[Touhou] I Bid You All A Very Fond Farewell

[SPOILER ALERT. No, seriously, SPOILERS. Oh f-ck it, the illustration is enough of a SPOILER anyway.]

In light of recent events in what may possibly be the longest and largest Touhou Project fanfic, Imperfect Metamorphosis, here is a tribute to a character of fiction that I felt a personal attachment to. Not to some hormone-induced connection or some momentary lapse of finding the character attractive, but because this character was expertly portrayed as a human being that I could almost completely relate to. 

As one would expect from the passing of a well-characterized fictional individual, the immediate response of her acquaintances was something I could only cry along to, illustrated in neat, heartwrenching detail. While I had slightly expected their grievances to go on for a while longer, their final acceptance of their loss was able to put me at ease.

That's why, instead of illustrating Marisa here in her gruesome state during her final moments, I decided to draw her in a state that reflected my thoughts on her recent passing--it was definitely one of the most well-executed (no pun intended) deaths I've read in fan-made fiction, and the way everybody else in-story finally accepted her death left a satisfying closing to her chapter.

Who cares if the work isn't canon? The Touhou Project series was meant to be a world as subjective as the finest of art, and by golly, has it nurtured a multitude of wonderfully skilled and talented people since its advent.

So here's a tribute to Marisa Kirisame, the self-proclaimed Ordinary Magician, a little lady that took on the most abominable of horrors and went out with a bang. 


We'll miss you.