The Yukari Merry Connection: Touhou's Greatest Mystery

[@Robert-vk7je]

ZUN: "Don't think too much about this." The fandom: I love the fandom. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the topic. :)

[@BenersantheBread]

I mean I don't know the original context nor do I understand Japanese but it seems to me like he was joking when he said that. Almost like saying "Oh they're TOTALLY not connected. No need to look into it really."

[@CrystalChris21]

Yukari being a future maribel is honestly such a great theory to me from a thematic point of view and I think you have definitely done it justice. Literally peak backstory by re contextualizing literally everything related to Yukari and Merry for the better

[@BuwakoBuwako]

but technically she isnt a future merry

[@CrystalChris21]

@@BuwakoBuwako if merry becomes Yukari even after going through some time travel to the past shenanigans she'd still be a future version of her current hifuu self that just lives in the past

[@sparktwochristopher7240]

​@@CrystalChris21Another theory implies that Merry is a descendant of Yukari..

[@uruguaylusitano5797]

Well...

[@anomalocaris729]

My opinion is that when ZUN designed Maribel, he had some vague connection between her and Yukari in mind but left it to a later work to describe, and hasn't gotten around to it or has decided it's better to left vague. So even ZUN might not know what their connection is.

[@gunmunz]

TBF, ZUN has done that before with Sakuya's origin story and potential lunarian connection.

[@lpfan4491]

The funny bit being that ZUN possibly changed Yukari's last name do facilitate it(since it was diffrent in the TH7 demo), so deciding not to do anything with it is very ironic

[@ZE.brigitte]

@@gunmunz Same with Rumia and her seal

[@BuwakoBuwako]

i feel like people give renko too little attention. yeah merrys cool and stuff but renko has a purpose too. im glad you mentioned how important renko really is

[@raikaria3090]

"Thanks to 15.5 and Magical Astronomy" - Also 19 gave Ran Charming Dominion [The theme playing when she is a midboss] instead of Necrofantasy [her boss theme]. It's pretty clear that the Phantasm stage themes are the "true" themes, with Carming Dominion ~ Who Done it for Ran and Necrofantasia for Yukari. Necrofantasy isn't Ran's theme, it's a prelude to Yukari's; and Ran is essencially Yukari's stand-in.

[@blockeontheleafeon]

This does make sense considering Ran is Yukari's Shikigami.

[@Dukstless]

If I remember right, it's also stated in one of the print works that Yukari Yakumo is not her real name, just something she goes by nowadays.

[@514komeiji5]

Imagine she is actually yukaris long lost children

[@laraduquejuan1638]

That would be crazy yet very interesting

[@s0meRand0m129]

who is the father then?

[@514komeiji5]

@@s0meRand0m129 the old turtle dude from pc 98

[@s0meRand0m129]

@@514komeiji5 so she had bestiality , got it

[@pressetoascend]

i wish more people listened to zun's non-videogame music.

[@michaela644]

A tumblr user compiled a very comprehensive document detailing every connection and parallel with Yukari and Maribel to prove they’re one and the same. I’d recommend finding the post and reading it

[@JosephHk743]

You know, I’ve never realized Maribel and Yukari have very close similarities until watching this video and listening to Canon and speculative thoughts. This was interesting to listen into more about this. #HifuuDay

[@kevinreynolds7500]

Had no idea about Maribel or Renko even after playing through the series, glad to see them getting spotlighted. For characters that consistently rank high on the popularity pole but aren't in the games, its quite a unique attribute for Touhou characters. Wasn't used to hearing 'nihilist' pronounced as such. Usually hear it like 'annihilate' and pronounced as such nai·uh·luhst.

[@TekNikEOSD]

the fact that zun is so vague about this connection tells me he either has something huge in store or simply likes seeing in depth theories about it

[@ivanthehighman177]

Seeing how the new album cover looking... like that. I think it is something huge.

