It's also worth mentioning that one of Evil Eye Sigma's attack patterns, with the vertically bouncing balls, got reprised later on by none other than Fujiwara no Mokou, in her Fujiwara "Flaw of Forgiving Shrine"
spellcard (minus some vertical lasers, but plus some extra waves and speed variances).
It's anyone's guess what the latter card is supposed to do; the comment apparently says it's some sort of barrier against curses that doesn't actually work; the implication for the former is that it could well be Rika literally trying to curse Reimu.
And it also has the nifty implication of Rika and Mokou interacting at some point, maybe when Rika tried to capture a potential power source/test subject and got more than she bargained for.
Okay, good run for an early PC-98 character. Up next will be Kikuri, followed by Gensokyo itself and the legendary deepcrow. But first,
& Unzan![]()


Stage: The High-speed Ruins and the Giant ~ The High-speed Floating Ship
BGM: "Sky Ruin"
note
Theme: "The Traditional Old Man and the Stylish Girl"
note
Spellcard Motif: Beatings From an Angry Cloud
Sample Spellcards: UFO
, DS
, HM
, ULiL
Iron Fist "An Unarguable Youkai Punch," Barrage "Cloud World Kraken Strike," Annihilation "Consecutive Hooks throughout Heaven and Earth," Thunderous Yell "A Scolding From a Traditional Old Man," Rage "Calamity Scolding Scorch," Lightning "Electrified Nyuudou," Storm Sign "Autumn Storm Clouds of Buddhist Retribution," Cumulonimbus "Foreseeing Nyuudou Cloud," "Traditional Era of a Splendid Old Man," Nyuudou "Genso-Tarou Cloud in Summer," "A Midsummer Night Trapped by a Mysterious Woman"
Write-up:
The most normal member of Byakuren Hijiri's band of youkai Buddhists, which may not be saying much. Ichirin was once an ordinary girl, but when she encountered a nyuudou monk-youkai, she was able to say the right thing to avoid being attacked. This impressed the cloud monster so much that Unzan became her guardian, while Ichirin at the same time was able to keep Unzan from attacking people. But her long association with a youkai, and the subsequent fear and distrust, ended up turning Ichirin into a youkai herself, which led her to become one of Byakuren's disciples and being sealed underground.
Since returning to the surface, Ichirin has become one of the more amiable and devoted members of the Myouren Temple (again, this may not be saying much). She's said to be both pleasant and determined, a good influence on the stubborn but dutiful Unzan, and recently Ichirin made a good showing for herself during Gensokyo's low-key religious conflict. Not too shabby for a character created as an afterthought to be a cloud monster's hitbox.
Relations
- Byakuren Hijiri (friend and guru)
- Myouren Temple Crew (spiritual sisters, housemates)
See also the previous
two
compendiums.
edited 16th Jan '16 6:28:45 PM by Tacitus
I wonder how much of that has to do with being a big pink cloud beast, and how much has to do with the novelty value of a male Touhou character.
![]()
Ichirin may be too nice to be jealous. Like, if anything I'd expect her to be angry with Unzan for being responsible for her losing her humanity, because her backstory is kinda tragic. Except again, she seems a nice gal. If she is dutiful and pleasant as she's supposed to be, she probably wouldn't mind Unzan attracting more attention than her, especially since the big lug's actually shy.
Ichirin doesn't read to me as the jealous type either. Speaking of the pink cloud, I do find it interesting how he was able to sense Koishi far more quickly than anyone else in the cast in their story mode in Hopeless Masquerade.
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.If you heard a distant thunking sound, that was my head hitting my desk out of sheer embarrassment. Yes, of course you're right, this thread is all about alternate takes on characters, so we shouldn't dismiss an idea just because it's not based on canon.
So yeah, it wouldn't be hard to do something where Ichirin feels some resentment or negativity towards everyone's favorite pink cloud monster. Maybe the pleasant, dutiful nun we all know is just a facade, and Ichirin is really good at burying her true emotions while she behaves as she feels she must.
