The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Fawriel, Fawriel, whatever shall we do with you? Should not a leader lead by example? It took so much mental effort to edit my opinion out of her history write-up and avoid going off onto tangents. To be objective and impartial, to not turn this project of mine into a sneaky way of subverting the voting system, as it so easily could have been. I had a duty to carry out, despite these passions of mine.

Yet here you come stomping in over my feelings, over my heart.

edited 3rd Oct '11 2:34:38 PM by Clarste

... I guess if we're breaking up now, we had a good run, right?

Also, I'm not stopping you from posting your opinion, so long as it isn't in the introductory article. I mean, like, no need to force ourselves to be super-narrow in the way we read the characters? I mean, even when you're just reading the official profile, you're gonna get a mental image, and it's gonna be different between people, and stuff, right?

It's okay, I'm in love with Seiga anyway.

...that's mostly a joke, but I do feel kind of different about her than most of these characters. Usually I try to project myself into their shoes and see things from their perspective, but Seiga feels very separate from me yet I'm still interested in her. Which is... an odd feeling.

She's the driving force behind the plot of TD yet somehow feels very peripheral to it. It's not even clear why she's there or what happened to her between Miko being sealed and waking up 1400 years later*

. Her motivations are vaguely defined. Overall, she has a feeling of "the outsider" who doesn't have a personal stake in any of this but wants to see it through to the end anyway, nor do the other characters particularly care about her other than the knowledge and power she has to offer them. It's tempting to peg that on her being Chinese, but that doesn't seem quite right.

Overall, I'd say she has an aura of mystery. In a sense, she discourages you from trying to understand her, but rather expects you to deal with her at face value. She is what she is, and that's what you get.

Also, she seems like she'd look pretty nice with blue eyeshadow, not that she needs make-up to be pretty. Just saying.

edited 3rd Oct '11 3:01:32 PM by Clarste

That's an interesting thought, but right now I'm too amused by something to appreciate it. Namely the fact that Seiga looks a lot like Komachi to me, except blue instead of red, and we're both crushing on one of them, and I just made a joke about us being in a homosexual relationship and this is really kind of a ridiculously complex thought but the point is that it involves a red oni, and a blue one.

Speaking of which, it's kind of odd to me that Futo is the one with the boat, because Seiga really does seem like some sort of nega-Komachi, who delivers the dead into a world of eternal life.

But Fear Itself

Being the ferryman of the the Sanzu River has never been a particularly difficult task for me. The hours are fair, and I'm allowed a break when I need, despite how big a deal my boss might make of it. Today, I decided to take my break at the Hakurei Shrine. A familiar place of rest for many of the residents in Gensokyo. I myself am not a resident, but I spend a good deal of time within its boundary. I shouldn't be surprised that the shrine maiden was entertaining other guests at the time. As I said, the shrine is a familiar site for the residents of Gensokyo, not for the humans, though, but the more... interesting lot. There was that hermit I'm supposed be keeping a watch on, a Kasha from beneath the surface (I wonder how she and the hermit had not come to blows - see previous entry), the Oni that foolishly stayed on the surface, and the Celestial who caused that earthquake about one year back. I suppose the shrine maiden has given up all attempts on trying to keep out intruders.

I sat down next to them without a word, and was immediately subjected to a verbal assault from the shrine maiden. And people call Miss Eiki a ranter.

" Ugh, you again. Can't you see that I'm quite busy enough with unwanted guests!"*

"No worries," I assured her, "I'm just on a short break. Yes, again."

"Hmph, do you have something better to do than harassing people?" asked the hermit.

I did not validate her criticism with a response, and set about pouring myself a cup of tea. I looked about the motley crew I was surround by. The Oni was clearly drunk, no surprise there. I noticed the Kasha had a small wheelbarrow behind her. No doubt she was going off the carry off corpses, and interfere in the bureaucratic affairs of the afterlife. When a corpse is carted of to the Hell of Blazing Fires before the deceased individual has been judged, they become an evil spirit. Perhaps, my break was to be shorter than I intended?

"What do you intend to do with that wheelbarrow?" I asked cautiously.

"I'm going to cart off all the dead bodies I can find, and burn them in a furnace!" she answered almost too honestly.

"I was afraid of that. You really shouldn't do that, it makes it difficult for the Yama to judge the spirits of those you burn," I made sure to omit the parts about evil spirits with the hermit nearby.

"The who?" she asked.

I was shocked, curious, and a tad bit annoyed. A creature living in the Former Hell not knowing of the workings of the afterlife. Needless to say, it's quite uncommon. Perhaps she was taunting me. I didn't have time to think hard about the issue, the Oni was next to speak.

