Hey, if anyone manages to work out what the fuck happened at the end of chapter 4, please feel free to explain that shit!

Actually, that was what I am requesting for. But it seems that the only thing I could make out is that the whole story is in an infinite loop. As long as one of the three Marisa Kirisame lives, it seems the loop will not end. Now I have to reread it. It'd probably make sense if you read and understand Qualia the Purple. While not connected, they have the same topic of "Alternate Timeline".

For anyone who understood this, please come forward and don't be shy to give us wisdom.

pag. 8, ch. 4, it's really usefull the portable freezer's gap, expecially in the summer to drink a cold beer everywhere,

i always liked this dj, it's a shame that it needed to be a bit more long, to better explain the story

Jesus christ this was fucked up (like, in the sense of nonsensical). I give up, what a mess. Also I hated the characterization of Reimu, why the fuck would she want to destroy Gensoukyou. Marisas coming back and trying to kill themselves/each other was just so stupid too.

Damn, just wtf.

It would seem its just a big loop unless that imposter of marisas teacher ended the loop?
I remember also that in another comic they had the same thing. A scientist created a time machine so they tested the machine by putting a apple in it. When they opened it a whole bunch of apple came out and one of the. People who was there killed all of the scientist and kissed themselves by ending the loop somehow. So maybe that marissa is one that doesn't go to sleep for 80 years?
Well who knows alternative timelines are confusing;;;

last chapter was so confusing. and did mima end up being a previous marisa that travelled to the past to kill that dimensional marisa in order to take her place? anyways, doesnt travelling to parallel dimensions still leave your own fucked up dimension?

also, story really sucked me in and had an interesting and different take on reimu's personality. i enjoyed it even though it melted my brain and i still dont understand.

last edited at Aug 22, 2013 11:03PM

well the characters' personalities are too far away from the original. like yukari would ever try to kill reimu.

This story ruined my image of Reimu!!
(>_<)
Noooo she's not like that!!!!

Okay. Here we go.
I'm gonna try to explain this as best as I can. (Or at least as much as I understand.)

Separate timelines:
Timeline A: Marisa fails to convince Reimu to not use the spell of erasure. Bad future.
Timeline B: Reimu dies and takes Gensokyo with her. Marisa and Yukari escape to the outside world.
Timeline C: Marisa challenges Reimu to a spell card duel and kills her.

We'll start with Marisa A (our protagonist) in Timeline A. She is put in suspended animation and wakes up 80 years later. She goes to the shrine and meets Yukari, then goes to the woods and meets Reimu's great granddaughter (We'll refer to her as "Hakurei"). Eventually she realizes what happened and after Mima beats Hakurei, Yukari tells Marisa to go back in time and terminate Reimu. Mima throws Hakurei in after her. They end up in Timeline C.

Now, let's talk about Marisa B (black-haired, then short-haired Marisa). In her timeline, Reimu collapses Gensokyo just before she dies and Yukari pulls Marisa into the outside world. Marisa asks Yukari to send her back in time to try again. Yukari sends her to Timeline C.

Okay, Marisa C (the sleeper). She is put to sleep before anything happens.

The events of Timeline C: Marisa B arrives and puts Marisa C into suspended animation. Marisa A and Hakurei arrive and head for the shrine. Marisa B arrives at the shrine and finds Marisa A already there. She stays hidden and watches everything. Reimu has her meeting with Yukari and the Youkai scatter into the woods. Reimu is found by Aya and Nitori, who are then found by Hakurei, and then they all are found by Marisa A. Marisa A challenges Reimu to a duel and kills her. Reimu is brought back by divine intervention (by Mima being channelled through Hakurei). As a side effect, Reimu no longer remembers anything that just happened, including the spell of erasure. Hakurei promises never to use the spell, and is returned to Timeline A.

