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The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

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Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3376: May 22nd 2016 at 6:55:23 PM

It's also possible that if she creates incidents in her wake, that napping constrains her movements and keeps Gensokyo from collapsing into wackyland.

She might even been Genre Savvy enough to realize that someone as overpowered as herself should best be used sparingly. If Yukari's popping up everywhere and solving whatever problem's arisen that week, what's the point of having all the other youkai and empowered humans around? And frankly, Reimu could use the exercise.

I think Touhou Tonari posited that she might bluescreen due to mental trauma over Yuyuko's death if she stays awake too long or is up during the winter.

Guess that's possible. Might be an occupational hazard of long-lived youkai, bumping into something that triggers a painful memory. Might be why they rarely socialize and tend to stick to their own territories.

Wonder how Yukari dealt with losing Renko, then?

Here are a couple of my guesses on why Yukari sleeps so much: 1) she especially loves to troll Doremy and the -getsu siblings, forcing herself to sleep constantly in order to enter the Dream World and go screw with them; 2) long ago she got hit with a nasty Lunarian curse that tried to force her into an eternal slumber, but her border manipulation allows her to get around it sometimes via screwing with the border between sleeping and waking; 3) she is constantly on the borderline between sober and drunk, forcing her to sleep off the constant hangover.

Like #1, dislike #2 because Lunarian, not sure about #3. It might be hard to tell when someone like Yukari is inebriated.

I guess we should also discuss the Schrodinger Butterfly theory, that when Yukari sleeps she's running around in the outsider world in a different guise or something like that. The sort of thing we might discuss as Akyuu's pointless speculating (unlike our purposeful speculating), except Sumireko has been doing something similar, exploring Gensokyo in a dream body while her real self snoozes in class. And also it sounds like this dream self can potentially break off and start an independent existence?

I don't see how Yukari could prank Yuyuko given that Yuyuko can practically read her mind, They've just been friends for so long that neither of them could possibly surprise the other anymore.

At least they can apparently troll each other, given SSiB and the sake theft.

Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#3377: May 23rd 2016 at 12:33:26 AM

How was that trolling? That's exactly what I meant by Yuyuko being able to read her mind (and Yukari knows this). The whole plan revolved around Yuyuko getting the message without being told, and while she stole sake instead of something more obviously valuable, in the end Yukari loved it anyway because it's something that can't be returned or stolen back.

Anyway, based on that sequence of events, we can safely say that Yuyuko is always aware of whatever Yukari's planning, and while Yukari is less omniscient, Yuyuko's surprises are likely to be pleasant.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3378: May 23rd 2016 at 3:36:05 AM

[up] Yukari and Yuyuko are partners in crime. tongue

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3379: May 24th 2016 at 10:35:02 PM

[up] Assuming they're both up and not distracted by food or a good opportunity to tease Reimu/Youmu.

[up][up] Either there's some wiggle room when it comes to categorizing such behavior, or else the sake incident was shoehorned under the Troll trope to get it on the character page.

Thinking about the Yukari-Yuyuko friendship - might be a case of like drawing to like since as Clarste points out they understand each other extremely well by this point. But it seems unlikely that Yuyuko, and maybe Yukari too, started out this way. So what led the two to become friends in the first place? Did it start as an opposites attract situation, until Yuyuko's death and the fog of centuries led her to take up more of Yukari's traits? Or were they both alike at the start as well, but in a different way than how they are now, a pair of young, troubled extraordinary women coming to terms with their abilities?

And I wonder, if Yukari's thought process is rather similar to those of a thousand-year-dead ghost princess, what that says about Yukari's life? Do other long-lived youkai like Yuuka think in a similar way, or does this imply a human origin to Yukari's story?

TheMageofFire Since: May, 2012
#3380: May 24th 2016 at 10:58:32 PM

Perhaps, what you are suggesting, is that Yukari is a spectre of Maribel that drifted through the millenias of history until it all started over, eventually becoming one with the boundaries and emerging as Yukari?

I swear some sort of time loop is going on with Yukari-Maribel.

Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3381: May 26th 2016 at 7:14:28 PM

Well, one of the conventional theories is that Maryberry will accidentally or not end up in Gensokyo's distant past, like how she left that centuries-old note behind for Akyuu to discover, and rebrand herself as everyone's favorite gap monster. But Sumireko's ability to form a dream self could completely invalidate this narrative - perhaps Yukari is Maribel's dream avatar being projected back to certain points in history. So it wouldn't be a case of Maribel "becoming" Yukari through a time loop, Maribel is already Yukari, which is to say she uses that guise when she interacts with Gensokyo's past.

