Always thought of her as an actual "villain" as far as touhous go. Her "gods and buddhas are the same as youkai" made me think she wanted to be worshiped like a god.
Never really gave much thought as to what "equality" between youkai and humans meant before I read this though. Bottom of the food chain's no fun.
dehsue said: Always thought of her as an actual "villain" as far as touhous go. Her "gods and buddhas are the same as youkai" made me think she wanted to be worshiped like a god.
Never really gave much thought as to what "equality" between youkai and humans meant before I read this though. Bottom of the food chain's no fun.
I admit that Yukari was someone I stamped as the true Touhou villain. Even after reading this, it made the premise of Hijiri's god complex more clear, in fanon standards at least. You can't really say that she's a "villain," more like a selfish saint who doesn't think she's bad.
dehsue said: Always thought of her as an actual "villain" as far as touhous go. Her "gods and buddhas are the same as youkai" made me think she wanted to be worshiped like a god.
I thought that was meant to say that while both youkai and god are spiritual beings, humans revile youkai while they worship gods... It was a statement of how one-sided humans can be.
That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that line, not god complex. Remember that her goal was equality, not for her to be worshiped.
dehsue said: Never really gave much thought as to what "equality" between youkai and humans meant before I read this though. Bottom of the food chain's no fun.
Yeah, this is a good point. It all in the end depends on whether youkai really need to eat humans to sustain themselves or not, which, never was clearly addressed in Touhou. >_>
Though we do know youkai do eat other things than humans, but that's about it.
Also, I dunno if there's anybody you can call a real villain in Touhou, at least not by the time of the games.
Tenshi was close to one, but her problem was more immaturity than outright malice. Utsuho is another, but she had the reason of being the idiot with the chain gun.
As far as Touhou goes, it really depends on what you consider "Villinous acts". Remilia for one was diffenetely doing her thing for selfish reasons. I myself always considered Yumemi to actually be a villian as far Touhou is concerned. I doubt her experiments on Reimu/Marisa were going to be pleasant if she had her way.
When it comes to good and evil in touhou I like to think that Zun just has a soft spot for fridge horror and black comedy. It's kind of hard to apply what is written like a joke into a serious discussion about characters and their morality. Usually the evidence a character is evil can be boiled down to a single line dropped out of nowhere in a fairly silly context. Like Yuuka's "genocide is just another kind of game" or Byakuren's "no one witnessed this because all the sailors drowned". Ignoring that single line for either character creates a much kinder picture of them.
Her objective in this interpretation seems to be just to let everything run willy-nilly. Whole survival of the fittest and all that. If anything, she's an anarchist. After all, everyone's equal under a system of rules where the only rule is that there is none.
Somewhere, Buddha is shaking his head in disapproval.
if it comes to truly evil characters in Touhou, then ironically i'd say the closest thing Touhou has is the Saigyou Ayakashi. as stated http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Saigyou_Ayakashi , "this tree is canonically the only truly evil entity in the whole series so far, being a real danger to anyone who attempts to go near it. "
\Atai/ said: if it comes to truly evil characters in Touhou, then ironically i'd say the closest thing Touhou has is the Saigyou Ayakashi. as stated http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Saigyou_Ayakashi , "this tree is canonically the only truly evil entity in the whole series so far, being a real danger to anyone who attempts to go near it. "
All it needs is a malevolent sentience and some bitchin' armor.
if it comes to truly evil characters in Touhou, then ironically i'd say the closest thing Touhou has is the Saigyou Ayakashi. as stated http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Saigyou_Ayakashi , "this tree is canonically the only truly evil entity in the whole series so far, being a real danger to anyone who attempts to go near it. "
Even then, I'm not really sure it's evil. Do we even know it's intelligent?
Her objective in this interpretation seems to be just to let everything run willy-nilly. Whole survival of the fittest and all that. If anything, she's an anarchist. After all, everyone's equal under a system of rules where the only rule is that there is none.
Somewhere, Buddha is shaking his head in disapproval.
It seems like, from a foundation of equality, she is trying to teach them the lesson that samsara is best eschewed: if they want to drink deep of this world's cup, they will have 'supped full with horrors'. On the other hand, if they seek nirvana and to abandon their desires, so too it can be with the youkai. But even then, a youkai 'transgressing' ought to be thought no worse than a human doing so. Someone else commented on the next page about her 'treating the humans as livestock', but remember: she's vegetarian.
Considering this is set just before Byakuren was sealed for over a millennium of attitude adjustment, I don't think it's too much of a departure. Whether there really are no double standards (beyond the classic Byakuren foible of preaching non-attachment to this world - and allowing others to leave it in short order - while buttressing her body with every magic she can) or her perspective as someone no longer human is tipping the balance is up to interpretation.
So basically, portraying Byakuren as the opposite of Miko, despite this being drawn before her game. It actually works quite well.
