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evilisk · 4 years

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Reading Len’En Profiles Part 4

This took a while didn’t it? This is being split up into two parts since Fumikado’s profile is way bigger (with more info about other characters, including future characters in BPoHC) than initially expected. Teams, Sese, Tsugumi, Shion and Tenkai are covered in this part.

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As always, here’s a quick look on the profiles for the returning characters.

Team Profiles

Shrine Team:

I like how Yabusame’s profile mentions that they wear lighter clothes in Winter than in Summer yet the only discernible difference I can tell from their sprite is “Yabu choosing not to wear shoes”

I can't believe Tsuba’s profile casually reveals that they remodeled their body structure so they can't feel the cold. What the heck Tsuba?

Slaver Team

Kuroji’s profile is such a swerve. We went from “gotta put food on the table for my siblings” to Kuroji going full “Ameyama Telegraph style Reimu” who shakes down people [youkai] for money

Kuroji having ambitions to open a school in Mugenri is unexpected

Wait, so Kuroji, who is described as being a scholar of pre-history, wants to open a school (and presumably wants to teach at it). And Keine, from Touhou, is a were-hakutaku who can manipulate history, that teaches at a school. HMMMMMMM.....

“This is kinda dangerous” lmao at that being in Saragimaru’s profile. I appreciate how this is referenced in Yaorochi’s profile (their profile mentions that they feel like they’re being watched)

It’s revealed that Saragimaru doesn’t actually know if they are related by blood which is kinda weird? I got the impression that the one who was in the dark about everything was Yaorochi, not Saragimaru. Maybe I should take another look at their EMS profile...

Bottle Opener Team

I mentioned previously that one of the EMS profiles confirmed that Orochi was a youkai. Well Yaorochi’s profile 200% confirms that Orochi was a youkai with the line “[Yaorochi’s] a youkai very much like Yamato no Orochi” which is good to know

It’s been a while so I forgot, and ended up chuckling at, the bottle opener stuff. Especially the “Yaorochi has been training so good they’re good at the bottle opener now too!” angle

"For the sake of creativity, [Sukune doesn’t] speak like a normal person.” So that’s the reason for their accent? Lol okay

I like how Sukune’s wings are given a small explanation here. I wouldn’t have guessed that they could fly without them (I would have assumed they can’t normally fly, and that they fought on-foot in EMS)

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Boss Profiles

Stage 1 / Stage Extra+ Boss - Sese Kitsugai

Original Opinion: While I find their in-game spellcards (as a Stage 1 boss) to be rather zany, I love this Bony Baby. Seriously, I cannot look at their sprite, with their cute smiling baby fangs, and see Sese as an adult (I think they’re referred to as “a kid” by some of the teams too). I am not so hot on EX-Sese as a design, but in concept? I LOVE IT. I think their BPoHC design (which I love, love LOVE, but more on that in the next post) is a better middle ground between “base” Sese and EX-Sese, but I digress. Sese is 'Sese-rious’ fun!

Comments on Profile:

Interesting, interesting. So apparently Sese Kitsugai (or just “Sese”, according to their Wiki entry) isn’t their real name. They just thought it was a pleasant nickname.

It seems that without their skull, they don’t remember much (like their original name). It’s weird since they draw attention to Sese’s current skull helmet in Yaorochi’s route (Sukune can’t remove it, Yaorochi seems to think it’s special) but I suppose that Sese’s original skull should be WAY bigger than their current one.

Sese has a second profile which adds a lot more details. Apparently, they were scavenging bones near Harujion while that big epic fight was happening in Stage 6.

So EX Sese’s appearance is their canon true/”original” appearance. Boo. I honestly think their BPoHC design is way better. It also seems that without the original skull, Sese cannot maintain their original appearance.

Sese’s EX Profile has an extra ability: “something like conquering the above-ground”. That’s not ominous at all.

I cannot help but wonder if Sese originally fought Tsurubami and just got whooped really hard... okay, now I have the mental image of Tsurubami booting Sese’s skull so hard that they became dumb.

Oh and Sese is mentioned as excavating becoming a hobby for them. Good for Sese.

New Opinion: Y’know, it just hit me that Sese is *basically* Rumia / EX-Rumia but canon and with 200% more bones...