"How are things Underground, Orin?"

"The same as usual, Satori feeds me, Okuu burns stuff. I don't know what the Oni are up to, sorry."

That twice this cat has brought up burning things. I'm half expecting her to pull out a match and burn down the shrine at this rate. No, she doesn't seem the type who could bring herself to do that. Does the Underground even have matches? They continued their conversation.

"If you can check up on that it would be appreciated. The Oni aren't nearly as frightening a lot as they seem."

"Of course not, they chose to go underground, they can't be nearly as frightening as any of the other Youkai down there. Like me!"

"Hm! What know you of fear. You were Underground away from the earthquakes I created. You really should have seen the fear I brought."

What a pathetic boast from the Celestial. The Underground is affected by so many earthquakes that they must consider it to be like the weather. I doubt you could frighten a resident of the Underground even if you managed to create a new fault. The Kasha made the wise decision to ignore the ignorant Celestial.

"What fear? All you got for your troubles was a beating!"

Ah, it appears the shrine maiden prefers to have her potential foes know the score.

"Excuse me, but you said you were a Celestial. A Celestial is not necessarily omitted from the cycle of rebirth. How is it you manage to keep Shinigami away?"

The hermit should know better than to have asked such a barefaced threat in my company. I don't want to say I snapped, but I did not allow the Celestial to answer this question. It's okay, I'm sure there was no important information lost.

"She doesn't. Oh, trust me, she has for now. I myself have no influence in the matter. I am not a Reaper, and if we do not receive proper funding for stronger troops than it is no problem of mine if all my co-workers are slain. You see, if my co-workers ARE killed, they come to me. If they were successful, you would come to me. There is no escaping death forever, we are relentless, we do not fail. You speak of fear as if it meant something. What you forget is people aren't afraid of Youkai, they fear what those Youkai will do to them. In the end, they do not fear you or anything else. In the end it all comes back to us. Fear of death and judgement, in the end, that is the only fear their is. No one escapes our judgement forever, including you, so it's best you don't interfere in our work. Oh, it appears my break is over. I look forwards to our next meeting, and I hope it isn't on worse terms."

-Excerpt from the Notebook of Komachi Onozuka, Ministry of What's Right and What's Wrong.

---

Funny you should mention Komachi, Faw. I wrote this during the last review, but I didn't post it. I did some quick editing with it, and I'd say it's much better now. The title isn't so much saying the there is nothing to fear, but fear itself, but that Komachi is fear itself.

To me, Komachi is a frightening individual. She comes to your tea parties, listens to your conversation, then leaves you pretty sure she left on a death threat. She doesn't hate you, she just doesn't like it when people mess with her job. And those 3 do, they really, really do. Suika and Reimu are cool, though.

EDIT: DERP! I FORGOT TO ADD A BIT ABOUT SEIGA! Probably for the better, I don't have her personality down yet.

DOUBLE EDIT: So, yeah, I made a Death Note joke now. Does Disney still make money? Why didn't I edit this earlier? Who's reading this edit!? I DON'T KNOW YOU!

edited 4th Oct '11 1:28:20 PM by Horselesshorseman

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

Well, the more straightforward Red Oni, Blue Oni comparison (regarding the characters, not us) would be with Kasen, both being hermits of course. Kasen commands animals and the natural, while Seiga commands the undead and the unnatural. Kasen is a bit too passionate about her beliefs, while Seiga is a bit too detached from the consequences of her actions.

edited 3rd Oct '11 3:20:19 PM by Clarste

'Professor Kurodani! Your evil ends here!'
'Mhm hm hm hm hm. I've been expecting you. BUT YOU'RE TOO LATE!'

Or something. Yamame vs Yamame, yeah?

edited 3rd Oct '11 3:29:41 PM by asterism

Song of the Sirens

I'm betting my money on Yamame.

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

speaking of kasen, gensokyo.org just put up wild and horned hermit 6

im gonna reread it up to that point and the see if i can pull off a kasen minific

Just another passerby

I was gonna write something for Okuu, but frankly, there's no way I can top her lines in SA.

Song of the Sirens

Waaaaah

I'm too tired at this point to read or respond or whatever, so here's the last Seiga thing from me for today: This comic. Looking back, I think this is actually what's responsible for my views on her. The character who was made sympathetic to me via necrophilia. Indeed.

This is a cute little addition to it, too.

daaaww.

seigaXyoshika is now in my perma-headcanon. along with aliceXmarisa, parseeXyuugi, and mokouXkeine.

