#Flower of Hell ~ Eiki

[gensokyogarden]

"If you don't pay your taxes, you will go to hell."

[kozachenko]

ok so this was originally going to be a small sketch that I just so happened to colour in to practice my new style which I just so happened to do the lighting for which I so happened to try out some collage stuff and-oops my hand slipped

{Artists Note}:

I was thinking about Eiki and then I realized that I still haven't drawn her in my style yet so here we are. For some reason, Eiki has always reminded me of Kurapika from HxH for some reason, so I guess some of that inspo slipped into how I drew her face. If I get a better idea for how I want to draw it in the future I'll redraw her face like I did with Zanmu and kind of Keiki (I need to draw her again because I miss drawing her and I still need to figure out how to draw her design).

I also wanted to play around with some collage elements in this piece, (also I am just realizing now that the flowers on the picture frame didn't align themselves properly but you know what who cares I'm too tired to fix it now) so I mashed together two different picture frames I found on google, found some 1800s botanical drawings and the rest is history. I went with a flower theme because PoFV had a whole thing with flowers going on, so why not.

The whole idea I had with the portrait frames came from when I drew in her little ribbons on her hat and they formed a nice little compositional thingy so yeah there ya go. Also, her hat ribbons were a nightmare to figure out, again, if I redraw Eiki in the future I'll have to figure that out.

So yeah that's basically all I have to say about this one, don't know how to end this off so uhhh.... If there were a manga about Hell in Touhou and it was a political drama I'd read it, not because I like political dramas but because the concept of it is so fucking cool to me oki byeeeeeee

[que-de-metal]

I know you have big akyuurei feelings but I also want to know like every character you might ship akyuu with too 🔍 (but if you also want to talk about why akyuurei's great I'm always all ears too...)

Trying to switch the AkyuuRei brain off for three seconds to answer this because they really are my favourite Touhou ship of all times so if I started talking about them I'd never get to the other ships 😭

I reread Forbidden Scrollery recently. It cemented the fact for me that while there's so many Akyuu/Kosuzu fanworks that I love, it's really one of these ships for me that's more appealing as one-sided (which is a compliment because unrequited love is my favourite type of romance 😅). Lately a configuration that has been on my mind is the "unrequited switcharoo" kind: Kosuzu having feelings for Akyuu for a very long time but Akyuu relegating it to friendship completely and closing herself off to relationships with normal humans due to her curse's nature > Forbidden Scrollery happens and Akyuu realizes Kosuzu is so much more than a fragile fleeting human and allows herself to see her more romantically > unfortunately Kosuzu has already moved on to other things (youkai).

I like stuff that juxtaposes AkyuuRei with YukaRei and I think it could work as a 3-way ship. There's also something interesting about Akyuu/Yukari in general. The Writer/Editor dynamic is something super intimate but the fact that the Editor is the one in power makes it really unique… It's always been my headcanon that when Yukari makes an edit to the Chronicles, it affects the memories of the next reincarnation, so there's an almost psychological horror feel to romancing someone whose memories you can rewrite at will… I don't really see this ship in a healthy and fluffy configuration but if I'm looking for toxicity that's where I would go.

Like I said before I'm interested in the consequences UDoALG could have on the curse of Are. Since while the hierarchy of Hell didn't care too much about Gensokyo Eiki was the one enforcing it, but now that Zanmu's eyes are on Reimu I feel like Akyuu's next death is being put in a completely different spotlight than the one she's used to. I think you could nicely pepper some Akyuu into ZanHisa in that context.

Kind of an older one because I haven't thought about this for a long time but I used to have some Akyuu/Yuuka feelings. They're related to the way fandom talks about Yuuka: I see a lot of discussion that's like "What are Yuuka's REAL powers? Her power is supposed to be flower manipulation but she's also canonically mega dangerous and mega powerful and violent. Truly there has to be something more" but the source of her being extremely dangerous is PMiSS, which is written by Akyuu, who has asked youkai to self-report their threat level. I've always been a "Yuuka is not actually that powerful, she exaggerates her abilities to be feared and left alone in a self-isolating way" truther, and that implies Akyuu having a front-row seat to that kind of self-destructive behaviour. So I'd love to see her react to it.

These are the big four I have thoughts about (well five since ZanHisa/Akyuu would be 3 people). But this is Touhou so you can always come up with more…

[eleemosynecdoche]

Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu (Legendary Creature — Supreme Judge of Paradise)

Her shoe size is 32 (13 US), two for each cold hell and two for each hot hell. Thankfully, she doesn't get her clothes off the rack.

Would she step in and handle it?

No. Do you know the kind of trouble she could get into for just stepping in and handling it without filling out the Situation Handling Pre-Authorization forms? She'd just mention it to Komachi or Kutaka or Yuyuko and sign off on their actions afterward.

Favorite genre of music?

She wouldn't admit this publicly, but she enjoys instrumental jazz and blues. She sometimes contemplates what it would be like to go out to a club and maybe dance.

Sex/romance/things hornier than sex?

She seems repressed, but that's when she's on the job, and she refers to Hecatia as if she were one of her superiors, or perhaps someone she respects... I don't think she's fucking or even romantic with her subordinates, so whatever sex she's having is probably with nameless characters (the other Hell cast almost certainly wouldn't be having sex with her, either). Maybe she pays for it, very discreetly. That could be a fun background premise for interactions.

Romance or kinkier stuff? I doubt it. Not that she lacks the desire, though.

General Thoughts

As you may have gathered from the rest of this post, I interpret Eiki in a fairly specific way. I see her as someone who genuinely believes in what she does in the middle of a rotten system. She handles this disjuncture by conforming to the ideal of a subordinate yama to the utmost, completely beyond reproach, which in turn bleeds over into her lectures. But in actual practice, she bends and warps the formal regulations of her job under the cover of her image, which is probably essential just to handle Gensokyo conceptually. She is an elaboration of Ksitigarbha/Jizō, after all!

