The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Because Shino has a hard time beating Remilia in EoSD.

In universe its probably because shes a recovering serial killer who channels her sadism along less murderous avenues. And because Remilia is adorable when charisma broked.

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Because Shino thinks it's funny, and she's influential.

Is Shino for sure a she?

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the whole Sakuya nosebleed thing. I think she's very loyal to Remilia in her perverse sarcastic way, but she's not sexually attracted to her. In fact, I'd say I'm an anti-fan of that.

nosebleed can also mean an overload of cuteness.

This post was thumped by the Codfish in a Derby Hat

Same thing. I don't like it.

Based on "Manga of My Memories of Playing Touhou", there's a pretty good chance that she is.

^^

Yeah, the whole Sakuya being attracted to Remi thing just annoys me. Shino's version is a bit easier to stand because of the element of sadism in it, but that version is barely recognizable as Sakuya.

Hmm, I don't see Sakuya being attracted to Remilia, but being endeared by her and Flandre when they're just acting like sweet children seems okay to me... Well, it can go either way. Karaagetarou just somehow almost always manages to make characters feel natural in my eyes, even when they're acting in completely exaggerated fashions and he's using memes and stuff.

Guess it's time to start thinking about our next endeavor?

edited 20th Jul '10 5:36:42 AM by Fawriel

Curiosity: Considering how the fandom made every other servant-type character a Butt-Monkey of their master, how'd Sakuya avoid being depicted as such (save for the extremely rare fanvid)?

edited 20th Jul '10 6:28:28 AM by Servbot

I think the pad meme kind of makes her a butt monkey. Even if it is one who will stab you to death if you mention it. And Meiling does take up a lot of butt monkey so maybe there's less left for Sakuya.

Actually, I think every character in Touhou is made a butt monkey in some way. Touhou fans have a tendency to knock characters off pedestals with memes. Reimu's perpetual poverty, Remilia's constant charisma breaks, Sakuya's pads, Patchy's inability to keep Marisa from stealing her books and/or being attracted to Marisa in a plainly obvious way, Keine's caving, Kaguya being a NEET, Reisen being a butt monkey (although thats somewhat canon), Mystia being a meal, or Wriggle being near Yuuka in any way.  ^*

As for the nosebleed thing, I like to think its similar to Ran's cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen nosebleeds in that its probably entirely caused by cuteness. And not sexual attraction.

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I guess she's simply cool. Well, and there's not really any hints of buttmonkey-ness in canon. There's one dubious line where Remilia sneers at her uselessness, but at the same time she and Reimu were acting like Sakuya was dead, so that whole exchange is just what.

Speaking of dead, I'm bothered now. Those who think Sakuya used to be a serial killer, what kind of a serial killer are you thinking of here?

The more I think about it, the more I feel really disturbed by that doujin on danbooru where Remilia goes outside of Gensokyo to pick her up and Sakuya uses the opportunity to kill off a whole bunch of people she didn't like. The disturbing part is that she's supposed to be a super-sympathetic character. What. The. Hell. If they had raped her and her family dog, maybe it would be understandable, but all we saw was them being all "lol look at her white hair". There was some foreshadowing in the form of her writing names into her "to kill" list, but that just seemed like the kind of grumpy thing an emo teen would do to vent their frustration. The way things did play out (after the story started out on a pretty funny and lighthearted note, too), I'd be very, very suspicious of the author.

It also doesn't make sense to me. Sakuya is too cool to let herself be swayed like that. I could easily imagine her liking crime novels and maybe even pulling some sort of gambit on any bullies to teach them true fear, but that... no.

If there's serial killings in her past, either she committed them (probably for an actual reason) and then fled from her crimes and became The Atoner, or she was an assassin of some sort.

Sakuya + sociopathic emo kid = no

Edit: Excessive turning of characters into buttmonkeys or other jokes makes me wary. Reeks of geeks being intimidated by strong females.

edited 20th Jul '10 6:54:06 AM by Fawriel

In the comic you're talking about, she only kills them because she's going to leave the world for good. And she does cut her revenge short when Remilia tells her they need to hurry back through the barrier.

But, it would make an interesting contrast. In the outside world, when she was young, she could have been a serial killer. Maybe she killed people that made fun of her. Maybe, like in Stripe Pattern's Glorious Revolution after she discovers her time powers she begins murdering in a Light-esque attempt to change the world. Or just to alleviate her boredom.

However, somehow she reaches Gensokyo. Maybe, Remilia liked the cut of her jib and kidnapped hired her. Maybe she finds her own way in. Either way, she goes from someone lashing out against the world into the Perfect and Elegant Maid.

edited 20th Jul '10 7:07:42 AM by Bocaj

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Assasin seems more likely than random killer, though it's so close to Vampire Hunter that you can almost see it as an offshoot of the same theory. I think all the serial killer stuff is just Sakuya theming her spellcards in a way that will intimidate her enemies and/or for the lulz.

Personally I like the vampire killer theory. There's just too many references for it to be coincidence.

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Yeah, it's probably just a theme. She seems like the type to use psychological warfare against her enemies. Fits right in with her theatralic tendencies, too. "They are a superstitious and cowardly lot" indeed.

And... how does that make it any better? "Oh, she killed them, but she only did it because she had an opportunity to?"

I could not see Sakuya as sympathetic if she had been a murderer and has not atoned appropriately.

It doesn't really make it better but it does make her more opportunistic more than anything else, I guess.

edited 20th Jul '10 7:40:38 AM by Bocaj

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No activity for a few hours, eh? Welp, next profile's gonna be posted sometime (my) tomorrow. I'd still like to see about reading some more of those Sakuya doujins before so I can comment on them, but I won't if it gets too stressful.

My vote still goes to the Aki sisters, so I finally have an incentive to do this thing that's been floating around my brain.

Remember that the discussion isn't over, but I still want some votes already.

I still vote for the Aki sisters. But they have to share a turn.

Aki is fine.

An Aki is fine too.

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Go Aki sisters!

a.k.a. Cly, that one girl who doesn't post here much anymore Something something YI = SMW 2 = SMB 5.

Huh, I never once imagined Sakuya as a serial killer before she met Remilia. That seems weird to me. I always figured it was part of her "Dog of the Devil" imagery, in that she had no qualms about killing people for cooking ingredients. Just part of the general "youkai eat humans" thing applied to a human who works for youkai. It's just a job for her.

Also, I still don't like the "cuteness overload" thing, not for Ran either. It seems very out of character and more like the authors projecting in sort of a creepy way.

edited 20th Jul '10 6:28:14 PM by Clarste