Miscellaneous Questions 5: Ask Question, Receive Answer

[Prime32]

A question, not centered exactly on Touhou, but on japanese people:

When people name their attacks (Calling Your Attacks as seen on TVTropes, which i won't to link here) in english rendered in katakana, how are japanese expected to react to it? For an example for english speakers ,"hydrokinesis" may sound cool, but it is greek for "water movement/movement of water", but as greek isn't a widely spoken language, it sounds exotic. English is a bit more widely known in Japan than greek is in North America/Australia/The UK.

A lot of those attacks come with translations in the form of furigana.

Also, because the kanji represent meaning while the furigana represent sound, one can combine the two to create puns or indicate meanings of foreign words. One might write the kanji for "blue", but use katakana to write the pronunciation of the English word "blue"; this may be done, for example, in Japanese subtitles on foreign films, where it can help associate the written Japanese with the sounds actually being spoken by the actors, or it may be used in a translation of a work of fiction to enable the translator to preserve the original sound of a proper name (such as "Firebolt" in the Harry Potter series) in furigana, while simultaneously indicating its meaning with kanji.

Sometimes the "translation" is something completely different - two examples that come to mind are Bleach's "Cero" being written with the kanji for "Hollow Flash", and Nanoha's "Eclipse" being written with the kanji for "Mage Killer". Reisen has a gimmick like this going on with most of her Spell Cards. Though this is more of an extension of a general Japanese thing where you write one word and gloss it as another.

[Drake]

To add, ZUN does this all the time throughout his writing in general, but Spell Card names are one thing he doesn't actually use explanatory furigana/furikanji for, besides Reisen.

[Prime32]

To add, ZUN does this all the time throughout his writing in general, but Spell Card names are one thing he doesn't actually use explanatory furigana/furikanji for, besides Reisen.

For instance there's a chapter of Cage in Lunatic Runagate where Yukari talks about debugging shikigami and checking her computer's orders, with furigana going every which way.

[Maple]

Maybe i expressed myself wrong.

See that thing in fantasy books/video games/series where someone casts an spell with some heretic words? Eg. Firaja/Megidoladyne.

Let's say that we transliterate Kanako's 「風神様の神徳」("Virtue of Wind God") as "Fūjinsamanoshintoku". It is an attack name on another language. An ancient, long-lost language that nobody speaks. Might as well keysmash to give my own attacks a similar name.

Now from the inverse perspective. To a japanese without knowledge of english,「マウンテン・オブ・フェイス」 ("Mountain of Faith"/"Maunten Obu feisu" if you want your overly literal, kana-per-kana romaji) is a random keysmash, as it's all just foreign language that might as well be fictional.

[cuc]

Reimu teleports too!

And does Yukari *walking* in her gaps count as teleportation too ?

Other than Reimu and Yukari, there are two bosses who have exhibited screen edge-warping: Satori (12.5, the one shyness-themed card) and Seiga (14.3, the wall-busting card). Though in Satori's case, her cards are possibly created by hypnotism or other psychological effects similar to Koishi's disappearancing; in Seiga's case, it's a demonstration of her wall-walking magic.

To a japanese without knowledge of english,「マウンテン・オブ・フェイス」 ("Mountain of Faith"/"Maunten Obu feisu" if you want your overly literal, kana-per-kana romaji) is a random keysmash, as it's all just foreign language that might as well be fictional.

I actually get your question the first time, but I was busy working during the day.

Due to the USA's post-WW2 hegemony, Japanese society has been using and borrowing English words liberally for decades. In the process, they have also created many wasei-eigo - English expressions that are Japanese neologisms, such as "one-man bus", which is a self-service ticketing bus (with only the driver), as opposed to a bus with a ticket-seller and a driver.

To a modern Japanese, English words in katakana are not as alien as Japanese transliterations are to Westerners. They can recognize many words like オブ "of".

It should also be noted that ZUN is very careful about which characters are powerful, extraordinary or learned, and designed their use of language accordingly. Ordinary characters tend to use simple words, both Japanese and English, in their spell cards - see Kagerou for an example. A somewhat well-educated Japanese shouldn't have much problem understanding these words, since they are at the level often seen in other Japanese games. This is not the case with powerful or knowledgeable characters, who can use highly difficult words, again both in Japanese and English. Koishi's "Fidgety Snatcher" and "Conditioned Teleport" do read like word salad to most Japanese.

