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pokemonxhyperfixation · 8 months ago

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Touhou Headcanon 10:

So as said in a previous post, this is going to be one headcanon for each of the characters I voted for in the popularity poll, counting up from my number 1 pick.

Kogasa Tatara: We love umbrella women! Anyways, so the actual headcanon. So, Kogasa is a deeply emotional person who has a MAJOR fear of being abandoned. But, she's also a chronic people pleaser, because she's under the impression that if she doesn't please everyone in her life, she'll just be abandoned, which is her greatest fear.

Sekibanki: So to get one thing across, in my head Banki and Kogasa are dating and live together. Also, Banki does KINDA have a neck. Like, if you pass your hand through where a neck might connect to a floating head that's currently properly still her "main one", you'll feel a ghostly chill. Anyway, so the Headcanon is basically that Banki sometimes wraps her pseudo neck thing around Kogasa to help comfort her. It's a special bonding thing.

Satori Komeji: Satori is somewhere in the Asexual bubble. I know I might be phrasing this is a less than proper way, but you know what I mean (I hope). Satori is one of the flavors of Asexual, specifically one of the more sexually repulsed ones. Related, she can hear thoughts through walls to a limited degree (because I treat her mind reading as a hearing type thing because that's just how shit like that works in my head), and Okuu and Orin REALLY want to make a kid. Work isn't the only reason Satori struggles to sleep most nights...

Hong Meiling: Kinda a hard one to do since I've already posted the MAIN ONES (Meiling and Sakuya are happily maried and Orange from PC 98 is Meiling's daughter), but I'll give another. I subscribe to a weird offshoot version of the Meiling is a dragon idea people seem to like. In my head, Meiling was (and to some extent, still kinda is) a dragon, but at one point, she just kinda... stopped being a dragon. This idea came from a DEFINATELY INTENDED AND NOT AT ALL STRETCHING idea I'd heared some Poketuber say back in the day (2014-2016 I believe) as to why Gyarados wasn't a dragon type, being that some myth stated that if a Dragon is too ferocious or something that it would cease being a dragon and become a sea scerpent. I only really take the idea that Dragons can stop being dragons, and say that Meiling is a former dragon. =)

Koishi Komeji: Koishi has a weirdly high amount of friends. And they are not people you would expect. Like yeah, she's buddy buddy with Flan in my head, and yeah she's also chummy (putting it lightly) with Kokoro, but she has a LOT more friends than that. The two most funny are Wakasagihime and Kogasa. Koishi and Waka became fishing friends, and Kogasa became friends with Koishi through a mixture of their general extrovertedness and Koishi repeatedly breaking into Kogasa's house for literally no reason. (She doesn't believe in using doors.)

Yuuma Totetsu: So, when I read Touhou works, I obviously read them with certain character voices, which I at least kinda try to do in outloud reading. I mention this because Yuuma's has turned into a headcanon. I read Yuuma with... what is basically an up-pitched version of my impression of Heavy tf2, with a bit less funny in the russian accent. And my headcanon is that Yuuma just actually talks like that. Like, she doesn't know a HINT of Russian, and doesn't even know what the fuck a Russia IS, but she does have a Russian accent.

Reisen Udongein Inaba: So, I have a few for Reisen, but I'mma share my favorite, which comes in a few parts. First up, Reisen and Nazrin are friends. Don't ask how or why, they just are. Second off, Reisen has a bit of that Yuuma thing going on where she just inexplicably sounds cowboy-ish. Third, (and this one also relates to Nazrin) Reisen and Nazrin like collecting vintage stuff. This specific headcanon though is about the vintage stuff Reisen collects. To make a long story short, Reisen is an old guns gal. Like, she has a bunch of old as shit earth fire-arms in her room, and she just likes looking at 'em. Even gave one to Nazrin as a gift.

#touhou #touhou project #touhou headcanon #touhou popularity poll #kogasa tatara #sekibanki #satori komeiji #hong meiling #koishi komeiji #yuuma toutetsu #reisen udongein inaba #these are my votes #=)

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love-sapphirerose · 1 year ago

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Kirinmaru: Redeemed Villain

Despite riku, the tree of ages, osamu kirin, and some others think, I really didn't see kirinmaru as the villain, more like zero, konton, totetsu, tokotsu, jakotsumaru, and kyuki.

