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The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

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Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#351: Dec 6th 2013 at 2:08:29 PM

Maybe once Linux takes over the world, she'll be a completely decent person.tongue

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#352: Dec 6th 2013 at 2:13:46 PM

You may wonder how there is a world for the next game to take place on if Reimu destroyed it?

Sakuya did a spellcard and everything was better.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#353: Dec 6th 2013 at 10:14:11 PM

Or a grumbling Keine had to get in up to her elbows and do a hard reboot of the whole continuity.

Meira is a samurai. Does she have a lord, or is she a ronin?

Kotohime always knew that Hakurei girl was trouble, and so sent her loyal samurai minion out to apprehend the renegade shrine maiden. After learning of Meira's whooping, Kotohime suddenly remembered "oh yeah, I'm a cop! I can just arrest her myself!" And then she did, and all of Gensokyo's problems were solved for a whole day or two.

If Meira got her hands on the Hakurei power, I imagine her performing the ultimate techniques with Iaijutsu. Oh, here's an idea! Using Fantasy Heaven with Iaijutsu! A one hit kill like no other.

Good thing Reimu won, then, an invincible one-hit-KO attack is just cheese.

An alternative theory I've seen concerns Meira's own bouncy balls. Maybe she thought the Hakurei power would give her more control over her ricocheting danmaku.

Say what you will about Windows!Reimu, PC-98!Reimu is much worse...

Bubbly, cheerful, sociopathic, cataclysmically whimsical...

Now, "The End of Daylight" is a great song. It's got this one well-known remix that inspired a couple of different music videos, and I think this is the most famous.

Diamite Rainy Echoes Since: Jul, 2013
Rainy Echoes
#354: Dec 6th 2013 at 11:29:37 PM

Ah yes, that fan video. One of the first Touhou fan vids I saw, that it was.smile

Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#355: Dec 7th 2013 at 8:50:42 PM

Alright, one last round of applause while Meira is escorted off the stage by our next contestant! As a reminder, the discussion after this one will be about Sara, and following her will be Sanae! But first...






Guide of the Sanzu River
Komachi Onozuka

Appearance:

Theme: "Higan Retour ~ Riverside View"*

Spellcard Motif: Coins, Ferrying, Death
Notable Spellcards: (PoFW, SWR, 'soku, StB
Throw Away "Yesterday's Money," Death Song "Ferry of the Deep Fog," Poor Fate "Your Days Are Numbered," Malice Sign "Regretful Bound Spirits," Hell "Narrow Confines of Avici," Soul Sign "Scythe of Roaming Spirits"

Write-up:
Let's clear this up first: she's not a reaper. Yes, Komachi's a shinigami, but her job is to ferry departed souls across the Sanzu for judging by the yama. The scythe's only there to assure people that they're dead, and because they've come to expect it. Which isn't to say she's not proficient with it.

Komachi Onozuka goes at her own pace, and once slacked so much that the uncollected souls of the dead began to spill over into Gensokyo, but she's otherwise very good at her job. She likes to have (one-sided) conversations with her passengers, and off-duty likes to talk shop, i.e. death, the afterlife, and so forth. In other words she's the perfect comedic foil for her no-nonsense boss, something fan works have embraced. But it's not all fun and games: Komachi is said to dump any souls into the Sanzu if they have insufficient change for her ferry, and woe to any Celestials who kill ghosts or gloat about their ill-earned "immortality."

Relations:

  • Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu (boss)
  • Tenshi Hinanawi (brat)
  • Ibaraki Kasen (???)

Interpretations:

Komachi Onozuka
by Diamite

See also the first two Compendiums.

edited 31st Dec '13 10:43:15 PM by Tacitus

TheMageofFire Since: May, 2012
#356: Dec 7th 2013 at 9:01:29 PM

Finally I can bring up something in this topic.

