Cherry Playthrough: Yukari Yakumo (No-Death/2-bombs, PCB Phantasm stage)

"She, too, lived at the edge of Paradise"
-Me changing the opening lines of the Phantasm stage.

A video of me perfectly waltzing a dance of life and death against the demon lurking between borders, Yukari Yakumo

Yukari (Who is colors above Ran), is the Phantasm boss of the game Perfect Cherry Blossom, the 7th installment of the Touhou Project. The Touhou Project is a series where nothing less than relative perfection is welcomed. Being a danmaku game, it is a game where those who hone their reflexes and their memory muscles can weave their way through patterns of incomprehensible beauty and abstract mystery. The creator of this... phantasmagoria, so to speak, is a being, apparently human, known as ZUN.

With this video, I officially close the Cherry Playthrough. I did not wanted to do a whole Yukari Pacifist run because I'm sure I can do it and it would be too similar to Ran Pacifist. So I up the ante and embark on the journey of doing a perfect playthrough. During my journey, I realized something: mankind should really consider redefining the meaning of perfection for humanity's morale's sake. Although it is a perfectly doable run, for my skill level is very hard. My skill level, contrary to popular belief if comments are anything to go by, while above average is hardly legendary. So I settled for the third best thing: a No-Death, Two Bombs run through the whole stage, not only Yukari. I redefined "perfection" to fit this standard because I really, really wanted to use the Perfect Cherry Playthrough pun.

Now that the why of the video has been dealt with, let's talk about the girl of the hour... Maribel Hearn. There are at least two bands in this discussion: those that believe Maribel is to Yukari like Hearn is to Yakumo (meaning the same person), and those who don't. I belong to the former, simply due to how awesome it is for Yukari to be a human turn youkai from the future that traveled back in time due to a stable time loop. The thing is, after ZUN cryptic "There's a man called Lafcadio Hearn" (Lafacdio Hearn was a writer who after naturalizing in Japan changed his name to Koizumi Yakumo) you get the impression Maribel HEARN and Yukari YAKUMO are the same person. Both are very similar in appearance downright to their clothes (is uncanny). Both have abilities pertaining border (Renko suggested once that Maribel's ability are evolving from "Seeing borders" to "Manipulating borders"). And it's suggested "Yukari" is not Yukari's real name. ZUN hasn't given a clear cut answer, but is not absurd to think that Maribel might be Yukari.

Now that that is off my chest, let's talk about our theoretically omnipotent witch. Sigh Seems (but unfortunately doesn't feel) like yesterday that I remember calling Yukari "that purple witch the rends time and space at the end of IaMP. Those were good times. With the current development of events (ZUN's marriage and the apparent propensity of Touhou related people to drop off the face of the Earth), I don't know where the series currently stand. I wish that characters like Flan and Yukari appeared more often in canon. Maybe not in new games as bosses, but Touhou has many decimal entries where they can fit. Hell, there are 3 decimal entries between Touhou 12 and 13.

Yukari is... well, a mastermind if there ever was one. You cannot simply understand her. Effectively, she a youkai-like youkai, leaving a carefree life, lying and deceiving people for goals no one understands and effectively makings sure she's a feared youkai. I said Yukari's fingerprints are all over Gensokyo's history and this fact alone is enough for her to get involved in stuff. Summarizing, she has a lot of potential and opportunities for appearances.

And I once said I could write an essay on the character Yukari Yakumo and that still holds true, but I must cut the description short, so quick words. This video took time to make, but I'm satisfied. I only bombed twice and didn't died. Yukari continues being a challenge, but I had played her so many times is no longer hard to beat. I have more trouble with Mokou and Flan. After this vid I have two projects I'll announce on a video. If you watch the comments from Ran's video, there a particular one that hints to one of these. The other project continues being RKS (what a surprise). I'll post an announcement video ASAP. Till then, Enjoy rewatching this video.

Artwork:
Opening: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=30...
by Hong

Ending: No Gallery

For more info about the Touhou series, check wiki:
http://www.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou...