The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Wait, did Baijr come out before POFV?

No. But does appear to be written before it, seeing as it doesn't include any PoFV characters.

edited 8th Nov '10 10:07:52 AM by Hylarn

Actually, Aya was originally created for Shoot the Bullet, but ZUN wanted to introduce her elsewhere before making her the main character of a game. StB's afterword talks about this.

edited 8th Nov '10 10:45:26 AM by DarkFae

The Three Mischievous Fairies

Battle Themes:
Staking Your Life on a Prank, Great Fairy Wars ~ Fairy Wars

Traits:
mischievous!

Write-up:
In the world of Touhou, fairies are embodiments of natural forces. Lovely, small creatures in tune with their element. And a complete and utter pain in the ass.

They love nothing more than playing pranks on people. They are generally very weak and not terribly bright, but the day a bunch of fairies decide to gang up on you is not a day you're going to remember fondly.

In the games, the fairies' low power, their tendency to gather around powerful beings and attack people for no reason in particular, their ability to quickly revive even if they're destroyed and the resulting disregard for their own well-being, all these things combine to make fairies the quintessential Mooks of Gensokyo.

However, for the sake of bringing the daily Gensokyan life closer to the fans, three fairies were made the protagonists of a series of Slice of Life manga stories. That is, until they started messing with Cirno...

Sunny Milk

Theme:
Sunny Rutile Flection (Eastern and Little Nature Deity version), Sunny Rutile Flection (Strange and Bright Nature Deity version), Sunny Milk's Scarlet Mist Incident

Traits:

• Cirno-like

Sunny Milk is the self-proclaimed leader of a group of three fairies that are up to no good, known for making trouble in the Hakurei neighborhood. Together, they are known as the "Three Mischievous Fairies", or the "Fairies of Light".

Sunny's position as the leader might well have to do with her power, which allows her to be listed in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense with a higher threat level than her two sisters in arms ("Low" rather than "Extremely low"). She can control the refraction of light and thus trick people's vision. Since fairies aren't known for their self-restraint, pranks involving this power can easily lead to skinned knees – or more.

Of course, chances are she's simply the only one who wanted to be the leader. After all, as an elemental spirit of sunlight, who can even bathe in the sun to restore her body, she has quite the sunny disposition.

Luna Child

Theme:
Sleepless Due to the Night (Eastern and Little Nature Deity version), Sleepless Due to the Night

Traits:

• Cloudcuckoolander
• "Dull"

Luna Child is a strange fairy, and that's not even because she's primarily nocturnal.

She's described as the dumbest of the three fairies, and it's not hard to see, why. She's clumsy to the point of tripping over her own feet and is often the only one to be caught in the end. In fact, her power enables her to completely mute her surroundings to go by unnoticed – regardless of the fact that the unnatural silence will give her presence away. And even then, you might just see her tip-toeing.

On the other hand, she appears smart enough to see the flaws in Sunny Milk's plans, even if she ends up following through with them anyway. She's known to read books, and even has her own reading glasses. She has a habit of stealing coffee beans. And at night, you can see her flying through the moonlight in her own independent dance.

Perhaps to call Luna "dull" would be an apt description, but one has to wonder if there is a reason for her passive disposition...

Star Sapphire

Theme:
In Regards to Fairy Brilliance (Eastern and Little Nature Deity version), In Regards to Fairy Brilliance (Strange and Bright Nature Deity version)

Traits:

• smart
• selfish

Write-up:
Star Sapphire is the one who would be the leader of the group – if she had any investment in that sort of work anyway. Fairies in general are a rather selfish bunch. If you combine that general demeanor with uncharacteristic intelligence, Star Sapphire is what you end up with.

Her power is to detect any movement in the vicinity, making her a sort of radar. Perfect as a scout for her team. Also perfect for knowing exactly when to leg it so only her teammates get punished for their pranks.

A potentially perfect leader due to her abilities, but less so for her personality, her appearance as a Kaguya-lookalike is quite fitting indeed.

I got it! I retrieved the post!

It... it was inside the lemon.

I don't know how it got there.

Anyway! These guys. I never read any of those stories, and haven't played the game, so I hope I didn't completely mess up their descriptions. I don't think the stories will really suit my tastes, either, so huh.

Personally, I don't find Sunny Milk very interesting, and Star Sapphire is pretty much a jerk. I was skeptical about Luna Child because she struck me as another case of a character whose personality and character design seem to be mismatched. I mean, it's not just that my main mental image of her was a previous picture used on the character sheet that had her hiding behind a large book. She just looks like she ought to be somewhat intelligent. However, I'm curious now. From the information I've gathered, it seems like she's not so much dumb as she's, well... "dull". I get the impression that she's perpetually tired – and maybe she is, given that she's supposed to be nocturnal. That would explain why she's technically capable of smartness, but is clumsy, a passive push-over, and absent-minded enough to not notice or care about the weaknesses of her usual modus operandi.

If that's true, I can so totally identify with that.

PS: "キャッチアンドリリースがマナー" is one of the most hilariously worded sentences I've ever seen.

edited 8th Nov '10 11:23:05 AM by Fawriel

^ Huh, only because of the game? That sucks...their comic and Inaba 4koma actually (re-)brought me into Touhou...

Is that so? Hmm, I guess they weren't exactly the most popular characters ever (and, well, still aren't), but they do have a kinda impressive track record of several manga series and the antagonist roles in "their" own game! That's not too shabby.

My first encounter with the girls was this sweet little video.

