The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I mean, if you believe Irving Goffman, that's what most people do. We're in a process of actively building ourselves at all times, to the point that it isn't really productive to think of our personae as "masks" with a "true self" beneath. Marisa might just be more overt about it.

Starlight Romance:

Marisa Kirisame is a woman full of love. She would not be her if this component was non-existent. Maybe it has something to do with she decided to leave her household. She didn't feel raw hatred for her dad. Rather, she just came to the conclusion that they would never see eye-to-eye on any issue.

The Love for Knowledge: Marisa is quite studious, being well-versed in all things magic. She just loves her research. Also, she knows a lot of trivial stuff that just keeps her on top of current happenings. And I'm pretty sure she knows every type of mushroom that exists in Gensokyo. Well, The Forest of Magic, at least.

The Love for Self-Improvement: From her early days of being a redheaded, violet-dressed apprentice of Mima to now, it is clear that Marisa gradually upped her game. And she doesn't look like she'll ever stop improving. Hard work has been ingrained into her very fibre. Her skills are indeed top-notch. Including how she manages to keep swipi-er, borrowing tons of stuff.

The Love for Connections: I don't know why, but to me it looks like Marisa just enjoys striking up conversations with everyone. Whether it's because of information gathering or just to get a rise out of her opponents. And the she does it just feels...natural. Due to her innate ability to get along with others, Marisa is as well-known as Reimu ...Well, her definition of 'getting along' is not what others signed up for, at least at first.

Kinda makes you wonder, though - if Marisa is so good at getting along with people, despite the rougher parts of her personality, and despite some of those people being technically monsters, why can't she patch things up with her dad?

Marisa picdump, part one. As expected, there's a lot of art to browse.

A very Marisa-y Marisa
It's a pretty elaborate outfit
Such confidence
Kind of close
Aura of stars
Scrapwork headwear
Small and vulnerable
Marisa the White
Contemporary, if not labeled as such
Meanwhile, in Korea
Over the years
Guess if you have it, flaunt it
Interrupted in the lab
Holding a thing
Invincibility could be hers, but only for ten seconds or so
I feel a sympathetic urge for a haircut
Almost something out of GoM
Smoking isn't actually this cool
Guten tag!
Phazon or the spice melange?
Green eyes work too
I liked this one a lot more before I noticed the pantyshot
Do what you love, love what you do
Looks like she's headed to a hot date
Cheerful guest
Combined a study with a conservatory
Self-medicating
Cooling off
A hat full of sky, a dress full of stars
Becoming one with the cosmos
I mean, if you're gonna add a light to your broomstick...
Trailing fungus
When your commitment to a theme becomes inconvenient
Facing yourself
Fully loaded
Eyes a-glow
The power is yours
Style shift
An actual oil painting
There's something different about her...
Jam session with Shanghai
Very messy Mari
Up to mischief
Multitasking
A less animesque take on her
Realistic
Kaleidoscope eyes
And away she goes

Maybe Marisa has some issues that needed to be worked out.

I stand by my theory that Mima lives (resides) at the shrine. I forgot to mention that Marisa doesn't know this. Mima doesn't want to be an intrusive stepmom. Reimu never mentions it.

In Forbidden Scrollery chapter 50, Marisa got beat up by a strange youkai. Mima went to investigate the ruckus, and found her stepdaughter lying on the ground unconcious. She immediately stepped up to defend her. The youkai didn't want a fight with a playable character from before the spellcard rules, and made a hasty retreat. (Okay, that youkai didn't know about spellcard rules, but they did know a badass when they saw one.)

Mima tearfully embraced the fallen Marisa. This lowered her body temperature so much that Reimu and Mamizou both assumed that she was dead.

Marisa still has clue about Mimas whereabouts.

Sometimes she gets a strange feeling at the Hakurei Shrine, a nostalgia beyond the physical senses. "I sense something, something I haven't felt since..."

Don't we all? But yeah, a psychologist could have fun with her character. The thing I've seen the most is classifying her kasual kleptomania as hoarding, an attempt to fill an emotional void in her life with physical goods. More recently I've seen people pointing out that Marisa seems to have commitment issues re: refusing the forms of immortality she's had available to her, or turning down Okina's offer of minionship because as much as it sounds interesting Marisa can't abandon her current lifestyle.

Anyhoo, more pictures.

