Vampires do get all kinds of crazy magic powers that Oni don't, though. Like splitting into a potentially unlimited number of bats, and regenerating fully from one.
The Ghost of Years Past
Indeed.
Although, Suika can just dissipate into a fine mist, and we've never seen if she couldn't come back from the mist being whacked...
Remi and Flan can hold that over Yuugi, at least, in addition to the rest of their more magical prowess.
Funny but not helpful
The Ghost of Years Past
...
...\\
...
...\\
...
...\\
Utsuho Reiuji
Theme:\\ Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom ~ Nuclear Fusion
, sometimes known as Sun Worship of Gnosis ~ Nuclear Fusion, and Hellfire Mantle
Traits:
- Confident => Arrogant
- Always violating the Nuclear Weapons Taboo.
- Dim-Witted => Book Dumb => Ditz <=> Too Dumb to Live
- Considered one of the strongest Touhou characters without a total gamebreaker power, but without tactical knowledge.
- Did we mention she loves nuclear power?
- Protective(Of Satori and her friends) => Aggressive
- Unyuu?
Relationships/Shipping:
- Satori Komeiji(Owner. Potential and somewhat popular shipping option. Sometimes seen as at odds.)
- Orin(Fellow pet of Satori's and close personal friend. Orin started the entire plot of SA because of our little Okuu. Utsuho's most popular ship,)
- Kanako Yasaka(The one who instructed Utsuho on how to gain her powers. May know each other more personally due to later dealings with the Moriya Shrine?)
- Suwako Moriya(Worked on the mecha in Unthinkable Natural Law together. Potential friendship because of this?)
- Sanae Kochiya(Unknown, if any, but if Utsuho has had contact with her goddesses, it stands to reason they know each other to a certain extent...I say this not recalling Sanae and Utsuho's UNL dialogue at all.)
- Cirno(COLD. FUSION.)
- Koishi Komeiji(The sister of her master. Exactly how they work together varies a good deal, but they generally know each other pretty well. The least popular of Utsuho's ships with the rest of the SA crew.)
- Utosho(Evil twin. Stands amongst Orin in terms of pure, unadultered shipping potential.)
Write-up:\\ The final boss of Subterranean Animism. Also a boss and playable character in Unthinkable Natural Law and a boss in Double Spoiler's eighth stage.
She has devoured a god of the sun, the Yatagarasu, which has given her complete control over nuclear fusion. Specifically, according to her offical profile, the left foot is for fission, the right foot is for fusion and the control rod on her arm, the "Third Leg", acts as a controller. And a laser cannon, according to UNL.
Interestingly, her offical profile lists her as also part of the Yatagarasu species along with Hell Raven. Is Utsuho a god too?
Utsuho, with this power, went a little...off Kanako's expected course of bringing an industrial revolution, assuming that WAS her goal, and decided to use her power to not just make hell hotter, but to raze Gensokyo and annex it as part of Hell as well.
Her close friend and fellow pet, Orin, thought this was a little nuts and gravely worried for her, sending evil spirits through the geysers created from Utsuho's power use so that above ground youkai would investigate. And thus, Subterranean Animism.
She's one of Satori's pets and, as an animal, one of the few creatures who actually enjoys Satori's mind reading.
Canonically and fanonically, Utsuho is seen as a somewhat less intelligent creature. Reisen calls her a "Moron" and many fanfics play her as a ditz. Some give her extensive knowledge in specific areas, though, usually pertaining to nuclear power. This is kinda rare, though.
Because of this, she also sometimes serves as a plot starter, unintentionally or not.
She helped Suwako create her mecha. She was apparantly running an underground, secret nuclear fusion reactor.
She also gets a lot of really badass art.
Apologies if any of those were in the picspam already, I didn't have time to get all of them...
I, unfortunately, lack many doujin, so I can't help in that department. But one series I have read and liked was Bringing up a Child of Crow. It shows a different side of Okuu, and even though I don't think it was the best of endings, I overall enjoyed it.
Utsuho has also shown up in Touhou Tag Dream. Originally hired to eliminate some contestants to get the undergrounders into the frame, she was promised a place in it if she could eliminate two. Unfortunately, all she did was roast the Akis and her era never happen. However, she hasn't given up, and has made repeated appearances. Insofar, it looks like she'll be getting a spot in a battle soon...paired up with Tenshi.
Needless to say, those two together means Hilarity Insues.
Confident and powerful, Utsuho is a character who can't soon be forgotten. Of course, there's plenty of wiggle room for interpertation here, so how do you see it? I'd love to see all of your thoughts and opinions on this girl!
