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Rin Kaenbyou
- "Rin" redirects here. For the character cut from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, see Rin Satsuki.
kaembʲoː ɽiɴ (♫) Rin Kaenbyou | |
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Rin Kaenbyou in Subterranean Animism Hell's Traffic AccidentMore Character Titles | |
Nickname |
Orin (お |
Species | |
Abilities |
Carrying away corpses, controlling and communicating with spirits |
Occupation |
Controller of spirits in the remnants of the Hell of Blazing Fires |
Location | |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
Official Games | |
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Print Works | |
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Rin Kaenbyou (火焔猫 燐 Kaenbyou Rin) is one of Satori's pets. Her job is to carry corpses to the former Hell of Blazing Fires to regulate its heat.
General Information
Personality
Rin has an energetic, positive personality; she prefers to be called Orin, since she doesn't like long names. She claims that while it is more fun to take on a pure cat form, she can't talk to humans that way - nor does it seem she can do her job, carting corpses away, which she seems to take great pleasure in. She appears to have challenged the main character in Subterranean Animism partly because she wanted their corpse, but also partly to test their strength to see if they would be able to stop Utsuho Reiuji for her, and appears to bear no ill will towards them for her defeat. Symposium of Post-mysticism states that she has no interest in killing humans herself to gain their corpses; she prefers to hunt for those on the verge of death, supposedly because it makes for more interesting conversation. If a corpse is properly buried, she'll lose interest.
Ability
- Carrying away corpses
Rin's official profile lists her ability as "carrying away corpses". As an ability that comes from her species, it is as it sounds like. The carried-away corpses burn as fuel for the Hell of Blazing Fires, although it is a mystery why the abandoned Hell of Blazing Fires needs to be fuelled in the first place. Incidentally, the spirits of the corpses carried away by kasha become onryou and become unable to achieve nirvana. She can also shift between cat form and human form at will. Hieda no Akyu states in Symposium of Post-mysticism that her corpse-carrying ability is not really a youkai-like one, but she is very good at it, using various tricks.
- Controlling and communicating with spirits
She is able to communicate with corpses and control all kinds of spirits; she appears to enjoy the conversations of the freshly dead, because they may not realize they're dead. In combat, she can briefly reanimate corpses so that they "act" like zombies.
However, prior to the events of Subterranean Animism, she displays the ability to drive vengeful spirits above-ground, which is what causes the heroines to dive underground in the first place. Symposium of Post-mysticism does not mention this.
Occupation
Rin is a kasha living in the Palace of the Earth Spirits; her master is Satori. Essentially, she lives day-to-day by stealing corpses from funerals to cart them to the former Hell of Blazing Fires. She will not kill humans herself, though she (quite efficiently) pursues humans that are close to death, hiding stolen corpses in her wheelbarrow using a straw mat, or just generally collecting corpses she happens to run across. Humans do not usually think that she would be carting corpses out in the open like she does, so she has a degree of freedom even in places with lots of people. In addition to maintaining the energy influx for the power source, she also controls the evil spirits, at least in the vicinity.
Possessions
Rin's only possession is her wheelbarrow, often referred to as "Orin's Cat Cart". It has no special properties, but Symposium of Post-mysticism describes it as the pushcart that has likely carried the most corpses in all of history.
Backstory
When the Underground separated from Hell, becoming known as Former Hell, both Rin and Utsuho Reiuji became pets to Satori Komeiji. Her job is to cart corpses into the fires generating heat for the Underground. One day, she noticed that the flames were extremely strong - much stronger than usual - and, worried, forced evil spirits above-ground to try and signal youkai to come help. She did not tell Satori about the possibly gigantic power Utsuho had obtained, however, and decides to figure things out for herself.
Character Basis
Origin
Rin's concept is taken from the kasha, a type of youkai that appears during stormy weather to bring the bodies of sinners to Hell. They are said to be cats that have turned into youkai through various circumstances such as long life. Sometimes temples near places where kasha are said to live will hold two funerals for the dead: in the first, the coffin is filled with rocks so that the kasha won't disrupt the funeral to carry off the deceased. Rin is said to steal corpses from funerals while no one is looking.
Name
The characters for Kaenbyou literally mean "blazing cat". The one for Rin means "phosphorus". Rin is shown pushing a wheelbarrow, which is also known in Japanese as a Nekoguruma (猫車) (Literally, "cat cart").
Design
Rin has black cat ears and dark red eyes, with fiery red hair styled into twin braids and adorned by black ribbons at the top and bottom of the braids. She wears a black decorated dress with green frills. She's pushing a wheelbarrow in one hand and holding a vengeful spirit in the other. Surrounding her are several more of these spirits.
Story
Games
Rin's story in Subterranean Animism is similar no matter what player character you pick. When a human arrives underground instead of a youkai like she was expecting, she challenges the heroine, wanting to take her corpse. However, she is defeated, and upon witnessing the heroine's strength, asks her to go deeper into the Hell of Blazing Fires in order to stop Utsuho.
