Touhou VI - Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil posted:

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In Gensokyo, it was an unbelievably chaotic time.

To a random visitor, it must have seemed that even the ghost of summer itself was troubled. It was supposed to be a typical summer, but now Gensokyo was covered in a deep scarlet red.

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In the eastern mountains, far from civilization, lies the isolated Hakurei Shrine.

Originally, no humans lived on these mountains. These days, very few dared to travel into the land called Gensokyo. Gensokyo, then and now, was populated with many non-humans, along with a few prideful humans.

Humans outside of Gensokyo turned to developing their culture and civilization, and so chose to remove darkness from their lives. This, too, was desired by creatures living in this darkness, as both they and humans could now enjoy their lives without the nuisance of each other.

One summer day, a disturbing fog quietly enveloped Gensokyo. It seemed as if Gensokyo itself hated sunlight.

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Reimu Hakurei, a shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, lived a fairly peaceful life. Since shrine visitors were fairly rare, she'd sometimes be bored, but still very much enjoyed herself.

On that day, Reimu was a little more bored than usual.

Reimu: "Geez, what is this? Without sunshine, this weather will never go away."

At this rate, the mist would cross over through the shrine and into civilization. If Gensokyo caused any problems, the outside world would probably take notice of it, and try to remove it from existence.

Reimu: "Well, fixing the source of this problem is the work of a shrine maiden (is it?). I think the lake down there is suspicious. Let's go!"

The target: an unexplained mist. As a girl of excellent intuition, she trusted her instincts and took off in that direction.

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One of the few human residents of Gensokyo, Marisa Kirisame, was just being an ordinary girl, flying as she normally does.

At some time, she noticed that fog had hidden the entire lake from view. And so she, being of somewhat normal intuition, realized that there must be something being hidden there.

Marisa: "Normally, people build villages near water, I think."

Monsters need water too. She has such human-like thinking.

Marisa: "Oh yeah, something's moving over there. Lemme check it out."

The young lady set off after something valuable. Or rather, she set off in search of something valuable.

- 4 -

The lake was entirely covered by the mysterious fog.

A normal human would only survive for about thirty minutes in that fog, but non-humans wouldn't have lasted over thirty minutes either. The center of the fog barely receives any light during the day, and at night filters out even the moon's light as well. From within the fog, a full moon looks hazy and several times larger.

If one were to suppose the fog is the work of a human, one could say that the human must have eaten a belladonna flower.

In the very center of it all is an island, rejected by mankind simply because they they could never live there.

On that island is a mansion, one with very few windows at that.

Inside the mansion, there is neither day nor night. There is is only her.

quote:

Miss Shrine Maiden of Hakurei Shrine, the Eternal Shrine Maiden
Reimu Hakurei
Basic Performance Moving Speed: ★★★ Attack Range: ★★★★ Attack Power: ★★★ Reimu Type A (Spirit Spell Card) Shot: 「Homing Amulet」 Bomb: 「Fantasy Seal」 Summary: Excellent against swarms of weak enemies, but less effective against bosses. Reimu Type B (Dream Spell Card) Shot: 「Persuasion Needle」 Bomb: 「Evil-Sealing Circle」 Summary: A good balance in damage and area covered, but the bomb is fairly weak.

Shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, and protagonist of the Touhou series. She appears quite carefree on the outside, and indeed deep down, she really is carefree.

She lives in her shrine and is rarely visited by anyone, which causes her to be out of touch with current social norms. Even though she only extinguished certain sparks of conflict because they seemed to befall her without warning, her actions have generally resulted in preventing the residents of Gensokyo from visiting human settlements, and keeping outsiders away from wandering into Gensokyo.

If the scarlet mist expands into the shrine and begins seeping into the outer world, then upset humans from the outer world are going to want to destroy Gensokyo. As a shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, it's her duty to restore the good weather that the mist is blotting out. Oh, and defend the shrine and the world it protects.

Charms and the ying-yang orb are her weapons, combined with her power over natural spiritual energy. Additionally, she has gained the ability to fly.

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The protagonist. Chronologically this title is not too far from the previous title, thus her age stays the same as before.

Unintentionally, she is a shrine maiden. Or rather, she is a shrine maiden only because the Touhou series has become the "Shrine Maiden Shooting Game" series. It feels like the cart has been placed before the horse to me.

This time, her outfit is not overly intricate like typical shrine maiden clothing, but has become quite simple and only remotely resembles that of a shrine maiden. Is she really a shrine maiden?

She's more like "You, red-white!" in my opinion.

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An Oriental Western Magician, the Strange Magician
Marisa Kirisame
Basic Performance Moving Speed: ★★★★ Attack Range: ★ Attack Power: ★★★★ Marisa Type A (Magic Spell Card) Shot: 「Magic Missile」 Bomb: 「Stardust Reverie」 Summary: Excellent against bosses, but only covers a small area of the screen. Marisa Type B (Love Spell Card) Shot: 「Illusion Laser」 Bomb: 「Master Spark」 Summary: A little lacking in both damage and coverage, but the bomb is very strong.

Abiding by the fate of a magician, Marisa isolates herself from other people. Although she possesses sharp wisdom, she normally doesn't use it to her benefit.

As a being that humanity has left behind, she doesn't get that involved with them. She's just satisfied being able to do whatever she wants.

Above all things, Reimu is her favorite thing (?), so she frequently visits the red shrine maiden to play.

Her weapon is magic. She leads a self-indulgent life full of playing.

It's not the scarlet mist that bothers her. It's the fact that a wealthy and powerful human is probably behind it. Someone who probably has a lot of rare and valuable collectibles...

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This girl is also one of the protagonists. These two (Marisa and Reimu) are the heroines of the Touhou series.

Marisa has a very contrarian, uncooperative personality, and she really is a pretty bad person. Although she's human, she remains distant from other humans. It's questionable as to whether she really is human, but she is.

This time she's wearing something resembling an apron, so it's hard to tell if she's a magician or what.