[@aeriumsoft]

ZUN is cooking up some 5d chess shit big time

[@Fannintendociccio1]

great video! however, i have to say my favorite thing about the merry and yukari connection really trives with the way zun's earliest written works manage to weave together and reference each other in important ways, mainly magical astronomy and the silent sinner in blue and lunatic ranagade works. how merry discovers the trick to go to the moon from the moon's reflection, which is then used identically by yukari in the manga. how renko and merry go to the moon together with it, and in runagade yukari wistfully looks at the moon's surface and mentions regretfully how she misses the noises of the city and also implying she misses renko too. i have a semi-slight crack theory on a detail from this section too. we know why she did the war and sort of "lost on purpose", to make gensokyo, but yukari actually reveals to Ran she actually tried before to get into the capital all by herself and got defeated really badly. now, we are given some justifications on why she might have done that, but if i remember correctly it was implied they were just excuses given to Ran, leaving the actual motivation a secret. and i thought of something weird of that time too, since we are given confirmation chang'e is a thing, and also that's not her real name, that she is kept imprisoned in the capital and used to control the moon rabbits too. and i thought, renko has a moon/rabbit related surname... could it be that during one of their dream-time-travel explorations Renko ended up filling the role of chang'e or smth like that in touhou, and yukari tried to rescue her? i wonder ahaha

[@internetlurker1850]

Especially given Renko's interest in the immortality elixir

[@Megapig9001]

Didn’t know about Yukari’s city thoughts which sounds cool. The parts I didn’t have time to include were: -Yukari not being her original name (remembered too late into production) -Yukari knowing about other Outside World stuff like the Gameboy -The Unified Theory in Magical Astronomy being the same one from Touhou 3

[@Fannintendociccio1]

@@internetlurker1850 yeah exactly, forgot to mention that too lol

[@Fannintendociccio1]

@@Megapig9001 i definitely suggest picking up that chapter and giving a read to the end of it, its really neat!

[@spaghettiking7312]

They're both adorable, and I need to hug them both.

[@goyavoyage]

Is this my favorite topic ever made video? Yes. Yes it is. I'm screaming internally.

[@goyavoyage]

Just watched the video and yes, thank you for this succinct and fantastic breakdown of why all the Yukaribel stuff is so fascinating :D And with some due attention given to Renko, too, and how she's always the joyful/hopeful/enthusiastic one, and how it probably shaped Merry's own evolution too. In any case I'm so happy you made this!! (Also for people reading this I can't encourage you enough to read and/or create Hifuu fanworks that explore this connection. I wrote a few on AO3 myself, and there's just so much potential here!)

[@Oddmanoutre]

Re: Merry's time travel. Yukari's ability is stated in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (PMiSS) as "Manipulation of Boundaries". Time travel for Merry might be possible by crossing the boundary between Memory and Imagination that exists within her mind. Re: Lafcadio Hearn Though he was born in Greece, Lafcadio Hearn lived in many different places in his lifetime. His father was stationed in Greece as a medical officer of the British Army; Lafcadio was later sent to live with his aunt in Ireland; From there, he would be sent to France for formal education; Later, Hearn emigrated to the United States, and eventually to Japan. In addition to his writings on the native religion, folklore, and superstitions of Japan, Hearn also wrote about voodoo in Louisiana. Re: Phantasm A 1979 Horror film, it also shares its name with the extra Extra Stage in Perfect Cherry Blossom. It also features a character known as The Lady in Lavender, a woman wearing a dress very similar to Yukari's.

[@OmnicroneRED]

I believe Yukari's Boundary of Fantasy and Reality, which is distinct from The Great Hakurei Barrier, is the single most important thing that links Hifuu's Future Earth and Touhou's Present Gensokyo. The dystopia that Remerry live seems to be in part created by the effect of this barrier as they live in a world devoid of fantasy. Fantasy that was, over time, all siphoned away to Gensokyo. The Barrier is described to affect the entire Earth thus causing no ill effects to lunarians and Trojan Green Asteroid kind of corroborates with that idea as TORIFUNE developed a fantastic ecosystem after being sent away from Earth. With this in mind, Merry is kind of Yukari's insurance or even a later stage of her long plan (either personally Yukari or related to her by blood): she is the one with the power to revert the damage that this barrier inflicted to Earth in the long term. Some hifuu fanworks touch on this aspect, the idea of Merry destroying the age of science by breaking the Barrier and bringing back fantasy to the world of reason (maybe this is the true Youkai Expansion Project). This is especially prevalent after the last two CDs where the girls are clearly starting to influence people in a larger scale.

