The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

@ Bocaj: In "I don't even know", that flower was the midboss of the stage, fyi.

Also, ORANGE.

Orange you glad we didn't vote for Mima?

Orange? Really?

She's the stage one boss of LLS. ZUN recycled her design for Meiling. That's really all there is to say about her.

edited 29th Oct '10 5:06:51 PM by Hylarn

To the untrained eye.

The Shrine Maiden Forums has/had a thread where they analysed the music of Touhou to figure out personalities for the Girls, and Orange was pegged as a cheerleader type.

edited 29th Oct '10 5:38:45 PM by AceOfScarabs

Well, she's got the baton for the part.

She's also got the cheer for the job.

Also.

The Shrine Maiden Forums has/had a thread where they analysed the music of Touhou to figure out personalities for the Girls

aDAKDGAFKJUHthat sounds awesome

I decree that your official job from now on will be to report to us about their results on every character because I don't want to do it.

edited 30th Oct '10 1:38:22 AM by Fawriel

I should like to see this thread for myself.

Uh oh, the thread as I remember it isn't on the forum anymore D:

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh geez okay guys here's the deal.

I promised to update the thread yesterday, but I had pretty much no time whatsoever in the end and a certain event put me quite not-so-much in the mood for spending two hours researching Touhou stuff. I considered opening discussion for the Watatsuki sisters, but that would have meant a lot of work and after how little discussion Rinnosuke got, I figured no one would want to, and it would also mean we'd have to discuss the mischievous fairies (out of principle, I guess). I wanted to pull the joke of bringing up Orange first of all the pre-Windows characters because she is, obviously, the most important one, to have her closely followed by Mima as the serious subject of discussion, but that didn't quite work out.

Now I'm not sure what to do. If I started with Orange, the logical progression would be to have Chiyuri and Yumemi next, then Mima, then the pre-Windows battle royale, but that seems like the best thing to keep for last, so if we're still going to discuss the manga-only (and not manga-only anymore) characters, we should do it before then...

So... I'm sorry. I'm gonna need a few votes on how to go on after all.

I'd like to see the Lunarians. I think there's enough differences between their appearances in different works (not to mention the fan material) to have a decent discussion.

The Shrine Maiden Forums has/had a thread where they analysed the music of Touhou to figure out personalities for the Girls, and Orange was pegged as a cheerleader type.

This might be the topic you were referring to? It is quite interesting.

edited 30th Oct '10 10:25:27 PM by Higanbana

You know what else is interesting? Apparently if you go onto the Touhou Wikia Relationshipping page you can now find pairing slogans, how they found them I have no clue but apparently some of the more popular ships have them now like "Yuka Rei is my lord" and such.

The Watatsuki Sisters



Watatsuki no Yorihime

Theme:
Watatsuki's Spell Card ~ Lunatic Blue

Traits:

• Tsundere

Relationships/Shipping:

• Eirin (her former mentor)
• Reisen (her former pet)

Write-up:
One of the Lunarian princesses, the well-trained warrior so powerful that she defeated Gensokyo's most formidable beings with ease. With not only a magnificent blade in hand, but also the ability to summon the power of the gods, a power that Reimu has yet to master fully, she could be considered the shrine maiden's counterpart.

It may come as no surprise that she is possibly the most reviled character in the series. Fans don't take kindly to seeing their long-time favorite characters dismissively overpowered by a new character - and her attitude certainly doesn't help. After all, the Lunarians don't exactly have the highest opinion of Earth and its inhabitants, which they regard as impure.

Personality-wise, she is serious and rather arrogant. She also appears to be somewhat of a tsundere, as evidence by the sisters' visit to Earth in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, which she claims to only have joined to ensure that her sister would return; in truth, she wanted to see Eirin just as much, and didn't want to be left alone on the Moon.

