The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I see. Makes sense.

She's definitely going to lecture Tenshi, maybe even threaten to tell her father how naughty she's been.

Relaaaaaated!

Haha, yeah, I've seen that, it's pretty funny. Hilarious, even.

Komachi doesn't do the collecting souls bit. That's a different position.

Isn't that Orin...? No, wait, she just takes actual phsyical corpses down to Hell to serve as fuel for Utsuho's reactor, doesn't she?

Touhou: In which a new afterlife is added in every two or three games. Good luck with that roulette once you die!

Orin collects bodies because it's what she does. If you get caught by her you can't go to the afterlife, actually.

There's still just one afterlife. The ones in SA are hells that were abandoned due to budget cuts (Seriously. Celestial Bureaucracies are a bitch that way.).

Yeah, I always thought that even if you got sent to Hell, Utsuho would burn all your sins away eventually and you'd still end up in Hakugyokurou, it'd just take a lot longer and be way more unpleasant.

Orin collects bodies because it's what she does. If you get caught by her you can't go to the afterlife, actually.

"Well now I'm dead I guess I'll just head on to the afterlife a—"

"INTERCEPTED GOTCHA BITCH"

"GOD DAMN IT ORIN NOOOO"

edited 29th Mar '10 8:47:01 PM by StarkMaximum

You know when I first started getting into this and they said "Nuclear Hell Raven" I did not think they meant it literally.

What would that mean metaphorically?

Can't fault Orin for loving her job.

edited 29th Mar '10 8:56:17 PM by Enlong

Touhou's Celestial Bureaucracy is really quite odd. It's always one budget cut after another with them, kind of like the California state government (why yes, I am a Californian). Perfect Memento in Strict Sense also says that Komachi's wooden boat is so tiny and lame because of budget restrictions.

^^^ Good question.

Even Eiki gets bored when there is no work it seems.◊

edited 29th Mar '10 10:00:57 PM by Scholastica

That was one of the things that make me look closer at the series, actually.

And, just in case you didn't notice she declared a Spell Card, Utsuho gets klaxons sounding at the same time and a large nuclear hazard symbol.

She's still one of my absolute favorite characters. So. Badass.

Shikieiki, eh? Well, what better way of figuring out a judge's character than by examining her rulings? So motions Magistrate Tacitus, unlicensed judiciary ("I can wear whatever I want under these robes").

In People of Gensokyo v. Hakurei, the yama declared "Without much of a reason, you've defeated many youkai. It wasn't once or twice that you've defeated ones that weren't youkai. And despite being a Shrine Maiden, you do absolutely no exchange with God. There are times when you even bare your fangs towards God. That's right, your karma runs a little too deep. At this rate, if you die you won't even be able to go to hell."

In other words, she calls Reimu on being trigger-happy and impious. When the miko objects that she's a youkai exterminator who's expected to be violent, Shiki replies "Just because it's your job, it won't pardon your sins. To cleanse your sins even a little, you must accomplish many good deeds." Pretty strict there - evil must be atoned for even if your profession forces you to do it.

Rigid, but reasonable. Next case.

Her encounter with Marisa is the stuff of legends:

Shikieiki: Yes, you are a little too comfortable with lying.
Marisa: That isn't true. I haven't told a single lie since I was born.
Shikieiki: If you insist on this path, at this rate... Your tongue will be ripped out.
Marisa: Huh? That's the sort of junk old people say.
Shikieiki: You should take the time to re-examine your lifestyle. Where I in charge of the judgment of your soul, you would be punished by the removal of your tongue.
Marisa: That so? Maybe I should pack a spare tongue in case of my death, then?
Shikieiki: Your second tongue would also be ripped out. It'd probably be best to also fix that sassy mouth of yours.
Marisa: Well, if that's the case, the only way to keep my tongue is to defeat you, isn't it?
Shikieiki: Hell exists not to punish sinners, but to ensure that nobody sins in the first place. I am here so that everybody realizes that. Even if I must hurt you a little, I must make you correct the error of your ways!

Oddly enough considering fanon, no mention of stealing, precious things or otherwise. Three possibilities here: Shiki is trying to spook Marisa into compliance with an over-exaggerated punishment (it didn't work), Shiki lost her temper (understandable), or the underworld is a little behind the times when it comes to issues of crime and punishment.

The last interpretation brings up the question of how often Shikieiki visits the mortal world to see how human legal systems have moved on, and just how medieval things are in the afterlife still. In a mild case, the yama could be like a conservative grandparent, getting shocked and outraged at the lapse in morality with young people these days, what with all the exposed armpits or women wearing bloomers or girls liking giant robots instead of ponies...

Shikieki's encounter with Sakuya is intriguing. She complains that the maid is too cold to her fellow humans, not responding to Sakuya's reply that "the only thing I touch humans with would be my cold steel." When Sakuya seems uninterested in the afterlife in favor of dealing with more immediate concerns, Shiki takes umbrage: "If you don't make amends now, once you die, it will be too late for regrets! People who think that 'treasuring the present' is a virtue are increasing, and it's terrible! Know well that the only way one can live a good afterlife is to do good deeds during one's life!"

So she makes a good point about thinking about the consequences of one's actions and planning for the future, particularly the state of your eternal soul. But she doesn't call Sakuya on being a cold scary knife-throwing ninja maid, just being cold. This could be explained by the yama not checking her mirror, but if she observed Sakuya long enough to notice her aloofness, shouldn't she have noticed all the knife spam? Then again, she doesn't complain about the violence done by every character she meets... but then again again, why did she single out Reimu and Yuuka?

edited 30th Mar '10 1:30:54 PM by Tacitus

Because violence seems to be Reimu's first, second, and only answer to stuff happening. Right from the first game, as it happens.

Perhaps whatever moral code Eiki enforces doesn't actually forbid violence? She calls Reimu out for spending so much time fighting that she doesn't do her own job, not for being violent in and of itself. And she doesn't even seem to care about the other characters' violence.

I had this sudden thought of Shikieki acting like Robot Santa from Futurama, with the slightest sin enough to have her lecture at/attack people. And then she gives Meiling a pogo stick.

Really though, I get the idea that no matter how good a Touhou character is, Shikieki would still have something to say to them even if she has to exaggerate their sins and potential punishment because she truly does not want to send anyone to hell.

edited 30th Mar '10 4:23:03 PM by Bocaj

What would Meiling need a pogo stick for?

For pogoing.

The moral code Eiki uses to judge is definitely odd. Yuuka's sin was living too long.

What would Meiling need a pogo stick for?

For pogoing.

That could not have had a better response.

Walked right into that one.

Okay, why would she be pogoing? Does she not have a job to do?

edited 30th Mar '10 8:59:16 PM by Scholastica

Not really. Basically everyone in the mansion is stronger than her; PMiSS suggests she's mostly there to provide a friendly face for people to associate the SDM with.