Miscellaneous Questions Thread (LOOK HERE OR DIE)

[Tengukami]

Alright, regarding the cellphones I don't think it is that weird if Yukari has a bit of technology with her. She did nab a gameboy and knew exactly what it was (in chapter 11.5). She even mentioned a DS and knew how an I-Pod worked that was in Kourindou (chapter 11). The story even mentions that Yukari has a close connection to the outside world. And she could gap out of the border without much effort. Who knows what kind of electronics she has in her mansion. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a computer there too.
Regarding radio waves and electricity: perhaps Yukari has left a few gaps around the border that are too small to let anything alive through, but are jyst big enough to let radio waves though, allowing the cellphones to work. And maybe Yukari did the same for electricity: she made a gap that lead to a house in the outside world with electric plugs for her electronics to work. She lets the cables of her electronics pass through the gap and then connects them to the plugs, activating the electronics. Maybe she links it directly an electricity factory without anyone knowing, but I think she'd rather opt for that second home in the outer world. Now that nuclear power is available in Gensokyo she's using that instead of the plugs in her second house. Or Yukari gap hacked all the electronics batteries to be unable to run out of electricity.

There are many possibilities, really.

Now we're getting somewhere. Contact with electricity and mobile phone frequencies, alright. All this is plausible. But nothing is free. Whose calling plan is Yukari using? How is she billed? If she isn't, how does she get around billing?

[Pesco]

Yukari uses a very elaborate tin-can-and-string setup

[OkashiiKisei]

Now we're getting somewhere. Contact with electricity and mobile phone frequencies, alright. All this is plausible. But nothing is free. Whose calling plan is Yukari using? How is she billed? If she isn't, how does she get around billing?

Well, I think the 'Boundary of Poverty and Fortune' isn't that hard to use. With that boundary (or a similar one) she could make money appear out of thin air. Or she gaps money bags out of banks and pays them with that. Those bills are probably sent to that second house, where Yukari retrieves them and pays the bills with either self-created or stolen money. Or she just sends a bit of money she already has, and then gaps it back every time there is a bill, so she can pay for it again with the exact same money. Basically: Yukari is paying thousands of taxes and bills with the exact same yen/money bills every time, which she immediately gaps back whenever a new bill comes in so she can pay for it again. This is less likely to cause an economic crisis than the other two options, and it has that trickster vibe to it that Yukari loves so much.

But now that Moriya Shrine provides electricity (seemingly) for free I think Yukari doesn't need to keep up that routine anymore. Unless she doesn't want to use energy from the Moriyas. I'm still not sure if Yukari and Kanako are friends or enemies...

[Polaris]

Regarding the original question, the comment from Marisa in question is from Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Chapter 11. The title translates to something like Ultra-Purple Light but that sounds stupid and Ultraviolet Light could have been a much better translation.

But anyway, here's the excerpt with the comment in question:

<in regards to Rinnosuke needing fuel for his heater>

?Want some good advice, Kourin? There?s someone besides you who has a large stock of outside goods, who happens to be an acquaintance of mine. Just the other day, she was saying ?With this tool, one can speak with someone far away.? while using it to talk to her own shikigami?though I was kinda suspicious about it being for real. But I think someone like her would at least have some fuel.?

This provides almost nothing at all, and it's clear that whoever wrote up the fact on Yukari's article made a couple of assumptions, although it being a cellphone is pretty justified (but there are things like walkie-talkies that do a similar function with less hassle).

Of course since all she needs the cellphone for is to talk with her shikigami, Ran, she probably doesn't bother with all the electricity and radio waves and stuff. Most likely, she set up a system herself that enables her phone to connect directly with the phone that Ran has, and then everything's ready, with no hassle. But of course if you want to theorize wildly about how Yukari uses her cellphone then that's up to you.

[Sabino]

Wow so much has gone on since my last visit... now we're on to Yukari's cell phone plans!? Are we stalkers now!?  :3

Anyhow, if its someone like Yukari, I won't be surprised if she had a cellphone, but knowing that there aren't transistor cites let alone satellites to process the calls in Gensoukyou -unless Yukari had secretly created those places in Gensoukyou without anybody knowing- I think she just uses her gap to connect her phone and Ran's phones together. Hey, with tricks like hers up one's stream, who needs to contract and pay money if you can connect a microphone to a speaker and vice-versa? Also, thanks to Hatate, we know that if its just the cellphones, you can probably find it in Gensoukyou too.
(Although her's seems a bit different considering her ability...)


