Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame and Rumia

Reimu Hakurei, or Reimu, is the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, she manages the Hakurei Border of Gensokyo and exterminates troublesome youkai. As the sole maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, she is commonly called upon by other characters, or herself, to investigate strange occurrences called incidents throughout Gensokyo. She is nearly 20 years old. She has brown-black hair which varies in length and style, and her eyes vary from brown to red. She wears a red ribbon and matching tubes on her sidelocks. She's still seen in her "shrine maiden uniform", but it now bears little in common with the standard uniform beyond the red-and-white colour scheme. During her journeys, she fights hundreds of characters using her spiritual powers, mainly youkai, some examples including magicians, evil spirits and gods; afterwards, most become her acquaintances. Reimu is an open and extremely carefree individual who is disconnected with social norms due to having little visitors at her shrine; she simply lives her life on ideas off the top of her head, never taking things seriously and being unattached to the world of living. Highly curious, she is often interested in things, although can be quickly disinterested once she learns about them, leading to her being straightforward. She exhibits entirely separate values and views from others, tending to draw abnormal conclusions to things, oftentimes ignoring what others feel and unintentionally hurting them. By nature, Reimu can use various mysterious powers, but she doesn't use most of them or boast about them, although she is still extremely confident. She takes her job as the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine very seriously, although she dislikes or hates training as she believes that effort will not be rewarded. Generally, her way of exterminating youkai is fighting first and then asking questions later. Even if a youkai were to be harmless and not trying to hurt anyone, she would still attack them using brute force to teach them a lesson, albeit without killing them. She is not afraid to murder when it is necessary, only depending on if the victim committed a sin great enough to deserve said punishment. While many inhabitants of Gensokyo are capable of flying, Reimu's ability extends beyond that; she is someone who excels at floating through life. As the Hakurei shrine maiden, Reimu can handle the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs, and is trained in youkai extermination techniques as well as standard duties like performing blessings. Reimu is also capable of channeling Gensokyo's gods, but she isn't well-trained enough to do so reliably. Reimu displays great aptitude with magical barriers - among her techniques are barriers that explode, push enemies (or herself), or allow her to teleport. Reimu is capable of dismantling barriers and seals too complex for Marisa Kirisame to understand, with what Marisa calls her "cheat technique". Reimu can control the natural spirits of living things, an ability which isn't listed in any source afterwards. No clear instance of this ability has ever been displayed. Reimu aquired abilities based on the "Gap Woman" urban legend. This allowed her to open gaps, which she used as portals for herself or to attack. Reimu uses the Yin-Yang Orbs, go-shintai of the Hakurei God, in combat. Kasen Ibaraki states that the shrine's blessing is youkai extermination, which is manifested through the Yin-Yang Orbs. In Subterranean Animism they also functioned as communicators with people above the surface. Reimu utilizes a gohei, sometimes referred to as her purification rod, originally prepared by Rinnosuke Morichika. She uses it for Shinto rites and exorcisms, as well as in combat as a melee weapon. Reimu possesses a great amount of ofuda, sacred paper charms with anti-youkai properties that she uses to fight, seal or exterminate youkai of any kind in her danmaku. She can also use them to create barriers and even copies of herself. Like the Yin-Yang Orbs, she uses them in most as a normal shot (usually with homing properties) or as bullets for her spell cards. Reimu also utilizes a large collection of large throwing needles hidden within her sleeves in combat, which she chooses because of their divine connection and because they are easy to throw.