Similar characters:
- Cirno(Both are seen as somewhat intelligence-impaired, albeit in different ways. Because of this, Utsuho is sometimes affectionally referred to as a six or as Onric; the opposite of Cirno. Paired together sometimes because of this, in addition with the 6/9(Combining to be 69) and COLD FUSION memes.)
Misc:
- Japanese don't distingush crow from raven, so this might explain why Utsuho is sometimes called a crow and swallowed a crow god despite being a raven.
- In SA and Double Spoiler, Utsuho's spellcard background has a picture of ZUN's cat on it. This might have been included because of the abandoned city of Pripyat, which was near Chernobyl. After the population was evacuated, a small community of wild and irradiated cats were found living comfortably in the foundation of the homes on later excursions.
- Or maybe ZUN is just silly.
- "Unyuu", sometimes "Unyu", was first uttered in the Subterranean Animism EX Stage backstory and has become a catchphrase of sorts for Utsuho.
- Utsuho's UNL sprite animations are almost certainly a reference to Souther.
- Giga Flare? Mega Flare? Bahamut, you dog...
- "The character for Utsuho also means "sky", and can be pronounced "kuu". Hence her nickname, Okuu." - Touhou Wiki
- The red eye is proof that Utsuho obtained the power of fusion by absorbing the Yatagarasu because the Yatagarasu's eyes are red, according to Chapter Three of Cage in Lunatic Runagate.
- Utsuho is apparantly the leader of all hell ravens.
—-
Aaaah...Utsuho. By far my most favorite character in Touhou. I love her design, her music(Solar Sect is my second favorite boss theme and Hellfire Mantle is top five in my disorganization stage theme rankings) and even her personality is often fun. The only thing I'm dissapointed with is that I have trouble finding works with her at the forefront, but that's because I have trouble finding works period.
Normally I'd type more, but I think it would be good to get this out now and make more posts concerning her later. As usual, I probably made some formatting errors in places, so expect this to be edited a few times to fix whatever I messed up.
Let Utsuho's discussion begin!
edited 15th May '10 6:27:00 PM by Ruki Motomiya
Funny but not helpful
I fall a little short doujin-wise with Utusho too. She is a fascinating character though. She is one of the few malicious final bosses, deliberately seeking destruction rather than acting out of boredom or to protect someone. On the other hand, despite all her power, she is an animal at heart and heavily mellows and becomes submissive to the player character upon being beaten.
Her relationship with Satori would be defined as master and pet. Satori is like a god to her. Even before transformation, Satori always knew what she was thinking. For, um, obvious reasons.
I don't know about her relationship to Orin. I think they have to be really good friends because Orin was certainly worried about her in SA but I can't remember if Utusho says anything about Orin.
Okuu's relationship with Utosho is... bumpy. Something about them brings out the worst in each other. Maybe its suppressed love.
Utusho is not too bright. Or at the very least, has an extremely poor memory. She forgets who gave her the Yatagarasu except identifying her as the "mountain goddess." Later in UNL, Sanae discovers to her dismay that the name "Kanako" rings no bells in Utusho's head. Utusho also forgets what she's doing right after you finish the fight with her and Sanae is easily able to mislead her into helping. Interestingly, her UNL dialogue apparently reminded some people of the way a computer would talk. When it comes to the nuclear reactor, she's all business.
A possible thing to discuss: how much time does Utusho have to spend at the reactor? Is she tied to it for the majority of her day? I would feel bad for her if she gained this immense power only to be forced to stay in one area, regulating the reactor all day. Granted, that's basically what she did in the Old Hell. I like to think that she spends a few hours regulating the reactor every day and then goes off and has shenanigans. Better story opportunities there too.
Addendum: I forgot and then I remembered Touhou Mahoudan, a Touhou webcomic with Utusho as a main character. Featuring an cameo by Utosho.
edited 15th May '10 6:50:29 PM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
The Ghost of Years Past
Oh, I remember Mahoudan, I read it a little in and eventully my comp crashed before I saved my place, never got back on it...
She probably doesn't have to stay at the reactor permanantly, especially if there's more than one, but she probably does need to check on them pretty regularly and do a lot of work. Foregin agents and such in the reactor can probably only be solved by Utsuho, since everyone else(Even the Kappa, I'd imagine) is unfamiliar with nuclear energy. Once the Kappa get more familiar with it, as Gensokyo's resident technohumpers, Utsuho's duties would be easier because the Kappa could deal with more minor problems.