Anyhow I have a bit of a question about...

There is nothing such as "gods are stronger than youkai", Sun Wukong, who can be considered as a monkey youkai, wiped out entirely Heaven and can only be captured by Grand Buddha and Grand Buddha alone.

Interesting character to raise, but Sun Wukong was still a youkai so to speak and never awarded or given any kind of title relating to god... did he?
Maybe its because I haven't read the full version of the story...
Sorry I'm a bit off topic on this one.

[Tiamat]

Yukari owns cellphones... or at least "cellphone-type thingies".    It's confirmed in Subteranean Animism.  However, I think she uses her boundary powers to operate the cellphones.  I mean, how else would she be able to hook them up to Reimu's yin yang orbs?

From her Impershable Night prologue, she also owns a television set, but she uses it as a spirit container box, whatever the hell that means (Perfect Memento indicates this is a popular use for television sets in Gensokyo)

Apparently, she can hook up her television set to allow you to see what's going on through Reimu's yin yang orbs, too.

...sorry, I digress.  It's Reimu's stage 1 conversation with Suika in SA

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Subterranean_Animism:_Reimu_and_Suika%27s_Scenario

Suika:  (Oh, hey, you can hear me.
We can talk using your yin-yang orbs.)

(Yukari set them up!)


(and later)


Suika:  (...I've got this TV and this
cell phone-type thing Yukari came by with)

(... so, uh, what's a cell phone?)




(Yukari also set up Alice's dolls in SA, so apparently Yukari can hook cell phones and televisions up to dolls, too)



Under normal non-modified-boundary conditions, cell phones don't work in Gensokyo

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Encyclopedia:_Outsider

"They immediately put the tool called "mobile phone" to their ears, and after that they are at a loss of what to do next.
"

"Is this since the tool emitted sinister sounds?"

[Tiamat]

ZUN apparently goes into detail about gods in CoLA chapter 24.

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Curiosities_of_Lotus_Asia:_Chapter_24

...sadly, that chapter is untranslated by the wiki.  If you use babelfish or google translate or whatever, though, it's clearly a chapter going into detail about how faith gods work.

(by the way, the cover to that chapter is one of the most awesome official Touhou artworks ever, IMHO)

[Sabino]

ZUN apparently goes into detail about gods in CoLA chapter 24.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Curiosities_of_Lotus_Asia:_Chapter_24
...sadly, that chapter is untranslated by the wiki.  If you use babelfish or google translate or whatever, though, it's clearly a chapter going into detail about how faith gods work.
(by the way, the cover to that chapter is one of the most awesome official Touhou artworks ever, IMHO)

Ah... those books were completely out of my consideration...
you think they'd mind if I took a while to translate them ?
Although I'd guess that I'd need to do lots of reasearch along the way seeing that loadful of text...

[Tiamat]

Ah... those books were completely out of my consideration...
you think they'd mind if I took a while to translate them ?
Although I'd guess that I'd need to do lots of reasearch along the way seeing that loadful of text...

Far as I know, it's an open public wiki.  If anything, I imagine they'd be thankful for the help in translating something.  I know I as a wiki reader certainly would be.



EDIT:  On a side note to an earlier post of mine, I just noticed that Suika knows what a TV is, but not a cellphone.  It's nice to see ZUN pays attention to continuity like that (since like I said, TVs are actually used a lot in Gensokyo as spirit boxes, but at least as of Perfect Memento, no one knew what those strange tools outsiders put to their ears were)

[Sabino]

Far as I know, it's an open public wiki.  If anything, I imagine they'd be thankful for the help in translating something.  I know I as a wiki reader certainly would be.

Cool, I'm on the job. ...But since I'm not experienced in wiki editing nor am I an expert in the English language like the guys down at the scarlet library...
you know what I'm trying to say... right?

[Tiamat]

I'm sure you'll do a better job than Babelfish or Google Translate.

