The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Wrong thread, sorry.

edited 14th May '15 1:41:40 PM by Clarste

Not terribly impressed with the selection of Nitori art. Seems like anything with her in a bikini gets a +10 modifier at least, and some of the highest-rated pieces are just objectively bad. This did not stop me from overstuffing my backpack full of image links, though.

On the left
Sketchy salute
Lil' heart
Lil' smile
Huge grin
Thumbs up
Either a smugface or a "not sure if want" face
Blue stare
Aggressive
Bittersweet
Let's get dangerous?
Sciencing as hard as she can
Enjoying the little things
A parody of something
The quintessential "shy Nitori" pic
So many Nitori
Food squee
Hard to believe she wants to stick her hand up your butt
Tonight? You.
DJ Neeters
Fuck yeah river otters!
Maybe we should keep her away from Sanae (and Suwako)
Meanwhile, down in engineering
Why aren't there kappa in the ocean, again?
Oh.
Outfit breakdown
More bubbles
Uh oh
Tears and a mind of gears
Into the deep
Bubbles and stars
A strained meeting
Song of a broken youkai
Prospecting
Also check out anything by kurione
Bubbles
You should eat cucumber-flavored death
Anyone know if that's Tai Chi?
Kappa camo
Advanced camo
Natural camo
She'll bring the water to you
Water punch
Ready to wrassle
Doubles her strength and ignores armor, but strikes last in close combat
Nitori Gear Solid
Could be an interesting fight
One step closer to becoming Iron Kappa
The satisfied smile that comes from building an atomic deepcrow a mech
I want to believe
Call it a creek
Snack with a view
Maybe I need to visit a state park
Autumnal waterway
Just having a soak
Waterfall grotto
Kappa statues
Turtle on the rocks
Turtle in the woods
Walking on sunshine
Down at the fishing hole
Kappa swamp house?
Shanghai steals the show
Genbu Ravine in about a century
Strangely prescient, no?
Picnic
Waterwheel
Misty mountain
Naptime
If you want a quick rundown on how to play Shougi, read the comments section
Awesome backpack
The inconveniences of aquatic life
About to run some historical wargames with her friends
At some point it stops being a backpack
Take a break, girl
Not sure about the blonde one
No one is safe
Look out, she's rabid!
Anticipation
A gun that seems likely to malfunction
Fun thing is that I found this one after speculating over Nitori finding Rika's stuff
Nitoris all the way up
Dangerous
Fishing with an audience sucks
Oh hai, Mimi-chan
And now you know
Don't disturb her circles

edited 15th May '15 9:34:32 PM by Tacitus

There's only one Nitori related remix I need to post

And I suppose this counts as both a remix and an alternate character interpretation, back from the halcyon days when MoF was all we had to go with and Nitori was at her least jerkish.

As an EWI video, the standard inexplicable school swimsuit warning applies:

Should probably also mention IOSYS' cute lil' remix. Or, for a more authentic kappa experience, the remix of that remix.

Unless things pick up again, we can probably expect Meiling sometime tomorrow evening.

edited 16th May '15 10:09:25 PM by Tacitus

Wait, were we doing the review period after Nitori, or after Meiling?

Also, Nitori is a greedy jerk, but she acts shy and respectful around her "betters", like any good two faced butthole thief.

....I admit, it's hard to talk Nitori without talking kappa in general. Maybe it's just me.

Eh, it's feudalism. Bow and scrape before the guys higher up on the totem pole, exploit and insult those below you. I'm sure you could work shirikodama extraction into a parable about the exploitation of medieval peasants.

As for a review period, that's still up in the air - I've been asking for ya'll's thoughts on whether we need one, and also if we need to reconsider the character selection process.

Are characters affected by recent news since we discussed those characters back on the table, saved for a review period, or saved outright for the New New New Touhou Character etc etc? (I like review period. Have we had one yet on the New New thread?)

If the random selector selects a character from the newest game, do we ignore it until the game comes out?

...Are you suggesting we go back to voting?

Also, Nitori has a big backpack.

edited 16th May '15 10:42:51 PM by Otherarrow

U Li L did not affect Nitori in any notable way.

...To be honest, I actually forgot if we already did any of the relevant characters from the new games.

We might have done Reisen. I have very vague memory of Mary/Renko being done as a combo. But I might be remembering the old new thread.

Nitori is a shy, conniving jerk who 'respects' people who are her betters. She is also likes to stuff cucumbers up someone's butt for frowning in her lake for some reason.

STUFF!

I think we should have the second review segment after Meiling.

Let's continue the random selection, I say. Just not include the LoLK characters in it. Save 'em for last, is what I'm saying.

