Due to vocalist Sayuri's poor health, Silver Forest is disbanding.
Minoriko Aki
Minoriko Aki aki minoɾiko | |
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 Minoriko Aki in Mountain of Faith Symbol of Abundance and PlentyMore Character Titles | |
| Species | Harvest goddess |
| Abilities | Controlling abundant harvest |
| Location | Near Youkai Mountain |
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Appearances | |
| Official Games | |
| Show Official Game appearances | |
| Print Works | |
| Show Print Work appearances | |
Minoriko Aki (秋 穣子 Aki Minoriko) is the goddess of abundant harvest in Gensokyo. Along with Shizuha, her older sister, they control the autumn season. She visits the Human Village to give humans a good harvest, and she also runs a sweet potato stand. Her first appearance was in Mountain of Faith as a stage 1 boss.
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Concept
Name
Minoriko Aki (秋 穣子) is her name. The character for Aki(秋) means "Autumn". Minoriko can be split into minori(穣) what could mean "Bountiful", "Harvest" or "Seed-spreading" and ko(子) what could mean "child". "Minori" could also possibly refer to 実り which means "ripening" or "harvest."
In her official profile of Mountain of Faith, her name in Japanese was mispelled as 秋 稔子 (Aki Minoruko).
Appearance
Minoriko's Mountain of Faith portrait shows her having red eyes and blond hair. She wears a yellow blouse with poofy sleeves and a red dress which goes about halfway up her chest and has black straps over the shoulders. Over the dress there is a red apron which has a wheat pattern at the bottom, and her red hat has a cluster of blue grapes on the front. She does not have footwear, but walks with two left feet.
It's supposed that ZUN likened her to a Japanese one-legged scarecrow which guards farms, due to her having two left feet. The Japanese term for "scarecrow" (かかし kakashi), came from kagashi, which means "smeller". This may explain why Minoriko talks about her smell in Reimu's scenario.
Personality
She has a superiority complex with regards to Shizuha, and along with her sister they become disappointed when winter comes. In her dialogue with Reimu she said that gods puts lots of time into themselves. That is why she wears a freshly-harvested sweet potato smelling perfume.
Story
- Mountain of Faith
Minoriko fights Reimu or Marisa in Mountain of Faith near the Youkai Mountain.
- Main article: Reimu Arc
Minoriko is afraid to be eaten by Reimu in their dialogue, as Reimu smells something tasty. Minoriko says the smell comes from her perfume made of freshly-harvested sweet potatoes. She is still afraid of getting eaten by Reimu when the fight starts, and gets defeated.
- Main article: Marisa Arc
Marisa says she could use some practice, and then Minoriko shows up. Minoriko says that the youkai in the Youkai Mountain are much different from those Marisa has already met and that she should be afraid of them, but Marisa isn't. Then Minoriko starts to fight, but is easily defeated by Marisa.
- Double Spoiler
In Double Spoiler, Minoriko was Aya's practice partner, but she was annoyed and starts to attack Aya.
Relationship
Shizuha is her older sister. Together they control the season of fall.
Other Minor or Unknown Meetings or Associations
She helped Aya for practising photo shooting in Double Spoiler. Though, she was annoyed eventually.
- People from the Human Village
Every year she is called by the villagers for the harvest festival. She guarantees them an abundant harvest.
Additional Information
Trivia
- It makes very much sense for Minoriko to be the younger sister who is the goddess of the harvest as the harvest comes after the changing of the leaves in the season.
- Minoriko appeared on the cover of the demo CD of Mountain of Faith.
- Minoriko got a small reference in Sanae's part of the Ten Desires prologue. [1]
Fanon
- Because she and her sister were ranked the lowest of the Windows characters in the 5th annual Touhou Popularity Poll, with Minoriko at 54th and Shizuha at 52nd, there is a running joke in Japan that they are "original characters" (i.e. fanmade characters), an increase in popularity in 2008 when they were introduced as representing one of the four seasons, when many people did not even know they actually showed up in the games. There is a doujin anthology project dedicated to the Aki Sisters, perhaps to compensate for this.
- In later years Minoriko's theme has dramatically increased in rank since the 6th Touhou Popularity Poll. The Aki sisters have experienced an increase in 22 ranks for Minoriko and 18 ranks for Shizuha when all the new characters from the games after Mountain of Faith are not considered.
- In later years the sisters possibly reached a stable position, staying around the 50th place.
- In most fanart, she is shown to be curvier than her older sister. The exact reason isn't known but it's speculated that it's due to her being the goddess of harvest and bountiful crops while Shizuha is a leaf goddess. Naturally there's jokes about her "bumper crops". This has also lead to cases of Shizuha molesting her sister on top of occasionally being jealous of Minoriko's figure.
- Aoneko (Nicovideo, Pixiv), noted to be one of the biggest fans of the Aki sisters, started an Aki sisters-only video website called AkiTube.
- Fans tent to call her by her nickname, "Minorin" (みのりん).
Spell Cards
Show spellcardsOfficial Profiles
- Mountain of Faith - キャラ設定.txt
Official Sources
Show sourcesReferences
- ↑ Ten Desires: Prologue — "For example, prayers for a great harvest, or protection from misfortune..."
