Koishi Komeiji - Touhou

Koishi Komeiji (古明地 こいし Komeiji Koishi) is a satori who sealed her third eye that gave her the ability to read minds and is Satori Komeiji's younger sister who both reside in the Palace of Earth Spirits within the Underworld. She first appeared as the Extra Stage boss of Subterranean Animism then later appeared as a playable character, and possible opponent, in multiple fighting games since Hopeless Masquerade

General Information Personality Koishi is generally playful and free-spirited, not unlike a child. While her ability to manipulate the unconscious makes her presence unsettling to many people, she seems unconcerned with appearing scary, and does whatever feels right in the moment. She does not seem to go out of her way to harm others out of malice or spite, although she has occasionally caused issues for other characters due to a lack of self-awareness, such as in her accidentally stealing Hata no Kokoro's mask in Hopeless Masquerade, or Sumireko Usami's smartphone in Urban Legend in Limbo.

In Urban Legend in Limbo, she takes on the urban legend of Mary-san.[1] Rather than wanting to be truly menacing, however, Koishi appeared to "join in on the fun" with the other characters also performing urban legends, eventually having to receive advice from Marisa Kirisame on how to make her urban legend scarier. She seemed genuinely happy that she was able to use her urban legend effectively, even if it was only on a single person.

Having purged herself of "worldly attachments," she's viewed as having achieved something akin to enlightenment by the Buddhists of the Myouren Temple, although they question whether or not the price she paid was in her best interests.[clarification needed]

Abilities Taking actions unconsciously As her actions are controlled entirely by her unconscious, Koishi's presence cannot be noticed by other beings unless she allows it, even while standing in plain view because she's closed her mind, or her Third Eye. Likewise, her older sister's ability to read minds has no effect on her, as she does not technically have a mind to read, which is why she said "my sister can't win against me." Even someone who manages to communicate with Koishi will forget about her after she leaves, unless they already knew of her as Satori's sister.

Some children are immune to this effect due to their still-developing minds, leading Koishi to become their "imaginary friend", though they will forget about her when they grow up.[2] Other than making others unable to perceive her existence, it also makes the act of doing so difficult to perceive. Practically, without being noticed by tengu or the other youkai, she climbed Youkai Mountain. However, as Satori's presence has been made generally known among the youkai of Gensokyo, Koishi has begun to be recognized by other residents as of late.

The youkai satori, on whom she and her older sister are based, by the actions of the humans' unconscious, they saw painful experiences. Due to this it is also not known if this ability was spoken of cynically in the past. However, since she closed her third eye which can read minds, she became unable to read others' minds. As she said herself, "reading people's minds is depressing, there's nothing good about it."

Manipulation of the Unconscious Koishi's presence cannot be "felt" by anyone unless she has entered their direct field of vision and is forgotten by most people as soon as she leaves it. She can manipulate the unconsciousness of every living thing around her, allowing her to make them see everything she desires [3] and make them confront their own weaknesses hidden inside their hearts, as seen in lot of her Spell Cards.

Occupation Koishi currently resides at the Palace of the Earth Spirits, but she is also a laywoman in regards to the Myouren Temple as a recent convert to Buddhism, at Byakuren Hijiri's request.

Possessions Koishi wanted to receive the blessing of Kanako Yasaka so she could give her own pets power as Satori's pets were, so Koishi does apparently have pets. During and after the events of Hopeless Masquerade, Koishi now possesses the original Mask of Hope that once belonged to Hata no Kokoro before she lost it. Koishi found it while wandering around Gensokyo, and because of this, she temporarily obtained the emotion of hope.

Backstory To escape the fear and hatred which other beings feel towards the satori species, she attempted to destroy her mind-reading ability by closing her Third Eye. However, this had the side effect of sealing away her own conscious mind, causing her to lose all thoughts and motives; she could no longer be hated, but neither could she be loved, or even remembered by people who saw her.

Extra Stage boss The Closed Eyes of Love Komeiji Koishi

Species: Satori Ability: Manipulating the Unconscious

Satori Komeiji's younger sister. Like Satori, she was a youkai who has the ability to read others' minds. However, knowing that people don't like having their minds read, Koishi closed her mind-reading third eye.

As a result, she lost her ability to read others' minds, but in return she gained the ability to take action unconsciously. The denizens of the underground no longer hated her, but at the same time, they never feared her and animals no longer loved her.