Also of note is that in the case of English card names, especially the "simple" characters, this creates a problem for the translator. Since part of the point of a spell card name like 満月「フルムーンロア」  is the juxtaposition of the kanji word 満月 mangetsu "full moon" against the English word "Full Moon", which both sounds and looks very different. Rendering both parts the same in Full Moon "Full Moon Roar" creates a redundancy, and diminishes the aesthetic intent of the name.

[cuc]

Addenum... I think they see it as the neutral, default foreign language, since English words pervade their society, and the postwar generations have been trying to learn it since elementary school. In today's Japanese culture, other European languages are tinged with color - French with haute culture, Italian with art, and German with science and military. English is white bread "foreign" in comparison.

[Clarste]

Addenum... I think they see it as the neutral, default foreign language, since English words pervade their society, and the postwar generations have been trying to learn it since elementary school. In today's Japanese culture, other European languages are tinged with color - French with haute culture, Italian with art, and German with science and military. English is white bread "foreign" in comparison.

To add to this, in one of the FS omake comics Remilia writes a letter to Kosuzu in English. To the Japanese artist this probably felt perfectly natural because Remilia is an unspecified foreigner so of course she speaks English, while over here in the English-speaking fandom we've been arguing for years over whether she's Italian or whatever.

For instance there's a chapter of Cage in Lunatic Runagate where Yukari talks about debugging shikigami and checking her computer's orders, with furigana going every which way.

He also routinely does this thing in the comics where characters refer to each other with (vaguely rude) pronouns, but have their names written in furigana on the side so you know who they're talking about.

[Biakmon]

If someone could clarify some parts of Touhou wiki - Kaguya for me, please. It would be greatly helpful if someone could clarify some elements below, thanks for your time in advance.

Backstory - In the end, humans and youkai succeeded in dispelling the fake moon, and Gensokyo was already sealed by the Great Hakurei Barrier', so the Lunarians wouldn't have been able to enter Gensokyo to begin with. Kaguya, Eirin and Reisen were enjoying their peaceful life in Gensokyo.

- 1) In what ways does the 'Great Hakurei Barrier' effectively prevent the Lunariens from entering exactly?
It was shown that even regular moon rabbit could come inside Gensokyo (by using old method -the lunar veil) so what prevent any Lunariens from doing the same or by using other ways if they really want to come in.

- 2) Did Eirin successfully manage to carry her plan of sealing the passage b/w the Moon and Earth before she was defeated? If so, why is it that even regular moon rabbit can enter Gensokyo? If not, just say NO.
The reason I'm asking this is that I read somewhere in this particular forum that she indeed manage to successfully manage to carry her plan...

After being defeated, Kaguya unleashed her powers of eternity in an all-out bid to break the spell of the imperishable night cast by the heroines.
In the last spell card "End of Imperishable Night" which used this ability, it destroyed Reimu Hakurei and the others' spell of eternity, and forcibly called for dawn.

Kaguya Houraisan REVIVES - This half-finished eternal night that you have made...
                                                        With my spell to manipulate eternity, I'll tear it all away.
                                                        The dawn shall be upon us soon.
                                                        How's that?
                                                        With this, your spell of eternal night shall be broken, and the dawn shall come!

- 3) I am a bit confuse at the end if IN as for what exactly did Kaguya did at the end?
- It sound as if it's others (Reimu, Marsia, Yuyuko, Remelia, etc...) were the one that place a spell on the night for it to be eternal and that Kuguya was using her power to break their spells?


- 4) Also important, who is exactly Chang'e in the Touhou universe...another moon/Lunar princess or was it another human who somehow manage to enter the Lunar Capital?
- And was it stated when did she drink/or administrate the Hourai Elixir or even more importantly how are they(Lunariens?) even able to continually create the Hourai Elixir for Chang'e without Kaguya power?

- 5) How could human like Marisa, Reimu even manage to keep up with others let say powerful beings in the even of a 'real fight' not 'danmaku battle' (since the latter doesn't seems to greatly rely on strength...), shouldn't they in principal be greatly outclass in term of physical stats (stamina, speed, physical strength, etc...)?
Maybe they use magic/talismen that reinforce their physical stats...

[Kaizaki]

- 2) Did Eirin successfully manage to carry her plan of sealing the passage b/w the Moon and Earth before she was defeated? If so, why is it that even regular moon rabbit can enter Gensokyo? If not, just say NO.
The reason I'm asking this is that I read somewhere in this particular forum that she indeed manage to successfully manage to carry her plan...

If I understood things correctly, yes. Reisen II managed to arrive in Gensokyo, because Eirin unsealed the passage at the end of IN.

- 3) I am a bit confuse at the end if IN as for what exactly did Kaguya did at the end?
- It sound as if it's others (Reimu, Marsia, Yuyuko, Remelia, etc...) were the one that place a spell on the night for it to be eternal and that Kuguya was using her power to break their spells?

What you say is correct. As I understand it, the protagonists made the night eternal so they could resolve the incident that night. Otherwise, they would have to wait for the next full moon. It also explains why you fight Reimu/Marisa in Stage 4: she (correctly) thinks you had something to do with the never-ending night. On Kaguya's part, an eternal night of the full moon is very dangerous---even with the passage sealed---and she indeed attempted to break the spell with her power over eternity and the instantaneous ("Half Past Midnight" -> "Half Past 2" -> "Half Past 4" -> "Morning Mist", "Dawn", "Morning Star", "Rising World").

- 4) Also important, who is exactly Chang'e in the Touhou universe...another moon/Lunar princess or was it another human who somehow manage to enter the Lunar Capital?
- And was it stated when did she drink/or administrate the Hourai Elixir or even more importantly how are they(Lunariens?) even able to continually create the Hourai Elixir for Chang'e without Kaguya power?

We don't know who Chang'e is. Legends depict her as an inhabitant of Earth, or as a celestial being who descended and rose up again. That said, whether she is a Lunarian or not is anyone's guess. Chang'e does have a Lunarian name, which is unpronounceable to humans. But, as cuc said in his/her thread, it may not mean anything and that she may have been named that for convenience on the Lunarians' part.

Lore does not explicitly mention when Chang'e drank the Hourai Elixir, but Reisen II does say in CiLR Chapter 6 that the moon rabbits are/were "pounding away for thousands of years". I think it is reasonable to say that she drank the Elixir before Kaguya did (and maybe her story was what prompted the princess to ask Eirin about it, who knows). The rabbits never succeeded in making the Elixir; Reisen II mentions in the same chapter that they are trying to make it. As an aside, the understanding that Kaguya's power is needed to create the Elixir is due to a mistranslation, but whether it really is required is unknown.

- 1) In what ways does the 'Great Hakurei Barrier' effectively prevent the Lunariens from entering exactly?
It was shown that even regular moon rabbit could come inside Gensokyo (by using old method -the lunar veil) so what prevent any Lunariens from doing the same or by using other ways if they really want to come in.

I don't have an answer and would like to know too. I just want to add the following:
- Toyohime managed to get inside the Bamboo Forest of the Lost to confront Yukari.
- The Watatsukis visited Eientei.
- In the latest chapter of WaHH, Marisa mentions that when they visited the Lunar Capital, they didn't really leave Gensokyo / crossed the Border.

[Drake]

- 1) In what ways does the 'Great Hakurei Barrier' effectively prevent the Lunariens from entering exactly?

To start off, it doesn't actually specify "Great Hakurei Barrier" in the original text, it just says that Gensokyo is a closed space. This seems to be added in translation (IN-era translations, oh boy), but it is indeed stated to be specifically the Barrier preventing them from entering in the Border Team ending.

Almost a hundred years after Gensokyo was sealed (i.e. before 1985), Reisen entered Gensokyo, but she didn't come straight from the Lunar Capital like Rei'sen had. She had fled before the Lunar "War", which started in 1969. This is corroborated by Toyohime mentioning she left "over 40 years ago" in CiLR (2009). Eirin also mentions a few chapters earlier that Reisen showed up "around 30 years ago". The ambiguous time gap between 1969 and 1979 suggests that she spent time in the outside world, then (as IN profiles word it) heard rumors of Gensokyo and entered it "somehow". That being said, CiLR also says she used a Lunar Veil. The difference is that Rei'sen came directly to and fro, whereas Reisen would have taken the veil to Earth, but not entered Gensokyo until later.