It's very clear why Yukari avoids interacting with her, and it would be interesting to put her in a situation where she has to interact with Seiga outside the boundaries of her job. Kasen's heart might break if she has a candid conversation with Eiki, or she might be completely unaffected by it.

Finally, her ethical standards are clearly not those of standard Buddhism, going by her Phantasmagoria of Flower View dialogue, and she seems to enjoy Gensokyo enough to show up in drinking party backgrounds...

[sneakyscarab]

another day, another touhou post! i almost missed the deadline on this one (not that it really matters, the pace is gonna slow down a lot in a couple posts anyways once i catch up). today's game is a bit of a weird one!

nina's thoughts on Touhou 9 - Phantasmagoria of Flower View

PoFV is a pretty strange game. instead of being a single-player experience like most mainline touhou games, PoFV is a competitive 2-player danmaku vs game. there is still a 1-player story mode, but instead of 6 stages and boss fights each character has 8 versus matches against other characters tied loosely together into a storyline.

the gameplay is neat, its honestly impressive how well the concept of a competitive danmaku battle actually works and it feels pretty natural. as usual the screen fills up with enemies and bullets, but stages dont have defined patterns or moments, instead both players keep surviving through an increasing onslaught of bullets and spell cards until one slips up and takes too many hits. destroying enemies creates a small explosion around them that deals damage to nearby enemies and sends weak bullets in the range to the other player's screen. if you line it up right you can get some nasty chain reaction explosions that can clear up your screen and really put the pressure on your opponent. in addition you can put more direct pressure on the other guy by building up your spell meter, expending it to summon powerful bullet patterns or even your own character as a boss fight onto your enemys side. while at times it can get a bit ridiculous (the two 'villain' characters have completely broken spell cards and insanely good ai piloting) in general the gameplay is fair and pretty fun!

as a fighting game of sorts, PoFV naturally has a rather large character roster, a total of 14 playable characters! we have the returners in Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Youmu, Reisen, Cirno, Lyrica, Mystia, Tewi, and Aya. Then we have 4 characters new to this game: Medicine, Yuuka, and the 'villains' of the story Komachi and Eiki Shiki. each character has different stats, shot types, zone shapes, and spell attacks, which makes for a lot of variety in the roster.

to try and unlock everything i beat the story mode for all 12 choices (Komachi and Eiki Shiki don't have a story mode). i didn't aim for 1cc's since the game doesn't differentiate whether you used a continue or not, but a couple of the runs happened to be done without continues: Marisa, Mystia, Aya, Medicine, and Yuuka. i dont remember enough about all the different characters bullets and stats to say that i really prefer any over the others, tbh if i were to play more i would probably just pick a character based on vibes alone. Marisa is my go-to generally, but im also partial to Cirno, Mystia, and Aya.

for the four new characters, theyre cool. Yuuka is probably my favourite solely because she gets a lot of cute art with Wriggle lol. for some reason the fandom is very split on whether Yuuka is an angry masochist or a lonely but wholesome flower lady. i think shes realistically somewhere in the middle. Medicine is also a neat concept, being an abandoned doll in a field of poisonous flowers who came to life through raw poisonous energy. Komachi is goofy, shes basically the grim reaper of Gensokyo but shes also really lazy and always slacking off, pretty much every singleplayer storyline involves her getting caught snoozing by her boss Eiki Shiki. Eiki Shiki herself is probably the weakest new character imo, its funny watching her judge all the characters supposed sins, but its really all she talks about, and her annoying fight isnt winning her any points for me.

PoFV is certainly a weird outlier in the series, but i think the gameplay does genuinely work pretty well! the idea of making a competitive bullet hell is so out there and they really put in the work to make it happen.

as always, thanks for reading! and if, somehow, someone is reading this who is remotely decent at touhou and wants to try playing the 2-player mode of this game with me, Please get in contact with me through whatever means works for you. i would love to give this a shot against an actual human.

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Komachi Onozuka:

Komachi Onozuka is a shinigami, or "death god". It's not a "real" thing from Shinto or Buddhist myth, but rather a Japanese interpretation of the Western grim reaper idea.

That said, she doesn't really kill people, or even suck out their souls. She's a ferryman, who carries the souls of the departed across the Sanzu River to the Ministry of Right and Wrong, where they will be judged for their deeds in life.

So basically she's an anime girl version of Charon from Greek myth, the guy who ferries souls across the River Styx.

According to her, grim reapers coming for people is just a myth they made up. If, by any chance, someone is alive who should be dead by now, an oni will come to kill them and drag their soul to Hell.

Komachi is notorious in the afterlife for being lazy, she spends as little time as possible ferrying spirits.

That said, she's also incredibly kind and friendly. She constantly engages in casual conversation with the spirits she ferries, and she's surprisingly welcome in the world of the living. Most notably, she's close friends with one of the Sages of Gensokyo.

Her boss, Eiki Shiki, lectures her for being lazy often, but she doesn't hate Komachi, she just knows she has done better than this and can do so again.

However, she's also incredibly powerful when she needs to be. She has the ability to control distance, which she mostly uses to make her job easier by decreasing the distance between each side of the Sanzu River. She's also used it to break open a sealed door by increasing the distance between the door and the doorway. She can even invert the distance between objects to get them to switch places.

Her spellcards primarily consist of shooting massive amounts of bronze, silver, and gold coins. She gets these coins from the souls she ferries, who have more of them based on how good they were in life. In addition, she definitely knows how to use her scythe. It's not just for show. She can summon many spirits to hit her opponents, as well as cause them to explode all at once.

Komachi first appeared as the second to last boss of Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View. She later appeared as a major playable character in Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and as a supporting protagonist in the manga Wild and Horned Hermit.

Aya Azuma, the artist for Wild and Horned Hermit, also made a fancomic starring her called "The Shinigami's Rowing Off Again!", where she starts saving people's lives to lighten her workload, and because she really does care.