Character

In the original, Naraku was the main villain everybody hated and the reason that he was despised because he had the elements that made him a great antagonist, something that kirinmaru completely lacked as he barely had a personality.

Kirinmaru is a daiyokai while Naraku was a hanyō who eventually ended up becoming a yokai at the end.

Naraku is a sadist who enjoys inflicting emotional pain on others, Kirinmaru seems to prefer granting swift and quick deaths to his enemies. The emotional pain that Kirinmaru causes others comes more out of a failure to account for collateral damage or consider the emotional well-being of those around him in his drive to fight the strongest foes he can.

Naraku would often bring the fight to Inuyasha's and sesshomaru's groups through allies, people he had tricked, or his incarnations, whereas Kirinmaru only acted when provoked such as when he was told the prophecy of his death or when towa, setsuna, and moroha were close to his ship. kirinmaru's incarnations, lieutenants, and zero battled against towa, setsuna, and moroha on their own initiative, not under orders to kill them from above.

The ones under Naraku’s command were often incarnations whose hearts he removed and threatened with death to ensure their obedience while the demons under Kirinmaru’s command are completely loyal to him with the exception of osamu kirin, riku, and Kyūki. While Naraku never cared about the lives of his incarnations and was willing to threaten and abuse them and would kill them if they failed or tried to betray him, Kirinmaru is apathetic towards his subordinates but he does at least acknowledge that anyone who serves under him must be a powerful warrior and while not above disciplining them himself, he was never shown to outright abuse his followers.

naraku rarely trusted anyone except for byakuya and kanna with anything including information, moments before her death, as he especially didn't trust hakudoshi, the infant, and kagura. While kirinmaru was too trusting as he didn't know osamu kirin, riku, and kyuki weren't loyal to him and easily betrayed him. naraku was very smart and calculating as he went all the way to mount hakurei to properly remove his heart after a failed attempt and nearly dying by sesshomaru and inuyasha's hands and defeat kikyo and knew when he created hakudoshi and the infant and knew that they were going to betray and kill him. kirinmaru was smart but he wasn't smart like naraku and wasn't calculating with others as he charges ahead without thinking.

Naraku would seldom resort to physical combat, relying on his barrier to protect him and his miasma to kill his foes. Kirinmaru not only fights directly in combat but lives to give his all against worthy foes.

While Naraku would flee from battle if the tables were turned Kirinmaru would stand, fight and fall even when fighting opponents stronger than himself, like Tōga.

Naraku saw himself as superior to all beings, human and demon alike, and especially despised hanyōs while Kirinmaru is at best apathetic to most beings. While he does hates humans and hanyōs, he still acknowledges the ones who gain his respect, such as the likes of Inuyasha, Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha.

Naraku was cowardly and preferred to trick and manipulate others to fight his battles for him whereas Kirinmaru would openly face his opponents in combat.

Naraku would often take advantage when his enemies were weakened whereas Kirinmaru was insulted by this notion, preferring his enemies be at their strongest when he fights them as seen when he orders Riku to take medicinal herbs to his arch-rival Tōga.

naraku rarely lets his guard down as he always has his barriers and miasma while kirinmaru lets his guard down as he gets stabbed by his incarnation riku and towa and drugged by a human method by his other incarnation osamu kirin.

Whereas Naraku sought the Sacred Jewel and its power for himself Kirinmaru gave the Rainbow Pearls he had to his lieutenants and seemingly had no desire to retrieve the ones that were taken or the ones in possession of Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha.

Didn't act like a villain as seen during most of his appearances in season 1, kirinmaru was on his ship reading, sitting down, sleeping, and looking up at the sky.

Despite the Tree of Ages stating that Kirinmaru was power-hungry by wishing to warp time itself to his will, it was noted by Myōga that Kirinmaru was content in only ruling the Eastern Lands, which was supported by the fact that he left Tōga to govern the Western Lands in peace for years, with him expressing shock that Kirinmaru would be trying to rule the Western Lands and desires to warp time to his will and stating that he isn't the type to go this far.

Sure, kirinmaru tried to hunt and kill moroha once when she was a baby but soon gave up on it.

