^^ (and in a way ^) I think this thread could benefit from more excellent theories such as that one.
edited 3rd Mar '10 4:08:42 AM by Lemurian
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!Daiyousei is a cheerleader? That makes sort of sense.
The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!I think Touhou Tag Dream had Daiyousei as a literal Cirno cheerleader.
That would be highly amusing.
Again, link.
edited 3rd Mar '10 12:38:13 PM by Lemurian
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!O HAY LEMURIAN
Marisa sure has a lot of fangirls.
Dunno how helpful this is, but I'd prefer them to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Instead of simply pinning down the things we all agree on (which I suppose you're calling the "main gist"), go for trying to fit in everything everyone thinks, possibly as a "some think this, some think that" kind of thing. The characters are fun because we all look at them differently, so that fun alternate interpretation aspect should be conveyed. Interesting questions are the means towards this end, rather than an end on their own. They should probably be included just for that though.
Hmmm, true. Though it would obviously make writing a snappy text harder... Let me think about that...
Speaking of which, I'll have a lot of time for thinking because I'm kinda, uh, gonna travel across the country tomorrow, so I'll be inactive on that day, and preparing today. Maybe if I hurry and concentrate, I can still initiate the Tenshi discussion today...
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Tenshi Hinanai
Traits:
- jerkass
- arrogant - spoiled
- erudite(?)
- masochist
Relationships/Shipping:
- Iku (probably some sort of authority figure)
Write-up:
Tenshi, the villain. Quite possibly the only Windows Touhou character who ever actually set out to perform acts of villainy. And for what reason? The same reason every other person in Gensokyo does what they do: Boredom. She caused trouble and threatened some major destruction to the people in Gensokyo all because her pampered lifestyle as a Celestial just wasn't interesting enough anymore. Due to her desire for "punishment", and probably her self-admitted "bad girl" image in spite of being an angel, her role in comedic fanworks is almost solely based on her ostensibly being a masochist, but looking past the potential for If You Know What I Mean jokes, there's an interesting character to be worked with here.
As I said, she is quite possibly the only true "villain", despite comedic portrayals defanging her entirely, and her motive is a very potent one. She also has a habit of throwing quotes from Chinese classics at people, though it's quite debatable as to how deeply she actually understands these.
Similar Opposite characters:
- Reimu (Reimu would kill to be able to live the lazy life of a celestial, but ends up solving incidents rather than causing them)
Wellllllll this is the extent of what I know about her! Her voice in Bubbling Underground is quite appropriate in that it can sound pretty damn obnoxious (though there are occasions where it sounds pretty nice, too, though less common in this particular song).
Any good stuff to read or see about her?
edited 4th Jul '10 6:38:32 AM by Fawriel
Some random character relationships:
Suika, being the kind of person who the boredom of heaven (ie: partying all the time) appeals to, likes to hang out in Tenshi's garden, much to Tenshi's annoyance / curiosity. Annoyance at having her lifestyle considered fun and having a drunk on her lawn, as well as curiosity at what kind of strange and new creature this is.
Celestials apparently achieve immortality by playing Danmaku With Death, so she should be periodically fighting off Komachi in order to sustain her life. Tenshi's arrogant and powerful enough that this is only minor annoyance if not a fun diversion, but Komachi seems to seriously want to knock her down a peg by... killing her?
Not sure if I'll write a little mini-essay for Tenshi later. I don't think I have much to say about her.
edited 4th Mar '10 3:42:41 PM by Clarste
...I haven't got much more than that I love her voice in Touhou Bubbling Underground (the CD the song Fawriel linked to comes from).
edited 4th Mar '10 4:03:37 PM by Lemurian
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!I associate that voice with some other IOSYS songs about different characters (same singer, I dunno?), so that would just confuse me greatly.
One of the things I see often in fanworks is Tenshi fighting a lot with Yukari.
I get the impression that Yukari considers her a rude, uppity little brat who doesn't know what real boredom is, while Tenshi dislikes Yukari's condescending attitude towards her, and harbors a secret fascination with Yukari.
Tenshi is also (most likely to be) good friends with Iku, and still sort-of sees her as a big sister figure from her childhood(?), while Iku puts up with Tenshi's "wilful bad little angel" behaviour and likes her anyway. Given that some of her quotes in SWR, I like to think her relationship with Tenshi changed after that Incident. Strangely enough, fanworks love to play up Iku having a crush on Tenshi (hence her seemingly inexhaustible patience with the Celestial) and wanting to take her home.
The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!Come to think of it the title of her final spell song, Bhava-agra As Seen Through a Child's Mind, pretty much sums her up. She's a child, given too much power and responsibility. A bratty teenager playing pranks on the world to get attention, who would probably throw a tantrum if she ever got into any real trouble (which I don't think she does). More than a real villain, she's just an annoying Libby -type that you just want to smack for her attitude. Even when fixing Reimu's shrine as an apparent apology, she rebuilds it with another prank built-in. Frankly, if the series were an anime or something I'd probably hate her. A lot. She's also sort of a Karma Houdini.
edited 4th Mar '10 7:35:52 PM by Clarste
I think Tenshi is a pretty cool guy. Her duds are spiffy, her sword is awesome... I see her as having kind of a Dante-esque 'tude. Total badass... insufferable prick. Bored of being a celestial as she is, I'm sure she also loves using her status to lord it up over people. Could be that because of her Celestial nature she sees the inhabitants of Gensokyo as less than human and therefore has no qualms with killing them. But I personally think that she's just so childish and self-absorbed that she didn't stop to consider what consequences her "fun" might have. She's just so wrapped up in her quest for lulz that she just doesn't think things through. Typical teenage behavior, really! Only this particular snobby, spoilt teenager has incredible celestial powers. Whoops. There goes the neighborhood.
She has one of the best designs in the series. Though, for some reason, she's almost universally depicted as a washboard, despite the variation shown by almost every other character.
Canon has her wrecking shit for the lulz and because she likes fighting people. So, all but the most Tastes Like Diabetes works tend to portray her as some level of Jerkass. The vague Blood Knight tendencies are typically considered to be (sado)masochism, though.
Occasionally considered to have some sort of rivalry with Yukari, though canon doesn't really support it. More frequently seen having a a relationship of sorts with Iku, though the nature varies wildly depending on who's writing. Probably because they canonically barely know and don't particularly care for each other. Also frequently seen being abused by Yuuka, but that's because fandom thinks she's an S.
I don't like the masochism thing.
Her constant demands that people punish her do somewhat lend themselves to that interpretation, though.
edited 4th Mar '10 9:48:56 PM by Zudak
Throughout SWR she's weirdly eager to fight everyone, and often goads people into fighting her by demanding that they punish her for what she's done. And then she let them beat her up, only actually trying to win when the incident went out of her control...
I see. Haha! I suppose I understand how you could get "masochism!" out of that.
edited 4th Mar '10 9:52:04 PM by Zudak
I always looked at that as "playing final boss" rather than wanting to get beat up. It's not really supported except in a joking way.
We came up with that in a discussion, in fact. It was an awesome sensation to suddenly have such a connection open up and enhance these characters! One of the main things that made me wanna do this thread.
While I'm here, though, I have to ask. Does anyone have anything to criticize about the thread? Could I do anything better? I mean, I know I could be more reliable, for one. I feel really guilty about that. You shouldn't all have to wait with the discussion just because I can't get my ass in gear. Would anyone else do the job with me, though?
Also, more generally, what do you guys expect out of this thread? What should I focus on in those profiles? Should I try to pinpoint some sort of main gist of a character, or list all the various interpretations, or pose questions that could be interesting to ponder, or what?