The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

My question is: does Shou know that Nazrin was sent to observe her instead of to merely serve as an underling? Because between that and the whole "Byakuren introducing her to Bishamonten specifically so Shou would become an avatar of said deity" thing, I'm getting a sort of "clueless" vibe from Shou. Not ditziness or stupidity or anything, but a tendency to go along with others' plans without knowing it. Guileless, maybe. Pawn-like. A straight line in a world of squiggles. Quite useful for a cleric, but I'd keep her away from someone like Tewi.

She's specifically described as honest and straightforward...

The honestest and straightforwardest. (Side note, Firefox thinks "honestest" is a word)

So honest, that Nazrin didn't have anything untoward to report back to Bishamonten. So straightforward and focused that she sort of "missed" Byakuren getting sealed while she was busy being Bishamonten.

A straight line with curvy lasers in a world of squiggles?

Shou Toramaru. The "Honest and Straightforward" youkai and disciple of Bishamonten.

Despite this...

"She kept the fact that she was a youkai a secret from humans. She had her regrets about this, but it would have been self-destructive to reveal her true identity. "

She hid and lied about the truth of her youkaidom from humanity during her time under Bishamonten. She was an excellent assistant, but perhaps all too excellent, and lost sight of her roots with Byakuren. And for a time, she regretted this.

And in time, too, she would go on to try and help unseal Byakuren, and put those regrets to ease.

She blends Byakuren's very pro-youkai, pro-balance view with Bishamonten's presumably more orthodox views. Although, Bishamonten was most likely also quite lax, and not exceedingly orthodox(Taking Shou in the first place, for example). Because of this, Shou sort of plays the straight (wo)man to Byakuren's idealistic views. And Nazrin, in turn, plays hypercompetent and an invested view in the entire matter.

Shou is absolute in her views. Because of this, she has the utmost belief in herself, her abilities and what she feels is right. Therefor, she fights without hesitation. Her studies have left her extremely well-versed and well-thought in philosophical manners and in enlightenment, and her strength combined with this makes her a quintessential warrior poet or enlightened warrior. She's probably knowledgable and well-set enough in her ways to open her own temple, but she prefers to hang with Byakuren.

For some reason, this makes me think of her as kind of...renaissanse(I can't spell this word worth shiiiit and I'm too sleepy to look it up) era person. Dunno why.

"Just a simple enemy ... ... Still, even if you are an enemy, there's no denying that you were chosen by the treasure.

However, if you've chosen to follow the wrong path ...

Then I'll have you bow down before this pagoda of Bishamonten! "

"We can't let you take the treasure and use them for some fiendish purpose.

I didn't want to do this, but I have no choice.

The light of this jewelled pagoda of Bishamonten will cleanse the evil from your heart!"

Shou has some truly badass quotes.

"Since she wanted to use Makai's power to help youkai,

She was sealed away - for something as simple as that. Isn't that unreasonable? "

Hmmm...maybe Byakuren went off to employ Shinki?

"I'll be the one to break that seal. And I'll take that jeweled pagoda or whatever!"

Sanae wants that pagoda, maaaan,

Lesse...

This little thing sums up a lot of what I imagine Shou ending up like at the start. In fact, I can't help but imagine a scene much like this happening when Shou steps on to the tempe grounds, Nazrin beside her, and just kind of...reminisces and breaks down a little. Then Murasa, presumably looking for Shou, finds her. And thus, UFO.

Or something. I think I had more detail into how it was, but my mind is forget.

I don't see Shou as that clumsey, either. You misplace one priceless artifact of power...

I'll have more to say later. I'll try to be more involved in this discussion. Shou is interesting, like most of the UFO cast...

Oh...

And I prefer, when I ship with her, Shou/Byakuren. But I also support Shou/Reimu as a less serious pairing.

question: This thread has become a pretty epic repository of Touhou knowledges. Link to it from the character page?

Sure, fine by me.