[bailsmo]

Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom (TH7)

Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom. is a vertical-scrolling bullet hell and the seventh official game of the Touhou Project series by Team Shanghai Alice. The full game was first released on August 17, 2003, at Comiket 64.

Initial release date: 17 August 2003

Series: Touhou Project

Designer: ZUN

Developer: Team Shanghai Alice

Publisher: Team Shanghai Alice

Mode: Single-player video game

There are playable characters such as Reimu and Marisa but they also added Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou 6 The Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil as a playable character, also known as the stage 5 boss or second to the last boss of Touhou 6.

Plot:

The heroine follows the trail of cherry blossoms high above Gensokyo, breaking through the greetings of Lily White, eventually reaching a great magical boundary and the poltergeist musicians Prismriver Sisters. ... The heroine defeats Youmu and hurries to Hakugyokurou to get Gensokyo's spring back.

Touhou Bosses:

Letty Whiterock (レティ・ホワイトロック Reti Howaitorokku) is a seasonal youkai who's only seen during winter. She seems fittingly cold towards most of the humans she meets, and is feared by humans as she is known to freeze them. Letty first appeared as the Stage 1 boss in Perfect Cherry Blossom, later she made a brief cameo in Hopeless Masquerade as a background character.

In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, it was written that she was a type of yuki-onna. According to ZUN, if she was to show her full power compared to her strength shown in Perfect Cherry Blossom, it would cause an incident.

Ability

Manipulation of chill

She possesses an ability to manipulate chill. It's not an ability to create blizzards or make snow fall, but rather an ability to strengthen the "winter" that exists in the natural world. According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, since this is equivalent to an ability that manipulates the winter within nature, she possesses tremendous power according to the environment, but she is pretty much powerless outside of winter. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, Letty herself said that outside of winter, she hides away in a place where not a ray of sunlight can reach. In Forbidden Scrollery, she is shown spreading snow over Gensokyo.

Chen (橙) is Ran Yakumo's shikigami, who was guarding the village of Mayohiga during the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom. Unfortunately, she could put up little resistance due to being far away from her master.

Chen first appeared as the second stage midboss and boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom, along with being the extra stage midboss and Ran Yakumo's familiar in one of her spell cards. She was also Yukari Yakumo's familiar in Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and Antinomy of Common Flowers, and was a target on Stage 6 of Shoot the Bullet. Additionally, she made a background appearance in Hopeless Masquerade.

She is a bakeneko youkai that Ran Yakumo uses as shikigami, but since Ran herself is Yukari's shikigami, she is a "shikigami of a shikigami". When possessed as a shikigami, Chen aquires the fearsome power of a kishin, but since her master is also a shikigami, her ability is fairly low. The possession is removed when she is soaked in water, and since she also hates water as a cat, she is in any case weak to water. Her height is "low" and is capable of human speech. She can use impressive black arts, but only possesses the intellect of a human child. Whether she is possessed or not, her personality and appearance don't change.

She ordinarily lives on Youkai Mountain. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, she made the village of cats and tried to stand as the leader, but the progress has been unfavorable.

Ability

The way her abilities show up in the game itself is that she runs around the screen so freely in a way that is not expected of a boss of a shooting game, which is characteristic of her (as one would expect of a cat). This could be considered cute if she were an ordinary cat, but it also makes her slightly more tricky to deal with due to her speed and deceptive movement, which can confuse her opponent. Another characteristic of her is how she spins around and around while attacking, somewhat like her master.

Alice Margatroid (アリス・マーガトロイド Arisu Māgatoroido) is a doll-controlling magician who lives in her home in the Forest of Magic near the home of Marisa Kirisame. According to ZUN's comments in the Music Room of Perfect Cherry Blossom, Alice is kind of a special character in the Touhou Project.

Alice made her first ever appearance of the fifth PC-98 Touhou Project game Mystic Square as the third stage boss and the Extra stage boss. Afterwards, with her canon completely remodelled, she appeared again as the third stage boss and midboss in the seventh work Perfect Cherry Blossom and as a playable character in Imperishable Night, along with being a playable partner in Subterranean Animism. She was a playable character in Immaterial and Missing Power and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and was the Final boss of Cirno's scenario in Touhou Hisoutensoku. Additionally, she was a target on Stage 3 of Shoot the Bullet and has made a background appearance in Hopeless Masquerade.

She is a pure all-purpose-type magician youkai who lives in a western-style house in the Forest of Magic without strengths and weaknesses in attributes, but she fundamentally fights in style of manipulating her self-made dolls. With a personality that is indifferent to other people, she is attached to magic, and is usually confident but is also timid in one aspect.

In the games on the PC-98, she lived in Makai calling herself "The Magician of Makai" and had a black book that's called the "Grimoire of Alice". Makai was created by Shinki, along with its residents. She was also a magician that can control dolls. She also created her own "Wonderland" in Makai. In the games on Windows, Alice's book in her character portrait in Imperishable Night reveals that the writing possibly spells out "Grimoire". This is some evidence that the book is possibly the same Grimoire which Alice used in the Extra Stage. In Perfect Cherry Blossom, she said, "at last, former friend, we meet again. Have you only brought me your life as a gift?" which can be considered to be something carried over from the PC-98 games, and ZUN himself said that it was the third time that they have fought.

Lily White (リリーホワイト Rirī Howaito) is a fairy who heralds the coming of spring. She first appeared as the 4th stage midboss of Perfect Cherry Blossom, then as a special generic enemy in Phantasmagoria of Flower View and a common midboss in Fairy Wars, each time announcing spring has arrived. She returned as the stage 3 midboss of Hidden Star in Four Seasons.

Ability

Announcing that spring has come

Lily is able to announce that spring has come. Although it's unclear what this ability entails concretely, Gensokyo's residents are made to feel the actual feeling of spring's arrival which makes her very popular with florists. It seems like she is able to provide impetus for flowers and other plants to bloom. In chapter 8 of Strange and Bright Nature Deity, there was a depiction of the place she passed by instantly becoming spring.

