Onigashima
Touhou faction writeups: Youkai Mountain
Onigashima
Past writeups: SDM, Eientei
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/3adpX0MTPmBrlZRhUj0nwW.png The name of this one tells you most of the story, really
Onigashima
It's a mountain full of youkai
Onigashima
Humans are, for the most part, not allowed there
Onigashima
I'm calling this a 'faction' but in reality it's more complicated, there are three factions on the mountain
Onigashima
The kappa, the tengu, and Moriya Shrine
Onigashima
in ascending order of altitude:
Onigashima
The kappa are the most technologically advanced faction* in Gensokyo
Onigashima
* (there are others who outpace them but they're in other places)
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/2X8Ym1TeOjuXrLX1X2hYo8.png they're the engineers of the setting, and a bit chaotic about it
Onigashima
Kappa are very good at anything they're interested in, but their attention is fickle and they slack off or get distracted when forced onto a project they don't care about
Onigashima
They have a shared uniform and a labor union
Onigashima
If they have a leader, we've never met her
Onigashima
there's a second faction of kappa called the Yamawaro, who are kappa that have abandoned the rivers that the kappa normally live in
Onigashima
kappa are aquatic creatures, for the most part
Onigashima
Tengu are generally higher in status than kappa, and more powerful
Onigashima
Their society is very hierarchical, unlike the kappa, with rank and file tengu at the bottom and ootengu/daitengu above them, and the boss at the top
Onigashima
They're very territorial and also powerful drinkers, rivaled only by the oni
Vehrec
Kappa are Girls In Sheds, all inventing their own stuff, Tengu are like an army?
Onigashima
kinda yeah
Onigashima
There are two main types of tengu!
Onigashima
White Wolf Tengu, who act as the mountain's defense force and play ridiculously complicated shogi variants for fun
Onigashima
and Crow Tengu, who act as the mountain's information network, with a particular zeal for journalism
Onigashima
and at the very top of the mountain is Moriya Shrine
https://images.plurk.com/1D6ORx661x9SoMdJbITsGv.png
Onigashima
"Quinn that's a photo" that's because moriya shrine is real
Onigashima
the version in Gensokyo is a bit different, though
Onigashima
It was brought into Gensokyo along with a divine lake, and a pair of gods and a shrine maiden
Onigashima
It's quite an unconventional shrine, being at the top of a mountain humans aren't allowed to climb
Onigashima
they have a small branch shrine on the hakurei shrine grounds, plus a couple roadside mini-shrines more accessible to humans
Vehrec
yeah uh, Location, Location, Location, ladies
Onigashima
Fortunately, after years of negotiation with the tengu and engineering by the kappa
Onigashima
In 2017, an aerial tramway was opened between the base of the mountain and the Moriya Shrine, allowing humans to visit it properly
Onigashima
The main incident associated with Youkai Mountain was in TH10, Mountain of Faith
Onigashima
where the Moriya Shrine demanded that Reimu shut down the Hakurei Shrine because she wasn't doing good enough at shrine business
Onigashima
so Reimu went up to give them a piece of her mind
Onigashima
These days, both shrines are still in operation, and are petty business rivals
Onigashima
Notable Characters
Onigashima
Starting with the Kappa!
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/5sqaREaS2xGBgQynyJNAvP.png Nitori Kawashiro
Onigashima
the face of the kappa in touhou!
Onigashima
A very kappa-like kappa, she's easily spooked but very enthusiastic about technology
Onigashima
and also a crafty businesskappa, showing up quickly wherever there's money to be made
Onigashima
She has an optical camo suit
Onigashima
Often seen during incidents, trying to profit off of them
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/3BsugnYiV4zTeIXep4OKl3.png Takane Yamashiro
Onigashima
A new addition to the cast! She debuted in Touhou 18, Unconnected Marketeers, the most recent mainline game
Onigashima
She's the leader of the Yamawaro mentioned above, apparently by virtue of being slightly more polite than the others
Onigashima
A minor character, she's just a stage 2 boss, who tries to shoo the human PCs off the mountain
Onigashima
But once she loses, she's eager to start doing business and bartering with them
Onigashima
The kappa love capitalism
Onigashima
Next, the tengu!
