And here I go again.
-Regarding Yuyuko, in most cases (even where she isn't the final boss), she has these eminent "end of all hope" type stage themes. Not so much her boss themes as a whole, but the stage themes really stick out to me. The question I throw here is: Is she among the higher tier in Gensokyo as far as the resident strengths are concerned, or does the anti-climatism sort of try to play mind games with you (or is it something else entirely)? I ask because Yuyuko's stage theme in PCB is a huge tension builder (as is her stage in Touhouvania), but when you finally get to her, that tension sorta... dies (this is my opinion anyways).
To start off, power level discussions aren't really done here because they apparently tend to devolve too quickly.
Despite that, I think Yuyuko is generally considered to be on the higher tier of strength in Gensokyo. However, it's also prudent to consider that in PCB you're rushing to stop the awakening of a tree that's going to draw people to it for the sole purpose of draining their life. If that doesn't warrant dramatic music, I don't know what does. See Subterranean Animism's final stage for a similar situation. Also, Border of Life is usually considered to be one of the most dramatic and climactic final boss themes in the series, so most people probably wouldn't agree with that opinion.
Finally, again, Touhouvania is
not canon, so don't consider anything that goes on in there when trying to understand the Touhou universe.
-Another question regarding Yuyuko, though I throw Youmu into this because of the relevance. It states that Yuyuko and Youmu have been together for some time, yet how on earth did Youmu get so much respect for Yuyuko when the former is clearly more precise and fierce than the latter? And when? Furthermore, how does Youmu NOT know that Yuyuko is a ghost and NOT freak out at the same time? Either a canon or fanon theory will suffice here.
Yuyuko is clearly much, much wiser than she lets on, and she tends to use her airheaded, carefree attitude to hide that vast insight. She is shown to be calm, patient, wise, and still quite powerful, so it makes sense that the brash, young Youmu would have such respect for her. Add onto that that Youmu's father, Youki, served Yuyuko before she did, and she probably inherited the mindset of respect from him. Beyond that is merely conjecture as to what specific incidents caused all this, as it's not stated in the games.
Further, Youmu knows perfectly well that Yuyuko is a ghost. Her fear of ghosts is canonically stated (somewhere, I don't quite remember where) to only apply to the bedsheets-and-whooooos kind of ghosts, which the ones in Gensokyo clearly are not.
-Has there ever been any sort of real evil in Gensokyo, other than the farce mischief everyone displays? The fanon in Touhouvania implies that Yukari is aiming to cause chaos of some degree (whether out of her own personality or something else is unknown to me), just by how she treats Reimu like a stringed puppet and a toy of some sort. I'm not 100% positive, but it looks like Yukari's merely keeping up a mask until her REAL plan is able to be hatched.
But I digress. Is there any sort of evil in Gensokyo (even in precursor events - one that could possibly resurface)? Or is Gensokyo merely a world where ZUN and his followers can materialize any sort of conflict with the set template of characters? Because if the latter is true, I'm thinking of a fanon mix with my own original fiction universe (in a healthy manner of course - but that's only if such a move would make sense).
Again, there is no real "good" or "evil" in Gensokyo. The closest that anyone has come to actual evil have been the Saigyou Ayakashi, Utsuho's bout of genocidal insanity in SA, Medicine in general, and possibly Tenshi, depending on your opinion. Also again, Touhouvania is
not canon and the characters interactions in that should not be considered when making sense of the main Touhou canon. Yukari has only been somewhat involved in one plot, maybe two if you want to count Immaterial and Missing Power, and in most others she has been one of the people involved in solving the incidents and putting things back in order.
In the end, I suppose your latter opinion would work. Interactions between characters are, in the end, up to the individual to analyze the canon provided and form their own conclusions.
-Regarding Sakuya (and I express a thousand apologies to all Sakuya fans for the use of this nickname, and eagerly await any knifing that may result), WHY on earth is the name Pad-chou so forbidden? Really, if all women in Gensokyo were judged by breasts, then clearly Yukari'd win over anyone else. But since each one has their own appeal, I find the use of Pad-chou to be rather... um.... what's the word I'm looking for.... irrational and really, what's the point of getting worked up over Sakuya padding her chest?
Despite the fact that this is a purely fanon thing, as both a strong fan of Sakuya and as someone who roleplays as Sakuya in one of the Touhou roleplaying venues around the internet, I can give my personal explanation anyway.
Sakuya is an extremely dignified and self-confident woman. She values her image and knows that it reflects upon how people see the Scarlet Devil Mansion as a whole, as she is the resident who interacts with the other people of Gensokyo the most. Therefore, with this important position as a sort of "SDM PR," she would be extremely offended by any suggestion that she would lack self-confidence enough to pad her breasts. Such a claim doesn't only insult her integrity, but the integrity of the Scarlet Devil Mansion as a whole, in that regard. Clearly she would be very upset by something like that.
-This is a BIG question regarding Suika. In a prior post, it was mentioned Suika wanted her Oni Brothers to come out. Now something hit me hard there. BROTHERS?! I THOUGHT TOUHOU HAD AN ALL-FEMALE CAST! I THOUGHT THIS WAS SOME SORT OF MALE-CREATED FEMALE SUPREMACIST EMPIRE!
.... Wise cracks aside, I thought up until now that Touhou's universe was all female, so I had originally thought my own fiction universe would mesh well due to the dominance in male characters (the two inequalities balancing each other out). But now Touhou has men?!
Did ZUN add those guys due to pressure from his masculine male fans, or was it something else that pushed him to create the Gensokyan males?
I used "bros" as a general term for Suika's other oni friends.
The main cast of Touhou is female aside from a couple of exceptions, namely Rinnosuke and Unzan. However, this does not mean that the entire population of Gensokyo is female. Indeed, there has been complete gender equality among the nameless citizens of Gensokyo in the various official mangas, and men are known to be just as present as women. Among the main cast, however, it is 99% female.
ZUN doesn't care what his fans think of his work. He's stated that even if all of his fans stopped playing Touhou and the series was entirely abandoned, he would still make the games. The addition of male characters was not to please fans, but just a decision he made for a couple of characters.
I'm dealing with a lot right now, so not quite as much of a textwall this time, but there you go.
