Due to vocalist Sayuri's poor health, Silver Forest is disbanding.
Yuuka Kazami
Yuuka Kazami Yuka Kazami | |
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 Yuuka Kazami in Phantasmagoria of Flower View Flower Master of the Four SeasonsMore Character Titles | |
| Species | Youkai |
| Abilities | Manipulation of flowers |
| Age | Unknown, but more than 60 years old. Suggested to be very old. |
| Occupation | Unknown |
| Location | Mugenkan (PC-98 canon), Garden of the Sun (Windows canon) |
Music Themes | |
| Show Music Themes | |
Appearances | |
| Official Games | |
| Show Official Game appearances | |
| Print Works | |
| Show Print Work appearances | |
| Music CDs | |
| Show Music CD appearances | |
| Other | |
| Show other appearances | |
Yuuka Kazami (風見 幽香 Kazami Yuuka) is a youkai called the "Flower Master of the Four Seasons." She first appeared in Lotus Land Story as the fifth and sixth stage bosses (at that time, without a surname), and afterwards, with her canon completely remodeled, she appeared again as a playable character in the ninth work Phantasmagoria of Flower View.
Contents |
Concept
Name
The characters for Yuuka (幽香) mean "dim scent" or "fragrance". Kazami (風見) literally means "wind watching" and is also the term for a weather vane.
Appearance
In Lotus Land Story's official art, Yuuka was first seen on Stage 5 with green eyes, long green hair, and wore light pink pajamas. She also carries a large pink pocket-watch with roman numerals.
On the final stage, Mystic Square and Kioh Gyoku official art, Yuuka was wearing red plaid pants and a waistcoat of the same color and pattern over a plain white shirt. In Mystic Square and Phantasmagoria of Flower View, her hair is wavy and cut to shoulder-length, and her eyes are red in Phantasmagoria of Flower View and Kioh Gyoku. In Phantasmagoria of Flower View she wore a red plaid skirt instead of plaid pants. She was seen carrying an umbrella in Lotus Land Story, Phantasmagoria of Flower View and Kioh Gyoku. She also features green and purple wings in Kioh Gyoku.
Her alternative outfit in Phantasmagoria of Flower View is same as her normal outfit, except her dress is blue.
Story
- Lotus Land Story
<Insert Main Summary>
- Main article: Reimu Arc
<Insert Summary>
- Main article: Marisa Arc
<Insert Summary>
- Mystic Square
- Main article: Mystic Square Story
- Kioh Gyouku
- Main article: Kioh Gyouku Story
- Phantasmagoria of Flower View
- Main article: Phantasmagoria of Flower View Story
Relationships
Yuuka only seems to have some kind of relationship with Elly, since she's the gatekeeper of Mugenkan.
Additional Information
Nicovideo Encyclopedia article
Note: This is a translation of the Nicovideo article on Yuuka Kazami as of its 19 March 2012 version.
General Information
In addition to an appearance in Lotus Land Story, she also appeared as a playable character in Mystic Square. In PC-98 canon, she was "one of the strongest youkai living around Hakurei Shrine."
She carries a strong image of being one of sunflowers due to her danmaku in Phantasmagoria of Flower View and stage Garden of the Sun, and thus it is easy to think of her as a summer youkai, but since, according to her title, she is the "flower master of the four seasons," and not limited to summer at all, she is able to manipulate seasonal flowers of all four seasons. Moreover, in the time of the Great Barrier Incident for each sexagenary cycle, the 120th season was spring,[1] and in addition to manipulating flowers out of season, she is also established as taking the position of one with the image of sunflowers. However, as stated in the game, the blooming sunflowers, according to the incident, are unnatural flowers, and concerning things Yuuka said herself, things related to forcefully making flowers bloom out of season remain a question (for example, if she is able to). Perhaps it is due to the absence of other characters who symbolize summer (perhaps the other closest one being Wriggle Nightbug) that Yuuka seems to be the closest to representing summer.
Unusual among Touhou Project characters, she is not ornamented with ribbons or other hair ornaments, or hats. Instead of that, she always walks around with a parasol. As she said herself, "This is the only flower in Gensokyo that doesn't wither," but it is unclear if it can actually turn into a flower of if this is a mere metaphor. Also, according to the shopkeeper of Kourindou, it is a special parasol that drastically cuts ultraviolet rays, and not to speak of rain, it can also block danmaku.
