Touhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons - Stage 6/Final Stage

𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘵 𝘕𝘰𝘵, 𝘎𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘜𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘵; 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘳 ~ 𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴
The stage is your normal fare for a final stage. It’s not too hard, just don’t give enemies a chance to fire best as you can. They all spawn from the middle anyways so it’s not hard to pull off either.
Okina’s tricky, but not too difficult all things considered. Her attacks don’t tend to be terribly dense, however she does love complex patterns with attacks coming from all over and from odd places (especially from behind you). You need to both learn what she’s pulling off and the best way to approach it while also getting used to avoiding bullet waves from odd angles.
Difficulty - Normal
Character - Magician Shivering in the Arctic Cold: Marisa Kirisame
Final Stage - Ushirodo-no-Kuni
BGM - Into Backdoor
Boss - The Ultimate, Absolute Secret God: Okina Matara
BGM - The Concealed Four Seasons
Spell Cards
4:30 - Non-Spell
4:44 - Back Sign "Halo of the Secret God"
5:00 - Non-Spell
5:20 - Hidden Summer "Scorch by Hot Summer"
5:33 - Non-Spell
5:50 - Hidden Fall "Die of Famine"
6:03 - Non-Spell
6:23 - Hidden Winter "Black Snowman"
6:46 - Non-Spell
7:09 - Hidden Spring "April Wizard"
7:35 - "Hidden Extreme Winter"
8:54 - "Hidden Breezy Cherry Blossom"
10:20 - "Hidden Perfect Summer Ice"
11:38 - "Hidden Crazy Fall Wind"
Translations courtesy of the Touhou wiki

[@tyriquecoleman3794]

So, outside of everything that's specifically about her, Okina's an interesting character in relation to other characters. -On one branch, her connections are Aya, Momiji, Hatate, Tenma, and the rest of the Tengu in their shared origin story. -On another branch, there's Hata no Kawakatsu, Hata no Kokoro, Prince Shoutoku/Toyosatomimi no Miko, and Eternity Larva in that Kawakatsu was said to be an incarnation of the Matarajin, and was the one ordered by Prince Shoutoku to stamp out the cult surrounding the Tokoyo-no-Kami that is most likely Eternity. (I understand that even Okina is speculating about this, but I trust that goddess to know her enemies better than we as outsiders do.) -On yet another branch, we have Kasen and Yukari, as fellow sages and the ones behind the separation of Gensokyo from the Outside World. (Are those three the only sages or are there possibly more sages we haven't met yet? Answers, ZUN, answers.) -And on the final branch, we have Aunn, who for the sake of memes we can call them mother and daughter. To be more serious, though, Okina's power is what allowed Aunn, as a guardian spirit, to gain a physical form. I just really like how Okina, upon introduction, was connected to so many characters by way of lore.

[@Bravidunno]

Okina shares a spell background with Miko in the extra stage. And about Aunn, uh even Narumi can be her daughter since she got created from a jizo statue.

[@tyriquecoleman3794]

@@Bravidunno Narumi was known to be a shut-in in the Forest of Magic by Marisa for some time before the incident. That may imply that she gained sentience and animation before the incident in that year. But to give a more direct response, the date on Narumi's animation is unknown so while it's possible that it happened during the incident (I personally find that unlikely because Marisa clearly knows her character by the time they meet), dialogue seems to indicate they've known each other for a while.

[@tyriquecoleman3794]

@TouchyBanana There's no set number of how many sages there actually are, from what I can tell from official material. We've only had three revealed, with chapter 35 of Wild and Horned Hermit confirming Kasen as one with Yukari's line "I suppose it takes all kinds, even among the sages of Gensokyo." With context you can see it refers to Kasen. Kasen also refers to Okina as an old acquaintance of hers in chapter 42 of Wild and Horned Hermit, just to give you as much evidence as I can find for you.

[@Bravidunno]

@TouchyBanana Kasen is a sage who manages wildlife in Gensokyo.