In IN, Eientei was built in Gensokyo long before it was sealed away. After Eirin met up with Kaguya, the emissaries slowly stopped coming. (Later in CiLR, this is explained by the Watatsuki sisters taking over and not caring about trying to get Eirin back, and then everyone else losing interest.) Once Gensokyo was sealed, the logic of "the emissaries couldn't get in even if they wanted to" is consistent, since Reisen would not have come directly into Gensokyo, but came from the Outside. So as far as IN is concerned, any emissaries couldn't get in.

As of SSiB/CiLR and on, the understanding is that going directly between Gensokyo and the Far Side of the Moon is simple because the barriers between Gensokyo and the Outside, and the Far Side and the Near Side, are similar. This is how Toyohime travels in SSiB and Inaba, it's how Rei'sen traveled, and it's how the Vampire party got to the Moon. Since in CiLR the time difference between Reisen escaping the Moon and arriving in Gensokyo is still present, I don't think that the detail of Reisen coming from the Outside was retconned. But obviously, the claim that emissaries couldn't enter Gensokyo is now retconned in a rather big way. The fact that a Lunar Veil coming down from the Moon in CiLR isn't seen as impossible by Eirin, who would have been previously told that it was impossible, further supports this being retconned.

In the ongoing canon this retcon isn't a problem at all, since the Watatsukis don't care to take Eirin, Kaguya and Reisen back, and no emissaries were ever sent. Eirin's fears were still unwarranted because while emissaries could enter Gensokyo, there hasn't been any trying for centuries. The moon rabbits saying they were coming to take Reisen back, as well as the claim that they were going to war again, was a lie in both canons.

the moon saga is complicated as fuck

- 2) Did Eirin successfully manage to carry her plan of sealing the passage b/w the Moon and Earth before she was defeated? If so, why is it that even regular moon rabbit can enter Gensokyo? If not, just say NO.
The reason I'm asking this is that I read somewhere in this particular forum that she indeed manage to successfully manage to carry her plan...

She did. You might have heard me say it because I'm pretty sure I've posted about this a number of times.

Eirin's plan was to seal away the full moon, on the night of the full moon. The boundary between the Moon and the Earth exists only at that time, so she just had to replace the moon for one night. She says as much in the dialogues that she would return the moon once day broke. Eirin's plan already succeeded, which is the whole premise of the incident. On the protag side, they just saw that the moon was fake and this was a problem, so they froze the night in order to find the perpetrators. Reimu asserts that they need to return the moon before the night ends. Since Eirin's plan was to return the moon after the night ended, Eirin had to keep the moon sealed. Even once the protags arrive at Eientei, neither side realizes this predicament. Eirin and Kaguya decide to just play with the protags until the night ends, but it never will, and so everything up to this point is just a rather comical standstill until Kaguya realizes the problem and fast-forwards the night.

Kaizaki would be incorrect here; it isn't as though Eirin was actually keeping anything out to begin with, and Eirin had planned to take down the fake once the night was over, so ending her technique didn't really do anything.

[Kaizaki]

Ack, the retcons. My bad, I stand corrected on that.

the moon saga is complicated as fuck

Yes. :V

[Drake]

TBH it doesn't seem to be addressed often and it's swept under the rug really well, so it isn't surprising that people see "Lunarians are apparently able to come and go willy-willy but IN says they can't" as an actual problem since "fear of emissaries coming to get Reisen/Kaguya/Eirin" is universally seen as the prime motivator in IN's story and it doesn't really make sense if everything is taken as true, and it also doesn't really make sense to screw over IN's backstory either. It's a complicated thing and I spent far too long writing the above post, especially since pointing out Reisen's timeline and not coming directly to Gensokyo is important for IN's version to still make sense.