Expressions
Big cheerful smile
Less enthused
Simple smile
Studying
Scruffy witch
Tip of the hat
Over the shoulder
Surprised
At rest
Dot dot dot
Androgynous grin
Blush
Something about this smile makes me wary
Finger point
Beckoning
Headphones and smirk
Oh Crap! face
Bloodied but confident
Not reassuring at all
Eyes full of stars
She's the manliest being in all Gensokyo
No expression at all
Mexican Marisa is amazing
The witch hunter cometh
Cowgirl Marisa rules
Dark Spark
Another day in the neighborhood
Persona!
Seen this on the YouTubes
That was a really cool fan vid
A spark and a wink
Surf and a spark
She seems displeased
Earth-Light Ray
A shooting star
No sweat
What did you do?!
Lanterns in flight
Magical astronomy
A charming cottage
A witch in winter
High vantage point

Final Marisa picdump tomorrow. If I don't show up to post it around 24 hours from now, it might be because I've been killed while counter-protesting some Nazis in my hometown. If that's the case, the last entries on the list are Eientei, Hatate, Reisen, Ran Yakumo, the Komeiji sisters, the Three Fairies of Light, and of course the HsiFS cast.

I'm not trying to alarm anyone, just being prepared.

Bask in the blaze of her blast that has been refined overtime.

Sinister Purple
Journey in the Skies
Sonic Boom
Chaotic Dusk
The Black-White's Dream
Rainbow Stars
Legend of the Twilight Mage
Starlight Festival
Ebony Strike
Decisive Night Battle
Echo Stars
Dreaming an' Swinging
Violet Eruption
Essence of Darkness
Night Vision
Masters of the Battle
Crystal Atoms
Banquet of Vicious Witches
A Magus' Honour
Hectic Raindrops
Earnest Spark
Blazing Shooting Stars
Shout At the Devil
The Majestic Magician
Caught in a Drizzle
Romantic Spark
Hollow Festa
The Blast of Redemption
Cleansing Dew
The Sand Child
A Solemn Clash
Evening Repentance
Galaxy Spark

In japanese language videos that I have seen she gets called MAHR-iss-ah by the other characters. In english it's usually mah-REESS-ah. For me it's MAHR-iss-ah. I'm inconsistent. I call her neighbor AL-iss, not ahr-iss-OO.

Whether the video is in english or japanese, expect Marisa to have the deepest voice among the girls.

Also, she's short.

I see her tall in a lot of fanarts and doujins, so that she can be the tall dominant partner in shipping but no she's a short. Shorter than all but fairies, vampires, Suika, and maybe Youmu.

edited 28th Oct '17 7:02:58 AM by Bocaj

I guess people want a boyish Marisa.

Be wary of sweeping generalizations with a cast as big as Touhou. Chen is smaller. Akyu is smaller. Kosuzu? For a mature character smaller than Marisa, there's Tewi.

Kosuzu is actually apparently a bit taller than Marisa.

And I think Akyuu is taller than Kosuzu although I don't remember off-hand.

edited 28th Oct '17 9:06:16 AM by Bocaj

Marisa is apparently about 4'3".

Sheesh, did she run away from home because nobody fed her? And how long did it take for her family to notice she was gone?

I joke, I like the idea that in all of her years of adventuring around Gensokyo, nobody's noticed just how short Marisa is because her force of personality adds another two feet.

A Marisa musicdump is always welcome:

"Legend of the Twilight Mage" - Mmm, delicious bombast.
"Dreaming an' Swinging" - And that's some good jazz!
"Banquet of Vicious Witches" - Hey, I hear that Mima cameo too.
"Hollow Festa" - That was timely, and reminiscent of Nightmare Before Christmas.
"Cleansing Dew" - That's an insanely catchy "Ruse Rain."
"The Sand Child" - Already removed, hmm.
"A Solemn Clash" - You can tell this one's gonna be something in the first three seconds.

Lots of good stuff.