And then this raises the possibility of changing history and divergent timelines and gives us hope that there will be strawberries in the future.

Anyway, on with the Yukari picdump. There are, scientifically speaking, buttloads of good gap monster art, and this is the first case where I had to stop myself from going through pages instead of deciding at some point that there wasn't anything else that met my standards. So without further ado:

Her debut outfit
Ambiguous
Dominant
Sassy
Seductive
Stoic
Intense
Charming
Condescending
Scheming
Inverted
Relaxed
Troubling
Shady
In green
The boss
Surrounded by finery
Welcome to frill hell
Yukari at all hours
Chaotic
Festival of monsters
Yukari the Red
This is still a neat pool
An appeal shift in style
A proposal
Stars above, stars all around
A pet lover
Once upon a time... and during a flood apparently
I'm trying to figure out what Ran and Chen are doing, but my eye keeps getting distracted by something
Strong Hellsing vibe
She adopted another one
Border Team, deploy!
After the scrimmage
Back in the day
A friendship transcending life and death
Close the gap, it's throwing off the mood
And end and a beginning
Some artists seem to have decided they have quite the feud
An oni works too
Mirrored
Mirror
What lies in the gap between the two?
Wish the commentary was translated
An always-handy seat
Gap study - like a scarf
A short bit of cloth
Fracture
Panels
Smoke
Ooze
Crack
Crackling
Shards
Haze
View from the inside
Darkness
Swirling
Aggression
An eyeful
Eclipsing
Probably not a tattoo
A scabbard
Hell of a glare
Something between a sword and a ribbon
Casually tearing space-time a new one
Displeased
Unhinged
So happy
Broken mask
I'm relieved they didn't use one particular tag to describe this situation
Half of a shell
I absolutely adore koto inari
The Yakumo Family (finger snaps)
This may be how the world ends
Or maybe this is how
Frivolous use of god-like powers #17
Frivolous use of god-like powers #3
What is this called? The Oriental Adventures handbook says it's a doc cu'o'c, but I can't find anyone else who uses that name
Going for that Portal cheevo
Worst parent
All is forgiven
She's always listening
Worse than roosters
I don't usually post crossover pics, but this is so appropriate it hurts
On the bright side, you get multiple cakes each birthday
I guess that's fair
We all have days like this
Starting off the best with Yukari the schoolgirl
Tie-dye?
The dantewontdie treatment
Yukari the White
Quite alluring
In profile
Wonder what she sees?
Red eyes
Kaleidoscope eyes
When you can't decide whether her eyes are gold or purple
Wow

edited 26th May '16 7:15:28 PM by Tacitus

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3382: May 26th 2016 at 10:29:13 PM

I wonder how the Meeryberrry is Yukari thing came about? It seems to coincidental although it is disturbingly plausible.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
DragonGeyser The Chew Toy of Gaming from a computer, DUH. Since: Dec, 2010
The Chew Toy of Gaming
#3383: May 26th 2016 at 10:48:05 PM

With all the things that link Yukari and Maribel (appearance, dress sense, abilities, the whole Lafcadio Hearn/Koizumi Yakumo thing, links to the Moon and Netherworld...), I'd be surprised if there weren't theories about Maribel becoming Yukari.

As for my thoughts on the matter, I could see Maribel turning into Yukari after a time travel incident, but I could also see Yukari being Maribel's ancestor in some way.

Lampshade Hanging: It's a lifestyle.
Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#3384: May 27th 2016 at 8:18:49 AM

Well, one of the conventional theories is that Maryberry will accidentally or not end up in Gensokyo's distant past, like how she left that centuries-old note behind for Akyuu to discover, and rebrand herself as everyone's favorite gap monster. But Sumireko's ability to form a dream self could completely invalidate this narrative - perhaps Yukari is Maribel's dream avatar being projected back to certain points in history. So it wouldn't be a case of Maribel "becoming" Yukari through a time loop, Maribel is already Yukari, which is to say she uses that guise when she interacts with Gensokyo's past.
That theory is contradicted by the one time we saw into Yukari's head.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3385: May 27th 2016 at 10:06:12 AM

[up] That really does put a massive hole in the theory. Yukari thought patterns are so alien that even other beings (barring Yuyuko) like her have trouble understanding her intentions.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3386: May 28th 2016 at 8:39:02 PM

Eh, there's workarounds. Maybe Mary already considers herself non-human and has investigated Gensokyo's history enough to catch on to the 60-year recurrence. Or you could say that Maribel's Yukari persona doesn't realize that she's a persona (the delicious irony of the puppetmaster being an unwitting puppet!).