[@uboa8060]

Where is it stated that the border of fantasy and reality is different from the Hakurei barrier? I think they're one in the same... Sumireko in Urban Legend in Limbo had the goal of essentially suicide bombing the Hakurei Barrier with the Occult Balls, which would result in the complete dissolving of the Hakurei Barrier and leaking Gensokyo into the outside world. The barrier of common sense *is* the Hakurei Barrier.

[@OmnicroneRED]

@@uboa8060 One of the issues of Strange Creators of Other World had an article titled Basic Knowledge of Fantastic Worlds. There is a section in that article explaining the Great Hakurei Barrier and a section explaining the "Another Barrier" and how they are distinct. It is also important to note that in-universe no character other than Yukari knows that the two barriers are different and have different functions. I think there is a translation of the article in the touhou wiki, but I'm not sure atm.

[@Jann75]

​@OmnicroneRED to be fair I wouldn't be surprised if reimu knew they were different given she has to manage it

[@Sherkel]

What if Renko and Merry were Yukari's children allowed to leave Gensokyo, but limited in their memories they continued to seek their original world?

[@seancatacombs]

Thematically I feel like the state of Mari and Renko's Outside World is referencing the day when the last humans go extinct and humanity becomes as much of a myth as youkai.

[@Gyrokun]

It's a little less bleak than that, but the near future state of their future world is certainly on its way there

[@gamergnaw123-gy8uh]

What if yukari and toyohime also have a connection, they have posses similar powers such as creating “gaps”

[@FCTouhou]

Wow a good theory for Merry and Yukari. Thanks

[@aeriumsoft]

I also think theyre the same person, or at the very least closely connected, but idk if maribel stops being maribel at one point, she does some permanent time travel shit/renounces her humanity and is yukari forever, or if shes just yukari when dreaming and gensokyo is just a part of that, (like a parallell universe or pocket dimension) and when she wakes up, shes still merry, so shes both at the same time. this is too much for my brain to handle, the lore is too deep, zun leaving so much up to interpretation is both a blessing, but also a curse cuz of all the damn uncertainty. Maybe thats what makes this whole franchise so special and interesting?

[@supersaiyaninfinityunivers7193]

I really knew it that about Maribel is Yukari for context from the stories. After that Renko is Chang'e is still very there in the full moon.

[@sukotsutoCSSR]

Imagine controlling the gap between present, past, and future - if Yukari can do that, then this theory would hold up very well.

[@EntityXIII]

You're not terribly far from what I came up with for Yukari's backstory in my story, "Greater Undertakings" (yes, still working on that thing). I don't want to spoil too much, but it's a bit more tragic. I suppose I can say this much... In "Greater Undertakings," the Merry of one timeline watched the first woman she ever loved die in front of her eyes because of a powerful youkai. Said youkai took an angered, vengeful Merry into the past, caused a myriad of disasters, force-fed human meat to Merry, made her a shikigami, and more before Merry's plans for revenge would finally liberate her with the help of gods and youkai alike in this distant past. Her memories from her human life were largely blotted out and corrupted, save for the desire for a land of fantasy and to save someone whose name and face she could no longer remember, after a century of trauma. One of the gods would give her the name Yukari as a joke, and she would in turn name Okina. A couple more centuries after her new name was recorded for the first time, she'd meet the second woman she would ever love, but that too would end in tragedy. Yukari did everything she could on her own, save for a growing spy network of youkai animals, until she took in a still young Ran who would often defy her (and almost ironically take in her own defiant shikigami, who'd also want a shikigami of her own). When things were finally looking up for Yukari, a child was born and left to her by a dying mother from Outside, bearing the same name as Yukari's former mistress. The girl was made into a miko, and Yukari avoided her until the events of TH7 thanks to one of Yuyuko's half-baked plans. Now, in the time of this story, Yukari's past has caught up with her, and every masterplan she's ever crafted has collided with every mistake she's ever made. Meanwhile, as mentioned in the comments of either one of your previous videos, I've mentioned Yukari's arc and Reimu's arc--where Reimu fears she is turning into a youkai--run parallel. Yukari does play a cruel joke on Reimu, before things start falling apart for her, where she brings a sack of something fowl that Reimu, at first, thinks might be human meat, for her to try. As the events of the current timeline play out, it turns out the catalyst for everything is the overarching incident caused by . . . ah, spoilers. That said, I do try to resolve her arc happily and bring things full circle. Now, whatever Zun has planned, on the other hand, we'll probably never know until four or five Hifuu CDs from now. Either way, Yukari might need a good therapist. What? Even psychology majors in college need them from time to time.

