Author Topic: Retelling of Oriental Stories  (Read 38458 times)

Usually Dead

Retelling of Oriental Stories
« on: April 22, 2009, 02:50:29 PM »
Okay! Since the forums got rebuilt, I suppose it's appropriate that I repost the notification of my contributions so far.

All works are on www.usuallydead.com, under:
Stories --> Retelling of Oriental Stories

The main work here is Touhou Ibunshu, which is a long arc of many short installments. The installment list so far includes:

1. Touhou Maiketsu - The Reinterpretation of Scarlet Devil

2. Touhou Jinkeiki - Redepmtion of Precarious Puppeteer

3. Touhou Zetsubunsho - Requiem Bibliophilic

4. Touhou Seireikun - Resolute and Ghostly Gardener

5. Touhou Shikanzai - Remixed Cherry Blossom

6. Touhou Aizokuri - Recovery of Beloved Matriarch

7. Touhou Kimikaku - Repose and Inclusive Power

8. Touhou Toshinanto - Remorse in Secession's Nobility

In addition, some archived and discontinued content exists under the "Story Features" heading. These fall under the title of Touhou Tagigen, and include Ask Yuyuko! and Nitori's Notes.

This thread is more for just giving Ibunshu a presence on MoTK's new build, but feel free to discuss or whatever. 
« Last Edit: August 27, 2009, 05:02:50 AM by Usually Dead »

WRATHIE_Beatrice

  • soujiko x yousuke is my otp
  • I will repeat it, in RED
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2009, 02:53:01 PM »
whoa UD is mod??

Defiant of Shrine Maiden Ver. 2

MSN-02 Zeong

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2009, 07:10:30 PM »
Didn't even notice Usually Dead was a mod until wrathie posted it.

I'm not one for long commentary when it comes to this, so I'll just say that Repose and Inclusive Power was an incredibly fun read as usual, though I was surprised that it ended up

Spoiler:
perfectly segueing into the events of Imperishable Night, though I should've realized it after seeing who was actually going to attend Reimu's party.

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2009, 05:05:20 AM »
Yeah, MSN, that seems to be everyone's reaction. That's one of the ways UD is awesome. He gets you like that.

And yet ... a part of me is on the fence, and thinks that, um ... Well, to cut to the chase, UD's stories are about as different from canon as Blade Runner is from Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? They're awesome, but they take just about every detail of Touhou canon, short of the characters' personalities (except in Reimu's case) and appearance, and run the other way with them; they end up bing "retellings" of the originals the same way a broken clock is right twice a day. I know some people who've been driven away by the poetic license UD's taken.

And when UD isn't being epic-awesome, some bits really fall flat. I facedesked when Suika referred to her gourd as having "immaterial and missing power" in as many words, and not in a good way. The fact that everyone speaks English and refers to Japanese as "the old tongue" is somewhat awkward -- I'm somewhat morbidly curious as to why UD did it like this. Yes, I know the in-character explanation, which is buried somewhere in Nitori's Notes, I want to know why the author decided to do it. Also awkward is the way the stories tend to get rather violent, and at the same time try to fit a "Power of love!" philosophy, two elements which don't go well together.

Plus, there's a bit of Moral Dissonance -- in Reinterpretation of Scarlet Devil,
Spoiler:
Reimu kills Meiling. Except wait, she's a youkai, so she's okay! The thing is, Reimu didn't know it at the time, and very little is done to address the fact that Reimu basically tried to murder someone, not entirely in self-defense, beyond "okay, I'm not going to act out of anger or fear anymore."
Remixed Cherry Blossom doesn't have that kind of problem, since Sakuya's supposed to be morally ambiguous, but Ran's explanation about the purpose of love in Recovery of Beloved Matriarch is either a rather shrewd look into the mind of an immortal, or seriously messed up. Or both.

I've also noticed the formula of
Spoiler:
"It was actually the Extra Boss all along!"
which makes me feel kinda "meh" about being surprised by whatever the ending is, and ... I'm gonna be generous and say that about three-eighths of, um, Retellishable Night wasn't completely telegraphed by RoIP.

