The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Canon wise, Reimu is one of the strongest characters.

If I remember right, it is canon that Tenshi defeats her at least once once unleashing HER TRUE POWER.

Canonically, Reimu lost to Suika in IaMP (I think Suika's path is canon, at least), possibly the Scarlet Team in IN (their path seems to be canon), a lot of people in PoFV (all paths seem to be canon), a lot of people in SWR (all paths are canon), and Sanae in Hisoutensoku.

They're just playing danmaku though, these aren't strict Power Levels.

Suika's path is canon in Ia MP.

I don't think you can really look at Po FV for this scenario, though, because both were danmaku duels.

The preveilance of danmaku or at least bullets in SWR and Ia MP might also disqualify them as well. After all, this is a tournament that's danmaku-free.

Speaking of large hadron colliders, I think Reisen might be the Strongest moon rabbit. Possibly due to lessons and training from Eirin. In S Si B, the moon bunnies are pretty much useless for any sort of defense, including the palace guard types. About the only thing they can beat would be fairy maids. Also, they use guns. Reisen does not need a gun because she fires bullets from her fingers. Therefore, Reisen is the king of the moon bunnies.

...king?

Reisen used her lunacy powers on us so we just THINK she's a girl, obviously.

King Hatshepsut declares that you may need honor and a penis to be a man but not to be a king.

^^^^ That does not bode well for moon rabbits, given that Reisen is considered the easiest stage 5 boss and low-tier in SWR. Sure, her power sounds impressive, but...

Eh, Gameplay and Story Segregation. Udonge is supposed to about as strong as the rest of the heroines.

Marisa is also a king. So there?◊

The moon rabbits aren't that strong but the Lunarians are beasts. Eirin, for example, created a spell that causes Tom Hanks movies.

The moon rabbits don't have to be that strong really. I think their primary purpose is to pound some mochi. The ones that are employed as guards have red shirt written all over them to my mind.

Stage 5 bosses are meant to be rivals to the main characters while stage 6 bosses and above are higher tier. In general.

Is she? Has Reisen's power level ever been commented on in official works? Perfect Memento doesn't have her threat level listed, so we don't have much to go on. Fanon is all over the place on this, but she's generally on the weaker side due to her poor performance in the games and status as Butt-Monkey (in a vein similar to Hong Meiling).

In fact, the latter sentence is probably why she's one of the 3 main characters of Advent Cirno, alongside Cirno and Meiling.

Well, for the first 2 PC games the stage 5 bosses actually became playable, plus Sanae later.

edited 27th Apr '10 8:46:43 PM by Clarste

Reisen is grouped with the other heroines in PoFV.

That too, but you also play as Cirno and such in PoFV so I'm not sure how much that counts for.

It's interesting that Reisen's the only stage 5 character to not be acknowledged as a badass by the fandom. I mean, Sakuya has time-hax and is a psychotic knife-nut and a temporarily-main character, so she's obviously badass. Youmu's a samurai who can move at relativistic speeds and cut through anything, and also was a main character for a while, so she's badass. Komachi's usually too lazy to fight, but the few times I've seen get off her ass in a story manipulation of distance (aka infinite Warp Step, and that's just when she's not bothering to be creative, at which point I've seen her suspend enemy attacks in infinitely-long transit or hit people with melee attacks from across the room) and being a freaking grim reaper are nothing to sneeze at. Sanae's got playable-character status and is a counterpart to Reimu. Orin is a pain in the ass, and there's no way the fans wouldn't acknowledge the power of That One Boss. And Shou's a pretty serious warrior type. But Reisen? Hah! Forget it! She's just got the power to inflict insanity or hallucinations as she pleases on anyone foolish enough to look her in the face and an association with modern firearms. Though to be fair, her power doesn't seem to work on sufficiently powerful/nonhuman beings (does it work on any of the Youkai partners in IN?). Seem being the key word, though, since there was definitely cause for calling shenanigans on that stage.

For that matter, fanon would probably have half the stage 4 bosses beat her up. Patchouli is pretty powerful when she's not being held back by her physical condition. Reimu/Marisa is obvious, as is Aya; not really fair to describe them as mere stage 4 bosses. I'm not sure how much of Murasa's memtic power is just a joke, but she could probably do it too. The Prismrivers would lose, because they're not really fighters at all (and you won't really see them fighting in any fanwork that's not a retelling of PCB), and Satori will probably tie with Reisen for being a mostly non-fighter with similarly "only cool if the writer bothers to make it so" powers. But Reisen's a goddamn soldier, and a stage 5 boss! And lord knows all the final bosses and extra bosses are fanon-powerful enough to wipe the floor with Reisen.