2. Nerfed

Kirinmaru should have been far more powerful than Naraku, yet he was nerfed for every fight with Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha. Why? To skip over a huge opportunity to develop Kirinmaru’s character and just claim he’s holding back.

I really wish Kirinmaru would’ve blocked Riku’s sneak attack with ease and just completely annihilate him. They spent the entire season 1 building him up to be a powerful daiyokai and to see him get stabbed and almost beaten up by a shihanyo and a hanyo is quite anti-climactic.

I understand that there was Toga and Sesshomarus blood/demonic energy involved but Kirinmaru coming out unscathed would’ve hyped an epic showdown in season 2 but what a way to completely disregard a character that was supposedly on par with Toga.

But the idea of a hanyo and a shihanyo squaring up against a great demon like kirinmaru and actually holding their own is still ridiculous. They, Towa especially, have not had nearly the amount of training with their abilities to have earned that battle. The girls are awfully overpowered. kirinmaru could have killed riku with ease but they may have wanted him to wound kirinmaru so towa, setsuna, and moroha would have a fighting chance.

Inuyasha had a deep story about the struggle of being half. He was an outcast from both sides, and his strength was limited by his half human heritage despite being the son of Toga. Sesshomaru bested him in most of their battles, and the only reason Inuyasha didn't die was because he allowed him to live. Inuyasha got stronger primarily through wielding and mastering Tessaiga's many forms and through making strong and useful allies. His demonic form, though it helped them get out of a few scrapes here and there, was a hindrance and a danger to himself and everyone around him.

In comparison, these girls have been kidding around for a whole season 1 and are now using their demonic energy like a super saiyan or jojos power up.

In season 2, kirinmaru was battling sesshomaru like equals but gets injured by towa's, setsuna's, and moroha's attacks and gets easily pushed back by osamu kirin.

3. Easily Persuaded

naraku was a master manipulator as he tricked many characters in the series including sesshomaru and kikyo while kirinmaru was easily manipulated by sesshomaru, jaken, zero, and even by his own incarnation osamu kirin.

4. Sudden Change

In season 2, kirinmaru was mostly received a character change. In season 1, you've noticed that he doesn't like grapes when eating one but in season 2 he's seen happily eating them.

In season 1 and a little bit of season 2, kirinmaru was disgusted by zero using rin as a human shield and didn't attack his rivals and enemies' love ones to hurt them but in episode 47 he went against his word.

In season 1, kirinmaru was an honorable daiyokai who was naive to an unstable and overprotective father.

5. For Plot

In season 1, we see in episode 23 that kirinmaru sees the grim comet through osamu kirin and in season 2 he wants to destroy it but the creators wrote that he wants to destroy it to be known as the strongest by humans, even though he despises them.

they tried to make kirinmaru have villain qualities during his fight with riku and rion by making rion stab riku.

we see kirinmaru show up to fight or start conflict.

Ex.

kirinmaru appearing before riku, towa, and rion to fight and accidentally blinding riku.

kirinmaru showing up and demanding sesshomaru to come out before battling inuyasha, kagome, and moroha.

kirinmaru battling riku and rion and kidnapping rion to go to the modern era.

kirinmaru and sesshomaru having a final battle and loses.

In episode 46, kirinmaru gets easily drugged by a human method.

Unlike naraku and his group that were easily off especially in the final act, only one person was brought back which sadly was riku.

6. Osamu Kirin

osamu kirin, who barely appeared in the series, was suddenly the villain of the last episodes of season 2.

osamu kirin has convinced himself that he is god's gift to humanity. osamu's whole situation is pretty hilarious, except that he's now in way over his head and has made the very bad decision to take on not just Kirinmaru, but probably also sesshomaru and inuyasha, and all other yokai out there, who he thinks need to be wiped out because rion died, even though she died at the hands of a hanyo not a yokai. As osamu is overzealous but confusing as he wants humanity to know about demons instead of being folklore yet he wants to kill them, even though rion is a yokai as well.

In the end, osamu kirin gets easily killed by riku and towa only to come back and emotionally tortures rion before getting permanently defeated.

