I like to make up scenarios where the character in question is a supervillain. It's all in good fun, though.
Weight of the World (GBVS)I'm okay with people presenting their own vision of Gensokyo, but since I didn't get an opportunity to participate in the last thread until the very end, I'd prefer that it not be to the exclusion of description and analysis, which, with a few rare exceptions, it is.
edited 10th Aug '11 3:52:38 PM by SuperDimensionman
We clearly need an analytical person to add to the thread with their analytical insight.
That aside, some people in here do analyze spellcard and musical themes.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI vote for:
- Patchouli, just because
- Kyouko, because TD is almost coming out
- Sunny/Luna/Star, because of what someone said about using QED as a non-spell
Voting for Akyuu, Keine or Watatsukis.
Which I guess means Akyuu at this point.
...I suppose I'm also guilty of not being in analysis mode all the time. I feel like I can't write anything without a theme nowadays.
PRISM. RIVER. THAT IS ALL.
That awkward moment where Kyoro is one of Satan's Generals.Akyuu or watatsuki's
Doing nothing is a choice.The Watatsuki sisters. Or the child of Miare, I guess
Aww, what. The true purpose of the thread, the ban on TD characters, no discussion whatsoever? You guys suck at arguing!
Welp. the Moon Princesses put up a valiant fight, but Akyuu clearly wins with a headstart of three votes.
Is it too early to speculate on what happens when her reincarnations become too short lived to update the chronicle?
She'll be forced to start earlier in order to finish it in time, causing the next edition to be mostly written in crayon.
Maybe whoever's in vcontrol of her situation will always make sure she has long enough to update. That or she has to wait longer before reincarnation in order to HAVE long enough.
As for the Ten Desires "tempban", I'll just elaborate on what I said before: We will know squat about the characters unless we wait a bit. It will be hard to discuss characters in any meaningful way if all we have to go on is a name and a face (due to the fact that the translation will likely take some time)
As for Akyuu's age limit problem, I think it's one of those things that she knows is coming and dreads, but puts off, like a "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" thing. Of course, her working for the Yama between incarnations could help?
Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.I estimate that the translation of the dialog will be at least 80% done within a day or two. That's a conservative estimate. Creating a patch takes longer, but the translation will likely be up on the wiki in no time at all.
Themes:
Japanese SagaChild of Are
Write-up:
"The Hieda always welcome the curious!"
Akyuu, the chronicler. To talk about her is to talk about Gensokyo itself, because she is Gensokyo's memory. To understand Akyuu, a basic understanding of her world is elementary. So let's refresh our memories.
The world used to be filled with gods and youkai, until these beings began losing their powers as a consequence of the human's advancement. The more humans began to understand the world around them, the less they required belief in gods, and the less they feared the unknown and inexplicable. Because youkai and gods cannot exist without people's fear and faith, respectively, a border of common sense was erected around a wide range of land in Japan by Yukari, the youkai of borders. This border contained a human village, and many other places which came to be a home for many fantastical beings and other things that were lost from the outside world. Eventually, a bizarre sort of balance came to be, and youkai and humans began learning to coexist peacefully.
Gensokyo is a young world, however. Before its birth, people lived in fear and constant danger of youkai attacks. Youkai have weaknesses to exploit, or they can be avoided, but who could be trusted to compile all this dangerous knowledge amassed over the ages? It's not known if the following was a lucky coincidence, or if someone planned it to be, but there existed a person known as Aichi. This scholar, who compiled the first "Gensokyo Chronicles" possessed a perfect memory of everything they every learned... and in a cycle of a little over 100 years, this person's soul is resurrected, with the memories of its previous lives still intact. These reincarnations are known as the "Children of Miare", and each one of them lived to update the historical records.
Akyuu is the ninth Child of Miare, and the first to be born in Gensokyo as we know it - an almost idyllic place in which barely anyone is ever eaten by youkai, demonic kidnapping is staged for the sake of entertainment and keeping the "spirit" of youkai-fearing alive, monsters are invited into the houses of humans, and humans are invited into the castles of devils.
As such, Akyuu is no longer as sure of the purpose of her "Gensokyo Chronicles", better known to the fandom outside the fourth wall as Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. The book has always had the main role of helping people survive amongst the youkai, which is becoming less and less relevant. In fact, she wanted to focus on certain fantastic and dangerous individuals in particular in order to give the common people a better impression of what these creatures are like as people. On the other hand, these very creatures themselves would come to hear requesting good PR, to make them sound dangerous and awe-inspiring, and after all, keeping the idea of fearsome youkai alive is necessary to allow them to live at all. Combined with the fact that Akyuu can only learn of everything she did not experience herself from what people tell her, and her desire to make this new edition of the Chronicles fun to read, it might not be the best source for actual facts after all.
But after all this talk of what Akyuu is, what can be said about who she is?
Akyuu has centuries of memory to look back on. She even remembers the details of spending the time not alive working for the yama in hell. At the same time, however, she's still very much a child, happy to make an article sound cute, singing to herself as she writes. She likes to put her personal opinions, tidbits about herself and plain bragging as footnotes into articles. She likes to snark and makes puns. And of course, she loves FM Synthesis music. There's no doubt that she has a healthy bit of confidence and spunk to go with her intelligence.
