The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Themes can lie.

Anyway, she's already fighting people invading her world on a flimsy pretext. It can't get much worse.

She could lose her partner. I somehow doubt they talked this over before hand.

I thought she already lost her partner by that point in the ruse. Edit: Oh, I see what you mean.

More than 'oh she secretly hates the person she teams up with' I find it more hilarious that after she gets blown out of the sky by PROTAGONIST she lands next to Yuki who is crying over what Mai said.

"Oh, hey, I thought you were dead. Super glad-"
"You thought I was dead so you immediately start talking about how much you hate me?"
"No no, honey, it was a clever ruse to throw her off-guard"
"WELL IT DIDN'T WORK DID IT?"
"Look, I'm sorry. It seemed a good idea at the time"
"You can forget about coming to my birthday!"
-gasp!-

edited 13th Oct '14 9:29:19 AM by Bocaj

Yuki:

A denizen of Makai, bestowed with the power of fire. Very rash.

Mai:

A denizen of Makai, bestowed with the power of ice. Very quiet. Secretly snide.

I'd like to think that they are the number one authorities of their respective elements. If only because they are the only ones seen to practice these magics in Makai. Forbidden Magic, and all that.

Blazing Tundra:

Yuki is cheerful, hot-blooded, and may rush recklessly into stuff. She doesn't like it when a friend goes down in front of her eyes. You're just asking to bow down to her pyrotechnics. I suppose that also means she's a Bully Hunter.

So how did Yuki meet Mai? Well, she happened across Mai in the middle of her ice magic practice. Impressed, Yuki cheerfully asked her to be her friend, and Mai complied. Man, the adventures they had...

Yuki really enjoyed Mai's company, even if she didn't open her mouth often. This feeling was something she never experienced before, having superficial relationships before. In her blazing heart, Mai's a very special fragment.

Mai's usually hanging out with Yuki, and prefers to make Yuki do all the talking. She'll usually respond with a smile and ellipsis. She prefers thinking her thoughts, and in most cases, her thoughts are laced with sacarsm, admonishing and belittling Yuki every chance she gets. And if Yuki falls first, she boasts as if she's finally free of that hot-aired fool.

But...why was she hanging out with Yuki, if she hates her soooo much? Perhaps she thought it beneficial to enter a relationship with her. Fire and ice can create some wild combinations, after all. And as it turns out, she was right. Mwahahaha, she's so gonna use her to the ends of Makai...

But...perhaps...somewhere down the line, Yuki's personality started to grow on her. She did her usual remarks about her, but now she was doing it out of a sense of friendship. And she was baffled by this emotion! Yuki was supposed to be her play-thing, nothing more! It was as if she was...betraying her original purpose. And she was fine with it.

Yuki also has Marisa's character design but with a few differences. Mai is a terrible friend and ally to have..

I may as well mention that Yuki and Mai made a cameo appearance in the game Samidare, a sort of spiritual-successor to the Seihou series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leJRk5RF_8A

I guess I could also say that their personalities come through in their attacks: Yuki's patterns are typically fast and straightforward, with bullets moving in straight lines, but the difficulty comes in weaving and reading the angles. Mai's are slower, but more deceptive and try to wall in the player (e.g. the spinning laser, bullets that reflect off walls, the combination of exploding eggs and bullet walls).

I'm glad somebody got it out there in my stead. Love it so much.

Yuki burning with fiery righteous vengeance, while Mai was naturally cold and manipulative the whole time... fits, doesn't it?

Gonna talk a bit about them in A Satori's Tale, so Spoilers for it below, if you haven't read it and care to.

First, I didn't end up going with this, but my original conception had Mai as a native Demon, while Yuki was a Magician who migrated to Makai for Magic reasons.

Yuki and Mai were Magicians in Makai, natch. Neither was doing well, until they met up. Then they basically used each other's magic to amplify their own; Mai drawing the cold out from Yuki's fire to make it more intense while Yuki drew the heat from Mai's chill, making each strong than they'd be on their own. By becoming a tag-team like this, they crawled their way up from the bottom of the dog-eat-dog world of Makai into a rather respectable position.

The ending has them split up, with Mai joining up with Seiga and Yuki joining up with the Magicians, both under the promise of learning more magic from their respective mentors. Mai may or may not be crafty enough to play mind games with Seiga, and Yuki may or may not have the patience required of her. Maybe they'll both break away and meet back up, who knows?

Basically, I see Yuki trusting Mai implicitly, while Mai uses that trust to further her own power. Mai, meanwhile, thinks nothing of betraying Yuki if it would ever be advantageous. It simply wasn't until they ran into something too powerful for them. Mai is opportunistic and overconfident, perhaps, but won't throw away a tool as useful as Yuki without a good reason.

Groovy sort of elemental synergy thing going on. Though if it were me, I'd reverse the backgrounds and have the trusting and somewhat naive Yuki be a native demon, and Mai the coolly manipulative magician - since she's already in Makai to further her own power, you know? But I might have a different conception of Makai folk than you.

Well, how could she be? By that I mean, what circumstances would drive her to team up with someone who detests her as dead weight?