dragon time
Kappatalism
Onigashima
Tenma is the boss tengu
Onigashima
He has never been seen, so we don't know what he looks like
Onigashima
all we know about him is that he came to some kind of agreement with the Moriya Shrine that allowed them to operate on youkai mountain
Onigashima
probably by battling the gods for a while
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/6cmVTLfzgvfJtTn1RzAYVY.png Megumu Iizunamaru
Onigashima
The Great Tengu in charge of the crow tengu
Onigashima
Also making her debut in Unconnected Marketeers, she's very cunning and manipulative
Vehrec
her slipper-geta combo is powerful.
Onigashima
She uses lies of omission to persuade the players into taking out her chief business rival
Onigashima
All around troublesome person
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/61cF0MHDcHRRcth9iNIdM2.png Aya Shameimaru
Onigashima
The most well-known touhou tengu, and the first one introduced.
Vehrec
Great Reporter Aya!
Onigashima
Aya is a deeply unethical journalist, running her own pseudo-tabloid newspaper, the Bunbunmaru Shinbun
Villain
Nosy Busybody Aya!
Onigashima
She talks a big game about seeking out and reporting the truth, but she regularly bends the truth to suit her own ends and/or write more interesting articles
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/76N7I3cpae081kpnbhnivi.png She used to look like this, but she wears a suit now.
Onigashima
Aya's path into canon is actually strange and convoluted
HotXC
the suit look is so good
Onigashima
The origin of it was back shortly after Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, when ZUN had the idea of a game based around taking photos of danmaku
Onigashima
But to create this idea, he needed to create a character for it
Onigashima
Aya was created for this eventual purpose, first appearing in the print work Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, where she interviews various characters about goings on in Gensokyo
Onigashima
her first game appearance was as one of the many playable characters in versus shmup Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Onigashima
then, she slid into the main series as the fourth boss of Mountain of Faith
Onigashima
then, finally, ZUN gave her her own spinoff game, Shoot the Bullet, where you use her camera to take pictures of attacks as the rest of the cast tries to kill her
Onigashima
A fan favorite.
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/5qhMJGxbCfHWE8kz3fdc4.png Momiji Inubashiri
Onigashima
The only named white wolf tengu
Onigashima
Like Tewi, she's an ascended miniboss! Her first appearance was as Aya's midboss, where she got no dialogue and no spell cards
Onigashima
When very little was known about her, she gained popularity, because people always love the blank slates
Onigashima
she was often seen as sort of a meek honest type who gets topped by Aya
Onigashima
But when she returned in Shoot the Bullet, Aya commented that they don't get along very well because of their different personalities
Onigashima
To my knowledge, there are only two sources that give Momiji any lines, so what we know about her:
Onigashima
- she likes really complicated alternative forms of Shogi. Shit that looks like this
https://images.plurk.com/6lUGQ10ydf9HTI8VvNMudi.png
Onigashima
- She gets along with the crow tengu enough to comisserate with them about not liking her job. A lot of her work is acting as bodyguard to various great tengu, but great tengu are stronger than her, so her being there doesn't actually accomplish anything
Onigashima
She's just getting used as a pawn so that great tengu bigwigs can boast about being important enough to have a bodyguard
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/7EDSbE9isuTLRHUA3u0iUe.png Hatate Himekaidou
Onigashima
Another latecomer to the cast, Hatate is Aya's arch-rival
Onigashima
Another crow tengu journalist, but Aya doesn't respect her methods
Onigashima
Hatate has the ability of 'thoughtography', which lets her take photos remotely with her cellphone
Onigashima
So, she can do her job from home, and is kind of a shut-in
Onigashima
Overall, minor character so far, although she's gotten a few manga cameos
Onigashima
And finally we come to the top of the mountain
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/7mZriIWYDGmKYvBRhDTZ3G.png Sanae Kochiya
Onigashima