EDIT: Because I didn't realize this wasn't answered:

- 5) How could human like Marisa, Reimu even manage to keep up with others let say powerful beings in the even of a 'real fight' not 'danmaku battle' (since the latter doesn't seems to greatly rely on strength...), shouldn't they in principal be greatly outclass in term of physical stats (stamina, speed, physical strength, etc...)?
Maybe they use magic/talismen that reinforce their physical stats...

Simple answer: they couldn't. Youkai in general, even ones considered weak, are still physically much stronger than humans are. They pretty much have to be in order to be seen as threatening by humans, which is part of the basis of their existence. However, this is just talking about how defenseless regular humans are against a youkai attack. Humans such as Reimu and Marisa have several tools at their disposal to deal with a variety of youkai, and could probably avoid direct physical contact well enough, which is the main problem. Their magic isn't useless, and that's primarily how they fight anyways. The difference at this stage is that human bodies are just physically feeble, while youkai bodies are physically tenacious; it doesn't take much to kill a human, but to even start wounding a youkai would take a considerable amount of effort. If it was that easy to fight off youkai, the youkai exterminators of old would have actually driven them away. This is why sealing the youkai in some manner is the preferred course of action.

However, a problem lies in your definition of a "real fight". While low-level youkai might be too dumb to do anything but beat each other senseless, the fact that youkai aren't easily wounded leads to the scenario where youkai don't universally fight just by beating each other up. Youkai strengths and weaknesses and priorities are much different from humans, and in the same sense that humans are physically feeble, youkai are spiritually feeble. To a youkai, in a fight the "surrender" of an opponent is much more meaningful than the "damage". Even with oni, who have fun with challenges that are often physically-oriented and are totally biased in their favor, the victory is more important than the display of prowess itself (which is why humans cheating to "win" is offensive to oni, compared to the human's perspective of "well they clearly didn't actually win so whatever"). In this sense, you could say that in a world of youkai, spell card duels are still "real fights". A physical or magical battle of strength is still a proper fight, but it's just one kind. Playing Shogi might be another fight of completely equal weight.

[Clarste]

The difference at this stage is that human bodies are just physically feeble, while youkai bodies are physically tenacious; it doesn't take much to kill a human, but to even start wounding a youkai would take a considerable amount of effort. If it was that easy to fight off youkai, the youkai exterminators of old would have actually driven them away. This is why sealing the youkai in some manner is the preferred course of action.

To put this in perspective, it's implied that an average youkai would heal overnight what would be a mortal wound to a human.

[Starxsword]

@Moon Saga: I generally don't like retcons, so there is a theory I am thinking up about this.

This seems to be added in translation (IN-era translations, oh boy), but it is indeed stated to be specifically the Barrier preventing them from entering in the Border Team ending.

So, the thing about Imperishable Night conclusion is that we are assuming the endings are canon. But what if that is the wrong assumption for this game?
What I mean is that Imperishable Night is the only game where you cannot reach Kaguya at all in the first play through.
You will always see the Final A ending regardless of your choices. So, what if say that was the canon route? I believe it is impossible to beat Imperishable Night without New Game+, where you must have beaten the game once.
This would be kind of like Chrono Trigger where when you first face Lavos, it is impossible to win and see that ending without New Game+.
This would explain some of the other things mentioned in Perfect Momento in Strict Sense. And would also explain why Eirin doesn't fear Youkai until after Cage in Lunatic Runagate, where youkai has the possibility of doing something outside of her calculations.

[Kaizaki]

@Starxsword: Do you mean to say the canon route is A, or A then B?


ZUN uses a Cinderella motif with Kaguya.

• Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome: "The Japanese Cinderella's hidden cage is such that no matter how hard you try, you cannot force the princess out. That's the fault of the Kagome...."
• Forbidden Arcanum "Hourai Elixir": "If the public found out Kaguya's ability to make an elixir of immortality, every person of power would go after her. She would refuse all their offers, though. She's what I'd call the Anti-Cinderella."

But I don't see how her story relates to the fairytale at all, nor understand why he would call her that.

Could anyone explain the connection, please? Also, who/what is the Kagome mentioned above?


Interestingly, googling "Japanese Cinderella" brings up Chūjō-hime, a daughter of the Fujiwara, who is unwanted by---and is target of the enmity of---her stepmother. It is said that she weaved "a mandala depicting the cosmography of the Pure Land", aided by an apparition of Amida Butsu who is known in Vajrayana for his "longevity attribute" and "magnetising red fire element", amongst other things. (Hmm, sounds familiar.... Although, I'm probably just seeing connections where there are none.)

