The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I guess it's appropriate for a youkai like Rumia to be overshadowed by other events. She probably wouldn't mind, anyway.

A lot of Rumia art is pretty samey - her trademark pose, her ball of darkness, disturbingly sexualized portrayals of a character who appears to be a pre-teen - but there's a lot of great stuff too.

Rumia in a nutshell: cuteness, darkness, chompers
Her big entrance
Just the subtle suggestion something's not right about this girl
Hush
A spoon of optimism
She could just eat you up
The inverse of pretty sparkles?
Color from the shadows
I like the idea that she can make clothes from it
I also like the idea that she's developed light sensitivity
Lil' goth butterflies
Frolicking through the night
!
:P
Shall we?
A face with "bad end" written all over it
Awww, guess she's harmless after all
...Or maybe not
Red lit
Girl in a bubble
Her cross to bear
Peekaboo
Lunar eclipse
Droolia
Chompers
Action backflip
Splashdown
Leaving the buffet
Weird head, nice darkness effects
She's not a savage, see, she's using a knife!
koto inari continues to impress
Nightmare Fuel Warning
Older and sly-er?
Now you've done and got her attention
Of course we have to look at EX-Rumia too
Either an attack or she's dunking
Little waif with a big-ass sword
A not-so-little girl with a sword so big-ass she can perch on it
The power of purple
I think her darkness-wings have teeth
Could use a good apocalypse about now
Bitch, she eats people
Classy
In the beginning, there was darkness
Touhouvania
Your house, tonight
Why hasn't Remi recruited her yet?
Alignment
Big pink eyes
Something off about this child
I'm reminded of the evil brat from the first Drakengard
In distress
Monochromia
One of my favorite wallpapers
Sometimes it's worth turning the darkness off
Not quite a glomp
At least she's being honest
(Jaws theme)
Rumia don't know either
A spelling error so appropriate it may as well be deliberate
Leave the puppet shows to Alice, dear
You'll never see her coming
What else was she expecting to catch with that?
She's stronger than logic
Seriously, get with the program
Don't go towards the light!
Not the best plan
nom nom
bibibibibibi
I'm reminded to the famed Sideshow Bob Rake Take
Stop it
Stop being adorable

edited 15th Aug '15 9:03:21 PM by Tacitus

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

& The idea that Rumia could had been some super powerful being who had been depowered due to people not being afraid of darkness. I wonder if this where the whole EX Rumia thing came from?

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"

Maybe she looks childish now because it's mostly children who fear the darkness and watching a creepy, smiling little girl walk out of the darkness is more unsettling than a fairly normal woman.

edited 16th Aug '15 6:44:56 PM by Shiroimahotsukai

The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul.

Huh. That's a pretty good point, and opens up some interesting inquiries regarding certain youkai's appearance and what it says about who fears what they represent the most.

Like, Yuuka could be this older, smiling but lethally stern flower lady because she represents kids' fear of getting caught walking through their neighbor's lawn. Or something like that.

I'm not sure it was grounded in logic so much as... well, let's think about where that sort of fanon comes from. Sometimes characterization comes from exaggerating a character's traits - Sanae's enthusiasm for her job turns into Youkai Exterminator Sanae, while her abandonment of common sense leads to Sanae-san Gunning for the Pope. In other cases the fandom takes a canon trait and flips it for kicks, leading to Cirno being super-smart or the strongest - though of course the latter interpretation is absolutely true.

So EX-Rumia might come from that desire to make a weak character strong, mixed with expectations that a darkness youkai ought to kick ass and a desire to "correct" her weakness. Also, ZUN left us that plot bunny in the form of her hair amulet. It's gotta be there for a reason, so it might as well be a power limiter.

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

I found the idea that when it's said she can't touch her ribbon it's referring to her signature pose amusing. I chuckle every time I think "Maybe her arms just don't go any higher and she's making up the cruxifiction pose nonsense to cover it up" hilarious. A ridiculous notion perhaps but amusing none the less.

The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul.

Some more Rumia theories.

Rumia is pure darkness. As in, she's an blob of darkness. It is thanks to the amulet that she has a defined form in the first place. It is also because of the amulet that she forgets to use her darkness properly.

---

She was supposed to have appeared in EoSD. And she did. But before she could even spring into serious action, she was consumed and taken over by the color black. To the point that her appearance underwent a drastic change. Her own self, locked tightly within her own body, now housing a new personality. The change proved to be the dark being's undoing however, for it was far weaker than it had anticipated. Maybe it's because the previous owner of that body used her last ounce of strength and created something that stunted its powers(I'm referring to the amulet, of course).