The Moriya Shrine Maiden
Onigashima
Or, sort of
Onigashima
She's something like a shrine maiden, but is also a distant ancestor of its god, making her arguably a minor deity
Onigashima
Sanae is, notably, a human from the outside world, who immigrated into Gensokyo along with the shrine for unknown reasons
Onigashima
So, her level of knowledge of the outside world is incredibly high, but her attempts to explain things about it to the locals usually just cause more confusion
Onigashima
She first appeared as an enemy trying to shut down the Hakurei Shrine, but since then she and Reimu have become friends, if still rivals
Onigashima
Sanae is a turbonerd weirdo who often gets derailed into talking about things nobody else understands, like nuclear physics, or mecha anime
Onigashima
She has since become a semi-recurring playable character in the main games, showing up i'd say a bit less often than sakuya
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/5atLu2hTEHFhhOyGbz3pfm.png Kanako Yasaka
Onigashima
The god of the Moriya Shrine
Onigashima
An ambitious and crafty god, who served as the final boss of Mountain of Faith
Onigashima
While she was formerly a god of wind and rain, she's working on transitioning into a god of technology and innovation
Onigashima
Kanako's ability is "the ability to create sky", a power with unclear boundaries that may be impossible for mere humans to comprehend
Onigashima
While Sanae is the face of the Moriya Shrine to the humans, Kanako is the face of the shrine for dealings with the kappa and tengu
Onigashima
She's the one who came to an agreement that let the shrine import onto the mountaintop
Vehrec
Momiji on board games:
ameritrash vs euro games
Vehrec
(she likes both types)
Onigashima
"Is this who Sanae's a descendant of?" nope
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/5FHIROCoaHFdbiki09P72v.png Suwako Moriya
Onigashima
The actual god of the Moriya Shrine
Onigashima
However, she lost control of the shrine to Kanako in the Great Suwa War
Onigashima
But she still hangs out there, and is the one providing most of the blessings that Kanako takes credit for
Onigashima
It's a complicated and fraught relationship, Suwako describes Kanako as an enemy but they still collaborate on some things
Onigashima
like Sanae having two moms
Onigashima
https://images.plurk.com/4uEhbwNF3Ygbr81qauSgCQ.png She has gensokyo's 1 rated hat
Onigashima
That one got long because of the density of the lore and cast! Tomorrow will be about Hell
Onigashima
Suwako was the Extra Stage boss of Mountain of Faith
Onigashima
MoF notably has my favorite overall Touhou soundtrack
Onigashima
Touhou 10 / 東方風神録 ~ Mountain of Faith OST
here's the whole thing. it's so grand and deep-sounding
Onigashima
in which ZUN discovers minor keys
dragon time
The frog girl is a god....
Onigashima
FROG? NO. [GOD]
Onigashima
Sanae's hair ornaments are a frog clip and a snake doodad, representing her ties to kanako and suwako respectively
Onigashima
er, opposite of respectively
Onigashima
frog = suwako, snake = kanako
HotXC
F R O G
Onigashima
Capture Level 10,000
dragon time
Suwako's song is the only one of two I could put lyrics to and the lyrics are kero kero, hopping around
dragon time
And then, gestures to mountain of faith
Onigashima
Onigashima
HotXC
The Gensokyo the Gods Loved is also just The Stage Theme any time I think of stage music in touhou
Onigashima
it's a wonderful track
Onigashima
I have two favorite stage themes, one of them in this game (Onbashira Graveyard) and one in the next (Last Remote)
HotXC
Last Remote and the following boss theme are some of the best
Onigashima
god, Fall of Fall though
Onigashima
MoF's soundtrack is all killer no filler
Princess Emily
suwako,
HotXC
https://images.plurk.com/3VmDk75MDAyde2wabl1xFG.png
アナログ諏訪子様
one of my favorites for 'creepier than canon' art
HotXC
one of the most old-as-hell characters
Onigashima
the Great Suwa War happened in like
Onigashima
300 BC
Echo
Frogod...
Bloodededeborne
Touhou 10 has some damn good music
Onigashima
I actually really love the tengu shogi thing as like
Onigashima
youkai don't live on the same time scale as humans
Onigashima
momiji's probably hundreds of years old
Onigashima
so having really complex games that take years to learn and months to play makes perfect sense
Onigashima
they're ways to fill time in very long lifespans
載入新的回覆