And while I'm here, sorry for the inactivity today-ish. I still wanted to have a nice drawing of Shou done before closing the discussion on her, but alas. Youmu will be up after I get out of bed tomorrow.

Until then, let's see... What exactly is Shou's job? Does she wander from house to house in the mornings and hand out pamphlets? And what did she do before Byakuren found her, to become so well-respected?

Not sure about the job part (maybe being an avatar of god means she gets to travel to entirely different planes of existence?), but her life pre-Byakuren... Hmm, maybe she was already a very honorable warrior back then, with a strict moral code?

One thing that is interesting, is that I was looking at the comics included with STB, and I'm not sure if their canon, but it seems like Daiyousei does seem to be portrayed as somewhat powerful for a fairy and that Cirno causes a lot of problems for the other fairies.

That and Suika is an epic troll.

^ You mean "Ogre and the Ice Fairy"? I'm pretty sure the only story that's canon from that book is "Extra of the Wind"

So, Youmu next, or do we want to do Unzan and finish UFO?

Speaking of Unzan, did you know that if you rearrange his name, you get "An ZUN"? the truth is out there, and it has terrible grammar.

...
...
...
...
...
...
Youmu Konpaku

Manzai with Yuyuko

Themes:
Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple (Perfect Cherry Blossom), Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? (Perfect Cherry Blossom), Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple (Immaterial and Missing Power), Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? (Immaterial and Missing Power), Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? Second Card Arrangement (Immaterial and Missing Power), Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple (Phantasmagoria of Flower View), Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? (Scarlet Weather Rhapsody)

Traits:

• straightforward
• the straight man
• loyal to a fault
• Yuyuko's eternal subject of teasing
• can be naive and childish?

Relationships/Shipping:

• Yuyuko (her mistress, who loves nothing as much as teasing Youmu, except perhaps Youmu herself)
• Youki Konpaku (her predecessor [father?] and master in swordsmanship)
• Sakuya (often shipped for being similar in certain ways, in which case Youmu looks up to her as a more experienced and cool older sister)

Write-up:
Half-human, half-ghost. Half-alive, half-dead. Half-badass, half-child.

Youmu is Yuyuko's loyal bodyguard and is supposed to teach her the art of swordsmanship, but spends most of her time as a general servant and gardener. One might find this to be a demeaning job for an amazing swordsman like her, until one realizes that Yuyuko's garden is far over a thousand miles wide, a distance which Youmu can apparently cover in a single slash. There is little a slash of her sword cannot cut, as she will gladly inform you. In the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom, this even allowed her to collect the very essence of spring from the world of the living in order to bring it to the garden.

But what about Youmu as a person? Describing her is both simple as well as strangely difficult, as one would expect of a girl with a ghost half that independently follows her around.

She has the power of concentration. She can evidently reach a speed of around a quarter of the speed of light. She is educated intellectually as well as physically. Trained in the art of two-handed swordsmanship by a wise hermit from a young age, only for this mentor to leave her early on, which she recognized as a test. She proceeded to continue to teach herself, and has been getting along performing an impossibly hard and seemingly thankless job with pride and honor.

And yet, one will often find her described as naive and immature. Half-baked. Wearing her heart on her sleeve. In spite of her half-ghost nature, she is afraid of ghost stories. She is intensely loyal to her mistress, who, like many others of the quirky residents of Gensokyo, is all too happy to poke fun at her for her demeanor. Perhaps it's not so much childishness as it is the overwhelming Yuyuko-ness in her life that makes it impossible for her to remain as cool as she'd like to appear.

Whether she manages to look cool or not, as one of the most interesting beings in Touhou, a tough-as-nails hard worker and an honest, sweet girl, Youmu definitely deserves being one of the most prominent characters in the series.

Similar characters:

• Sakuya (cool, loyal servants to capricious mistresses using bladed weapons, sporting white hair and quite badass theme songs)
• Reisen, Momiji (similar in lesser extents)

Youmu always looked like a British catholic schoolgirl to me, part of which may be because her color scheme reminds me of After Eight.