Conclusion: Rumia body-jacked Rin Satsuki.

edited 18th Aug '15 5:02:19 PM by Diamite

Oooh, those are both good. I think I like the first one more just because it turns the "ribbon as power limiter" idea on its head and makes the thing essential to what little power Rumia possesses. Though the second is useful if you have a need to create "darkness infected" versions of characters.

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

Sorry Rumia, you're just being eclipsed by the moon right now. Almost makes me reluctant to move on to Yuuka until some of the LoLK excitement dies down.

So, any last thoughts about this youkai of darkness? Here's mine:

Rumia is important, not in-universe but from a game developer's standpoint. She's the first boss of the modern Touhou games, so ZUN gets to establish what players can expect from here on out.

She's a departure in the sense that she's no Orange, no generic youkai who exists merely to spray bullets during her level - Rumia has an explicit power, and a role in Gensokyo as a(n ineffective) predator. Said power sounds dangerous and serious, except her inability to use it properly shows that we can't make assumptions, that our expectations may be challenged by what we encounter. And above all else we can't take things too seriously just because we're up against monsters of darkness or blood-sucking (red tea-drinking) vampires. Gensokyo has more depth now, and more shading, but it's still a fun place to play in.

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

She is the dark. She is the night. SHE IS RUMIA—*crashes into tree*

Dark Coffee
Power of Darkness
A Cheerful Dark Soul
Voice from Darkness' Depths
Black Cherry
Lights in the Dark
Ancient Apparition
Dark Anticipation
The Dark Hungers
The Playful Darkness
The Dark Soothes Your Soul
Hazy Darkness
Fall in the Dark
Black Rising

I wonder where the whole Rumia is Flandre theory came from?

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"

They're both blond, they're both in the same game, and Rumia has a seal for some reason in red and white which happen to be colors Flandre wears.

It almost sorta vaguely makes sense.

And it nicely bookends by making the first boss actually the EX-boss.

Presumably, Sakuya found Rumia off-screen and tutted, 'we told you to stop playing in the piles of seals room, young mistress.'

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I guess that theory makes sense but why would Flandre of all people would want to cloak herself in darkness to scaring humans and bump into trees? It makes no sense. Rumia is clumsy because she cloaks herself in darkness and she is blind to everything else.

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"

Vampires don't like sun is another part of the theory i guess

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

This is what I get from running a Red Vs Blue marathon - now I can imagine fragments of Flan's psyche going rogue when she Four of a Kind's and developing independent existences. So maybe Rumia represents Flandre's shyness or fear of sunlight, combined with her predatory instincts but tempered with her childishness. And Flan can no longer generate shadows because that ability's run off on her.

Taken further, we could start speculating what other blonde youkai are Flan's psychic spawn. Like... um... ahah! Kana! Formed from a mentally unstable girl, check, the people in the mansion she lived in got used to her, check. And besides that... actually, that's about it for blonde Touhous with open-ended origins. Well, food for thought at least.

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

Well Remilia can generate a cloud that blocks the sun and allows her to go outside.

Its not far-fetch'd that Flandre can create shadow.

Remember that to keep her inside, Patchy had to generate a rainstorm

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Plus, can you ever say you've seen Flandre and Rumia in the same scene at the same time?

Stella ~Part 3 (Atelier Shallie)

Well, Rumia was in the ballroom in the party scene during S Si B wasn't she? And according to Inabax2, Flandre was in the basement during that time.

Not counting Yukari, who's not relevant by virtue of being older than 495.

Ah, but, Reisen and Tewi were also in that ballroom!

Rumia could have wandered back to the basement and been reabsorbed/re-Flandre'd by the time the buns delve into the underground. Especially since they wander around for a bit before they see Flandre's shadow.

Also SSIB is also the one that put Lily White and Lily Black in the same room at the same time whenever knows that they never attend the same social event because they are the same person.

Why, next you'll be saying that Lily White and Lily Green should be seen together! Poppycock!

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Everyone's always talking about Lily Green, but they always forget Lily Brown, the fairy of the Fall.

Stella ~Part 3 (Atelier Shallie)

In fairness, the spectrum of Lilies is pretty girthy. Its hard to remember all of her various psuedonyms.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

So long as we don't forget Lily Burgundy and Lily Turquoise.

Stella ~Part 3 (Atelier Shallie)

And now I'm imagining Clownpiece's extended family, a lineage of fairies garbed in all the flags of the world.

Alright, someone help Rumia out of here, and mind your arms and legs. Up next will be Yamame, Rikako, and it looks like Shingyoku. Let me also announce that with the release of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, Sumireko Usami has been added to the discussion pool.

But first, I'm trying something a little different...

