2 March 2015

Ship Sinking

Nnh... Kiba here. 

My apologies, I'm in a terrible mood. I got wrecked terribly several times over in that super popular Ship Girls Collection game when a bunch of people I don't even know decided to grief me something bad. Worst of all was that stupid fellow who decided to write "^ Lolicon Here" next to my name because I was ranked just above him. 

It must have been that lunatic princess Kaguya Houraisan's doing again. She's got a heck of a grudge against me, the two of us being online game rivals and all, and having a bad relationship either drives you mad or makes you want to drive the other person mad.

Take Okuu's Look-alike, for example. She was screaming and kicking up a fuss over the whole of last week because of a bad relationship, or rather, bad relationships. "More than ten Travel Tickets gone, and how many did I get back? Do you &^%$#@ers think that divorce is a @*#&^$%ing game?" 

I know that feel, miss dictator person. Life simulations aren't just games, they're ... life. As far as I can tell, Okuu's Look-alike isn't opposed to breakups or in fact to divorce as a whole, rather that it shouldn't mess up anyone else's lives apart from the two culprits responsible. And when a married couple decides to take chunks out of each other, it's often hard for them to remember that kids can't be split down the middle. It would be a veritable Nightmare of (King) Solomon.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that Okuu's Look-alike regarded two of the latest developments which were, in essence, impending signs of a further increase in the tax on Travel Tickets. But, of course, for the islanders involved, it was nothing more than unparalleled bliss.

Don't ask Okuu's Look-alike in a bad mood to think of pick-up lines for you. She has a rather tasteless sense of humour. She still said yes...

Today, the permanently depressed schoolteacher Nozomu Itoshiki decided that it was time to confront his feelings - that he wanted to be with someone who would care to share his despair. So after deciding what to wear, he decided to meet at who knows where with the hare of the bizarre stare, Reisen Udongein Inaba. No, the "ba" is pronounced like "bar".

It's a rather odd pairing, to be honest, and Okuu's Look-alike was worried that it seemed kind of forced since the two are living in adjacent apartments and were introduced within days of each other, but who's to argue? People in love do the strangest things, and besides, even Okuu's Look-alike wouldn't curse anyone with the immense misfortune of being Mister Kimura's partner for life.

On that other incident which was of great concern to the dictator-for-life of Gensokyo Island, today Desco Kazamatsuri and Mitsukuni Haninozuka announced the bringing of the newest grotesque unearthly abomination upon this earth. And considering that DESCO herself is in fact grotesque and unearthly (albeit cutesy), I'm not using the word 'abomination' with even the slightest touch of sarcasm. This spawn of hers was so horrifying it was said to instantly induce insanity in any normal person who saw it. But Okuu's Look-alike was already insane, so it was okay for her to close long enough to conduct emergency plastic surgery to disguise the creature's appearance and render it less fatal to the innocent. And Honey-senpai is a world class martial artist, so... dealing with interdimensional monstrosities isn't a problem for him. You watched Power Rangers, didn't you?

Anyway, it is with great trepidation that I present to you the edited photograph of the horrific being... um... I can't say her name.

Yeah, come on. Say her name three times.

Seeing as to how she's of a personality type that Okuu's Look-alike has been looking out for (Madness-inducing Formless Aberration of the Infinite Abyss), she has already been muttering on and on about wanting to add her to the island. She's already made up her mind that this newest child's favourite colour is going to be Yellow. The King, um the Queen in Yellow. And she'll have her own sign and stuff. Maybe even write a play about her.

Well, it's not like my word carries any weight around here, but I rather object to that plan. For starters, if DESCO's daughter was added as an islander, she would be the first non-original character to be based on a non-Japanese source! And that's totally outrageous for an Japan-worshipping otaku like me. I mean, yes, there's Drake Kitazawa, better known by the name of Utonium, but at least his full name's drawn from a Japanese series. Ugh, that really grinds my gears, no wonder I'm in a bad mood! What? No, the fact that she's a madness-inducing formless aberration of the infinite abyss has nothing to do with my feelings., I'm all for equal opportunity regardless of physical form or lack thereof.

