/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>43437512
Writing those DiPP theories in last thread made me think about the connection between Hourai Shoujo and Hourai Ningyou. ZUN drew all of them in 2001, while he planned originally releasing DiPP in Winter Comiket 2001 (C61). The Hourai Shoujo shrine maidens dress up in white, which could make someone misinterpret them as Pierrots. Rehearsing the story:
First Pierrot, with a Jeweled Branch of Hourai, beheaded the most curious one.
Second Pierrot took the most beautiful one captive.
Third Pierrot beheaded the youngest one deep in forest.
Fourth Pierrot covered the honest ones in darkness and killed the wisest one.
Fifth Pierrot was probably a hallucination, created from the Pierrot stories the other honest ones told about, which the most mature one saw before dying due to poisoning
Pierrot disappears at this point of the story, but she or Jacket girl helps the most cowardly one to carry out the murder of the most wary one. One Hourai Shoujo is a maid, so her being responsible for making the honest ones poisoned coffee and meals would make sense. There are five Hourai Shoujo shrine maidens, DiPP shrine maiden included.

The earliest riser sees the shrine maiden he saw earlier in the story enter the mansion and wonders if shrine maiden's hair was really blonde. This indicates the earliest riser was the only one to know the difference between a Pierrot and a shrine maiden. The most curious one maybe mistook a shrine maiden's gohei as the Jeweled Branch of Hourai, which the shrine maiden used to kill the honest one.
When the earliest riser saw a shrine maiden at the mansion, he thought it was the same one dancing above the lake, but didn't remember her hair being blonde. Meaning, the shrine maiden dancing was different from the one who came to the house and killed him. Both of them had same shrine maiden clothes, which made the earliest riser mistook her. The most beautiful one, who refers to both shrine maiden and Pierrot in her story, could be viewed as an "unreliable narrator", who lied in order to keep her murderer identity hidden.
As for the reason why the shrine maidens did this, it was meant to keep balance in the population count. And as for why there are several shrine maidens, there existed several exorcists in Gensokyo in the past, but currently Reimu is the one who does the job. Of course, this is just a theory and I have hard time believing it myself. I just felt like writing this dumb theory that came up in my mind.

Honestly though, Hourai Shoujo shrine maidens were just illustrations that ZUN contributed to a shrine maiden fetish site. ZUN sent these shrine maiden pics as "gifts" to the site and hosted the shrine maiden pics he received as "gifts" on his own homepage. The site, with ZUN's name on it: http://web.archive.org/web/20010529172514fw_/http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~rei12345/mikosan.htm

>>38457316
Forgotten shrine maidens when?

>>38428909
Some of Zun's more obscure stuff.