#touhou lostword chapter 3

[toskarintoast]

could you elaborate on the lost word incest?

I’ve always felt touhou has a deficiency in good sister pairings

really? ...are we talking about. the same touhou. right now?

well. there are the usual suspects. remilia and flan. satori and koishi. benben and yatsuhashi. the prismriver sisters. minoriko and shizuha. joon and shion.

but what's specific to lostword. is that the player character. is referred to by a great many characters. as a "little sister". and is even described. during the event "the little sister contest" (or sis-con for short [lol]). as being "the little sister of everyone in gensokyo". and during the main story. there are plenty of little moments. that are rather funny. in this capacity.

here is an example. from chapter 3.

just generally. the protagonist of lost word. is very cute. in my opinion. her dynamics with the rest of the cast. are a lot of fun.

[himejoshikomaeda]

i'm kind of curious what you like about lostword. never really tried it myself n all.

— io

1. really easy to get your favorite characters

2. really easy to make your favorite characters viable no matter who they are

3. game isn’t very hard — no artificial difficulty spikes that force you to spend money to max out a unit or whatever. on that note, leveling up and upgrading units doesn’t take much time at all, allowing you to use lots of your favorite touhou characters if you’d like to.

4. the only characters that would probably require real money to aid in acquiring are the game’s made-up alternate universe versions of characters that i can’t imagine anyone giving a shit about. (sorry guys i’m never going to want to spend money so i can have.. sci fi space warrior sanae)

5. no temptation to buy anything in the store because the prices are all absurdly high. i will literally never be tempted to spend 80 dollars on a microtransaction. i consider this point to be a positive, because what is being sold is completely unnecessary.

6. game is written by perverts.

7. protagonist is a girl. this can’t be changed.

8. the main story is FANTASTIC. it’s really really really cool. finishing chapter 3 is what made me gush last night. the hifuu story is really cute too.

9. this might be something not everyone cares about, but the characters are very touchy-feely with each other, and with the protagonist. it’s very nice. i like when characters are handsy. skinship is compelling to me

10. writers aren’t pussies about yuri (important)

11. there is never not an event story going on (they rerun old events in between new ones), so if grinding event points is fun for you (it’s fun for me), that’s always an option no matter what.

12. great autobattle features. lots of customization for autobattles and auto-rematches for grinding materials.

13. despite what i just said, grinding is honestly optional. you don’t need to grind for levels, because levels come easily, and you don’t need to grind for materials after a while, because they give you so many.

14. story card (equippable items basically) art is cute. where would we be without modelo patchouli and her fat thighs?

15. despite having the usual scarlet devil mansion bias, a LOT of more obscure characters get a lot of spotlight, especially in event stories. one i remember enjoying a lot starred seija, sagume, and.. shizuha aki.. as the main characters (along with the protagonist of course). there are lots of cases like that.

16. characters all feel like they love you without it feeling at all like a harem game. sorry if this is cringe but don’t fucking lie and say you don’t want to be loved by the cast of touhou.

17. less of a point for me because i’ve been playing it since launch, but my girlfriend got into it recently and they have been ABSURDLY generous with her as a new player.

there are obviously criticisms to be had with the game (it’s a mobile game, it’s not perfect or anything by any stretch of the imagination), but you asked me what i liked about it. i’ve had a lot of fun with it in my time playing it, and my girlfriend is, like, obsessed with it, just getting into it.

[evilisk]

An (Overly Long) Overview of Touhou LostWord: Chapter 3, Act 3

Welcome to exposition hell~

= = =

The Heavily Abridged Version of Act 3:

--Okina, Satono, Mai, Master Youmu and Lossy begin their very literal descent to the Lower World. There is lots and lots of exposition (a running theme for this Act) and besides everything I’m going to explain below, Master Youmu spends most of the Act absorbing these lost Minds / memories. In these memories, a version of Youmu is going around, cutting down characters related to death revival.

 --We get introduced to the concept of temperaments. These can basically be summed up as “soul bits”. While Youmu has been separating the life force from her victims to feed to the Saigyou Ayakashi, the leftover temperament eventually falls to the Lower World. There is this whole temperament ecosystem and it’s basically an extended way of saying “Youmu really messed things up”

--The group runs into several Lower World Sages during their journey. While these Sages take the appearance of characters we know, they are not those specific characters (with the exception of Mokou, who is only alive because of her immortality). The sages instead are like composite versions of those characters that have fused with similar temperaments. These Sages can create bunrei, manipulate various temperaments and are generally important to the Lower World’s ecosystem.

--We basically meet with each Sage and after an initial battle, they get recruited to Okina’s cause and then we move onto the next location and Sage. This repeats until we get to the equivalent of the Human Village.

--This has almost no consequence on the story, but Miyoi’s first full appearance in LostWord happens during the Village segment:

--After shenanigans occur, Okina manages to gather all the Sages in one spot (Kasen, Alice, Byakuren, Seiga, Kokoro and Saki). While she is trying to convince everyone to work together to avoid the apocalypse, Seiga and Yoshika manage to kidnap Okina. 

--There is a sequence where everybody recaps everything (even the writers knew it was getting too confusing). After getting caught up, everyone ponders what Okina was about to say (she mentioned some other Sage before being kidnapped). Everyone realizes the story can’t proceed without Seiga. Seiga then conveniently pops up.

--Seiga brings everyone into her secret HQ and we get another infodump. The other, secret Sage is Miko. She has been manipulating the other Sages (by withholding specific memories) and ensuring that the temperament vortex never ends, for some unknown reason. Seiga has flipped sides because Miko’s new plan is to revive herself, and that revival plan includes absorbing Yoshika (and also Okina). 