Ugh... formless beings, terrible relationships, bad tempers, abyssal grudges, sinking ships... it's kind of appropriate, really, considering the star of today's interview. Having spent more than several lifetimes contemplating her fate at the bottom of the sea, she has re-emerged to sink all your ship girls spread the faith of Buddhism to demonstrate that even formerly lost abyssal beings like her can be reformed. It doesn't mean she's a nice person, though... Please meet today's featured Gensokyo Island celebrity, Captain Minamitsu Murasa.

Minamitsu Murasa
All information correct as of 2 March 2015

 Must... drown... somebody...

Name: Minamitsu Murasa
Nickname: Murasa (pronounced "Captain Murasa")
Date of Birth: 19th July 2009
Personality: Independent Thinker
Favourite Colour: White
Quotation: "I'm the Captain!"

Minamitsu Murasa is the 4th Stage Boss character of Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object by Team Shanghai Alice. She is a funayuurei, the ghost of a person who died at sea and became a vengeful spirit, either dragging others into the sea or attempting to sink ships. Thus, she has the abilities of ghosts such as not needing to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, walking through walls, and assuming an incorporeal ectoplasmic, translucent and sickly green shape. Murasa also carries an anchor and a ladle The anchor is her primary weapon and a representation of her former life, while the ladle represents her grudge - according to the folktales, the funayuurei appears at sea and asks for a ladle, which it proceeds to use to fill a boat with water.

The contradiction in Murasa's otherwise destructive nature appeared when she tried to capsize the ship belonging to Byakuren Hijiri, a famous Buddhist nun (who will not be appearing on Gensokyo Island due to a lack of gradient hair). In response, however, Byakuren tried to calm Murasa's spirit and eventually encouraged her to embrace Buddhism and abandon a lifetime or rather deathtime of capsizing ships and killing innocents, saving her soul. Now, Murasa works as an assistant to Byakuren at the Myouren Temple, as well as formerly being the captain of Byakuren's floating Palanquin Ship.

These two sides of Murasa make her a very difficult character to pin down. While she is capable of great destruction she's also someone who has learned to embrace peace, and she preaches a religion of life while being somewhat mouldy herself. That's what led me to think that she's not all as hot-blooded and battle-hungry like many doujinshi portray her to be... maybe in her quieter moments she reflects on the contradictions in her life and learns to embrace both sides to move forward. So assigning a brawler like Murasa the Thinker personality isn't so odd, at least in my mind.

Please also note that Murasa on Gensokyo Island has been asked to fill in the role of playing a male character, as has her good buddy Shou Toramaru, also from Undefined Fantastic Object. No, I don't have a grudge against the Myouren Temple or anything. I just thought it was convenient since when these characters were first released people thought that they had a very boyish appearance, and it would be difficult to describe either as being conventionally "girly".

Whoa whoa that's too much information! Thiere might be kids reading this blog, Murasa!

Wife: Aliasse Foerster
Best Friend: Maximillian Magma
Children: Drake, Mitsuko, Chester

As mentioned earlier in this post, Murasa and Aliasse Foerster's marriage is one of those that's currently feeling the strain, as a result of having absolute opposite personalities. It's ludicrous (as is the Miis' concept of divorce) but unfortunately we play the hand we're dealt. They've actually had an excellent relationship so far and I'd just like to think Aliasse is on a bit of a bender at the moment, so no hard feelings. Unless, like what happened with Kyouko Kasodani and Wriggle Nightbug... then I think some permanent psychological damage will be par for the course.

Murasa's choice of a best friend is a rather odd one at first glance. Maximillian Magma? Sure, both are Independent Thinkers, and both of them have names that start with M, but Team Magma's Maxie, the guy who wants to dry up the sea, versus a ghost who lives (or used to live) in the sea? Like Murasa's contradictary nature, perhaps there's method in the madness after all. 