[@eurobeatbandit]

I still see events of "Absolute One Way Street" as canon, nobody can tell me otherwise.

[@maksrudzieniec9064]

4:46 Yoooo, modern Japan, literally.

[@YuutaTogashi0707]

Very well put together!

[@raxelgrande]

The potential The Hifuu Club has is insane. Too bad that it's been 7 years since the last story...

[@SphericalProphetbot]

Guess what

[@raxelgrande]

YEAAAAAHA!!!!

[@uruguaylusitano5797]

It's happening guys!

[@sanuku535]

Touhou is under the surface quite dark and complicated wich gives it a great depth.

[@alwayssupporttouhouproject6726]

Superbly done and thank you for making this! I have loved Touhou lore since the beginning, but despite the high number and length of things going on in Gensokyo the storyline that intrigues me the most is what's going on with the Hifuu Club. I have the same explanation about how Yukari and Maribel are connected too! You put it into better words than I ever could have though.

[@Nodegama]

Yeah, reading thrugh the stories I personally had a quite similar headcannon. Good video!

[@mikubrot]

the newest cd kinda implies that if merry and yukari really are the same person, that Okina had some major role in it

[@awkwardbirb5710]

I do like your interesting theories, which were kind of different from my own. My personal take wasn't that the world was dying, far from it. It felt to me more like the world was solved completely. They've fixed every disease, birth defect, solved every mystery, much of the world is automated and convenient, and it's completely safe. It kind of sounded like a utopia to me, but one were strong emotions kind of just don't exist anymore. There's no mystery or excitement, things are just very formulaic. There's nothing to be curious about, no place to come up with excitement or mystery, just people more or less going through a fixed routine, with very little if any deviation from the norm.

[@aaathoms]

What’s the cover of Kids festival ~ innocent treasure playing at the end please ?

[@Megapig9001]

It’s the title screen theme to my team’s Touhou Fangame “Touhou Sealing Song”. I don’t think there’s a public upload of the song unfortunately, but you can listen to it in game if you have a computer

[@aaathoms]

@@Megapig9001 ok, ok thanks for replying to me. I’m currently going to university ( geez I have analytic biochemistry now TwT ) but I’ll write another comment to you about Merry and Yukari’s connection. Thanks a lot for this video it truly makes me happy to see people interested into Touhou’s most interesting mystery ( in my opinion OFC ) and without this mystery I’m sure that without it my vision and my attachment to the Touhou project would probably never be the same. Have a nice day see you soon.

[@bodhisuryana2447]

so what i can gather from Merry quotes about state of their world, it is kinda dystopia. Children cant smile maybe because of war. Synthetic strawberry means agriculture is decreasing. And depopulation. If the theory is true, then Yukari wants to make an escape, or paradise because her world will inevitably destroyed.

[@BootlegRaven]

really good video

[@superj1e2z6]

Hifuu will be over party

[@CalderTF2]

Tbh I hope that it isn't true just because it'd be sad af lol.

[@kapifromnevada4697]

But it’s also a story of hope to create new world (gensokyo) in spite of the dreaded world of future and the Maribel’s tremendous sacrifices she might encounter I find the hifuu storyline to be some sort of optimistic dystopia

[@LavaCreeperPeople]

Ok

[@windyryady6367]

Either I read too much fanfic, or like theories. I have a headcanon that Sumireko (somehow, possibly through Mokou) made the Hourai Elixir and gave it to Renko, while also taste testing it (because teenagers are dumbasses). However, cuz' Sumi is, (A) a psychic, (B) the maker of the Elixir of *IMMORTALITY* , and (C) knowledgeable on Gensokyo, she tells Renko to down the elixir. After that, Renko, along with Sumi, follows Merry back in time somehow, and changes her name to ??? Hakurei. So my headcanon is that Renko is the f******* Hakurei Shrine Maiden.

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

Wasn’t it made by Eirin and Kaguya?

[@windyryady6367]

I also have a headcanon that Eirin gave Kaguya the recipe, and then passed it to Mokou, who then passed it to Sumireko

[@YuutaTogashi0707]

9 Minutes ago Early yay

[@HarlenEAP]

a representation of psychotic Touhou fans