No, Reisen hasn't been discussed here yet. I'd have done a musicdump for her already if that was the case. And Mary/Renko were done as well.

As for Nitori's musicdump... Not sure if I should include Stage 3's theme, what with it being Gensokyo's unofficial theme(Or so I remember...). Find out when I do it!

After thinking a lot... Stage 3 will not be included!

Wonder if Nitori will invent an innovative jukebox...

Welcome to the Kappa Realm
Mystery of Kappa
Visionary Kappa
Kappa Alert!
Kappa Zone
Wonder Kappa
Cheerful Kappa
One Glass of Cucumber Wine, Please
Underwater Regret
Healing River
A Great Kappa Invention
Unlimited Kappa
Kappa's Respite

edited 17th May '15 10:16:42 AM by Diamite

I'm starting to think one of the easiest ways to enhance a Touhou piece is to give it a folk Celtic treatment, because that "Cheerful Kappa" piece kicks ass.

I would save them for a review period, for example I don't think the motorcyle adds enough to Byakuren's character to warrant another discussion dedicated to her.

If we did, I've forgotten to put a link to it in the thread's first post.

For the ladies from LoLK, I plan to wait until the game has been released and translated, at the earliest. It may be advisable to give fanon time to accumulate around them before discussing them, but if there is enough demand we can skip that step.

This incidentally raises the question of whether to add Sumireko to the list now or wait a bit longer.

No, but if enough people want to, I'm fine with it. I'm content to stick with the randomizer, but I'm also wondering whether the agency provided by voting for characters would liven things up a little.

Of the ULiL cast, we've already discussed Reimu, Byakuren, Miko, Nitori, Kasen and Mokou. We have done Reisen, which is to say Reisen-Reisen, not Reisen Udongein Inaba-Reisen.

Looks like I get to do some digging for a link...

Heh, there's still 70 entries on the discussion topic list, so by the time we get through them all there'll probably be another game's worth of characters to add on top of the LoLK cast.

edited 17th May '15 7:09:29 PM by Tacitus

Alrighty, I think after this we'll have a review period to re-examine the characters discussed so far, and whether recent works have changed our perceptions of them. Or, in the case of newcomers to the thread, you'll have another chance to discuss your favorites.

But first, the Great Wall of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, who's as about as effective as her namesake...

Hong Meiling

Stage: Scarlet Border ~ Scarlet Land
BGM: "Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea"
Theme: "Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17"

Spellcard Motif: Rainbows and Martial Arts
Notable Spellcards: EoSD, GoM, IaMP, 'Soku
Flower Sign "Gorgeous Sweet Flower," Rainbow Sign "Wind Chime of Colorful Rainbow," Illusion Sign "Flower Imaginary Dream Vine," Colorful Sign "Extreme Colorful Typhoon," Extreme Color "Colorful Light Chaotic Dance," Ultimate Color "Mad Colorful Dance," Light Sign "Brilliant Light Gem," Extreme Light "Glorious Morning Star," Three Blasts "Colorful Ultimate Mountain Breaker," Flowery Sign "Colorful Light Lotus Flower Palm," Brilliance "Rainbow Brilliance Palm," Colorful Flip "Fluttering Petals and Falling Leaves," Colorful Flower "Rainbow Taijiquan," Colorful Brilliance "Rainbow Taichi," Rainbow Sign "Intense Rainbow Fist," Chi Sign "Star Bullets," Attack Sign "Roc Fist," Chi Sign "Earth Dragon Sky Dragon Kick," Chi Sign "Fierce Tiger Energy Release," Star Chi "Earth-Moving Star Bullets" Fiery Attack "Roc-Killing Fist," Colorful Sign "Vivid Color Downpour"

Write-up:
The Scarlet Devil Mansion's gatekeeper and first line of defense. In a country where the power of flight is more or less ubiquitous. Small wonder the poor girl has a reputation as a failure.

Hong Meiling is a Chinese youkai who can easily be mistaken for a human, at least until someone tries to force entry into the manor she's guarding. She doesn't have a specific ability (that we know of) beyond her mastery of martial arts, and indeed we're not told what kind of youkai she is either. Meiling is strong enough to keep the rabble out, at least, though the likes of Marisa tend to come and go as they please.

As a Chinese character in a Japanese work, there's a bit of cultural posturing going on here - Meiling is boastful about her country's traditional status as East Asia's hegemon, while her failures as a security system and tendency to nap on the job reveal Japanese attitudes towards Chinese imports. She's often a Butt-Monkey in works centered around the SDM, but that doesn't stop her from also being depicted as one of the most cheerful and angst-free members of that cast herd.