She can still attack with said ability, but it's mostly due to excitement about the spring as she's not very aggressive. While it's advised not to stay around when she attacks, she has a good relation with humans. She doesn't seem willing to attack even if they catch her. Likewise, humans don't see her as a threat, but rather as a symbol of good luck.

The Prismriver Sisters (プリズムリバー三姉妹 Purizumuribaa San-shimai) are three characters named Lunasa Prismriver, Merlin Prismriver and Lyrica Prismriver, together appearing as the stage 4 boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom. Lunasa, Merlin, and Lyrica are collectively called the "Prismriver Ensemble" and perform at parties and festivals. At first sight, their instruments (Lunasa with the violin, Merlin with the trumpet, and Lyrica with the keyboard) may seem scattered and disconnected, but they still perform magnificent music. There is also a fourth Prismriver sister, named Layla Prismriver.

These three sisters are poltergeists, made by Layla Prismriver to have the appearances and personalities of her three older sisters from whom she had been separated. Thus, they are technically all the same age since they were presumably created at the same time. They only act out the roles of oldest, middle, and youngest sister based on whichever one they were made to resemble.

It is known, based on their official profiles and from comments by Eiki, that none of the original four sisters are still alive today. However, it's unknown how long ago the events that spawned these three poltergeists occurred.

Ability

Performing on musical instruments without hands or feet

In Perfect Cherry Blossom, this is the main ability that all three sisters have been specified to have. This probably derives from the ability poltergeists have, put to specific use in performing with musical instruments. By manipulating the spirits of instruments, they're able to manipulate the spirits of notes to create sounds. Since they needn't have direct contact with the instruments, they're able to play music impossible to play by hand.

Since the three sisters' musical performance is something that they have learned themselves after Layla's death, their previous abilities were probably along the lines of "moving things without hands or feet" or "making sounds without hands or feet". The former is because poltergeists in general can move things and make them float. The latter is because in the general phenomena of poltergeists, they can be heard from anywhere (a rapping noise, for example).

Youmu Konpaku (魂魄　妖夢 Konpaku Youmu) is a half-human half-phantom who lives at Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld as a gardener and swordplay instructor, who also serves for Yuyuko Saigyouji. She first appeared as the Stage 5 boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom, the seventh installment of the Touhou Project, and has since become a recurring playable character.

In Perfect Cherry Blossom, she gathered all of Gensokyo's spring at Yuyuko's instruction, which was the reason Gensokyo's winter did not end. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red and Chapter 13 of Curiosities of Lotus Asia, she took on the responsibility for collecting and returning the phantoms that wandered around Gensokyo as a result of the boundary of the Netherworld being thinned.

She belongs to the subspecies of phantoms called the "half-human half-phantoms" (半人半霊 "hannin hanrei" or "hanjin hanrei"). Half-human half-phantoms are the mixed-race of phantoms and humans (幽霊と人間のハーフ), which have a largish phantom accompanying them and a relativity long life span compared to humans. The phantom that always follows them is called the "half-phantom" (半霊[1]、半幽霊[2] hanrei, hanyuurei), and they are the other half of their body.[3] In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, it was supposed that Youmu's human half manipulates the phantom half consciously. Youmu's human half has a lower body temperature compared to normal humans, and her phantom half's body temperature is not so cold compared to normal phantoms. In the Imperishable Night manual, it was written, "she has two kinds of body: human and phantom," showing Youmu to be "human" and the phantom to be "phantom."

Half-human half-phantoms are long-lived, but in Seasonal Dream Vision, since it has still not been 60 years since the time she was born, in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, she was not very knowledgeable about the "flower incident that occurs once every 60 years."

Personality

As she has a straightforward diligent personality, she is often manipulated by those around her (especially Yuyuko).[2][7] For this reason, she often fails at her task, but that does not mean that she has no real power, and she particularly excels at instantaneous force and concentration power.[8] In Immaterial and Missing Power, as literally stated by the shishou, "truth-slashing is something which you know", so she often performs tsujigiri-like moves, but Suika Ibuki pointed out that she does not think that Youmu understood her shishou's teachings.

She has strong sensitivity, and in the good ending of Imperishable Night, her human half was unable to resist the insanity-inducing effects of the true Moon, causing her to become "half-insane". Ironically enough, considering her species, she is afraid of ghost stories, dares, and darkness, but she is calm around phantoms since she is half phantom herself.  In Imperishable Night's Extra. After defeating Fujiwara no Mokou, Yuyuko pretends there is a ghost under a tree, earning a terrified shriek from Youmu. Much further on in Ten Desires, as a result of being mistaken as a hermit, she temporarily mistook herself as being a hermit. Due to artworks and her sprite in the fighting spin-offs, Youmu may be ambidextrous.

Yuyuko Saigyouji (西行寺　幽々子 Saigyouji Yuyuko) is the main antagonist of Perfect Cherry Blossom. She's the ghost "princess" head of Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld.

She first appeared as the Final Boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom, later becoming a playable character along with Youmu Konpaku (as a duo) in Imperishable Night and showing up as an expansion character in Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and Touhou Hisoutensoku. She would eventually also appear as the Stage 1 boss in Ten Desires, and as a Day 4 boss in Impossible Spell Card.

Unlike many departed spirits, Yuyuko resembles a living human; a humanoid. She is very cheerful and friendly: Her playful, good-humored personality, otherworldly beauty, and courtesan charm can have a disarming effect. She often makes bizarre and apparently nonsensical remarks and sometimes seems to overlook the obvious, leading to her characterization as an airhead or a ditz. As an instance, in Touhou Bougetsushou, she toyed with Youmu Konpaku as a daily occurrence even with Ran Yakumo present.

