Relationships between Touhou characters.

[Spriteadam]

I personally have difficulty trying to understand how certain Touhou characters such as Marisa or Reimu interact with each other.
As in are they friendly with each other or is it neutral. (Example of confusion would be their encounter in the bamboo forest in IM.)
And another would be Reimu in general with other youkai characters like Yukari. Anyone care to elaborate more on this confusing topic.

[CyberAngel]

Reimu and Marisa are certainly what can be called "best friends". Just look at how Marisa rushed to Reimu's aid a few times in Forbidden Scrollery. And being good friends doesn't mean never having fights. But it does mean being able to sort things out if there is one.

About Reimu and youkai, it's just her job to beat them up if they do something dangerous. However, she doesn't have any malice towards them, so she doesn't mind them as long as they act nice. For the most part, she just doesn't care about them, but she can actually be friendly too.

[Yatakarasu]

About Reimu and youkai, it's just her job to beat them up if they do something dangerous. However, she doesn't have any malice towards them, so she doesn't mind them as long as they act nice. For the most part, she just doesn't care about them, but she can actually be friendly too.

Indeed, if anything I would call Reimu (and Marisa to an extent) indifferent to most youkai. She doesn't even seem to mind being around them too much. With how Gensokyo is set up there's no real need for Reimu to go out actively hunting for youkai to be exterminated, only if they are causing problems. The youkai live their lives and the humans live theirs. They do business and whatnot. Someone causes problems (human, youkai, god, or otherwise) they are dealt with by someone and almost always forgiven.

As for Reimu and Marisa's friendship, I would definitely call them really close/best friends. Sisters in incident resolvers if you will. There's no reason Marisa couldn't visit the shrine whenever she pleases and just hang out with Reimu for a bit or even have a quick duel. They always seem to be hanging out in the official mangas. They really haven't been "enemies" since SoEW (Touhou 2) and even then Marisa wasn't really malicious toward Reimu. The IN fight between them was definitely a misunderstanding and they didn't really dwell on it or hold a grudge against each other.

What I find interesting is how different casts would interact with each other and the world. Like, how often does the UFO and TD cast butt heads? Do SA characters ever go skipping around the surface? (I know Satori wouldn't and Koishi already does so...) What the hell do IN characters do all day? Just things like that.

[aListers]

About Reimu and youkai, it's just her job to beat them up if they do something dangerous.

If Reimu only beats up youkai if they're doing somthing dangerous then why did she beat up Tokiko in curiosities of lotus asia? I know I dislike Reimu but she's not as predictable or as tolerant as people think. I think that she generally tolerates youkai but only because she can't be bothered beating them up. Either way she will beat up anybody who gets in her way - youkai or not.

I agree that Marisa and Reimu are probably somthing close to best friends. It's my natural reaction to rush to help sombody in trouble - friend or stranger - but they hang out quite a lot it seems. Good friends will fight but the important thing about good friends is that they stay good friends afterwards. It's like playing mario kart with them. You will absolutely hate each other during the game but it's a good laugh afterwards

[Yatakarasu]

If Reimu only beats up youkai if they're doing somthing dangerous then why did she beat up Tokiko in curiosities of lotus asia?

[if I'm remembering correctly] Because her books seemed important to her (aka might have been worth money). Poor Tokiko.

I have noticed that Reimu seems to slide back in forth between being a jerk and just doing her job when it comes to youkai extermination. But Reimu has her place as a main character. She does have both her heroic and selfish moments.

[Magical Mimi]

The way I see it Reimu and Marisa are sort of outcasts of Gensoukyou. With Marisa having left humanity to practice magic (almost exclusively a youkai art) and Reimu who is distanced from humanity for her affiliation with youkai and yuurei (WaHH Ch.1), I can imagine that their friendship sort of came about by circumstance rather than being purposefully forged. Coupled with the fact that they are both selfish. Marisa is a thief without a single care for her victims and well Reimu had her incidents with Tokiko and trying to steal the shall from Reisen 2. There's no doubt that they are very close friends but I wonder if either of them would admit it.

[Drake]

Their relationship is pretty easy to see if you've read the manga. That goes for basically everyone written into the manga, as well.

Re: CoLA: Keep in mind this was also EoSD-PCB-era Reimu, when she was seemingly more hasty and aggressive in exterminations and just getting what she wanted, period. She was a lot less willing to just sit down, whereas now we have the whole lazy shrine maiden aspect.

[Imosa]

I agree with aListers. Reimu is not nice to Youkai by default. Remember the little interaction she had when with Mamizou over that book Mamizou wrote about humans getting along with tanuki. Wasn't the outcome something like, Reimu wanted to oust Mamizou but couldn't do it in front of the kids because she'd look like a bigot... or something like that.

[Prime32]

I agree with aListers. Reimu is not nice to Youkai by default. Remember the little interaction she had when with Mamizou over that book Mamizou wrote about humans getting along with tanuki. Wasn't the outcome something like, Reimu wanted to oust Mamizou but couldn't do it in front of the kids because she'd look like a bigot... or something like that.

It was because she'd look like not enough of a bigot. It would show she's on more familiar terms with Mamizou than she's supposed to be.

[CyberAngel]

I agree with aListers. Reimu is not nice to Youkai by default. Remember the little interaction she had when with Mamizou over that book Mamizou wrote about humans getting along with tanuki. Wasn't the outcome something like, Reimu wanted to oust Mamizou but couldn't do it in front of the kids because she'd look like a bigot... or something like that.

Reimu's concern was somewhat legitimate in that case. I mean, sure, some youkai are nice and friendly, but many are still dangerous and might try to trick or harm a human. I saw that moment as Reimu worrying that kids could get a wrong idea that youkai in general are nice. Remember, youkai still hunt for humans in Gensokyo, even if killing is a rare thing now.

[Spriteadam]

Ok so I have a better understanding of the relationships now, thank you.
What are the main touhou mangas that I should read then, the official ones I mean.

[CyberAngel]

What are the main touhou mangas that I should read then, the official ones I mean.

They all have bits that show both Reimu/Marisa relationship and how main heroines interact with youkai. (Except that Inabas one, which is a 4-koma.)