The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Orange is the filename, IIRC.

She was never given a name in the story.

Orange is a victim of anti-youkai racism from the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.

Well, not quite, but she did get beat up for the crime of "being there" and didn't even get a name drop. Poor, nameless Orange.

What is up with the Meiling resemblance though?

Orange:

A mountain youkai who was minding her own business until Reimu/Marisa happened.

Orange is not her name. But rather a codename. She's secretly a special agent who was doing field work. Her job was to investigate the strange phenomena that was happening in the area.

Who sent her on this mission has been lost in the sands of time.

Codename: Blueberry.

I like it. And the baton, well, the mistress has her whims, and it's a gatekeeper's job to obey.

Now we just have to figure out why she fought as a Stage One boss in that game rather than the Stage Three boss we know her as.

In the beginning, when concepts and outfits were swirling in the primordial chaos, some accreted into primitive predecessors of characters who would emerge once Gensokyo's creation was fully realized, and the Touhous as we know them came to walk the earth. Orange (youkai genericus) is simply an early ancestor of Meiling (murus sinicus).

Or maybe an Orange evolves into a Meiling at level 18, who can say.

Because then Kurumi would have been the Stage One boss and Elly would have been the Stage Two boss, and by that time the heroes (and Orange) would have already been inside the mansion, which would be no good.

Plus Orange's patterns are kind of pathetic; the only one that might be a threat is the by-now-standard spew of random projectiles all over the place; they don't even curl around like Meiling's crystal shards do.

So was Meiling simply a noob back then, or was she trying to keep a low profile? Maybe Remilia had already heard about the exploits of a young shrine maiden, and was using Meiling's face to measure just how hard this "Reimu" hit.

That kinda feels more likely than Meiling being inexperienced. She's a mature youkai, right? Surely she couldn't have aged and improved that much over the course of Mystic Square? Although I suppose if Alice can go from a little girl to a... not little girl...

Orange does seem like some random youkai who just got in the heroines way although do you think Meiling was training in Makai before coming to Gensokyo?

I say Orange is the same species of Youkai as Meiling. That isn't much of a thought, but they're not fairies, it's outside my area of expertise.

I like to think Meiling used to be a human martial arist but then she partied too hardy and defeated 1000 youkai thus becoming one.

This is not supported in the text at all but I believe it nonetheless.

If Hong Meiling is a name Remilia gave to her (sources point to likely) then Orange may have been a name or pseudonym she used before.

Mysterious

What's mysterious is Orange turning blue when near defeat. Maybe it's a trait of her youkai clan. Or maybe...

Blue Curse:

It is said that once every century, a child is born with the ability to turn blue when pushed to his/her limits. While this change hypothetically gives them a last ounce of strength, it is more remembered as a sign of bad things befalling the clan.

Therefore, it became tradition for the "cursed" child to go on a spiritual journey, learning about the world and his/herself. The journey lasts five years at most. It has been hypothesized that, should the journey be too short or over the intended limit, a great misfortune would befall the clan. What that misfortune is, or what constitutes a short journey, has been lost to the sands of time.

At this moment, Orange is the last child to have been recorded with this ability. And she just happened to be finishing her journey when Reimu/Marisa happened.

Dammit Reimu, at least make sure your youkai is a proper youkai before committing hate crimes.

I thought that was a human thing? Like all that magical miasma was perfect for toughing up a puny Earthling so they could better handle youkai. It's possible a youkai could gain a similar benefit, but being innately magical beasts themselves... well, I had to check the Mystic Square translation, and the most I can find on the subject is Yuuka calling her rampage "invigorating" without clarifying whether she's referring to the boss fights or the atmosphere.

Hmm. So Orange was her title during her transition period between whatever she was born as and Meiling, loyal servant of the Scarlet Devil. And since Orange is so puny compared to Meiling, obviously having a proper name has a tangible effect on asskicking ability. We can only wonder what we'd see if we ever learned Daiyousei and Koakuma's true names. Or maybe the causation is reversed and you have to kick a set number of asses before getting a proper name.

Anyway, time for a little Orange picdump.

Lil' chibi Orange
Pose looks painful
I like hemogurobin's take on her, sort of a Shorttank without the tanktop
Kind of a cartoony style, in a non-Japanese way
With Meiling
Pair of oranges
Featuring Blueberry
Through the fire and the flames she bites the dust so fast we barely notice her super mode
Pretty Hong there, proto-Meiling
Still an underrated artist, though this isn't her best work
This guy still does great work^note though that's some unfortunate baton placement there

edited 21st Jan '15 8:43:33 PM by Tacitus

In order of the stick, having a name can save you from a red shirt's death even as you're bleeding to death.