Scarlet Library?  What's that?

[Sabino]

Scarlet Library?  What's that?

I was talking about the one on this board where people go all authors and editors with their literary talent.
...Ah, if only I had better grammer, punctuation, ideas,...etc.

Anyways, I edited the page, see if it makes any sense since I'm not too confident with translating novels like these...
Especially when its after doing tons of research too.

Edit:I just notice that I might want to change all the parts where I used "assets" to "blessings"   ... Maybe another day...

[Maria Renard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcYESYVs1FY

could anyone tell me please, what does she says at 0:21 ?

cant tell... (romanji and english please?, trying to make a fansub) ^^

Gao~!

[Tiamat]

Wow, that was fast.  I must say I'm impressed.  It's certainly a lot more understandable and coherent than using an online translator.

Just an aside, Silent Sinner in Blue states that Suwako and Kanako retained their earthly bodies (or something like that), which is how those two are able to operate so autonomously, or... something.  Don't have SSiB available at the moment but it's the part where Reimu is explaining how shinto gods work.


"By the way, who was the god of the Hakurei Shrine?  An evil spirit, wasn't it right?"

""We don't have much records about that. Although we did get taken over by an evil spirit in the past..."


Hunh.  A Mima reference.  Interesting.


What I'd love to get my hands on is the remaining Cage in Lunatic Runagate Chapters. Sadly, Touhouwikia doesn't even have the untranslated Japanese pages of those (synopsis in the Japanese wiki state that one is Yukari's POV when she opens the way to the moon, one is Reissen II's POV from watching the Danmaku battle and going back to Earth, one is Reimu's PoV while she's on the moon, and the final chapter has Yukari inviting Eirin over to drink some moon sake, possibly to rub her victory in.

[Forte Blackadder]

If they said Gensokyo got taken over by Mima then it's kind of bad news...

[OkashiiKisei]

"By the way, who was the god of the Hakurei Shrine?  An evil spirit, wasn't it right?"

""We don't have much records about that. Although we did get taken over by an evil spirit in the past..."


Hunh.  A Mima reference.  Interesting.

If they said Gensokyo got taken over by Mima then it's kind of bad news...

So, if Mima really has become the Hakurei God, then she would be connected to the Hakurei Border, and thus Gensokyo.

So that means Mima is everywhere!

That gives a whole new meaning to the term 'God is watching you' :V

(Damnit, now I can't stop imagining Mima doing the Weegee stare to everyone in Gensokyo...)

[Forte Blackadder]

Well that may answer to the question "Where is our warm-hearted, kind, gentle, lovely and humourous Mima?" from 9.41% of the fanbase every day.
Anyhow, I'd like to confirm about Alice's TRUE nature, from 99% fanart, she is a uke tsun/yandere pretty cute and all that, but from her dialogues in IN and PCB she sounded like a bitch who would just kill everyone stands in her way with no exception. And to be honest I really like that Alice.
And kinda off topic but why is my sister's doll staring at me through the mirror?

[Tiamat]

I always figured she was what Suika and her profiles made her out to be.  Cold on the outside but a coward at heart.  The problem is, apparently this means "soft and cuddly sometimes (Oriental Sacred Place being the most drastic example I can think of), cold bitch at most other times", which leads to her uke tsun/yandere portrayal in fandom.



Mima kinda sorta did become the Hakurei god for a while, which is why I'm sure that ZUN is making a shout out to her here at the very least (and possibly more.  ...possibly).

http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Mima

From Mima's offiicial profile in Mystic Square:

"She is like the deity (evil deity) of the Shrine by now, but her personality is more human-ish than human. "


(Just a small warning not to chalk this up to being a big deal.  It's possible ZUN is just making a tongue-in-cheek reference, like he does when he says "Genji's probably living in a pond back in the shrine."  ZUN's actually stated in an e-mail that overall "I can't comment on the older stories.  Feel free to ignore them in derivative works".    http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/ZUN   That doesn't mean he's completely ignoring them, but it also means that as of the moment you shouldn't take them too seriously because he isn't, either (he's stated in another interview that he didn't really start plotting out Touhou's overall plotline until EoSD).  This is why we never get any concrete evidence that the older games happened besides cryptic "Remember me?" statements from Alice and Yuka

Of course, it's also possible that he's serious and someday we might see an epic "The True God of Gensokyo" Mima as a surprise end boss or something)

[Sabino]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcYESYVs1FY
could anyone tell me please, what does she says at 0:21 ?
cant tell... (romanji and english please?, trying to make a fansub) ^^
Gao~!

