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Koishi Komeiji

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() (めい) ()  こいし
komeːd͡ʑi koiɕi (♫)
Koishi Komeiji
Koishi Komeiji
Koishi Komeiji in Antinomy of Common Flowers
The Closed Eyes of Love
More Character Titles
Species

Satori

Abilities

Manipulation of the Unconscious Mind
Reading Minds (Lost)

Occupation

None

Location

Palace of the Earth Spirits, Myouren Temple

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

"Read your mind? I've already closed my satori eye. Reading people's minds only makes you depressed, there's nothing good about it."
Koishi Komeiji to Reimu Hakurei (Subterranean Animism Extra Stage)

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. She is Satori Komeiji's younger sister and lives with her 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. Since she closed her third eye which can read minds, she became unable to read others' minds.

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

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.

Official Profiles

Toggle all
Official Profiles

Skills

Skills

Spell Cards

Spellcards

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.

Character Design

Name

Komeiji Koishi (古明地 こいし) is her full name. Her surname Komeiji (古明地, lit. "ancient-bright earth") is an actual Japanese surname, seen mainly in the Yamanashi prefecture. There are two common ways to interpret her given name Koishi, based on which kanji are used. The kanji in "恋思", though not a Japanese word as a compound, mean "will/thought of love." The second writing, "小石", means "little rock." This could be connected to her ability, indicating her lack of presence, as she is often compared to a little rock sitting on the side of the road in official texts. According to ZUN, her name is a reference to a device from Doraemon,[4] most likely the "Pebble Hat" (石乙ろぼうし Ishikoro Boushi), which renders its wearer as unnoticeable as a pebble.

The ending of Koishi's storyline in Hopeless Masquerade suggests the origin for the name of Koishi. "Once hope is lost no one will be able to see her (Koishi) again, just like a small rock (小石, pronounced koishi as well) on the roadside."

Design

In Subterranean Animism, 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.

Satori's and Koishi's designs 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).

Interestingly, if you reverse Koishi's color palette, the resulting palette is similar to Satori's. Similarly, if you reverse Satori's, the resulting palette is similar to Koishi's.

Appearances

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.

Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so.
Double Spoiler
Hopeless Masquerade

Koishi stumbles 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

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 a telephone, and Gensokyo inhabitants are unfamiliar with such an item. 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 of the legend, and Koishi manages to scare her off Gensokyo this time.

Antinomy of Common Flowers

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.

Violet Detector

The Grimoire of Marisa

Koishi is one of the people whose spell cards Marisa Kirisame documents, adding descriptions, comments, and considerations to imitate them.

Symposium of Post-mysticism

Hieda no Akyuu writes an in-universe encyclopedic article on Koishi as part of the Gensokyo Chronicle.

Additionally, while talking about the underground youkai, Byakuren Hijiri becomes interested in Koishi. She thinks Koishi's state of mind – one of emptiness – is quite close to enlightenment. At the monk's request, Koishi converts to the Buddhist faith.

The Grimoire of Usami

Koishi is one of the contestants during the Hakurei Fireworks Festival and showcases some of her danmaku.

She comes back during the second half of the festival after others attempted to sabotage it, and displays some of her more dangerous danmaku.

Foul Detective Satori
Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so.
Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine

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 relationships

Pets

Koishi wanted to receive the blessing of Kanako Yasaka so she could give her pets power as Satori's pets were, so Koishi does apparently have pets of her own.

Reimu Hakurei and 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 and 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.[5]

Hata no Kokoro

She is considered a nemesis by Kokoro because she stole the Mask of Hope.

Gallery

Covers

Artworks

Sprites

Illustrations

Screenshots

Others

Additional Information

  • Koishi's musical theme, Hartmann's Youkai Girl, may refer to Eduard von Hartmann (whose most famous work is entitled The Philosophy of the Unconscious) or Heinz Hartmann (as many of Koishi's spell cards seem to make references to ego psychology). The track itself is also arranged so that it has symmetrical parts, making it sound remarkably similar to itself even when played reversed, possibly as a reference to the practice of backmasking.
  • If her color scheme is inverted, she will somewhat resemble her sister Satori, and vice versa.
  • In the Fighting Games, Mamizou's spell card "Futatsuiwa Clan's Curse" transforms Koishi into a black cat. This may be a reference to the Schrödinger Cat or a reference to Rin.

Fandom

Official Sources

Official sources

See Also

References

  1. Tara A. Devlin (June 9, 2018). "Japanese Urban Legends: Mary-san".
  2. Symposium of Post-mysticism - Koishi Komeiji article - "A youkai invisible to adults, and only visible to certain children. However, even those who played with them in their childhood will completely forget that they existed once they grow up. Has anything like that ever happened to you? They are often referred to as 'imaginary friends'. Koishi is, no doubt, an imaginary friend."
  3. Double Spoiler: Embryo's Dream. Aya Shameimaru: "They say the human embryo dreams in the mother's womb. What a scoop! The dreams' contents are...microbes, fish, and dinosaurs...they say."
  4. Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine - Koishi Komeiji
  5. Symposium of Post-mysticism - Part 4