Day 37: Yumeko

[Juuni]

Intimidating sword maid

Day 37: Yumeko

Yumeko is neat. I love her concept, as it really shows how touhou likes to have the servants be very strong too. Her swords motif is cool, and I find it neat to see done well. However, she hasn’t got much in fangames, which is a medium in which her master is pretty popular in. It’s pretty unfair, as she’s a cool concept in her own right, but doesn’t get to shine much. Also, if you couldn’t tell I find her to be intimidating as well, which most servant characters don’t do. Her theme absolutely slaps btw. Overall, a great concept with no huge representation yet.

[Yumetou]

I feel like part of the reason is Yumeko just got upstaged by a newer model. She is barely referenced in the fandom, but if you look at any Asian list of top maids in fiction, Sakuya is certain to be on it. She is one of the most recognizable characters from the series, beaten out only by Reimu and maybe Cirno. Mystic Square also seems to be the least popular of the 98 games. I don't have any statistics or sales to back this. But its the one I hear mentioned least by fans, even if it was Alice's introduction to the setting. Its a shame. A cool and arrogant Western swordswoman would make a nice contrast to Youmu. Especially since her Western style swords would help her stand out.

[Flame Sniper]

I really enjoy Yumeko's character. She is so pissed at you for destroying Makai she almost disobeys Shinki in stage 5 (thankfully, Shinki was understanding in letting her get revenge).
Compared to Sakuya, i like her color pallete more, it's more vibrant and her danmaku patters are really hard, and I am terrible at them. Her swords just annihilate my lives.

 

Her theme "Doll of Misery" feels very tragic to me, it highlights the negatives of being a servant, maybe? Anyway, it's very goood, even more considering the technological limitations of FM Music.

Just taking the original apparition into consideration (Yumeko in MS and Sakuya in EoSD), i prefer Yumeko. Sakuya in the long run is more memorable, but in EoSD she is pretty meh, just a maid pissed at you for interrupting her cleaning with a slight hint of worry about her master. 

 

The issue of Yumeko is being compared to Sakuya. She was the prototype.

 

[Juuni]

I feel like the comparison between her and sakuya is really unfair imo. Sakuya got so much more than being a maid, and really doesn’t feel like she fits in the category Yumeko does. I really wanna see Yumeko more because she isn’t sakuya and also makes another awesome character almost have to show up with her.

[Yumetou]

 

This is a good example of what I mean. She can stand out, even from under Sakuya's shadow, and her design could easily be updated and fit in the series again. Personally, I would trade out her broadsword for a rapier or epee. Those swords are distinctly Western, and would stand out more in a game or manga from a more generic arming sword or katanas. Dual-wielding could also help establish her more. The fighting style for these swords is different too, with a lot more focus on quick thrusts and parries. Which would make her moves more distinct from Sakuya or Youmu in a manga.

I would also play in a little to her more arrogant demeanor. Confidence is attractive, but taken too far, its a good character trait for a villain to get her comeuppance. She might genuinely be a better swordswoman than Youmu for instance, but her overconfidence could be a severe handicap in a fight narratively. I might also make her prudish or easily flustered when it comes to anything vaguely sexual. Though that might be playing into the fandom meta and Sakuya's knife-garters too much.

 

How she would play in game, I'm not entirely sure. Her old style is probably not an option, given its similarity to Sakuya's. My first thought is basing her Danmaku on epee and rapier techniques, combined with the aesthetics of Western flowers. But having no experience in bullethells outside of barely beating Cirno and wandering into generic fairy fire out of panic, I can't say that will work.

Since she was a creation of Shinki, she would presumably have some powers, though what those would be I can't guess. I don't think she has any broader abilities laid out in the lore, and her sword summon power is just going to confuse people with Sakuya. My first thought would be opening portals to Makai through certain swordplay techniques, letting her fire at you from unusual angles. You dodge a thrust from her as her sprite clears the map, and a hole opens behind you shooting pellets. You could also make her name literal, and pull the player into hazardous dreamscapes you have to maneuver through.

 

All in all, she's a good example of why Zun does not recycle old characters. She has some excellent bones, and would be easy to refit in the lore. Her character traits fit nicely, and could be interesting foils to some of the others. But so much of the series has changed since then, that its just easier to make a new character, rather than overhaul one only diehard fans and lore nerds are going to remember. Even if he did reinvent her, she is just going to invite comparisons to the other maid in the series. 

[Eulogous]

The Original Blade Maid. This is going to be a weird take, but I really don't consider her to be "Proto Sakuya". Ruukoto and Mugetsu share the maid aesthetic, making Yumeko the 3rd maid by this point. I also know this will probably be glossed over because it's from Seihou, but ZUN had involvement in the game (Also the team was still a part of "Amusement Makers") and it came out before EoSD by around a year.

I believe the real Proto Sakuya is... Muse from Kioh Gyoku:

Spoiler

(Also random note her theme has similarities to EoSD's Stage 4 Theme)

Her attacks include marking a spot and having a barrage of knives fall on it.

 

16 hours ago, Juunimeta said:

Yumeko is neat. I love her concept, as it really shows how touhou likes to have the servants be very strong too. Her swords motif is cool, and I find it neat to see done well. However, she hasn’t got much in fangames, which is a medium in which her master is pretty popular in. It’s pretty unfair, as she’s a cool concept in her own right, but doesn’t get to shine much.

The Master-Servant dynamic is a double-edged sword. The autonomy of the servant is always going to be hampered, especially if the master just handles pretty much everything themselves, and the fact they are always going to be beholden to them (Satano & Mai/Ran). Though, it can start to go the other way, where the servant ends up being the more interesting character and does a lot, but at the end of the day still isn't allowed to do much on their own without being ordered around (Sakuya).

That said, I view Yumeko as to likely fulfill a similar role to Youmu functionality-wise, to be sent from their respective worlds to run errands. Makai is a reoccurring location with many ways it's been entered, so it's not a stretch (the whole premise of MS were the Makai Demons flooding into Gensokyo to tour it). 

 

8 hours ago, Yumetou said:

Mystic Square also seems to be the least popular of the 98 games.

It is? The circles I'm around seem to consider it the only PC-98 game worth playing and the best one overall. I prefer Lotus Land Story over MS as a shmup, but I do like the setting and environments of MS more.

 

6 hours ago, Yumetou said:

How she would play in game, I'm not entirely sure. Her old style is probably not an option, given its similarity to Sakuya's. My first thought is basing her Danmaku on epee and rapier techniques, combined with the aesthetics of Western flowers. But having no experience in bullethells outside of barely beating Cirno and wandering into generic fairy fire out of panic, I can't say that will work.

Rapier Swordbeams. A thrust could leave behind a trail and it could burst into small bullets (pretty much like Meira's dashing slashes in SoEW). You could take a page out of SoEW Mima's book and have her try to align with the player before committing to a fast drop-dash, colliding with the bottom of the screen could have a wave of bullets erupt from the spot to sell the impact of the thrust.