7. Riku

He is one of the most awful characters in yashahime as he's more of a villain like zero. The creator of yashahime wants to disgustingly pair him with towa at the start of his debut but yet only wants to kill people he loves which includes zero and towa.

riku gave us a bad excuse on why he hates the 4 perils, even though they serve kirinmaru and zero, and manipulated everyone and themselves for them to be killed for the rainbow pearls.

riku taunted homura by touching tamano and evil smirking while homura burned himself alive.

Riku was very scheming and manipulative in Season 1, but he was not really punished by it back then; literally nothing that he did affected negatively his relationship with the people he cared about.

In this season, I expected the things he did in the past to come back to bite him in the form of drama between him and Towa, but it didn't happen. Towa didn't find out how involved he was in everything that happened to her family, and the bits she did find out she really wasn't bothered about.

Despite characters calling riku handsome he really just weird and ugly, I strongly dislike riku's appearance as they didn't put any thought into it from his awful hairstyle, face, and attire and in season 2 they changed his attire and eye color from green to lavender to turquoise.

Unlike kagura, riku had no reason to kill and/or betray kirinmaru. kagura was forced to serve naraku and couldn't really leave his side but before riku betrayed kirinmaru, he was free to do what he wanted to do and had a life of his own.

After he killed zero, riku cried but instantly got over her dead within seconds.

I don't understand why the creators of yashahime made riku sickly in love with towa as he knew about her before she was born but I guess that they wanted create a romance for the main character just like Inuyasha and kagome, a pairing I strongly hate.

I really wished they kept riku dead and somehow brought back kirinmaru.

8. Rion

For most of rion's appearances that she's cruel and bitter at kirinmaru and wants to stop him, wants to redeem zero, and wants to die.

rion wants kirinmaru to kill but wants zero to live, even though zero wants to kill towa, setsuna, and moroha for revenge on toga.

Rion can't let go of her resentment towards her father for keeping her in a cocoon in Mount Musubi for 600 years. That resentment is preventing her from moving on to the afterlife. She's a disgruntled spirit - not an evil one. She thinks that she is the only one who can fix the situation with her father. Her situation is very similar to Kikyo's situation.

At episode 47, when towa, setsuna, and moroha, rion suddenly realizes that she still held affection for her father and wants him to stop fighting.

Instead of convincing kirinmaru to move on in life, rion decided that she wants him to die with her so they can join zero together.

rion knows how to fight as we see her and riku fight kirinmaru but she doesn't fight back when it came to sakasa, the hanyo that killed her, and she had the flute sword. But they had towa sacrifice her body to rion so she can face her fears before she dies.

The only thing I don't like about rion's design is her hairstyle and the length of it.

9. Zero

In season 1, she looked more like she was the big bad of the series than Kirinmaru, who didn't even act like the villain.

Zero possessed much more of a threat to our main characters, as she is responsible for the forest fire that separated Towa and Setsuna and indirectly separated Moroha from Inuyasha and kagome. She's done various other things, blackmailing Sesshomaru by cursing Rin. She feels very much that she had the same level of connection that she had that the same connection Naraku did with Inuyasha.

zero's back story as well seemed uninteresting and confusing, having feelings towards Toga, and when he dies her love for him drives her to kill his descendants. She could have become more interesting as the series progressed. If the rainbow pearls sealed away her emotions, then why is zero taking revenge on toga's descendants and got angry at sesshomaru's mother.

But that was not the case, as when season 2 aired, is when Zero started to run down downhill by gathering the rainbow pearls, for revenge, kidnapping towa, and basically holding rin's life hostage, and it all ends in episodes 36 and 37.

To start with, Setsuna learns from Rin that she must save Zero to stop the curse from killing her. Really wished we knew that before. Thanks, Rin, which leads into the next episode.

At this point, Zero has been emotionally torturing Towa for the entire night by reminding her of her sadness and suffering, and is pretty much trying to get Towa angry enough so that she can kill her, and in doing so kill Rin. She's almost successful when Setsuna shows up, shows Towa the dream butterfly, and suddenly Towa loses all the anger she has towards zero in a matter of seconds.

towa then thanks zero for what she's done and it is really annoying. zero prepares to kill herself and Setsuna cuts the thread of fate tying Zero to Toga and she removes the curse from Rin and commits suicide by Riku as she tells kirinmaru that he's also going to die.

