/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>21221209
>She also came around the peak of the Touhou fanbase
That was UFO

>>21221279
Fair, but I still don't get it since she is a strong design and concept.

She'd probably be more popular if Alice didn't exist.

>>21221209
>with a poisonous body that infects anything with touch
Pure supposition that she may have covered herself in poison.
>gothic lolita
Most touhous are lolita style and I wouldn't say Medicine is gothic.

She was also only in the one game and picture game and has no real point of purpose to show up again. There are also more interesting dolls like Alice's dolls or Hina, who herself is a superior lolita fashion doll with even worse effects if you get near her. A naive cursed doll isn't interesting vs a cursed doll full of actual curses.

>>21221209
Medicine Melancholy is a low energy, no personality, generic doll loli that would be more at home in the PC-98 games than sharing the same games with superstars like Chiruno, Aya and Mystia.

>>21221585
>superstars
Maybe if you're a total secondary.

I can't put my finger on why but she's somehow very forgettable, strange.

>>21221585
Despite how I hate Cirno and Aya for ocupying way too much space in the franchise, I have to agree with you. Medicine just has not enough personality as a character. She looks like Alice with a red dress and she would definetly have been better in PC-98 as an Alice twin.

>>21221585
>Chiruno and Mystia
>superstars
holy mother of shit taste

>>21221209
She's literally a modern PC-98 character. She has no reason for being in PoFV, is not relavant to the plot whatsoever and has a generic frilly dress design. She's unpopular because she has no interactivity with any characters. She's the odd one out. Yuuka and Alice don't have canon relations with her at all. The only thing Medicine has is one small line that says she sometimes supplies poisons to Eirin. Yes, she has the potential to be an interesting character, but she isn't. ZUN made her a boring generic loli, like what 90% of the PC-98 cast was. Even he himself says in SCoOW that Medicine had no reason to be in PoFV other than to fill out the roster of new characters.

>>21221682
It's poetic that her whole shtick is that she's a forgotten doll, and yet she is one of the more forgotten Touhou's.

>>21221209
>with a poisonous body that infects anything with touch

>>21221585
Kuso post

One of the few evil characters and she’s bubbly to boot! I find it interesting on how she knows a lot about human anatomy and even gives the other characters the creeps.

I love how she’s one of the few characters to make Yuuka cry and she’s pretty much a force of madness in her route in POFV. She’s like a PC-98 Yuuka in a way, saying everything with a smile.

>>21223253
>She has no reason for being in PoFV, is not relavant to the plot whatsoever and has a generic frilly dress design. She's unpopular because she has no interactivity with any characters. She's the odd one out
Aya was the same way though. ZUN had to give her her own game and then put her in the next game too.

>>21223477
Also, remember ZUN calling Ichirin just a hitbox too.

I want to be thigh crushed by a doll!

Medicine MERONcholy.

Probably because she’s basically Nui as a 2hu personality wise, if I had a reason, considering literal nobodies like Momiji get a bunch of attention.

Nonetheless, cute!

Do you have to shit up every Medicine discussion?

>>21221209
She debuted in the same game as Aya Syameimaru. That was pure bad luck.

>>21223800

>>21223806

>>21223810

>>21223829

>>21223833

>>21223931

>>21223935

>>21223959

>>21223967

>>21223972

>>21223977

>>21223983

>>21223990

>>21223998

>>21224005

Cute and evil~

>>21221575
>Most touhous are lolita style
Most 2hus are EGL-lite. Medicine is full-on EGL.

>>21221575
>Alice’s dolls with no dialogue
>More interesting

>>21221575
Wait a minute, Hina is not herself a doll, is she?

>>21224403
She has a doll army, but she is classified as a curse goddess.

>>21224444
Yeah, that makes more sense. I don't remember the game suggesting that she was a doll.

A lot seem to forget as stated by Komachi, that she is an immortal too, and this can be shared with her relation to Eientei, with Kaguya and Eirin.

Another reason may be because of her insulting and curbstomping Yuuka. Also nearly put Reisen into a coma while Eirin didn’t really care.