[@GrahamChapman]

You forgot some of the arguably most interesting branches of them all: -Okina Matara's inspiration, Matarajin, was known as the secretary of Lord Enma/the Yama, meaning there's a very good chance that Okina is a professional acquaintance of Shiki Eiki. -Matarajin has been syncreticized with many gods over the ages ("I go by many names," etc); most notably they are known to be another name of Ookuninushi, a.k.a., Daikokuten, THE bigwig of the Earthly Gods, the deity who saved the White Hare of Inaba/Tewi and who the Eientei rabbits still, to this very day, pound their mochi in tribute to; the "father" of Takeminakata, the main god of the Moriya Shrine (meaning Yasaka Kanako in all likelihood); the friend of the inchling Sukuna Hikona and, as you'll see if you run a quick google search for Daikokuten, the original owner of the Lucky Mallet. -As Daikokuten, Okina would also be one of the Seven Lucky Gods, meaning she's a personal acquaintance of Bishamonten, the guy Toramaru Shou is an avatar of, as well as recently revealed character Ebisu Eika, who may even be another one of Okina's children if we go by the myths that say that Ebisu, by the name Kotoronushi no Mikoto, was the child of Okuninushi. Okina literally has mythological ties to almost every single faction in Gensoukyou.

[@LushieTilde]

3:23 "BUT I REFUSE!"

[@GUMPAAful]

You must appreciate the background kn this fighr , so creative in many ways (finally catch up with your videos)

[@Luizz07]

d o o r

[@Wizzard220]

I love the name of this stage. It's so ominous. Also, when Okina mentioned Noh Performance, the deity she's based on was actually close to Hata no Kawakatsu (whose set of masks became Kokoro). Oh and while Cirno received the "A fairy, really?" when she got to stage 6 Okina eventually admits Cirno is splendid and should take the position of a dancer (and unlike the others, who go to the EX Stage through Narumi's back, Cirno goes through Eternity's back). As for Okina herself, I love her battle. Sure, her final attack is bullshit, but overall the fight is nice. I also noticed all her cards are tailored to each release: Summer releases for 1 bar only, so naturally the Summer card comes in waves that you can release without moving, for the Fall one you can zip at the bottom and clear the screen, that bunch of bullets for Spring is perfect for a big release and Winter is the only odd one because I can't think of a way Black Snowman can be released without being similar to Summer. Next week is vengeance time! We're not leaving without Okina Matara's head!

[@Flygoniaks]

Oh, so _that's_ the idea behind those spells. I was looking at how they reflected earlier bosses and failed. As for Black Snowman, I suppose if you release on top of her when it starts you can get in some hefty damage while also blocking her firepower for a decent length of time.

[@Bravidunno]

Hm ? I thought they all individually searched different doors, not necessarily Narumi's. For the Fall spell, eh I don't think the fall release wiping the spirit bullets is that effective since you don't recover back to Lv.1 to release again, and I doubt you can wipe away everything. For the Winter Release on Snowman, you have at high level to release on her while shotgunning, but be careful. For the Spring Spell it's just you farming release items and kaboom you release on what comes below. Really I didn't think about any of that when I modded the spells.

[@MrGamer9941]

The stage music is amazing, glad it wasn’t just a remix of the final boss theme It feels like you’re truly descending into darkness

[@Bravidunno]

3:22 She's actually interested in fairies so she could hire Cirno. 8:28 The Hidden part is that it's her version of the winter lasers you've been using.

[@crystalelemental6440]

I absolutely love Okina, both as a character and a boss battle. I really like it when the final boss feels like a bigger challenge than the rest of the game, and Okina definitely has that vibe. Her final spellcard in particular just gives the great sense of you falling completely into her trap, and it being a dire struggle to get out. It's really nice use of the gameplay to set up what's happening in the story. As for her character, I'll probably rattle on about this with the Extra Stage more, but I just love the possibilities she has. She seems like such a good tie-in as a sage, having a lot of similarities to both Kasen and Yukari while still seeming distinct. I really hope we get to see more of her. You know, aside from a brief cameo in Wild and Horned Hermit and Violet Detector...