All of these in a matter of minutes, they make Zero, this threatening and uninteresting villain and rendered her more pathetic. They had to give her a redemption arc when she's been the most villainous character in this sequel. Kirinmaru felt more like an obstacle the same way Koga was in Inuyasha. But this, this was so dumb, and when I was watching episode 36 and heard what Rin said, I knew what this was leading into but it was so much worse when Towa thanked her for it. She really didn't need to thank the person who separated her from her twin sister and tried multiple times to kill her, sister, and rin because it's just wrong.

The creators of yashahime couldn't even give zero an actual conclusion that fitted with her character, and she's forgiven so easily. You didn't see Inuyasha thanking Naraku for setting him and Kikyo against each other and killing Kikyo, Sango thanking naraku for killing her village and controlling her kohaku, and miroku thanking naraku for cursing his bloodline. Could you imagine how messed up that would have been?

I also don't like her character design and hairstyle as just like other characters they didn't put any thought into it.

10. Death

It was cringe and lazy.

After kirinmaru loses to sesshomaru, he tells sesshomaru to kill him, gets sent to the grim butterfly, weakly watches rion get tormented by osamu kirin then reconciled, apologizes to towa, setsuna, and moroha before setsuna cuts his and rion thread of fate, and get suck into the amatsumikaboshi then rion told him that they will join zero before they fly away.

11. Appearance

There's something's I love about kirinmaru's appearance and there's also what I hate about his appearance, one of the things I love is his shirt and I hate his armor but we all know with other characters they didn't put any thought into the designs. I really dislike his hair and the style of it.

#anti hanyo no yashahime #anti yashahime #anti princess half demon #kirinmaru #anti osamu kirin #anti riku #anti rion #anti towa #anti towa higurashi #anti sesshomaru #anti miroku #anti sango #anti kagome #anti kagome higurashi #anti kagome x inuyasha

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magician-hero · 2 years ago

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chibi for mauvves

#touhou #touhou project #yuuma totetsu #totetsu yuuma #touhou totetsu #totetsu touhou #touhou project totetsu #totetsu touhou project #touhou totetsu yuuma #totetsu yuuma touhou #touhou project totetsu yuuma #totetsu yuum atouhou project #art #kofi #chibi kofi #chibi #commission

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crimzonstudioz · 1 year ago

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Made a favourite character Bingo

This can give you a gist for what I like

And here's List of the characters and what they are from if any of you is interested

-Nishinoya Yuu (Haikyuu)

-inui Osamu (Ghostbuster Osamu)

-Imamura (Zeikin de Katta Hon)

-Toshino kyoko (Yuru Yuri)

-Goshikida kaito (zenkiger/donbrothers)

-Hinata Ema (Aikatsu Friends)

-Hyakume (Akuma-kun)

-twyla (Monster high g3)

-Hino Rei (Pretty guardian sailor moon)

-Aikko (Ojamajo Doremi)

-Train heartened (Black Cat)

-Majo Heart (Ojamajo Doremi)

-shinozaki mion (Higurashi when they cry)

-Baikinman (Anpanman)

-totetsu youma (Touhou Project)

-Polly planter (Amphibia)

-Kirisame Marisa (Touhou Project)

-Aspity (Pathologic)

-Bingo Healer (Bluey)

-Nipaku Zanmu (Touhou Project)

-Josuke Higashikata (JoJo's bizarre adventure part 08)

-Yachi Hitaoka (Haikyuu)

-yumehara Nozomi (Yes 5 precure/Gogo/otona precure)

-Scraps (patchwork girl of OZ)

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friendshapedplant · 2 years ago

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Okina Matara and Disability

Full disclaimer: I am not a wheelchair user or physically disabled in any way, just an Autistic person passionate about disability activism and a Touhou fan. This piece is being written from that perspective. If any wheelchair users want to share their thoughts on Okina or better seasoned Touhou fans have corrections on translations or lore surrounding her, please do leave them in the reblogs or my inbox!

Okina Matara is one of… probably hundreds of Touhou Project characters by this point (there are SO many of them). She is one of the Great Sages of Gensokyo, creating and maintaining the youkai-thriving land.