Relations:

• Remilia Scarlet (boss)
• Flandre Scarlet (boss' little sister)
• Patchouli Knowledge (boss' roommate)
• Sakuya Izayoi (co-worker)
• Taisui Xingjun (mortal enemy)
• Giant Catfish (...)

See also the first two compendiums.

edited 18th May '15 6:21:51 PM by Tacitus

Hong Meiling:

The gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Abused, but retains her cheerfulness.

Meiling's up there as one of Gensokyo's physical powerhouses. I'm pretty sure she'd give Yuugi a good fight. Sadly, with fantastic bullets being the law, being strong doesn't cut it. But hey, her rainbow spell cards are pretty to look at. And I'm still having trouble capturing them.

What kind of youkai Meiling is remains unknown. But the go-to type is dragon. Since she's rainbow-themed, I shall settle on her being a Rainbow Dragon youkai.

Despite her apparent lapses into Slacker Mode, she is a darn effective gatekeep, and I believe Remi doesn't regret her choice. It was fated to happen. That, and having a overly serious gatekeep would make life a little boring.

...Hm, how did she fall under Remi's banner anyway? Perhaps Remi caught wind of her exploits as a mass of raw destruction in youkai form and became interested in her. Thing is, Meiling wasn't interested in becoming Remi's next toy to be tossed aside and what was stopping her from crushing the little twerp instead?

This led to a brutal five-hour battle with Remi's top maid, Sakuya. Meiling was super-strong, just as the rumors said. But Sakuya's time mastery was more than enough to keep up with Meiling's pace. Meiling was impressed. No one else could give her loads of trouble until then. With that, she decided to play Scarlet Defender for a spell before she got sick of it and left. But that day never came. In between her mistress' amusing tantrums, Sakuya's delicious meals, Patchouli's elemental inventions, and being a psuedo-big sister to Flandre, that thought just faded into non-existence. Life's fun now.

Maybe Meiling is a human-turned youkai like Ichirin? In Meiling's case, she was just a Chinese martial artist, a really strong one at that. She was so strong that people began calling her by Red Baron nicknames, maybe something like "Rainbow Dragon", "Scarlet Kick"... or "Chinese Youkai". The last one stuck, and people began to believe Meiling really is a youkai. So she became one.

Hong Meiling

She's strong, but not on the level of the mansion's other residents. Remilia wanted a gatekeeper. Why? It's not like she's not perfectly capable of defending herself. Hell, a spot of adrenaline-pumping mortal combat sounds like a pretty good way to stave off immortal ennui. But it's no fun to smash those that are too weak to even register; swatting flies is a chore, not a pleasure. Thus Meiling; strong and skilled enough to be an interesting match for the sisters in her own right, weak enough that people get past her every now and again, durable enough to survive her losses, Meiling is less a defense than a screening process, a sign next to the gate reading "You must be at least this badass to enter."

I have an odd theory about her origins. Tsukumogami are the spirits of tools or objects that have gained self-awareness. Well, once upon a time in China there lived a hermit martial artist. His skill was his one and only treasure; on those rare occasions that he would get visitors he would speak of his art as though it were his child, something he had nurtured from an undeveloped clumsiness into a refined grace, which even in his old age had never deserted him. It was his lifeblood. Well, one day the old man finally succumbed to the inevitability that waits even for hermits, leaving his art behind. Having never taken any students, his art was forgotten by the world. His art, however, had not forgotten him. It longed to be a memorial to the man that had given it life, and so it gained form. A tall, sturdy frame, hair as red as the lifeblood that had once flowed through his veins, a smiling face and an iron fist, Hong Meiling is a tsukumogami of a concept and sees herself as the dutiful daughter of a father long since past.

(Wow, that went longer than I thought.)

As to her competence, I figure she's perfectly good at her job. She can't keep Marisa out, but Marisa's one of the strongest beings in Gensokyo, so that's hardly anything to give her a hard time about. As to her sleeping on the job, I like a theory I saw somewhere (can't remember where) that her ability to sense qi means she's aware of what's going on around her even while asleep, and can wake up instantly if she senses an aggressive presence approaching her or the gate; Remilia doesn't care as long as she's effective and Sakuya is probably annoyed by it but has no actual grounds to complain. As to her also being a gardener: She's outdoorsy, probably likes working with her hands for more than just hitting things and likes pretty things.

As to her good nature; being indirectly born of humans, she's fond of them, and gets along with them well. She's a martial arts youkai, not a violence youkai; I imagine she'd love getting challenged to matches, but all you'd have to do to not get into a fight with her is not pick a fight. While understanding her limits, she's also very confident; while she can't do that, she knows with a rock-solid certainty that she can do this. That solid sense of identity probably helps the sunny demeanor. I imagine she and Remilia get along fairly casually for an employer/employee pair. Sakuya thinks well enough of her personally and respects her skills, but wishes she'd put a more professional face forward. Flandre thinks she's a nice lady that doesn't break. Patchoulli...knows she exists.