Finishing up my picdump, just some group shots and silly stuff:

Humble beginnings
None can withstand the sukusuku tide
Either she's self-conscious because of her armpits or the outfit feels like a collar
Unusually subdued
Maybe Reimu's so successful because Marisa softens 'em up first
But I like the idea that they've solved most Incidents side-by-side
What a terrible problem to have
Contemporary witchcraft
Mushrooms are like sugar, you can't add enough
Time to get serious
A cute enough pairing
Are blue eyes contagious?
They're both testing out new toys
I can totally see Marisa making a magical gun. The doll mafia, not so much.
Teamwork
In about twenty minutes, Shanghai is gonna flip out
Makes me grin every time
Talking shop
One is safe to hug, the other is not
The het option
With neighbors like that I'd invest in one-way glass
Target acquired
Loaning her hat
What we call Halloween, Gensokyo calls "every damn night"
Getting to know the new girl
I think gayness for Marisa transcends gender, so no matter your sex or orientation, you're gay for her
Nice place for a lantern
If you wondered why she'd need an apprentice
Just be careful he doesn't brush up against something and get physics'd to death
She should've bewared the forest's mushrooms
The unstoppable butt meets the unmovable cower
Marisa stole the precious food
She never loses a dare
I want to believe
Can you hear the music?
The game over of Marisa Kirisame

Huh, how'd I end up without any just Patchouli-Marisa pics? Is that my bias showing, or was there just not enough to stand out in all the pages of art I browsed?

Out of a hundred-plus non-childish characters we know that Suika Tewi and Shinmyomaru are shorter. So yes, Marisa is short.

Foxes seem to impersonate Marisa quite a bit. Do they like being brash, beautiful, smart, and energetic? Or is it less trouble to keep your story straight when you impersonate a habitual liar?

And maybe it's easier for a golden-furred supernatural critter to pull off a blonde human look, kinda like how a certain brunette got trolled by a tanuki. And on that note, maybe the stakes are lower when you impersonate an exceptionally ordinary magician instead of a shrine maiden tasked with youkai extermination.

Perhaps. Marisa is just that popular as Marisa has had several admirers and fans.

Holy shit, is this thread really four years old?

Also, any last thoughts on Marisa before we take another step closer to wrapping up our (evidently plodding) journey through the pre-HSiFS cast herd?

The nice thing about Marisa is that unlike a lot of characters, we don't have to worry when or if we'll see her again. So we'll say farewell for now, confident that soon enough a certain black-white magician will be Sparking through the sky once more. Coming up will be Hatate, Reisen, and a foxy old lady. But first, let's consider one of Gensokyo's power blocs.

Eientei

BGM: "Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome""^note This is the Stage 5 theme. Asian, Western, old, new - This song isn't one or the other. The boss seems that way, too, but the stage itself is based in Japanese horror. Each song has a theme, and this one's is based on the song "Kagome, Kagome". It's not an arrangement, just composed with a similar theme. I didn't want to get caged in on a theme for this one. The Japanese Cinderella's hidden cage is such that no matter how hard you try, you cannot force the princess out. That's the fault of the Kagome. However, one word from a celestial opens all the doorways., "Voyage 1969" ^note This is the Stage 6 theme. The 20th century voyagers - The Noah's Ark of the 20th century flew into space, carrying with it hopes and fears. However, it seems that just its hopes were left behind on the moon. Here in the "future", in the 21st century, only fears and a handful of illusions seem to be all that remain.

Write-up:
Eientei is an old-fashioned mansion hidden away deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and has been around since well before Gensokyo cut itself off from the outside world. Its residents were content with being overlooked by their neighbors, until a relatively recent incident led to them opening up a pharmacy offering wondrous medicines to those willing to make the trek - though one of the youkai rabbits who lives there will also make deliveries and sales to the Human Village.

That youkai rabbit also likes to claim that she comes from the moon, and indeed Eientei throws regular Moon Festivals selling medicinal mochi, or occasional "lunar expos" displaying otherworldly artifacts. But most of Gensokyo's inhabitants seem unaware of the connection between Eientei and the moon, much like how they're unaware of how the manor's residents have helped defend their homeland from an extraterrestrial threat.

Inhabitants

• Kaguya Houraisan (princess)
• Eirin Yagokoro (super genius)
• Reisen Udongein Inaba (medical student/pet)
• Tewi Inaba (rabbit of rabbits)

See also the previous compendium.

I'm starting to think of Eientei as Gensokyo's missile defense system.

Like, the place has all these power blocs, and they're often jockeying for position and trying to show each other up, but they actually have their own spheres of influence that don't necessarily conflict. The Moriya Shrine is competing for the faith of Gensokyo's humans, but has a vested interest in both keeping the peace on Youkai Mountain and maintaining good relations between that area and the Human Village. The Palace of the Earth Spirits manages the Underground as well as a fusion reactor on behalf of the Moriya mob. The Taoists are the most explicitly pro-human group, and while they may have a fierce rivalry with the Myouren Temple, that group's message of youkai-human coexistence doesn't really conflict with the Taoist's goals, they're just working in the same territory, the village. And the Scarlet Devil Mansion can serve as a wild card if one of those other groups is causing trouble, though arguably the mansion staff's main job is keeping the mistress and young mistress entertained and out of trouble.