--With hermit magic, Seiga brings everyone to the Hakurei Shrine. They are about to move onto the Saigyou Ayakashi when you fight Eternity for some reason. This sounds inconsequential but there is definitely a payoff for this.

--After being escorted to the Saigyou Ayakashi, Sage Miko takes her turn to infodump. Her ultimate plan is to revive herself, and as a Living God, she will take the place of the body sealing away the Saigyou Ayakashi. The hope is that this will prevent Yuyuko from awakening the Ayakashi.

--Sage Byakuren suggests an alternative: Miko should release the Minds related to Youmu within her. The main reason they do this is so that Miko will be able to read Youmu’s desires (and therefore see her future actions), but there is another side effect: everyone learns the true nature of the Ayakashi through Youmu’s memories.

--That tree... isn’t actually the Saigyou Ayakashi. At least, it’s not the one everyone is familiar with. I’ll do a proper story recap later in this post, but that Ayakashi is actually Youmu. Not Swordmaster Youmu (who was already mentioned as being from a different universe) but the Youmu originally from this world, whose memories Master Youmu has been experiencing.

--Anyway, since the Saigyou Ayakashi isn’t the original, Miko’s plan is no longer viable. The group on the surface also learns from Reimu and the others that Yuyuko is on her way to the tree. This is the exact description:

--As they’re pondering their next step, Yuuka now suddenly appears and she is seemingly on the side of the tree. They can’t beat her, until they get help from Eternity, who tells Lossy to use the remains of Kung Fu Fairies to overwhelm Yuuka (told ya there was a payoff to Eternity)

--As if there weren’t enough characters in the mix, Reiblue and Baby Yukari appear. They bring the pacing to screeching halt by literally pausing time to interrogate Lossy, right in the middle of a fight. Long story short, the duo are very similar to Lossy and the heroines. They help worlds, but they do this by getting the residents to embrace the Lost Word incidents. The reason for this is that Lossy, who only recently started solving Lost Word incidents, is the only one in all the universes capable of rediscovering Lost Words.

--There is more information, like how Lossy is the most suspicious because of her memory loss. The most relevant piece of info is Baby Yukari revealing that  Master Youmu was / is the key to getting the remaining energy needed to transform the Ayakashi

--The story ends with... more characters. I have completely glossed over most of the characters, but this Act can’t go five minutes without introducing five more characters. The biggest offender has to be the Human Village sequence. ANYWAY, Seija, Shinmyoumaru, Clownpiece and the remaining members of the Myouren Temple pop up at the end...

(This image is a good summary. Picture originally from here)

I really want to emphasis the word abridged here. Because god is this chapter long. This chapter introduces like (no joke) a dozen characters. This chapter uses the word temperament about a hundred times. I am convinced that the only reason this wasn’t split into two parts is because they REALLY wanted Chapter 4 to be the final one (because y’know, that whole “Four = Death” superstition).

Even though I just spent the last hour writing the synopsis, describing the physical actions of the characters in this Act isn’t even telling the whole story. Now it’s time to piece together what the ACTUAL story of Chapter 3 is...

= = =

The Backstory to Chapter 3

The universe was basically the same as any universe until the events of Touhou 7. Due to what seems to be outside interference, Yuyuko revived the Saigyou Ayakashi earlier than she should have. Yuyuko vanished, Yukari presumably perished trying to stop the awakened Saigyou Ayakashi and Youmu fled.

As the Ayakashi began to awaken, a voice we can assume is the culprit behind the Lost Words gives Youmu a choice. This Youmu (who is NOT Swordmaster Youmu btw) takes the deal with the devil. In exchange for the ability to time travel, the culprit pulls steals two Lost Words and two things precious to Youmu: Yukari Yakumo and the Saigyou Ayakashi. 

Youmu travels back in time. Despite the spiriting away of the Saigyou Ayakashi, Yuyuko still ends up using her powers of revival to to create a stand-in for the Saigyou Ayakashi (achieved by using Yuyuko's Mind as a core). Despite being only a stand-in, the stand-in Ayakashi is effectively as good as the real one.

Youmu decides to go back and seal every method of resurrection (mostly by cutting down the characters that would become the Lower World Sages). Youmu's plan works, but not in the way she expected: instead of sealing the Ayakashi, becoming a ghost and simply losing interest in reviving the Saigyou Ayakashi, Yuyuko instead takes her own life, dying as a human long before the events of Touhou 7 can occur.

Realizing that she can't live without her Mistress, Youmu decides to go back to the age of the Gods, turns her sword against herself and become the new stand-in Saigyou Ayakashi. Her only goal is to be reunited with Yuyuko after she revives the Saigyou Ayakashi once again. After she takes her place in the tree, Swordmaster Youmu is summoned to this world. She knows that she is from another world, but is unaware of what the previous Youmu’s actions. 

Master Youmu lives to see the events of Touhou 7. Just as before, Yuyuko successfully awakens the Ayakashi before vanishing (however, nobody is aware that this is the stand-in tree made from Youmu). Master Youmu goes through a similar process of time traveling to prevent Yuyuko from awakening the Saigyou Ayakashi. Unfortunately for Youmu, she cannot time travel infinitely; a bit of Yuyuko disappears every time she time travels. This is why Yuyuko looks the way she does in this universe, and is why this loop HAS is final loop: Yuyuko is on the verge of disappearing from the timeline forever.

Master Youmu eventually is approached by Baby Yukari (though she is unable to take a physical form at this point, only being able to when Youmu steals a strand of Lossy's hair Chapter 3, Act 2). Baby Yukari gives Master Youmu the plan to revive the (stand-in) Saigyou Ayakashi, and transform it into something else. This is said by Miko later in the story (rather than Yukari during that flashback) but basically this new transformation can happen, but it depends on whether the tree is nourished through the leaves / flowers or the roots.