It's just a vague "do not know if want" which I'm able to rationalize, I guess. I still mostly think they're awesome, but Retellishable Night is going to need a pretty darn snazzy twist to make up for the fact that we basically know most of the story (the bit about Sakuya included). However, I believe that this is something which, on the whole, UD is going to be able to do.

(I also realized: "oh, god, what's going to happen to Mystia, given how unmerciful UD tends to be?" and I thought I came up with an idea for how Koishi would be behind the events of ... Subrevision Aminism, but I forget what it was.)

I also make no value judgments on the fact that, in just about every story, at least one character ends up naked (or depicted naked like in RaIP) at least once.

Usually Dead

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2009, 05:09:57 AM »

I also make no value judgments on the fact that, in just about every story, at least one character ends up naked.

Oh damn! I've been found out!

You got me. I've been doing it all as cleverly couched pornography the whole time. :P

MSN-02 Zeong

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2009, 07:36:49 AM »
Man, Kimiko, I think we're at opposite ends of this even if we both like UD's work.

The bouts of brutal violence juxtapose with the themes of love in such a way that I find them as appealing as they are striking. Guess it's just the part of me that believes in the school of tough love. I think we can both agree that the bitterness behind the violence certainly adds something visceral to the story though.
Spoiler:
What's that, Chen? I've gotten so effin' fed up with this world that I'd even try to hurt YOU?

Also, having
Spoiler:
the Extra/Phantasm Boss being the cause behind everything
makes it much smoother to integrate them into the story than it is to just make them an awkward sidequest at the end. Not that other fanfics don't succeed in making it not-awkward.

I know you probably aren't turned off by UD's personality changes or otherwise you wouldn't be posting in here, but since you mentioned it, I feel like replying to it anyway: that seems incredibly unfair to me! Considering how little the characters' personalities are filled in the games, and how the majority of each individual Touhou character's... erm... character tends to be defined by the fandom surrounding it, you'd think it would be treated more like a breath of fresh air after a lot of the same thing over and over. But to each his own, eh?

TL;DR - I rant too much about relatively unimportant stuff. Take it easy.

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2009, 08:14:27 AM »
needs more ask yuyuko and nitori notes.  ;D

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2009, 02:46:08 PM »
JUST AS PLANNED
Look at what you made UD do Kimiko!

Btw UD your voice is MANLY
« Last Edit: April 23, 2009, 03:24:37 PM by SonicZeroX »

Tengukami

  • Breaking news. Any season.
  • *
  • I said, with a posed look.
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2009, 03:08:05 AM »
Bookmaarked.

I really need to spend more time on this board. I love reading this stuff.

"Human history and growth are both linked closely to strife. Without conflict, humanity would have no impetus for growth. When humans are satisfied with their present condition, they may as well give up on life."

Alfred F. Jones

  • Estamos orgullosos del Batall?n Lincoln
  • *
  • y de la lucha que hizo por Madrid
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2009, 03:31:26 AM »
I also make no value judgments on the fact that, in just about every story, at least one character ends up naked (or depicted naked like in RaIP) at least once.

Were your Mystic Eyes of Subtext Perception turned off that long?

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2009, 05:10:21 AM »
Do you think I somehow didn't notice it until the exact minute I typed that? :V

cleartailcat

  • Idiot Shouta
  • Missing
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #11 on: April 25, 2009, 05:36:39 AM »
Gonna skip all your replies till I finish RaIP... in case of spoilers. I have high expectations and I'm confident that they'll be met. Glad to see you're not dead as usual.

Edit: Done reading. That was an awesome read, thanks again. Looking forward to how the monster fairies will play into the overshadowing plot.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2009, 01:04:25 AM by cleartailcat »

Kilgamayan

  • True
  • *
  • The Real Treasure Is You
    • Let's Play Super Marisa World
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2009, 07:04:53 PM »
I've already talked to you about this over IRC, but since it is apparently a not-very-widely shared opinion, I'll say publicly that
Spoiler:
Chapter 5 in RaIP was a great culmination of the Sakuya character development project, started all the way back in Chapter 1 of RoSD
, and it cements her as my new favorite character of your writing.