Maaan, this girl. My affection for her is in flux the whole time. I've been all about the less popular characters lately, but there've been times when she was way up there, which was just about every time I read or watch something that features her prominently. When I think about it, she really is one of the characters I might get along with the best. We definitely have the "half-bakedness" in common.

About that, I wonder. "Badass but also childish" sounds suspiciously like denying plain and simple badassness to a girl character, but then, it does kind of fit her to an extent... There's several ways in which it can be interesting for her to be "childish". Perhaps it's because she never really questioned her loyalty to Yuyuko, making her less of a mature lady than, say, Shou. Maybe it's all about how she can't help letting Yuyuko's teasing get to her. If she wants to look cool but can't help failing because Yuyu's there to make bunny ears behind her head, then the fact that she wants to look cool in the first place is not quite mature, at least not as much as one might expect it of a samurai master. Perhaps she's just that straightforward. She doesn't question what Yuyuko says to her unless it's really obvious that she's messing with her, and she doesn't quite understand the concept of putting on a mask for social occasions, thus "wearing her heart on her sleeve" and being completely up-front about her thoughts, which could also be seen as immature...

I really love her portrayal in that manzai. The characterization is great, and somehow that voice is just perfect. I think that part where she says that it's Yuyuko's birthday, then goes "yo!" and then immediately goes back to standing there deadpan is a really great mix of childishness and coolness.

Oh, something really cool I found on the wiki:

Her theme song is titled "Hiroari Shoots A Strange Bird ~ Till When?", named after a story in which a warrior named Hiroari slays a youkai known as the Nue. This is a pun on the storyline. The "strange bird" is a Nue, also called the "Itsumaden", since it makes this cry near unmourned corpses, meaning "How long (will this corpse remain unattended)?"
Judging from the story of Perfect Cherry Blossom, the heroine plays the role of Hiroari, Youmu is the Nue, and the corpse is probably Yuyuko Saigyouji. (See also Flandre Scarlet and Yukari Yakumo.)

There's still a lot more to say, but I'm tired and I'm trailing off and stuff.

Did I mention I love her design?

So, Youmu. Canon and fanon are mostly in agreement on her personality: She wants to be a mature, dignified samurai, but between having Yuyuko as a master and just not being that bright, she's doomed to failure.

Oh, and I've seen her occasionally shipped with Reisen, for whatever reason.

I think this was linked already, but I think Zudak and a lot of other peeps will appreciate this picture of her.

My picture collection has an embarrassingly low Youmu quotient so far. I think I'll have to do my very own pic dump again...

not being that bright

I object vehemently.

Oh, and I've seen her occasionally shipped with Reisen, for whatever reason.

They're both silver-haired servant characters with capricious and playful masters, which means they'd probably have a lot to talk about. I swear to god I've said this before.

Also Youmu is one of my favorite characters but for some reason I can't think of much to say about her. Seems to be a theme with me.

When I think of Youmu, I first think of her absolute undying loyalty to Yuyuko. I think this is most embodied in Immaterial and Missing Power where she's given a reason to distrust Yuyuko but dislikes that very notion immensely. When she finally does confirm that Yuyuko isn't to blame, she castigates herself for doubting Yuyuko's actions even though she didn't really do that.

It's interesting to compare Youmu's relationship with Yuyuko to Sakuya's relationship with Remilia. Youmu is certainly more straight laced than Sakuya and Yuyuko is certainly more flighty than Remilia.

On another note, Yuyuko/Youmu shipping doujinshi has a strong tendency to be in character. Yuyuko is so whimsical that it makes perfect sense for her to spontaneously start flirting with Youmu. Meanwhile, Youmu is so loyal to Yuyuko that it's very easy read some some romantic affection in there.

edited 13th Aug '10 9:17:33 AM by CBanana

• Stage 5
• More sakura
• Monochrome
• Technically not ecchi
• That other sword girl
• It happens to everyone
• Yes
• Looking kind of Luka
• Makes me wonder how she'd react to Orin
• Horse
• Modern clothing
• Totally unfeasible, but damn cool
• Purple and green
• It's like a tail
• Fluffy

Only doujin about her I really like is Gensoukyou Great Sports Day.