As she greatly likes the seasonal flowers, in spring the spring flowers, in summer the summer flowers, in autumn the autumn flowers, in winter the winter flowers however few they are, in the course of one year, she moves about with the intention of making flowers bloom. According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, her main place of activity is a field completely covered by sunflowers in the heart of Gensokyo, the Garden of the Sun. Other than that, there was "She lives surrounded by flowers all year round" and "She is usually active in places surrounded by flowers," and there was also an anonymous who said that she often appears at the shrine.
Ability
- Ability to the extent of manipulating flowers
Although there are especially no portrayals in the games, according to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, it is an ability to "make flowers bloom, shift the face of sunflowers towards the sun, or make withered flowers bloom again."
Furthermore, there were also such statements like "this ability is more of an extra," and "completely unrelated to her abilities, she uses an umbrella and scatters flower petals to perform graceful attacks" and because of this, one would think that this is not an ability oriented for battle (although one might still wonder if scattering flower petals is not included in manipulating flowers).
Strength
Although she has been said to be the strongest class of youkai in PC-98 canon, it must be warned that in the Windows canon, there has not been a single instance that ever stated that Yuuka is "the strongest class of youkai", despite many things that indicate her strength.
In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Shikieiki Yamaxanadu has been told, "you've lived a little too long" (the pre-battle conversation). Longer-lived youkai are thought to have a tendency to have strong power, which is a similar way to Yukari Yakumo. She also said in the same conversation, "let's make it as clear as black and white who of us is the strongest in Gensokyo" thus picking a fight. Even that Shikieiki has possesses the top class of power in Gensokyo, she still picks a fight with suitable self-confidence (and it is also not the same as Cirno's recklessness).
She showed up in Cirno, Mystia Lorelei, Lyrica Prismriver, and others' stories as an enemy, and even when she is defeated by any of them, in the conversation afterwards it is Yuuka who drives the other away (and her after-battle expression is not sad-faced), and thus she was not truly a defeat. The only other one treated like this is Aya Shameimaru.
In Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, with statements like "tremendous power", "as a long-living youkai, she is not very active", "extremely high youkai power and physical abilities", "she does not show her true power except against likewise powerful youkai", "it's impossible for ordinary humans to exterminate her", etc., there are innumerable writings related to her mightiness. It was stated that Reimu Hakurei has exterminated Yuuka several times, but against this was given a caution that it was "probably bogus".
Her threat level is "extremely high" and her human friendship level is the uniquely peerless "worst", but she also comes to the Human Village to buy things and exchanges greetings with others, and this would mean that because of her attitude, she would not be seen as a strong youkai by her appearance. However, there was also an anonymous who thought that her smiling face was scary. "Strong ones are usually smiling (established theory)".[2]
PC-98 Yuuka
Yuuka first showed up as the fifth stage boss of Lotus Land Story, and also appeared as the sixth stage boss. She then appeared as a playable character in Mystic Square.
She is the head of the mansion called Mugenkan which sits at the boundary between Gensokyo and the Dream World, which is guarded by two gatekeepers, Elly and possibly Kurumi. Having a mischievous personality of telling stupid jokes, she is, as Marisa Kirisame said, "a strange fellow". The reason why she caused the incident of Lotus Land Story was, as she said, "because I had spare time." As for whether she had the "ability to the extent of manipulating flowers", there was one ending where she destroyed the shrine with a large plant, as well as shooting lotus flowers in Mystic Square. Also, it was stated that she is "one of the strongest youkai living around Hakurei Shrine" (which could either mean "one of the strongest among all youkai" or "one of the strongest among the youkai living around the Hakurei Shrine).
ZUN said about about Mugenkan (on the fifth stage) that "it was genuinely with the background in the bedroom", so it may be close to the bedroom. In the middle of night (it said 3 o'clock on Yuuka's clock), since she was suddenly challenged to fight, she showed up with a pink negligee and nightcap, accepting the challenge. Incidentally, since Reimu started out at noon and Marisa started out at night, it is questionable whether it is actually in the middle of night. Afterwards, when she fought again on the sixth stage, she showed up with the appearance similar to the Windows canon, but with pants. Her right eye is been covered her hair, and her hair was considerably longer than in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, and had straight hair. Not affected at all by her sudden wake-up and fight, she said "come back again~ ♥" in Marisa's scenario.
