Merry Christmas (again), people.
For celebrating it, we have a bunny on spotlight.
--
Article#5 : Reisen Udongein Inaba, the Lunatic Moon Rabbit
鈴仙・優曇è¯é™¢ãƒ»ã‚¤ãƒŠãƒï¼ˆã‚Œã„ã›ã‚“・ã†ã©ã‚“ã’ã„ん・イナãƒï¼‰
[size=12]Reisen Udongein Inaba [/h]
Age : Unknown, at least 38 years old
Species : Moon rabbit
Personalities : Dual persona (Carefree/Crazed), Loyal and kind to Eientei's residences (but not really to the other), more level headed than mostly Touhou Characters.
Abilities : Lunacy-inducing eyes, telepathy with other moon rabbits, manipulation of wavelengths
Occupation : Kaguya's pet, Eirin's student, medicine seller.
First Appearance : Imperishable Night ( Touhou 8.0 )
Reisen is one of the legendary lunar rabbits; she fled from the Moon to Earth as a refugee from the "Lunar War" between the two worlds that began in 1969 A.D. after the Apollo 11 "invasion". Making her way to Gensokyo she was surprised to meet the notorious fugitives Kaguya and Eirin, and asked for asylum in Eientei. In exchange, she works for and protects Kaguya and Eirin.
During Imperishable Night Reisen hid within Eientei to avoid any lunar emissaries that might arrive on Earth and force her to return to the Moon. She was tasked with sealing the doors inside Eientei to ensure that Kaguya could not be found by the emissaries either. She used her power of insanity to stop the heroines from invading Eientei, but was defeated.
Reisen's power of insanity comes from her eyes; she uses them to refract and twist waves, disorienting and confusing her victims and deceiving them with frightening illusions. Perhaps ironically given her insanity-inducing powers, Reisen seems to have one of the more stable and balanced personalities in Gensokyo. In Phantasmagoria of Flower View she worries about Tewi running off and seems more level headed than most other characters. Although she doesn't know what's causing the flower incident, she's decided to investigate by going wherever the flowers are blooming.
During the events in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody she appears in the Scarlet Devil Mansion to ask questions but is beaten by the furious Mistress. Later she inquires into the fate of the Hakurei Shrine and asks if the earthquakes are still going on. Failing to find clues, she later goes to Hakugyokurou to check its condition and to ask Yuyuko about the Shrine's destruction. She tells her about the "completion ceremony" of the new shrine, but when she goes there, the shrine is destroyed. She also meets Yukari, who forbids her to investigate the shrine. Some time after the battle with Yukari, Tenshi suddenly appears and tells Reisen that earthquakes are just "fine".
Also, in Silent Sinner in Blue, her previous owners, the Watatsuki sisters, named another Moon rabbit
Reisen after her. Though we can call this new Reisen as "Reisen II".
Perfect Memento[/h]
- Main place of activity :
Bamboo Forest of Lost
- She has an upright posture which is very un-beast-like. She is rather slow compared to Youkai Beast's standard
- Although she is a youkai beast, she does not attack humans. In fact, she always try to avoid them.
- She is "one-of-a-kind" rabbit because of the Lunatic Red Eyes ability
- She is the leader of the rabbits (
de facto)
- It's said you'll go mad if you look directly into her red eyes.
- In addition, her voice is said to have unusual effects as well; for example, you may be unable to understand what she's saying even if you hear her perfectly, or you may hear her as if she were whispering into your ears, even though she's far away.
- She normally lives at Eientei in the Bamboo Forest.
- Her movements there are unknown, but occasionally she can be seen in the human village selling medicine.
- She's well known for walking about with large amounts of suspicious-looking medicines
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunatic Ability
- The ability to control madness is essentially the power to make you go mad, specifically, the power to control the waves that make up all things.
- Increasing the wavelengths, that is, making the subject carefree, results in an apathetic lethargy.
- Decreasing the wavelengths, that is, bringing madness to the subject, results in emotional instability, and leaves the subject unable to talk with other people.
- Increasing the amplitude results in an excess of existence, which allows her to transmit her will anywhere.