While Master Youmu is given the powers to manage the Arena and is tasked with feeding the life force of her victims to the leaves in the Upper World, there is an entire ecosystem below (the temperament vortex) that takes in the leftover soul parts created by Youmu's cuts. The Sages of the Lower World basically use the vortex to filter out these parts and are supposed to supply death energy to the roots, but because of the body in the Ayakashi's routes, the roots (thankfully) haven't been able to feed off the energy.

Though the Ayakashi has much more life force energy in its leaves, there are still problems. The leaves and roots are at odds with one another; the roots still want to become the Saigyou Ayakashi, and it can still happen if Chef Yuyuko comes into contact with the body (this will cause the body and seals to disappear, will allow the roots absorbs the death energy and then leads to a game over).

= = =

My Overall Thoughts:

This chapter is... excessive. I mentioned how many characters are introduced in this chapter, but it’s not just the characters. This chapter introduces so much worldbuilding, and requires you to keep track of so many references. It’s insane how much is packed into this Act.

While I caught on to some of the stuff (I immediately knew that the last Sage was Miko, just because I’m a huge Miko fan, and immediately noticed all Sages but Alice have some connection to Miko) there was a lot more that flew over my head and, since I’m confident saying I’m more familiar with Touhou lore than most fans, I’m sure that if *I* am confused, most casual fans are gonna be confused by this Act too.

Personally, I’m a bit conflicted on this because I actually love the stuff referenced here. I got so excited when Seiga recognized Okina (and even referenced to her as Dance Master Hata). I *love* how the climax of the story hinges on Youmu’s route in Touhou 13 (”Youmu not having all 8 Desires” is taken from that game). Despite the love there is for Touhou lore, even I have to admit that it’s too much. I’m not exaggerating when I say this Act introduced lots of inconsequential characters. Let’s take the chart from above as an example:

Mayumi and Narumi are glorified cameos, being Alice’s dolls / bunrei

Miyoi, Eika and Aunn exist for one scene

Ichirin (and Murasa) mostly exist to have one scene with Tojko and Futo

Wakasagihime, Sekibanki and Kagerou mostly exist to fight each other and then fight together later on 

Eternity, who is the closest to being a real character, exists to fight the main characters and then to tell Lossy to use the Kung Fu Fairies

This isn’t even all of the characters who appear in this Act. There’s also Flandre, Remilia, Letty, Parsee, Urumi, Yamame, Hina, Joon, Shion...

I only have one theory about why this Chapter is so packed. So... LostWord is a gacha game, and gacha games have a very short shelf-life. My theory is that the writers wanted to pack in as many characters as possible because they might have anticipated the game bombing. Basically, they might have written the plot of Chapter 3, thinking about how there might not be future chapters if the game wasn’t successful, and packed everything they could.

If this is what happened, I really hope they ease up on future chapters because LostWord is clearly a success now. There’s a lot that’s good in this Act, the problem is that there is also just a LOT of everything.

= = =

Random Things I Liked:

--Even though I think large portions of this chapter should have been cut, I do appreciate how almost all the big players in the Lower World are from Touhou 12 and onwards. 

--I already mentioned it but I love, love, love all the stuff with Miko. FINALLY a work connects the dots between Miko, Kokoro, Okina and Saki. The only thing I hate is that so far, LostWord is the only fanwork that’s doing this.

--I have to give props to the writers. I actually teared up a little at the flashback with Yuyuko. We finally get Yuyuko’s motivations and, even though she doesn’t realize it’s her beneath the tree, she just wants the girl beneath the Saigyou Ayakashi to be part of their family at Hakugyokorou...

[Oof, that line hit me right in the feels ;( ]

--I’m still not a fan of Chef Yuyuko, but her basically turning into a Terminator hellbent on reaching the Saigyou Ayakashi near the end of this Act is one of the funniest mental images 

--During the (admittedly silly) scene where the group is free-falling, Youmu questions why Okina is falling with her chair. Okina simply considers the chair as part of her body, and I just love that little moment

--The best moment of this chapter is easily Seiga going, “allow me to bestow upon you one of my treasured magical, hermit artifacts” followed by her pulling out a television

--Surprise, surprise, but I really liked Seiga in this chapter. This is going to sound biased, but she is so explored so well in this chapter. She gets to be the antagonist for the middle third of the story, despite dutifully serving Miko, she does show her own desires and opposes Miko absorbing Yoshika. She just has a great showing.

--Master Youmu is also a good character. Her writing made me remember that “actually, the LostWord writers do know what they’re doing”. I think I just need to remember to really lower my expectations when it’s a side event and not the main plot.

= = =

Anyway, now it’s time to FINALLY play through the Chapter 3 Finale. I hope this Chapter manages to stick the landing.

[evilisk]

Part 1 of My Overview on Chapter 3, Act 3

I cannot believe the length of this chapter. Kinda obvious, but don’t click if you don’t want spoilers for this part.

Act 3 Overview

We begin with the aftermath of Act 2 and surprise, Marisa wasn't actually cut down by Master Youmu. After Marisa and Reimu reflect on the situation, the two and Lossy meet up with everyone else. Master Youmu plans to share her knowledge with everyone but Chef Yuyuko (who is still asleep).

Master Youmu pulls out a Seal Crystal (or a Dazzle, as it's known in this AU) and reveals she has it for as long as she's been in this alternate Gensokyo (i.e. she is also not from the current Gensokyo AU). Master Youmu also reveals that her memories are incomplete, and the her earliest one is of her bringing the Crystal with her for recording purposes.