On the fifth stage, she performed bombardment and turned into what appears to be a ball of light, and on the sixth stage, she additionally split into two, creating many divergences in her attack. Furthermore, when she split, both of them are her true self. On the fifth stage, she had the so-called "original master spark" that can cover almost the entire screen, and on the sixth stage, she had a wide-range "split spark", with exceptional lack of space. The way she showed up as a boss consecutively is still quite the most exceptional.
The fifth stage was in the deepest part of Mugenkan, but it is unclear where her sixth stage is, but since the stage theme was "Dream Land", as well as the unused version was "Border Land", it is probably in the Dream World. Incidentally, it seems as if a human stays at where stage 6 is for a few hours, they will turn into a mist of atoms. Marisa said, "cut the chitchat and do it already!" to which Yuuka replied, "D-do what?"
In Mystic Square, her title was "Oriental Demon" and it would probably suggest she is a youkai (Orange, the first stage boss of Lotus Land Story, also had the title "Oriental Demon"). She had abilities to which ZUN wrote "possibly the strongest",[3] and she had a wide-range type flower-shot. As ZUN stated, "said to be 5+4×2-way shot of the strongest, the amazing range of her wide shot can cover"[3]. Her hair-length became shorter, and her bomb cut-in was quite loli-like.
Believing that "power is everything", no matter who her opponent is (even if it is a god), she is not timid at all. Liking to bully weak ones, she is able to smell weaklings (incidentally, Mima who has a sadistic personality does not have any interest in weaklings). Since she likes to tease the opponent with a smiling face and make fun of others, and said "praise all the more", which was an expression looking down on someone (ending, she appears very sadistic. There was an incident caused by Makai, and Yuuka had free time, so therefore she came to Makai to play. In the ending, she learned magic, and became even stronger, so she became transparent and followed around Marisa. In the extra ending, Alice Margatroid, who finally returned to Makai, since she picked up magic that definitely was not able to be used ordinarily, she also became transparent and followed around (but as for how long she take to accomplish it is unclear).
Yuuka was more of a spontaneous character without charisma. However, for the Windows canon, she observes Aya Shameimaru by her shadow, she said "jii" (translated as *stare*), staring back in a way that was not hidden at all, so there is a bit of spontaneity that remained. Although Shinki said "though you're a human!", the interpretation of this is known. But on the fifth stage of Lotus Land Story, Yuuka said "what's with you? Treating people like youkai..." while she was half asleep.
Seihou Yuuka
Yuuka has made a guest appearance as a hidden, playable character in the Seihou Project's second work Kioh Gyoku, which is a danmaku game series by the junior doujin circle "Shunsatsu sare do?" (Who didn't had this name during the time and was simply part of Amusement Makers), where ZUN also contributed music and art to the game. It seems like ZUN put her in the game, while referring to her as Youkai Moe in her official profile. Her title was "Beauty of Everlasting Darkness" and her theme was "Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan". To add to this, Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame made guest appearances in the previous work, Shuusou Gyoku.
The illustrator for Yuuka in that game was by ZUN (see right image). Kioh Gyoku was released 8 months before the sixth game of the Touhou Project game Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, and her design was quite close to how it is in the Windows canon. Her hair length was in between how it was in Lotus Land Story and Phantasmagoria of Flower View and in her cut-in image while casting a spell, she had four black and purple wings, but her sprite for her boss attack had six wings of light. She had considerably more charisma than she had in PC-98, and her cut-in image was characteristically more attack-like.
In the Seihou Project, many characters fought in spaceships, but Yuuka was one of the few who fought without one, along with VIVIT and Muse (although Erich wasn't using a spaceship, but an high-performance mecha). If to connect with Touhou canon, then Yuuka would be canonically the only known Touhou character to have able to take down a whole bunch of spaceships.