Maybe Murasa also bears a grudge against the sea for drowning her, or possibly after being reformed Murasa now wants to prevent others from sharing her fate. Maxie's efforts of drying up the cruel sea would both spite Murasa's killer and reduce the number and likelihood of people drowning far from land where no one could possibly see or save them. However, considering that Gensokyo Island's Maxie is a pretty villainous guy, while his counterpart Archibald Aqua of Team Aqua is of a decently nice, jolly sort who's just concerned about the environment, I'm a little concerned as to what Murasa's ultimate plans may be...

As for Murasa's children, Mitsuko is a pretty normal name for a girl, while both boys are named after famous admirals (in fact, Drake could also refer to Captain Drake of Green Earth from the Advance Wars series). You can just see the enthusiasm for naval battles in their faces, can't you? Let's carve out victory from the dawn horizon!

Drake was actually named before Drake Kitazawa moved to Gensokyo Island. There's no risk of confusion anyway.

Food Preferences:
Worst: Candy Corn
Worst Ever: Chamomile Tea

Okuu's Look-alike Rating - Chamomile Tea: Like. I mean, it's just flavoured tea, isn't it? Plain, mild, hardly any caffeine... not terribly exciting, but it'll do in a pinch. I wonder why Murasa's so fussed about it... maybe it's too mild for her? But plain water is even milder...

Song Participation:
(none)

"Captain Murasa's Ass Anchor..." what? No, I have yet to come up with a song for Murasa to sing or to participate in. What would she sing about, anyway? "I'm on a boat! I'm on a boat!" &c.

The reason why Murasa won't be appearing in any more Touhou games. Pull that Eggnog more, m'dear.

Apartment: Apt. 307
Islander Rating: Average Tier

Murasa is the first to break from the mould of the third batch of islanders, and not in a positive way, unfortunately. She has a number of bad things going for her so far on Gensokyo Island - not having an All-Time Favourite Food but only Worst foods, not being the type to make friends easily, and not demanding very much apart from new interiors, of which she already has three unique to her alone and which I refuse to give any more. She's also fond of playing matchmaker and trying to set other islanders up on dates, which I dislike since I prefer Miis actually building relationships and confessing to each other, but I play along anyway just for the drama. 

As a result, she starts to fall behind her batchmates simply because it's hard to make her happy, she rarely gives opportunities to increase her happiness, and what things she does demand are things I refuse to grant or things which fail to come to fruition. And yeah, even though she's above Level 50, it's an average tier because I assess it as how much happiness the Mii has gained vs how long they have been on this island (and thus how many other islanders were present along with them). It's naturally much harder to raise happiness for brand new residents of a crowded island without meticulously visiting them every day, but senior residents don't have that same excuse.

All the same, her relatively lower level isn't a reason to begrudge Murasa. She can always be counted upon for a snark every now and then, without the same threat of implied retribution that would accompany someone like Rinnosuke Morichika, and she brings a serious outlook when her wife Aliasse and her klutzy friends go about causing chaos around the island. No doubt my personal image of Captain Minamitsu Murasa here on Gensokyo Island is very much different from both the source material as well as fandom's more exaggerated side, but that's the beauty of the game in bringing out not what "the truth" is, but rather what you yourself see it to be. Sorry to sink your ship, but The Captain is here to stay.

I don't have the Sailor Outfit of the right colour, so have a substitute! Also, remember that the gender is Male.

BUNBUNMARU UPDATES, 1st March 2015

Happy ???th Birthday, Mitsukuni Haninozuka?

Shed a tear for the birthday boy born on 29th February. But apart from that, just as I promised...


BUNBUNMARU UPDATES, 2ndd March 2015

Relationships and Marriage
Reisen Udongein Inaba and Nozomu Itoshiki became sweethearts! It was Nozomu who confessed his love.
Almaz Beoulve and Reisen Udongein Inaba became best friends!

Children
Hester was born to Desco Kazamatsuri and Mitsukuni Haninozuka. It's their first child! She is an Independent Lone Wolf.

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