Watatsuki no Toyohime

Theme:
Watatsuki's Spell Card ~ Lunatic Blue

Traits:

• Laid-back and uncomplicated

Relationships/Shipping:

• Eirin (her former mentor)
• Reisen (her former pet)

Write-up:
The second Watatsuki sister, with the amazing power over the boundaries between earth and moon, the scientific and fantastic sides of the moon, and the sea and mountains. While she does not train much, her inherent power is impressive in its own right, and her fan weapon of mass destruction alone makes her a formidable force.

While the Watatsuki sisters as a whole are not the most well-received of characters, Toyohime gets the longer end of the stick for her agreeable attitude and peach-eating moe.

In Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, she repeatedly tried to steal one of the rabbits of Eientei, but was repeatedly foiled. Alas.

Reisen(the Second)

Theme:
N/A

Traits:

• Energetic, but not terribly bright

Relationships/Shipping:

• Watatsuki sisters (her owners)
• Reisen (her predecessor)

Write-up:
Much like "our" Reisen, this young rabbit girl was one of the lunar rabbit soldiers led by Yorihime until she fled to Earth from the war. After being injured by space debris on her way, she was nursed to health by Reimu. Unfortunately for her, this allowed Eirin to learn of her presence. She still felt attached to the moon, so Eirin sent her back with a letter to the Watatsuki sisters...

Since fleeing to Earth is a crime, our floppy-eared friend was sentenced to become the sisters' new pet, named Reisen in the honor of their previous pet rabbit. Ever since, she has been treated with a mix of kindness and carelessness that only Lunarian princesses could be capable of, for better and for worse.

Reisen II's appears to be the prototypical lunar rabbit, who as a whole are not exactly the stuff Space Marines are made of. She was sent to spy on Eientei in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, which she proudly informed Reisen of at the first chance she got.

All things considered, lunar rabbits seem to be not entirely unlike the Scarlet Devil Mansion's fairy maids, or Eientei's rabbits for that matter. Clearly Reisen II's very existence is a statement on how the inhabitants of the moon are really not that different from us. Or maybe she's just cute.

TRIPLE FEATURE oh man.

This felt kinda useless! But I just really don't know much about these dudes. I only read Inaba of the Carrot Stack, and I don't think I intend to read Silent Sinner in Blue. Cage in Lunatic Runagate, maybe. But neither of these had summaries on Touhou Wiki.

Tellingly enough, neither did the Watatsuki sisters.

So, you guys who actually know anything about them, it's your turn.

edited 31st Oct '10 4:49:33 AM by Fawriel

The Lunar Sisters, huh...

Toyohime strikes me as the type to be planted firmly under Beware the Nice Ones.

Clearly, our Reisen is a prototype and Reisen II is a mass production model.

You guys probably don't know who I am, but I only came here to say one thing. Just saying.

Reisen II seems to have no special powers.

They are/were married. That puts them on a short list of Touhou characters with Suwako, who if she didn't get married she at least intercoursed like crazy at one point.

Having read Silent Sinner, Inaba, and as much of Cage in Lunatic Ravengate as was available at the time, I still don't really like the Watatsukis. Or Reisen Electric Boogaloo. Or Lunarians in general really.

I guess I'll run down the list. Yorihime seems like a huge cheater if you just read Silent Sinner. Even though she agrees to obligatory danmaku, she just stands still, doesn't dodge, doesn't really fire any of her own danmaku and just bomb spams. Plus, she has like eight million bombs. She comes off better in CiLR where she's described as dodging around and firing and expresses concern when a stray Marisa shot nearly hits Reisen Dos in the head. I think CiLR is what ZUN imagined the whole moon invasion as and Silent Sinner is what Aki Eda was capable of delivering. Even then, the writing kind of doesn't flow since Yorihime keeps stopping the fight to explain weird trivia about mirrors and such. And she's so arrogant that it makes me want to facepunch her through the internet. She's a better character, I feel, in Inaba because she is shown as flawed.

