The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Well, both are servants of Bishamonten a treasure/fortune/genorosity deity in Buddhism. For example, the mongoose I mentioned is known for vomiting up jewels. Shou probably got her treasure powers due to her devotion and worship of Bishamonten. Likewise for the mouse, since she's Nazrin.

I kind of wonder about Nazrin's position. Even after Bishamonten trusts Shou enough to lend the jeweled pagoda to, Nazrin is still assigned to watch her.

And then, oops, she loses the pagoda.

edited 5th Aug '10 7:00:10 PM by Bocaj

Well, the fact that Shou lost the pagoda and Nazrin set off to find it, keeping it a secret from MURASA, seems to suggest to me that she's still looking out for Shou, and fixing things when she does stumble. She calls Shou her master nowadays, but it seems she's a sort of Hypercompetent Sidekick, closer to Shou's than say, Chen is to Ran. However, the fact that she goes to actively fix Shou's mistake, and hide it from MURASA rather than reporting Shou to Bishamonten, suggests that the two are friends, not just colleagues.

..."Colleagues" is a weird word to use when I'm describing godly avatars/disciples.

Side note, I once made a silly comic where Shou scolds Chen for using the name Bishamonten in one of her EX-midboss spellcards, but after actually playing UFO, I've found that Shou's just way too chill to actually do that. I wonder what her real reaction would be.

On the subject of re-invigorating discussion, we should proably go back up the high tier characters. Like, Patchouli or someone with lots of interpretations. Heck, we already had an argument about her interpretation in the main thread, and that was just her weight!

edited 5th Aug '10 10:29:59 PM by Clarste

TIRES DON EXITS

Its weird because discussion is a crapshoot.

Sometime we talk about a popular character and discussion explodes. But sometimes popular characters just fizzle.

And then we talk about Yamamamamame and we talk for pages about whether or not she's spider-man.

It's kinda sad that most fan portrayals of Nazrin are built around what kind of youkai she is, i.e. she likes cheese and should be chased by Chen and Orin, instead of reflecting who she is. Until this thread I knew nothing about the whole "keeping an eye on her superior on their boss' orders" angle. That's an interesting characterization: Special Agent Nazrin! Retriever of lost goods, the unseen eye turned inward, solver of problems before you realize something's gone wrong. All while serving as a mild-mannered mousy minion.

Some of her quotes, though, I'm not sure what to make of. "My mice do like the taste of human flesh. They say that cheese just can't compare to certain other red foods." "Sorry, but if you don't take us mice seriously, you'll die." Is she joking, or is she tired of being disrespected for being a little furry rodent?

...Does the mouse in the tail-basket have a name? I think I remember hearing "Colonel Squeakers" somewhere...

Youkai always joke about eating people. It's kind of died down a bit, but it's never fully gone away.

Colonel Squeakers...

That would fit, internally, as Nazrin is a General, which puts her above Colonel Squeakers.

Oh god, the combination of her being a General, in charge of a Colonel Squeakers, together with my earlier thought of her having a silly sense of humor... brought to mind an amazing mental image.

"ARMY OF MICE, ROLL IN!"

*swarm of mice appears out of nowhere, Nazrin looming over them sinisterly*

"COLONEL SQUEAKERS! Status report!"

"Squeak squeak! Squeak!"

"Very good! What is today's item of the agenda?"

"Squeak! Squeak squeak, squeak!"

"Playing tricks on Ichirin?" [Mr. Burns pose] "Eeeexcellent."

You guys remembered the name I came up with for him!

Aww, only one post in all that time? What a bummer. I guess it's time to start deciding on the next character, but I'm only just really getting into Nazrin! I think I could really like her! In fact, in my current view of her personality, she's one of the characters closest to me. A mostly light-hearted person who enjoys life by not taking anything too seriously and acting silly, sometimes being a bit of a trickster (well, Nazrin much more so than I), but easily able to turn serious if the situation calls for it.

Actually, let me finally take a look at her dialogue in-game. ... ... The first thing I read from her is a pun on a Japanese traffic safety slogan. Promising~

Hmm, in Reimu's scenarios, she makes that traffic joke (though of course she may not be aware that it's a joke - that's a big problem with the wit of fictional characters), then makes fun of her for thinking the Palanquin is a treasure ship, but in the other scenario, she actually apologizes for saying "boring" when her mice lead her to Reimu and it turns out she's not a treasure. Then she makes that joking threat (or is it!) about her mice liking the taste of human flesh.

With Sanae, she's very defensive about her making light of mice, but did say "please" when she asked her not to get in the way...

"What are you talking about? Were you looking for me?"
"Why would I be doing that? It'd be bad if my little mice got responses from humans. They're just a bunch of walking stomachs."

Aww, Nazrin. You're gonna have to give Colonel Squeakers a big cookie to apologize for that one. Wait, err. Actually, write him a card.

As for Marisa... hmm. "Well, I'd better go find the next treasure, or I'll never hear the end of it from her." Interpret that as you will. She uses the "hungry mice" threat again here, too. But in the next scenario, she doesn't even want to fight Marisa...

Well, in any of these cases, she chit-chats pretty nonchalantly with the heroines, and seems overall pretty cheeky. Yup. I think that fits pretty well with my image of her.

Sooo... votes on who's next, I guess.

A mostly light-hearted person who enjoys life by not taking anything too seriously and acting silly, sometimes being a bit of a trickster, but easily able to turn serious if the situation calls for it.

Sounds a lot like Kogasa, actually. I think I kind of understand why people ship them sometimes.

I just want you to know that I absolutely adore that mental image of Nazrin acting as the (Little Dowser) General to an army of not-quite-youkai mice. And considering she's apparently got good experience at keeping track of/an eye on people, well, so much the better for that idea.

Yeah, my Nazrin is kind of a mousey general mix of Kogasa and Tewi.

I really like her and Kogasa a lot, but not Tewi so much for some reason.

^^ I like the sound of that.

And for later in the game, Nazrin tests the pagoda on the PC before returning it to Shou. I wonder if she always wanted to use it. So shiny and divine and Shou was always "no Nazrin! I got this from god and you didn't wash your hands after handling Rear Admiral Squeaky." And Nazrin goes " "

edited 6th Aug '10 1:01:03 PM by Bocaj

Well, Nazrin should have some right to handle it. I mean, she initially worked directly under Bishamonten, after all.

I will admit that the idea of "ooooh, shiny and holy, must touch" is a great image, too.

edited 6th Aug '10 2:35:11 PM by Enlong

sometimes being a bit of a trickster (well, Nazrin much more so than I)

Well, in Asia (China at least, don't know about Japan), the rat is the animal generally considered as the trickster. Goes way back in the story of the twelve zodiacs, where the rat wins the race despite being the smallest by tricking the cat and taking advantage of the ox.

edited 6th Aug '10 4:32:31 PM by Servbot

^ Quick, someone needs to Touhoufy that story, using Nazrin, Chen, and Keine.

Alright, voting now!

Eirin, Komachi, Patchouli, Remilia, Rinnosuke, Youmu

Mima, Shou, Wriggle, Akyu, Chiyuri, Elly, Ichirin, Medicine, Orange, Shinki, Yumemi

More UFO, or try to recover from inactivity with a more popular character?

YuugenMagan!

Or Shou, whatever.

Clearly, we must try to recover with a character so unpopular, they go around the bend and become a massive source of discussion.

Thus, I vote for the Watatsuki sisters!

Can I vote for Littleshrimp?

If not, its Shou time.

Youmu.

Youmu.