Ooh, fansub~ sounds fun~
At its when she sort of stops spinning right?
She says something like "Cho Karamawari tte iuna~!"
Which is something like "Hey, don't call it spinning meaninglessly!"
or something along those lines in english.
... Hmm, I should really start a topic for these once the remainder of my tough exams are over...

So, if Mima really has become the Hakurei God, then she would be connected to the Hakurei Border, and thus Gensokyo.
So that means Mima is everywhere!

Hmm interesting take on it, but unfortunately, I don't think what it means; since when I was translating it, I got the feel that Rinnosuke was saying that "the shrine its self" is important to the hakurei daikekkai and it could be just any god inside the shrine.
...Sorry if my English was misleading... :ohdear:

Well that may answer to the question "Where is our warm-hearted, kind, gentle, lovely and humourous Mima?" from 9.41% of the fanbase every day.
Anyhow, I'd like to confirm about Alice's TRUE nature,

And kinda off topic but why is my sister's doll staring at me through the mirror?

Alice's true nature is cool, collected, and all the way pownage as we see in many of her dialogues of 7.5 10.5 12.3 (At least when she wins)
But to say the truth, I like any Alice so I have nothing to say about all those Alices out there who are whatever they are.
... OH NO! Alice is on to u- *Shanghai Laser fired from 1/72 scale Alicia Unsung*

[Forte Blackadder]

I agree that she's pretty cowardly, never showed her true power because she feared that if she unleash it and lose, she won't have anything left.

Of course, it's also possible that he's serious and someday we might see an epic "The True God of Gensokyo" Mima as a surprise end boss or something)

That'd be the final game, I don't think us would want this unless it's made right before ZUN dies by age.

[Furienify]

Hmm interesting take on it, but unfortunately, I don't think what it means; since when I was translating it, I got the feel that Rinnosuke was saying that "the shrine its self" is important to the hakurei daikekkai and it could be just any god inside the shrine.
...Sorry if my English was misleading... :ohdear:

I got this impression, too. Just got done proofreading everything and it's more or less clear now, so no worries. If you want to make some references (What's Tenjun, for some example?) I can put them on the page for you, otherwise I'm not sure for some of it.

[Sabino]

I got this impression, too. Just got done proofreading everything and it's more or less clear now, so no worries. If you want to make some references (What's Tenjun, for some example?) I can put them on the page for you, otherwise I'm not sure for some of it.

Fury the awsomest touhou editor... many thanks, and yes I shall elaborate about tenjins and whatnot.
so, terminology used in that chapter:

Tenjin - Written as 天神, he is what people used to believe as the god of the sky/heavens. This is in a similar sense to other popular gods like the Raijin or the Fujin. What makes Tenjin a special figure in this capter is the fact that He was actually a noble called Sugawara no Michizane, but due to a plot caused by the Fujiwara family (Have we seen this name somewhere? Hmmm...) He was sent in to exile and died. After his death, reports of people getting struck with thunder as well as prolonging droughts and a deadly epidemic spreading through the empire all happened at onece. Due to this epidemic many of the children of the emperor were killed too. In order to settle this chaos the court decided that this was caused by the raging spirit of Michizane and to calm him a temple shall be built. This was the beginning to the Tenjin belief.
More can be found at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenjin_%28kami%29

Konohana no Sakuyabime The goddess Konohana no Sakuyabime (木花咲耶姫) is a popular god that is worshiped in 1300 shrines of Asama belief, (In general the Asama shrine is a branch of shrines that worships the family of Konohana no Sakuyabime, including her father Ooyamatsumi, and sister Iwanagahime.)  Konohana no Sakuyabime is believed as the goddess of fire and was given the greatest volcano, Mt.Fuji from her father, but some shrines believe her to be the goddess of water that calms the eruption of Mt.Fuji. She is said to have given birth to her children in a house on fire and thus also is the goddess of child birth and child nurturing. At the birth of her children, her father, Ooyamatsumi made sweet sake and thus these two gods also became the god and goddess of Sake. Her symbol is the famous Sakura.