Regardless, Sese is so good. Just like the two other Stage 1 bosses so far. It’s crazy how good JynX is at doing Stage 1 bosses, I dislike most Touhou Stage 1 bosses (the only good ones are Eika and Nazrin).

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Stage 2 Boss - Tsugumi Umatachi

Original Opinion: Tsugumi is the one character I say has aged like fine wine (to me). I thought that Tsugumi being a grumpy goon, despite being a steampunk-looking, bat wing-wearing, eggplant-riding jockey, was such a strange design choice. Then I realized that “grumpy person who dresses colorfully” is basically my real life aesthetic and I totally got it. Though I outright like Fumikado more, I appreciate their personality and their fun musical theme.

Comments on Profile:

...After reading this profile, I’m not sure what to take at face value.

Okay so first off, they were hired by a certain someone. It’s unclear if this someone is Fumikado (the obvious choice) or Iyozane (who is technically the person who put out the bounty that Tsugumi and Kuroji are following up on in the game).

There’s some reference to boke and tsukkomi that I honestly do not understand. Like I recognize the terms from Gintama, but I’m not sure what JynX is trying to say about Tsugumi as a character when they say “Ninjas!” or that Tsugumi wasn’t born in Japan.

Also, their species is “Eggplant Jockey”. I have no frame of reference for what this is supposed to mena.

New Opinion: I... have no new opinion because I have no idea what I just read. I was going to say “oh so Tsugumi isn’t Japanese” but I just skimmed their page on the Shout Wiki and there is no reference to this fact (which makes it seem like that was just an example of this boke and tsukkomi thing mentioned before)

I got nothing :/ Tsugumi is still cool tho

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Stage 6 Boss - Shion

Original Opinion: Just as Sese continues the unbroken tradition of Len’En games having incredibly good Stage 1 bosses, Shion continues the tradition of Len’En games having incredibly underwhelming final bosses

Yaorochi and Clause both had something keeping them from being great final bosses; for Clause, its their joke character personality that lets them down, while with Yaorochi, it’s their theme. In Shion’s case, it’s the fact that they come completely out of nowhere, hijacking Fumikado’s rightful place as Final Boss that gets me all hot and bothered. (I think that Shion giving off strong “low rent Yuyuko vibes doesn’t help their case either)

It’s an absolute shame, since Shion seems to have clearly learned from Clause and Yaorochi, since they’ve got the creepy (cool) personality and the kickass boss theme. If only they had actual relevance to RMI’s plot...

Comments on Profile:

So apparently Shion is from a magical plant that can resurrect or grant immortality, it always pops up in a random place and the Senri Priests are usually supposed to cut it down when that does happen... oh dear.

Oh I see now, Shion is like Ermac from Mortal Kombat i.e. they’re a mass of souls and experiences that collectively form a new being. That’s a pretty cool backstory, actually! ...Wait, so the final spellcard that Shion has... are those like the names of the souls they absorbed?? That seems interesting.

So it goes that the souls in Shion were split at some point: the good souls formed the body while the evil souls formed the spirit. This intended equilibrium, however, was distorted by Mugenri’s barrier and instead of a split of good and evil it was just evil and more evil. Well that basically explains why Shion went from no chill to being very chill after Stage 6. Shion is mentioned as literally getting killed in all the endings (because everyone apparently went too ham). So we basically have “Evil and Eviler Shion” dying and then Harujion bringing them back as “Equilibrium of Good and Evil Shion”. Interesting, interesting.

This last part of the profile is such a mood. “[...] a good number of those voices were playing the same melody in unison, that “the world is full of malice.” “...Shion had no doubt about that claim. If their body is a miniature copy of the world itself, then they are evil itself.”

New Opinion: While I still hate that Shion hijacked Fumikado’s role as final villain, they are a way more interesting character than I initially thought. I do know that Shion is apparently a playable character in BPoHC, but have no idea how JynX intends to use them, so I’m interested to see what JynX’s plans are for them

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Stage Extra Boss - Tenkai Zuifeng

Original Opinion: I think my first thoughts went exactly like “oh god that outfit is horrible” to “oh god this fight is insane” to “oh so they’re just Tsurubami’s really, really tired friend, I dig it”. I think the aspect I appreciate most is that they’re basically the straight man character the series has been missing. Yabusame and Tsubakura are weirdos, Kuroji is a scoundrel, the Adagumos operate on weird youkai logic and Sukune lacks common, human sense.