She is also a god of many things, but notably for this discussion, the god of disabilities. Being Disability Pride Month, I wanted to throw in my couple of cents about Okina and disability.

Okina as a Character

Okina's debut was as the 6th stage boss, Extra stage boss, and main villain for Touhou Tenkuushou ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons. Long story short, in search of new servants, she placed doors on the back of several Gensokyo residents, which unleashed their full power. This leads to some chaos for the land, putting the seasons out of wack. It turns out Okina really did this to announce herself to Gensokyo once more and remind everyone of the power she wields.

Okina also plays a role in Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World, being the underlying cause of the Black Water Incident in order to bring awareness of Yuuma Totetsu and the Gouyoku Alliance to Gensokyo, the incident's blame easily being placed on them. She also makes minor appearances in a few of the manga, which will be mentioned as needed.

Okina is called a "Secret God," as no one knows the true extent of her power and possibly also because she doesn't have as much presence as the other Gods of Gensokyo. She is one of three Great Sages of Gensokyo, which maintain it's separation from the Outside World and the general order of the land. As such, she holds immense power, claiming she can create youkai, change seasons, and destroy Gensokyo and recreate it with ease. She is filled with pride and arrogance, as you would imagine any nigh-all-powerful being would be.

You might have noticed a lack of mention of disability here. This is something that doesn't really impact her in the stories of this franchise at all, its moreso discussed separate of in-universe media.

Okina's Initial Creation

ZUN, the creator of Touhou Project, is to our knowledge an abled man, so this is a character written without personal experience. She was, at the very least though, written with good intent, as a representation of the strength of disabled people. However, he pulled back on these aspects for her debut out of fear of backlash.

I wanted to show that actually, those people [the disabled] are the stronger ones. To me, the original theme was something like that. But it's hard to make a story that feels good with just that... It's gotten easy to be accidentally insensitive, so you might think that it's be better to go for an easier-to-understand image, but then you could wind up making fun of the disabled... (Quote source)

Despite the popularity of the image of her using a wheelchair, and despite that being ZUNs original intent, he opted out of doing so. Based on the wording, this might not have only been a decision out of fear but potentially also lack of skill in drawing a wheelchair, but this is speculation.

At first the final boss was going to ride in a wheelchair, but that was really difficult. What's left of that is her sitting in a chair. (Quote source)

God of Disability

Okina is stated to be a patron god of several things, a couple others being the stars and silkworm breeding. Technically, she is not a god of disabled people, but those who are discriminated against as a whole. This is another example of ZUNs hesitance, though rather than pulling back, he generalized and encompassed disabled and other minority groups in her godhood.

As a theme, it was difficult to address directly. If I'd used my original title with the kanji for "impairment" [障?], I get the feeling there'd be a mixed reaction. So instead, it became about all kinds of the discriminated, not just the disabled, gathering in the land that would become Gensokyo. And Okina showing up as one of the people who made Gensokyo a place for that kind of person. That's what I wanted to do. (Quote source)

Gensokyo is a place that exists primarily as a safe haven for youkai, who have been largely forgotten by the Outside World. In a sense, Gensokyo is for those who don't belong in "typical society," which would apply to several minority groups that face discrimination. However this dichotomy between the Outside World and Gensokyo is often framed as Reality vs Fantasy, and saying Gensokyo, a place of fantasy, is for discriminated people, either implies escapism or that they don't exist or belong in reality.

Okina's framing as a god of disability (or discriminated people) gets as much development in media as the rest of the things she's god of, which is to say not really at all, to my knowledge. Most of the emphasis of this character is on her power as a god rather than what she's god of, but she is not alone in this depiction when it comes to gods.

Okina's Wheelchair

Despite ZUN opting out of giving her a wheelchair initially, she does have one! In a couple of the mangas, Visionary Fairies in Shrine (the depiction you've probably seen around the most) and Lotus Eaters, both give her a wheelchair. I haven't read these personally but from what I've heard her wheelchair is treated as no big deal.

Both of these are official Touhou media written by ZUN, so they are undeniably canon depictions of Okina using a wheelchair.

It's important to note she is not always depicted seated, most notably standing in her Extra Stage boss sprite and portrait.