The ability to read people's mind is the strength of one's own mind. Closing off that ability because it's hated is just running away, and is no different from closing off one's own mind. It's effectively pushing away others' feelings and shutting down.

She became a youkai who wandered to and fro aimlessly. Personally, she thought it was fun, so it wasn't really a problem. People around her felt a little sorry for her.

Even her older sister, Satori, is unable to read Koishi's sealed-away mind, and doesn't really know where she goes or what she does there. Just like a pet cat, she leaves and returns and leaves again according to her own whims.

Satori took pity on Koishi, ordering her pets to play with her and giving her some pets to keep as her own. She thought that taking care of the pets might give her a purpose, and it might enable her to begin opening her mind to others again. Indeed, it seemed that Koishi began to change, ever so slightly, after she began to raise her pets.

She heard that a human had come from above ground and had fought with her sister, Okuu, and the other pets, and was amazed at the incredible power-up Okuu had gotten, so she decided to go see the above ground world herself.

Because she could act unconsciously, she remained unnoticed. She could go above ground, sneak past sleeping shrine maidens, or go into the mountain the tengu guarded, and nobody would take notice of her.

In a way, it was convenient, but she was also lonely. However, she had no mind capable of feeling this loneliness.

At her destination, the shrine atop the mountain, she happened to meet a human. Her meeting with this stranger changed her mental state ever so slightly. She thought, how amazing it is to meet such an interesting person, and wanted to know more about her. For the first time, she regretted having closed her third eye.

　I'll start by inviting her underground to the Palace of the Earth Spirits. 　I wonder what kind of fight she had with my sister, Okuu, and Orin. 　I wonder what kind of youkai she's fought with. 　I want to hear her endless stories.

When she thought this, Koishi felt the lid of her third eye begin to shift a little.

Koishi has wavy, green or greyish, short hair and dark green eyes, wears a black hat with a yellow ribbon around it. A closed, blue-purplish "third eye" is positioned over her heart, with cords wrapped around her torso and attached to each of her ankles. She wears a yellow shirt with diamond-like blue buttons and dark green collar. The skirt is also green with a faint flowery pattern, but is lighter. Her socks are black. As of Hopeless Masquerade, she has bright green hair, and dark green eyes with white pupils. Her "third eye" is also more-towards a purple colour, and is more-clearly shown to wrap around her waist. Big thighs and a curvy body, big perky breasts 156 cm (5' 1.5"). Satori and Koishi's design may have been inspired by the 1939 painting by Frida Kahlo titled "The Two Fridas". The subject is essentially two identical women (sisters/clones/twins...) with visible hearts and external arteries that seem to connect and wrap around their shoulders and arms. One of them has a torn heart and an artery cut by a pair of scissors in hand (resembling Koishi, who has closed her third eye).

Appearances Games Literature Subterranean Animism

Koishi's sprite in SA During the main events of the main scenario, it's said that Koishi was present the whole time the heroine was in the Underworld, but they never noticed her. After the events of the main story in Subterranean Animism, Koishi heard that her sister and pets fought a human from above ground, and also heard about Utsuho Reiuji's new power. Desiring that kind of power for her own pets, she decided to go to Gensokyo to pray for divine blessings. Thanks to her unconscious ability, she managed to reach the Moriya Shrine atop of Youkai Mountain around the same time the Heroine decides to pay a visit to the Gods in the Mountain in the game's Extra Stage. Koishi provokes a fight, and is defeated. After this encounter, however, Koishi somewhat regretted having closed her third eye and became curious enough to want to start actually meeting people.

Hopeless Masquerade Main article: Hopeless Masquerade: Koishi's Scenario Koishi tumbles across Hata no Kokoro's lost Mask of Hope and picks it up. This bit of hope added to her otherwise emotionless state allows her to gather popularity when she would otherwise be invisible. She ends up so attached to the mask (unconsciously) that she refuses to return it to Kokoro and ends up keeping it after the conclusion of the story.