Tenkai is your only option if you’re looking for a sensible recurring character. And this sensibility only makes the interpretation of a Tenkai who is “endlessly tired of everyone’s shit” stronger in my mind. Beyond the personality, they have a great theme, a cool backstory and, most importantly, a really damn good shot type in BPoHC. Now if only their outfits weren’t absolutely, consistently garish. It’s like JynX heard me say “the Len’En games need more colour” and decided to concentrate it in Tenkai’s outfit which has like, EVERY SINGLE COLOUR.

I still love my Tired Barrier Carpenter but please stop picking your own outfits

Comments on Profile:

Okay so Tenkai is from a renowned family of barrier builders that has worked with the Senri Shrine. Note the focus on the word *builders*; apparently these builders aren’t so good at repairing barriers. Cue Tenkai getting a job to repair the Mugenri Barrier as part of her ‘training’ (at least, that’s what it seems like on the surface. It’s mentioned that this training is also an attack on Tenkai’s prestige).

The profile mentions Tenkai pulling some prank as a way to get back at her bosses. Tenkai hating her bosses just makes tired Tenkai more and more real in my head.

From my knowledge of the routes in-game, this prank was not repairing the barrier immediately, letting the souls outside the Barrier into Mugenri and basically letting the events of the game happen (Fumikado and co. start gathering souls, Harujion sprouts near Fumikado, Shion is born, Sese transforms in the Extra etc.). I guess it’s also meant to be an excuse to test Tsubakura and Yabusame. In short, we can all thank Tenkai for the events of this game.

IIRC, I think Tenkai is referenced as being from the Outside World? Maybe? I know it’s brought up in the Kuroji / Saragimaru route.

It’s also not mentioned in the profile I believe Lumen is responsible for punching a hole in the barrier in the first place which is HILARIOUS

Their title is of the “Old Dictators”. So basically, Tenkai is the Marisa to Tsurubami’s Reimu.

New Opinion: I already liked Tenkai, this is just cementing my headcanon of Tenkai being a very, very tired person. There’s not a whole lot to say about Tenaki since this is all just plot and worldbuilding details

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I will finally get into Iyozane (who has a small profile, but has a large role in Fumikado’s profile) and Fumikado (who has a huge, huge profile) in the next part.

#len'en #len'en lore #reactivate majestical imperial #len'en project #len'en content #len'en reiretsuden #sese kitsugai #tsugumi umatachi #shion len'en #tenkai zuifeng #len'en reiretsuden reactivate majestical imperial #not a reblog

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evilisk · 4 years

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Impressions of Len’En 3

My quick opinion is that I don't feel the game is better than Earthen Miraculous Sword. It's not worse than that game, mind you, but I do feel let down by a few elements

Where to start... okay. My first major disappointment is the difficulty. I love Earthen Miraculous Sword but let's be real; that game is easy to Normal 1cc. I was hoping Reactivate Majestical Imperial was going to up the difficulty and, technically, it did ramp it up, as the Stage 3 difficulty spike here is way harder than in the previous game. The problem is that, despite the difficulty increase, JynX experimented here and actually made the game a five stage one. Yes, I know there are six bosses. No, Shion does not count. Shion is basically the secret Tasouken fight from EMS, only now it's not secret and it's also now mandatory. Even if you lose to Shion, you'll still get *an* ending.

While players not as good at shmups will probably approve of this change, I'm personally disappointed because it makes a Normal clear about as difficult as Earthen Miraculous Sword again (and again, I love that game, but it's a bit too easy). My other disappointment is that the game's atmosphere isn't as fun as EMS.

The colour palette in this game is drabber than EMS (and EMS wasn’t the most colourful game to begin with!), the game contains more melancholic tracks. and the story deals with darker themes like artificial life, political intrigue and the afterlife (even if most of it’s relegated to backstory rather than being didreclty on-screen). I respect JynX's direction for this game, as it feels more consistent with EE's tone, but at the same time, I prefer the more colorful and whimsical tone of EMS.

There were also a bunch of issues that brought down the experience. There were the glitched bullet visuals that I previously posted about, though I also noticed that the sound mixing is really bad in this game, with the default settings causing boss music to drown out all other SFX in the game.

(This is how I had to adjust the sound options)

Despite what I said, it's not all bad with this game. In fact, there's actually a lot to like, as JynX seems to be at their creative apex here.

