An Introduction to the Cast of The Kosuzu Motoori Case Files

For those of you new to Touhou Project, or even just fans who aren’t quite aware of every last character (there ARE a lot of them!), you may not recognize every face in the new event - or any of them at all! This handy dandy primer will give you a quick rundown of the cast of The Kosuzu Motoori Case Files, who they are, what they can do, what games and print works they showed in, and where you can find out more about them!

Debuted in: Forbidden Scrollery (Main protagonist)

The Bibliophile with a Discerning Eye, Kosuzu Motoori debuted in Forbidden Scrollery (2012) as its main protagonist.

On the whole, Kosuzu is sweet, cheery, and seems to have a smile for just about anyone who enters her bookstore. She’s perhaps one of the rare cases of a universally nice character in Touhou, though she still has her moments of rudeness. She’s curious to the point of near recklessness, constantly looking into youma books and youkai as a whole in spite of warnings from her friends. In spite of this reckless curiosity, she’s also something of a coward, and will quickly seize up in fear or even outright faint when posed with danger. You’d think she’d be a bit more careful, but instead she just assumes Reimu will save her every time so consequences be damned, Kosuzu’s gonna do what Kosuzu wants to do.

With the ability to read any book just by touching it (regardless of the language, she’ll understand it), alongside that curiosity, Kosuzu’s developed an interest in youma books (books written by youkai, inherently dangerous due to the power imparted to them). This leads to her making friends with both incident resolvers (Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame) who keep an eye on her because of the danger of those books, and youkai who seek to get their hands on those books for their own ends. Complicating matters is that Kosuzu’s best friend, Hieda no Akyuu, constantly warns her of the danger that these books pose, alongside the danger of youkai in general. 

The best way to find out more about Kosuzu is by reading Forbidden Scrollery - she’s in just about every chapter of it! The manga covers Kosuzu’s interest in Youma books, and her gradual interest in Youkai as a whole, conflicting with her role as a human villager, leading her to question the relationship between Youkai and Humans. Since her growth as a person is the biggest part of the manga, I’ll spare you too many details on that and let you find out for yourself!

As a humorous side note, her ability is to read any book, not to understand any language. As a result, she struggles to write in other languages.

Debuted in: Memorizable Gensokyo 

Notable appearances: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (in-universe author), Symposium of Post-mysticism (in-universe author), Forbidden Scrollery (deuteragonist) 

Hieda no Akyuu, the Memory of Gensokyo, technically debuted in Memorizable Gensokyo (2006). However, that was merely a short comic meant to build hype for a lore book - Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (2006), which came out one month later. She was created to provide an in-universe author for the book, which may have been to avoid providing ‘definitive’ statements about characters (as Touhou’s worldbuilding is meant to provide a narrative sandbox for others to build stories in).

Perhaps the most defining thing about Akyuu is her ability - a photographic (in other words, perfect) memory, also referred to as “Gumonji.” It goes beyond just her current life, however - Akyuu is the ninth reincarnation of the Child of Miare, a reincarnation of Hieda no Are who is born every hundred to hundred and fifty years. Each of these children can not only remember everything they’ve seen in their current life, but also draw upon the memories of past incarnations which relate to the Gensokyo Chronicle. In exchange, they only live to be about 30 years or so, and must work in the afterlife for the yama to earn their next life. Don’t worry about Akyuu though - ZUN’s already confirmed that since Touhou runs on comic book time, she’s never gonna die. Oddly enough, in spite of that, she’s the only character who’s notably physically aged in the series (just compare Memorizable Gensokyo to Forbidden Scrollery!).

As for what the Gensokyo Chronicle is: It’s a compilation of information about Gensokyo as a whole, almost like a wikipedia about its locales, its species, and its notable inhabitants, be they human or youkai. Whilst in the past it was made strictly to keep humans safe, in modern Gensokyo humans and youkai are on friendlier terms. As such, the ninth volume (written by Akyuu) is written for both youkai and humans alike. Want to get a glimpse of what it’s like? Read Perfect Memento in Strict Sense and Symposium of Post-mysticism! 

Because of this, Akyuu’s perhaps one of the most important people in the Human Village, and thus lives in an enormous mansion with plenty of servants, and wealth that’d make a merchant blush. Her status and wealth is also the reason for her clothing - it’s high fashion, at least for the era Touhou’s set in!