[cuc]

Yeah, thanks for bringing up the Chūjō-hime story, but it's neither very similar to Cinderella, nor likely to have a connection to the IN story. Amitabha (Amida Butsu) is simply the central figure of the Pure Land doctrine, so a mention of him is not special or notable in any way.

ZUN contrasting Kaguya with CInderella, however, is immediately understandable. Both are heroines of children's bedtime stories. The Cinderella tale is the archetypical story of women's social climbing in a patriarchy - through a miraculous marriage into a higher family. Variations of this story model have appeared everywhere throughout history. On the other hand, Kaguya-hime resolutely refused the advances of the powerful noblemen, as well as the emperor. Cinderella is about marrying into the power structure; Kaguya is about refusing to do so, because you are nobler than them.

Kagome Kagome is a notoriously difficult to interpret folk song (which you may have heard because it's often used to indicate safe passage for pedestrians at Japanese crossroads) and the chidren's game associated with it. The Stage 5 theme "Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome" is based on the song. The word "kagome" can be interpreted to be "caged bird" or even more literally, "woman in cage"; one interpretation of the story is that the "caged bird" is a criminal awaiting execution; lyrics contains 夜明けの晩に "in the evening of the dawn", which can be connected to IN's theme of night and dawn; needless to say, the melody is itself really ominous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagome_Kagome

[Starxsword]

@Starxsword: Do you mean to say the canon route is A, or A then B?

Just A. B only happens after you beat the game, so I am suggesting it doesn't count. This is just another take on it, because it explains some things.

[Drake]

I don't really understand the rationale behind rejecting that a few details thought up without consideration for future works were written over naturally as the setting expanded, but instead supposing that another group of information isn't canon (which throws out even more than just the "problematic" parts) and wasn't intended to be from the beginning. While consistency is super important, I don't think it's a good idea to reject the option of retcons outright and mess around with interpretations just so you can think every line ever written remains valid. I don't generally like having to consider retcons either, but only because any suggestion that some previous writing is now invalidated shouldn't be thrown around without good reason. I would be inclined to take a different approach if information in CiLR really did screw with IN's backstory, but all that happened was a couple of details changed while having the same outcomes.

[Starxsword]

I don't really understand the rationale behind rejecting that a few details thought up without consideration for future works were written over naturally as the setting expanded, but instead supposing that another group of information isn't canon (which throws out even more than just the "problematic" parts) and wasn't intended to be from the beginning.

Well, this has been repeated. This happens in Ten Desires where the alternate endings are joke endings.
Imperishable Night's sequence is special, since it is the only game where you cannot possibly get to Final B in the first play through. This is why I consider an alternate take on it.

[CyberAngel]

All Final A endings imply that heroines tried again. It's safe to say that Final B happened as a result. Comparing that to unconnected joke endings is ludicrous.

[Starxsword]

I will post a more thorough explanation on this line of thinking.
The first thing is, in either case, some what happens in Imperishable Night doesn't happen, probably retconned.

Let's start with Silent Sinner in Blue and Cage in Lunatic Runagate. And use barrier team as the default incident resolves, since unless stated (like the case with UFO), Reimu, in this case barrier team, would be the one solving the incidents.
In Silent Sinner in Blue, Yukari's goal was to put fear of youkai on Eientei, well mainly Eirin. Near the end of Silent Sinner in Blue, Yukari was so happy that her gamble paid off and mentions something about all the setbacks.
So, the line of thinking is why isn't Eirin afraid of youkai if barrier team solved Imperishable Night? Also, what was frustrating Yukari?
For them to be able to solve the incident would mean they exceeded Eirin's calculations, and would imply the human/youkai are stronger/smarter than Eirin expectations. But that does not seem to be so. The same way why Eirin could so confidently say the Rocket expedition team will never beat the residents of the moon. Eirin and Yukari's actions are difficult to explain if you assume barrier team was able to solve the incident.
As someone else mentioned in another forum, Reimu's response in Perfect Momento in Strict Sense is difficult to explain with that same assumption. She mentions that she solved the incident, but she doesn't know the details around the incident, why is that?
Both of these things are difficult to explain if we assume barrier team solved Imperishable Night's incident. With that and the fact that Imperishable Night cannot be beaten the first time through, I suggested an alternate idea. And that would be that none of the teams were able to solve Imperishable Night's incident. It explains Eirin's attitude and Reimu's response. It also explains Yukari's actions. That said, in either case, some details in barrier team's ending has been retconned by Silent Sinner in Blue. I am suggesting something else other than a retcon. Both end up with barrier team's ending not happening.