The best thing you can say about the game is that it's really getting away from being *just* a Touhou clone. The game might be a riff on the "Touhou Partner shooter" but it's execution of the concept is completely different from ZUN's games. Rather than relegating two characters to “X is the unfocused shot type while Y is the focused shot” or having the character be completely off-screen and only matter in conversations, you do get two fully fleshed out characters that you switch between. It’s clunky but also really cool and really different.

While the game has a lot of melancholic themes I personally wouldn't listen to on a commute, the more 'action-oriented' tracks are really good this time around. I also find JynX’s use of motifs to be interesting. The main menu melody, for example, is reused in a bunch of stages. The Stage 1 and Extra Stage boss themes also have musical callbacks to other games (e.g. the Stage 1 of EMS and Clause’s EE theme respectively).

And then there's all the story that's packed into this game. There is just so much story going on. There's the 'main incident' of the game with Taira no Fumikado and the actual cause of the incident happening in the Extra (this was years before Hidden Star in Four Seasons, mind you). You also have these subplots going on with Sese, Shion and the hero team rivalries. And the characters... I’ll have to save that for another post.

JynX's creative ambitions are quite high in this game here. The only real let down in this regard is you might not like the more ‘serious' approach (even then the dialogue shows the game to be as whimsical as ever).

Overall, the game is quite good. I'm personally let down by the gameplay sided of things, but I respect what JynX has put out here (especially since he apparently made this game within a year.

#len'en project #len'en #len'en reiretsuden #reactivate majestical imperial #len'en reiretsuden reactivate majestical imperial #len'en review #len'en content #not a reblog

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evilisk · 4 years

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When you’re about to Reactivate the Majestical Imperial

(also consider the subtitle: seconds before Pink-Haired Disaster strikes)

#len'en project #len'en #reactivate majestical imperial #len'en content #len'en reiretsuden reactivate majestical imperial #len'en fanart #len'en fan art #taira no fumikado #my own art #not a reblog

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evilisk · 4 years

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Reading Len’En Profiles Pt 5

We round off the RMI cast with the New Emperor, their Anachronistic Advisor and the short story detailing how they met. (The illustration above was done up by JynX for Len’En’s 2nd anniversary)

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While Iyozane’s profile is very conventional and barebones, Fumikado’s profile basically has extra details about Iyozane too, which is why I decided to split their profiles off from everyody else.

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How Fumikado and Iyozane Met

I love how half of Fumikado’s backstory is an actual short story. As far as the writing goes, it’s not bad. One issue is how confusing the profile is as a result of all the characters being “they” (e.g. “When Fumikado asked that question, they smiled slightly” is very confusing). Otherwise, I really like how much atmosphere is packed into this little story.

I love how we basically get the full context behind the naming of Iyozane’s musical theme (”In The Gloomy Straits, Steady As She Goes”). We also get a bit of theming with Fumikado in regards to the stars (note that one of Fumikado’s spellcards is constellation)

Oh and the Bridge in BPoHC is alluded to, and Suzumi’s role, and so many other things. It’s crazy how ambitious this profile is. You’d never see ZUN setting up the boss characters of a following game in a profile.

... I can’t believe it took me one short story to instantly want to ship Fumikado and Iyozane. Either I’m getting really soft, or JynX is just way better at creating ‘shipping potential’ than ZUN is

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Stage 3 Boss - Fujiwara no Iyozane

Original Opinion: To me, Iyozane is the weak-link in the “New Emperor Trio”. Their petty ambitions are fine but they really don’t stand out compared to the stoic Tsugumi or the over-the-top Fumikado. It’s a shame too, as I do love their design, their fight and their musical theme (their RMI theme is especialy good. Like, I could listen to that melancholic melody all day~)

Comments on Profile:

I see JynX is just taking the piss out of the species section again (with Iyozane’s race being “Human, aspiring to be a pirate”)

So Iyozane hates the cold too. I find it hilarious that a whole bunch of people involved in this incident actually hate being in the cold (so far, we’re at Iyozane and the two Adagumo siblings).

I relate to their angle of ‘is ambitious, has no clue how to achieve said ambitions’ so much

So Iyozane apparently uses their flute to control the spirits in their spellcards. That’s cool. Especially since their (godly) theme includes a woodwind instrument... I think? I tend to confuse instruments

Does this mean Iyozane is the first musical Len’En character? I feel like they have to be. I do like how JynX avoided the ZUN cliche of “gotta have a spellcard with musical notes, just so you know that they’re a musician!”