As a result of this, she’s also on good terms with some of Gensokyo’s most notable names: friends with the school teacher and fellow scholar Keine Kamishirasawa, the shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei and witch Marisa Kirisame (both of whom Akyuu often hires for odd jobs around the village) the gap sage Yukari Yakumo (who proofreads and edits the Gensokyo Chronicle on behalf of Youkai), and Kosuzu Motoori (whom she constantly warns about the dangers of Youkai, not that Kosuzu listens). 

Akyuu’s not just defined by her work and who she knows, of course. She’s polite, sociable, and patient - but also pretty egotistical (buttering her up will get you far), and in spite of that patience she’s got one heck of a temper. She’s also rather brutally honest, and says things how she sees them. Additionally, she loves puns, thus the Chronicle is littered with them.

She’s also got two notable hobbies. Firstly, she’s an author, making murder mystery novels under the penname Agatha Chris Q, a bit of woldplay involving Agatha Christie and her own name. Secondly, she also has a fascination with FM Synthesis music - which is the basis of the "Akyu's Untouched Score" albums (not a typo, how ZUN transliterates names isn't always perfect), a collection of soundtracks of the PC-98 games.

Want to know more about Akyuu? Her personality bleeds into the writing of Perfect Memento in Strict Sense and Symposium of Post-mysticism, both of which are fantastic ways to learn more about the setting as a whole. If that’s not enough Akyuu action, give Forbidden Scrollery a read - as the deuteragonist, she shows up in many of its chapters!

As a footnote, the Child of Miare has previously been both male and female, and their names were Aichi, Ani, Ami, Ayo, Ago, Amu, Anana, and Aya. As a second footnote, those names are all number puns, each of them being basically pronounced as Ah-# in Japanese (so Aichi would be literally Aone, Ani would be Atwo, and so on). And as a third footnote, Akyuu loves footnotes, and the lore books are littered with them as a result. 

Debuted in: The Story of Eastern Wonderland

Notable game appearances: All of them. 

Notable print work appearances: All of them. 

The Ordinary Magician, Marisa Kirisame made her debut in the Story of Eastern Wonderland (1997). As a quick primer, Story of Eastern Wonderland is one of the first five Touhou Project games, referred to as “PC-98,” so dubbed as they only worked on the PC-9800 series of computers. All five of them were made when ZUN was still in college as part of a student group called “Amusement Makers,” and can be considered the predecessors to modern Touhou, which started with the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. Back during PC-98, Marisa spotted a different look entirely, which you can see in the picture below.

Nowadays, Marisa Kirisame is a high powered human magician who serves as the dual protagonist of the entirety of Touhou Project, alongside Reimu Hakurei. With her slogan “if it ain’t magic, it ain’t flashy! Bullets are all about firepower,” she’s one of Gensokyo’s premier incident resolvers.

To explain quickly what a incident resolver is: as of a bit over 18 years ago in-universe, a particularly bold vampire stirred up a fuss that made Gensokyo’s movers and shakers realize ‘y’know, we’re a bunch of big fish in a small pond, something real bad’s gonna happen if we go all out on eachother.’ Thus, the Spell Card rules were founded, and with them, a set of rules: youkai were allowed to cause problems (called ‘incidents’, though the term goes beyond just problems made on purpose), with the understanding that they were also allowed to be resolved in a entirely non-lethal manner. An incident resolver, thus, is someone who goes out of their way to end incidents. 

Marisa herself has had something of a character change over the series: at first, she was simply an outgoing, extroverted rude kleptomaniac who helped herself to whatever she wanted, stole constantly, and who lied as a reflex. Nowadays, she’s still outgoing, extroverted, rude, and still has a mania for collecting things, but she’s no longer a habitual liar, and the stealing is much toned down. Instead, she’s more of a cool big sister archetype that many of the younger or more impressionable characters in the series look up to. She’s also probably one of the nicer and more sociable characters in the series, in spite of also being rude. That’s just how Gensokyo works. 

As a human, Marisa works hard to perform magic to the point where she’s one of the more powerful magicians in Gensokyo, even though she tries to hide her hard working status. She favors light and heat magic, the flashier the better, with a western approach to things. Marisa also has a habit of 'taking inspiration from' other characters and 'borrowing' their attacks for herself, with her own little tweaks. In spite of her tendency to favor metaphorical and literal firepower, Marisa's natural magical affinity is actually to water, the exact opposite.