As far as Komachi goes, something interest to note about her is that she's pretty strong. Disregarding "lol Touhou power levels" for a moment, Komachi is noticeable for being one of the few people to beat Tenshi while she was at full power, which is supported by the fact that Tenshi doesn't have an "I'm going all-out this time" rematch against Komachi in her own story (Something that she shares only with Yukari, Iku, and surprisingly Reisen. Remilia and Aya don't count because neither of them fought Tenshi, but it can be inferred that neither of them would have beaten Tenshi either, but that's a matter for another time)

Something interesting to note about this is that it may put an interesting spin on the relationship between Shiki and Yuyuko's netherworld. Its entirely possible that Komachi is Yuyuko's superior when it comes to business between the Higan/Sanzu and the Hakugyokurou if we go by difference in strength alone, but this is just a theory and I don't recall if there is anything hinted towards this in canon.

Either way, that's all I got to add regarding Komachi.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#357: Dec 7th 2013 at 9:02:52 PM

Either Komachi has gotten a promotion with expanded duties in recent years or she's taking off from work a lot to do vaguely shinigami work while slacking from what she was actually assigned.

She seems to have become Kasen's caseworker of sorts.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Horselesshorseman It's time... to STOP! from Everywhere and Nowhere Since: Mar, 2011
It's time... to STOP!
#358: Dec 8th 2013 at 1:21:45 AM

Blarg, I haven't been able to participate at all lately. Who invented real life, they are not a good person. I'll try to prepare notes on Reimu and Meira for a review period.

On Komachi, I really like to see her as a pretty serious, but kind, person. She's not a bad person, so she's genuinely kind to everyone she meets, but get on her bad side and she will make you suffer for all eternity, or at least she'll find the willpower to fill out the pre-requisite paperwork to request that fate for you. I think that despite all the Immortals popping up lately, it's fair to say that someone who works in the death industry knows a few things about the differences between Immortality and Invincibility. ZUN describes her destiny as sweeping away everything to see what remains, and I think that describes her about right, even when she interacts with others. She's perfectly willing to destroy someone to see who they really are, especially if that person is messing around with life, death, and spirits. Her pronoun choice is odd, but I just can't shake this idea of her as a mature genius of some sort, it's strange and WAHH certainly isn't helping. At the end of the day however, she's just the ferry worker. Even though she's a Shinigami she doesn't need to kill the people or know how they died, but if they want to talk about it, she's fine with that, after all the river is about long enough to hear it all, trust her.

I have no horse, and I must ride. I accomplish unlockments.
Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#359: Dec 8th 2013 at 4:01:19 AM

Grug, why do these keep starting early in the morning....

Anyway, Komachi. She is one of the shinigami who ferry the dead across the Sanzu River. She doesn't reap, she rows. According to Akyuu, Komachi is one of those folks whose power is just the default power of her species (see also Aya, Nitori...), as Akyuu speaks of her power and its uses as if it was something all ferryman shinigami did.

Anyway, Akyuu describes the ferryman job as a real "go at your own pace" position...and Komachi likes going at her own pace. Komachi strikes me as the type who simultaneously enjoys her job and would rather be doing something else. She doesn't seem to mind rowing the dead across the Sanzu, and likes making small talk with them (even if they can't talk back) and from all accounts is pretty by the book. Of course, at the same time, she often takes breaks between ferrying and spends a fair amount of her time slacking off (though sometimes she has the pretense of doing other shinigami related things, even though that isn't her department)

I dunno. It's like, Komachi strikes me as the kind of person who would be hard to get off their ass and doing something, but once they start, they will get it done. If that makes sense.

Akyuu says that Komachi's fancy boat is actually pretty barebones and antiquated. Naturally, she blames budget problems.

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
danna45 Owner of Dead End from Wagnaria Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Owner of Dead End
#360: Dec 8th 2013 at 4:12:56 AM

Woah, there's a third thread already? Didn't even notice. The second thread was really huge, kept seeing it everytime, but too afraid to join in.

How well-acquianted with 2hu do I need to be to kinda be able to join the discussions here? I played the first 3 fighting games, Imperishable Night, listened to a lot of the remixes, but I don't know too much about canon/fanon regarding this...On that note, what's the reception on the term 2hu? I'll stop using if people don't like it

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#361: Dec 8th 2013 at 4:20:49 AM

How well-acquianted with 2hu do I need to be to kinda be able to join the discussions here?