I just want it to be know that I totally wrote half of this profile analysis while listening to Iyozane’s theme on loop. It is just so damn good.

Comments on Short Story:

I like the Iyozane portrayed in the short story. Iyozane’s kind of a typical arrogant, villainous noble type in-game but here they seem so full of energy, with how talkative and open they are, how they’re nervous to perform in front of Fumikado etc. While I’m all for Fumikado becoming the new Emperor, I’m a bit bummed out over how boring “Iyozane in active ambition mode” is

I don’t know the full deal with the name “Fujiwara” (other than Fujiwara being the name of some ancient Japanese clan, oh and Mokou having the same surname, of course) but Iyozane gets points for the strangely mysterious backstory

New Opinion: I have mixed feelings here. The short story kind of turned me around on Iyozane, in theory, but I still don’t really like ‘petty advisor’ Iyozane. Until I’ve played BPoHC, I’ll have to hold off on having a final opinion on Iyozane as a whole.

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Stage 6 Boss - Taira no Fumikado

Original Opinion: For all the jokes about Fumikado having a ghost horse stand, Fumikado gives me such strong Joestar vibes. Like, I hear that “Fumikado fought and then ran away from Shion” and my mind instantly goes to Joseph Joestar running away from Straits or Kars. It’s the combination of arrogance, shameless pragmatism and the talent (Fumikado is actually strong... just not “main character” levels of strong). What little I’ve played of BPoHC and their route only cements this Joestar impession I have of Fumikado.

Though I was incredibly disappointed with Fumikado’s badassery and final boss status being deconstructed (seriously, Fumikado would have broken the curse of “lame Len’En final boss” if they’d been played straight), I think JynX has done a good job of transitioning them into something way more enjoyable than *just* a badass final boss... even if that’s more to do with their BPoHC portrayal.

Comments on Profile:

There is strangely zero mention of Taira no Masakado in their profile (despite him being very, very important to Fumikado’s whole deal)

While it was said in-game that they’re supposed to be the vessel for Masakado, I was not expecting Fumikado to have been groomed from such a young age. It’s actually kind of messed up. Especially since you need to ask “what the hell is gonna happen to Fumikado if they’re successful in their goal?”

I also just want to mention the body switching stuff. It is wild that Fumikado can apparently just do that, and that they apparently grew up in somebody else’s body (while somebody else grew up in their body). I don’t write fanfiction but it’d be quite an angle you could explore in fanfic.

Fumikado’s grandpa is like the first canonically male character, right? Not that it matters, he seems like a jerk for convincing kid Fumikado to go through with all this.

Despite my goofy interpretation of them, Fumikado is surprisingly restrained, introspective even, in their short story.

New Opinion: Wow, uh yeah. I think after all of that, Fumikado might straight up be my favourite character in RMI now.

I already liked Fumikado just on a surface level (theme, design, personality) but Fumikado’s profile adds so much pathos to the them. They’re not some failed supervillain. They were someone trained and groomed from birth to do this one role, this one role that could have lead to the erasure of their own existence; and they failed at this one role due to complete bad luck. The irony would be palpable were it not for the fact that they now have a chance to have their own existence, not as Taira no Masakado, but as Taira no Fumikado. Is that not a lot to take in or what?

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Final Thoughts

Though I don’t quite like RMI as a game, I have a lot of respect for it from a writing perspective because holy crap is JynX’s ambition just bleeding through. There’s so many plot threads going on even without adding all the setup and foreshadowing in BPoHC. You got the New Emperor Trio, Tenkai, Yaorochi and Saragimaru’s ‘meeting’ and Shion and Sese’s side stories all packed into one. JynX has set the storytelling bar rather high with this game.

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Ranking the RMI Cast

Taira no Fumikado

Tenkai Zuifeng

Sese

Tsugumi

Shion

My ranking of Iyozane isn’t decided yet. Don’t expect the BPoHC profiles any time soon. Dear God, JynX is a madman for adding two different routes with two completely new sets of bosses and for bringing back every single character.

#len'en #len'en lore #reactivate majestical imperial #len'en project #len'en content #len'en reiretsuden reactivate majestical imperial #taira no fumikado #fujiwara no iyozane #not a reblog

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