[@MsJsmith71]

i really like the "chat" and "tips" on the sides they look like they could be in the game so much! there nice breaks from the flashy images when you get tired of and are fun to look at!

[@thapoint09]

Mmmm that Stage 6 BGM is sexy

[@lunatic0verlord10]

3:25 So in other words, Marisa is the only appropriate character, and she refuses. Great going, Okina, you got yourself the worst lineup of contenders possible...

[@Sparky579]

Actually her real goal was to give a show of her power to other sages (yukari and kasen).

[@Xenomorthian]

​@@Sparky579i thought it was more for gensokyo public so she could still gather the faith needed to survive and stay a hidden god

[@KarkasasDaxe]

You explain quite well. You deserve way more subs and recognition.

[@snowyarticuno]

The Concealed Four Seasons is one of the best themes in touhou and Okina herself owns. if we get a new set of fighting games after 17.5 finally comes out I hope she's in, her appearences in the fairy manga and the sumireko's grimoir were real fun.

[@Bravidunno]

Actually, Cirno was going to become chosen by Okina herself.

[@Mr_LeviathanEnvy]

Sages who created Gensoukyou 1. Yakumo Yukari 2. Hakurei Miko 3. Okina Matara The last but not least 4. Zun

[@GrahamChapman]

And also Ibara Kasen.

[@user-qg2fk5ai8y]

Open it not gaze not upon it heaven lies hidden behind the door to your rear hidden star in four seasons

[@averageYTuser52282]

I like how she just fight you while she's sitting in the chair

[@minhkhangtran6948]

Ah, Okina, the Mafia Godmother of Gensokyo and Touhou in general: Hidden from the shadow, identity intentionally vague, but you can’t help but revere under her dominion, and is the one running everything in the background all these time. It’s really creative for how she transport us to place with correspondence season, before hitting us with said season spell, it’s exactly like she just casually collect the power of the season to fire as us, showing how she truly is the culprit behind this, and how she secretly control it all, especially with that last spell when she directly remove what you thought is your power, but turn out it’s her all along, and pay it back in full. Also, the reason they don’t have a clear memory of that is because of her status as Secret God, meaning that her action in the dark, stay in the dark, so your memories of it get taken away once you return to the light, I guess.

[@thespirittree7016]

[Hidden Breezy Cherry Blossom] It makes me think of... Junko's Final Spellcard A nightmare 😭

[@SentinelProxima]

On both Okina's last two nonspells (blue and purple) I find it much easier to stay in the lanes. You just need to know which side to start at so you have space to move all the way until the lane ends.

[@boy6432]

The backgrounds in this level are so fuckin cool holy shit

[@gabrielwright-dunn9355]

I was expecting more winter puns, but I guess those tend to fall flat.

[@raresuwako6796]

Always in a chair and becomes a bigger issue when off of her chair, thanos is that you?

[@Iris_Descent]

Not to mention that she claims to be able to create youkai with a snap of her fingers. Keyword: Claims.

[@tyriquecoleman3794]

@@Iris_Descent Honestly I don't doubt that she could do it. She doesn't seem the type of character to exploit wordplay or something when saying she can create them, after all. But yeah, keyword is claim here

[@Iris_Descent]

Well, she was one of the sages that created Gensokyo, after all.

[@tekusquid918]

HOOOOOOLY CRAP THAT CLEAN SPRING SPELL

[@SeleniumGlow]

I must be a 10 year old kid to laugh and chuckle at "back door specialist" phrase.

[@Iris_n_Parti]

2:13 I was expecting to see a chair joke

[@pgj1997]

3:24 DAGA KOTOWARU!