One Winged Egret
^^ You consistently spell her name wrong. Utsuho. U-tsu-ho. Just call her Okuu if you can't spell Utsuho.
Um... despite her status as a final boss and playable character in 12.3, Utsuho's kind of a non-entity equivalent to early stage bosses in importance. She's simple minded despite her power, so after you beat her up and Satori scolds her she gets demoted to minion. Of various different people, including Satori, Kanako, and Suwako. I guess she's subservient at heart. Of course, she's a strong minion. The Dragon? Maybe.
It doesn't help that she's stupid. Personality-wise, she seems quite similar to Cirno, but really submissive to people who are stronger than her, which includes pretty much everyone at this point. It's kind of sad, really.
The Ghost of Years Past
Jeez, Clarste, you almost gave me a heart attack. XD I misread the ^^ and thought you were talking about my profile, so I went and franctically checked it over for mispelling.
Then I saw you didn't mean my profile.
Anyway, I think saying she's a non-entity to stage one boss level is a bit of an exageration. Most stage one bosses never or only rarely appear after their game, with the except of Cirno(Stage 2 Boss) and...I think that's the only one actually. Utsuho caused UFO and SA and appeared as both playable and a root creator of UNL's by helping with the mecha.
So I don't think she's that much of a non-entity, she's just not as influential as some other final bosses like Yuyuko. Which is somewhat understandable, since Utsuho hasn't had as much time either.
Even though she's submissive, a lot of the people she's submissive too seem to be more on an equal level with her than as a subservant creature, with the potential exception of Kanako. Satori seems to see all of her pets as friends of some sort, seeing as their apparantly the only ones who get close to her and don't dislike her for her power, so that seems to be more a matter of friendliness than power.
As for Suwako, the conversation probably went something like this...
"You called me, Suwako?" =D
"Yes..."
"...So, what're we gonna do tonight?"
"...The same thing we do every night, Utsuho."
"...Unyuu?"
"Build a giant mecha!"
...
And then UNL happened.
Utsuho's dim-wittedness, mixed with fascination and perhaps some childishness, probably endeared her to Suwako pretty quick. Suwako would probably win though, being a pretty old, wise and powerful goddess.
Kanako probably isn't so fond of Utsuho after actually meeting her, though. Cunning and manipulative goddess with power vs. Dim-witted and kinda stupid raven with power doesn't mix well.
I also wouldn't call Utsuho weak. When you take away the gamebreakers everyone can't beat anyway(Reimu, Yukari, Suika and Yuyuko all come to mind as gamebreakers, if I missed any), then Utsuho comes out on a very high list. And it's not really fair to compare Utsuho's power to, say, a Suika, given that most people will lose anyway, so it's not a good indicator of power.
Hmmm...
You know, on an unrelated note, I've seen the Yatagarasu described as both a god and just a divine messenger in Touhou. Which one is right? Since Utsuho's species apparantly is Hell Raven/Yatagarasu now, does that mean Utsuho is part-God if the Yatagarasu was a god?
edited 15th May '10 8:40:06 PM by Ruki Motomiya
One Winged Egret
I think of her as equivalent to Chen, pretty much. She's a servant at heart, and not the kind of intelligent servant like Youmu or Sakuya who sometimes wonder about what they're master is doing.
In terms of her being weak, I think her power-level is high, but she's vulnerable to tactical play or the opponents being main characters. And she doesn't think in terms of rematches so anyone who beats her ever is someone to look up to. I guess that's sort of animalistic, and you mention something like that in her write-up.
The Ghost of Years Past
Yeah, Utsuho is basically really, really inexperienced with her power and doesn't think ahead. This limits her a lot.
However, even though Utsuho will never be a tactical genius or anything, I think she'll grow to get at least a little smarter over time. Gensokyo's battle-oriented nature means she won't be lasting too long as completely clueless, I think.
Also, it's too bad Utsuho didn't capitulate to Cirno when Cirno run. Think about it: Cirno in control of Utsuho and all her powers.
It'd be hilarious.
Court Dragon
Note: While Utsuho's Peta Flare (one of her Lunatic cards) is impressive, Bahamut still has her beat. Bahamut Fury, from FFVII Crisis Core, Bahamut Fury can use Exa Flare.
For the uninitiated, Peta means multiplication by a quadrillion. Exa means multiplication by a quintillion.
I have a message from another time...
Damn it, I was gone when you put the profile up.
