Da, believe so. But apparently the Armored Core series (debuted 1997) also has a recurring villain named Nine Ball, so Cirno's nickname could have caught on due to precedent.
Or maybe there's just something about the ⑨. I mean, it's almost impossible to imagine calling her a 7-ball or 3-ball, isn't it?
Had one of those random thoughts about the Team ⑨ phenomenon. There's something linking them together beyond being low-level youkai.
Consider Cirno. The ice fairy who doesn't play by the rules, ranging farther and causing more trouble than a fairy should. Or when she does play by the rules, she figures out how to do things like freeze danmaku during spell card battles. She's clearly no ordinary fairy.
Consider Rumia. The darkness youkai who is nowhere near as fearsome as that description suggests. She can't see through her own shadows and hits trees while flying blind. She can't even touch a ribbon on her head. She's not your average shadow monster.
Consider Mystia. She's a birdbrain with shrewd business sense. She's allegedly illiterate, but still able to run a food stand and scam people with her darkness-inducing singing. And when she does sing, it's punk rock. She's not your average songbird youkai.
Consider Wriggle. She... uh, she looks like a boy but isn't?
The point is, this motley band is made up of characters that defy expectations (including your expectation that this cast herd would at least have interacted in canon before fans put them together). They simultaneously function in society while breaking convention, doing their own thing. They prove that a horrible darkness monster can be mostly harmless while even a fairy can be trouble, that a winged monster girl can sell you dinner while... that firefly chap isn't a chap (Wriggle, you're the odd gal out).
Does this detract from Cirno? Make her less unique? Perhaps, but when she breaks convention she does it with such hot-blooded style that she still stands out. I'll have more to say about her specifically after sleepy times.
Yeah but it ends on a hopeful note that we know is paid off because Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is a thing.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersAsatsuki Dou has written some other non-angsty doujin, though. The set of 3 about Hong Meiling (Scarlet Devil, Save the Gate and Working at the SDM) have no angst to speak of, and I Have No Need For Someone Like You seems to have been written just to make fun of how angsty Happiness and Happy End were.
Anyway, Cirno. She has quite a developed character in canon due to her large number of appearances, so there's not a lot about her that needs to be made up. One thing that I wonder about is what would happen if she was killed too far away from the Misty lake - say, if she'd somehow joind the Moon expedition. Would that have opened a gap for a different ice fairy to spawn at the lake, or is that ability not affected by distance at all?
The Spice of Ice
Why can't I find anything to say about Cirno? Maybe because her very presence says it all. She's an earnest kid, and an interesting contrast to Remilia. Both are mentally and physically children (And I'd even peg them around the same age/maturity level), but they're very different sorts.
See, Remilia is queen of the night, lady of darkness. She lurks in the shadows, and her motives and abilities and words are concealed, hidden from view. She schemes, she plots, and is so much everything of the worst kind of kid. She tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants, not because she can't control herself, but because she knows it will manipulate those around her into getting her what she wants. She looks like a harmless kid, right until she kicks you into orbit effortlessly. A stage 6 boss with power, grace, and cunning.
Cirno is basically the opposite of all that; a transparant sheet of ice. She is exactly what she appears, without anything hiding. She's the sort of kid who means exactly what she says and acts out exactly how she feels. An earnest, honest, straightforward kid who just hasn't grasped that deception is even a thing, let alone makes any use of it. She looks like a harmless kid, and that impression's pretty much spot on. A stage 2 boss (or 1 midboss) that's weak, clumsy, and foolish.
I used to like Cirno far more than I do now, but she's kinda like candy or spice; pretty darn neat, but overdosing isn't the healthiest or most entertaining thing. And it is entirely too easy to overdose on her, because she is everywhere. She's not my favorite character anymore, and hasn't even been in my top 10 for a while, but she hovers pretty high up, regardless. Now that I've learned to take her in moderation rather than binging, she's far more satisfying.
Seeing her play off the 3 fairies in particular is amusing. 4 fairies, each of them stupid in a different way (Well, except for possibly Star). It's comedy gold. GFW is great fun as a result, as are the Sangetsusei chapters where they interact. Her Soku story, too.