This is where things get tricky.
Marisa A goes home and finds Marisa C frozen in time. She is then confronted by Marisa B who plans to kill them both and become the "real" Marisa. Marisa B is pulled into a gap by Yukari and sent to the past of Timeline A. She finds Marisa A sleeping, but can't bring herself to kill her, so she simply freezes her in time. She then tries to convince Reimu not to use the spell of erasure and fails. (this leads to the bad future) She spends the next 80 years watching over the sleeping Marisa A while posing as Mima to blend in. 80 years later, Marisa A wakes up, goes to the shrine, meets Yukari, finds Hakurei, blah blah blah, and gets sent to Timeline C. Marisa B (posing as Mima) immediately dies because she's just so OLD.

As for Marisa A, now living in Timeline C...I guess she just lives life as normal, living in the forest, eating strange mushrooms, solving incidents, all while watching over the still sleeping Marisa C. (Which I guess would make Timeline C the new "official" timeline. Or at least it would if this story were canon, which it's not.)

Wow, that was a lot. Hopefully it makes sense. I really only understood it because I already heard another explanation on a different forum. Thanks, Shadowjack, wherever you are.

such an alternate ending...... It just keep replaying the day!!!! and I still miss the great grandaughter Reimu................ :(

Mima is the marisa from the destroyed gensokyo and planned to kill the other marisa to take her place but gave up in the end, and became mima.

L o r e

Btw, I would love to see a Doujin with a Reimu that kills Youkai... INJUSTICE Reimu

I thank you, AlterSage for explaining what happened in chapter 4 in a somewhat understandable way

Okay. Here we go.
I'm gonna try to explain this as best as I can. (Or at least as much as I understand.)

Separate timelines:
Timeline A: Marisa fails to convince Reimu to not use the spell of erasure. Bad future.
Timeline B: Reimu dies and takes Gensokyo with her. Marisa and Yukari escape to the outside world.
Timeline C: Marisa challenges Reimu to a spell card duel and kills her.

We'll start with Marisa A (our protagonist) in Timeline A. She is put in suspended animation and wakes up 80 years later. She goes to the shrine and meets Yukari, then goes to the woods and meets Reimu's great granddaughter (We'll refer to her as "Hakurei"). Eventually she realizes what happened and after Mima beats Hakurei, Yukari tells Marisa to go back in time and terminate Reimu. Mima throws Hakurei in after her. They end up in Timeline C.

Now, let's talk about Marisa B (black-haired, then short-haired Marisa). In her timeline, Reimu collapses Gensokyo just before she dies and Yukari pulls Marisa into the outside world. Marisa asks Yukari to send her back in time to try again. Yukari sends her to Timeline C.

Okay, Marisa C (the sleeper). She is put to sleep before anything happens.

The events of Timeline C: Marisa B arrives and puts Marisa C into suspended animation. Marisa A and Hakurei arrive and head for the shrine. Marisa B arrives at the shrine and finds Marisa A already there. She stays hidden and watches everything. Reimu has her meeting with Yukari and the Youkai scatter into the woods. Reimu is found by Aya and Nitori, who are then found by Hakurei, and then they all are found by Marisa A. Marisa A challenges Reimu to a duel and kills her. Reimu is brought back by divine intervention (by Mima being channelled through Hakurei). As a side effect, Reimu no longer remembers anything that just happened, including the spell of erasure. Hakurei promises never to use the spell, and is returned to Timeline A.

This is where things get tricky.
Marisa A goes home and finds Marisa C frozen in time. She is then confronted by Marisa B who plans to kill them both and become the "real" Marisa. Marisa B is pulled into a gap by Yukari and sent to the past of Timeline A. She finds Marisa A sleeping, but can't bring herself to kill her, so she simply freezes her in time. She then tries to convince Reimu not to use the spell of erasure and fails. (this leads to the bad future) She spends the next 80 years watching over the sleeping Marisa A while posing as Mima to blend in. 80 years later, Marisa A wakes up, goes to the shrine, meets Yukari, finds Hakurei, blah blah blah, and gets sent to Timeline C. Marisa B (posing as Mima) immediately dies because she's just so OLD.

As for Marisa A, now living in Timeline C...I guess she just lives life as normal, living in the forest, eating strange mushrooms, solving incidents, all while watching over the still sleeping Marisa C. (Which I guess would make Timeline C the new "official" timeline. Or at least it would if this story were canon, which it's not.)

Wow, that was a lot. Hopefully it makes sense. I really only understood it because I already heard another explanation on a different forum. Thanks, Shadowjack, wherever you are.

This is quite a nice explanation, but I have my own interpretation of the ending (or rather, beginning).

First thing first I think that timeline C gets visited 2 times: first at the start of chapter 4 when Reimu B gets transported to a parallel world (currently 2 Marisa there), and the second time at the end of chapter 3 with Marisa A returning to the past (3 Marisa there), so I think timeline A and timeline C are the same, but the changes that Marisa does in the last chapter "splits" them into 2 separate ones (in quotations because not entirely sure of this and depends on something I'll talk later)

So now let's start with Marisa B, going by the letter she has hidden in the journal, in her universe she sides with youkai and ends up killing Reimu, but as a last resort Reimu destroys Gensokyo and Yukari bails herself and Marisa to the outside world, just before the rainy season begun (Timeline B).
A couple of years pass and while she shortens her hair and dyes them black, she still can't let go of the past, so Yukari visits her and proposes her to return to the "past" through a parallel dimension where everything is basically the same (timeline C/A).
Here, her plan was to save Reimu and kill that universe Marisa (Marisa A) to take her place, so she put Marisa A to a deep sleep with drugs and cast a Za Warudo spell on her, dyes blond her dyed hair (lol), and goes to stop Reimu and Yukari from fighting (or not, not sure here, either way), and reaches an agreement with both sides, but she doesn't manage to convince Reimu to stop the use of the spell of erasure, so the next Hakurei shrine maiden still learns of the spell of erasure from Reimu and so on with the youkai slowly getting erased one at a time (timeline A).
Marisa B knew she could not change the time into a better one, so she went back to Marisa A's house to kill her, but couldn't muster the will to do it.
Feeling regret, she plans with that universe Yukari the plan to make things right: for 80 years she makes everyone think Marisa holed herself in her house, and so 80 years pass, Marisa B disguises herself as Mima, Marisa A wakes up and so starts chapter 1 (note: not sure if Marisa B visited the current Hakurei shrine disguised as a human Mima, which I'll call Reimu2, to tell her of youkai activity in the Forest of Magic or if she went there on her own).

Don't think I have to explain the stuff happening with Marisa A in the future, so I'll jump to when she and Reimu2 get sent to the past, there they return to the start of timeline C, and Marisa A kills Reimu.

Now here I'm not sure what happens with Reimu2, but I'll throw a random wild guess: Divine interference!
Something possesses Reimu2 and resurrects the dead Reimu while also reaching an agreement with her regarding the spell of erasure and leaves to "take her back to her home dimension" (I'm guessing by her it meant Reimu2) since the changes in time will make her disappear (here, timeline A and timeline C kinda splits).

So now, continuing on timeline C we have Marisa A going back to her home to find Marisa C (which is actually herself, just frozen in time), and the Marisa B that just got there trying to kill those 2 Marisa, but thanks to a last spell that the Marisa B in the future does (the Marisa that is disguised as Mima), she disappears (and so all Marisa B are gone).
Marisa A promises to find a way to dispell the Za Warudo magic and basically does the same as Marisa B did previously, only difference is that she wanted Marisa C to live in that time instead of going back.

Now meanwhile in timeline A, as the Mima disguised Marisa B disappears, Yukari meets what seems to be the actual Mima, but seems to actually be some sort of divine being (the Dragon God?) which by presumably divine shenanigans makes the erased youkai (or only Chen at least) return in that timeline like if nothing happened.

And I'm done, dear god, the more I wrote this interpretation the more I started questioning things...
Rinnosuke says that Yukari could at least only go to the past, and theoretically go to whatever future she desired since the future is made of infinite possibilities, but it seems the only thing she does is sending people to different worlds' past.
Also when Marisa A and Reimu2 went back to the past, they should've gone to their past since Mima disguised Marisa B said that they got sent in the world she got sent to, yet at the end Yukari says to the bathing Marisa she's from a different dimension... So I'm confused... Unless...

What if I read the letter wrong, and when Marisa B says she confronted Reimu two times it didn't include her own original timeline. which would mean that there's this world where she confronted Reimu the first time, but had to kill her again, and everything like her original timeline repeats (or she leaves before the destruction of Gensokyo) so she goes to the next and manages to save her, with arguably good results, here we have Marisa A and all continues as normal, but when Marisa A gets sent back with Reimu 2 they end up in this new world I just mentioned, so everything continues and this would mean that Marisa A is really in different world than her own and my head hurts.

Can say I'm done, doesn't help that I'm writing this while very tired and sleep deprived, but whatever, maybe this will be food for thought for someone to understand this story, or to get more confused by it...
(Please point out any possible error I made or theory of your own)

Okay. Here we go.
I'm gonna try to explain this as best as I can. (Or at least as much as I understand.)

Separate timelines:
Timeline A: Marisa fails to convince Reimu to not use the spell of erasure. Bad future.
Timeline B: Reimu dies and takes Gensokyo with her. Marisa and Yukari escape to the outside world.
Timeline C: Marisa challenges Reimu to a spell card duel and kills her.

We'll start with Marisa A (our protagonist) in Timeline A. She is put in suspended animation and wakes up 80 years later. She goes to the shrine and meets Yukari, then goes to the woods and meets Reimu's great granddaughter (We'll refer to her as "Hakurei"). Eventually she realizes what happened and after Mima beats Hakurei, Yukari tells Marisa to go back in time and terminate Reimu. Mima throws Hakurei in after her. They end up in Timeline C.

Now, let's talk about Marisa B (black-haired, then short-haired Marisa). In her timeline, Reimu collapses Gensokyo just before she dies and Yukari pulls Marisa into the outside world. Marisa asks Yukari to send her back in time to try again. Yukari sends her to Timeline C.

Okay, Marisa C (the sleeper). She is put to sleep before anything happens.

The events of Timeline C: Marisa B arrives and puts Marisa C into suspended animation. Marisa A and Hakurei arrive and head for the shrine. Marisa B arrives at the shrine and finds Marisa A already there. She stays hidden and watches everything. Reimu has her meeting with Yukari and the Youkai scatter into the woods. Reimu is found by Aya and Nitori, who are then found by Hakurei, and then they all are found by Marisa A. Marisa A challenges Reimu to a duel and kills her. Reimu is brought back by divine intervention (by Mima being channelled through Hakurei). As a side effect, Reimu no longer remembers anything that just happened, including the spell of erasure. Hakurei promises never to use the spell, and is returned to Timeline A.

This is where things get tricky.
Marisa A goes home and finds Marisa C frozen in time. She is then confronted by Marisa B who plans to kill them both and become the "real" Marisa. Marisa B is pulled into a gap by Yukari and sent to the past of Timeline A. She finds Marisa A sleeping, but can't bring herself to kill her, so she simply freezes her in time. She then tries to convince Reimu not to use the spell of erasure and fails. (this leads to the bad future) She spends the next 80 years watching over the sleeping Marisa A while posing as Mima to blend in. 80 years later, Marisa A wakes up, goes to the shrine, meets Yukari, finds Hakurei, blah blah blah, and gets sent to Timeline C. Marisa B (posing as Mima) immediately dies because she's just so OLD.

As for Marisa A, now living in Timeline C...I guess she just lives life as normal, living in the forest, eating strange mushrooms, solving incidents, all while watching over the still sleeping Marisa C. (Which I guess would make Timeline C the new "official" timeline. Or at least it would if this story were canon, which it's not.)

Wow, that was a lot. Hopefully it makes sense. I really only understood it because I already heard another explanation on a different forum. Thanks, Shadowjack, wherever you are.

I- uh- thanks?

Okay. Here we go.
snip
Wow, that was a lot. Hopefully it makes sense. I really only understood it because I already heard another explanation on a different forum. Thanks, Shadowjack, wherever you are.

This is actually a really clever way to keep causality.

Don’t mess with time people! The universe will always fix your mistakes but not in the ways you want it to!

wtf the fuck

wtf the fuck

yeah