However, at other times she will reveal an extremely cunning and perceptive side and will also sometimes display an extraordinary level of knowledge. For instance, in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she was the quickest character to identify the culprit as Tenshi Hinanawi when the incident was in the omen stage (Yukari Yakumo spoke of the dwindling of phantoms as Komachi Onozuka's negligence, but Yuyuko guessed correctly). Additionally, in Ten Desires, she obliquely informed the playable character about the location of the incident regarding the divine spirits. She is also known for her incredible appetite.

Ability

Manipulating death

This is the ability to, without exception and without permitting any resistance, end the life of any living being, whether it be human or youkai. The only kind of creatures immune from this are Hourai Immortals. Clearly and simply, it is an unusually and dreadfully powerful ability. Although this ability is what drove her to commit suicide and become a ghost, it seems that she hasn't forgotten this ability since then, and it seems that she can use this ability in a carefree manner (though she doesn't act carelessly in the usage of this ability). However, whether she's able to end life only to the extent of fainting, or if she invites one to death gently, is unclear. During her lifetime, the latter was true. Her Last Word "Saigyouji Parinirvana" is said to be the very incarnation of this ability.

Manipulating departed souls

This is the ability that enables her to manipulate ghosts and spirits, an ability she possessed even while she was alive. Although it's unclear what one is exactly able to accomplish with this ability, it seems to place Yuyuko on the role of the manager of the ghosts who stay for a while in the Netherworld. Because of this ability, she is able to let those from Hell stay eternally in the Netherworld.

Secret Bosses:

I can't post anymore images lmao so just search them up

Ran Yakumo (八雲　藍 Yakumo Ran) is the kitsune shikigami of Yukari Yakumo and is in turn the master of the bakeneko shikigami Chen.

Ran first appeared as the extra stage boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom, where she also appeared as the Phantasm stage midboss of that game, so she has the strong image of being a midboss, but even as an extra boss, she also had abilities not to be ashamed of, as she is also a long difficult battle.

She frequently appears as an attack option in the fighting games for Yukari Yakumo and has appeared in Imperishable Night as Yukari's attack.

Ran is described as being a gentle youkai, who won't start a fight unless provoked. Although Ran is a shikigami, she sometimes "forget" her position as a servant and acts of her own volition, like deciding to attack the heroine in Perfect Cherry Blossom to avenge Chen. Because of this, Yukari punishes her to remind her who the master is.

(still can't post another image)

Yukari Yakumo (八雲　紫 Yakumo Yukari) is a legendary youkai who is able to manipulate boundaries. She is the master of Ran Yakumo. She is called the "gap youkai" (すきま妖怪 sukima youkai), although "gap youkai" is not the name of a species, as she is more of a one-of-a-kind type of youkai.  Regardless of her power, Yukari appears to be the most well-informed being in Gensokyo of any kind and usually achieves her goals through manipulating events rather than direct combat.

Yukari first appeared as the phantasm stage boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom with Ran Yakumo serving her as shikigami. Despite being a high-class boss compared to other Extra and Final stage bosses, she's made occasional appearances in later games. She was a playable character in Imperishable Night, partnered with Reimu Hakurei (and supported her in Subterranean Animism), and was playable in the fighting games, but was only a cameo in the background of Hopeless Masquerade. Also, she was also an Extra stage target in Shoot the Bullet and appeared on the Final Day of Impossible Spell Card.

She is one of the oldest youkai in Gensokyo, one of the strongest of youkai, and is praised as one of the wisest of youkai.[3][4]. She was one who proposed the Great Hakurei Barrier, which covers Gensokyo, and is therefore tied to Gensokyo's creation. She is the only known youkai who is able to pass this barrier in order to access the Outside World, although there are a few instances like Mamizou Futatsuiwa who's passed it. She also performs surveillance and safety administration (mainly for Ran Yakumo). She is simply one of the most mysterious youkai living in Gensokyo.

Personality[edit]

Yukari is known for being a very youkai-like youkai who sleeps all day and lives for the enjoyment of life. Though she rarely leaves her house, she's well-connected and is acquainted with most of the most powerful youkai as well as anyone having anything to do with the Great Hakurei Barrier or the outside world, although she rarely attacks humans.[3] She has a tendency to toy with her opponents rather than use her full power from the start. If anyone is suited for the role of "mastermind", it's Yukari. She excels at mathematics and is experienced due to her long life.

She possesses superhuman intellect and especially surpasses in dealing with numbers. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, as Ran Yakumo said, this intellect is something that even Ran is not able to understand, to the extent that for example that she is able to determine the depths of the darkness of Avici or determine in an instant how long it would take for Ursa Major to devour the North Star, as it seems. Concretely to what extent this amazing intellect goes is hard to know, but it would be no mistake to think that this intellect far surpasses that of humans.

She often has a great deal of insight and understanding about whatever happens in Gensokyo, and possesses considerable intellectual prowess, as well. Though she seems flaky and unreliable most of the time, when the safety or security of Gensokyo is at stake, she won't hesitate to get involved, even if it means using others to do the work for her. For example, in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she treats Tenshi Hinanawi with much hostility after finding out the plot of the Heavens. She could easily be either a villain or a heroine, depending on her whims.

Yukari deals with problems by manipulating others to act to resolve things for her. She seems to rarely act directly except in particularly egregious situations. In all cases, she rarely lets anyone know what her true aims or goals are and sometimes these goals are extremely abstract. Yukari has a well-deserved reputation of being fickle, whimsical and lying often and thus many characters in Gensokyo dislike her. For whatever reason, Yukari takes it all in stride and does not seriously deny any of those comments. She seems to actively try to keep her more obviously-altruistic actions a secret, such as her donations to the Hakurei Shrine in Strange and Bright Nature Deity. She possibly cultivates this image to ensure that people continue to fear her as a youkai, as this is what her true goal for a particularly complex gambit is revealed to be at the end of Cage in Lunatic Runagate.

