The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I like to believe her hair was tinted purple by her transformation into a youkai Magician.

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

I like the two-toned hair, personally.

You are now reading something clever.

So do I. I was hoping the purple-to-brown thing was correct because as ridiculous as it is I think it looks really pretty.

WHO IS THIS LOSER

I personally think it looks ridiculous, but it makes some sense and there's some pretty intuitive explanations for what might have caused it. And hey, she needs it to make up for the fact that she doesn't have a hat.

Your funny quote here! (Maybe)

It may help that I like the color purple. Granted, having a brown-purple color scheme for her hair makes her look like some crazy peanut-butter-jelly-head but oh well.

WHO IS THIS LOSER

It was probably intended to be light from the scroll, but most people (including me) think that her having gradient hair would be neat.

Thanks for the doujins, Hylarn.

Are they? I got the impression that many Japanese people still entertain certain superstitions about spirits and charms and such, so I thought they'd be at most indifferent towards religion?

@Tacitus: I see! That's a nice interpretation of Reimu. Love the idea of Byakuren as a Team Mom, too. Somehow that trope just really sits well with her, I think.

As for Alternate Character Interpretation, well, I actually chose that term more for the reason that people are bound to see the characters in different ways, and it would be interesting to compare them... Directly twisting the known characterization of a character isn't really the main purpose, but it's hardly forbidden or anything. Any sort of speculation is fine, really. There's just some people who might get upset at certain tendencies... Buuut, live and let live and stuff.

Speaking of her Moral Dissonance and her hair, I wonder, maybe the glow on her head is supposed to be some sort of nega-halo?

PS: So, who next? Shikeiki or Komachi? Yuuka (who I was probably mistaken to place in the UU tier)? Someone else?

Shikieiki, clearly.

It's the White thing to do. >_>

I like Komachi a whole lot, I might be able to come up with stuff to say about her that I haven't already said about Reimu.

WHO IS THIS LOSER

Yuuka. I have little to say about Eiki or Komachi.

On Byakuren's hair, I've been watching videos, and it would seem that Byakuren's sprite has the purple on top even before her aura appears.

Besides, do any other characters with auras have sprites/cut-ins with gradient-color-hair?

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

It's not a discoloration, or glare from magic. It's the shadow from her magnificent invisible hat.

Trying to think how Byakuren would interact with the heroines. Uh, in a non-danmaku situation, natch.

The UFO script has her and Reimu butting heads in no uncertain terms - the monk initially mistakes the miko as someone unsealing her and admitting Byakuren's philosophy was right, but things fall apart quickly when she learns Reimu's a youkai exterminator happy to beat on those who aid her quarry. Now that things have settled down, I can imagine Byakuren dropping by Reimu's place to evangelize (and Reimu hiding under the furniture), the former nun taking it upon herself to act as the miko's mentor and pass on her painfully-learned wisdom.

On the other hand, once Byakuren saw what Reimu's... particular style of diplomacy has brought about in Gensokyo, she might look at the miko in a new light. Reimu talks a tough game about youkai-bustin', but she's really too easy-going (lazy) to hate someone full-time, generally restricts her uses of violence to Incidents, and gets along well with everyone regardless of how much trouble they caused her last month. Then Byakuren could concentrate on teaching the miko other ways to solve problems - unsuccessfully, of course, unless the series wants to undergo a genre shift to text-based diplomacy game.

Marisa and Byakuren's conflict comes from that "treating the strong and weak equally" thing, as Marisa sees her as the sort of "stop oppressing those demons!" idiot from the Stupid Good page. But that's largely a product of their different backgrounds - Byakuren grew up in a world where magical creatures were being driven extinct, while Gensokyo is a haven for youkai with humans as a minority still worried about being eaten when they wander out of town.

...Now there's a good point. How will Byakuren's outlook change after settling into Gensokyo? She may have to spend more time proselytizing amongst the youkai. "Thou shalt not nom villagers."

Anyway, that conflict aside, I imagine Byakuren and Marisa getting along quite well, what with their shared experiences as magicians. I'm sure Marisa would be eager to flip through Byakuren's spellbook (though whether or not she'd bother to ask first is up in the air), and listening to the nun's stories of a time when magi were persecuted could make Marisa more appreciative of her good fortune. Byakuren would have to be impressed by what the young witch has accomplished, even if they don't see eye-to-eye on human-youkai relations.

Current earworm: "Mother - Outro"

I for one believe that the human villagers will not care about outlaws/criminals who get eaten by youkai.

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

What about Byakuren's interactions with Sanae?

edited 28th Mar '10 8:44:42 AM by Enlong

I have a message from another time...

In a word: awkward. Sanae's a miko serving two goddesses. Byakuren thinks that deities are no different from youkai, just supernatural beings that humans have decided to worship instead of hunt, and in any case should be treated with the same respect as humans or other youkai. Sanae obediently went out to become a youkai hunter because Lady Kanako said so. Byakuren sneers at such blind devotion. "Heretic!" "Lapdog!"

They both seem civil enough to be able to sit down for tea afterward, but I doubt the nun will be spending much time at the Moriya Shrine. Though on the other hand, watching Byakuren and Kanako clash would be pretty entertaining... and probably inevitable. Kanako's priority is maintaining enough faith to survive. Byakuren's philosophy directly undermines that, and therefore threatens Sanae's family.