Remilia apparently lends Meiling manga.

That, to me, is amazing. And I love it forever.

Meiling also has a rival in the form the 'Taisui Xingjun' as well as its avatar the Giant Catfish. Meiling reads too much manga.

And of course last time Hylarn pointed out that Hong are indeed Chinese rainbow dragons. Also, Chinese dragons in general are associated with watery weather, and Meiling has those spellcards inspired by rain or typhoons...

Certainly plausible. You could also try to work this idea into a Legacy Character sort of deal, where she was able to take the mantle of a folk hero and become a youkai martial artist. Or maybe she started as a fictional character but became widespread enough to spring into existence.

This is pretty cool too.

Or maybe it's a different aspect of the "screening" process. Remi gives her permission to take naps from time to time, thus ensuring that sufficiently stealthy and clever intruders have a chance to break in, rather than it being nothing but brutes. Give Sakuya a chance to hunt.

Plus, who else is gonna do it? Patchouli's usually buried in her books, Sakuya has all the jobs inside the mansion to do, and a lady guarding her own home simply isn't done. The fact that Meiling has the best temperament for dealing with people out of all of them is just an added bonus.

Maybe this is another cultural posturing thing. Like if it were a Japanese person such as Sakuya(?) recommending it, Meiling would scoff, but the fact that Remilia thinks it's neat makes it okay for her to like it?

Eh, let's not read too much into it. I'm sure Meiling and Remilia both found reasons to love JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Actually, for a non-material concept springing into being... it seems like there'd be a name for that. Somebody's dedication or strength or craft or will outliving them. It's on the tip of my brain, but it's too late to come to mind now...

I believe that Meiling has complete mastery over every martial art you can think of. Hung Gar, Shaolin Fist, the animal styles, Goju Ryu, etc. Due to this, another Red Baron name for her: Haoken(The Supreme Fist).

Meiling is a youkai so she has plenty of time to practice the said styles.

Character from the first modern Touhou game, which incidentally is one of the most popular Touhou games - yeah, there's a ton of great Meiling fanart.

Simple but nice sketch
Realistic sketch
At rest
Stalwart
Hair swoosh
Slight smile
We can only wonder what she's reacting to
A gal who gives a friendly smile even when her hand glows with an awesome power
Getting a Dan Hibiki vibe
Feeling the heat
Where are her pants?
Fun in the sun
Copper hair, copper eyes
Smoking dragon
Oh, that's a dangerous little smile
Out of uniform (but still SFW)
The dragon in winter
Formalwear
Formal lingerie?
Tactical gateguard
I don't think Kasen's Chinese, but what do I know
She can be a dork sometimes
Inevitable
Sometimes she wanders over to visit
Hope dragons have good cold tolerance
Even a success could be dangerous
Storytime at the SDM
A wise guard knows when not to see things
She usually has a special relationship with Flandre
Eye to eye
Trusty steed
How much Flan can she handle?
Earning that paycheck
Just another day with Flan
A rare moment with Remi
Shibasaki Shouji has a nice take on her and Sakuya
Time to butle
Red dragon, blue dog
I feel like we're intruding
Scarlet babysitter
Group siesta
The mansion is closed
Meiling of many colors
Must be a summer outfit
Qipao + fingerless clothes?
Quit spamming
Wonder if her clothes are weighted
She's got some scarlet in her
Why the bells?
Dragon kick
Down to forward Y
Reinforcements
The pop of joints that heralds the splintering of bones
Gonna beat the tao out of you
The bottomfeeder of the apocalypse
Family visit
Koumajou Densetsu
Genjii is not badass enough to be in this picture
It's actually safer to avoid eye contact, so you can keep track of where that fist is going
Take a refreshing flight from time to time
She's also a waterbender
Relax
I'd be willing to guard the place too
Just your friendly neighborhood Chinese gatekeeper girl
I'm staring to think I should have just put up a "terajin + hong_meiling" search link to save time
"Turn left at the tree," how helpful
The sniper rifle of tea pots
The dark days before Sakuya
Rainbow of stab
Turnabout is fair play
Nothing can stop her coffee break
It begins

Do not think for a minute that Meiling's slacking off while listening to some tunes. She'll still send you packing!

Shanghai Overture
From Shanghai with Love
Shanghai Honor
Power of Shanghai
Shanghai Dragon
Shanghai Beat
Shanghai Piano
Shanghai Waltz
Shanghai Memories
Colorful Shanghai
Soothing Era