Now, think about those humans with special ability, not those who got it by accident, descendant of god or anything alike (magic or any abilities that can be learnt won't be included), we have Sakuya (possible), Akyuu (possible), Sumireko and Maribel.
In Sakuya's case, no actual information of her background, time manipulation is considered too strong for a human to possess so I put her in the possible list. In Imperishable Night extra, methods to become immortal were mentioned: eating the gut of the immortal one, hourai elixir, turn into youkai (Remi can do it for you), time (Sakuya). Eirin somehow "knows" Sakuya?! There is possibility that Sakuya's ability is artificial or...
On Akyuu side, to create an utopia as the sages wish, you might need an immortal leader on human side. It is easier for them to work with only one person, keep human from any advance and remain the faith in gods. The reincarnation ability might be the act from the sages.
For Sumireko, she is an esper.
About Maribel, I think we already met a lot of theory that she is Yukari so I came up with a different theory. Interacting with border is an ability that anyone can learn, so it is kind of absurd that she is here. Look at the two main characters in gensokyo a genius and a normal person, so in the outside world we have Renko (the genius), Maribel (the normal). Yes I think the normal person is actually Maribel. The reason why Maribel and Yukari have the same ability maybe because they have the same ancestor. Renko is possibly Sumireko's descendant. Remember in Trojan Green Asteroid, Maribel didn't just let Renko see her "dream", Maribel was in the satellite and Renko was also there, just like Sumireko's ability.
But that is not what I want to say. The super nature force exist even outside gensokyo, youkai can blend into human society like in Pompoko of ghibli, remember Mamizou? Hogoblin from the West, occult balls, possibly more than 1 esper. Then why the esper exist? Maybe Zun just wants to do it but I like to make up an answer more.
In Dolls in Pseudo Paradise, the girl who hanged herself turned into something at the end of a game, the thing that attracted me most is "Centennial festival for magical girls". The Honest men sure are not magical girls, "Centennial festival for magical girls" is not in the DiPP album but it is ex-stage theme in EoSD, Flan's theme is a ref of "And then there were none" and in DiPP album. Were honest men just a part of witchs's festival each 100 years? The gift for the winner might be a special power and the lost of humanity. Sakuya, Sumireko, Renko, they are somewhat far from human. It rise another question "What is Renko's ability?".
On Akyuu side, to create an utopia as the sages wish, you might need an immortal leader on human side. It is easier for them to work with only one person, keep human from any advance and remain the faith in gods. The reincarnation ability might be the act from the sages.
Akyuu isn't a leader at all. She is just someone from a rich family who writes a bunch of books. The Youkai actively don't want the Human Village to have a leader because that would just be a threat to them. Her reincarnation comes from a deal with the Yama (its 100 years between each reincarnation because she has to spend 100 years working for them in the afterlife in exchange for being allowed to keep her memories), and it was a thing long before the Great Hakurei Barrier was created (Akyuu in fact was the first incarnation to be born after the Barrier's creation), and even long before Yukari's Youkai Expansion Project which what turned Gensokyo into a hotspot for youkai in the first place.
BrianBen said: But that is not what I want to say. The super nature force exist even outside gensokyo, youkai can blend into human society like in Pompoko of ghibli, remember Mamizou? Hogoblin from the West, occult balls, possibly more than 1 esper. Then why the esper exist? Maybe Zun just wants to do it but I like to make up an answer more.
Mamizou is probably an exception to the general rule, in that some of Gensokyo residents will be fine outside, but a lot of them will just cease to exist after a while.
Humanity might have abandoned most of the old things, but not quite everything. A lot of us still believe in afterlife, so the undead like Murasa or Yuyuko aren't going anywhere, and I don't think that belief is gonna disappear in near future (if ever lol). Mamizou was fine possiblyyyyy because she's a tanuki and not a completely made up thing? Dunno.
Mamizou is probably an exception to the general rule, in that some of Gensokyo residents will be fine outside, but a lot of them will just cease to exist after a while.
Humanity might have abandoned most of the old things, but not quite everything. A lot of us still believe in afterlife, so the undead like Murasa or Yuyuko aren't going anywhere, and I don't think that belief is gonna disappear in near future (if ever lol). Mamizou was fine possiblyyyyy because she's a tanuki and not a completely made up thing? Dunno.
More likely because she lived in Sado, a place heavily assosciated with the mythology, and one that still embraces her particular mythology. Either that, or there's a gensokyo-like enclave hidden somewhere there.
Pimini said: Mamizou was fine possiblyyyyy because she's a tanuki and not a completely made up thing? Dunno.
In this case, a fox youkai, tsukumogami, the seal in WaHH are the same as tanuki. The real question is "If human from outside world remember Mamizou as a tanuki or a human, what will happen?".
In ULIL, Mamizou turned Sumireko into a Gensokyo resident which made her couldn't escape Gensokyo. My answer for her method is doppelganger and identity problem. If there is already a real Sumireko, another real Sumireko is not real even if she is real as long as two don't meet. And after that incident the Sumireko can invade Gensokyo while dreaming, we can't have 2 Sumireko in 1 world but 2 is another problem. In WaHH, zashiki warashi could go to outside world because, people needed them.
From everything above, I think Mamizou's method is creating a human identity -> people remember she as a human -> hide somewhere to put her identity in a isolated box -> left a sign like "Humans need you" activated as her will -> switch to youkai identity and get pulled in gensokyo. From her conversation with Sumireko and fashin sense, I guess she lived with the old mostly in a deserted place.
Akyuu isn't a leader at all. She is just someone from a rich family who writes a bunch of books. The Youkai actively don't want the Human Village to have a leader because that would just be a threat to them. Her reincarnation comes from a deal with the Yama (its 100 years between each reincarnation because she has to spend 100 years working for them in the afterlife in exchange for being allowed to keep her memories), and it was a thing long before the Great Hakurei Barrier was created (Akyuu in fact was the first incarnation to be born after the Barrier's creation), and even long before Yukari's Youkai Expansion Project which what turned Gensokyo into a hotspot for youkai in the first place.
where does this information about the child of miare's deal with the yama come from?
where does this information about the child of miare's deal with the yama come from?
Perfect Memento in Strict Sense's monologue.
The ritual of reincarnation involves petitioning the Yama for permission during my lifetime; then, for over a hundred years during which my body for the next reincarnation is prepared, I work for the Yama in Hell.
