Is there a Touhou character you somewhat feel bad for?

[Vance_croowa_08]

Is there a Touhou character you somewhat feel bad for?

Before you read i would like to say that i'm not very knowledgeable about Touhou canon, so most of this is probably wrong

I'll start with Reimu.
Ironically, i USED to hate Reimu to a comical degree, mostly due to her perceived unpleasant attitude towards others in general (Which was just me hyperfocusing on how she treated Kogasa and Tokiko), Which is sorta understandable due to the fact that she is a top level Youkai exterminator and the maintainer of Gensokyo's balance, if i were in her shoes i probably wouldn't be the most kind-hearted person on the planet. But then i opened up and actually began to understand her a bit more and....I sorta feel bad for her. I don't know, she gives me a general vibe of loneliness and sadness, i guess? She doesn't look very joyous generally and, from my limited understanding, it doesn't seem like people appreciate her that much. Maybe Marisa does but from how i see it they don't seem that close emotionally. Does Reimu even like Marisa? Again keep in mind that i don't interact that much with the Touhou canon, and when i do i don't do it in an attentive way, so correct me if i'm wrong

You could make the argument that she likes being by herself and she just wants to be left alone, which is understandable and also somewhat relatable to me, but even then i can't help but feel bad for her. What do you think?

[williewillus]

This is mostly due to fanworks, but Akyuu's line.

You only live to 20-30 years old and spend most of that time either updating the records or preparing to reincarnate, upon which you lose most of your personal connections and memories, because iirc only the memories related to the Record are kept and even those get hazy.

ZUN doesn't want to handle her death so he uses the "nobody ever ages" logic, and I think he's stated that Akyuu might live longer than usual due to more modern medicine, but in-universe it's probably quite sad.

[Vance_croowa_08]

This is mostly due to fanworks, but Akyuu's line.

You only live to 20-30 years old and spend most of that time either updating the records or preparing to reincarnate, upon which you lose most of your personal connections and memories, because iirc only the memories related to the Record are kept and even those get hazy.

ZUN doesn't want to handle her death so he uses the "nobody ever ages" logic, and I think he's stated that Akyuu might live longer than usual due to more modern medicine, but in-universe it's probably quite sad.

Yeah i imagine living for only 30 years with all of those things is incredibly sad and emotionally pressuring. I wouldn't survive

I find the whole "floating timeline" thing sorta weird, like it feels weird to see Reimu still looking like a 20 something despite having spent 30 years solving incidents. Personally i like to believe that Reimu was born in 1980, it makes sense with the timeline cuz Reimu would have solved her first incident in 1995, when she was like a teen , after all pc-98 Reimu does look sorta like a teen. It would have been interesting if 2hus actually aged, it would have made for interesting stories

[CyberAngel]

Well, there's definitely Parsee. Unlike other characters whose attitude is flexible and purely their own choice, she's stuck the way she is. Either due to metaphysical reasons, with jealousy defining her whole being, or due to sunk cost fallacy making her double down on her behavior. Being no stranger to unhealthy mindsets, I can empathize with that, but also find it very sad when someone can't or doesn't want to break out of it.

There's also Youmu and Resien. They're kinda stuck in subordinate roles they don't exactly enjoy. While their bosses are definitely not bad people, they can be a bit unreasonable (and that tends to be the angle the fanworks like to lean into way too much). They don't have the devotion to deal with the grievances they have with their position, unlike Sakuya, Ran or the religious groups, and they probably don't have any options to even consider for splitting away. I think anyone who has ever had a full-time job can feel their pain.

[Vance_croowa_08]

Well, there's definitely Parsee. Unlike other characters whose attitude is flexible and purely their own choice, she's stuck the way she is. Either due to metaphysical reasons, with jealousy defining her whole being, or due to sunk cost fallacy making her double down on her behavior. Being no stranger to unhealthy mindsets, I can empathize with that, but also find it very sad when someone can't or doesn't want to break out of it.

There's also Youmu and Resien. They're kinda stuck in subordinate roles they don't exactly enjoy. While their bosses are definitely not bad people, they can be a bit unreasonable (and that tends to be the angle the fanworks like to lean into way too much). They don't have the devotion to deal with the grievances they have with their position, unlike Sakuya, Ran or the religious groups, and they probably don't have any options to even consider for splitting away. I think anyone who has ever had a full-time job can feel their pain.