Abilities and strength[edit]

Yukari is with no doubt one of the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo. She has been described as an extremely powerful being more than once,[5][6], with easily enough power to destroy all of Gensokyo if it's needed.[7]. In Silent Sinner in Blue, Yukari claimed Watatsuki no Toyohime was stronger than her and avoided a direct confrontation with her, although at the time she was purposedly letting herself being captured.

Her physical strength is what you'd expect from a youkai. While the extent of an average youkai's strength is never really specified, their bodily ability is typically very high, so her strength is still far from that of a human. There are some examples and statements which show Yukari's physical prowess:

In Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 12, Yukari's hand is able to effortlessly block and brush aside a mallet swung by Rinnosuke Morichika with all his might, leaving him shocked that a small slender feminine hand was able to pull off such a feat. Rinnosuke said that it feels like he hit a pillow.

Hong Meiling, in one of her Touhou Hisoutensoku win quotes, notes that she felt a odd resistance from Yukari's body (presumably after punching and kicking her a lot), to the point where she wondered if Yukari was wearing something else under that presumably delicate dress of hers.

Yukari states in her own win quotes in Immaterial and Missing Power that she has no weaknesses, and even shooting, cutting, stabbing, hitting, or killing her is useless.[8]

By mostly moving around in gaps, one would usually not see her as doing much physical labor at all, and according to Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, since she ends up in blurting out herself such sayings like "to do mountain climbing at such an age", there is the image that she is like an indoors-type youkai, but in the end, she is still a youkai.

Manipulation of boundaries

Yukari's "Danmaku Barrier", as illustrated in The Grimoire of Marisa.

Yukari using a border for transportation in Silent Sinner in Blue.

Yukari's main ability is manipulating any kind of boundaries.[9] This ability has been described as logically being able to affect essentially anything.[10] In her monologue during A Beautiful Flower Blooming Violet Every Sixty Years, she explains that this power allows her to control or remove the boundaries between any and all things, like Gensokyo and the Outside World, the worlds of the living and the dead, humans and youkai and even the day and the night. [11]

The most common and visible application of Yukari's boundary manipulation abilities is opening "gaps" (すきま sukima) which act as portals between two places, where she's able to hold, sit on or emerge from such gaps. By manipulating borders in space and creating a chasm, she is able to link together separate places. Because of this, she's able to show up at any place and can freely travel to places like the Outside World. Within these gaps one can see a lot of eyes, which according to the description of Yukari's Magic Eye "Laplace's Demon" spell card she can also use to see. Although Yukari's gaps can ultimately connect any kind of place, in Silent Sinner in Blue she could create a gap to the "fantastic" version of the Moon only during the full moon, which is the only period of time during which the passage is open. For some unknown reason she is unable to use her powers to bring a living being on the far side of the Moon, which is where the Lunar Capital is located. She is, however, capable of freely travelling between Gensokyo and the Outside World. Yukari can create gaps through which only she can pass, or which anything can pass through.[12] Moreover, while the main use of gaps is travelling to different plances, Yukari also uses them in battle either by virtue of being able to use almost any object (such as tombstones, road signs, and even running trains) as a weapon,[13] by retreating inside them to avoid being hit or land unexpected attacks,[14] sucking in an opponent's attacks to throw them back.[15], or merging different gaps to create harmful spatial distorsions.[16]

In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, manipulating boundaries is described as a terrifying god-like ability with no weak points which there is no defense or countermeasure against, capable of fundamentally undermining reality itself and as one of the most dangerous abilities that youkai are known to possess, while Yukari's manual profile in Imperishable Night says that "the danger and potency of her ability is beyond imagination".[17]

Ultimately, everything is built upon the existence of boundaries; if there were no boundaries everything would effectively exist as a single enormous object. Because of this, the ability to manipulate boundaries is logically an ability of both creation and destruction: by making a new boundary is to create a new existence, and to destroy a boundary is to negate an existence. For example, as said in Perfect Memento, if there was no water surface there could be no lake, if there was no sky line neither mountain nor sky could exist and were it not for the Great Barrier even Gensokyo itself wouldn't exist. Furthermore, it seems that not only are physical boundaries, but also the general idea of boundaries can be manipulated and it seems like she would be able to manipulate the boundary between dreams and reality, which could very well be how she was able to drag the real Sumireko Usami out of the Dream World in Antinomy of Common Flowers. Yukari is also capable of seeing (and seeing through) boundaries that are normally invisible; when the Human Village was displaced from history by Keine Kamishirasawa, Yukari was completely unfazed and still able to see it.[18][19] She also tells Marisa that it would easy for her to manipulate the boundary between Winter and Spring.[20]

It's shown that Yukari can control the boundaries and bend them to her will as seen in Immaterial and Missing Power when she adjusted the sky by manipulating the border between the daylight and moonlight to unite the day and the night.[21] According to Marisa Kirisame, Yukari can even control the boundary between "a danmaku for play and a danmaku for battle".[22]

Yukari is also capable of sensing and repairing damage to the Great Hakurei Barrier, and although in Perfect Cherry Blossom Yuyuko Saigyouji doubts Yukari could make such a strong barrier,[23] she has been refered to as its creator in various occasions.[24][25] To add to all this, Hieda no Akyuu writes that "manipulation of boundaries" is theoretically a godlike power which would allow Yukari to create or destroy anything, but that all the stories about it are impossible to confirm.[3]

Examples of the usage of this ability:

Neutralized Suika Ibuki's ability by forcing the oni, which was spread as mist over the entirety of Gensokyo, into her normal form so that she could be seen and interacted with by others.[26]

Adjusted the sky by manipulating the border between the daylight and moonlight, to unite the day and the night. Possibly, this also allowed Yukari to stop the night in Imperishable Night.