Just another passerby

Ultimate Nuclear Fusion

The fires in the Former Hell had been dying down. They had been for years, despite Orin's best efforts to keep them blazing, the very fact that the hell had been abandoned was killing it off. Utusho did not really notice this, she was weak and rather powerless, and pretty much spent her time devouring the corpses of sinners that Orin brought to her. She admired Orin. Orin was strong. Orin was beautiful. Orin was everything she admired.

Occasionally, her mistress, Mistress Satori would visit. She loved Mistress Satori more then anyone else in the world, and Mistress Satori knew this because of her eye that could see people's hearts. And so Utsuho spent her days, amongst the dying flames of Hell, surrounded by those she loved.

...What, you say you know that already? Ufufufu, I'm just getting started.

You see, Kanako was bored and looking for a project. And it just so happened, by some quirk of fate, that a project was brought to us. Yatagarasu, who held the power of the sun itself, died. Since we were gods, we felt him die. And we sensed his passage into Hell.

Well, former Hell.

And Kanako, had one of her Ideas.

And so it was that we journeyed to the ruins of Hell, following the corpse of Yatagarasu. And so it was that we came across a Hell Raven.

Ufufufu, you've guessed which one it is, haven't you? No? You're dimmer then I thought. It was Utsuho Reiuji, naturally. And Kanako said:

'Hell Raven, you have been Chosen by the Gods!'

She speaks like that, you know.

'You have been Chosen as the successor of the secrets of nuclear fusion! With your power we shall lead Gensokyo into a new era!'

'Ah? M-me? Really? What do I have to do?'

'Devour this corpse. The corpse of the sun! Devour it and gain his knowledge! His POWER!'

And she did. I'll skip over this part, it wasn't pretty.

'I did it! Now what?'

'Eh? Nothing's happening? Suwako, you said—'

'I didn't say anything. This was YOUR crackpot scheme.'

'What an anticlimax. I'm going home.'

And she did. She's very impatient. She didn't feel the warmth emanate from the raven. She didn't see the eye grow in her chest. What? Yes, that WAS a sight I'd rather not see again, thank you.

'Ah! Miss God! Miss God? Something's happening! I feel...so powerful! Is this what you said would happen, Miss God?'

Kanako didn't reply, obviously.

'Oooh, let's try it out! That corpse there! Let's burn it to ashes! This is amazing, Miss God! It's incredible! I feel so powerful! Unstoppable!'

The raven incinerated everything around her, just to test her power.

'Let's try something REALLY big, now. I'll restart the FIRES! YES! AHAHAHAHAHA!'

And a giant star bloomed in the very center of the hell. The Power of Yatagarasu is the power of the Sun itself, after all. This new stunt earned the attention of the kasha. Why, yes it was Orin. You catch on fast.

'Okuu? What have you done? H-how—?'

'Orin, LOOK! I restarted the fires of hell! Won't Mistress Satori be happy?'

'Yes, yes. But how?'

'She said it was the secrets of nuclear fusion! She said I could lead the world into a new era! And I will! I'll burn the surface!! I'll BURN IT TO ASH!!! I'll turn it into a new Hell for us! For you and me and Mistress Satori and Mistress Koishi! And Mistress Satori will smile again! And Mistress Koishi will open her Eye again, and we'll be so happy, like we were before!!!!'

'Okuu, what—?'

'And you can help me, Orin! You're so strong, you could beat anyone who tries to stop us!'

'Okuu, listen—-'

'What's wrong, Orin?'

'I don't think Mistress Satori would like it if you burned the surface world?'

'Why not?'

'Because, well... I don't think she'd want you to commit genocide. Just sayin'.'

'But Orin. She told me she misses the surface world so much. The nasty Oni won't even let her leave the Palace. I think I'll burn them first! I want to see them run! I want to hear them SCREAM!!'

'Okuu, please—'

'Are you trying to stop me, Orin? Don't you want Mistress Satori to laugh again? I see. Then, I guess you'll have to be first. Rin Kaenbyou! Prepare yourself!'

'Okuu, wait!'

And they fought. Very briefly. The kasha fled as soon as she saw Miss Reiuji's new power. I left too, then. I saw her sending up evil spirits to the surface on my way out. I presume she wanted to attract the attention of that amusing priestess so she could stop Utsuho without the satori finding out. And you know how the story goes from there of course.

My how polite you've been, listening to an old lady ramble on like this. Would you like more tea, Miss Komeiji?

edited 4th Oct '11 2:22:19 AM by asterism

Song of the Sirens

Pretty much ad libbed, which is why it switches to Suwako narrating near the start, and the very high levels of As You Know, because I only came up with her telling it to Koishi near the end.