On the other hand, there's so much lending credence to the "Yukari is Maribel" theory at this point that I half-suspect ZUN is going to mess with us and release something that proves that there is no connection, and their similar appearance and powerset are just weird coincidences.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3387: May 28th 2016 at 9:45:34 PM

Perhaps you are right, Maribel could or could not be Yukari but it just seems like coincidence to me. I wonder what Yukari does when she is not doing barrier shenanigans?

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3388: May 29th 2016 at 8:52:03 PM

Non-barrier shenanigans? Drinking, sleeping, hitting Ran, bothering Reimu, invading other people's homes, contemplating her navel, that sort of thing.

It's probably getting to be about time to move on to a new topic, so any last Yukari-ish thoughts before we start thinking Kokoro-ish thoughts?

Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#3389: May 29th 2016 at 9:13:11 PM

There are a lot of theories that play her up as an eldritch monstrosity, but I think my favorite eldritch Yukari interpretation (and I wish I could remember where I saw this) had it so that Yukari can't see all those eyes in her gaps. It just looks like black space to her, and she has no idea what you're talking about.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3390: May 29th 2016 at 9:44:12 PM

It isn't just theories but fanfiction play that up as well.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#3391: May 29th 2016 at 10:07:19 PM

True enough - I do it myself, though I try to do it in an interesting way, at least.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3393: May 30th 2016 at 1:06:44 AM

Yukari is really powerful youkai but could she be some sort of eldritch?

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#3394: May 30th 2016 at 2:15:03 AM

That's kind of the definition of what a youkai is, isn't it? Weird, unknown, fearsome, not obeying the laws of man or nature?

Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#3395: May 30th 2016 at 4:50:23 AM

Yukari is really powerful youkai but could she be some sort of eldritch?
Eldritch means "of the land of the elves" or "of the land of the strange". So... yes. Heck, she built that land.

I'd go so far as to say that "eldritch" is a decent translation of the "you" in youkai.

Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3396: May 31st 2016 at 10:55:04 AM

But Yukari is often described as eldritch even in comparison to the beings she rubs shoulders with, and it's not hard to see why. Youkai like kappa, tengu or oni, well, they're sort of like people, aren't they? Weird ways of thinking compared to humans, but they're basically guys with turtle features, or wings, or horns and seven additional livers. Other youkai like Chen or Ran are just animals that have lived long enough to pick up magic along with some extra tails. More outlandish stuff like yamabiko, well, there's no straight parallel to nature, but something able to make echoes would have good voice projection, and if it lived in mountainous terrain it'd have to be a pretty good climber, so it's not hard to conceptualize it as some sort of dog-monkey thing.

But a youkai of "boundaries?" We've got nothing, no obvious parallel in the world we're familiar with. When we try to imagine what such a creature would look like, our minds struggle to give form that invisible, intangible barrier that separates here from there and life from death. It's pretty easy to conclude that this youkai would not look like anything of our world, but something Lovecraftian, a sentient abstraction. We can only be grateful that Yukari likes to dress up as a refined lady of indeterminate age when she interacts with us, and only be fearful that one day she may remove this mask.

Maybe it's the sort of situation where there can be only one youkai like this. Like trying to divide up a "youkai of boundaries" into a whole species would be an oxymoron or exercise in futility.

There are a lot of theories that play her up as an eldritch monstrosity, but I think my favorite eldritch Yukari interpretation (and I wish I could remember where I saw this) had it so that Yukari can't see all those eyes in her gaps. It just looks like black space to her, and she has no idea what you're talking about.

Makes sense. It's not like we know what our eyes look like without someone or something else telling us. Or maybe it's a You Cannot Grasp the True Form situation where non-Yukari viewers interpret what they're looking at as a bunch of staring eyes and grasping hands rather than come to terms with gazing into the infinity between two spacial or philosophical concepts.

Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#3397: Jun 1st 2016 at 5:43:16 PM

Alright, good run for Lady Yakumo, let's give her a polite round of applause as she slips into the darkness between dimensions. Coming up will be Momiji Inubashiri, followed by Sariel and someone who could fit in a breadbox.




The Expressive Poker Face
Hata no Kokoro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_09kokoro1.png

Appearance:

Stage: Wellspring of Joy, Anger, Pathos and Humor ~ Human Village (Night)
BGM: "The Village in the Dead of Night"note 
Theme: "Lost Emotion" (Arranged)note 

Spellcard Motif: Masks and Emotions
Sample Spellcards: HM, ULiL
Anger Sign "Mask of an Angry Hated Wolf," Possession "Four Humors Possession," "Dance of the Empty-Hearted Masks: Noh of Darkness," Melancholy Sign "Melancholic Cart in a Melancholic World," Joy Sign "Invigorated Kagura Lion," "Monkey Possession," "I'm Still Pretty Like This, Right?", "Split-Mouthed Emotion"

Write-up:
A young youkai still learning the ropes and figuring out her place in the world. Hata no Kokoro is a tsukumogami born from a set of 66 Noh theater masks, which she uses to express herself since her real ("real?") face doesn't emote very well. Unfortunately this means that she gets thrown out of whack if any of those masks get damaged or go missing - she got caught up in her role as a kuchisake-onna in Urban Legend in Limbo, while Hopeless Masquerade was kicked off by someone stealing Kokoro's Mask of Hope, leading to her feeding on the hopes of the inhabitants of the Human Village.

She's getting better, though, and has people looking out for her. Mamizou Futatsuiwa in particular has been able to guide her along the road to becoming a well-rounded person, which true to series tradition involved Kokoro flying around and getting into fights. Besides beating the crap out of Gensokyo's three principal religious authorities, Kokoro has also put on one-woman plays, including a hit adaptation of the "religious war" she inadvertently sparked.

Relationships:

  • Mamizou Futatsuiwa (mentor)
  • Koishi Komeji (nemesis)
  • Toyosatomimi no Miko (creator, would-be destroyer)
  • Byakuren Hijiri (would-be spiritual advisor)

See also the previous compendium.

edited 1st Jun '16 5:44:08 PM by Tacitus

TheMageofFire Since: May, 2012
#3398: Jun 1st 2016 at 6:10:38 PM

Kokoro's pretty fascinating. For Touhou characters anyways, but still.

Per tradition of Tsukumogamis, Kokoro is born from an object...Except unlike every other Tsukumogami we've seen before, Kokoro was created from 66 objects. That's so bizarre to think about really, since usually a Tsukumogami is born from a single object. This particular birth might actually be a contributing factor to why Kokoro behaves the way she does.

After all, sixty six masks based on sixty six emotions all going into a single body could've overwhelmed it and thus rendered Kokoro unable to make her own emotions. Another theory I have is that Kokoro wasn't made a Tsukumogami until very recently. Somewhere about SA honestly because of Koishi getting the Mask of Hope, but it'd explain Kokoro's behavior too since she acts a lot like a confused child at times.

Sure we got people like Mamizou, Byakuren and maybe an amending Miko helping her out, though the latter two are more a common fanon interpretation, it's not hard to believe Byakuren doing something for Kokoro considering she already has one Tsukumogami commonly running around her area.

Anyways, going back a bit on the whole body thing, something to note is that out of everyone in U Li L, Kokoro is the only one to outright be possessed by her Urban Legend. This leads me to believe that the body we know to be Kokoro is nothing more than a hollow vessel filled by the energies of the sixty-six masks, and the masks are ACTUALLY the Tsukumogamis.

So to sum up my thoughts, Kokoro's actually a human body created by the masks when they all went Tsukumogami at the same time, and because of the process involved she's hollow in the inside and thus that's why she was possessed by the Urban Legend. However, because she was technically birthed, she grew intelligence and an ego much like a child would.

Oh and needless to say this would explain why the hell Kokoro doesn't have any pants or undergarments on. Seriously, I like her design but that aspect is always going to be weird considering ZUN doesn't do this with any other character.

Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#3399: Jun 1st 2016 at 6:27:14 PM

[up] In fairness, the final boss of the previous fighting game didn't have any pants or undergarments either.

edited 1st Jun '16 6:29:30 PM by Prime32

rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#3400: Jun 1st 2016 at 7:20:39 PM

Tenshi's dress is so frilly underneath that it's kinda hard to tell.

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.

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