Literature
In her article in the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, Rin was brought in to the Myouren Temple by Byakuren Hijiri and the others to talk to the zombie guarding part of the cemetery, Yoshika Miyako. After explaining to them that the reanimated corpse doesn't want to hurt anyone, she takes a few other corpses as payment and returns to the Underground with them.
In addition, Byakuren mentions that Rin once came up from the underground because she wanted to join the temple. The monk turned her away as Rin really only wanted access to the vast amount of graves in the graveyard.
Relationships
Satori is Rin and Utsuho's master. Apparently she keeps them as pets, but they have their own jobs to do, and are not seen together very often in the games or in books.
Utsuho is described as Rin's old friend from when the yamas split Hell out of the Underground. She is on good enough terms with her to not tell Satori about the trouble she causes in Subterranean Animism.
Minor Relationships
In Symposium of Post-mysticism, Rin is brought in to communicate with Yoshika, as her ability is being able to talk to corpses.
Gallery
Rin's illustration in Symposium of Post-mysticism
Rin's sigil from the Grimoire of Marisa
Rin explaining Yoshika Miyako's intentions in a Bunbunmaru Newspaper article
Spell Cards
Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Stage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total: 14 | ||||||
猫符「キャッツウォーク」 | Cat Sign "Cat's Walk" | SA GoM |
St. 5: E/N — | |||
猫符「怨霊猫乱歩」 | Cat Sign "Vengeful Cat Spirit's Erratic Step" | SA | St. 5: H/L | |||
呪精「ゾンビフェアリー」 | Cursed Sprite "Zombie Fairy" | SA GoM |
St. 5: E/N — | |||
呪精「怨霊憑依妖精」 | Cursed Sprite "Fairies Possessed by Vengeful Spirits" | SA | St. 5: H/L | |||
恨霊「スプリーンイーター」 | Malicious Spirit "Spleen Eater" | SA GoM |
St. 5: E/N — | |||
屍霊「食人怨霊」 | Corpse Spirit "Vengeful Cannibal Spirit" | SA | St. 5: H/L | |||
贖罪「旧地獄の針山」 | Atonement "Needle Mountain of a Former Hell" | SA GoM |
St. 5: E/N — | |||
贖罪「昔時の針と痛がる怨霊」 | Atonement "The Needles of Yore and the Vengeful Spirits in Pain" | SA | St. 5: H/L | |||
「死灰復燃」 | "Rekindling of Dead Ashes" | SA | St. 5: E/N | |||
「小悪霊復活せし」 | "Small Demon's Revival" | SA | St. 5: H/L | |||
妖怪「火焔の車輪」 | Youkai "Blazing Wheel" | SA | St. 6: E/N/H/L | |||
死符「ゴーストタウン」 | Death Sign "Ghost Town" | DS | St. 8 | |||
「死体繁華街」 | "Corpse Shopping District" | DS GoU |
St. 8 — | |||
酔歩「キャットランダムウォーク」 | Drunkard's Walk "Cat Random Walk" | DS | St. 8 |
Additional Information
- Rin may be the most persistent Touhou Project boss, appearing as a midboss in three stages, and as a stage boss all in one game.
- Rin is the only Windows Stage 6 midboss that, when defeated, doesn't directly lead to the final boss. A generic "death fairy" leads to Utsuho instead, similar to Mountain of Faith's Stage 6, except than in Mountain of Faith there isn't a midboss.
- In Double Spoiler, when taking a picture of Rin in her cat form, the player is awarded the "Cat bonus", which gives a bonus of 666 points, the mark of the beast. This is somewhat fitting considering that Rin is located in Hell.
- She's the only character in any Touhou Project game to have her theme start before her character title appears.
- Some of her attacks resemble attacks used by the second boss of Samidare from Project Blank, Anareta.
- In ancient Aztec culture, each household had a small red dog called the Techihi who was said to guide lost souls to the underworld, and would often be sacrificed along with its master. Strangely, Rin has both red hair and performs a similar duty.
Fandom
- Rin is commonly referred to as just "Orin" instead of her full name because that's what shows as her boss title in Subterranean Animism. The name "OrinRin" (おりんりん) has also been a standard way of referring to her.
- Careful observers will notice that Rin has both human ears and cat ears. This has led to some fanart where she takes her cat ears off. Or in a few rare cases, the other way around.
- Fans usually depict Rin as retaining her cat tails in humanoid form, despite them not appearing in official artwork.
- A Zombie Fairy can usually be seen with Rin in fanart.
- She is paired sometimes with Chen for obvious reasons while she's paired with Satori Komeiji or Utsuho Reiuji more.
- The Dance she does in the background of the Palace of the Earth Spirits in Hopeless Masquerade has become quite popular with fans.
Official Profiles
Official Sources
- 2008/08/16 - Subterranean Animism - Settings.txt (official profile)
- 2009/07/28 - The Grimoire of Marisa - Orin's Spell Cards
- 2010/03/14 - Double Spoiler - Stage 8 Spell Cards
- 2010/08/26 - Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 10 (cameo)
- 2012/04/27 - Symposium of Post-mysticism
References