But as for why we don't see many (or any) works like that... good question. Maybe it's because so few works focus on Ichirin to begin with, and/or maybe it's because other members of the Myouren Temple Crew already have rich veins of Angst right on the surface, so to speak. You think of tragedy involving UFO's cast, it's usually Murasa or Byakuren, maybe Nue or Kogasa, but not the smiling monk with the big pink buddy.
Ichirin Kumoi:
A fellow devotee of the Myouren faith. Very kind.
Unzan:
A nyuudou youkai, and Ichirin's best pal. Shy, but observant.
Ichirin's second only to Shou when it comes to following Byakuren's teachings. On top of that, I do think she has a rather soothing aura surrounding her due to her generally good nature. Heck, she's one of the nicest folks you'd ever meet in Gensokyo! And if you think you're gonna get smacked by a pillow when she doles out her cloud punches... heh heh, you're in for such a bruising.
Speaking of clouds, Unzan has keen eyes. I'm sure he can discern a person's nature with ease. And he'll bluntly point it out. Or let Ichirin do the talking. He's too shy for that. Of course, bluntness could lead to insensitivity, so Ichirin may have had to reorganize what he says into kinder, easier to get across translations. Since she, a monk, is doing the translations, she can't be too insensitive.
I don't know, Ichirin just looks so cool and stylish. ...Guess that's why she's such a fashionista in the Stuffman-verse, huh?
And she doesn't get the benefit of being a god's avatar, either.
And yet there's her HM ability, Quiet Rage. It's pure gold however you interpret it - either it's a Beware the Nice Ones moment where the smiling and friendly Ichirin finally snaps, or it's Unzan getting fed up after seeing his precious little buddy get beat up for too long.
Maaaybe? I'm wondering if it's not an ironic name, "foreseeing monks" who are constantly staring at their own feet. Unless they lift their gaze up. And decapitate people. With their huge face?
Remilia puts on the frilly dress, boasts of her famous ancestry, has her flunkies roll out the red carpet and put on an event to summon her famous Charisma. Ichirin grabs everyone's attention just doing her chores in a conservative habit. Some people are just born with it, are naturally glamorous without even trying.
edited 21st Jan '16 7:08:17 PM by Tacitus
Something that's unique to Ichirin among the Myouren Temple cast herd is that she doesn't owe Byakuren anything. Murasa and Shou were both "made" by Byakuren, but Ichirin developed into her current situation on her own merits. Then she met Byakuren, and since her preaching about youkai transcending their natures wouldn't necessarily apply to Ichirin, it's likely that Ichirin became Byakuren's disciple because they recognized each other as kindred spirits, women who gained supernatural power and were shunned for it. Also, it would give Ichirin something to do and a purpose to her life, things she might not have had with just Unzan for company.
The downside of this is that Ichirin, despite being a nice person who doesn't try to drown anyone or hold guerrilla punk rock concerts when good kids would be sleeping, cannot be considered a successful product of Byakuren's teachings. Ichirin hasn't reformed because she was never misbehaving, and hasn't broken free of what she was "supposed" to do because her youkai purpose is pretty vague. So she's an outlier, someone who can't be counted as part of Byakuren's experiment. Maybe call her a research assistant?
Anyway, artdump time.
Watercolors?
Looks a bit scared on her own
More confident now
The sound of one hand praying
Hood problems
One of many uses of a little friendly cloud
He knows just how to cheer her up
Glamorous
My only problem with this work is that it looks like Unzan is accidentally getting an eyefull
Ichirin as an excuse to look at the Palanquin Ship
Its ability to fly now seems less impressive
Clockwork airships
That'd be a hell of an AU scenario
Alternate and embellished
Gensokyo needs more sohei
Not one for science
Armed and dangerous
The confidence that comes when your friend can eclipse the sun
He's wispy and ripped
Get his party started
Motion controls
Fisticuffs
Ring of power
Ever been punched by the sky?
Don't give the kappa ideas
His hitbox is way over there, Marisa
If Reimu could survive a roaring oni, her ears are probably okay here
Wait, are they in the outside world?
Po po po?
DIY cloud colossus
Guess that's one way to decapitate someone
But why stop at the head?
