I've never been angry at a Touhou Character of this level before besides KKHTA's interpretation of Reisen. I can't even express my anger. I hate this Byakuren.
I almost feel like rooting for the twisted Sanae that exterminates almost all of the bosses, even innocent Kogasa, in Striped Pattern's dark rendition of Sanae's route in Undefined Fantastic Object.
It's pretty possible Byakuren did some things like this even in canon. It's doubtful she'd do it with an unapologetic overblown gritty Hazama-smile like in this doujin, or that the deed itself is as large scale as this one, but on the smaller scale, it's possible. Siding with youkai may deliver you into making some harsh decisions. Youkai are feared for a reason.
But then, I dunno. Byakuren's aim was supposed to be equality between youkai and human, to stop the cycle of eating and exterminating. If she's true to her words, her canon self wouldn't allow something like this to happen. It'd contradict everything she stands for.
But eh. *shrugs* Doujin interpretation. I shouldn't think too much about it.
^ lol She killed a handful of youkai herself, ya know. All must stand in equality under the light of Dharma, and she'll have it one way or another, even if blood must be shed on both sides. Light /=/ Good.
GMO said: ^ lol She killed a handful of youkai herself, ya know. All must stand in equality under the light of Dharma, and she'll have it one way or another, even if blood must be shed on both sides. Light /=/ Good.
This.
Also, I need to see this translated and ordered to form an opinion. But the kid being eaten? well duh. Once you allow for youkai, who are men-eaters, what are you gonna do? ask them to eat only ugly people?
Also, I need to see this translated and ordered to form an opinion. But the kid being eaten? well duh. Once you allow for youkai, who are men-eaters, what are you gonna do? ask them to eat only ugly people?
Diffenetely not all Youkai are human eaters and quite a few of the Touhou cast(which should also mean other Youkai in general) don't even want to eat humans if they can help it.
Tetsamaru said: Diffenetely not all Youkai are human eaters and quite a few of the Touhou cast(which should also mean other Youkai in general) don't even want to eat humans if they can help it.
Things were a bit different 1000 years ago, right?
GMO said: ^ lol She killed a handful of youkai herself, ya know. All must stand in equality under the light of Dharma, and she'll have it one way or another, even if blood must be shed on both sides. Light /=/ Good.
Never said anything about her being good. Whether light = good or not is kinda besides the point.
All I was saying is that Byakuren's going end-justifies-means like this contradicts her ideal of co-existence, because really, who wants to co-exist in a way as warped up as this? It doesn't matter whether she also kills youkai as much as she kills humans, it's still a messed up method of equality that I'm pretty sure not a lot of people would agree with. It's all about how she expressed her ideals.
The thing is, we'll never know how for sure. Touhou is as vague a storyline as ever, so there's always a lot of rooms for interpretations. Whether Byakuren was an unfeeling Nazi in her approach or whether she was a patient Gandhi or something in-between, all works. I'm just saying the first one, which we're basically seeing here, is pretty unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. Considering the first thing she did upon being resurrected was... built a peaceful temple which only real danger to humans was... scaring them. ._.
Which is a youkai's thing in the first place anyway. It may even tie to their existence, or something, considering Shikieiki told Yuuka to scare humans more.
Philemon said: The thing is, we'll never know how for sure. Touhou is as vague a storyline as ever, so there's always a lot of rooms for interpretations.
There are many things that can be left to interpretation, but there are few things that are clear cut if one reads the endings of Undefined Fantastic Object and the profiles.
One of the for sure things is that the youkai that Byakuren saved were fearful. So fearful that they feared the night, the time which has been described throughout the series as belonging to youkai. To have them fear their own time of dominance speaks volumes on their status.
Also, the UFO endings should clear up things on Byakuren's side of things as she felt. She was fair and treated youkai and humans the same. She dealt frankfully and truthfully with both of them.
Oh, and Zun's "Byakuren is a really nice person." quip.