Ah, yes. More drama-feels for rare Touhou pairing, made by Zounose, too! Perfect.

Good stuff. Well made, fits with canon, and breaks out of the usual character groups

It's been a while since I've seen something from Yakumi Sarai. I almost forgot how morbid they can be.

The only problem with this one is that I just can't understand Komachi's dilemma here. Even if Akyuu dies, Komachi just ferries her over to the afterlife and continues to drop in and spend time with her. For a shinigami who runs a ferry across the border between life and afterlife, the death of a friend should warrant no more emotional turmoil than a friend moving from one side of town to the other.

Still, Sarai's work definitely sticks a lot closer to Shinto mythology than other Touhou doujins. It really adds something.

The only problem with this one is that I just can't understand Komachi's dilemma here. Even if Akyuu dies, Komachi just ferries her over to the afterlife and continues to drop in and spend time with her. For a shinigami who runs a ferry across the border between life and afterlife, the death of a friend should warrant no more emotional turmoil than a friend moving from one side of town to the other.

Usually this would be the case; but, from what I gathered, Akyuu's soul is treated specially from other souls and has her identity and personality from her life erased during the reincarnation ritual to preserve her Gumonji. That was presumably why Komachi went out of her way to acquire the executor shinigami privilege. So she could remove and preserve the part of her soul and personality that made her distinctly Akyuu, her friend, and not Aichi, Ani, Ami or any of the other Miare incarnations or the Miare she would reincarnate into.

Or I'm completely wrong and I'm dumb. That could work too.

*Edit, I can't spell.

last edited at Jun 30, 2015 1:04AM

The only problem with this one is that I just can't understand Komachi's dilemma here. Even if Akyuu dies, Komachi just ferries her over to the afterlife and continues to drop in and spend time with her. For a shinigami who runs a ferry across the border between life and afterlife, the death of a friend should warrant no more emotional turmoil than a friend moving from one side of town to the other.

Usually this would be the case; but, from what I gathered, Akyuu's soul is treated specially from other souls and has her identity and personality from her life erased during the reincarnation ritual to preserve her Gumonji. That was presumably why Komachi went out of her way to acquire the executor shinigami privilege. So she could remove and preserve the part of her soul and personality that made her distinctly Akyuu, her friend, and not Aichi, Ani, Ami or any of the other Miare incarnations or the Miare she would reincarnate into.

Or I'm completely wrong and I'm dumb. That could work too.

No, that's what I got out of it. Komachi was freaking out because souls aren't normally destroyed

The only problem with this one is that I just can't understand Komachi's dilemma here. Even if Akyuu dies, Komachi just ferries her over to the afterlife and continues to drop in and spend time with her. For a shinigami who runs a ferry across the border between life and afterlife, the death of a friend should warrant no more emotional turmoil than a friend moving from one side of town to the other.

Usually this would be the case; but, from what I gathered, Akyuu's soul is treated specially from other souls and has her identity and personality from her life erased during the reincarnation ritual to preserve her Gumonji. That was presumably why Komachi went out of her way to acquire the executor shinigami privilege. So she could remove and preserve the part of her soul and personality that made her distinctly Akyuu, her friend, and not Aichi, Ani, Ami or any of the other Miare incarnations or the Miare she would reincarnate into.

Or I'm completely wrong and I'm dumb. That could work too.

*Edit, I can't spell.

Wow, did you sign up just to make that post? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I really like your idea.

No, that's what I got out of it. Komachi was freaking out because souls aren't normally destroyed

Yeah I was a bit confused about the destroyed part because the Miare soul clearly still exists even though its' gone this process several times. I eventually just replaced the word 'destroyed' with 'purified' since what the court was doing was essentially resetting her her soul so she never has any issues with lingering regrets as a human.

That's still pretty harsh depending on a person's definition of self and because the story seems to imply that the court just throws out the bits that developed during the Miare's life like unnecessary trash; effectively the bits that would make Akyuu distinct from the other Miare's.

No, that's what I got out of it. Komachi was freaking out because souls aren't normally destroyed

Yeah I was a bit confused about the destroyed part because the Miare soul clearly still exists even though its' gone this process several times. I eventually just replaced the word 'destroyed' with 'purified' since what the court was doing was essentially resetting her her soul so she never has any issues with lingering regrets as a human.

That's still pretty harsh depending on a person's definition of self and because the story seems to imply that the court just throws out the bits that developed during the Miare's life like unnecessary trash; effectively the bits that would make Akyuu distinct from the other Miare's.

I suppose so. As I understand it, eastern mythology reincarnation tends to work like recycling. The soul is sort of melted down, the impurities are removed, and it is recast into something else. It's basically an entirely different soul that just happens to be made from the same soul material as the previous one. The Miare is special because it doesn't get broken down during reincarnation and simply continues on to a new body when the soul is reconstituted.

I guess I just didn't get the part where it was explained that Komachi had to become a reaper in order to get Akyuu across the river. Though I do like your explanation.

last edited at Jun 30, 2015 2:09AM

The idea is that the Soul of Maire resets in each incarnation. The result is a new child of Maire that retains Akyuu's memories while all of her likes, dislikes, feelings, and personality are destroyed to keep the base soul from changing. Komachi realizes that unlike every other person, death really is the end for Akyuu. So she separated the 'Soul of Akyuu' from the 'Soul of Maire', and took it with her.

She had to be the reaper in charge of the ritual, because the usual reaper wouldn't have had a second thought about throwing that soul away. I think what might be interesting here is the idea that the new 'Akyuu' soul wouldn't have access to the knowledge of the Maire line. I wonder how that would affect her?

Also, I posit that Akyuu is a defective Eastern Time Lord. Discuss.

last edited at Jun 30, 2015 2:16AM

After reading the author's note, I kinda want to see him(?) write a follow-up with Komachi and Soul!Akyuu's life together. In the words of the author/translator, I hope it would be "lovey dovey KomAkyuu".

Also, I posit that Akyuu is a defective Eastern Time Lord. Discuss.

Damnit, now I'm seeing in my head the Miare house dematerializing with the distinctive "vwoOORp vwoOORp" sound.

With every work I read from this artist, the bigger a fan I become of him. I find his more darker interpetation of touhou refreshing to read.

Oh, fuck... This one actually made me cry. Not even Touhou Battle Royale achieved that. If it hadn't been for the happy ending, I would've slammed shut my laptop instead of writing this.

Now, seriously, does any know if there is a sequel? The afterward kind of left me wondering. I would like to see if the Akyuu soul that Komachi separated from the Maire one actually reincarnates. That would be ideal, wouldn't it?

Komachi's eyes on pg.36...
She either lost sleep, cried her eyes out, or both.
That hits hard.

Now, seriously, does any know if there is a sequel? The afterward kind of left me wondering. I would like to see if the Akyuu soul that Komachi separated from the Maire one actually reincarnates. That would be ideal, wouldn't it?

Highly unlikely though since most of the works from this artist are all meant to be left to your imagination as to the ending. It really would do better if that is the case since then there is no need to try to recycle the same core idea that had made the story great. At least that's what I think :p

Damn.