Master Youmu doesn't actually know how she got there, and has actually been in that AU for a ridiculously long time. The extended flashback sequence starts with Youmu mentioning how it was a time before Hell, before Gensokyo, before the Netherworld, before the Calender was invented (the game uses the term "Age of the Gods". If I were to use the Timeline on the Touhou Wiki's page, this might make Master Youmu several millions of years old...)

Master Youmu lives through the creation of Japan and after what must be centuries, potentially milennia, she lives to see the formation of Saigyouji clan. While she eventually sees the birth of Yuyuko's father and then Yuyuko herself, Master Youmu notices that her own Clan, the Konpaku, do not appear.

Things now play out as they do in the original timeline: Yuyuko takes her own life, losing her memoriees in the process. She is then given her position in the Netherworld by the Yama and the Hakugyokurou is moved to the Netherworld. Then things start to diverge. The obvious one is that Master Youmu, who wouldn't have been born to a Clan that currently doesn't exist, becomes Yuyuko's fencing instructor.

Then Master Youmu reveals that Gensokyo was created by the Youkai Sages that everyone is familiar with: Ran, Chen, Nitori, Aya... The heroines then interrupt the flashback to point out that the history is obviously different. We then get to part of the timeline where the events of Touhou 7 begins.

To keep things brief, in this universe the heroines are unable to prevent the Saigyou Ayakashi awakening. Everything goes wrong; the heroines die, Yuyuko dies and the Murder Tree awakens. Even with the power of time travel on Master Youmu's side (yeah, she can just do that, for reasons I'll get into later) she cannot prevent Yuyuko from "succeeding". Youmu's repeated time travel is also starting to leave scars on reality (this is the explanation for why this Yuyuko looks the way she does)

While Master Youmu is praying, trying to find a resolution to this incident, a disembodied voice starts telling Youmu about Lost Words. Since the voice talks about how they have "no image" and manipulating borders it seems like this might be Yukari (the Yukari of this universe has been suspiciously absent).

She starts telling Youmu that rather than trying to change history by preventing the events of Touhou 7, she can change history by transforming the Ayakashi into something else (by force feeding it life force earlier than it's supposed to happen).

The only kicker is that the transformation would require a ridiculous amount of energy (as in, if the Ayakashi consumed every single soul in that world, that STILL wouldn't be enough). Anyway, after some more info is revealed (like how all the stolen life force would be returned if their plan succeeds) Master Youmu and Yukari begin plotting.

The flashback then ends abruptly. According to alter Nitori, the Crystal has run out of magical power but the timing of the cut-out is obviously suspicious. After some speculation about Yukari (Lossy brings up the adult Yukari that she's been seeing while Master Youmu admits to giving Baby Yukari a piece of Lossy's hair) Reimu starts interrogating Ran about Yukari.

Alter Ran does not recall having a Mistress and insists that she is both a Shikigami and Sage, making it seem as if Yukari was spirited away (just like how Alter Reimu was spirited away during the Scarlet Devil Tower chapter). The conversation loops back around to the topic of Baby Yukari. The conversation is interrupted by Chef Yuyuko and the Fairies arriving. As Chef Yuyko goes off to prepare a meal, the Fairies then turn into cherry crystals (which is part of the process of being turned into life force for the Tree). It seems as if time is running out when Master Youmu mentions the Saigyou Ayakashi- right in front of Chef Yuyuko.

We flash forward to after that scene. Alter Aya and Nitori are going to attempt to stall Chef Yuyuko (who has already started showing a dangerous interest in the tree). The heroines reflect on their new information, speculating on the nature of the Ayakashi. Their discussion leads to Youmu revealing that Yuyuko's body is in the lower world. It was the reason she tried to stall everyone in the previous chapter, but with the Time almost at hand, she decides they need to act now.

Then the next team arrives. They are alternate Prismrivers who are from a world that's also being affected by a mysterious incident (specifically, one where all ghosts, vampires, shikaisen and all manner of undead are being spirited away). These Prismrivers seem to be "Wandering Folk" which, I admit, is something I have no context for.

Anyway, with the Prismrivers apparently being the perfect counter to Mai and Satono's ability, and with a bit of help from Ran and Chen, the heroines pass Okina's test. The bad news is that Okina reveals that they are hours away from the Ayakashi's awakening...

Okina, Mai, Satono, Youmu and Lossy then prepare for the descent to the Lower World, though not before Okina casually reveals some stuff (like how alter Aya and Nitori have basically been serving her without knowing). Anyway, the journey to the Lower World begins...

[The Act continues after this, but since this is a monstrously long chapter, I’m dividing this post into parts]

Talking About Yuyuko (Again)

I’ll say it now: this is where I started to have a lower opinion of alter Yuyuko. She’s not an inherently bad character (not like main Yuyuko :P), it’s more a matter of how she’s written. I glossed over it in the synopsis, but in this Act, Master Youmu tries everything to prevent Touhou 7 from happening during the flashback / time travel sequence, including just talking things out with Yuyuko.

Now, I get it. Master Youmu can't just talk Yuyuko out of her plan or there is no story. At the same time, I can't say I like how, no matter what timeline it is, Yuyuko basically becomes a robot that is mechanically determined to awaken the Ayakashi as soon as she's made aware of the tree's true nature. Like, if it was "Yuyuko can only be convinced by someone like Yukari, and she's obviously absent" or "Yuyuko is being influenced by the Tree" I could understand that... but this does not seem to be the case.

Despite the chapter being about her and her actions, we really don’t get to see what’s going through her mind, so she feels more like a plot device (used to flesh out Master Youmu's backstory and push the plot forward) than a proper character in her own right. This wouldn’t be bad in a vacuum but knowing how badly written the main version of Yuyuko is, it does feel like Yuyuko might be a character that the writer doesn’t really “get”. 