So I guess I don't like Cirno anywhere near as much as I like how other characters play off her. Like I said, she's sort of like a spice; she's there to add flavor, but you really are better off not eating the stuff straight.
I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.I think Cirno's got two things going against her. First is that her personality is extremely well-established, and her character is pretty static, so there's not a lot of variety to get from her. Second is that her personality can be a bit abrasive, like a feisty brat who can be either endearing or irritating depending on your mood that day.
She can be entertaining to listen to or awesome in deed, but not quite as interesting as some other characters, even if they aren't quite as characterful. Someone who could star in her own spin-off game, but not a spin-off series. This is probably why, in the main Touhou shooters, she reappears only as a silent midboss - what does she have to say that we haven't heard already?
Cirno's gonna freeze y'all with these tunes until y'all are chilled!
Iced Strength
A Cool Breeze
Flowing Tundra
Chilled Class
Smooth Ice
A Splash of Winter
Cocytus Insanity
Hmm...I do wonder who or what Cirno's in love with, though. Nature? Ice? Fairies? Frogs? Strength? Boasts? Pranks? Something? Another?
With her own ass-kicking ability, I'd wager. The love of battle!
Yeah, she's full of paradox, this one.
The Tao of Cirno
She is a child of nature, but does not return to it. She is true to her nature, which brings her into conflict with everyone else. She submits to authority, but shows no humility and does the unexpected even while playing by the rules. She acts without thought, but pursues her simple desires.
Cirno defies fairy conventions, yet otherwise fits in perfectly in Gensokyo. She travels far and picks fights and gets in over her head, but occasionally proves she's no small fry. She's usually stupid, but can remember odd nuggets from sixty years ago, which only reinforces how little she's changed over the decades. She is frozen in her ways but constantly flitting about, a snowflake creating its own blizzard. And against all expectations, she doesn't melt.
That's her way: pick fights, pull pranks, freeze frogs, have fun. The Tao of Cirno.
The question is again, why, or maybe how? We know what sets her apart from those nameless fairies that protagonists mow down by the score to inflate their score, but how did that separation come about?
To understand that we'd have to know a lot more about fairies and where they come from. They're probably an expression of animism, produced by the natural world where there's no other route available. No discarded item to become a tsukumogami, no old cat ready to become a nekomata - so bam, little winged girl in a frilly dress. My guess is that where more characterful youkai or deities or whatnot are common, there are less fairies and vice versa. They're the asteroids to the planets and stars that are other supernatural creatures.
Cirno is Pluto - cold, small, but if she hits you she'll do a whole lot more damage than nameless fairy from PCB Stage Two #14. There's more to her, more power, more shape. She has a personality and character compared to the little dusty nuggets around her. She has a predictable orbit, but it's different from the other bodies in the system and cuts across them. She's not in the big leagues, but it'd be easy to confuse her for a proper planet.
Some theories. First, she's a hiccup. There was something in the cosmic skein one day, something that made more mystic potential than usual clump together and form a fairy. Sometimes things just happen, and nature is notoriously unpredictable. Second is that she's an evolved fairy - if youkai can grow stronger, and humans can become youkai, why can't a fairy do situps and drink juice until she becomes stronger than the average cannon fodder?
Third is that she's deliberate. Maybe there wasn't a proper ice-powered youkai or deity available, so Cirno formed to fill that void and embody the cold. Or maybe she's reflecting Gensokyo's nature, and that nature is changing from an isolated valley filled with nameless monsters to a strange society of human-like youkai and youkai-like humans. We've gone from a setting with foes who have just one name, no history, and little to say to one with recurring characters with interesting backstories and distinct speech patterns. In this modern Gensokyo, normal fairies just don't cut it. We need fairies with style.
Cirno is then the harbinger - notice the Three Fairies of Light who followed in her footsteps. She's not a distinct type of fairy anymore, probably a greater fairy like Daiyousei, Lily White and the TFoL. But she remains quite distinct.