Anything else...? I think Nigi,Saki, Kushi, and Ara was explained by Rinnosuke... Although these parts are more often refereed to as Nigimitama, Sakimitama, Kushimitama, and Aramitama.

[OkashiiKisei]

Another question regarding the dark side of Gensokyo.

On TV-Tropes I was reading about the game La Pucelle Tactics, and how the main character gets turned into a Demon Overlord if she goes to deep into the Underworld and kills a 100 demons. Apparently this is based on an ancient Japanese Legend:

"One who bathes in the blood of a thousand youkai, becomes a youkai."

When I tried to find the original source I only got references to some old anime, but after researching that series (Cho Hakkai) this 1000 youkai thing is apparently from an Japanese tale after all. And 'bathe in the blood of' means about the same as just 'slay'. So, while at first not thinking much about it I suddenly realized what was amiss with this, and started to ask myself a question:

"Fairies are youkai. Fairies die easily, even with Danmaku rules. They regenerate again every time, but they still die basically. And Reimu and Marisa have killed thousands of the buggers throughout the entire series."

"Does that mean Reimu and Marisa are turning into....?"

While it could be dismissed with the fact that the spellcard system prevents everyone from harm, fairies still seem to go kerblooey from getting hit. And the main characters also blasted through undead fairies, which still count as youkai and of which I'm not sure if they can regenerate. And don't forget the PC-98 games, where the rules weren't completely established yet. The fairies and monsters Reimu fought as stage enemies defiantly went kerblooey. And those first five games already had about a thousand I think.

So will Reimu and Marisa slowly start turning into youkai now?

[Forte Blackadder]

No, "slaying 1000 youkai to become youkai" has something with the dark power. Like when you purposely (or not) kill a youkai, its soul/power will get consumed by your body, and day after day the power build up and turn into your power, thus making you a youkai. However, if those powers didn't get into you, or it's too weak and got dispelled by you immune system then even if you slay 10000000000000 youkai you're still fine.

The tale based on the ancient times when people yearned for power, youth and immortality, mistook that they can achieve it by "consume" greater power, they went hunting youkai. The tale "eating youkai's heart will grant you its power" or "drinking vampire's blood turns you into a vampire" are the same.

So to your question, it's a no, Reimu and Marisa won't turn into youkai unless they really want it.

[Demonbman]

Yukkuri, a small, head that has a robotic voice. Started when someone tried to make Marisa and Reimu in ASCII...
 
When did it stated that they were edible? And where/when did it start?

[Tengukami]

Yukkuri, a small, head that has a robotic voice. Started when someone tried to make Marisa and Reimu in ASCII...
 
When did it stated that they were edible? And where/when did it start?

You need look no further than the Church of Latter Day Yukkuris for answers to any yukkuri-related question. The earliest reference that I can find there to the edibility of yukkuris is a comic from May 2008.

[Sabino]

"One who bathes in the blood of a thousand youkai, becomes a youkai."

So will Reimu and Marisa slowly start turning into youkai now?

I don't think that is regarding one's race.
Since I've heard of that one before, but its closer in nuance to... The person who touches pitch shall be defiled.  ... is that what its called?
Anyways, in the Touhou world this has already happened to Mokoh, and I think it was stated in some book too.
After all, Mokoh's ability to use fire came from her days of fighting youkai to make a living.
Its these abilities, or certain somethings that you don't see in an average human is something more that they're getting at.
I think in one of the books -was it grimoire of Marisa?- it stated that Reimu was youkai-ish too.
If its "physically" becoming an youkai the people had tons of different ways... like Parsee did...

Edit: At the moment, there are two Japanese sayings that I can think of that relates to this question. One is 朱に交われば赤くなる (Shu ni majiware ba akaku naru) This is saying that once one mixes with red dye, they too will turn red... meaning people will change,  get desensitized,...etc. depending on the people they are around. The other is a more morbid version of that going 血にまじれば赤くなる (Chi ni majire ba akaku naru) which is saying the similar thing... but using blood instead of dye. (Although this one has other morbid meanings connected to it too.)