That gives me an idea: Reisen vs Satori or Koishi. Would probably be pretty one sided against Reisen, since they could pierce any illusions based on sight and sound with their power to sense her mind, but I bet they'd be very easy to drive to insanity (assuming she knows about their powers she's got a hugely powerful weapon on her side if she can really alter her own mind as well, provided she's careful to only make changes she knows will leave her in a state that'll want to change back afterwards. And anyways, hearing the thoughts of everyone you meet is already probably enough to set someone on the edge).

edit: Keep in mind that the last three posts all ninja'd this one.

edited 27th Apr '10 9:10:45 PM by Brickman

Reisen vs. Satori is all who draws first. Whoever strikes first probably wins that.

I'm not really sure how well Reisen would fair against Koishi. Satori's mental powers don't work against Koishi, so would Reisen's mind-altering abilities also fail? If so, Reisen is pretty fucked. If not, then I'd say it's very even.

Also, this all reminds me why we NEEEEEEED more badass Reisen. I mean, seriously, guns, bunny girls and insanity. It's like the plot for the next James Bond film or something.

Plus, I like to imagine Reisen in her snappy Imperishable Night outfit and that just screams deadly style to me.

Also, I don't know what you mean about Reisen's power in IN. IIRC, the only time the main cast is attempted to be inflicted by lunacy isn't by Reisen, but by looking at the full moon. Aside from Reisen's danmaku, which isn't the best application to talk about her power. And there's also the theory of all of Stage 5 being Reisen's power, presumably except until they fight her, which would mean they were certainly affected.

And stuff.

EDIT: Also, since Murasa also has That One Boss status going, she'd probably come out above Reisen, fanon-wise.

edited 27th Apr '10 9:22:09 PM by Ruki Motomiya

Also, this all reminds me why we NEEEEEEED more badass Reisen. I mean, seriously, guns, bunny girls and insanity. It's like the plot for the next James Bond film or something.

Plus, I like to imagine Reisen in her snappy Imperishable Night outfit and that just screams deadly style to me.

i approve so much of this you have no idea

I think the whole thing with the suppository killed Reisen's chance of being a badass.

Its sad because I find her background interesting. The whole idea of being a deserter/having the guilt of leaving her home/comrades behind is an interesting element. To me she seems like an outsider, more so than Sanae, who doesn't have any place to fit in. So the woobieness is there for her but I find it interesting as well given her ability to manipulate the minds of others. There is the whole shooting guns from her hands too.

I just never understood why the schoolgirl outfit, even though I love it, minus the nod to fanservice.

edited 27th Apr '10 9:25:42 PM by anelaidlives

Koishi versus Reisen at least would be very interesting. In a certain sense they both have the power to dick around with your mind. It would certainly be an epic bout sort of similar to the Sword in the Stone wizard battle with each trying to outwit the other.

Satori versus Reisen would get messy. Especially if she pulls the "sleep with a trauma that will leave you sleepless" and brings up the incident where Reisen fled the Moon. I predict either a catatonic Reisen or a severely pissed off rabbit who just had her berserk button pressed hard.

As for the butt monkeying of Reisen, I think she suffers from bringing a finger gun to a knife fight. And for having danmaku which apparently looks like suppositories. Personally, I think they look more like bullets. And for being in Imperishable Night which receives fan scorn for not being hatred to the face, relative to the rest of the series.

If it helps, Advent Cirno does kind of portray Reisen as a Badass. After all, she's the parallel to Vincent Valentine.

Although I agree that I still prefer her IN outfit. The suit is just too snappy.

also with the tasogare fighting games, aren't all the paths canon? I know at least in SWR that is the case.

Its pretty heavily implied that they are. Someone even put together a timeline for Scarlet Weather to show how everything could happen.

Edit:

Its sad because I find her background interesting

I think that Reisen had the most background of any 5th level boss up to that point.

edited 27th Apr '10 9:39:02 PM by Bocaj

"They're not suppositories!" I cry to the nameless memers. Reisen's bullets are bullets.

Also, I'm pretty sure everyone got affected by Reisen in IN. Point of fact: Invisible Full Moon still turns invisible no matter what form you're in, Mind Shaker still splits up on you, etc.