They could have been assigned to each other as part of some Makai military, but let's be more creative. Like, maybe they actually came to blows in the past, but even though Yuki's flames were chilled, she decided to stick with Mai even if the witch didn't want her around or thought she was weak. Or maybe Mai is Yuki's extremely reluctant apprentice who is convinced she's stronger than her "mentor." Or maybe it's a Reimu-Marisa situation, and Mai thinks Yuki is just getting in the way.

Or there's that. Heh. I kinda like that different kind of "betrayal."

Fortunately, as a fire mage she was probably able to survive Marisa beating her unconscious, stealing her clothes, and leaving her out cold on a glacier.

Oooh, good find! I noticed something else, too: some of their stuff is just mirroring the other, but Yuki tends to make wild and flashy attacks that aren't necessarily on-target, while Mai just guns for the enemy with an ice laser.

That's really awesome that someone put the effort to convey characterization through danmaku.

I'm imagining a Mystic Square reboot, in which Yuki and Mai get stronger depending on who you choose. You'd have to be an expert to take the stronger of the duo out first, but the general idea is that once you take out the weaker of the two, the other will become even more powerful once enraged.

If you choose Reimu or Yuuka, Mai would be stronger.

If you choose Marisa or Mima, Yuki would be stronger.

Out of curiosity, what are your reasons for matching up the characters like that? Is it the detachment/sociopathy of Reimu and Yuuka fitting Mai while Marisa and Mima's sauce synergizes with Yuki?

And while a Mystic Square remake might be nice, I'd go for broke and wish for a sequel. Or rather, a return to Makai proper that introduces the characters to the new continuity. Shouldn't be hard to explain their non-appearance to this point, since they've all been in another dimension. Maybe Yuki and Mai have been training and work as a better team. Or maybe they've improved enough to go solo.

I imagine Yuki knows very well about Mai's feelings toward her, she doesn't seem like the stupid kind. Maybe both of them started out as bitter rivals, but were forced to work together because of Shinki's intent for them. Since they have conflicting elements and character they probably despised each other in both personality and ideals. But, as they fought together, experienced together, and grudgingly stayed together, they come to tolerate each other's presence. And maybe even - Shinki forbid - come to like each other.

They are still trying to convince the other, and maybe themselves somewhat, that they totally hate each others guts. They can't even stand being in the same room with that bitch, see? They will go for a solo career any day now, soon. Shinki is not convinced.

edited 17th Oct '14 1:29:49 AM by ninryu

Yeah, in that setting, the demons are schemey and manipulative, so Mai fit in better with them. Also, unlike Yuki she has wings, so the inhuman feature contributed to that thought process.

I had to have a good laugh at myself for completely failing to factor in big feathery wings for the question of who should and shouldn't be human.

Anyway, here's this notion I had...

Two of Three

The opposing forces of fire and ice may complement each other, but the relationship is inherently antagonistic. At best it results in good-natured ribbing and competition, at worst we get a situation like Yuki and Mai's, where the wielder of one element turns on the other.

A trio provides more stability. Add a third element like lightning (or maybe just light) and fire and ice do not have to oppose each other as much. Add a third temperament and balance out the other two, provide a moderating influence. Someone who can reconcile Yuki's brashness and blindness, as well as Mai's aloofness and darker aspects. A person who could be both cool at times but caring at others, passionate but restrained.

Indeed, there was one in Makai who could fill this role. The problem is, that magician who wielded all seven colors of light wasn't interested in forming a trio. Like Mai, she thought she could fight just fine on her own, and unlike Mai went off and did so. Plus, she was always did care more for her dolls than other people...

So Yuki and Mai did the best they could, but while they could put up a better fight together than they could as individuals, it wasn't a true team. Something, or someone, was always missing. How different would the Makai incursion have gone had three spellcasters who opposed the invaders done so together? And how long did Yuki and Mai's relationship, such as it was, endure without that missing piece?

Hm, I kinda did wonder why a lighting user wasn't a thing in Makai. They could've been a legendary trio of awesomesauce. And the whole fire, ice and lightning motif like with The Legendary Kanto Bird Trio or The Legendary Johto Cat-Dog Trio.

I'm now imagining Yuki and Mai going on a journey outside of Makai, and encountering people with similar power-sets. Seeing the epicness of those people would make them realize they weren't really harnessing their potential well enough.

One problem with that; Mokou would not be interested in teaching Yuki the more cryptic arts of fire, and Cirno's such an idiot that Mai would walk out in frustration. And Letty's a once-a-season kind of encounter, so Mai wouldn't be seeing much of her.

Oh well, at least they now know there are more nifty ways of using their arts.

Ya know it.

edited 18th Oct '14 12:48:37 PM by Diamite

Mai seems to be one of those false friend who pretend to be such so that they can steal the person stuff.

Yuki is a passionate mage who some what naive and tends to be somewhat too trusting.

They make an awesome team....somehow.

edited 20th Oct '14 8:16:18 PM by GAP

Well, when you phrase it like that, they sound almost like Makai's version of Reimu and Marisa, don't they? One's a natural-born spellcaster, the other a magician by training. One's passionate, the other "meh," one's deceptive, the other's honest. The particulars are just a bit jumbled.