To defend the writer here, Touhou has a humongous cast. They are not going to get every character right and they don’t seem to have written Yuyuko badly on purpose. It seems to be a side effect of them focusing on Youmu, as both the original and the Swordmaster version are more well-written, well-rounded as characters. Writing is extremely hard, I don’t envy the writer having to balance such a huge cast of characters.

...I don’t want to absolve the writer too much though. Alter Yuyuko turning out how she did is because Chapter 3 is very much Swordmaster Youmu’s story. I will, however, continue to give them shit for how main Yuyuko turned out, and also for how alter Yuyuko’s defining trait is “I cook food and instead of eating it!” because I know they can do better. 

(Other) Thoughts So Far:

--The fakeout with Marisa is honestly fine. Marisa still gets her character moment, it still shows how desperate the situation is becoming, also lets be honest: no way would mainline Marisa get killed off so it wouldn’t create any tension if that was the scenario.

--From a writing perspective, it's obvious that the story is meant to be "Touhou 7 but if things went horribly wrong" but Master Youmu's backstory is pretty insane? There is no way Youmu wouldn’t have affected the timeline in other ways if she was around for as long as she says.

--I do like that Youmu tries to remove all phantoms from Yuyuko’s Manor in one of her attempts to prevent Touhou 7 from happening, and how this has the side effect of bringing in Eiki who sympathizes and understands the situation but cannot do anything because of afterlife bureaucracy

--Like I said, I really do not understand the "Wandering Folk" stuff with the Prismriver Sisters in this Chapter. Like, I have no clue if this is some obscure Touhou lore or some original concept for Lost Word. 

--On the topic of the Prismriver Sisters, I am 99% sure they were added because “this is a Touhou 7 AU, so we should probably give every Touhou 7 character their own moment”. That’s how I felt on my first play through and Letty does appears later on (completing the Touhou 7 roster). It’s cool they get to fight Okina, though they get written out of the story very quickly (after this Act, Okina tells them to ‘go and distract Yuyuko’ off-screen).

--There's a bunch of stuff that's weird in this chapter but I can't really bring them up since these things DO actually get explained later on (like why Youmu has the ability to time travel, why Yukari thinks it's a good idea to take advantage of the Lost Word incident in this way etc.)

[evilisk]

An Overview and Then Thoughts On Chapter 3, Act 2 of Touhou LostWord

Guess I can’t put this off anymore, now that the Finale has finally released [WARNING: very long wall of text + spoilers for Chapter 3, Act 1 and Act 2]

= = = 

Before I get into my thoughts, I’m going to briefly summarize Act 1. I actually did this summaries before I started procrastinating this post into oblivion, which is good because if I had to go back and rewatch Act 1 again, this post would have probably been getting pushed back AGAIN..

Act 1 Overview:

Lossy (the main character), Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya end up in a Touhou 7 AU where the Hakugyokurou is an arena (Hakugyoku Arena) that holds a sacrificial tournament. Details are scarce and the setup is very mysterious but it seems like it’s function is to keep the Saigyou Ayakashi from fully awakening. 

The main alternates/variants of this AU are Swordmaster Youmu and (for some reason) Child Chef Yuyuko, though there are other characters there (including variants of Ran, Chen, Nitori and Aya) 

Our heroines arrive alongside variants of Lily, Cirno and Daiyousei from a Kung Fu Gensokyo AU. Since nobody really wants to fight, the two teams cooperate in order to find an exit. After three days, they manage to find a mysterious cave. Alas, they don’t have a chance to explore the cave; the Time has come.

Our heroines predictably defeat the Kung Fu Fairies (though not without some ridiculous shonen bullshit). After their defeat, Master Youmu begins the process to turning the defeated into life force for the Murder Tree. 

We end on a cliffhanger where Master Youmu is conversing with a mysterious Yukari variant and a mysterious, blue Reimu variant (who shall henceforth be known as “Reiblue” since the main difference is that this Reimu has a blue outfit). Reiblue and Master Youmu have actually been present throughout the chapter, with Lossy being able to somehow spy on them (though Lossy is unaware that what she’s seeing is real, assuming it’s just a dream). Reiblue demands that Master Youmu *takes Lossy’s life* (cue dramatic music)

= = =

Act 2 Overview:

The story picks off shortly after the Act 1 Cliffhanger with Reiblue and Master Youmu. Lossy wakes up from her “dream” and then is taken to Reimu, Marisa, Master Youmu and their next opponents, the Kung Fu Fairies of Light.

The heroines catch up the Fairies of Light on the situation (thankfully done off-screen). The Fairies of Light explain what their own AU is like and it can be summed up as an AU where the strongest characters are “fairies, young gods, small youkai” (making it sound suspiciously like it’s an underage Gensokyo AU)

Our heroines and their new opponents continue the search for an exit. After a journey through the newly found cave and with the help of alternate Nitori, Aya, Ran and Chen (who reveal that they are also not fond of the Death Arena), they reach a lake, where it’s revealed that the Saigyou Ayakashi has spread its spirit roots quite far down. 

When they can’t go any further, Master Youmu, who has been acting suspiciously around Lossy, insists that they shouldn’t risk going further. She ultimately uses her authority to halt the search, though not before “breaking character” for a moment. Cut to Lossy who is having another dream. Now... this part of the story is a bit confusing. Let’s just say that Lossy meets with a Yukari (from somewhere) who disappears into this AU, but not before insisting that Lossy keeps her appearance a secret.

After that scene, we cut to the next day. The escape progresses further when the Kung Fu Fairies, who have never used their powers for more than Kung Fu, get a tip from Chef Yuyuko and our heroines on how to use their power in ways that don’t involve punching stuff. They use their powers to scan the cave and they quickly find an exit. The group seems like they’re on the way to Alter Gensokyo when they are halted by the Netherworld Barrier and the ones guarding it; Okina and her two servants.

