edited 3rd Jul '11 9:14:33 PM by raigakuren

That awkward moment where Kyoro is one of Satan's Generals.

You know, guys, I'd really appreciate it more if you told me*

more about your impressions than that. I mean, I'm kind of doing this as serious practice for when I decide to finally start writing a webcomic, so if I'm doing something right in my writing, I'd like to know exactly what was right and in what way. A comment that's simply like "this or this line made me smile" or even "I thought Suika sounded a little too much like a whiny brat in parts, but her voice contrasted nicely with Yuugi", or anything like that would be greatly appreciated. Any small comment about an aspect that affected you in some way or another. Not that I want everyone to go back and reread it and give me a proper review or something, just saying for future reference.

... Now who's sounding like a jackass? It's meeee. ._.

In any case, since Suika's discussion is proving to be pretty fruitless overall, I'm ending it later today (mid-European timezone, remember), though I'll still try to get the Kisume thing in before that.

Excuse my poor attempt at a critique:

I dig the angle you're going for, Faw, but Suika's coming of as less of a friend trying to tell Yuugi that she's made a mistake, and more like a bitter rival giving a mild "The Reason You Suck" Speech. She's just a tiny bit too venomous to be seen as unantagonistic.

edited 4th Jul '11 12:27:11 AM by Pulse

I sure said that!

No, no, that's great. Though now I feel compelled to respond and clutter up the thread and draw all the attention to me and urgh. ._.;

I know! I'll do it via PM!

Yeah not really a great reviewer but here I go:

I love the idea that Yuugi and Suika are friendly rivals to each other. From Yuugi's comments, Suika has seemed to become much more mellow since the last time they've seen each other, but Suika states it's actually Yuugi and all the other oni, are the ones who have become weaker. It has a hint of tragedy where Suika says that people no longer believe in onis, claiming that the're only the stuff of legends and fantasy,

That awkward moment where Kyoro is one of Satan's Generals.

We're getting all recursive here. This has been two alternate character interpretations of an alternate character interpretation, itself being one of several.

I sure said that!

FICCEPTION!

You guys really need to stop worrying about the "quality" of your reviews! As I tried to say, even just saying what kind of feel the writing gave off to you is cool, like, "badass", "funny", "melancholic", or something. The purpose of writing is to convey something after all, right, and if it managed that, then it should've caused some sort of emotional reaction... I think! I dunno! Waaah.

We should also all be less afraid to actually discuss interpretations... Though I guess that's more what non-write-up posts are for?

Thanks for your thoughts, raigakuren!

edited 4th Jul '11 1:17:11 AM by Fawriel

Suede. It feels suede to me.

Thank you, SDM. I really feel like those words came from the bottom of your basement.

So, if we're done with Suika, then I'll vote for Yuuka next, seeing as how the thread very nearly deviated to talking about her. Or Shou, 'cause I like Shou.

If I'm voting too early, I can come back later ^_^

edited 4th Jul '11 2:47:26 AM by asterism

Heart of Stone

Giving critical feedback is one of my several one weaknesses.

But here's something: I like that you've made Suika feel so disaffected. She was clearly unhappy in the underground. Even though she claims otherwise, she was probably unhappy on the surface. And she can't be too happy in heaven if she sounds that bitter. Turning it flipways, Yuugi is clearly perfectly happy with the underground and even seeks to improve it after being convinced she was wrong by Satori.

On the other hand, Suika has something with what she says. Gensokyo is various levels of shut in. Maybe what's making her bitter on a meta level is that every youkai is bottled up while the humans have the world to themselves. Or maybe not. Just rambling.

A clear impression that I do get from Suika is of the person who meets an old friend after a long time and finds out that they haven't changed much in the intervening years. This might be cool at first "its just like it was then, we can hang out like old times" but then maybe you get angry at them since you have changed and its not like it was then for you at least. Where were they when you were maturing and getting a job and having to deal with life?

But what I really like is the end. Its made very clear that even if it takes forever, even if her body ends up broken, Yuugi will keep climbing up to heaven to try to convince Suika and will probably have a good time doing it. If it were a shonen series, Yuugi's sheer determination would sway Suika but in the world of your write-up I like to think that it would at least chase away some of those dark clouds hovering over her.

And that's the impressions I got. And I don't think you were being a jackass. A couple times I've wished that people would say more about what I wrote. And the only possible next character is Mystia. Or Tokiko. I'm feeling very birdy right now.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Oh Bocaj, there's no way you could ever be a point under par.

I'm happy to read your review! That was a lot more than I even asked for. I would've been okay if that review had ended after the first sentence. But this is even nicer, obviously!

Now, I'm not sure if I'm feeling the birds right now, but we just had a highly popular (if not very debate-inspiring) character, so I'm not all for Yuuka, either. So I guess Mystia is cool with me. Or does anyone have a better idea?

While that post was better than anything I could write, it seemed...off. I dunno, but Suika didn't really sound like Suika (at least IMO). I know "alternate interpretation" and all that, but in this one, there wasn't really much to convince me that this interpretation of the character could come out normally. It sounded more like someone like Cranky Kong in the role of Suika than Suika to me.

Yuugi was pretty nice though. Yuugi needs to stop stealing the show.

I hope all of this makes sense/doesn't offend.

edited 4th Jul '11 6:45:58 AM by Otherarrow

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.

I don't mind Mystia. Deaf to all but the Song and all that.

Heart of Stone

Yeah, that's a thing I was worried about. I tried to show her more usual cheerful side in the way she talked about the fun battles with the surface people, but for a dialogue that was supposed to show Suika the way I interpret her, it sure only focused on a side of her that you don't usually get to see, and one that isn't even necessarily her "true" self. I might've exaggerated her intelligence and snark a little in contrast to Yuugi as well.

With Mystia brought up, I now can only see us going down the path of focusing on Team(9) for the next five votes, much like how we went through the underground crew almost all at once.

This pleases me.

Mystia gets my vote.

I sure said that!

Apparently several people are feeling the birds.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Awww, I wanted to do Tenshi.

However, I do like Mystia.

---

It would appear that the bird

is the word!

edited 4th Jul '11 9:58:27 AM by Horselesshorseman

I have no horse, and I must ride. I accomplish unlockments.

Oh hey, while we're at it. Onyhow just linked this comic focusing on the speculative Four Devas.

Please don't.

Please don't do that, either. She might decide to be the dominant one on a whim.

edited 4th Jul '11 10:06:33 AM by Fawriel