Bare minimum is recognizing the characters, but the more acquainted you are with canon, the better

On that note, what's the reception on the term 2hu? I'll stop using if people don't like it

I personally find it moderately irritating

...I'll have something to say about Komachi probably within a day. Not up to it at the moment

danna45 Owner of Dead End from Wagnaria Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Owner of Dead End
#362: Dec 8th 2013 at 5:04:17 AM

Well alright, Touhou it is...Pretty sure I can live with having to type a few more letters than usual...

Er, Komachi...The pink/red haired reaper right? Pretty nice theme song, scythe has pretty good range, and I see her shipped with Yamaxanadu/Yamada a lot. Also lazy or so I hear. For no real reason she reminds me of Ragna the Bloodedge from Blazblue. No real idea why, must by the scythe. Does the scythe have any special powers or anything, just wondering. Also, considering she throws out money in the fighting games like crazy, I'm gonna assume she's either rich, or has no sense of monetary value, thus being one of the individuals bringing the Gensokyou economy down...Yeah I need to go read up her entry in the Wiki and the two compendiums

Dunno what else to say, how much are we making up/speculating or whatnot?

edited 8th Dec '13 5:05:47 AM by danna45

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue
Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#363: Dec 8th 2013 at 5:36:06 AM

The scythe is mainly for intimidation, as folks know that they are dead and/or the person before them is a shinigami when they see it.

Komachi's money is soul money collected as payment from the dead to carry them across. If I recall, it only has value to shinigami.

edited 8th Dec '13 5:38:26 AM by Otherarrow

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#364: Dec 8th 2013 at 6:46:29 AM

She has a British accent, due to the origins of the shinigami concept.

jordantigers Since: Dec, 2011
#365: Dec 8th 2013 at 7:20:37 AM

I prefer the idea of a scottish accent. Now that I think about it, same goes for Eiki.

edited 8th Dec '13 7:21:14 AM by jordantigers

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#366: Dec 8th 2013 at 7:41:30 AM

I like to imagine Komachi having vague southernish accent like dub Osaka.

edited 8th Dec '13 7:41:40 AM by Bocaj

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Diamite Rainy Echoes Since: Jul, 2013
Rainy Echoes
#367: Dec 8th 2013 at 9:09:11 AM

I sometimes imagine Komachi having a voice similar to dub Botan.

I'll write about her late tomorrow.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#368: Dec 8th 2013 at 1:24:41 PM

The whole Shinigami concept is newer than they think, who would had thought? Seriously, Komachi seems to be the the type of person who loves her job despite not working as hard at it. She is kind of like Reimu in that regard but when she is doing her job, she is doing her job. I am kind of similar but it is mostly for a different reason.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#369: Dec 8th 2013 at 1:30:28 PM

No wonder she stuck up for Reimu's laziness. I had secretly suspected it wasn't cosmic wisdom.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#370: Dec 8th 2013 at 1:39:30 PM

Speaking of cosmic wisdom, Komachi is portrayed as the one of the wisest characters in the series. Komachi seems dull and unfocused but she is actually very sharp and very intelligent.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#372: Dec 8th 2013 at 3:33:02 PM

Right, Koma-chan. I picture her as... how to put this... not self-confident so much as not having much self-doubt; it just never occurs to her that what she's doing might be a bad idea. So she spends most of her time not doing her job. That aside, she does appear to be reasonably intelligent and fairly knowledgeable

Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#373: Dec 8th 2013 at 3:53:19 PM

I'd say her SWR ending gives pretty good insight into Komachi's character - the one where she's interacting with the child ghost. She can be surprisingly kind, and definitely qualified for her job.

edited 8th Dec '13 4:06:01 PM by Prime32

danna45 Owner of Dead End from Wagnaria Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Owner of Dead End
#374: Dec 8th 2013 at 4:19:48 PM

Well, guess I goofed up bad...

Last thing I say before I just lurk and learn more about this sort of thing, while she looks like the dominant one in the Komachi x Yamada/Shiki Eiki pairing, I feel that if they ever get to it, she'll be the one on bottom actually...Yep, gonna stop.

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue
Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#375: Dec 8th 2013 at 4:24:33 PM

...I don't think I've ever seen her as the dominant one. Eiki wields much more influence over Komachi and is a much stronger presence than the reverse. Or that is how I see it.

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