Characters, music, personalities.

~Hakurei Shrine~ > Touhou Addict Recovery Center

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Slowpoke:
I like your analysis of Mystia's theme...it kind of matches ZUN's own comments.

I have a different opinion of Capriccio from most people - I actually think the piece is lazy (notice that the first twelve seconds of it consist of only three pitches), violent, brutal, and obvious, fitting Reimu's character perfectly. But never mind that, it's your thread and everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Fightest:

--- Quote from: Slowpoke on September 10, 2009, 08:01:31 PM ---I have a different opinion of Capriccio from most people - I actually think the piece is lazy (notice that the first twelve seconds of it consist of only three pitches), violent, brutal, and obvious, fitting Reimu's character perfectly. But never mind that, it's your thread and everyone's entitled to their opinion.

--- End quote ---

But I want to hear other people's opinions, so I'm going to go out and ask - could you elaborate as well as you can on why you think Capriccio is what you say it is? I accept that I could be missing something.

That said, I'll mess around with order in the hopes of getting a response, and go with...

Marisa Kirisame - Love-Coloured Master Spark

It occurs to me immediately how often I've heard the theme when fighting Marisa as a boss as opposed to listening to the track by itself - my mind overlays the whmmmmmmmm sound of the Master Spark at certain points in the piece, and it keeps seeming to me that without those, it lacks something. Fortunately, it's kinda there in the music at 1:18, so a homage has been made and all is well.

The introduction is short, mostly there to establish a few first beats for the piece, and quickly makes way for the melody. Clocking in at 11-ish seconds, I think it's the shortest introduction we've had yet. That already says something about Marisa - she's not one to ramble or beat about the bush. She understands the need to establish who's who and what's what, and to make sure a spade is a spade, and will be absolutely charming about it for the first couple of seconds (extremely melodic trumpets, within a very comfortable hearing range - never too high to be shrill or too low to growl), before tossing decorum out of the window and adopting a familiarity with the listener to perhaps an uncomfortable degree (to the listener) - the melody that follows is extremely open-hearted about its optimism, almost child-like, completely unashemedly replete with the melodic line hopping happily all over the place, full of ornamentation. Still completely charming though, never harsh on the ears by pitch or amount of instrumentation used. Hell, even the instrument used for the melody - some sort of pipe organ, I believe - is so very gentle, none of those trumpets that we've had previously.

It is that charm that binds the piece together so well - the melody has three distinct parts, the first two played in pipe organ, with relatively light accompaniment, to really put the listener at ease. For the third the trumpets are introduced, but so organically that it doesn't shock or worry (the motif clearly requested that some more instrumentation be added, and there was nothing else to add besides things ZUN doesn't usually use). That last part does carry a distinct power that has built up without anyone noticing - the melody is what is usually described as "triumphant", with a strong complexity in the accompaniment, although the accompaniment never overshadows the melody - it's always Marisa first, her power second, always naturally, never threatening. And then the melody appears to loop, with a few minor changes, but nothing unexpected. The listener is aware of the power that Marisa holds, occasionally noticing it bubbling behind her utterly open and positive exterior, but compared to the things they've experienced, Marisa seems to be nothing more than a happy-go-lucky, optimistic, ordinary (magician) girl.

BAM, giant laser too close to your face for comfort at 1:18, blowing away something in the distance, forcing a bit of a double-take, the listener going "where did that come from?" Looking back at Marisa, she's just the same as ever, the distant threat (or nonthreat) out of her mind already. The listener won't get any reasons for Marisa nearly blowing his head off - Marisa won't give them since the situation's already passed. Perhaps there weren't any, perhaps she was in control, or, perhaps, on the contrary, she fudged the spell - none of it matters, problem's over.

Marisa has none of the intensity we might get from the other protagonists in the series. She's very open about herself and her feelings, which usually means her optimism shines like a beacon. She's also pleasant to be around unless you hate happy people - her mannerisms rarely grate, she's rarely too much to handle (though she might get a little loud for certain tastes - the trumpets are quite powerful towards the end of the third part of the melody). She knows her power well, but she always considers things as herself, not as someone with an array of magical firepower - her power never overwhelms her personality. She also has a tendency to shoot giant lasers at things, usually to those things' extreme surprise.

Fightest:
Time to take the bull by the horns.

Reimu Hakurei - Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle

I think I've got it now: Capriccio is cold. Unlike Master Spark the instrumentation has a piercing quality to it, presenting the melody to the listener without caring whether the listener receives harm or not. Having now written my analysis, I realise it's also much more than that, but that coldness is a key factor.