[Drake]

So, the line of thinking is why isn't Eirin afraid of youkai if barrier team solved Imperishable Night?

Well, like I said above, Eirin pretty much won the Eternal Night Incident since her plan succeeded. Eirin had planned to bring back the moon immediately after so it was no big problem to the heroines either. Eirin still had no reason to be afraid of anyone there; her primary concern was the Moon and the battle with the heroines was play. Kaguya was even the one to tear down the heroines' magic, not the other way around. It was really a much bigger deal to Eirin to have people discover Eientei and have it come out of hiding in history, really. That was the main result of the incident.

At the end of SSiB, Yukari is just happy that she had a big plan come together, since recently she hasn't done anything fun. That's basically it, as far as I can tell.
Both Yukari and Eirin say that the vampire party couldn't beat the Lunarians (the Watatsukis specifically) because they know they couldn't. Doesn't really have much to do with IN's events, just the fact that Lunarians are OP.

As someone else mentioned in another forum, Reimu's response in Perfect Momento in Strict Sense is difficult to explain with that same assumption. She mentions that she solved the incident, but she doesn't know the details around the incident, why is that?

Oh this is funny actually. It's because to everyone else the "incident" is the "Eternal Night" incident. It's known because the night stopped, not because the moon was replaced with a fake (most weren't even aware this happened). So, the true answer would be "I caused the incident", which obviously Reimu doesn't want to admit to so she wiggles out of any conversation. Even if she explained the actual incident she'd have to say they were the perpetrators because really all most people cared about was that the night was annoyingly long.

[Clarste]

Oh this is funny actually. It's because to everyone else the "incident" is the "Eternal Night" incident. It's known because the night stopped, not because the moon was replaced with a fake (most weren't even aware this happened). So, the true answer would be "I caused the incident", which obviously Reimu doesn't want to admit to so she wiggles out of any conversation. Even if she explained the actual incident she'd have to say they were the perpetrators because really all most people cared about was that the night was annoyingly long.

Specifically, while the fake moon is bad for youkai for some vague reason, an eternal night is freaking terrifying to humanity because youkai flourish at night. This was basically Keine's motivation in stage 3: she's trying to protect the human village from you. From the humans' perspective, Reimu was without question the villain here. They might even call Kaguya the hero if they knew the truth.

[Drake]

It's doubly funny given that if you're Magic Team or Scarlet Team, Reimu fights you to get you to stop for the very same reason.

[anthonyshu01]

Question: what is the relationship between Marisa and Alice? I know they teamed with each other in IN but that's all I really know because I've never used them in IN.

What is with Cirno  and the number 9? Plus I never really understood that Cirnos  perfect math class video at all.

What is the TL;DR summary of UFO?

[Tengukami]

Question: what is the relationship between Marisa and Alice? I know they teamed with each other in IN but that's all I really know because I've never used them in IN.

Here.

What is with Cirno  and the number 9? Plus I never really understood that Cirnos  perfect math class video at all.

Here.

What is the TL;DR summary of UFO?

This takes like 10 minutes to read.

TL;DR the Touhou wiki is your friend.

[CyberAngel]

Question: what is the relationship between Marisa and Alice? I know they teamed with each other in IN but that's all I really know because I've never used them in IN.

Let's be more constructive and point towards here and here.

[Clarste]

They're neighbors. Wow, that was simple.

[game2011]

I heard about Sakuya killing immortal Lunarians.  Clarification, please?

Thanks in advance!

[Clarste]

I heard about Sakuya killing immortal Lunarians.  Clarification, please?

Thanks in advance!

Someone lied to you.