But it's still good, right? Play this in the background for ambience.

'Sir, I'm afraid you've gone mad with power'
'Of course I have. Have you ever gone mad without power? It's boring. No-one listens to you.'

edited 3rd Oct '11 4:22:13 PM by asterism

Song of the Sirens

I'm confused. Who's narrating here?

Edit: ...Oh, never mind.

edited 3rd Oct '11 4:35:25 PM by Cynicmuffin

it was alright but it mostly just went over the stuff we already know from SA

Just another passerby

Rather liked the spin it put on Utsuho, myself. Her precise motives, that is.

Inserts random Medicine minific — The Mound Where Poison Gathers

On a hill forsaken by man where the flowers grow thick and poison the passerby, there is a tool. A tool without purpose, but a tool who longs for one. It calls itself Medicine Melancholy. The sun shone high above, and a blond doll frolicked among the poison, singing and feeling the familiar texture of suzuran all around her. A light fog hovered over the hill, but it was not laced with poison like usual. No, the doll was expecting someone. And apparently it wasn’t nice to go poison your allies.

“Compalo, compalo. Oh poison, please gather up~” Medicine chanted, relishing the feeling of poison all around her, “Belladonna, Higanbana, and Wolfsbane too! Oh won’t you please come and play with me?” Giggling to herself, she looked out at the expanse of flowers. She hadn’t expected to have so many new plants so sun, but that joyful flower fairy flew by and the seeds Medicine had collected sprung to life! Now random patches of red lilies, bushes with black flowers, and low growing blue hoods dotted the landscape. That particular fairy perplexed her though. Fairies are normally so easy to read, the poison in their hearts in petty, and ill-hidden. But that fairy had no poison, no hate in her heart. Perhaps she had read it wrong, Medicine supposed; she wasn’t all that great at the whole “reading hearts thing”. She just knew poison when it called to her. Suddenly, over the horizon, a blob of red and blue appeared. The Anti-Poison. What was her name again? Oh, Eirin? Perhaps. There was a strange feeling about her. A strong poison this one is. She was like an antidote, reversing the effects of one poison with another. A grating, crawling sensation washed over Medicine, but she ignored it and walked forward towards the woman.

“Oh! There you are! Working hard it seems.” The silvered-haired woman called. Soon, the two met and began walking towards Medicines previous location. “And look! So much color! You really have been working hard. ”

Medicine beamed with pride. She always felt like this whenever the woman was around. She wanted to boast and talk about her achievements, and most of all, she felt that she needed Eirin to know. “Well, that flower fairy came by and she made all the flowers bloom! Though I really wanted to use the bulbs, but oh well… And then Bella was all ‘why must I be like this? I want to wreck their eyes!’ But I told her that going all willy-nilly was a waste, but Bella’s such a kidder. And Su-san’s just wants to play, but he doesn’t know that we got lots a work to do! And Wolf was going all crazy yesterday, talking like he was somebody else and all, but Wolf’s still Wolf, he’s just playing around! And-” And hand reached down and plopped on her head. “Slow down dear! One thing at a time.” And Eirin shot her that smile, the one that made Medicine feel all warm inside. The blue-red was someone special, but who she really was the doll could never know. The woman sighed and stared out into the distance, a look that Medicine could not identify crossed her face. It felt, sad, in a way. Melancholic. But then Eirin sat fown and her faced resumed the warm smile. So Medicine sat down with her, contentment sprawled across her face.

“So Medicine, how was your day?” “Well… It started like usual, with waking Su-san up. And then I went and looked for some new flowers. And then… ”

And so a day of sunshine and flowers was made, and another test completed. The doll grows ever more human…

edited 3rd Oct '11 5:20:36 PM by sorcerymon

a newcomer appeared, bearing the gift of wonderful minific

Just another passerby

Shucks. Though now that I've written it, I'm toying around with expanding my thoughts on a schizophrenic Medicine.

I'm confused. who are we currently talking about?

Doing nothing is a choice.

Anyone that we already have.

"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow

We're doing a review period/Ten Desires introduction period. Feel free to discuss anybody already discussed. Faw put up a list of characters and places covered in the first review period as a review of reviewing.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

We're talking about anyone we've already talked about, and lightly discussing Seiga. I screwed up and posted Seiga early, but the next few days will be more structured with Fawriel highlighting a few previously done characters tomorrow and then we'll lightly discuss Tojiko the day after that.

At that rate, you'll have to cover the new characters from the Touhou 14 demo as well.