Funny you'd say that, Banana. One of my favorite portrayals I've seen so far of both Yuyuko and Youmu is actually in a hentai doujin. Which may be found here for those interested.

My other favorite portrayal was in that manzai... hmm, I should get some avatars from that.

Edit: Ah, yeah, Great Sports Day is indeed great. A great source of PSL/PACL for Youmu, too. Not entirely sure about her personality, though. It seems a bit too much girl and a bit too little ghost, if you catch my drift.

edited 12th Aug '10 3:10:39 PM by Fawriel

Okay yeah Youmu is... well I'm not sure if she's my absolute favorite, but top five for sure. Gog damn. Dual-wielding supersonic half-ghost samurai, yes please.

As far as the way I see her personality goes: obviously incredibly loyal to and trusting of Yuyuko, blunt and straightforward. Not really naive so much as just tends to take things at face value and sees everything in black and white. Seems humorless but knows how to have fun in her own way. Her sense of humor is so ridiculously dry that it's hard to tell if she's joking. Her lifestyle is simple, Spartan, and she likes it that way. She wants little she does not actually need. She is well-read and intelligent but does not often leave Hakugyokurou, so she has poor social skills and is often perplexed and confused by Gensokyo itself, and its inhabitants. And old-fashioned person with old-fashioned values - loyalty, honor, and trust.

Oh, and I've seen her occasionally shipped with Reisen, for whatever reason.

What Stark said.

Also: Reisen + Youmu = Reimu.

Unfortunately I don't think Youmu will get much discussion because it's a rare case where fanon and canon all generally agree on her base personality, and the only real variations come from little details.

Youmu is not a big favorite of mine. I don't know why.

Karaageya's Little Blossom. This is really good though. There's a no text version too.

Usually Dead's Resolute and Ghostly Gardener and Remixed Cherry Blossom is worth a look if you don't mind walls of text and UD's usualy quirks.

Youmu is usually shipped with Reisen or Sakuya in addition to Yuyuko. So she gets fifth stage shipping. Is there much stuff with her and Sanae or Shou? I don't expect much Youmu/Orin because Orin doesn't really fulfill the same kind of role, the serious servant type.

Man, I really don't have anything to say about Youmu. Though I do wonder who made her Roukanken. Supposedly a youkai. There actually was a doujin that showed Yukari wielding Roukanken in the past, before Yuyuko died.

Also, this and always this.◊

I object vehemently.

She's not a nine, but she's definitely less intelligent than she'd like to appear. I'd say she sort of like Watson to Yuyuko's Holmes: a well educated normal person who looks like a fool next to a genius. Tie this into Youmu's strong desire to look cool and awesome, and sometimes she makes a fool of herself when she doesn't realize that Yuyuko is joking.

Might as well throw this out here right now: Youmu apparent time-slow powers during her boss fight in PCB come from her sword that cuts through confusion. The "concentration" that gets mentioned so much is the player's, who gets removed of their confusion and this is represented as seeing the bullets in slow motion. Youmu's power is swordsmanship in all her descriptions, combined with a lot of effort and hard work.

Back on topic, I think it's pretty clear that she's someone who consciously wants to look cool but doesn't really know how to, so she's hit or miss. I guess you could say that's her fatal flaw, given that she's pretty competent is every other area.

Curse you, Clarste! That actually makes a lot of sense. I wasn't sure what to make of "concentration", either, but it was listed as an ability on the Touhou wiki, so I just sort of accepted it... Should I erase any mentions of it from her write-up?

I also pretty much agree with your other assessments. I think she's strongly affected by Youki leaving her, and so tries really hard to be a good samurai for the case that he ever returns... But since she's not old and wise enough yet to be a cool hermit like him, and Yuyuko just isn't very helpful in that regard, she can only try to emulate the coolness she knows from her master.