Perhaps there is a certain disconnect between the age of her soul and the age of her body, allowing her to feel like an ancient being and a child at the same time. Maybe she just tries to live life to the fullest for as long as she can... after all, it's not for very long. The process of reincarnating with your soul intact is very taxing, and so the life expectancy of her bodies deteriorates with every new birth. Indeed, in her situation, it's a boon to know that youkai and humans can now life in peace. Perhaps she can still make friends with some of these longer-lived beings, so that they may welcome her when she is reborn again... perhaps in a future where the border is no longer necessary, and peace between humans and creatures of fantasy has become perfect.
What a paradise that would be to live in.
Relations:
- Keine (fellow scholar)
- Yukari (old friend?)
- Mokou (perhaps...?)
- Pretty much any human and even youkai to an extent
Alternate Character Interpretations:
Exerpts from a letter left in the care of Fujiwara no Mokou
-by asterism
Chronicle of a Death Forestalled
-by Bocaj
A Brief Distraction
-by Otherarrow
Meaning
-by Otherarrow
Snapshots and Stories
-by Pulse
edited 20th Aug '11 2:09:17 AM by Fawriel
I'll be level with you guys; I lifted that profile pretty much wholesale from the previous thread, with a few edits here and there. I don't really see the point in writing a completely new text since this one is so complete. It's pretty long, but I think since Akyuu's not one of those characters you see all over the place, some perspective would be good to have for those who haven't been exposed to her much. Heck, I even forgot some of the things in there even though I wrote the text myself not that long ago.
... Also, when on earth do you guys sleep?
Ah well. If I already saved so much time on the profile, I might as well start working on updating all the links and stuff.
I wonder what kind of pattern there is to Akyuu's lifespan with each reincarnation. I'd like to think it's at least some kind of slow exponential decay. But regardless, it'd be silly if she reached a point where she only lives as long as a mayfly. Would she just die permanently at some point, or "reset the clock" and start over?
(I suspect my not having read certain sources is showing. I'm only going on incomplete second-hand information here.)
This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...Aya's article on Akyuu's birth hints that the Child of Miare can be of either gender.
And for reference the previous eight were named Aichi, Ani, Ami, Ayo, Ago, Amu, Anana and Aya. The very first incarnation, and orginal wielder of the memory powers, was named Hieda Are.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:20:27 AM by asterism
Weight of the World (GBVS)So, the PMiSS article says that, well, PMiSS is even available for youkai now.
I wonder what the youkai like in it.
One half of our minds sleep while the other continues to function. When that happens is when wonderposting happens.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:25:19 AM by yarrunmace
you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped'SHE CALLED ME FAT!'
Kogasa probably reads it for tips on how to be more intimidating.
Also, remix of Japanese Saga.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:32:26 AM by asterism
Weight of the World (GBVS)x6 As you say, Akyuu is a conundrum. She remembers all of her previous lives, but not her feelings about them. She's simultaneously ancient and very young. How old is she, mentally? An old woman? A young girl? Somewhere in-between? It's something to think about.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:30:19 AM by Pulse
I sure said that!Old acquaintances maybe, but I got the distinct impression that they weren't friends. Something that Akyuu regrets a bit, because she hasn't made any immortal friends in her multiple lives.
Regarding the new "peaceful Gensokyo" I'm fairly certain it's not quite that harmonious. I mean, the best source of that is Memorizable Gensokyo itself where she muses on it and notes that her "survival guide" may not be necessary anymore, but even in that her servant seemed pretty horrified by the idea of greeting a youkai as a guest. Equilibrium, sure, but that's not quite the same thing as casually inviting a youkai over for tea. The main characters are an exception of course, but they're all pretty youkai-like themselves.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:39:53 AM by Clarste
Dunno about her being friends with Yukari. Her article describes Yukari with the same polite disdain that Akyuu treats everyone with.
Reading through Perfect Memento, I wondered how Akyuu managed to get an article on Higan. Until I realised she's died at least eight times.
edited 11th Aug '11 7:49:16 AM by asterism
Weight of the World (GBVS)Hmm, it's only natural for the servant to be terrified of Yukari. Whatever the relations between humans and youkai might be like, even if they were as harmonious as relations between any two human races, letting a person like Yukari enter into your house is like letting a heavily armed gunman into your house, except you can't ask him to put the guns down because they are a part of himself.
I personally prefer not to move all too far from what can be considered close to canon, unless it's in the name of extreme awesomeness (see: Spideryamame). I'm also pretty sure that not everyone is actually sharing their personal vision but rather making one up for the sake of a story. But, I refuse to bar anyone from moving far from canon or creating a one-shot alternate universe or any such thing, if that's what they want to do. I'm only here to keep things running, and if the people decide they want to write stories, stories they shall write.
edited 10th Aug '11 2:54:02 PM by Fawriel