If I had to have a character interpretation of her its that she's a talented person nevertheless anxious about filling very big shoes. She is nowhere near Eirin's level and she is aware of it. And she is somewhat feared on the Moon because of the same powers she uses to protect it. She's kind of like fanon Youmu in that she'll do the job anyway but she'll wonder why her master left and secretly wish for her to come back.

Watatsuki, I don't really have much of an impression of. It was funny in Inaba when she matched wits with Tewi (sorta) and tried to train the Reisens to sleep POWERFULLY. I was happy just being ambivalent about her up until the point in Silent Sinner when she got very fantastic racist. So screw you peach-moe Lunarian.

Reisen The Second Coming was bland and mostly forgettable in Silent Sinner and a disappointment in CiLR. She did sort of beat Reimu in a game of speed when Reimu tried to get all klepto on her but Reimu was exhausted at that point anyway. In her chapter of CiLR she seems all poised to throw off the shackles of Lunarian oppression and start thinking for herself. And then she decides that Happiness in Slavery is better. Bah. She was hilariously incompetent in Inaba though.

As for the Bunny Soldiers in general, they seem a little stronger than the Fairy Maids. Although they were using weapons while the fairy maids weren't. Because they are huge cheaters just like the rest of the Lunarians. I did say I have generalized apathy towards arrogant moon dwellers.

One of the only doujins I know that has the Watatsukis. Ennui Akadako's 484404.

That puts them on a short list of Touhou characters with Suwako, who if she didn't get married she at least intercoursed like crazy at one point.

Wait, "like crazy"? Where did that come from?

It was funny in Inaba when she matched wits with Tewi (sorta) and tried to train the Reisens to sleep POWERFULLY.

That was pretty damn glorious, though!

Yeah, I'm not a fan of hating characters, so I'll gladly omit the sinning in blue colors. As it stands, I'm ambivalent towards Yorihime (kind of a bland tsundere), I kinda like Toyohime and Reisen at least looks cute. "Mary Sues" (fingerquotes) definitely work best in a comedic genre where their perfectness is just another source of humor.

As for the Bunny Soldiers in general, they seem a little stronger than the Fairy Maids. Although they were using weapons while the fairy maids weren't. Because they are huge cheaters just like the rest of the Lunarians.

Wait, the way you're saying it sounds like there was actually a confrontation between these "forces"?

edited 31st Oct '10 10:37:37 AM by Fawriel

Wait, "like crazy"? Where did that come from?

Hey, gods do things whole-heartedly.

Wait, the way you're saying it sounds like there was actually a confrontation between these "forces"?

Sadly one that happened off-screen in Silent Sinner. I don't think Aki Eda is really up to drawing action scenes. But yeah, in order to demonstrate danmaku to Yorihime, a match between fairy maid and bunny soldier was arranged. The moon bunnies used their rifles.

Obviously, Suwako released eggs which were fertilized by the male externally.

But yeah, in order to demonstrate danmaku to Yorihime, a match between fairy maid and bunny soldier was arranged. The moon bunnies used their rifles.

Igh.

It happens on these Mangafox pages.

Its hard to tell from just the art but I think the bunny pulled off a Reisen like disappearing bullets thing. Also, my mistake. The bunny beat three fairies at once.

The impression I get from CiLR is that Yorihime is serious, highly competent, and exactly as smart as she needs to be. The Moon's Messengers are basically her way of killing eternal time (not that she'd ever admit it), because she can't bring herself to do something useless. She doesn't really seem particularly racist to me; the stuff about purity is objectively true, and she seemed mostly concerned with keeping the invaders out.

Toyohime, on the other hand, isn't terribly serious, and too smart for her own good (still not on Eirin or Yukari's level, though). She's also kind of a bitch. She is genuinely racist against Earthlings, and she doesn't seem to think much of other people in general.

Reisen is a useless little rabbit, not really good for anything.