Marisa Kirisame, or Marisa, is an ordinary human magician who specializes in light and heat magic and currently resides in the Forest of Magic. She is also nearly 20 years old like Reimu. Marisa is depicted with blonde hair and yellow eyes. She wears clothes with a black and white color scheme, consisting of a black vest and skirt, white waist apron and undershirt, and a black witch hat with a white bow. Her hair is commonly braided on one side with a bow on the end. She sometimes wears dark blue clothes instead. Despite being nearly 20 years old, Marisa's height is that of a girl in her early teens. Marisa is straight-forward and much easier to understand than the others. She also serves as a contrast to Reimu, who's blessed with innate abilities, by being the hard-working type of character without any special powers. Outwardly, Marisa is an outgoing and informal person. Hieda no Akyuu states that her personality is condescending, but she has a sophisticated side to her that tends to be interesting. She socializes with many inhabitants of Gensokyo and is friendly to both human and non-humans individuals. She's quick to act if she hears or sees anything interesting, doing sometimes dangerous things to satiate her interest at the time like when she follows an eagle on a whim in the middle of a blizzard. Although she goes to great lengths to hide it, Marisa is a hardworking individual who frequently seeks to better herself and seeks to be known as a great magician. She takes pride in her magic and youkai extermination capabilities, claiming to be "the number two in Gensokyo". In many cases, she is the one who would push Reimu to investigate potential incidents. Although Marisa is a normal human with no innate abilities, her true strength is her high magic power, unusual for humans. Marisa has trained herself in magic that specializes in light and heat. She is an Eastern magician who takes a Western approach to magic, the opposite of Patchouli Knowledge. Her magic has tremendous power and few weaknesses, but it has few non-destructive uses, so she uses it for flashy youkai extermination more than anything. Her magic makes for a good danmaku show, but this is made possible only through her strenuous honest effort in creating layered effects. The majority of her spells rely on power over finesse and are themed after stars and other astronomical phenomena. Unlike Reimu, her strength comes not from natural ability, but from hard work and training, something she goes to great lengths to hide. Marisa picks and collects various exotic mushrooms that live in the Forest of Magic. Marisa is almost always depicted as riding on her broom when she flies in the sky. However, the more recent aerial fighters show Marisa making an extensive and continuous use of her broom, to the point that there isn't a single moment in which she isn't riding or holding it. And of course she can and does fly without a broomstick, although she doesn't usually do so. Marisa seems to take pride in her own speed, which is potentially among the fastest for a human.which is potentially among the fastest for a human. She can also learn other people's fighting styles just by observing them. Marisa flies on a bamboo broom as part of her magician appearance. It's an ordinary broom, but constant exposure to magic has caused a curious growth to begin. The mini-Hakkero, Marisa's treasured item, is a furnace that she uses to power her signature Master Spark. From the flame of a table-top stove, to that of a flamethrower, to a powerful and unmatched wide magicannon, the mini-Hakkero has a convenient range of uses. Marisa herself said, "I can't even think of makin' a livin' without it." Marisa carries, concealed in her skirt or her hat, various small implements made from mushroom magic which explode after throwing them.

Rumia is a youkai with the ability of manipulating the darkness. She is one of the few youkai that doesn't seem to belong to any particular species. She is over a hundred years old. Rumia has the appearance of a mature girl with large breasts. She has red eyes and long blonde hair. She wears a black vest and skirt, and white blouse with a red tie bordered by two large red beads around her neck. She also has small red ofuda tied to the left side of her hair, making it look like a ribbon. However, she can neither touch nor remove the amulet. Rumia is apparently quite simple-minded and doesn't like the sunlight nor the summer heat; in fact, she uses her powers of darkness to surround herself in a mass of dark, as to avoid the heat and the light. It is also said that she only uses this power as a supportive ability when attacking others, using pure strength as her main asset. She seems to like flying around aimlessly during the day and night, sometimes bumping into trees since she is less capable of seeing obstacles through her veil of darkness. Rumia is very attached to Marisa and Reimu. In their eyes, she is like a rather hot-tempered but cheerful older sister even though she is a cannibalistic Youkai. Rumia has never really thought about eating them because subconsciously and rationally, she considers them to be her family. Rumia has the ability of manipulating darkness. By covering herself in pure darkness, she is able to prevent sunlight from passing through the darkness, as it is magical in nature and can render even traditional lights such as torches useless within it. She has also shown that she can control how much light can pass through the darkness, as she lets only a bit of it enter to be able to read the newspaper. The appearance of the darkness outside its region looks like a spherical circle that is moving. She is over a hundred years old.

Gensokyo is culture vaguely resembles that of feudal Japan, heavily embellished with folkloric elements. This is a remote place, far from any human habitation. In ancient times, this place was densely populated by youkai and those humans who wandered too close would be eaten by them. Most people feared the youkai, but a brave warrior would occasionally rise to defeat them. Some of those brave humans settled in Gensokyo to keep close watch on the youkai. Scientific advancements among the human race further contributed to Gensokyo's growing human minority. Due to this, Yukari Yakumo implemented a plan roughly 500 years ago to restore the power of youkai in Gensokyo by creating a "Barrier that divides Reality and Fantasy" called the Youkai Expansion Project. With the plan's implementation, Gensokyo became a place where it brought in things that have become fantasy outside; in other words, things that were forgotten in the Outside World such as youkai, lost items, and such are paranormally transported into Gensokyo. Gensokyo was again made isolated from the rest of Earth with the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier. Gensokyo has made next to no attempt at contact with the outside world since its creation. Gensokyo's language is modern Japanese. Gensokyo is populated by youkai, humans, and animals. Youkai make up the majority of Gensokyo's population. Many youkai are sub-classified into other races, such as devils, magicians, vampires, fairies, kappa, oni, and many more. Many types of spirits also inhabit the world, such as Ghosts, Poltergeists, Evil spirits, Divine spirits, a number of Tsukumogami, and apparitions.