The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

I tried! But everyone else here is anti-hat for some reason.

Chen ~ Those Lacking Leashes

Once upon a time, there was a mistress of purple who kept a student, the indigo-marked kitsune, in a mansion at the end of time and space.

One day, in the autumn of 1894, the mistress called her student. She told her that, after living for so long, she was growing tired. The kitsune was go to out into the world and find a pet. It must be energetic. It must be independant. It must compensate for everything that may be lost to old age. Most importantly, it must be able to learn. She set off from Japan to complete the goal

Two years later, the student returned to Japan. She had searched the jungles of South America, the forests of Europe, even the deathtraps of Australia. She had met many creatures, both mundane and fantastic, and made friends among them. But, she could not find the pet. Those who were independant were too set in their ways. Those who weren't were too timid. She dared not return to her master empty-handed. So, she prayed to the gods for help and waited.

Two days later, she was resting on the banks of the Shinano River, watching the sun's descent. She caught a fish and set it on a small fire. She began to wonder why she couldn't satisfy her master's commands. The scritch scratch of claws on dry leaves brought her out of her thoughts. A young kitten had come, drawn by the smell of warm fish. When she went to snatch up the fish in her jaws, the kitten pounced on the fish.

They wrestled over the fish till the first rays of sunlight hit them. Finally, the kitsune shook the fish free, knocking the cat away. She immediately bit through half the fish, slating the hunger of a long night. Again, she heard the scritch scratch. The cat, though covered in bruises, wobbled over to the kitsune. She mewed for food at the kitsune's feet. Suddenly, it was all clear to the kitsune. She lifted the cat by the scruff of its neck and returned to her master.

And so, the cat became a member of the Yakumo household. The mistress was pleased at how the kitsune and the cat acted, as mother and daughter. So, when the kitsune asked to take the cat as a student, she obliged. When the cat learned how to take human form, the kitsune brought her clothes and taught her how to walk, and talk.

Even now, as the cat runs through Gensokyo, wild and carefree, she does not forget the teachings of her mother, Ran-sama

Unrelated: One vote for Marisa's Hat.

My theory about Chen - Ran has been with her since at least her transformation into a nekomata. I base this on Chen's lack of traditional nekomata activities, such as corpse reanimation or shapeshifting or ghostlights. I guess Ran-sama had no truck with that sort of thing, and taught Chen to focus on traditional magic instead.

I see her more as a teenager than a cutsey lil' girl, coming into her prime but still learning what she's capable of. She's got a cat's lifetime of experience but suddenly received a double-whammy power boost, first by becoming a sapient youkai, and second from the shikigami process. So I can imagine Chen picking fights to test her limits, even if this pretty much contradicts her behavior in PCB. I guess she didn't feel like it that night.

That's another thing - Chen's at her core a cat, a capricious and baffling creature just as likely to jump into your lap for a belly scratch as she is to attack your feet. She could swagger into a situation, oozing with confidence, only to freak out and scamper away, tails fluffed and frazzled. She may approach, cautious and hesitant, and then abruptly leap to the offensive. That's why it's hard for me to pin down an idea of her character, since it could change from hour to hour.

I did enjoy the Village of Cats story, though. Chen was aping her Ran-sama, I think, trying to find subordinates and possibly a shikigami of her own. I wonder if Yukari woke up one morning and had to ask who this new cat youkai was, and if someday Chen will bring someone home herself.

Chen ~ Wild Young Rebel

Okay, I'll admit. I have a soft spot in my heart for the cutesy-moe Chen. Probably because I associate her with our current cat, who is energetic, loves to be around us and is about as sharp as a brick. Now, I don't think Chen's stupid, but there's a sense of naivety to her in my opinion, she seems so excited to be fighting. Omigosh a real miko wandered in to my awesome city I get to beat her up oh wait aaaaaah ow ow ow when did she start beating me Ran-samaaaaaaaaa save meeeeeeee-

Is she powerful? Yeah! She's the shikigami of none other than Ran Yakumo! She wields black magic, the likes of which your puny little minds cannot comprehend! The problem is that she lacks such complex things as finesse, or any strategy besides "rawr I'm a black magic kitty". Sometimes, this strategy works. Sometimes, it doesn't.

I imagine that she sometimes slinks into Yukari's house as if she were in a MGS game, trying to get to Yukari to ask a favor from "Grandma" without getting caught by Ran. And when she inevitably gets caught, Ran starts flipping out over Chen's new piercings and earrings and have you been running with that punk crowd again? Honestly, Chen, that "Team 6" or whatever is no good! Look at your clothes, Chen, and your - your hair, Chen, merciful heavens, sit down right now while I draw up a bath! No, you're going to sit down, Chen, if I have to tie you to the chair!

And then Chen tries to hop out of the house while tied to a chair, providing Yukari with her afternoon entertainment.

Have you seen that one picture, from Perfect Memento? This one?◊ That just sums up my view of Chen pretty well. She's a cocky punk teen, who's just immature enough to think of herself as really mature, and has a core of kittyness underneath all her posturing. She needs Ran just as much as Ran needs her, but wants to think of herself as a cool, independent nekomata of DOOOOOOM. She just isn't quite there yet.

I'm back, baby! With... well, a semi-coherent ramble on my view of Chen. It's short, and not really that good, but I needed to get back in the Touhou-interpreting mood somehow, so... yeah. Chen forever!

The problem is that she lacks such complex things as finesse, or any strategy besides "rawr I'm a black magic kitty". Sometimes, this strategy works. Sometimes, it doesn't.