If it makes you feel better, if Satori's words in the SA cross review are true (i hope), Parsee deep down has a good heart but she's unable to show it due to her terrible ability. Very sad

Also i don't really agree with what you said about Eirin and Yuyuko not being bad people. Like it's literally canon that Youmu is an exploited worker that doesn't get any pay or vacations, then again she doesn't look like she cares about it that much. And Eirin is incredibly suspiscious. Yes she isn't abusive towards Reisen in any way (if you don't consider inaba of the moon and inaba of the earth canon, which i don't and it probably isn't) and it seems that she does care about her to some degree, she can be pretty messed up sometimes (trying to kill Patchouli in SSiB, Kaguya literally confirming that she used to be pretty ruthless in the past). Also i don't think Reisen really hates her position that much, she did lash out a lot in AoCF as her dream self, so maybe she does resent it a bit? Kaguya and Eirin do like her somewhat so it's a bit reassuring

[CyberAngel]

Yuyuko acts like nobility so she needs a 24/7 retainer. She tries to care for and teach Youmu in return, but seems pretty clueless about it. Which, more often than not, leaves Youmu baffled instead of helping.

Eirin is definitely still pretty scheming but is trying to leave that in the past. Reisen is mostly troubled by controlling the other rabbits. Which isn't even something she's supposed to do, Tewi does that just fine. But it feels like she's stuck in a strict hierarchical mindset from her time on the moon, and in her arrogance places herself above earth rabbits, while in reality she is just a guest on their territory and is treated accordingly.

It's not even that the situations Youmu and Reisen in are bad, it's that they don't know how to handle them properly. It definitely feels like both of them are in need of some time for soul-searching, but are too caught up in their routines to even consider it. And that's something that should be pretty familiar to many people with how the usual modern lifestyle tends to be.

[Vance_croowa_08]

Yuyuko acts like nobility so she needs a 24/7 retainer. She tries to care for and teach Youmu in return, but seems pretty clueless about it. Which, more often than not, leaves Youmu baffled instead of helping.

Eirin is definitely still pretty scheming but is trying to leave that in the past. Reisen is mostly troubled by controlling the other rabbits. Which isn't even something she's supposed to do, Tewi does that just fine. But it feels like she's stuck in a strict hierarchical mindset from her time on the moon, and in her arrogance places herself above earth rabbits, while in reality she is just a guest on their territory and is treated accordingly.

It's not even that the situations Youmu and Reisen in are bad, it's that they don't know how to handle them properly. It definitely feels like both of them are in need of some time for soul-searching, but are too caught up in their routines to even consider it. And that's something that should be pretty familiar to many people with how the usual modern lifestyle tends to be.

Well, this does paint a more positive picture about Reisen and Youmu. I honestly Hope Zun expands more on their behavior and attitudes in general, i feel like they're very interesting characters that really deserve more exploration, especially in regard to their relationship with their superiors

[lambdacore]

I feel pretty bad for both Kogasa and Flandre. The former is constantly battling with her self confidence and doesn't seem to have many friends if any barring one reference from Marisa regarding Kagerou if memory serves. Otherwise I don't think Reisen is all too happy either, albeit partially as a fish out of water as a former moon rabbit living among a bunch of earth rabbits.

[Vance_croowa_08]

I feel pretty bad for both Kogasa and Flandre. The former is constantly battling with her self confidence and doesn't seem to have many friends if any barring one reference from Marisa regarding Kagerou if memory serves. Otherwise I don't think Reisen is all too happy either, albeit partially as a fish out of water as a former moon rabbit living among a bunch of earth rabbits.

God Reisen really needs a hug, a very very big hug

Kogasa is pretty sad too. Her entire purpose is to scare people but she never succeeds due to her innocuous appearance, no matter how hard she tries. She doesn't have any friends and on top of that when she does interact with someone she usually gets crapped on unfairly

[lambdacore]

God Reisen really needs a hug, a very very big hug

Kogasa is pretty sad too. Her entire purpose is to scare people but she never succeeds due to her innocuous appearance, no matter how hard she tries. She doesn't have any friends and on top of that when she does interact with someone she usually gets crapped on unfairly

Not quite as sad as both Satori and Koishi on top of that, both of them were shunned due to their ability to read people's thoughts. Of course Koishi shut her third eye, which completely destroyed her mentally, and the fact that the mental torment and isolation was worth that to her says something for sure.

[Vance_croowa_08]

Not quite as sad as both Satori and Koishi on top of that, both of them were shunned due to their ability to read people's thoughts. Of course Koishi shut her third eye, which completely destroyed her mentally, and the fact that the mental torment and isolation was worth that to her says something for sure.