Eientei stands aloof from all this most of the time, because it's got bigger things to worry about, its eyes are turned skyward. Its inhabitants are concerned with the Enemy Beyond, a foe more powerful than anything in an isolated little valley, a force capable of snuffing out everything in Gensokyo before anyone could react. Luckily, Eientei has the smarts and the resources to tip the scales and save the day. Even if its first concern is looking after itself.

It's actually quite surprising that Yukari didn't know about the Lunar ex-pats before the Eternal Night incident, a serious blow to her chessmaster cred. They're so useful to have around I was sure it'd be intentional.

They invite more trouble than they prevent. And not in the fun 'stealing spring' sort of way.

Well, the Eternal Night Incident was more of an inconvenience than anything else, and the Eientei folk ended up undoing it themselves. You could take it as a demo of a pretty effective defensive system. And they did help defeat an alien invasion, too.

But yeah, I'm not sure the Mooninites would know about Genoskyo as an invasion target if there wasn't a lunatic princess hiding there, so the lunar exiles' choice of hiding place very nearly doomed a lot of innocent humans and youkai (and Tewi). So maybe Eientei is like a missile silo, too - a great resource and deterrent, but one that attracts you a lot of attention and gives you something to deter.

Speaking of Tewi, what's her endgame? She agreed to shelter the exiles in exchange for moon knowledge, but what has she been doing with it? It's not like we've seen any rabbits running around with cloaking devices or anyt-

Oh.

Guess enough was said about Eientei when we discussed three of its residents, and of course we'll soon have a chance to talk about a fourth. Any thoughts before we move on to Hatate?

Looks like a no, but we're still not quite done with Eientei since we'll be discussing Reisen soon. After her comes Ran Yakumo and a partially-blind girl. But first,

Hatate Himekaidou

Stage: Spoiler Scene 1
BGM:"The Mystery in Your Town"^note The first event coverage theme. This theme is for when the event coverage is still quiet. It produces a spirited, triumphant feel. For now, it's the theme for the beginners' stage. The music lasts longer than it takes to clear the stage, so skilled players might only hear the overture before they're done.
Theme: "Youkai Mountain ~ Mysterious Mountain"^note The fifth event coverage theme. This is the theme of the unsightly dispute between tengu. Well, actually, this doesn't mean that they have bad relations with each other - it's simply their training, working hard to elevate their photographic skills. For now, this is the final level, but its difficulty definitely isn't that high, so this should be an easy win for anyone who's come this far.

Spellcard Motif: Phantastical Photography Spellcards: Double Spoiler, ISC
Reporting "Hatate Himekaidou's Reporting Training," Continuous Shooting "Rapid Shot," Far-sightedness "Tengu Psychography," Photography "Full Panoramic Shot," Photography "Secluded Paparazzi"

Write-up:
A journalist, in a loose and modern sense. Hatate is a member of the tengu information corps and produces the Kakashi Spirit News, which has yet to reach the popularity of its rival rag Bunbunmaru. This led to a conflict between Hatate and that newspaper's publisher, as she tried to figure out the secret to Aya Shamemeiru's success (or "success").

The problem is probably on Hatate's end, since she relies on her ability of "spirit photography" to get content for her paper. The upside is that she can get images of things simply by looking for key characteristics, the downside is that she can only see images that have already been reported on. Her clash with Aya seems to have done Hatate some good, in that she's been spotted outside getting a scoop firsthand, and has started interviewing subjects for her articles. Perhaps someday her paper will surpass Aya's, though it's an open question as to whether that would mean the Kakashi Spirit News becomes the most or least popular paper in Gensokyo.

Relations

• Aya Shameimaru (spirited competitor)
• Momiji Inubashiri (respected professional)

See also the previous compendiums.

Her problem is trying to do what everyone else is doing instead of more effectively using her power.

The ability to use google image search would make her better suited for more researched articles instead of news articles people just read for the headline

More magazine than newspaper

edited 11th Nov '17 9:57:33 AM by Bocaj