Current earworm: "Mother - Outro"

It will be interesting to see how the Kanako vs Byakuren situation evolve, with the more serial feel the games have developed since MoF. There will obviously be no open conflict, obviously (Kanako and Suwako did build the Myouren temple after all), but with the conclusion of Sanae A's ending having Kanako deciding she'll watch Byakuren closely... (It may just be a huge difference in personality and outlook, though. Kanako is eminently shifty herself and thus likely to misunderstand Byakuren if the latter is really sincere and messianic).

And I don't think Byakuren would really have problems with Sanae, who seems to have accepted her way of thinking in both of her endings. If Sanae parrots her senior goddesses too much, Byakuren seems likelier to get really preachy rather than cut her ties.

I gather that Byakuren learned magic arts of the Makai, as did Alice. I wonder how they would get along? Perhaps they would be rather like sisters?

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

Alice isn't from Makai in Windows continuity, and Byakuren was just sealed there.

...
...
...
...
...
...
Shikieiki Yamaxanadu

Appearance: cheeky sexy, badass (Youtube link)

Traits:

• Lawful Good / Lawful Neutral
• preachy, strict
• stuck-up?
• well-meaning <=> malevolent
• breast envy

Relationships/Shipping:

• Komachi (her [poor?] subordinate)

Write-up:
Shikeiki Yamaxadu is to be the subject of discussion, for it is the white thing to do, and the white thing shall be done, now and forevermore. The judge over the dead has the magnificent "ability" to see everything in terms of black and white... She is well-known in Gensokyo for lecturing everyone about their faults, which probably means that she's a very busy person.

What does her job that identifies her look like? She must have some free time if she can spend it roaming the place lecturing people?

More importantly, what is her personality like outside of her job? Some might say that the Yama of Xanadu is a crazed, stuck-up, power-hungry despot who sentences people to hell to blow off steam. However, it's commonly accepted that she is a benevolent judge, who considers her lecturing of people to be a well-meant warning. After all, who would know better the consequences of being sentenced to hell? There is nothing that can be done once these people are in the courtroom, after all. And what is her relationship with Komachi? Given the subordinate's laziness, one would think that her punishment would be worse than a mere scolding, and there must be a reason Komachi is unrepentant despite her boss' power. Perhaps their relationship is not purely professional.

Or maybe not!

---

I love the idea of Shikieiki spending her off-time inviting herself to people's houses to talk to them about the way their life is going. She makes a little schedule with plenty of air between appointments, then just goes there and goes like "Hello there, I'm going to be your judge after you die. You might have heard of me. I believe we should talk."

She probably brings cookies.

Then she does some small-talk, chattering about this and that, then slowly approaches the subject, and then, yelling-at ensues. Yelling and menacing glow of power. If the poor(?) sod in question agrees (beads of sweat rolling down their forehead in a cascade of fear) to better themselves, she instantly reverts back. "Oh, good," she says with a sweet smile and helps herself to another cookie.

The doujin Mossarism was pretty funny, showing her spending some time with Komachi doing "naughty things" which end up being laughably tame, but it doesn't quite fit my image of her. I see her as very conservative and stuck-up in a way, but ultimately sweet-natured, which could make for some really nice interaction with the very easy-going Komachi playing around with her to get her to loosen up a bit.

edited 4th Jul '10 6:39:37 AM by Fawriel

Didn't Byakuren find the immortalizing magic before getting sealed?

Oh wow, that's some ninja.

Uhm, Shikeiki. I always preferred to think that she didn't have any free time; a workaholic with a very strong sense of duty. The only reason she met the protagonists in Po FV was because they invaded Higan and the other times she's out is to make sure Komachi isn't slacking off (considering what happened last time).

edited 29th Mar '10 1:44:02 PM by Lemurian

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

If she is so on-track with her work she probably finishes it on schedule so I would presume that means she has free-time.

Considering what I have seen though, this may mean she just uses that free time to find more "work" to do.

Faw: I wanted to use that for an avatar.

edited 29th Mar '10 1:47:54 PM by Scholastica

I definitely see her as a more Lawful Neutral type than anything. After all, her job means that she needs to be completely fair and unbiased.

Also: my favorite piece of Eiki art. Tres badass, no?

edited 29th Mar '10 1:51:06 PM by Zudak

@Scholastica: You seem to be doing fine.

@Zudak: One's job doesn't necessarily define one's personality completely... She's obviously lawful, but she doesn't have to be perfectly neutral outside of it. According to the Touhou Wiki, her dialogue in PoFV makes her seem like a pretty compassionate (if strict) person, so...

Oh yeah, I completely forgot. The wiki also said that Shikieiki, contrary to popular opinion, is actually just about as tall as Komachi.
Heresy? y/n

edited 29th Mar '10 1:59:06 PM by Fawriel

If that Tag Team thing is anything to go by, she can be persuaded to bend the rules. Just have to know where to hit her.

Also: It turns out I do have a Shikeiki avatar.

BLASPHEMY

And I've always seen Shikieiki as like, Lawful Good who's required to act Lawful Neutral - although old-fashioned, she'd prefer to give someone a lighter sentence than a more intense one more often than not, unless they seriously deserved it. Or something like that.

PHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

edited 29th Mar '10 2:02:48 PM by StarkMaximum

WHO IS THIS LOSER