Wait, one of them being human and the other a demon has gotten stuck as my headcanon. Whoops.

There wasn't a lot of Yuki and Mai art last time, and not much has been added since then, sadly. Also, for whatever reason there's more Mai stuff than Yuki stuff.

* In case we ever get around to Alphes-izing the PC-98 cast
* Crimson Maiden
* Treacherous Maiden
* Spell cards?
* Makai Marisa
* Creepy
* Crazy
* Pink snowflakes
* Makai Cirno
* Sassy
* Happily alone
* Uncomfortable pose
* But why the chains?
* Good advice
* An excellent piece by one of Danbooru's most underrated artists
* Pretty good pixel art
* I like how Yuki's butt-bow compensates for her lack of wings
* Mai is either finally impressed, or delighted that Yuki is about to be blown to smitheroons
* The more I look, the more I get distracted by the sky
* Like Yuki's expression here
* I'm trying to figure out the footprints
* D'aww. Maybe they're the Alice and Marisa of Makai instead
* Just some of the best PC-98 fanart out there
* A more common grouping than I thought it'd be
* Makai's glorious banner

edited 19th Oct '14 9:16:04 PM by Tacitus

Fire and ice make wonderful music together.

Crimson Beat
Beautiful Treachery
Rage of Treachery
Maple Peace
Fantastic Magic
Wonderwise
Majestic Magic
Crimson Trance
Maple Groove
Mystic Treachery
Dominating Magic
Crimson Fury
Crimson Fear
Maple Core
Ice-Cold Treachery
Magic of Spirit
Mournful Treachery
Dangerous Magic
Maple Love

edited 20th Oct '14 6:24:43 PM by Diamite

Mmmm, "Majestic Magic..."

I guess now'd be a good time to work in any last-minute thoughts on Makai's paired magicians before we move on to the Human Village tomorrow.

Mai and Yuki seem like evil counterparts to our heroine but Marisa would never backstab Reimu....would she?

edited 22nd Oct '14 4:27:41 AM by GAP

Backstab? Naaaah. Prank by making her think she failed in a critical and relatively simple ritual that heralds the year of the youkai?

Hells yeah.

The wings and not-wings different between them intrigues me. Just about the only idea I've got at the moment is with one being a demon and the other not. Mai's wings... maybe she's a youkai instead, too? Wow this is coming out not coherently.

The wings issue may ultimately be no more significant than their different hair colors. If you go with the notion that everyone in Makai is Shinki's creation, it'd be easy to say that she gave some of her kids feathered wings, bat wings, or no wings as she saw fit. It's not like they serve much purpose when everyone can already fly.

On the other hand, the only Makai residents with wings besides Mai are Eilis, a devil (vampire?), Sariel the angel (?), and Shinki herself. So perhaps they're significant after all. Maybe Yuki's a Shinki-created demon and Mai is a devil? Could this be why she betrayed her partner?

Alrighty, next time we'll be discussing Kanako, followed by Remilia, aaaaand Genjii! But first, our second location:

The Human Village

Appearance:
Perfect Memento in Strict Sense◊, Hopeless Masquerade◊

Write-up:
A village, inhabited by humans. The village inhabited by humans, really.

This community is the safest place in all of Gensokyo for non-protagonist humans to live, thanks to some powerful protectors (which include some of the wiser youkai). Any hapless mundanes who blunder through the Great Hakurei Barrier tend to end up here since they can't survive the predations of the surrounding youkai, and the rest of the population is presumably descended from the original humans who lived in the area when Gensokyo was sealed off in 1885. Youkai can also be encountered here on business (or barhopping), and it's generally best if everyone treats each other respectively. Some even live among the humans in disguise.

Locations of note include Keine Kamishirasawa's school, the household of the prestigious Hieda family, and the nearby Myouren Temple. The Suzunaan book renter offers both literature and printing services, and you can get rid of that junk you're carrying at the Kirisame-ya second-hand shop. We know more about the Human Village now than we did during the last Compendium, but there's surely more to be learned about the most relatable location in all of Gensokyo.

See also the previous compendium.

Alternate Location Interpretations:

"The Human Village"
by Antimatter 625

edited 25th Oct '14 10:59:38 PM by Tacitus

The only known location of Koinu and Daikuma, the best characters in the series.

Alongside youkais, there is an unspoken rule about Human Village: You can enter it fine, but you must sneak in and you must not cause a ruckus. Everything inside a wall is to be protected. If a human exists the village, you can do what you want. But as long as they are inside, you must not attack them. Not abiding to this will grant you one-way asskicking.

The most interesting thing about the Village of Human is, of course, that they don't like youkai very much. They accept youkai peddlers only if they come in disguise and don't draw attention to their otherness (Forbidden Scrollery - Reisen chapter), and if they know of a youkai causing harm even outside the village they'll assemble a punitive force to exterminate them (Wild and Horned Hermit - Musket Badgers). Presumably not the harmless play-extermination that Reimu does. While it's unclear how effective they are at enforcing these things, that's certainly their intent.

In other words "We don't take kindly to your sort in these parts."