Hey there, everybody! Neosonic97 here! You may remember that I did a Death Analysis for Reimu Hakurei a while back. Well, this time, I'm going over her closest friend and biggest rival: The Ordinary Magician with a penchant for burglary, Marisa Kirisame!
A NOTE
Just like with Reimu, PC-98 things will not be used for feats unless it's a comparison to one of the three PC-98 characters that currently exist within the Windows Touhou Timeline (Namely Yuuka, Alice and Reimu).
With that out of the way, let's begin!
BACKSTORY AND PERSONALITY
Gensokyo. A realm across the boundary of common sense and lack of it, full of Youkai, Gods and other such beings, who all have powers beyond imagination, such as the ability to float away from reality, invoke death in others with just a thought, or manipulate boundaries. Marisa Kirisame is NOT one of these beings. Born to a merchant family who run a shop in the Human Village, Marisa, for reasons unknown, broke off relations with her family and ran away into the Forest of Magic. There, under unknown tutelage (Likely an Evil Spirit named Mima if PC-98 is to be believed), she learned how to use Magic. The conditions for her first meeting with Reimu Hakurei, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, is unclear, but the two have become best friends over time.
In contrast to Reimu, Marisa is straightforward and informal with everyone. She's a habitual liar, to the point where she even lies to Eiki Shiki, the yama who judges the dead. However, her lies are obvious as she makes no effort to deceive the people she lies to- but she is fairly intelligent and charismatic (If the fact that she's friends with members of the Scarlet Devil Mansion is any indication). As stated earlier, Marisa is a kleptomanic (Much to the misfortune of Patchouli Knowledge, as Marisa is constantly trying to steal her books), and a compulsive hoarder. She's also unyielding and un-cooperative. However, Marisa is diligent and a very hard worker, although she tries to hide this from everyone.
ABILITIES & EQUIPMENT
Despite being a resident of Gensokyo, Marisa, being an ordinary human, was not born with any natural talent, and thus had to work extremely hard to reach the level of power she's at. If there is any talent she has, though, it's at using magic. Marisa is an exceptionally skilled magician, mostly specialising in blowing things up, but she does have some equipment with her. Her first piece of equipment is her Broom, which is mostly there to fit the Witch aesthetic (She can fly without it), but it DOES come in handy for smacking someone in the face with. She also holds a few magical brews made from mushrooms in the Forest of Magic which explode when thrown. But of course, her best piece of equipment is her Mini-Hakkero. Given to her by Rinnosuke Morichika after she left her family, the Mini-Hakkero is absolutely tiny (enough for Marisa to hold it in one hand), but extremely powerful. It is a potent source of heat and magical energy,
Now onto her spell cards! Marisa's got quite a few over the years, but like Reimu, she has her favourites. Her first main Spell Card is Magic Sign "Stardust Reverie", which typically releases a barrage of star-shaped projectiles all around her in a wide area. Another of her more commonly-used spell cards is Comet "Blazing Star" where Marisa rockets forwards at blinding speeds on her broom. But her most famous spell card is perhaps one of the most well-known Spell Cards in the entire Touhou Series. I gave it a passing mention in the Reimu blog, but here, Love Sign "Master Spark" pops up once again. In Imperishable Night's spell card collection, the Master Spark is described as a 'freaking huge magical laser'. And honestly? That's an accurate description. Huge, rainbow-coloured and thus flashy, but devastatingly powerful, The Master Spark is quite easily Marisa's strongest (and most-used) spell card. It also has a number of variations, ranging from the more powerful Magicannon "Final Spark" which is just a much larger and much stronger Master Spark, to the more accurate Perverse Love "Easy-Harvest Master Spark", which fires a smaller beam as a conductor to the Spark, which also serves to stun foes to guarantee a hit with the actual huge laser, to Loving Heart "Double Spark", which, as the name suggests, is just two Master Sparks fired simultaneously. She's also a master at copying other characters' moves. She copies Mima's Ritualistic Space "Orreries Solar System", which creates a number of danmaku-shooting options around her, and one of Patchouli's Non-Spell attacks is adapted by Marisa into Love Sign "Non-Directional Laser", which is a laser attack that hits in all directions... obviously.
She has a few non-spell card techniques from the fighting games, most of which are just lesser versions of her Spell Cards, like the Narrow Spark and Witch's Leyline, but she also has an anti-air attack called the Misama Sweep, where she essentially does a Shoryuken with her broom. Marisa is actually the Shotoclone of Immaterial and Missing Power and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, now that I think about it. She can also do a Princess Peach impression and smack into people with her butt. This actually nullifies projectiles while doing so, for some reason, leading to the joke that Marisa wears bulletproof bloomers.
FEATS AND WEAKNESSES
Marisa's known as one of Gensokyo's two premier incident resolvers (alongside Reimu of course), and for good reason. As stated in Reimu's analysis, Marisa's Hakkero is capable of reducing a mountain to Ash, according to Rinnosuke Morichika in Curiosities of Lotus Asia, Chapter 6. She's capable of going toe-to-toe with some of Gensokyo's heaviest hitters, like Reimu Hakurei, Suika Ibuki, Utsuho Reiuji, Flandre Scarlet and Yukari Yakumo. While obviously not on the same level as an Oni, she is more than capable of taking them on in physical combat. Again, Suika and Yuugi come to mind. However, she is considered one of the fastest, if not THE fastest being in Gensokyo. No comparison has been drawn between her and Aya yet, but she is faster than pretty much everybody else. She is also capable of withstanding the force of her own Master Sparks, as they do not cause her to move unless she explicitly allows it to (Like when she uses the Last Word version of her Blazing Star in Imperishable Night, where she fires a Master Spark behind her as propulsion).
However, Marisa is not perfect. Like Reimu, she fights under Spell Card rules, meaning her attacks are typically non-lethal unless she stops obeying spell card rules for whatever reason. Other than that, Marisa lacks any kind of hax whatsoever, instead relying on brute force and overwhelming speed to defeat her enemies. Comparatively speaking, most of her attacks have a relatively poor spread compared to Reimu's, too, typically focusing on power more than accuracy (Although certain spells like her Master Spark and Non-Directional Laser have such a wide range that Marisa only needs to be aiming in the foe's general direction to land a hit). Don't let this fool you, though; Marisa is not a foe you'll have an easy time defeating. She is anything BUT ordinary.
OVERVIEW
+Extremely powerful and Extremely fast. Marisa hits hard and hits fast, and is tough to hit. "Shoot and I'll move. In a flash."
+For a magic-user, surprising physically adept, given that she can withstand the force of her own Master Sparks and face Onis in hand-to-hand combat.
+The only part of Imperishable Night that really matters. She mouths off to FREAKING REIMU and gets away with it. "Okay, okay, I give up. You're right. The endless night, and stealing the full moon, and hiding the human village, and putting funny hats on stone statues. It's all Alice's fault. Now, bitch, get out of the way!"
-Spell Card Rules inhibit killing potential.
=Until she stops obeying them, that is.
-Not so great on the accuracy department.
=But some spells like the Master Spark and Non-Directional Laser hit wide enough that this doesn't matter.
And there we have Marisa's analysis! Thank you for reading, and feel free to comment to give criticism on whether I missed anything or if there are any problems with the formatting or stuff like that. You get the idea. Until next time!
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