- Decreasing the amplitude results in a dilution of existence, in which case one's voice will never reach another, no matter how close they are.
- Synchronizing the waves' phases causes interference to vanish, which makes it impossible to touch anything.
- Offsetting the phases negates existence, and completely hides the subject's form.
- By using various effects such as these, she can induce madness.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Countermeasures
- There are no reports about Reisen attacking humans.
- However, she can't exactly be considered friendly, either; for example, whenever she comes to the human village to sell medicines, she disappears back into the forest as soon as her work has ended.
- She seems to prefer the same sorts of foods that humans eat.
- Even in this fashion she differs from most youkai.
- However, one must make certain not to look directly into her red eyes. Just like the Full Moon.
Bunbunmaru Trivia
# Reisen's right hand is often depicted to be making a gun shape, which leads to fan assumption that she shoots danmaku in this manner, and she indeed does in SWR. Some fans even depict Reisen holding an actual handgun in artwork. Those are all based on ZUN's word that her normal shots were modeled after a bullet. The revelation in SSiB that all Moon Defense Corps Rabbits are drilled with rifles suggests that Reisen can also use the real thing.
# "Inaba" is a nickname given to her by Kaguya (just like Tewi). Her real name, Reisen, is written in katakana, but in order to fit in with people on Earth, the kanji with the same pronunciation, 鈴仙, was used. The characters for Reisen literally mean something like "Bell wizard", and Udongein "House of plantain flowers.". Additionally, in Japanese "reisen" can mean "Cold War". This may implies the time that human exploration of the Moon started. (see also notes on Reisen's spellcards) while in Germany it means "travels" or "voyages" as well as "to travel". Another meaning for "rei-sen" is "Type-0", as in the Japanese Navy designation for the famous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane. This may be also a reference to Reisen's military background. (see also Imperishable Night: Music) A species of rabbit, called the Deutsche Riesen, may also be where her name comes from.
# "Udonge", the short version of the nickname Eirin calls her by, translates to "plantain flower," whose buds look remotely like rabbit ears.
# "Udongein",優曇è¯é™¢ can be literally translated as House of plantain flowers, note that the character "院" (House) using in such circumstance is a vital part of Japanese Title system. In feudal Japanese society noble women would receive similar titles ended with "院" at their old age to indicate their worship to Buddhism. This title is similar to the Posthumous Name, è«¡å· in order to commemorate a deceased person. In Reisen's case, "Udongein" was given by her master Eirin and this might probably a ritual practice to make Reisen forget her dark past and begin a new life on earth.
# Some fans call her "Zayaku" (座薬, meaning 'suppository'), because her bullets look like them. Many, many jokes have been made about this, often of a crude nature. In addition, some species of plantains carry seeds that are useful for constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, similar to the functions of rectal suppositories.
# Reisen's Imperishable Night outfit, with a long-sleeved dark suit jacket, tie and short skirt, is considerably more modern than most of the other characters' and resembles a private school uniform. In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, with her jacket doffed, she looks more like an office intern.
# Reisen's rabbit ears, strangely, always have two accoutrement-like buttons on them. It looks like the ears were linked to Reisen's head by buttons. Many fans made fun of this and said Reisen's rabbit ears were artificial. However, Silent Sinner in Blue chapter 8 showed other rabbits in the Lunar Defense Corps for the first time, and they also have the same buttons on straight ears, unlike the floppy ears of "civilian" Earth and Moon rabbits.
# Reisen's line "
I'm just a useless little bunny, only good for my sex appeal" from the doujinshi "Drunkards in Eientei" by
Omchicken, has become a popular meme associated with her.
# Reisen's alternate outfit in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and Touhou Hisoutensoku is a homage to the Vocaloid Miku Hatsune. Her other alternate outfits in Hisoutensoku are also homages to fellow Vocaloids Rin and Len Kagamine, Luka Megurine, Meiko, Kaito, Gakupo Kamui and Gumi.
# Based on what Reisen says to Mystia and what Lyrica says to Reisen in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, it seems as if Reisen can also manipulate sound waves as well as light waves.