Having a proper name in Touhou could probably let you... move up from being an early boss?

Daiyousei was merely a stage 2 midboss. She could have been a stage 4 midboss if she had a name like Lily White. Koakuma is already pretty high in the midboss stages, having a name would make her troublesome.

Well, that went about as expected. Any last minute Orange thoughts or objections to moving on to Konngara in the next [vague amount of time]?

I still think Orange isn't Meiling. Maybe the same species, maybe even cousins, but not the same person.

But still, she got the short end of the stick. Er, baton.

I guess not but it is a fun theory.

I guess I should add some wild mass guessing Orange theory, since there's so little about Orange. Orange hails from the race of oranges. They look about the same to the outsider. Just like them Kappas. They make good guards if you can get them to follow you. A duel to the death is needed to show your conviction.

Princess Remilia (don't think too many people know what anime this is being referenced to) has travelled to the land of orangeville to find herself a suitable companion. Meiling is a famous orange that began following Remilia after being defeated in a duel. But if her master is ever off guard, one those crosses all over the Scarlet Devil Mansion will be stabbed right through her master's heart.

Listening to these tunes are a good source of Vitamin Orange!

Decoration Spark

Graffiti Blast

Decorative Phenome

Missing Decoration

Aw, there aren't enough remixes of her theme. Boo.

edited 25th Jan '15 11:05:53 AM by Diamite

Speaking of remixes, the LLS unused theme Border Land sounds remarkably similar to Decoration Battle.

edited 25th Jan '15 5:22:43 AM by Impostermetaknight

Righto, that's enough Orange for one compendium. Next will be Orin, followed by the Lunar Capital and it looks like... well, Shizuha Aki, but that probably means we'll discuss Minoriko too. But first,

Konngara

Stage: Silent Shrine, Hell
BGM: "Eternal Shrine Maiden"
Theme: "Swordsman of a Distant Star"

Write-up:
One of the mysterious final bosses of the first Touhou game, the perpetrator of an attack on the Hakurei Shrine for reasons that remain unknown due to the chilling lack of dialogue. Like Sariel, we aren't even sure about Konngara's gender, and "Swordsman of a Distant Star" being renamed "Angel of a Distant Star" for the remix certainly doesn't help matters.

Konngara's nature is similarly uncertain, since "Astral Knight" doesn't necessarily tell us much. The most popular theory is that she's an oni, what with the horn and all, and possibly one of Hell's kishin chiefs who torment the souls of the damned and whack hermits, Celestials or other humans who have lived for too long. The foggy feet could indicate that Konngara is a hellbound ghost, and her "horn" is actually a spike driven through her head. A third possibility is that she's one of the attendants of a Buddhist Wisdom King, a wrathful deity who burns away mortals' impediments to enlightenment. Or perhaps Konngara is a quasi-deity herself, one of the yaksha who are generally benevolent teachers, but can sometimes turn malevolent.

The answer, of course, is whatever option best lends itself to the story.

Relationships:

• ???

See also the previous two compendiums.

Reimu has the hots for her.

Which probably means she's rather masculine-looking or the fans have been right about Rayray being a lesbian.

edited 26th Jan '15 2:43:18 PM by Grounder

Why do people think Konngara is an oni, yaksha, etc.?

There's also the theory that she's also one of the Four Devas of the Mountain.

Konngara is one of the few characters that we have reason to believe is left-handed: she wields her sword with her left hand in-game.

See for yourself. Me, after watching that, I'm still undecided - I could see either a handsome woman or a beautiful man.

...Or are you getting her mixed up with Meira?

The yaksha theory stems from the fact that Konngara Doji is listed as one, and ZUN likes his references, so... yeah. And I guess a yaksha would be a good counterpart to the Angel of Death that serves as the Makai route's boss?

The oni theory comes form the horn, the dish Konngara is carrying that I really ought to have mentioned in the write-up, and I guess a desire to designate the remaining two Big Four of the Mountain. What I'm curious about is whether the oni angle existed before Suika was introduced, if the venerable first generation of Touhou fans looked upon Konngara and immediately decided "this girl's an oni."

Also, I think Konngara, Suika, Yuugi and Kasen all share a certain character in their names, as seen in the video below (warning: gratuitous school swimsuits):

The kishin theory comes from... our forums? The Touhou wiki doesn't have anything about it, and I think it was Hylarm who first floated the idea in the previous Compendium. Though it may very well have come up earlier in the main thread. At any rate, it seems sensible since kishin are more or less advanced oni acting as Hell's supervisors and hitmen. My only question is whether they're traditionally portrayed with smoky legs.