Manipulation of the boundary between the true and illusionary moon, which allowed her to open a gap, that lead from Gensokyo to the Moon, on the lake surface. (Lunar War, Silent Sinner in Blue)

By creating the Boundary of Fantasy and Reality, she estabilished the Outside World as the real world, and Gensokyo as an illusionary one, allowing youkai to disappear from the former and thrive in the latter. (Youkai Expansion Project, over 500 years ago)

She is widely acknowledged as the creator of the Great Hakurei Barrier, which isolates Gensokyo from the Outside World. (The Great Barrier Disturbance)

Upon Yuyuko's request, weakening the Border of Life and Death between the world of the living and the Netherworld, making it possible for denizens of both world to easily cross it. (Perfect Cherry Blossom)

When the Great Hakurei Barrier has loosened, she returned Rinnosuke Morichika to Gensokyo who has been ejected into the outside world (Curiosities of Lotus Asia)

Dragged the real Sumireko Usami out of the Dream World (Antinomy of Common Flowers)

By manipulating the border of master and slave during the Perfect Possession incident, she thwarted Joon and Shion Yorigami's scheme that allowed Joon to win any battle by forcing Shion as the enemy's slave (Antinomy of Common Flowers)

Many of her Spell Cards and attacks allude to various circumstances involving boundary manipulation or creation, such as: Barrier "Balance of Motion and Stillness", Barrier "Mesh of Light and Darkness", "Boundary of Humans and Youkai", Barrier "Charming Quadruple Barrier", between many others. The description of Yukari's "Boundary of Intellect and Feet" states that she would be able to cut anything by using boundaries, a motif also used in her Splitter "Thing That Splits All Into Two" Spell Card.

According to herself, when humans have noctambulism it's because she manipulates the boundary between sleeping and being awake.

Yes this was all mostly from the Touhou Wiki because I can't explain this any better

[wiltingpierrot]

Oh touhou! I didn't knew you liked touhou, It's good to see some other touhou fan! umm.. sorry for asking this but what character did you really liked in touhou? Sorry for kinda useless ask

I really like Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu! Second is Satori Komeiji. Of course I also love Komachi Onozuka.

Yuuka Kazami lured me into Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View, but the final boss slowly grew on me as she criticized every playable character she faced with her Black and White judgement. Also her hat got a lot going on. Glorious. Her boss fight is a nightmare and my thumbs hurt everytime but her theme is fantastic, powerful, intense…

Though while Eiki’s number one in my heart I tend to have a rotation of characters that change every week, or whenever my heart feels like it.

Right now I’m kind of obsessed with Yoshika and Seiga. (freakin Akatsuki Records got that song stuck in my head). Maybe next I’ll be all about the folks in Hell (Hecatia, Clownpiece and Junko), or the Grassroots Youkai Network (Wakasagihime and Kagerou) and Sekibanki. And then maybe Eika Ebisu.

This rotation thingy somewhat allows me to get to know almost all Touhou characters.

[icedfairy]

Touhou Valentine’s CE?

So in an attempt to kill writers block I wrote a thing and it spiraled out into a bigger thing, and now I’m writing chocolate choices for Touhou characters as if they were F/GO CEs, so let’s post a few.  More to come?  Maybe?

Aya - Choco Printer

A set of chocolate printing blocks with a sweet chocolate liqueur ink.  You could even print a newspaper with it!  But it's probably better to eat.

If it seems the kanji chosen contain a lot of double entendres it's probably just coincidence.  Just like how the newspaper contains a complex math problem that could be turned into an address.  Pure pure coincidence.

Medicine - Lily Floral Chocolates

Handmade chocolates from the doll to her closest friend.  Dolls can't help but mimic humans, but the feelings are no less heartfelt.

The chocolates hearts are crudely shaped, but the lily garnish adds a hint of elegance.  The scent might be a bit strong though.

And of course it is very poisonous.  Not that this poison would kill a youkai.

Yuuka - Chocolate Bouquet

Coated flowers?  No these were shaped in the dream realm.  After all she's a powerful magician.  Still it's hard to tell the difference.  Grab a tengu to take a picture before eating.

And be careful with the stems.  Those have nuts in the thorns.  Whether that adds a pleasant spice or ruins the offering is as always up to the recipient.

Komachi - Bitter Choco and Sake

Sure it might be store bought, but it's taken straight from the Mezoamerican hell.  Paired with a good sake it's perfect for drinking while drifting along the river.  Just relax and spend a sweet time with the reaper.

Just don't complain about the ghosts hanging around.  You don't need to worry about them, their memories will be erased soon enough.

Eiki - Black and White Judgement

An impressive hand crafted sampler, with equal numbers of black and white chocolates, and a few mixed.  When asked about them she said 'sometimes it's nice to not have to choose.'  All are near perfect craftsmanship.  Such is the power of the Yama.

Still it would be best to only enjoy them during appropriate break times.  After all she would be disappointed if her gift increased the number of sins.

Part 2

[crystalelemental]

silly question but can i ask who eiki and youmu are? googling is showing me nothing! are they from touhou? is there also a similar event like CYL for touhou? o:

There’s a small part of me that is kinda thrilled someone out there doesn’t know who Youmu is.  I don’t know how that happened, but nice.

Anyway, Youmu is from Perfect Cherry Blossom.  She’s the fifth stage boss, subordinate to Yuyuko, and has been a playable character on a few occasions.  Eiki is the final boss of Phantasmagoria of Flower View.  She’s a judge of the dead, determining their proper afterlife, and is generally considered obnoxious by the residents of Gensokyo for how much she lectures them about doing better with their lives.

As for the CYL event for Touhou, yes and no.  There’s a Popularity Poll going on now, with only two days left before results come out.  The poll is…well, it sucks.  There’s really no benefit other than to determine relative popularity, but the results never change.  It’s always the EoSD crew covering the top 10 alongside some of the playable characters.  Hell, until you go below Top 20, virtually nothing changes ever. Some characters might shift around by one place, but there’s generally no major upsets.  It should be telling that the biggest shift that’s ever happened and was important, was when Koishi unexpectedly took first place from Reimu a few years back.  The event was never repeated.  Used to be that good placement meant you’d get a scale figure made, but since Griffon Enterprises stopped doing figures and apparently started making fake dinosaur skeletons, that doesn’t really happen at all anymore.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to the voting right now, so if anyone else does, please respond and send it out.