[@KuromiScarlet5030]

Why I like okina? Because of metamorphosis

[@forceedge2005]

Does anyone else get a Necrophantasia vibe from Okina's theme? I wonder what Okina's and Yukari's relationship is like. With Kasen it feels like they had a messy break-up with Yukari trying to patch it up but Kasen is having none of that. Honestly Marisa is the only sensible choice. Cirno is a fairy and we all know how everyone views them, Aya is a tengu and one of Okina's (MANY) job titles is Tengu-warding so they're basically incompatible, and Reimu is the Hakurei Shrine maiden so she's basically Okina's business partner who handles things from the front (plus she's already has Yukari as a mentor though Kasen seems to be taking that role).

[@emishimaru-sama6449]

SilvaGunner uploaded some kind of arrangement of Consealed Four Seasons where he mixed Yukari's theme on It, and It did fit really well. [Sadly, that track seems to be removed from KZbin :/] soundcloud.com/lain_wired/the-concealed-four-seasons-touhou-16-hidden-star-in-four-seasons-siivagunner (Yukari's part Is around 2:15 ahead)

[@forceedge2005]

@@emishimaru-sama6449 You're right it does fit well.

[@Flygoniaks]

I don't remember if I said this yet, but 16 is my first Touhou and I've been doing some practice runs on Easy when I actually have spare time. One thing I have to say is that Okina is _weird_ on Easy. Her nonspells are _severely_ downgraded while her actual spells aren't changed too much at all (they were already easy lmao). At the same time, I have to laugh that you died on both the spring nonspell and the final spell, as those are the only two attacks which still give me trouble when I practice. _~Now for miscellaneous notes~_ A few weeks ago I had been thinking that each of her pre-final spells worked similarly to another spell by one of the first four bosses, but the corresponding seasons for each boss are out of order. I don't really remember the details, but I know it was grasping at straws. I'm not sure it was really intentional, but it started because her summer spell resembles "Criminal Salvation." Glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on Satono and Mai being Life and Bomb dancers. I thought I heard somewhere that Gensokyo had four sages, but I guess that was wrong, huh? The fall nonspell is a modified BoW&P, a nice nod to her relationship to Yukari. Would make more sense in pink, however. About the not-so-hidden Extreme Winter, I think the "Hidden" prefix is actually _removed_ from the name on Hard or higher. Finally, no "Omega out"?! Bee is slowly taking over the new vids in response to his absence in the reuploads. Oh noooooo~

[@ricokurniawan5636]

Nope, the hidden is still there.

[@MaskedBeeX]

Dammit, I told him to add an "Okina will be BACK!" at the end there.

[@AOGood]

God dammit Omega! Did you capture the spring final by sheer luck or something? Like, seriously, congrats! Also, congrats on a No Release run!

[@dinonuggies449]

11:10 THE BEAT AOKG,GMG,

[@dawk7]

Aaaah, Okina. The goddess of salt raining everywhere because people didn't like how Yukari-like she was. Honestly, this stage 6 boss fight feels _really_ incomplete, the spellcards are mostly barebones while the non-spellcards were, if great, painfully similar to Yukari for those who've been around for a while. ...but I can't help but be completely fine with that. This battle sure embodied the seasonal characteristics of the incident, and yet it left us feeling like we didn't get to see the opposing character's power. But, well, this isn't quite the real fight against Okina, now is it?

[@phantomNuke]

You're right, it's not her whole power, but I don't know if her spell cards were "incomplete". Her attacks resembles Yukari's attacks because they are both Sages of Gensokyo. Even in Okina's theme, the final section sounds quite similar to Yukari's theme's final section (you could easily make a mashup of the two). Maybe it's all done on purpose?

[@Joshthepikachu2123]

Man, is there a single final boss in the series that DOESN'T threaten to kill you?

[@alikease11]

5:35 that cooldown was...

[@korohacker]

Ah Okina. The main reason why I find Touhou 16 to be one I ended up disliking quite a bit, despite being overall nice to play. Still bums me that the true ending is locked behind the Extra stage. It makes sense, considering her being one of the sages. Just that it felt like a 'git gud' message from ZUN to those who just follows the story, and aren't dexterous or calm enough to do anything above Easy. I think it is from here that I actually stopped playing Touhou, and played Lenen a lot instead. Only when the new fan game HSoB came out that I started playing a regular, if fan made, Touhou game. Looking forward to the Extra stage Omega!