This dichotomy of showing her both in a chair and standing is not contradictory. Ambulatory wheelchair users, those who use a chair but can still stand, walk, and/or use other standing mobility aids, are common. In fact, it's something needed more in disability representation, as ambulatory users are often called out for faking disability.

Okina as Disability Rep

Common tropes for disabled characters such as wheelchair users in media is for them to be pitiful, weak, tragic characters who are magically healed. Okina is very much not that! She's literally one of if not the most powerful character in the series, and she takes much pride in herself. Despite this being a world of magic, there is no use of it to cure any disability to my knowledge. ZUN mentioned in those quotes above wanting to show the strength disabled people have, and Okina is a great character to have represent that aspect.

As just mentioned, she can also make for ambulatory user representation, which is not at all common in media. Wheelchair users are more often than not depicted as losing the ability to walk entirely, never separate from their chair, when wheelchair use is not exclusive to that.

She does somewhat fall into the Disabled Villain trope however, where a villain is given some disabled trait (cataract/blind eye, mobility aid, etc.) to make them scarier or more intimidating. For what it's worth, there's a lot of villainous characters in this series, most if not all are able bodied, many intimidating in their own rights. Seeing as she's mainly shown sitting in a throne rather than a wheelchair, this also might come off as more like monarchical intimidation? Unless the idea of someone sitting on a throne being intimidating shares roots with an intimidating wheelchair user. Regardless, the only character with a mobility aid in the series being an antagonistic force might not be a great look to some.

The biggest downside to her rep is it's only found in literature and fandom spaces. She has yet to appear in a game with her wheelchair, even though Sunken Fossil World came out after the manga depictions of her. Seeing as the games are the franchises most popular media, only fans devoted enough to the series will really see that representation.

Wait, Is Okina Disabled?

So far, Okina as a disabled character and god for disabled people has been a bit of a rough case, being done so hesitantly but with the best of intentions, though in my opinion could be worse. However, we were given what I can only call a curve ball in 2020.

By the way, Okina is shown to be standing up in the Extra Stage, so it isn't that she actually has any leg impairments. She isn't saying that she has a disability, but that she is a disability, and that such a disability is a necessary thing for this world. (Quote source)

The mention of her not having "leg impairments" and implications this means she isn't disabled is a sign of ZUNs lack of research and insight on this topic. "Leg impairments" are but one of many things that can lead to someone using a wheelchair, and as mentioned earlier, not everyone using a wheelchair uses it full-time. This is imperfect reasoning for why she isn't disabled.

Personally, I'm not sure what to make of her being a disability instead of being disabled, and disability being a necessity. I don't feel I have the authority to draw such a conclusion either, so I will leave that to other disabled people to interpret.

This section doesn't seem to be yet be common knowledge of the fandom, which is understandable with its relative recency and source being a book. It is important to point out for this though, as ZUN is explicitly saying she isn't disabled, but a disability (whatever that may mean, for better or worse).

Okina and Fandom

Google "Touhou Okina" and one of the top suggested results I can guarantee is "wheelchair." It brings up several articles and posts discussing what I've previously quoted here about ZUNs original intentions, some memes about Okina using a wheelchair (both neat and mocking), and of course fanart.

Drawing Okina with her wheelchair from the manga and in general isn't uncommon. Funny enough, scrolling through her tag here on Tumblr I found a fanart post where OP only recently realized Okina being disabled* wasn't just a meme. (*Like I said the quote from the previous section is not seemingly common knowledge)

We went over in the previous section how Okina technically isn't disabled, but I am personally more than willing to overlook it and view her as disabled anyways. Maybe she doesn't have impaired legs, but she's prone to fainting or unsteady balance.

Conclusion

Okina is an interesting as hell character with some strong if misguided representation. Like I said at the beginning, I am not physically disabled or a wheelchair user, but I feel ZUNs hesitation to call her a God of Disabilities and making her actually disabled do not reflect to well on him, even if he has the best of intentions. Luckily a nice chunk of the fandom has taken the representation given by her very well, claiming her as disabled when her creator won't.

#okina matara #touhou #touhou project #東方project #東方 #disability #physical disability #mobility aid #wheelchair #atlas.txt #original post

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