I?ve decided to break continuity, as I?ve mentioned earlier. Emotional Skyscraper is the longest of the final boss tracks, and thus is filled with proportionally more stuff. Therefore, I?ll leave it for last.
Nue Houjuu ? Heian Alien
It is canonical that Nue is a shapeshifter, and seems to use this to her advantage when facing friends and enemies alike (though, at the time of UFO, she probably doesn?t have any friends as such). Thus, the form we see of her is not her true form, and it would be best to approach her theme in the same way ? what we hear immediately is not the true Nue, but a form she assumes to confuse the viewer/listener. This much we know already though, as we have discussed upthread ? Heian Alien is a complex mishmash of Dark Side of Fate, Hartmann?s Youkai Girl, Faith is For The Transient People and U.N. Owen Was Her. Of course, these themes are not copied wholesale, but altered, modified, bastardized to fulfill a certain objective, or due to inability to copy perfectly, or the unwillingness to do so (it?s too early to tell which at the moment) ? and through this I feel we can start to glimpse the true Nue.
Before I go on any further, I?ll bring up Gensokyo?s other shapeshifter: Ran. As presented by my analysis, Ran is a psychological shapeshifter, never showing her true nature to others, as opposed to a manufactured behaviour. Ran had a specific tell about her, a signal of some sort to indicate that what we?re seeing is not the real Ran. Nue also has such a tell, but it?s even more important in her case ? the bell-chimes that are heard throughout the entire piece, supporting a melody here, an accompaniment there, adding some atmosphere everywhere else. The bell-chimes are the unique aspect of the piece, the one instrument and sound that stands apart as a personal addition to copied and altered material. This says something about Nue and her nature as a shapeshifter, something I?d like to present a few thoughts on below:
To reiterate myself, Nue?s very nature is of the shapeshifter. Not to bring Jungian archetypes into the picture, Nue immediately has a reduced sense of self ? after all, ?I think, therefore I am? only goes so far, having a unique, inviolable body which one can call ?me? is important as well. Nue does not have the latter, and can only rely on her spiritual self to provide herself with a sense of identity. She clearly realizes the potential existential pitfalls present if she neglects to assert her ?I? whilst going around taking others? forms, so she does so by adding extremely obvious personal features onto her forms, as shown by those bell-chimes. The sound they create is very characteristically metallic, very prominently high-pitched with a long, clean echo, which gives me a feel of some cosmic presence, one that feels at home in a vast emptiness, knowing and known to none. On a more personal scale, that makes Nue very distant, almost transcendentally so ? she is the kind of person to space out in the middle of a crowd, paying no heed to the world around her. She certainly would have a way of thinking that many would consider odd, and might even seem slightly autistic to those unfamiliar with her physical nature.
Having said that, the nature of the themes she copies also shed light on Nue?s character. Specifically, the two main parts are UNO ver. 2 and Faith ver. 2 (note: I?m calling the latter that for ease of reference, its similarity to Faith is arguable, but I?m sure it?s there). The Dark Side of Fate and Hartmann?s references are flavourful, but have less relevance due to their brevity.
I don?t need to mention the huge contrast between UNOv2 and Faithv2, one being harsh and oppressive, the other melodic and wistful. Clearly these are representations of two different emotional states, which, considering my statements on Nue?s nature as a shapeshifter and the reduced significance of her physically-established ?I?, as well as her canonical power, brings me onto the following thought: Nue?s very body expresses her emotional state at any given moment, and actively changes when her mood changes. Of course, Nue?s ability is to warp perception of another person to see what they want to see means it?s not Nue doing the real-time shapeshifting, but rather the mind of the observer perceiving Nue changing form.
I would like to emphasise that last sentence. Nue?s forms are all somehow related to things the viewer/listener (and the characters that observe her) have seen/heard before. Now, Nue isn?t a mind-reader, which basically means that all these forms are created by the observer?s subconscious whilst under the influence of Nue?s power. Nue isn?t a shapeshifter in the conventional sense, but, rather, a metaphysical one. Considering her emotional state then, it makes sense that her entire body would change to reflect a change in mood ? one?s perception of a furious person is completely different from the perception of that same person when he is happy, or when he is confused. This might slightly contradict what I?ve said earlier about the bell-chimes, but I feel it still applies ? no matter what she might look like, her own unique personality shines through.
Nue?s moods during UNOv2 and Faithv2 are then quite clear ? during the former she is inexplicably violent and selfish, no doubt her response to feeling threatened by the protagonists. Considering her separation from society up to that point and her own mental state, it is natural for her to lash out at people who make her uncomfortable. On the other hand, Faithv2 reminds us of Faith?s confident melody with a great deal of personal pride, and a desire for personal freedom, aspects that come up when the initial hostility of UNOv2 has died down ? Nue is fiercely independent, most likely not wanting her ?self? being defined by someone else. The, well, awkward transition into this segment reinforces the notion of her being socially different ? she is unused to actually dealing with others, so her emotional state and transitions might be off-putting to others, especially when this comes with a bizarrely-evershifting body.
This considered, neither the viewer nor the protagonists have ever seen the ?true? Nue. The only Nue that we know is an ephemeral personality, albeit a strong and willful one, without a concrete shape we can attach it to.
I really learned something about Nue in this analysis. Those of you reading carefully will see a stream-of-consciousness kind of writing, as the ideas I had just kept popping into my head. I personally really like the idea of Nue being a metaphysical shapeshifter, rather than a ?regular? one.