It seems to impress Ran, at least.

She sometimes slinks into Yukari's house as if she were in a MGS game, trying to get to Yukari to ask a favor from "Grandma" without getting caught by Ran. And when she inevitably gets caught...

Chen, what happened? Chen? Chen? CHEEEEEEEEEEN!

Mission Faileo

edited 26th Feb '11 12:00:14 PM by Durazno

@yarrun: That was a nice story!

@Raz: Welcome back. I liked the mental images your story gave me. Fun times!

Also, I vote for the kappa.

Looks like we have 3 for the witch, 1 for the kappa so far.

Those votes were for Marisa's hat. Don't go giving us a consolation prize.

But the stories of Marisa and her hat are inextricably twined! I think it's more efficient to have them both at once, even though the hat will naturally dominate discussion.

Tangentially, it just occurred to me how weird it is to vote for a character's hat given the earlier discussion of hats as genitalia.

I'm still trying to forget that discussion

Those votes were for Marisa's hat.

Well, not mine. I actually forgot about the conversation about Marisa's hat when I voted for her.

I'm still trying to forget that discussion

A wise course of action.

I contend that hat reproduction is still far less disturbing than anything about yukkuris.

That's not hard to do

So sorry, but I just couldn't not make this into a combined three-way writeup.

Yukari/Ran/Chen — The Yakumo Family

This is Yukari Yakumo, a powerful youkai. This elegant umbrella-lady could be considered something of a matriarch. Of the Yakumo household, yes, but some would say of Gensokyo itself. She's rarely seen awake, and no one seems to be able to grasp her train of logic, which may explain why some seem to worship her as a deity. She's known to keep watch over Gensokyo, though she often employs a certain shrine maiden to do the intervention for her when things go wrong.

This is Ran Yakumo, a kitsune. Though she's Yukari's shikigami, she has a shikigami of her own. It is said that her intelligence far exceeds that of any human, especially with math. Between the enigmatic Yukari and the mischievous Chen, Ran would appear to be the most grounded of the three. Sometimes, you can find her in the Human Village buying tofu and other supplies. You might conclude that she's responsible for most of the chores (would you count on either of the other two?), but no one really knows for sure.

This is Chen, a nekomata. She's yet to earn the Yakumo family name, but it's probably a matter of time. She's a spirited young thing, if her appearance is anything to go by. Don't let the cuteness fool you, though, as she's far from harmless. Like any other youkai, it's best to keep your distance. Besides, if you give her trouble, you'll have her master to deal with. Though you'd have to have extraordinary power to even be able to go that far.

Jolly good! Okay, last call for votes? We're still at 3 Mari, 1 Nitori, I believe. I think I will arbitrarily close the poll in... 17.5 hours. (Okay, it's not completely arbitrary; I'll have a moment then, is all.)

Yes, yes. We've been over this. But for the sake of accuracy, 2 votes for Marisa's hat, 1 for Marisa and 1 for Nitori.

I vote for Byakuren's purple hair. The mystery of its origin must be finally unraveled.

A tad off topic but from what I've read/skimmed through/trying to fight off a cold-ness I've noticed a lack of talking about the characters powers.

I don't mean powers like pyrokinesis and the such. I mean where they stand in strength.

Most, if not all characters in Touhou have their power based on what stage they starred in, but to be honest it shouldn't work that way. Although yes it does make it easier to list them in prowess based off of the stage they show up in but, again, to be honest some characters are being shown with a much higher "power level" then they should have. Example, Fujiwara No Mokou.

Okay, Touhou wiki says her abilities are: Eternal youth and immortality, resistance to and manipulation of fire. Okay sounds fine, but the main problem is when you fight her in the game. During her battle she DIES MULTIPLE times. So to put to scale a barrage of attacks from either Reimu or Marisa that would subdue, let's say Cirno and makes her stand down (for the time being) actually kills Mokou, an extra stage boss, over and over again. Sure Yukari was helping Reimu but Wriggle didn't die now did she? And I doubt Yukari and Reimu increased their firepower during the Mokou fight, also no other EX stage bosses died from fighting Reimu or Marisa.

Now I'm not saying a fight against her would be easy, I'm just saying not all the characters are what they're cracked up to be, especially Reimu. The only time she canon-cly loses is during IMP where no one was using the spell card "system" she created.

Well my cold is draining me, aside from the fact it's 3 AM so when I can actually think I'll post something productive to the topic at hand.

I vote Marisa's hat.

edited 1st Mar '11 12:57:39 AM by Auriok

Wait, what? As far as I know, nobody dies in danmaku battles. The spellcard breaks in a spectacular flash, the loser gets the crap beaten out of them (they're gonna need more crap), and they slink away dejected and defeated.

And I vote Mystia-the-Unagi-Vendor's headscarf. For all the good that'll do.

edited 1st Mar '11 2:38:09 AM by KylerThatch

As far as I know, nobody dies in danmaku battles.

Mokou is the exception - from what in IN's Extra mode, instead of just going to the next spellcard, you can actually see her die and then come back for the next spellcard. It doesn't change anything but shows off her immortality.

I'm not sure what it means for the whole "no one dies in spellcard duels" rule. I guess ZUN forgot it, either accidentally or deliberately, when doing Mokou's battle.

edited 1st Mar '11 5:30:23 AM by StarkMaximum

Yukari: "You know, this would have gone a lot faster if you didn't hold yourself to the spellcard rules."
Reimu: "...eh, force of habit."

I haven't really seen IN Extra, even in a replay, so I had no idea.