It really surprises me to
Spoiler:
not see her in your sig because it feels like you put a lot more effort into her than anyone else
.

For those of you that
Spoiler:
hate Sakuya (apparently there are a lot of you), go back and re-read RoSD, Requiem Bibliophilic, RCB and then RaIP again, watch her grow
, and then tell me you still feel the same way. It's impossible.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2009, 07:07:35 PM by Kilgamayan »
[22:40:12] <Drake> "guys i donwloaded esod but its not workan"
[22:40:21] <Drake> REPORTED
[22:40:25] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> PROBATED
[22:40:30] <Drake> ORGASM
[22:40:32] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> FUCK YEAH

[22:28:39] <Edible> Mafia would be a much easier game if we were playing "spot the asshole"

WRATHIE_Beatrice

  • soujiko x yousuke is my otp
  • I will repeat it, in RED
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #13 on: April 29, 2009, 12:47:05 AM »
@kilga: For the record, even thou she is epic at times.

Any1 who
Spoiler:
kills Reimu
is automatically black listed in my book

Defiant of Shrine Maiden Ver. 2

Kilgamayan

  • True
  • *
  • The Real Treasure Is You
    • Let's Play Super Marisa World
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #14 on: April 29, 2009, 02:25:56 AM »
Perhaps, but that was necessary to
Spoiler:
finally turn Sakuya into a good person. She couldn't repent without a major sin.

Besides, Reimu got better.
[22:40:12] <Drake> "guys i donwloaded esod but its not workan"
[22:40:21] <Drake> REPORTED
[22:40:25] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> PROBATED
[22:40:30] <Drake> ORGASM
[22:40:32] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> FUCK YEAH

[22:28:39] <Edible> Mafia would be a much easier game if we were playing "spot the asshole"

Maid Xan~

  • Oh. Uh... Hey... Hey there, Koto.
  • What... what are you smiling like that for, Koto?
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2009, 03:03:37 AM »
@kilga: For the record, even thou she is epic at times.

Any1 who
Spoiler:
kills Reimu
is automatically black listed in my book

Last I checked, didn't YOU
Spoiler:
kill Reimu
?



That said, I'm not sure what to think of UD's stuff. It's very well written, and I like it for that, but it's so counter to canon in a lot of places that I tend to get rather irritated when reading it. The only one I unequivacaly like is Requiem Bibliophilic, which I think got all the characters spot on (personally, the portrayal of Flandre in that one, is probably the closest to my view of her personality I've seen in most fanworks, with a few exceptions.), and didn't do anything that clashed with the canon to the point of irritating me (something that has gotten progressively worse in the later ones, though I haven't read the IaMP one yet.)

Ask Yuyuko and Nitori's Notes were great, and I wish they were still going.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2009, 03:05:54 AM by Kilgamayan »
There are people in this world who enjoy being alone. But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.

WRATHIE_Beatrice

  • soujiko x yousuke is my otp
  • I will repeat it, in RED
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2009, 03:18:07 AM »
you got me there actually but seeing no one actually directly killed her..

so yea.

fact is: She'll always get better

Defiant of Shrine Maiden Ver. 2

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #17 on: April 29, 2009, 03:41:24 AM »
You mean she drank the Hourai elixir!?

mad

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #18 on: April 29, 2009, 03:42:42 AM »
No, every time she "dies" it's because Marisa turned her into a newt.
Little did he know, the shed was near Yuyuko, who was in a role-play of Dune. As a sandworm.

WRATHIE_Beatrice

  • soujiko x yousuke is my otp
  • I will repeat it, in RED
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #19 on: April 29, 2009, 04:09:16 AM »
You mean she drank the Hourai elixir!?


shush no spoilers x3

Defiant of Shrine Maiden Ver. 2

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2009, 04:26:15 AM »
No, every time she "dies" it's because Marisa turned her into a newt.
Does Marisa weigh as much as a duck, though?