[gensokyogarden]

"It's nice to receive a visit from a fellow Yama."

"And it's nice to see Gensokyo is so accommodating, chirp. It's almost as nice as the Enma-tei."

"Are you intending to stay long?"

"No, of course not."

Despite her words, she was already starting to unpack her boxes.

[chikorito]

My picks about possible characters for Antinomy of Common Flowers

Because a fan can dream

Highly probable

Sagume: Very important in the last plot, relevant while the Occult incident is relevant, almost said she’ll be back soon in the last games

Raiko: An important character left out to develop, a good representative of DDC and could be a good partner to Kokoro supposing the characters have a default partner

Seija: Protag character left out in fighting games, her story was left out without much explaining what happened to her in the end, would like to see some interactions with Shinmyomaru

Clownpiece: Representative of LoLK, the hell and the fairies species while being able to fight at the level of other powerful characters and without much else to do and put pressure in the lunarians

Little probable but I would like

Kagerou: Would like to see more and has very physical attacks

Nue: Mamizou’s BFF and an EX boss, still too many Youkai Temple characters, but would be funny..

Orin: Another SA representative that is free to roam the overworld, could be taking care of Koishi and seems unfair to be left out of the fighting games while Utsuho didn’t

Keine: Protag material left out since a long time, always important while the Human Village is important and the incident affects civilians, Mokou’s BFF.

Rei’Sen: Really would like to see in a game, would be a cool Reisen partner, and representative of the Moon. This aplly to Seiran and Ringo too but seems stuck in a more strick militar stuff.

Tewi: Same with Rei’Sen, seen more already but doesn’t seem that able to fight in the level of other characters.

Eiki: Related with hell events and spiritual matters, seems apropiate to lecture the religious leaders. Needs more exposition.

Almost impossible

Sanae: It was said that Reisen is the last character from the old fighting games to be reintroduced, but Sanae is too protag, representative of the Moriya temple, always good to see her interactions and would like to see her with Sumireko as common outsiders.

Yuuka: Really left out since her reintroduction, always keeping the hope, and flowers incident(?)

Yuugi: SA Representative, very physical way of fighting and could be related to Nitori and Kasen easily.

Ran: Just want to see more, representative of Yukari in common affairs and would like to see interaction with Mamizou, very able to fight in the level of other characters.

Hecatia: Very important in recent events and could be easily related to religious leaders, but too OP and easily represented by Clownpiece.

Medicine: Easily relatable with Reisen and Kokoro, but not much importance, also need more expositiont.

[gensokyogarden]

Okay, finally time for: Tag dump 1

[gensokyogarden]

That’s harsh, Eiki. But anyways, this Series 1990 $100 Federal Reserve Note should cover my taxes, no problem at all

"Well seeing as most of Gensokyo still uses the Mon, and one Yen is worth 10 Mon, and 100 dollars is worth 14,720 yen ... Yes. 147,200 Mon should cover a lifetime's worth of taxes."

Oh no! With the introduction of the USD there will be rampant inflation in Gensokyo.

[gensokyogarden]

🍫 From the Sleeper Reaper to the boss

They'd finished with their respective duties for the day. No court in session and no souls being ferried across the Sanzu. A rare moment where they each had peace. As frustratingly sleepy as Komachi had a tendency to be, she was still a closer and trusted friend. Eiki was quite happy to spend her limited time with her.

Though, the box of candy that the other was offering her caught Eiki off guard. Pocky. What was that? A more modern invention than she had exposure to. It seemed to be some form of sweets. Well, nothing wrong with that so long as one doesn't overindulge.

"Thank you Komachi, how sweet? Did you get this as an offering from one of the souls you carried?"

She reached a hand out and took one of the candy sticks from the box. Looked like chocolate.

"Seems too long to fit in my mouth. Do you eat it like jerky?"

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Eiki Shiki:

Eiki Shiki, the Yamaxanadu. She is one of the Yama, or judges of Hell in Buddhist myth, who decide if souls will go to Heaven, Hell, one of the other afterlives, or be reincarnated into this world again.

The Yama usually take the form of ferocious demons, but Eiki is different. She was a Jizo statue brought to life to work as a Yama. A Jizo is a statue of a famous Buddhist monk, by the way.

She appears as the final boss of Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Though she's not the main villain: nobody is. The incident this time is simply that too many flowers are blooming at once, including ones that are out of season. Apparently this just happens every 60 years, due to a series of cosmic patterns aligning just right. Still, Eiki Shiki blamed it on a massive influx of spirits due to Komachi slacking off in ferrying them, and came to Gensokyo to chew her out. She then proceeded to chew out every other character who appeared there on all their flaws.

She's incredibly meticulous in her judgment, though she believes in absolute good and evil. This is relative to species, though. Reimu Hakurei is condemned for not exterminating youkai enough, but Yuuka Kazami is condemned in the same breath for not attacking humans enough. She does have a firm belief in the righteousness of her job. She's known for saying that Hell exists not to punish sinners, but to scare people into never sinning in the first place.

Eiki Shiki is incredibly powerful, to the point even Yukari steers clear of her whenever possible. Although that might just be her being that obnoxious. Still, there are beings in these worlds more powerful than her...

That metal object in her hand is a Judgement Rod. She gives it to a person, and it gets increasingly heavy with every sin they've committed. She also shoots them in her spellcards.

Other than that, she has a spellcard where she shoots a large purple laser beam, with thinner red and blue beams on each side.

She also has the "Cleansing Mirror", which allows her to create a copy of someone to turn their sins against them.