The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I find that trope to be generally untrue.

Taking biology has yet to ruin my appreciation for life, 'tis true.

& Perhaps not for you as it isn't true for everyone who gets into the sciences. Disillusionment can happen for some people but it is generally untrue in real life.

The premise of Maribel and Renko's slice of the setting and in a large part of Touhou at all is that because of all the SCIENCE people just don't believe in the supernatural anymore and in a Hogfatherian twist, in the Renkobel stuff all that knowing has made it so that instead of the sun, there's just a big ball of fire. That the magic and wonder has gone out of life to some extent.

Its a bit hard to believe considering the number of people that believe in Bigfoot and aliens and are not only convinced that the supernatural exists but that believe it so strongly that they also make up elaborate conspiracies to mesh their beliefs with reality.

Even when hoaxers behind things like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot or crop circles come clean the believers keep believing.

I kind of lost track of what I was trying to say but basically humans will never stop believing in weird things. Yamabiko are shit out of luck though.

Yamabiko's just have to find another job.

Backup singers?

It could well be one of those dystopian futures where admitting you believe in magic fairies or bigfoot is an instant trip to the reprogramming center or whatever.

Short of that, people do forget myths and legends with time. They believe in new 'weird things', rather than old ones. The technological singularity replaces the Loch Ness Monster. Secret robot conspiracies replace magical mind-wiping curses, and shadowy drug trials replace magical mushrooms.

Technology in Marenko's future seems to have taken the place of magic. I imagine that unless a huge educational revolution has happened (As doesn't seem to be the case), people will need to be more and more specialized. Sure, all the hard sciences may have been united, but it still takes not only education, but training and experience to actually perform at a job.

And as a result of that specialization, even humanity's own feats seem magical. Just think of cars, or computers, or even large bridges. Yes, 'humanity' knows how to make these and maintain them. But a typical person does not know everything humanity does.

So to some people, computers are magic. Hell, to a software engineer, the hardware may seem like magic, while to a computer hardware specialist, programming may as well be spells.

So you'd see things like an automotive engineer wondering why computers can't just trivially identify whether something is a person wearing red or a fire hydrant or an incoming red car. And when the difficulties in visual processing are explained to the layman, they may well take away the wrong message and spread that around.

Or trying to explain to people why minting more money doesn't just solve the country's money problems. Because yes, plenty of people do believe that all we need to do to fix our economy is print more money. These are the same sorts of people who would believe in the Loch Ness Monster.

I think my train's going off the rails, but the gist is that technology/science is the new magic, because individuals don't know how it all works. Rather than needing to invent creatures to explain how the world works, we use scientific explanations... which are sometimes equally arcane to the uninitiated.

That is really good. I can get behind as that to anyone who doesn't practice a craft, skill, math or science it appear to be magic and even strange. I am not scientist and I only a high school level understanding myself but those who are seem more like wizards because they understand it so well. That also means that the schooling is gonna be a lot more complicated because now we need to teach everyone who doesn't know to use technology on how to use it.

Wait, does this mean the Data Vampires are gonna end up in a youkai beastiary?

I'mma take things a different route, based mainly on Mary's name. Part of the reason Lafcadio Hearn is so well-respected in Japan is that - well, he came there just in the nick of time. Japan was rapidly modernizing, industrializing, shaking off centuries of self-imposed stagnation. It was embracing science, technology, and a whole modern society, transforming itself into a great power. And a lot of its Japan-ness was in danger of being lost.

Then this proto-Weeaboo comes in, and while the rest of Japan is going "forward," Hearn becomes enraptured with all those legends and ghost stories, starts writing them down, sharing them with the rest of the world so that readers on other continents can see what makes Japan neat and distinct. If he had never made that trip, who knows how many Touhou characters we could've lost?

So that may be the Ghostly Field Club's role in their stories. When the rest of their culture is getting excited about commerical moon travel, Mary and Renko remember the tales of lunar rabbits. They remember the old tales, not just the dry history of Japan. And they're bold enough to declare themselves a two-person necromancy team on the university paperwork.

Though rather than making the rest of the world see things the way they do, they're content to look for gaps and windows into Japan's magical past. Maybe the "they called me mad fools I'll show them all" angle was already covered by Yumemi?

Aww, having trouble picking which creepy "Mary, the Magician" arrange I like best, they're all so good. And as for "Yonder Voice" - I always felt like "Girls' Sealing Club" was an anime opening, but with that remix I can practically see the credits. Well, there's the link to the anime-doujin right there on the page, but you know what I mean. And damn the way it weaves together "Innocent Treasures" and "Necrofantasia"...