Okina seems to have been expecting a group to reach her, but she fails to elaborate until they pass her test and the group... does not, for various reasons (like Satono and Mai’s abilities being very disruptive, especially to Fairies, and Okina being ready and expecting more than just martial artists). Even with the intervention of alter Chen, Ran, Nitori and Aya, they fail Okina’s test. The group retreats to the Arena.

At the Arena, Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya get a chance to confront Master Youmu but things are cut short when the bring up the topic of the Lost Word (we already know Master Youmu has been conspiring with Reiblue). Lossy then gets a chance to talk to the Kung Fu Light Fairies. Aside from being sad about the state of Cirno, Daiyousei and Lily (and also foreshadowing what type of technique they need to defeat Okina, Mai and Satono next chapter), Sunny declares her intent to win (just like Daiyousei in the previous Act).

Next, Lossy gets a chance to talk to the Yukari from before. The writers use this as an excuse to explain that while Lost Word incidents create world-ending threats, each world will create its own “substitute shikigami” to try and slow down that end. She uses Alter Marisa as an example of “a threat that is also a substitute shikigami” but mentions how Okina, Ran and Chen are the substitute shikigami of this specific AU. 

Yukari leaves right as the Time comes. The Heroines must fight the Kung Fu Light Fairies. I won’t get into all of it, but a choice moment from this battle is Star Sapphire going, “Since my power lets me detect any movement, and your human brain is made up of movements, specifically electrical signals, that means I can basically read your mind!” 

Anyway, the Fairies lose but determined not to lose anybody else, Sunny and the Heroines attempt to flee the Arena so they can re-challenge Okina with a new strategy. Unfortunately, Master Youmu steps in and insists on cutting the loser to prevent the Saigyou Ayakashi from awakening. In a desperate bid, Marisa insists on taking the place of the Fairies as a sacrifice. The scene ends on Master Youmu cutting somebody and Marisa passing out...

The chapter ends with another of Lossy’s “dreams”. It is revealed that Youmu managed to “take” Lossy’s life earlier in this Act by cutting a stray hair of hers. Master Youmu converses with Reiblue and her partner, a suspiciously underaged version of Yukari (who might be underaged because they used Lossy’s hair to give her form, and there are hints that Lossy is an actual kid)

Master Youmu realizes Reiblue and Baby Yukari are just as suspicious as Lossy and her group, and tries to confront them about it. Rather than turning on her, Reiblue and Baby Yukari concede that they are suspicious and only tell Youmu to rely on her gut. The Act ends with Reiblue asking if it was okay to give Master Youmu that information, and Baby Yukari simply responds with “well technically, we haven’t lied to her about anything so...”

Overall Thoughts on Act 2:

The best part of this chapter is easily the introduction of Alter Okina. The build up to it, the mystery, the music, everything about it is great. I am legit pleased that this might be the way most casual Touhou fans might get exposed to Okina for the first time.

I also really like the use of Satono and Mai’s power here. Like, the application of it here (Satono and Mai dancing in a way that allows them to support each other indefinitely) is exactly how I pictured it working. The other way I imagined it working is that if Mai and Satono ever 2v1′d someone, they’d constantly be dancing in circles (so that no matter what, 1 of the Backup Dancers is behind their opponent)

The worst part of this chapter has to be the that BS with Star Sapphire. I know that these are alternate versions of the Fairies but the leap from “I can read enemy movements” to “I can read the electric signals in your brain effectively making me able to read your mind” is ridiculous. Runner up has to be Sakuya manipulating time to speed up Reimu and Marisa’s metabolism or whatever...

I also dislike how many of the alter characters are just underage for no reason. Chef Yuyuko, Baby Yukari, the Kung Fu Fairies coming from the Underage Kung Fu Dimension, I do not like these. 

We don’t really see the aftermath with Marisa in this chapter but it is such a strong character moment for her. 

I should probably save this for the next chapter, but Master Youmu is definitely an interesting character. While she’s not quite a full blown villain (from what we’ve seen so far), she’s certainly been a good source of antagonism for this chapter so far.

I... thought I’d have more to talk about tbh. In my defense, this chapter is all about setting up a bunch of mysteries. At least the next chapter is all about answering several of them (while also introducing like a hundred extra characters)

Overall, this is a pretty solid continuation of the previous act. I was expecting this Act to be worse, but that’s because I misremembered what happened in this Act and in Act 3. Act 3 is... not bad, but boy does it make things complicated.

[evilisk]

Random Impressions and Thoughts on Chapter 3, Act 1 of Touhou LostWord

Full impressions are below. tl;dr this chapter has a pretty strong start

= = =

Let’s get straight into things

-I quite like how different this AU is. In this AU, it seems as if the Saigyou Ayakashi almost fully bloomed. Now, the only way of preventing its full awakening is through ritualistic / sacrificial duels. As an edgelord at heart, I can appreciate a dark setup like this.

- The structure of the story (at least for now) is pretty great. You spend most of this first act trying to escape with the other team. This is pretty good writing: the tension is great, it’s also smart of them to make you care for the other team you’re going to have to fight

- They actually give an explanation about the difference between phantoms and ghosts and, after looking it up on the Wiki, it’s... actually a really good explanation! Like, I legitimately found it hard to understand the difference between the two until now.