So, not too much in the way of alternate interpretations here, aside from some people that don't seem to realise that she stopped acting nuts after she got beat down.
Probably among the strongest characters, but hasn't had much time to get used to her powers. And she's probably not bright enough to pull some of the bullshit power manipulations that the others do (eg, density manipulation extends to population density).
Canon is somewhat unclear on her relations to the other characters, other than that Orin seems to like her. Fanon has decided that she's very fond of both Satori and Orin.
Some Gal
Funny but not helpful
Evil twins are serious business.
It's worth noting that neither Cirno or Sanae actually beat Utsuho in UNL. They knocked her down and dazed her for a moment. Cirno used that moment to run which caused Utsuho to think Cirno had been completely vaporized. Sanae used that moment to let the last five minutes completely drain out of Utsuho's head and then told her that she was helping her investigate.
On a more different note, I don't know how safe the Gensokyo reactor is. There doesn't seem to be any sort of radiation shielding or anything. Although judging from the way it looks in UNL and where you fight Utsuho in SA, I'm pretty sure they just had her create a miniature sun, put it next to some water to boil and called it a day.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Hmm. I could swear I came up with a nice interpretation once that I could get behind, but I seem to have forgotten it. All the times I've seen her in doujins, she was an adorable airhead, which doesn't make her very memorable to me and seems to go against that which I think she's supposed to be.
The way I see her is, well... as a Final Boss, in capital letters. Everything about her screams "final boss", her theme, her design, her powers, and even the darn klaxons.
Oh yeah! I remember now. The interesting part was that, if you consider what a cheerful and childlike person she appears to be, then it's really kind of depressing to think what her new powers have done to her. One moment, she's practically a child, and in the next, she suddenly has giant powers, responsibilities she can't bear, and limbs of heavy metal. The way she speaks in Hisoutensoku, it's like she was turned into a cyborg.
If you want a dark view, then Kanako pretty much robbed her of her innocence. Though once she's mellowed out, she might learn to live with it all and just be cheerful again. If you want a lighter view, she's pretty much Touhou's King Dedede. The result of combining a childish soul with the power to do whatever it wants.
PS: I'm very pleased that people agree with my assessment of Ran's great strength. I'd really like to see her in the next fighting game...
edited 16th May '10 8:16:06 AM by Fawriel
Gentleman Adventurer!
I'm annoyed that Bocaj spent all that time making fun of my misspelling at the same time that he was consistently misspelling her name.
Utsuho has a pretty good role in Tag Team Dream. She's not responsible for the plot but she does change its course a few times, while acting like an idiot, and gets plenty of screentime.
Your funny quote here! (Maybe)
Funny but not helpful
Its probably hypocritical humor.
I'm actually hoping, in Tag Dream, that Utsuho and Tenshi get a chance to fight because no matter who they're fighting, collateral damage is a given.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
This post was thumped by the Codfish in a Derby Hat
The Ghost of Years Past
I'm pretty sure Utsuho and Tenshi are the current schuedle, special match where we don't "know" the participants in Touhou Tag Dream, aren't they?
I just hope their name somehow pertains to Tenshi's boasting that she could take three times the pain.
While Okuu's story dialogue in Hisoutensoku had her speaking like a robot, her win quotes are her usual ditzy personality. It's possible that she thought the cyborg thing would be fun, the way she thought that being a final boss would be fun.
Utsuho and Tenshi are on the current schedule, so we should get to see them fight in a few months.
The Ghost of Years Past
Wow, conversation's stalled...
Hopefully I can jumpstart it tomorrow. XD I wanted to write quite a bit today, but I got distracted and unable to finish, but tomorrow I'm getting a ton done, so I'll put this on the To-Do list too.
Hylarn should switch to an Utsuho avatar for COMBO x6
Funny but not helpful
I think that Utsuho talking like a cyborg in UNL is because she's on reactor duty. Its possible that in order to get the reactor maintenance rules to stick in her head, the kappas drilled them into her by rote so she sounds mechanical when she's working the reactor.
It's like she's reading off of a technical manual. In her head.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
That makes sense. She memorized everything she needed to know from somewhere else.
Incidently, Bocaj, who shared avatars 33, 34, and 35 with you?
The comparison is invalid. In the Touhouverse, vampires explicitly sacrifice the ability to grow up for their immortality. Vampires don't age slowly, they simply never age past being a kid. Flandre will never grow up, even given thousands or millions more years. This does not apply to Suika. I mean, we have no idea how oni age, but comparing her to Flandre makes no sense.