The first few seconds are unique across all the music in Touhou so far ? it?s an alien sound, completely lacking any indication of what is to come. It?s also built on a diminished chord, thus having a frightening quality to it. It is an intense, withering stare directed at the listener, daring them to come closer ? Reimu is sizing them up, her distrust, or even hostility, showing clearly.

Suddenly she?s done sizing up, and her attitude becomes that of calculated force. The two cadences presented in this sequence are very textbook, and presented thus in a practiced manner without any deviations. Once again, these are overt challenges ? aggressive declarations. Imagine a hostile police officer asking your name and occupation before arresting you by stating them and having you agree ? he is playing by the book, but he doesn?t like you, and doesn?t have to show it. In fact, I?m tempted to say this is the bit where Reimu declares Spell Card rules in a sharp tone that allows no argument.

I think this is something to consider throughout the piece as a fundamental fact: Reimu doesn?t like you. She probably doesn?t hate you, but she won?t be chummy for the hell of it like Marisa would. She will make sure the listener is well-aware of her dislike by colouring her declaration somehow ? a facial expression, an intonation, perhaps ? demonstrated by the bubbling piano underlay that sits in the upper octaves, almost coming over the chords, but never actually doing so. Once the declarations are done, this attitude will come to the forefront, but audibly ? and incredibly reluctantly - die out once Reimu?s probably realized she?s made herself clear.

This attitude would probably continue if Reimu wasn?t the complicated oddity she actually seems to be. The second melody goes from stone-cold to forced, desperate outburst with the simple addition of overdrive (I think) guitar on top of the regular melody line, and those fast-paced piano undertones of dislike suddenly seem to develop into a powerful statement for wistfulness. When we move back to the challenges presented initially, they?ve lost their edge, as if Reimu wasn?t quite so sure any more of her objective. She?s not letting the listener in on her emotions though ? the melody quickly moves back into assertion (the one played initially after the dying-down piano), keeping its strength for a few repetitions before falling into its own trap and following the line of the overdrive guitar as before.

Maiden?s Capriccio is hard to interpret, it?s incredibly busy, with overtones and undertones, variations and subtleties that can be analysed to Hell and back, and one could still miss a critical point. I?ll try my best.

Reimu, ultimately, has trouble understanding herself. This has led to her putting up a hostile fa?ade to most interactions, but this often turns out for the worse, as she begins to second-guess herself, realizing that she does not know what will show when she drops her hostility. She will keep trying to understand herself better, and does not care if this confuses others, harms them, or attracts them. It is not obvious why she will not let others in on her troubles, why she insists on this introspection being hers alone, despite never having any progress with it. Maybe that artificial feeling of dislike towards everyone that she has cultivated has rubbed off on her actual personality and she has trouble letting go of that as well.

[edit] After the weekend I'll be back with, hopefully, the end of IN, and the few themes that we get in PoFV! I'll post a question now so as to better judge later - I understand that Aya's theme Wind God Girl was introduced in PoFV. Do you folks mind if I wait for it until SWR? I absolutely love the SWR rendition, and I feel it captures "gonzo journalist" with aplomb.

RainfallYoshi:
Maiden's Capriccio IS very weird, just like Reimu is.

I think it reflects something of trust issues. Anyone she's ever associated with, she's fought them at first meeting. Perhaps she has a hard time trusting other people because she was left alone to guard the shrine for so long.

The cold harshness the song starts off on is her initial attitude. She doesn't trust this new person, so she is hostile towards them. The song softens up as she starts too though. I think it is something of apprehension, is she doing the right thing fighting this person?

Hieda no Aya:
Going back to Love-Colored Master Spark, I always thought it really suited Marisa perfectly: cute and energetic, but also forceful, with a legitimately dangerous undercurrent. It's that guitar... The odd thing about that is that her other themes aren't like it at all; they tend to be a lot darker and more nostalgic. Actually, come to think of it, side-by-side comparisons for characters who have multiple themes could be very interesting.

As for Wind God Girl, you should do what you want. But if you want other opinions, I'll say that to my mind, if you want to do character interpretations for songs, it would make more sense sticking to the songs as originally written by the guy who also created the characters. Either way, though, I do demand at least some acknowledgement of the extended version that came with Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, which I believe actually is the original version of the song and which adds a lot of stuff compared to the one in PoFV.

Incidentally, I have that song-irretrievably-associated-with-sound-effects thing with Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird. Just doesn't sound right without the time-slowing bells.

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