Yuuka was continuously asked the question "Who are you?" as all the cast of the game had no idea who Yuuka was. She was merely referred to as "foreign" by Milia who also joked about how fast Yuuka's speed is by saying "Did you get a good taste of my speed?". VIVIT said "But is it just me, or did we meet somewhere?", which VIVIT would have thought Yuuka was Reimu. Also with minor connections, Gates said Yuuka's style was completely different and that he wanted her data, and Marie thought the battle between her and Yuuka was "eccentric".
It seems that the last boss, Muse, felt a different divinity in Yuuka, but Yuuka's true form is assuredly unclear. With theme music "Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms" and shot "Hourai Cherry Blossoms", her current image of being one of summer with a recollection of sunflowers was quite thin. However, Phantasmagoria of Flower View comparatively resembles attacks from Kioh Gyoku, where her shot and bomb was similar, her attack range was wide, and the shape and form of her danmaku had the motif of flowers.
Trivia
- According to a conversation with Tewi Inaba in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Yuuka's umbrella is actually the only flower in Gensokyo that never withers, although that might only be a metaphor that means she never closes her umbrella.
- However, on the final stage of Lotus Land Story, she appears to close her umbrella several times during the boss battle.
- Yuuka is thought to be the originator of the spellcard "Master Spark", which Marisa Kirisame subsequently copied. Yuuka is also known for the "Dual Spark", two slightly smaller beams fired simultaneously when she makes a clone of herself during Lotus Land Story.
- Both VIVIT (From the Seihou Project) and Youmu Konpaku have pointed out to Yuuka that her outfit, or Yuuka herself, bears a resemblance to Reimu Hakurei.
- Though her exact age is unknown, there are many hints throughout the games and printed works that she's actually an elder youkai who's lived a very long life.
- Instead of her distinctive umbrella, she is shown with a baton when she uses a bomb in Mystic Square.
- In Mystic Square, Yuuka's player sprite is the only one outlined in blue. In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, she is not. In Yuuka's ending in Mystic Square, she talks about learning magic. This could be that in Mystic Square, she used her power she acquired in her dream world and in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, she used magic plus getting power from the flowers in the flower fields.
- Yuuka's known for telling lies most of the time, as shown in her story mode in Phantasmagoria of Flower View.
- As Yuuka's only known spell cards were used in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, she is the only spell card-using character to not have an article in The Grimoire of Marisa when it was created at that time.
Fanon
- Yuukarin: Similar to how Yukari is called "Yukarin", Yuuka is commonly called "Yuukarin" ゆうかりん. This distinction can be lost in English if her name is spelt as "Yuka" (as in "Yukarin") instead of "Yuuka" (as in "Yuukarin").
- Ultimate Sadistic Creature: Many fans in Japan refer to Yuuka as the "Ultimate Sadistic Creature" (アルティメットサディスティッククリーチャー) or USC for short, often portrayed as being dominant over Alice Margatroid or Tenshi Hinanawi. Yuuka's conversation with Shikieiki Yamaxanadu in her scenario also suggests that she may be a sadist since she admits she likes to "tease" others daily. In other fanworks, Yuuka is portrayed as an insane and bloodthirsty youkai, who kills with a pleasant smile on her face. Thus, she is commonly called a Do-S (ドS) where "Do" stands for "dreadnought-class" and "S" normally stands for "sadist"). However, she is also sometimes portrayed as having a soft side, in which case sometimes people joke that the S stands for "shinsetsu" (親切) instead, which means "kindness" or "gentleness."
- Low speed: Yuuka's very low speed (focused and normal) in Phantasmagoria of Flower View has become a small running meme among some fans. There's even a comic in which Aya Shameimaru teases Yuuka with "Speed over Power" while flying circles around her, with Yuuka blasting away to no avail. This even applies to her performance in fangames such as Touhou Puppet Play and Touhou Mother in which she has very low speed, but high power.
Spell Cards
Show spellcardsOfficial Profiles
Show Profile- Mystic Square - 怪綺談.TXT
- Kioh Gyoku - ＺＵＮ「創曲幻想」.txt
- Phantasmagoria of Flower View - キャラ設定.txt
Official Sources
Show sourcesReferences
- ↑ Seasonal Dream Vision
- ↑ Perfect Memento in Strict Sense - Yuuka Kazami
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mystic Square Manual
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