-This is the chapter where it becomes VERY obvious that the main character has a thing for Sakuya. Not gonna lie, I’d be annoyed by this if the MC wasn’t a girl 

-I have mixed thoughts about the Kung Fu Fairies. So in this chapter, the heroines have to fight fairies from what is basically a Kung Fu Gensokyo AU. Some of the explanations are acceptable e.g. if Fairies are pure life force, then theoretically they should be able to manipulate Qi and use Kung Fu right? But then they really stretch the concept here, like the Fairies being able to create duplicates cast from their own lifeforce or Cirno being able to throw out exploding ice punches because “Kung Fu Cirno can generate cold and cold also generates heat”. It’s way less impressive than the last few chapters, which were more about the non-combat applications of character’s powers.

-Our heroines aren’t any better tbh. Reimu is able to dodge Kung Fu Lily White because of some convoluted explanation about spirit manipulation when I would have been perfectly okay with “Reimu good at dodging”. There’s also Sakuya speeding up Marisa and Reimu’s metabolism so they can fight longer. 

-The only reasonable power up was Marisa using some of Byakuren’s magic to fight on an equal footing. Unfortunately, Marisa later pulls up some Joseph Joestar-style BS about creating ice hands with Narumi’s magic and then using Alice’s magic to puppeteer them later on. Unless I’m missing something here, Narumi has never had an ice themed spellcard before.

-Don’t know how to feel about this chapter really upping the power level of the tree from Touhou 7. The Saigyou Ayakashi is obviously dangerous but here it’s an apocalyptic, world ending threat.

-There’s an early joke about how Master Youmu and Little Yuyuko’s explanatory play has extremely outdated slang, and not only is the moment funny but it’s actually rather good foreshadowing about exactly how long these sacrificial duels have been going on for.

-Knowing how Act 3 plays out, I’m surprised an explanation for the concept for Temperaments appeared this early in the chapter. I *definitely* forgot about it.

-Not gonna lie, I’m not a fan of the alternate Yuyuko being a little girl, even though there is a story reason for it.

That’s all I’ve got so far. I don’t have a lot to say about the specific character interpretations here. It’s mostly plot, plot, plot, with most of the character writing happening for the alternate character OC’s. I guess it’s worth pointing out that while LW-Sakuya is fairly serious and no-nonsense, canon-Sakuya can honestly be a bit of a weirdo at times.

LW-Yuyuko has a slightly better showing this chapter (though she’s only here for five before we change settings). It’s still not great (Remilia and Sakuya give her some really bad excuse about why they should hand over their Red Seal Crystal, and she and Youmu totally buy it and have to be scolded by Reimu of all characters) but she’s also straight up drunk for most of her appearance here, so that’s... an excuse, I guess. 

I should also mention that while Okina and Yukari are known to be Sages by a few select characters, I don’t remember if Reimu or Marisa are aware that Kasen is a Sage too. Actually... Marisa may know, because of the events of Touhou 14.5. I’m pretty sure Reimu only knows that she’s an Oni. 

Before I go onto rewatch Chapter 2, here’s a list of my random, favorite moments from this Chapter:

Before going to the alternate Arena AU, OG Okina and Kasen introduce themselves to the MC by saying they are both much nicer and much more trustworthy than Yukari is

The whole scene with Remilia and Sakuya breaking into Hakugyokurou, Yuyuko pointing out that they’re trespassing and Remilia and Sakuya actually going back the way they came and politely knocking on the front door so they can re-enter

Master Youmu literally saying “DONG DONG” to signify that a gong is being hit during their play 

Marisa countering Cirno, who froze the inside of her Hakkero, by hitting Cirno over the head with her heavy, frozen Mini-Hakkero

[evilisk]

I Need To Talk About Lostword Yuyuko

What started off as a rant about the recent LostWord Easter event has basically become a rant about LW’s portrayal of Yuyuko. [WARNING: This post will have spoilers for the ending of the Touhou manga, Silent Sinner in Blue]

= = =

The recent Easter-themed Sword Festival event has only cemented LostWord Yuyuko as one of my least favorite portrayals of Yuyuko. While gluttonous portrayals of the Ghost Mistress are common, few border on the character assassination that is LostWord’s portrayal. Let me put it this way; if this version of Yuyuko was in Silent Sinner in Blue, she would have fucked up Yukari’s plan, probably for a food related reason.

I’ve had problems with LW Yuyuko, even before this event. In the prologue, they flanderize her hungry personality so much that she comes across as stupid. She even straight up says that her first thoughts after encountering the Crystal McGuffins were to wonder “what’s the best way to cook these? Boiling, steaming or frying them?” 

(This is basically how Yuyuko is introduced in LostWord)

I continued to have my doubts when I got to Chapter 3. Now, admittedly, the version of Yuyuko in Chapter 3 is not the “main” Yuyuko. But I still had my reservations about her because 1) Alter Yuyuko feels more like a plot device, used to develop Alter Youmu, rather than a character in her own right and 2) so far the only difference between main Yuyuko and alter Yuyuko (besides alter Yuyuko’s physical appearance) is their relationship to food. 

While I’ll get more in-depth about point 1 when I fully review Chaper 3, I am not even kidding when I say that alter Yuyuko’s job is to... cook food for the other characters. Imagine coming up with a premise that lets you do any sort of Touhou AU, and this is what you come up with. “She’s a Yuyuko that cooks food instead of eating it!” It’s especially disappointing because I know the writers of LostWord can do better.

This Easter event has only cemented my dislike of LW Yuyuko. Let’s go over the climax of the event:

Toyohime reveals that the Egg McGuffin was originally hers and it’s basically capable of generating Infinite Egg dishes (don’t ask why Toyohime would do such a thing. This isn’t even the first time one of Toyohime’s inventions ended up loose in Gensokyo in LostWord. The LW Lunar Capital is VERY sanitized)

Yuyuko refuses to give the invention back. She has no real justification, only “finders keepers” bullshit. Yuyuko refusing to return the invention is just straight up character assassination. While the Lunarians of LW are much chummier than the canon versions, this is still a Lunar Capital that’s supposed to have threatened Earth, specifically Gensokyo, during incidents like SSiB and Touhou 15. Yuyuko is basically putting the Earth in danger... because she REALLY wants to eat eggs. 