This seems like an interesting idea, but Yukari doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would have sex with a human male. Also, being half-youkai would be pretty damn suspicious, don't they live really long compared to normal people?

Also, why would Yukari shove her own daughter into the outside world? I mean, I understand that she's a youkai and a pretty indifferent person in general, but I don't see why she couldn't have just kept Maribel in Gensokyo. She wouldn't even have to take care of her, she'd just throw her in Ran's direction and sleep all day. Then again Yukari's mind is incomprehensible at times.

That conversation would be...intersting as well:

"MARIBEL"

"Huh, what?"

"Hi, I'm your mom and I'm an ungodly powerful Japanese fae called a Youkai. I can manipulate boundaries and I'm basically the de facto protector of this supernaturally sectioned-off Japanese valley called Gensokyo, filled with mythical beings and magic."

"W-what!?"

"Oh, and you're now the protector 'cause I'm bored and I wanna sleep all day"

"WHAT-"

"You don't have a choice in the matter, in two seconds you're going to wake up in Gensokyo, see ya', dear~"

Maribel is gonna have some serious Mommy Issues if Yukari's just gonna dump that on her one day. Not to mention the whole "Oh god I'm half inhuman beast" thing.

edited 12th Jan '15 10:09:27 PM by Frostav

Well, let's recap Changeability of Strange Dream. I wonder when Merry met the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She was supposedly invited to the mansion and even got cookies. Considering that the Scarlet Devil Mansion is fairly recent in Gensokyo, it would take place either a bit before Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil or some time between Eo SD and Imperishable Night.

I would assume sometime between Eo SD and Imperishable Night, because prior to the Scarlet Devil Mansion coming out, it doesn't seem that hospitable.

edited 12th Jan '15 10:30:47 PM by Starx

The good news is that you only need to teach technology to people who do use it. And in many cases, people who use it don't need to know how it works (though some 'maintainance guy' would need to tune it up.) Most people may know how to use a computer, and have a lot less idea how to build one. More to the point, Cell phones. I'm pretty sure we can all agree they run on batteries and magic.

And of course most people don't know how to even run an x-ray machine... because most people won't need to.

Magic's possibly involved. The Hearns may be a sort of magical chimera infused with Yakumo essence or something.

As I recall, there's precedent for this sort of eye-gap power in Merry's family? So it's probably more like Yukari's her great-great-[etc.]-great-grandmother. And Yukari probably had limited interested even in a direct descendent, let alone those generations down.

Especially back when the blood was pure enough that her line lived longer than normal, there's always the option of... moving and taking up a new identity. Plenty of 'immortals' in various stories do that sort of thing.

I dunno, There was that prismriver performance that took place there and no one seemed to mind. Of course, it had moved from the Netherworld, so... it's all relative, I suppose. Even in PMISS, though, it seems Remilia hosted somebody (Who ran away in the middle of the night). She's pretty whimsical... or... heh...

Maybe Remilia confused Merry for Yukari (Or as someone of import to Yukari) because of their superficial similarities (And/or some sort of fate connection). So Remilia saw an easy opportunity to get into Yukari's good books (maybe even without kowtowing to that annoying gap-youkai at all).

edited 13th Jan '15 6:06:25 PM by Antimatter625

Maybe she thought it was one of those 'king dresses up as pauper to see how people treat strangers but doesn't roll around in shit first so nobody is buying it' things

Future. Reincarnation exists. Bam, mystery solved.

I am not sure if it is that simple considering that Yukari could just as easily be turned into a hamster or something.....

...Yep. Now visualizing a hamster in a frilly purple dress and parasol. Thanks, brain.

She doesn't? Well, I guess she comes across as less vivacious when compared to someone like Yuyuko. Maybe Yukari merely engages the men she kidnaps in deep, philosophical conversation.

Let's see: Yukari may want Mary to live her early years as a human so she can be properly sympathetic to Gensokyo's power source. Or Yukari wants to remain essential to Gensokyo instead of being perceived as an annoying old gap hag waiting to be replaced by a younger, less experienced, more malleable successor. Or maybe Gensokyo is just too dangerous for Mary at the moment, and she needs to be stronger before it's safe to cross over permanently. And so forth - whatever excuse works best for the story, really.

Which is why Yukari will get Ran to do it.

My hunch is that prospect wouldn't bother Mary much, since she's probably used to being considered a bit of a freak by now.