She's gone grimdark
Ichirin and her amazing friends
Much Buddhism
Such colors
A girl and her air elemental
Wading
The horizon at her command
Her other bestie
Brilliant blue eyes
Time and again
Don't usually consider air and water opposed elements, but there you go
She makes the strangest friends
Oops
And you thought Shou was the worst drunk at the temple
A shameless flirt, too
Almost inevitable
Sweet dreams
Research assistant probably would be an accurate description of Ichirin. On the other hand, the fact the Ichirin and Unzan are not going around attacking people can be used to argue that Byakuren's basic premise that humans and youkai can get along without violence does have its merits anyway.
Even if it doesn't prove that Buddhism is the hero that humans and youkai need.
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.Since Ichirin is the one that was hopelessly masquerading along with Byakuren, I guess that sort of proves she's Byak's assistant.
Or at least more gung ho than Shou.
Shame on you, Shou. You were literally chosen by god.
edited 23rd Jan '16 10:31:01 PM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the Avengers![]()
That's because Shou's not all that great a fighter, 80% of her power's the Pagoda.
edited 23rd Jan '16 10:22:18 PM by rmctagg09
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.Feels like the conversation's winding down, so it's a good time to get any last nun- or cloud-related thoughts in.
Assuming a human is around to hold the youkai's leash, anyway. So it's not so much the youkai changing its nature as it is someone putting that nature in check, which probably isn't quite what she's going for. Unless Byakuren is highlighting Ichirin's youkai status and not making much of her being a former normal human, which would be cheating.
Pretty odd for a god of war to sit a conflict out. Yes, it was a bit farcical, but beggars can't be choosers and all that. You think he'd jump at the chance to get involved in something more intense than spellcard duels.
![]()
She is? Well, I guess their hair is sort of similar? Other than that I don't really see a connection.
Always interesting to hear duets, try to imagine how the singers fit the characters. In this case we have an aggressive, blustery male and a strident but soothing female singer - perhaps an allusion to Unzan and Ichirin's early relationship, back when he was more homicidal?
Anyhoo, moving along. Up next will be a discussion about Gensokyo in general, followed by Okuu and someone undoubtedly jealous that so many people were picked before her. But first...
![]()

Stage: Hell
BGM: "Blade of Banishment"
note
Theme: "Magic Mirror"
note
Write-up:
Another mysterious enemy from the most baffling of Touhou games. Kikuri appears to be a bronze disc bearing the image of a serene woman, though the fact that its features are different in one ending suggests that Kikuri can shift about to some extent. Her (its?) namesake would seem to be Kikurihime, a dragon goddess noteworthy for mediating a dispute between Shinto's creator deities. Kukuri's title is "Hellish Moon," which tells us very little, and of course the fact that she's encounter in Hell is surely significant.
The challenge is figuring out how all these facts fit together in a comprehensible whole.
See also the previous
compendiums
.
edited 27th Jan '16 5:47:02 PM by Tacitus
Is Kikuri legal tender?
Follow up, can she be used in most standard vending machines to facilitate the purchase of edibles?
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Hmm, two problems with that idea, though: first is that Rikako wasn't trying to fuse technology with magic, she'd given up on the latter so she could focus on the former. Second, Rika's nowhere to be seen when Yumemi and Chiyuri show up. It's possible that Rika indirectly helped draw their interest
, but I don't see much reason for them to interact. It's not like Rika needs their tech to make flying monster "tanks."
Possible explanations for Rika's subsequent absence - well, just look at her. We're in a pre-industrial magical wonderland, and here she is building tanks and artificial monsters. Not only does she lack the decency to keep her tinkering confined to the privacy of her own home, like the kappa, but here she is attacking the shrine of the miko vital to Gensokyo's continued existence! Maybe she was given the boot, exiled from Gensokyo to a more mundane world where she couldn't do as much damage. Maybe she was punished for her blasphemous fusions of machine and spirit.
Or maybe, after juicing up for her EX-fight, she suffered an ironic phlebotinum breakdown. Whatever changes your hair color and (possibly?) gives you horns can't be approved by the FDA, and it's also fun to imagine a bunch of spirits or divine energy breaking free as EES suffers catastrophic damage.
edited 14th Jan '16 6:20:38 PM by Tacitus