[@NaviJ98]

5:35 suddenly non spell BoWaP

[@ZackLikesBreadAlot]

i didnt know okina have different spells i just thought okina had different color since i always use winter...

[@Simply_resharkable]

Wow Okina really just said no one asked Edit: completely unrelated, but this implies that in the past Satono and Mai fought and didn’t disappoint Okina

[@danielokit1619]

Is it me or whenever a sage of gensokyo decides to have fun they always mess with the seasons

[@kadexous]

4:30

[@Kira-rn9fl]

5:36 Isn’t this the Border of Wave and Particle pattern?

[@akenohononiku916]

Which season final do you think is hardest?

[@vitaliykormov1266]

Koishi Komeiji definitely spring. At least for me

[@satonyakwaii]

Sooo... Summer is basicly Cirno's attack but larger... They are the most strongest one

[@ironcube1282]

I wanted to ask before(Since I'm still new to your channel, kinda), but why do you cut out the endings of the Touhou games but show endings of Fangames and Len'en?

[@ironcube1282]

I was just curious, nothing else

[@MegamanOmega184]

It's an odd thing, but ZUN actually requests that people don't post the endings to Touhou games online. He asks for very little and it's a small thing. So even though I'm a small channel, I still feel I should respect his wishes. Fangames and Len'en however don't have such a stipulation (JynX just asks that people don't spoil the endings for Len'en without warning) so I post the endings to those.

[@ironcube1282]

Ah, I see

[@breadokey8607]

*ALRIGHT WHO MESSED WITH THE SEASONS AND FAIRIES!?*

[@lielledemivamp3564]

Not me

[@Flygoniaks]

Door woman. Edit: Her shoes, to be precise.

[@Wizzard220]

Okina herself. Or better yet, the season incident is a by-product of what Mai and Satono did, it will solve itself naturally. But since the girls were humiliated by that stage 6 they decided it's vengeance time and go back to the Land of Rear Door for round 2

[@KelyxTheMage]

Of course you make her hardest Final Spell look like nothing. Spring is annoying af

[@tyriquecoleman3794]

Wait hold up, only 4 tries on BCB? What demon did you sell your soul to? That took me like 130ish attempts to do when I was trying when it came out ... then again, I was a shadow of the player I am now, so the skill difference is probably the main thing there

[@MegamanOmega184]

It's not too bad, but it's kinda of a noob killer in way. In that, it's only not bad once you have experience, and know what not to do when confronted with an attack like that. All of them are kinda like that in a way now that I think about it. Breezy Cherry Blossom, when you first face it your first instinct is to head down and get away from that many bullets, made especially so since that'll actually work for the first couple phases. However, while hugging the bottom will make the largest gaps, in a spell like this it also cuts off a potential escape route for you, so it makes it easier to get trapped. Perfect Summer Ice, that can really screw players up that aren't used to controlled streaming. Slowly move to the side, then before you reach the edge, jerk far away and then slowly change direction. But with everything Okina's shooting at you, it would be easy to mess up a new player and make them miss the "jerk to the side" step Crazy Fall Wind, that's basically a case of learning that it's not always best to chase a boss. Yeah, you'll deal more damage so you may think that's a good idea, but often times, when you get a boss moving around that much, it's actually more difficult to keep up with them rather than just staying put and letting them come to you. Hidden Extreme Winter, by contrast is the exact opposite. That one _forces_ you to keep pace with Okina, something I personally take for granted as a Marisa player, but if it's someone who's been relying on homing shots and not worrying about where the boss is, that can seriously trip them up.

[@KKYY12]

It's just a vomit of bullets

[@Flygoniaks]

Which part?

[@KKYY12]

@@Flygoniaks the beginning