Well, since she's gapping through time, her visit could've happened at just about any point in the series. Maybe it occurred when the Scarlets were friendly enough to invite any lost-looking girl in for cookies, or maybe it occurred when the Scarlets were evil enough to invite any lost-looking girl in for cookies and subsequently dinner (we never heard how Mary's SDM visit ended, did we?).

That doesn't seem like something Remilia would do. I don't think she cares much about getting into Yukari's good side.

Yeah, it could be, since the Bamboo forest visit was 100 years or so ago.

She got cookies, and is still alive, so they seem friendly enough. Scarlet Devil Mansion timeline is fairly strict, as Remilia only arrived to Gensokyo recently. I'm guessing around 5 to 10 years prior to Eo SD would be when the Scarlet Devil Mansion appeared. It is possible that this takes place after Imperishable Night, but I just think that is unlikely.

@Merry: Well, Reimu seems to have good enough boundary control. Its possible that Merry's a descendent of the Hakurei line if not Yukari.

edited 14th Jan '15 3:33:39 AM by Starx

Yumemi and Chiyuri existing in the same verse as Mary and Renko is such a cool scenario. I can totally see Yumemi being the club supervisor, for one.

...And another chaos theory is born! After the events of Dim. Dream, the dimension-travel machine Yumemi and Chiyuri were on suffered some system malfunction, resulting in them not returning to their own time, but arriving in Mary and Renko's instead. So they decided to start over and stuff, then they heard of a certain club, it's purpose being to unravel the supernatural and fantastic. Such a club fascinated the both of them of course, and so their zest for magic began anew...

I dunno, as much as I like getting more use out of classic characters, and as much fun as having Chiyuri interacting with the Sealing Club would be, a part of me opposes the idea on the principle that it would, ah, dilute the Mary-Renko relationship. The two rely on each other so much - Mary on Renko's encouragement, Renko on Mary's uniqueness - that introducing others who share their passion about the supernatural would almost get in the way. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, Mary and Renko have had a good run, but it's been quiet lately, so it might be time to move on. Unless things pick up we should expect a visit from Orange sometime tomorrow.

Yeah, Mary and Renko have such a strong, powerful bond.

...All the more reason why I believe Renko will be hit with a sudden, unexpected loneliness should Mary ever leave her side forever... It would be such a chaotic and sad time in her life.

And since that reeks of Bad End material, I'm just gonna stick to my positivity, and hope that Mary and Renko enjoy more instances of myth hunting together!

edited 17th Jan '15 7:00:12 AM by Diamite

I think it's one of those cases where, even if we have a good idea how it's going to end, we prefer for the journey to remain unfinished. Like some variant of the Tethercat Principle.

Anyway, that was definitely a good run for Mary and Renko. Next in the pipeline will be Konngara, followed by Orin and... uh oh. The Lunar Capital.

Uh, until then, let's try to stay positive and focus on everyone's favorite baton-twirling Stage One boss:

Orange

Appearances:

Stage: Phantom Night
BGM: "Witching Dream" (if Reimu), "Selene's Light" (if Marisa)
Theme: "Decoration Battle"

Write-up:
Here's what we know: in Lotus Land Story this gal was encountered in the mountains while the protagonist was investigating why youkai were swarming the Hakurei Shrine, only to be beaten to a pulp for no real reason. Also, she has a baton.

Beyond that, Orange is a riddle wrapped in ignorance and garnished with indifference. Her name never appears in the story proper, and we only know it by the game's coding - and really, it sounds like a nickname, doesn't it? We're not sure what type of youkai she is, where she lives, what she does between games, or anything. She's a bigger mystery than some of the dialogue-less characters from Highly Responsive to Prayers, in fact. But that just gives us a mostly blank slate to work with, right?

Relationships:

• None(?)

See also the first two compendiums.

Rumors that giving her a high five will give you a full day supply of vitamin C are unconfirmed as of this writing.

Orange has a super-mode where she turns her hair blue and starts a new attack phase.

There's also a midboss in Mystic Square Stage 4 that resembles Louise, and has blue hair.

Clearly this means that Orange is a Makai demon, not a youkai, and therefore must have been working for the Makai tourism agency by scouting out dimensional pathways or tourist attractions and whatnot.

She's Meiling.

Actually, legitimately Meiling.

Remi sent her out to investigate the Lake of Blood and, by extension, Kurumi.

Patchy was having one of her bad days, and Sakuya had taken sleeping pills "courtesy" of Koakuma.

Never again would she put the darks in with the whites (clothes, that is).

If so, why did Meiling change her name to Orange? Is she going incognito? If not, does Meiling have a twin sister that we don't know about?