Besides that, they're also in New Super Marisa World! As the final boss! Of sorts.

... Come on, guys, you can't tell me you're gonna stop discussing them entirely after I went through the trouble of writing that monster.

... Come on, guys, you can't tell me you're gonna stop discussing them entirely after I went through the trouble of writing that monster.

They're not forgotten characters from the pre-Windows era, so I don't have anything to say about them.

I guess the trick they pulled in that Sengoku Gensokyo fangame was kind of cool, but that game is literally (and I mean "literally" literally, not in the figurative sense) the only time I've ever seen them in anything, excluding this thread.

edited 8th Nov '10 4:07:38 PM by SuperDimensionman

They appear fixated on Reimu to the extent that they moved from their old home in the Forest of Magic to live behind the shrine. Even though Reimu's intuition makes it harder to pull pranks. Even though Marisa hangs around Reimu and also has a habit of messing up the three fairies' day. Even though it would be easier, give or take a Keine, to pull pranks on the Human Village.

Lets face it. Sunny Milk totally has a thing for Reimu. And the other two lack the wherewithal or necessary effort to confront her about it.

@Fawriel: You mean New Super Marisa Land right? Still, given that they have 3 mangas before the game, they should have been a bit more popular...well, that, and they are some of my favorite characters, so...still, really recommend you to read the stories!

@Bocaj: Did you consider any possibilities of Reimu / Sunny ship?

Anyway, from what I've gathered, fairies are normally pretty stupid and rather childlike in their behavior (from PMiSS anyway), but this means that these 3 are actually a bit unusual, considering standard fairy behavior...they are actually unusually smart (not as much as a human, and still very forgetful on several thing, but they does show knowledge on several things), and a bit more adult-like than other fairies (not much, but their taste, at least, are...they drink coffee, for one thing, which Cirno acutally doesn't know how to drink it (see SaBND ch 13))

One last thing, Fawriel, they aren't sisters...

And another thing on Luna, she seems to be quite more inquisitive than the others...and I think she's the case of Genius Ditz, since she's actually pretty smart, but lacks several kinds of common sense (I'm not sure how to say it...)...

edited 8th Nov '10 4:50:18 PM by onyhow

Did you consider any possibilities of Reimu / Sunny ship?

This has potential to be ridiculously adorable and thus I support it.

^^ Considering I free associated my post as I am wont to do, I haven't really considered the ship although the post kinda implies it.

Fairy/Any Other Sort of Being ships are kinda tricky though. The three fairies are about Cirno height who is shorter than Remilia. Heck, in one of the chapters of the manga, Marisa carries two of them under her arms.

^ Thats one of the major reasons I support shipping at all. The other reason is obvious if you've talked to me before.

edited 8th Nov '10 4:57:09 PM by Bocaj

^ Technically they're only one head shorter than Marisa who is around the same height as Reimu...

And the bad thing is that there are very few doujins on the 3...the only ones I can think of are one that Eiki's doing some naughty things(okay, technically in that one Kaguya abducts and replaces Star) and one by Churuya author...which is not translated, damnit...

edited 8th Nov '10 5:11:03 PM by onyhow

I think it's funny how Reisen can screw with all three of their powers.

Isn't Sunny Milk's Scarlet Mist Incident techically a Flandre theme, being a remix of U.N. Owen Was Her, and all?

So, Sunny's main theme is "Rutile Flection"? Hey, that's one of her spellcards in Fairy Wars.

Speaking of ships, how about Sunny/Utsuho? I wonder if artificial suns would heal/empower her like the natural sun.

Oh these three. For awhile I kept getting them confused with another trio (I think it might have been the Prismriver sisters, but I'm not sure). I did enjoy their manga incarnations, but can't really think of much to say about them  ^*

On a side note, this is the first time I've heard of the Fairy Wars. I feel silly now.

That makes me imagine Sunny Milk diving into the Subterranean Sun. She is consumed and reborn a hundred times, and emerges as the mighty YOUKAI OF LIGHT!

...no?

YES.

She then totally makes out with Rumia. I mean, starts an eternal rivalry. That's what I meant.

I like that idea.

At least, I do if YOL!Sunny and EX-Rumia are more adult-ish.

edited 8th Nov '10 6:22:18 PM by Durazno

She then totally makes out with Rumia. I mean, starts an eternal rivalry. That's what I meant.

No, you're a Homestuck fan. You meant both.

Luna and Star are being left out so therefore I propose a horrible thing.

Mokou sees Star, she reminds her of Kaguya. Eirin has been being difficult about letting Mokou see Kaguya. There's a reasonable facsimile right there. ??? Profit.

BOOM? I'm not sure I see the other thing happening there... but what if Mokou latched on to Star as the hypothetical daughter she'd have with Kaguya if that were possible?

This is kind of an odd conversation, isn't it?

The Imperial Drone comes to Gensokyo! That would answer a lot of questions.

EDIT: I'm just having a terrible time with potholes today.

edited 8th Nov '10 6:33:22 PM by Durazno

This is kind of an odd conversation, isn't it?

One might even go so far as to describe it as "strange oriental discourse."

Super Dimenpunman strikes again?

I tried again to think of something for Luna but my mind kept inevitably ending up at Luna Child/Elgala.

^*Too many for me to bother counting: The story of how they got their new house by the shrine was just translated. They moved into it partially because it looked cool, but mostly because Yukari told them to and she terrifies them.

edited 8th Nov '10 8:07:03 PM by Hylarn

Yukari screwing around again? Even ZUN is using the forbidden template.