Oriental Demon Yuuka

Appearance:

Stages:
Illusion ~ Phantasmagoria
BGM: "Lotus Love"^note I had no idea what this was when I made it, but it's grown on me now. Once you get used to it, you can see how it's quite cool, and how it has quite a nice feel. Quite. The stage is short, too, so in-game the song only loops once. Poor thing.
Theme: "Sleeping Terror"^note I'm usually pretty haphazard in my song writing, but this time I pretty much had the thing all planned out (in my head) before I got started. I don't think I use this type of bass pattern very often, though. But, I didn't have many voices in the 26 version, so it didn't come out all that well (;_; [...] This is a little atypical among Touhou boss music (I think). As for why this is, in the image I had when starting up Lotus Land Story, the 5th stage boss was definitely already decided to be the sleepy (with a negligee form) last boss (not related? (^^;;） (Really, it was genuinely with the background in the bedroom, but it was quite difficult with the VRAM space and character scale so I gave up) Due to this and that, an odd Yuuka has been born and born. Since the tune was the style of being charming, I aimed at emphasizing that area. Perhaps cute (is it cute?(^^;;）

Pursuit ~ Raspberry Trap
BGM: "Dream Land"^note This is a very short song (^^; I think it came out very lonely-sounding, too (^^;;; Well, in any case, is it, I wonder? Kind of. Uja~
Theme:"Faint Dream ~ Inanimate Dream"^note The last boss theme. It has a very final feel to it. I think it came out pretty cool somehow~ Nobody really knows if Yuuka herself is cool. Personally, I think I rather like her. [...] I aimed it to get the feeling of the battle version of Yuuka's theme 1 "Sleeping Terror." How it not having a glimpse of profoundness for a final boss, makes it sound like my doing. I have made it in techno style in purpose. There sure are many games that have classical style in the last, aren't there? (Hard rocks too). Setting that aside, it's a mysterious song. The verse part was more impressive than the chorus, so I arranged it getting inspiration from that.... By the way, does "Inanimate Dream" mean anti-Animate dreams? (^^;

Other Theme:
"Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan"^note Yuuka's theme. It's Japanese style -de gozaru. It'd be lonely to have a game without a Asian sort of song. (laughs) It's a light and fun song, which is very rare for me (no, really). Fashionable (really?).

Write-up:
A youkai who can be disarmingly cheerful about carnage and genocide. She was first encountered during Lotus Land Story in a fantastic mansion beneath a lake of blood, and she was not sleeping, thank you very much. Despite being caught in her pajamas, Yuuka managed to serve as both the Stage Five and Final Boss of her debut game. Later in Mystic Square, she might have gone on a rampage through Makai more or less for giggles.

Yuuka appears in the Seihou game Kioh Gyoku with the title "Beauty of Everlasting Darkness." And a frankly odd profile entry. "Youkai moe~"

She also packs a rather impressive magical cannon...

Relationships:

• Elly (gatekeeper)

Flower Master Of The Four Seasons Yuuka Kazami

Appearance:

Theme:
"Gensokyo, Past and Present ~ Flower Land"^note Yuuka Kazami's theme. I thought to create a piece bright and fluid, with the elegance of a flower. It didn't come out that way. The main melody here is done on piano, and particularly as I was writing it, it brought back fond memories. I thought it'd be better to make the piano part longer, but piano doesn't seem to fit the game all that well, so it's shorter.

Spellcard Motif: Beautiful flowers
Spellcards: (PoFV)
Flower Sign "Reflowering of Gensokyo," Fantasy "The Beauty of Nature"

Write-up:
A youkai often encountered in the Garden of the Sun, a dazzling stretch of sunflowers not too far from the Human Village. Her stated ability is to control flowers, making them bloom or track the sun across the sky - not something you can really use in combat, but when you're an old a youkai as Yuuka, you have power to spare.

She's said to be polite to those who treat her with the proper respect, and doesn't pick fights with weaklings, but if you do become Yuuka's enemy, expect no mercy. Even when she's smiling in her field or visiting a village flower shop she can unnerve people, hence why Akyuu assigns Yuuka a unique "Worst" human friendship category. But she's not really active in Gensokyo's affairs, and tends to only pop up in the background these days.

She seems to know Reimu and Marisa from somewhere, though...

Relationships:

• Reimu Hakurei ("still being a poor miko")
• Marisa Kirisame ("grown up quite a bit")

See also the previous two compendiums.

edited 21st Aug '15 8:49:11 PM by Tacitus

Current earworm: "Awe of the Unknown"

I don't think we can even be sure Yuuka in the PC-98 games was a youkai. Alice in PC-98 and Windows were different enough. But's that getting into "Is PC-98 canon" territory, and I completely respect those who think it is.

How does Reimu remember Yuuka where Yuuka barely remembers Reimu?

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"