Aaaand that's enough sleep-deprived rambles for the night. Later comes the big-ass Cirno picdump.
edited 29th Mar '15 8:09:29 PM by Tacitus
The way the world is presented in canon material suggests that both Buddhism and Shinto are more or less correct - they both work as faiths and have the support of gods. From Shinto I get the idea of the myriad kami - spirits in absolutely everything, which with appropriate circumstances could develop into youkai or gods. From Buddhism I get the requirement that souls generally aren't created or destroyed, just recycled.
I don't know if there's supposed to be some technical difference between spirits and souls, but for my simplified view of how this world works I'll assume they can be treated as the same. These combined with the expansion of Yuyuko's domain due to overcrowding presents a picture of an oversupply of souls in various stages of development always looking for opportunities to reincarnate.
The fact that Reimu tells Rinnosuke in chapter 23 of Co LA that she can't summon a god into an item if it has been named, because then it already has a god in it, and the traditional disposal of tools that have been used to prevent the spirits in them from turning into Tsukumogami both support the idea that spirits will move into anything at the slightest opportunity.
Youkai are created when people's belief makes an opening that presents such an opportunity - creating a new role in the ecosystem. For example, when there was nobody aroud to hear the echoes, there was no belief to sustain a youkai to cause them. But once people began telling each other that there must be something up in the mountains that shouted back at you, there was an opportunity for a youkai to form sustained by their belief. Both gods and youkai need human belief, and if there was such a huge difference between faith and fear then curse gods would not be called gods at all.
I think that fairies are normally fairly undeveloped souls that seized the opportunity for guaranteed incarnation - they were probably at a level of development similar to youkai when they assumed this role for the most part. Their advantage over both youkai and gods is that they rely on purely natural processes for support and don't directly require human belief. But because they always reappear in the same incarnation, their opportunities for growth and enlightenment are fairly limited. Cirno seems to be proof that limited is not the same as impossible. I think her main problem is that if she gets too far above normal fairy level, she might no longer fit in there when she dies and would have to reincarnate as something else.
I really like this analogy, especially likening the other fairiess to asteroids. Extending that analogy, Daiyousei and/or possibly Lily are like Ceres. A particularly noteworthy asteroid perhaps, but still not really a planet.
The line is certainly a blurry one, which Byakuren points out to Sanae when they first meet in UFO. They're all sustained by human 'belief'.
I think it's that Youkai owe their existence to "something must be causing this... but what?". The fear of the unknown (and fear in general) ties into this. While I think Gods seem more like they're born of thoughts like "I want to have things go a certain way. If anyone's listening, make it so." Explanative vs Assertive belief.
Perhaps fairies aren't born of belief, but are simply incarnations of nature. Cirno can be wiped out no more than the concept of 'frozen water' can be. We just don't seem them out here because we have weirdness censors, more or less. Or they're just too tiny. Or are invisible. Or simply unseen because they're not really present in our artificial world.
The whole "Cirno is becoming a youkai" angle is one I've heard a lot, and... well, it makes sense. As her name becomes more known, and she gets taken more seriously, eventually she 'graduates' into a youkai of ice. And while I have that on my mind, I think a distinction that exists in my head (maybe not anywhere else though because I may be misremembering things) is that while Letty is a youkai of cold, Cirno is one of ice. While Ice is of course hardly warm, There is a very big difference between -1 Celsius and -60 Celsius. One is uncomfortable and annoying but not that bad, the other is extremely dangerous. That's the difference in power between Cirno and Letty... between a fairy and a youkai.
I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.She has been warned that Bad Stuff might happen if she strays too far from her nature.
My theory is that Cirno would die.
A new ice fairy with her looks and personality and maybe name but not memory would respawn at the Misty Lake.
There must be a Cirno Claus.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersHuh. Yeah, I can see a shout-out there. And sadly it's better than some of the "adult Cirno" or "older Cirno" stuff on Danbooru, which is mainly Cirno with longer hair and boobs.
Hmm, I dunno. I mean, what about Cirno really reflects the Misty Lake, beyond that being her normal stomping grounds? If anything she ought to have the powers of fog or something. Then again, it's not like the countless fairies spawned from nature closely resemble trees or streams or anything, but then then again, why does Cirno have distinct ice powers?