I feel so fire trucking bad for those two. I get that having your mind read isn't very comfortable, but all this hatred and disdain for Koishi and Satori is mostly unjustified. Hell, it doesn't look like they want to use their powers to harm people, and that adds insult to injury. They don't deserve this honestly

[lambdacore]

I feel so fire trucking bad for those two. I get that having your mind read isn't very comfortable, but all this hatred and disdain for Koishi and Satori is mostly unjustified. Hell, it doesn't look like they want to use their powers to harm people, and that adds insult to injury. They don't deserve this honestly

Oh they absolutely don't, it's not something they can control. They hear the thoughts of other whether they like it or not, the closest IRL analog I can think of is like two shunned siblings, one who lives a lonely, sad isolated life and another who drowns themselves in whatever drug or drink of choice they can find to keep themselves high off the ground and isn't really all there most of the time. That's partially the beauty of Touhou, the characters are written fairly well in canon and the fantasy element can create characters who are widely relatable even for people who generally struggle to find characters they relate to.

[Vance_croowa_08]

Oh they absolutely don't, it's not something they can control. They hear the thoughts of other whether they like it or not, the closest IRL analog I can think of is like two shunned siblings, one who lives a lonely, sad isolated life and another who drowns themselves in whatever drug or drink of choice they can find to keep themselves high off the ground and isn't really all there most of the time. That's partially the beauty of Touhou, the characters are written fairly well in canon and the fantasy element can create characters who are widely relatable even for people who generally struggle to find characters they relate to.

Yeah it really makes you feel for the characters. Gosh i wanna give them a hug X(

[CyberAngel]

Satori isn't hated for reading minds per se but for being blunt about it. It's comparable to an armchair psychologist who has read a lot and can analyze people perfectly but doesn't know how to treat the information they get out of it besides blurting it out. And it's very annoying to be vocally picked apart by someone like that. Doesn't help that she's okay with weaponizing that in danmaku form. She's liked by animals and animal youkai though, probably because they have pretty simple childlike minds and are more impressed than annoyed by such ability.

[Vance_croowa_08]

Satori isn't hated for reading minds per se but for being blunt about it. It's comparable to an armchair psychologist who has read a lot and can analyze people perfectly but doesn't know how to treat the information they get out of it besides blurting it out. And it's very annoying to be vocally picked apart by someone like that. Doesn't help that she's okay with weaponizing that in danmaku form. She's liked by animals and animal youkai though, probably because they have pretty simple childlike minds and are more impressed than annoyed by such ability.

Could you give me some examples? I honestly wasn't aware of this side of Satori

Still, i do think that the hate she gets is a bit too harsh, i get that it's annoying but still

[CyberAngel]

That's mostly how the profiles paint her, but her personality is illustrated more in the Foul Detective manga. I didn't really follow it for long so I'm not sure where it went in that regard, but it sure gave an impression that that's how she's seen at the start, which did make her quite fitting for a role of the investigator.

[Vance_croowa_08]

That's mostly how the profiles paint her, but her personality is illustrated more in the Foul Detective manga. I didn't really follow it for long so I'm not sure where it went in that regard, but it sure gave an impression that that's how she's seen at the start, which did make her quite fitting for a role of the investigator.

Thanks

[SirtheBastard]

Speaking about Yuyuko...
It's really grim to know the fact that she killed herself due to her powers being able to kill someone with no effort, and sealed her now dead body under a sakura tree, and also forgot who she was before her death.

Another one being Marisa, who basically became a black sheep of her family due to her interests with magic, which prompted her to leave her family and not associate with them (especially with her father). It's like how your family will reject your interests because they see it as "useless" or "inferior" compared to another thing that they deemed as "superior" or "good". It's kinda relatable, you know?

[Vance_croowa_08]

Speaking about Yuyuko...
It's really grim to know the fact that she killed herself due to her powers being able to kill someone with no effort, and sealed her now dead body under a sakura tree, and also forgot who she was before her death.

Another one being Marisa, who basically became a black sheep of her family due to her interests with magic, which prompted her to leave her family and not associate with them (especially with her father). It's like how your family will reject your interests because they see it as "useless" or "inferior" compared to another thing that they deemed as "superior" or "good". It's kinda relatable, you know?

Marisa's relationship with her father is very interesting, i hope it gets more developed in the future