>>21224403
>>21224456
It's not the game, but ZUN referring to her as basically a doll in comments in other sources. I can't find the one in particular I'm thinking of where he implies she might has been some god's nagashibina, but here he's saying she's supposed to seem doll like https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Chara%E2%98%86Mel/Mountain_of_Faith_interview_with_ZUN and he's referring to her as a doll floating down the river here https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Strange_Creators_of_Outer_World/Introduction_of_Previous_Works/Mountain_of_Faith/Cross_Review but might just mean it thematically. What I was first thinking of precisely is probably in one of his untranslated comments.

>>21224456
Her title implies it, could be a bad translation or something

>>21223520
When does she do that last face? I don't remember ever seeing it

>>21223520
Extended fanmade portraits, really.

>>21224977
Extended fanmade portraits, really.

>>21224866
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Febri/Ten_Desires_and_Touhou_Project_interview_with_ZUN_Part2
This also says something similar with 流し雛が神様に転じたものである

>>21224901
It's not her title I'm thinking of.

>>21225076

>>21225078

>>21225084

Smug qt doll desu.

Poison braps

>>21225275
Go back to /d/.

>>21225504
I want to sniff her toxic butt.

>>21225275
Just imagine the smell

>>21221627
Cirno and Aya have appeared in several official titles, from games to manga, as major characters.

Mystia is one of the rare minor characters with a significant amount of extra material to her
-runs an eel stand
-fucking punk rocker
-with Kyouko, of all characters

>>21223127
>>21223360
oh no, facts

>>21221209
Who are you and why did you posted a picture of my onahole?

>>21221209
>Why she is so unpopular again?
literally unfuckable

She can control her poisons in POFV’s ending, you’ll be fine!~

>>21227083
That’s not what Yamame fuckers said!

>tfw no doll that can manipulate humans with her own poison to kill you

Medicine Melancholy is for mating press~

>>21228771
Who are you quoting?

Medicine actually has some pretty neat inspirations. First off, her name (メディスン メランコリー / Medicine Melancholy) is a direct reference to American author Ray Bradbury's short story, "A Medicine For Melancholy". In fact, her whole design seems to be connected to that story so I'll start with that first. In the story, a girl named Camillia Wilkes falls deathly ill and is unable to get better. Her family tries to find a cure and goes through many lists of medicinal herbs and flowers including stone parsley, opobalsam, and pontic valerian as suggested by a Gypsy. The Gypsy suggests that Camillia has melancholia (depression). Then, a dustman comes towards the family and tells them that they must leave her out on a night of a full moon. The family obliges and the girl is left outside at night under the full moon. The dustman comes to her playing a lute and Camillia doesn't seem to recognize him. The dustman calls himself Bosco after the famous Italian priest, Saint Bosco, who roamed the streets caring for homeless children. He then has sex with her. Now morning, the girl murmurs in her sleep, "a medicine...for melancholy" and wakes up just as her parents approach her. She seems to be ecstatic, rosy-cheeked and playful. She asks them to dance with her much to their disbelief. The story ends. Okay, so there's A LOT to explain here. First of all, the word "melancholy" is derived from one of the four humors (four bodily fluids that classical and medieval people believed existed and influenced health). The four humors are black bile (melan chole; melancholic), yellow bile (xanthe cole; choleric), phlegm (phlegma; phlegmatic), and blood (haima; sanguine). An excess of melan chole (literally "black bile") is thought to make a person depressive, this is where there word "melancholy (sad, depressed)" originates. According to Greek and medieval sources, in order to stop depressive symptoms one must empty the body of black bile or balance it out with the opposite, blood (sanguine) (note that sanguine now means "happy" in English). In order to raise sanguine levels one must dance, listen to music, or have sex. This is what happens to Camillia in the story as the dustman plays the lute for her and then has sex with her. She wakes up happy and wants to dance with her parents, cured of her melancholia by making her sanguine levels go up. This is tied with full moon symbolism, as the Greek titan of the moon Selene is associated with sex and love. The humors are Greek concepts but are suspected to come from Egypt and the story makes various references to Egypt, Egyptian medicine, and mummies. The Egyptian goddess Isis became associated with the moon thanks to connections with the Greek Artemis and another Egyptian goddess, Bastet, the deity of fertility. In both Greek and Egyptian cultures the moon was connected to femininity and sex. Thus, when the dustman suggests that Camillia be put under the light of the full moon he is saying that she should present herself (for sex). He calls the coming full moon night "Bosco's eve" and when he visits her in moonlight he calls himself Bosco. Bosco was a Italian saint that roamed the streets of Italy, helping poor children. The dustman calls himself a saint because he's about help cure Camillia of her melancholia by having sex with her in the middle of the night. The allusion is perfect because Bosco was also known to care for those of poor health with herbs and other technique, he could be considered a sort of travelling doctor. Camillia calls the dustman himself a doctor during their encounter. With that out of the way, the cure for melancholia is revealed to be the moon or, in other words, sex. The medicine for melancholy is love.

>>21228864
In the story, Camillia is described as "pale" with "lilac eyes" and with hair like a "creek of gold". In literature, lilac refers to the color blue, not purple. Medicine, sure enough, is pale, has blue eyes, and has gold hair. Even further strengthening this connection is the fact that Camillia is described again in the story, this time as a "large, pale Bartolemy doll". A Bartolemy doll, better known as a Bartholomew doll or Bartholomew baby, was a type of wooden doll sold at the Bartholomew Fair, an old English charter fair that operated from medieval times to well into the 1800s. This is why Medicine is a doll, because ZUN took inspiration from this short story. Also, the fair was named after Saint Bartholomew. Saint Bartholomew is famous for having been flayed. The most striking features of him in art are his black hair and red, exposed body. Medicine herself wears only red and black. This is either a reference to Saint Bartholomew or to black bile (melancholy; sadness) and blood (sanguine; happiness). As stated before the cure for melancholia was to balance the levels of black bile by increasing the levels of blood (sanguine) through music, dance, or sex. Medicine also has four crosses on her clothes, one on the middle of her dress, one on the bottom of her skirt, and two on each of her sleeves. These four crosses could represent the four humors. ZUN chose crosses to represent the universal medicinal symbol (a cross) or to reference the Christian cross (which connects when you consider both Saint Bartholomew and Saint Bosco). It likely is supposed to connect to both. Medicine is heavily connected to the poisonous lily of the valley flowers (called スズラン suzuran in Japanese). She calls the lilies of the valley that she utilizes for poison "スーさん (Su-san, a cute proper name made up by her to sound like "suzuran)". She personifies and talks to "Su-san" so much in PoFV that fans wonder if she's actually referring to the flowers or to the little nameless doll that flies next to her, which is why many fans call that little doll "Su-san". Medicine manipulates poison as her ability and the favorite poison of her choice is the poison of the lily of the valley, a toxic mixture of glycosides, namely convallatoxin, that inhibits the heart's ability to pump blood. ZUN chose to associate Medicine with that flower due to many reasons. First of all, Agatha Christie, one of ZUN's favorite authors, calls the lily of the valley her favorite flower. Secondly, the lily of the valley is connected to happiness. In floriography (the language of flowers) the lily of the valley symbolizes a return to happiness and love. Lily of the valley is also a popular flower of choice for wedding bouquets. As you could recall, the cure for melancholia is to return sanguine (happiness) through dance, music, or sex (love). Thus, ZUN is brilliantly implying that the "Medicine For Melancholy" in Touhou is the lily of the valley. Indeed, in real life, the flower is used in small amounts in herbal remedies to treat heart issues as the flower's glycosides affect the heart. The heart is a common symbol for love and happiness. To heal the heart is to cure melancholia. Medicine herself says in PoFV that "small doses of poison can be medicine" and, since Medicine is mainly associated with the lily of the valley, ZUN is implying that the flower is medicine (in small amounts). Eirin even gets help from Medicine (who supplies her with flowers) because poisons are vital components to medicine. Again, the medicine for melancholy is the the lily of the valley. The lily of the valley also has alternate names such as "Our Lady's Tears" and "Mary's Tears", referencing the weeping Virgin Mary. This could also be an alternate reason as to why Medicine has four crosses on her clothes. Medicine's story as a doll who became a poisonous youkai after being abandoned on the Nameless Hill (which is full of lily of the valley flowers) could come from Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Rappaccini's Daughter" in which Dr. Rappaccini keeps his daughter, Beatrice, confined in a garden of poisonous flowers until she eventually becomes poisonous herself. It's also worth noting that around the time PoFV released Rozen Maiden, a series about living dolls, was getting to be extremely popular in Japan.

>>21228872
Medicine's frilly clothes and living-doll theme may possibly be based on the living dolls of Rozen Maiden. Oh yeah, and Medicine is specifically a tsukumogami (a type of youkai that a tool becomes when it's been untouched for a long time). Medicine was a ventriloquist doll, a dummy, before becoming a youkai after laying in the Nameless Hill for years. Since Gensokyo is a small time capsule of Feudal Japan it's unlikely that a frilly European-style ventriloquist puppet/dummy/doll would have been made or owned by any human living in Gensokyo. Therefore, it's entirely possible that Medicine slipped through the Hakurei barrier and fell into Gensokyo as a doll after her owner forgot her. PMiSS even states in the article for the Nameless Hill that, long ago, it was common for lost children from the Outside World to slip into the Nameless Hill. Perhaps Medicine was owned by a lost Outside World child who dropped her on the hill only to forget her there.
Attacks/Spell Cards
>ポイズンビー (Poison Bee)
Medicine's charge attack in PoFV. Medicine can freely control any poison ever. It seems she is using the poison of a bee, melittin.
>スウィートポイズン (Sweet Poison)
Medicine's EX attack in PoFV. The lily of the valley is said to smell extremely sweet. Medicine is probably using the poison of that flower, convallatoxin, in this attack.
>毒符「神経の毒」(Poison Sign "Nerve Poison")
An spell card referencing a common type of poison; a nerve agent. The most famous nerve poison in Japan is that of the fugu pufferfish, a delicacy with a extremely important preparation. If the poison of the fugu is not removed correctly then the consumer will die or be seriously injured by the puffer's tetrodotoxin.
>毒符「憂鬱の毒」(Poison Sign "Melancholy Poison")
A high amount of black bile (melan cholia) in the human body caused depression and irrational thinking according to the Greeks. Black bile could be considered poison (although it doesn't exist).
>霧符「ガシングガーデン」(Fog Sign "Gassing Garden")
Gassing = "to kill or harm by exposure to poisonous gas"
Medicine commonly expels purple clouds of poison gas in her danmaku. The card could refer to the Nameless Hill's garden of lilies of the valley or to the poisonous garden in "Rappaccini's Daughter". Green, yellow, and purple "rice-shaped" bullets are Medicine's danmaku of choice in nearly all her spell cards. Green and purple are common colors that symbolize poison. Yellow is the color of the seeds of the lily of the valley. Also, besides white, the flower can come in yellow and lavender.
>毒符「ポイズンブレス」(Poison Sign "Poison Breath")
Medicine uses lots of poison clouds in this card. The name doesn't seem to reference anything in particular but it is worth noting that a skill in Dragon Quest of the name name has appeared in the series every since Dragon Quest V (released in 1992). ブレス (buresu) means both "breath" and "bless". As noted previously, Medicine has various connections to Christianity through the crosses on her clothes, Saint Bartholomew/Saint Bosco, and the lily of the valley's connection to the Virgin Mary.
>譫妄「イントゥデリリウム」(Delirium "Into Delirium")
Touhou wiki translates 譫妄 as "confusion" but that's completely wrong. 譫妄 means delirium and only delirium. Medicine's omake.txt in PoFV states that she can use poison to make animals and humans mad and can manipulate them that way. There is also a Belgian beer called "Delirium Tremens" (named after the medical condition delirium tremens). In PMiSS one of the many poisons named that Medicine can manipulate is alcohol.
>毒薬変じて甘露となる (Poison Can be Medicine in the Right Doses)
Medicine's "motto" in PoFV. Indeed, the lily of the valley is the medicine for melancholy.
Music Theme
>ポイズンボディ ～ Forsaken Doll (Poison Body ~ Forsaken Doll)
Medicine's body is said to be poisonous to the touch and simply touching her will irritate your skin. She was abandoned on the Nameless Hill, thus the usage of the word "forsaken".
Titles
>小さなスイートポイズン (Little Sweet Poison)
The lily of the valley is known to smell very sweet.
>体に優しくない人形 (Doll Unpleasant to the Body)
Medicine's very presence can cause you to be itchy all over. Her poison is very unwelcoming.
Spell Card Background
Psychedelic purple flowers.

MAN there was this lore thread a few months ago where this dude explained all this cultural background about Mamizou and Medicine and I regret that I never saved all the text. It was so interesting. Apparently Medicine’s name is based on a novel called Medicine for Melancholy where some depressed girl has sex with an older dude and it heals her depression or something. The Mamizou posts were more interesting but I learned (and forgot!!) a ton of interesting trivia about Medicine too. I’m so annoyed I never saved all that.

>>21229013
Pfff the posts right above mine
>>21228893
>>21228872
>>21228864
Are you the person I was talking about? Man these posts ara always mind blowing

>>21228864
>>21228872
>>21228893
Good posts.

>>21229013
>novel
It's a (very) short story that's mostly dialogue.
http://coolschool-spb.ru/upload/A_Medicine_for_Melancholy.pdf

I want to gobble up Medicine Melancholy's medicine for my melancholy

>>21229319
Don't post that here.

Miss Melancholy is great!

Medi-chan is cute. Cute!

>>21228864
>>21228872
>>21228893
Very nice.

>>21224444
I thought Hina and Medicine were the same character for the longest time when I first got into this series. There are a lot of character who look really identical.
>>21224499
>>21225967
>>21226124
>>21228761
>>21229798
These are really cool art! This is why Touhou is the greatest. People love it so much that they'll take characters drawn by ZUN and make art of them that looks so freakin cool

dolls are nice.

Me on the right

>>21237991
Me on the farthermost right after getting wasted.

>>21226827
Very lovely eyes. Some of the best I've seen, honestly. Cute doll joints, too. One of her arms being detached is a bit troubling.

Who?

Best girl!

Nyacholy!

doll.

Medi-medi-medi-chan!

What a smugu desu!

>>21225089
I want to make Medi-chan’s scornful eyes roll in ecstasy!

>>21221209
Well you can’t have sex with her for one.

>>21264585
You can say the same thing about Okuu and Yamame.

>>21264585
Nothing is impossible for pure lust!
Pro tip: Use the latex bodysuit with condom in it; it is more expensive but you're doing it with a loli doll cunny so it is totally worth it.

Medicine is a big doll!

>>21269868
forsooth

she dont have big bobies

>>21276348
>>21276350
>looking all day at the catalogue just to bump your shit thread when it's the last post of page 10
holy shit get a fucking life
and HAVE SEX

>>21276361
Make more shitty spam threads that get ignored and cry more.

Medicine sure seems like a popular unpopular touhou

>>21276350
That’s what the Medicine MERONcholy tag on Pixiv is for~

Medicine stinks!

>>21277070
Certified braphu.

>>21277070
I mean both dissed eachother, so~
>>21277373
Go back to /d/.

“Looks like the suzuran are growing bigger!”

tongue

dollie

Medicine with pantyhose is mmmmmm~

What could Medicine do that would justify her showing up again?

>>21280634
Kidnap Shanghai and swap places with her.

>>21280634
Probably joining with Hina about a doll liberation or joining Reisen on an incident.

>>21280634
IN 2.0 but as a X.5 game.
Alice-Medicine
Reisen-Tewi
Ichirin-Unzan
etc.
Something like this.

>>21282254
Why would Medicine, who wants to liberate dolls, work with Alice the doll exploder?

>>21284939
Something something the enemy of my enemy is my friend something.