Urban Legend in Limbo Main article: Urban Legend in Limbo: Koishi's Scenario Unlike other characters from the cast, Koishi holds little interest for Occult Balls. She instead tries to scare people with her own urban legend, based on Miss Mary. However, it doesn't work very well, which is not really surprising as the story is based on phone calls, and Gensokyo inhabitants are unfamiliar with such an event, due to the rarity of phones to be found. Koishi eventually ends up near the Hakurei Shrine, exactly when Sumireko Usami arrives in Gensokyo. As the latter comes from the Outside World, she has a cellphone and knows the legend, and Koishi manages to scare her off Gensokyo this time.

Antinomy of Common Flowers Main article: Antinomy of Common Flowers: Marisa & Koishi's Scenario In Antinomy of Common Flowers, Koishi suddenly finds herself possessing Marisa Kirisame. Although neither seems to know how it happened, the duo decides to stick together and have fun with Perfect Possession. They wind up meeting the culprits of the incident, Joon and Shion Yorigami. The disastrous sisters use their magic to exchange teammates and Koishi is stolen away and forced to fight against Marisa.

Koishi has a tendency to forcibly possess other characters and having no consciousness, she herself is easy to forcibly possess.

Symposium of Post-mysticism While talking about the underground youkai, Byakuren Hijiri becomes interested in Koishi, as she thinks her state of mind – one of emptiness – is quite close to enlightenment. At the monk's request, Koishi converted to the Buddhist faith.

Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine Main article: Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine: Koishi Komeiji Reimu Hakurei writes a fortune slip about Koishi as a way of cleaning up in the aftermath of an incident.

Relationships Satori Komeiji Koishi's most important relationship is her older sister, Satori Komeiji. Despite Koishi closing her mind and seemingly whimsical wandering, as well as the fact that even Satori has trouble "seeing" her, Satori does worry about her.

Minor Characters Reimu Hakurei & Marisa Kirisame In Koishi's profile, it is said that she met a human at the Moriya Shrine at the top of the Youkai Mountain who made her regret closing her third eye and want to learn more about this human. Though it may seem like this was talking about Sanae Kochiya, once put in to context by the extra stage of Subterranean Animism, it is clear that the human it was talking about is either Reimu or Marisa.

Rin Kaenbyou & Utsuho Reiuji Koishi is also acquainted with Satori's pets, which include Rin Kaenbyou and Utsuho Reiuji.

Byakuren Hijiri Byakuren has an optimistic view of Koishi's condition, believing that she is close to enlightenment, and invited her to attend Myouren Temple from time to time. Koishi accepted.[4]

Hata no Kokoro Considered a nemesis by Kokoro due to Koishi stealing the Mask of Hope.

Fandom: Koishi is occasionally drawn with some sort of connection to Flandre Scarlet, since both are extra bosses who are the younger sisters of the owners of the mansions in their respective games, as well as being explicitly noted as stronger than their siblings and being isolated from them. Depictions of her with Nue Houjuu are also common. The latter is also often associated with Flandre, due to them both having similar-sounding themes. Koishi in fanon is usually kooky, sometimes overly affectionately so (particularly to her sister). Otherwise, she might be merely zany, or an utterly unrepentant sadist (most infamously so in the "Koishi Komeiji's Heart-Throbbing Adventure" video series). Said video series, combined with her genuinely horrifying Last Word spell in Urban Legend in Limbo, are widely believed to have caused a massive jump in her popularity. Since many aspects of Koishi are references to psychology, there's a running joke that her "Embers of Love" spell card is a reference to the phallic obsession of Freudian psychology. For those that do not get the hint, look closely at the shape of the bullets. Some jokes have been made about the Hartmann in her theme title referring to the infamous drill sergeant from the movie Full Metal Jacket. Though not as common, some jokes have been made about it referring to the cartoonist Butch Hartman instead. Koishi is commonly shown to wander around Gensokyo without being noticed. She's sometimes shown standing next to other characters, in plain sight, and watching what they're doing without being acknowledged. Her ability to manipulate the unconscious minds of those around her (removing herself from others' perception) has been described as a Somebody Else's Problem Field. As in the Frida Kahlo painting "The Two Fridas", some fan works display the cords attached to her third eye as having been severed, while Satori's remain intact. Some fans believe that her name and her hat are references to Doraemon's gadget Ishikoro Boushi (石ころぼうし, lit. "rock hat"), which makes its wearer "unnoticeable", just as Koishi's ability does. Sometimes fans compare her to Bill Cipher (from Gravity Falls) due to them both having similar abilities, being considered insane, being extremely power yet mysterious, and having an association with eyes.