[OkashiiKisei]

I don't think that is regarding one's race.
Since I've heard of that one before, but its closer in nuance to... The person who touches pitch shall be defiled.  ... is that what its called?
Anyways, in the Touhou world this has already happened to Mokoh, and I think it was stated in some book too.
After all, Mokoh's ability to use fire came from her days of fighting youkai to make a living.
Its these abilities, or certain somethings that you don't see in an average human is something more that they're getting at.
I think in one of the books -was it grimoire of Marisa?- it stated that Reimu was youkai-ish too.
If its "physically" becoming an youkai the people had tons of different ways... like Parsee did...

Edit: At the moment, there are two Japanese sayings that I can think of that relates to this question. One is 朱に交われば赤くなる (Shu ni majiware ba akaku naru) This is saying that once one mixes with red dye, they too will turn red... meaning people will change,  get desensitized,...etc. depending on the people they are around. The other is a more morbid version of that going 血にまじれば赤くなる (Chi ni majire ba akaku naru) which is saying the similar thing... but using blood instead of dye. (Although this one has other morbid meanings connected to it too.)

Could you explain a bit more, please? I don't completely understand it yet.

So, do you mean its a psychological thing? Like if you kill 1000 youkai you don't physically turn into a youkai, but for doing such a horrid deed you are practically nothing better than the youkai themselves (moralistically speaking)? A complete monster?

Or do you get powers from slaying 1000 youkai, but don't turn into one? (That example you gave does explain why Mokou has phoenix powers and Kaguya hasn't).

No, "slaying 1000 youkai to become youkai" has something with the dark power. Like when you purposely (or not) kill a youkai, its soul/power will get consumed by your body, and day after day the power build up and turn into your power, thus making you a youkai. However, if those powers didn't get into you, or it's too weak and got dispelled by you immune system then even if you slay 10000000000000 youkai you're still fine.

The tale based on the ancient times when people yearned for power, youth and immortality, mistook that they can achieve it by "consume" greater power, they went hunting youkai. The tale "eating youkai's heart will grant you its power" or "drinking vampire's blood turns you into a vampire" are the same.

So to your question, it's a no, Reimu and Marisa won't turn into youkai unless they really want it.

So it only works if you want to become a youkai... And that 'absorbing youkai souls' thing, is that automatic? Does your body/soul suck in youkai souls? But does that mean youkai will be trapped in your body until you die yourself? That's a pretty cruel fate for the youkai. Or do youkai souls willingly go into your body, hoping you gain enough souls until you are as mighty as a youkai/are a youkai, after which they start controlling you as a new body?

[Sabino]

Could you explain a bit more, please? I don't completely understand it yet.

So, do you mean its a psychological thing? Like if you kill 1000 youkai you don't physically turn into a youkai, but for doing such a horrid deed you are practically nothing better than the youkai themselves (moralistically speaking)? A complete monster?

Gladly, tho I'm not sure if I can write stuff properly considering this...
It doesn't even have to be the number 1000, some big number.
People like Mokoh have gained the ability to control fire which is closer to 妖術 (Yo-jyutsu) as it was stated. Yo-jyutsu is a technique that runs specifically to the Yokai and normal humans will not be able to use it.
It could be guessed that Mokoh learned this skill from the Yokais that she defeated but this is a better example of the word.
By defeating Youkais she has become more Youkai than human.
Reimu's fighting tactics are said to be Youkai-ish, but that's only as a result from fighting Youkai.
These sort of absorbing of tactics and developing certain fighting styles to stay in par with Youkai don't come from defeating one or two, but defeating many, and continuously.
I guess this is the sort of psychological / reflex sort of thing that I was trying to state.

[Forte Blackadder]

No, the power of the youkai gets absorbed, not the souls. It's like a curse if you ask me, you kill them, a part of them remain on your body/mind. And to someone at Reimu and Marisa's level they won't be affected that easily.

How about an example.... you often hear people calling a serial killer "mad man", "beast" or "monster" right? This is the same, basically my opinion was the same as Sabino's.