My theory on Cirno's hypothetical demise is that she's too distinct, if she goes she's not gonna be replaced. A nameless generic fairy or two might pop into existence somewhere, but they won't be like her, won't have her ice powers, and may not even be tied to the lake.
So I guess we're fruitlessly arguing or something? Though if Lily were to get eaten by a honey badger, some spring-related entity would likely emerge to replace her, since that's a distinct role to be filled.
Or maybe, if youkai are born from our fear of the unknown and unexplained, and deities are born from our wish to have some way to comprehend or alter our place in the cosmos, fairies are born from our sense of wonder when we explore the world we live in. They're "the world is just awesome!" incarnate, related to but not the same as "the world is kinda dangerous" feeling that creates youkai. Fairies are scarce today because we rarely take the opportunity to find that feeling, or commodify and exploit the world rather than appreciate it, and so forth and Gaia's Lament and so on.
Good place to work in the "it's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy, let's go exploring!" quote.
Well, Letty is a youkai who may be a ghost of a variety known to appear in winter snowstorms, and has power over winter's cold. But she's otherwise helpless. Cirno is both arguably more natural than her and demonstrably more powerful - Letty gets to hibernate until winter, Cirno goes to fight in a nuclear reactor and still keeps her ice powers.
Maybe that's what's got the yama so riled up, something about a fairy being so much more potent than winter incarnate sounds wrong.
This probably explains why they're (usually) so generic, too. They don't have a specific role or function to perform, so they get to be winged cannon fodder.
edited 25th Mar '15 10:23:49 PM by Tacitus
In Hisoutensoku, Reisen hypothesizes that Cirno heats up when she uses her ice powers (Laws of Thermodynamics and such). Going by that train of thought...
Cirno's hotheadedness is just a manifestation of the heat she absorbs when she uses her ice powers
Right, with that silliness out of the way, here are a couple of nice Piano versions of Cirno's theme I managed to stumble into earlier today:
A Truly Beloved Tomboyish Girl
Snow Day
note
And because Youtube recommendations are both silly and wonderful, here's a little gem that will probably lower your IQ to match Cirno's
edited 25th Mar '15 11:50:09 PM by CassiusBenard
Mudkip's final evolution is in fact NOT Mudkipperino.So the question then is why, if Cirno is stronger than Letty, the former isn't the incarnation of winter. And the answer to that is because Cirno is stronger, and able to persist outside winter, which means she can't incarnate it. So it seams like seasonal incarnates are more about finding some supernatural critter with the appropriate powers, be they fairy, youkai or goddess, rather than one with sufficient power.
Man, this Cirno discussion is getting pretty metaphysical. Here's some miscellaneous Cirno art.
She's the one on the left
Not her favorite time of year
Such confidence
Such elan
Pout
Mopey
More expressions
A whole pool of expressions
(this one stands out
)
Have a hug
Have a snack
Five 9's
Nine 9's
One big 9, some little 9's
Into action!
Eyes on the eyes
A hazardous dance partner
Cold apple!!
She must be hella easy to track around water
Particle of concentrated cold
To each her own
Impossible to drink warm
Get some soot, make a panda
They're good friends, really
Stoicism holding, for now
Even fire girls appreciate coolness
Gonna need a bigger snowball
Shoulda stuck with Easy Modo
Run
Planning session
Fantasy heroines
Such elegance, such style
Sunrise
Entire cast is Cirnos
Uncanny Valley warning?
Guess she's branching out into hydromancy
Cool blue greens
Icy spiky
Touch of creepy
Ice girl on a snowy branch
She looks pretty innocent for a localized cryonic anomaly
Frozen throne
Free floating ice sculpting
Notable oculars
No idea what's behind her but it looks cool
Ice cave
Inverted nine
Hey, if Shizuha can color leaves by hand...
And 99 more, just because
I almost countered with Hitler's Perfect Math Class, but didn't want to get any overseas tropers in trouble.
edited 26th Mar '15 4:12:02 PM by Tacitus

14 too.
I don't know... the 9-ball thing stems from the Po FV manual, yes?
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable