Peak... Peak romantic writting!

Now, as someone who knows very little about the Touhou universe, what becoming a magician implies?

Depends on interpretation since it's not clear what would happen.

Basically, an extremely important rule is that human villagers cannot become youkai because it upsets the balance of Gensokyo. In canon, Reimu killed someone who became a youkai.

Becoming a magician means becoming a youkai magician. Some fans say that since Marisa was originally from the Human Village, her becoming a magician would be a break of the rules and as such Reimu may be forced to kill her. However, the series never really has explored this concept in-depth and so it can go basically anyway a fan wants to take it. Sometimes it just means that Marisa will become long-lived and outlive Reimu, sometimes it means Reimu will exterminate Marisa, sometimes it means that nothing will change between them.

Though based on chapter 3 of the work where Reimu hits Marisa's head when Marisa jokes about becoming a magician, this doujin's interpretation is closer to it causing a crack in their friendship

The reaction to this latest chapter is honestly just embarrassing. Reimu didn’t show “uncertainty” and Marisa didn’t “fumble”. She confessed honestly, knowing rejection was possible. Reimu clearly shut it down. That’s fine. Calling it a “fumble” or framing it as Reimu being unsure just reveals how many people don’t see Reimu as her own agent at all. She’s treated as a prize Marisa has to get to, or some idiot that’s just not aware of her feelings. Not as someone who can simply… not reciprocate? Especially since she never had a clear “I love her” moment like Marisa did? What really pisses me off is that the story itself set all of this up too.

Regardless, kudos to the author. Now comes the interesting part where we wait and see whether they’ll go the standard “Reimu realizes her love” route, or actually have the balls to say that rejection isn’t a failure to be fixed and people aren’t obligated to reciprocate your feelings. ( super radical idea, innit? )

I think you're missing the obvious implications from earlier chapters that Reimu also harbors romantic feelings for Marisa. Chapter 11 really drives that point forward as she gets to the point of actively daydreaming of Marisa smiling at her, as well as becoming more conscious of how some of their behaviors around each other can be read as romantic. Even this chapter during the date has her blushing as she contemplates how important Marisa is for her (she is blushing pretty hard and has her heart skip at the bottom of page 21 when Marisa leans on her). She doesn't understand her feelings, and the work makes her confusion of her relationship with Marisa clear at points.

Also, this wasn't a traditional rejection but Reimu just telling her to stop in an attempt to keep things the way they are when it isn't possible anymore. The scene ends with her realizing what Remilia warned her about as she wishes for Marisa to stay with her, as she's actively trying to have Marisa ignore her own feelings and not even get the chance to confess.

A plotline of realizing rejection isn't a failure to be fixed could work if this was a work that demonstrated that the love is one-sided, but it's been clear for a while that Reimu holds romantic feelings too.

last edited at Jan 5, 2026 4:55PM