Even the story thinks Yuyuko doesn’t have the moral high ground here. Marisa thinks her excuse doesn’t hold up (because that rule “only applies to the Outside World, not to Gensokyo”) while Youmu thinks Yuyuko is just going too far. 

Despite Yuyuko’s iffy justification, she duels Toyohime, Toyohime loses, probably because the MC wasn’t on her side, and then Toyohime relents because...? I don’t know, she was really embarrassed? The whole idea of Toyohime accepting those terms at all is silly. The Lunarians could easily invade Gensokyo if they really needed the McGuffin back, but whatever, this isn’t a story about Yuyuko’s actions having consequences

Yuyuko finally has the McGuffin to herself. Remember how Toyohime just explained that the device can make infinite egg dishes? Well despite what Toyohime has just said, Yuyuko has decided she is just going to eat everything for herself.  

(This was my exact reaction to Yuyuko’s bullshit)

At this point in the story, I was in denial. I thought “Marisa and Youmu objected to Yuyuko’s selfish actions. Does this mean... that maybe... this whole event is supposed to be character development for Yuyuko, and that final battle is going to be about slapping some sense into Yuyuko?”

Yeah... no. Instead of forcing Yuyuko to realize how stupid she’s being, we instead side with Yuyuko to beat up all the other characters that want to eat too. It’d be one thing if the others wanted ownership of the egg but everyone was more than willing to share. Rumia word for word says “You can share some of it”. Yuyuko won’t even do that, and the other characters are forced to duel her for it.

At some point, the writers realize that “wait, isn’t Yuyuko basically the villain here?” so the scene right after has Marisa point out “it’s literally infinite egg dishes”. What is Yuyuko’s response? “I forgot lol”. It’s an obvious attempt to remove the blame from Yuyuko, they even have the characters respond by going “oh we thought you were just being really selfish”. But this is a weak excuse. She forgot? There was a span of, like, five minutes between Toyohime carefully explaining the infinite dishes and Yuyuko “forgetting”. Even if you were to accept Yuyuko “forgetting that she can create more dishes”, this still does not reflect well on Yuyuko, because now she seems like she doesn’t pay attention.

Summed up, LostWord Yuyuko:

Seemingly has no attention span

Is childishly stubborn about things she feels she’s owed, even when other characters point out that she’s wrong

Is unwilling to share, even if it’s for characters who deserve it (like Sakuya and Tenshi, who basically rescued the egg earlier in the event)

Is more than willing to put everyone in danger for her appetite

Like I said, if LostWord Yuyuko was inserted into Silent Sinner in Blue, she’d have fucked up Yukari’s plan. Now I keep bringing this up, but what do I mean by this? Despite what fan works (and even some official works) would have you believe, Yuyuko is actually fairly intelligent. 

She’s not a scheming mastermind like Eirin or Yukari, but in canon she is consistently portrayed to be smarter than she lets on. Silent Sinner in Blue is the primary example of this: she acts as Yukari’s partner in crime, without needing any sort of instructions from Yukari. Not only does Yuyuko execute Yukari’s plan perfectly, she even manages to troll Yukari a little. Yukari expects her to steal a treasure: 

Yuyuko steals... sake.

(Who was it that was supposed to be left speechless...?)

While she could probably be described as being high Wisdom (rather than high Intelligence like Eirin or Yukari), the point is Yuyuko usually knows more than she lets on. I’d almost say the constant eating is meant to distract you from that... at least in canon. I’m certain most fan works think eating is all there is to her personality. This leads to my main point: the food obsession isn’t the main problem. While I don’t like it, it’s also not something that was invented by fans. You can’t be anti-foodie Yuyuko because it’s something the official works themselves have leaned into.

You can characterize Yuyuko in so many ways while still keeping her food obsession. The problem with LostWord is that’s Yuyuko’s characterization and relationship with food comes at the expense of her actual character. 

You’re telling me... that this Yuyuko... a Yuyuko who puts her hunger over Gensokyo’s safety... is supposed to be the same Yuyuko who took her own life because she realized how dangerous her powers were?  I’m supposed to believe that this Yuyuko, who forgot that her Egg McGuffin could create more dishes for everybody after only five minutes, was also able to carry out a month long Moon Heist for Yukari without the need for any instructions at all?

I don’t buy it. LostWord Yuyuko is not Yuyuko. This version of Yuyuko is a womanchild who has no thoughts, only images of food in her head. You know you’ve messed up the writing when noted dork, Youmu, comes off as the mature character out of the two.

[evilisk]

Just finished Chapter 3 Act 4. Some off the cuff thoughts:

This Act went places I did not expect it to.

I am now convinced that they wanted to finish the Chapter 3 in Four Acts (due to that whole Japanese “4 = Death” superstition) because Act 4 is ridiculously short compared to Act 3

The writers are really into Yukari X Yuyuko huh?

This chapter actually taught me a few things about Touhou lore. For example, I never knew that the Genso-Lunar War preceded the creation of Gensokyo. Props to the writers for that.

NGL, the ending is a bit unsatisfying. The climax is good but they kicked the heroines and Lossy back to Gensokyo way too quickly. Unlike the Scarlet Tower Universe, the Hakugyoku Arena AU was way more messed up by the end. I needed way more closure than Okina spouting off Thank You notes from the characters.

I suspected that Touhou 8 might be the focus of the next Chapter, so I was not surprised at that ending hook.

I also have a lot of... thoughts... about LostWord’s version of Yuyuko’s backstory. I’ll save that for another time though.