Maid Xan~

  • Oh. Uh... Hey... Hey there, Koto.
  • What... what are you smiling like that for, Koto?
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2009, 05:15:47 PM »
Okay, time to update my opinions after reading the IaMP one. Quite good. No flagrant violations of major game canon, good plot developement. So far so good, though if
Spoiler:
Mokou is the source of the eldritch horror fairies
I will be rather irritated, as that is A: way out of character for her, and I mean rediculously so, and B: missing out on a good segue to SA at some point. The portrayal of Suika is great. The Remilia bit was, frankly a bit... squicky. I kinda wish Flandre made an actual appearence. Overall, it's good, I'll be waiting for IN.
There are people in this world who enjoy being alone. But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2009, 05:23:01 PM »
No flagrant violations of major game canon,
are you even reading the same fics I am :V

Maid Xan~

  • Oh. Uh... Hey... Hey there, Koto.
  • What... what are you smiling like that for, Koto?
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2009, 05:25:08 PM »
are you even reading the same fics I am :V

Compared to his PCB one, his IaMP one is fairly close to canon. His PCB one buttraped the canon.
There are people in this world who enjoy being alone. But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.

mad

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #24 on: April 29, 2009, 05:26:13 PM »
Does Marisa weigh as much as a duck, though?

Obviously, she does. She was weighed in front of the King of the Britons himself.
Little did he know, the shed was near Yuyuko, who was in a role-play of Dune. As a sandworm.

Maid Xan~

  • Oh. Uh... Hey... Hey there, Koto.
  • What... what are you smiling like that for, Koto?
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #25 on: April 29, 2009, 05:29:45 PM »
Obviously, she does. She was weighed in front of the King of the Britons himself.

Saber does not approve of the masculine nouns and pronouns.
There are people in this world who enjoy being alone. But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #26 on: April 29, 2009, 05:32:02 PM »
Compared to his PCB one, his IaMP one is fairly close to canon. His PCB one buttraped the canon.
I'm not sure what your basis for comparison is. "Suika manipulates everyone into having a bunch of parties, and then they beat each other up after they find out something's up, and she beats them up when they find her" versus "
Spoiler:
Suika moves in with Reimu, then astral-projects her into the brains of the cast of IaMP so that she can invite the cast of IN to one party where they can have fun, and also lol-monster-fairies caused by Mokou, lol assraping of IN's canon, I need scissors, sixty-one
" ...

Maid Xan~

  • Oh. Uh... Hey... Hey there, Koto.
  • What... what are you smiling like that for, Koto?
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #27 on: April 29, 2009, 05:35:05 PM »
I'm not sure what your basis for comparison is. "Suika manipulates everyone into having a bunch of parties, and then they beat each other up after they find out something's up, and she beats them up when they find her" versus "
Spoiler:
Suika moves in with Reimu, then astral-projects her into the brains of the cast of IaMP so that she can invite the cast of IN to one party where they can have fun, and also lol-monster-fairies caused by Mokou, lol assraping of IN's canon, I need scissors, sixty-one
" ...

I wasn't refering to storyline details and more to the background info. Yes, the story was different, but that was expect and allowable (most of the time). Especially since the plot of IaMP doesn't exactly lend itself to what he's doing.
There are people in this world who enjoy being alone. But there isn't a single person who can bear solitude.

Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #28 on: April 29, 2009, 11:16:17 PM »
Well, all right.

Kilgamayan

  • True
  • *
  • The Real Treasure Is You
    • Let's Play Super Marisa World
Re: Retelling of Oriental Stories
« Reply #29 on: April 30, 2009, 01:13:59 AM »
You guys do realize that a strict canon retelling of games like EoSD would be incredibly boring, right? >_>
[22:40:12] <Drake> "guys i donwloaded esod but its not workan"
[22:40:21] <Drake> REPORTED
[22:40:25] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> PROBATED
[22:40:30] <Drake> ORGASM
[22:40:32] <NaturallyOccurringChoja> FUCK YEAH

[22:28:39] <Edible> Mafia would be a much easier game if we were playing "spot the asshole"