As far as Marisa’s connections go...It’d be difficult to list all of the characters Marisa has a relationship with. Instead, here’s the most important ones: First of all, Reimu Hakurei is her best friend, and the two are inseparable, to the point of perhaps being considered life partners. Secondly, she constantly talks with the other magicians of Gensokyo, being neighbors with Alice Margatroid and a constant ‘borrower’ of Patchouli Knowledge’s books. All of the fairies she comes across tend to look up to her, as does Kosuzu Motoori. Additionally, at some point, she permanently severed ties with her family, and refuses the notion of reconciling with them - it has been speculated that this is because they may have forbidden her to learn magic, but this has never been confirmed one way or the other. Lastly, she and Rinnosuke Morichika are on very good terms, with the latter having created and maintained the mini-Hakkero - this is likely because Rinnosuke was taken in by Marisa’s father.

Marisa’s one of the few people whose occupation (outside of incident resolving) has been expressly made clear: she lives within the Forest of Magic, in a cottage that doubles as the ‘Kirisame Magic Shop.’ It’s a cluttered labyrinth of various odds and ends, not helped by the fact that Marisa herself hates cleaning. You could almost consider it a warehouse. That being said, even though Marisa's completely honest in her dealings and will not take payment for a failed job, the fact that her shop's in the Forest of Magic, which humans rarely visit, means she gets few customers to begin with.

If you want to know more about Marisa, literally play any game or read any print work in the series. She shows up in virtually all of them. The perks of being a main character…

As a fun side note, most of the game’s .exes sport Marisa’s face as the icon.

Debuted in: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

Other notable game appearances: Immaterial and Missing Power (playable character), Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (playable character), Shoot the Bullet (boss), Subterranean Animism (supporting character)

Notable print work appearances: Silent Sinner in Blue (secondary character), Cheating Detective Satori (chapters 1-4.5), Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (interview), Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (article)

Patchouli Knowledge, The Unmoving Great Library, made her debut in the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (2002), although she had little to do with the incident proper - she simply lived under the same roof as the cause of the incident. 

As one of Gensokyo’s resident magicians, Patchouli practices the art of magic. Unlike the others, however, she’s not a human, and she didn’t become a magician youkai by ascension - she was simply born as one. Although she’s from the west, she practices eastern-style magic. Her magic revolves around the same system that LostWord's elements obey, being the five phases (otherwise known as Wu Xing). Since under it elements are bound to days of the week, this has earned her the title of "one-week girl." 

Quiet, asthmatic, and physically frail, Patchouli lives within the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s library, and doesn’t go out much. Instead she spends many of her days either reading, researching, or hanging out with her best friend and mistress of the mansion, Remilia Scarlet. She’s such a shut-in that she doesn’t even wear proper clothes - those are pajamas and slippers she walks around in.

She has a very quiet, and introverted personality - except when new knowledge is to be gained, at which point she’ll actively pursue it. She goes about things in an orderly fashion, with a tendency to do things by the book. She can also be rather smug, and rather prone to anger and spite.

If you want to know more about Patchouli, check out her article in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, or give playing her a shot in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody!

A fun fact is that the stripes on her pajamas were supposed to be rumples. However, ZUN isn't very good at art, and as such everyone mistook them for stripes instead - to the point where all of her future appearances have had stripes on her clothes.

Debuted in: Mystic Square, Perfect Cherry Blossom

Other notable game appearances: Imperishable Night (Playable Character) Immaterial and Missing Power (Playable Character), Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Playable Character), Touhou Hisoutensoku (boss), Shoot the Bullet (Boss), Subterranean Animism (supporting character)

Notable print work appearances: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (article), Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (interview), Cheating Detective Satori (in a coma, non speaking role)

Alice Margatroid, the Seven-Colored Puppeteer, originated in Mystic Square (1998), one of the “PC-98” games (as written about in Marisa’s section). Unlike Marisa, whose modern appearance and character wasn’t too far from her PC-98 debut, Alice was an almost completely transformed character in her Perfect Cherry Blossom (2003) reappearance. Since the two can be considered almost entirely different characters, this article will cover both of them - although there’s not quite as much to the earlier Alice.

In PC-98, Alice is a child magician with the title "Girl of Death," who's trying to stop the heroines from invading Makai (only to be shortly defeated). Afterwards, in the game's extra stage, she comes back with a book named the Grimoire of Alice, with a ton of extra magic as a result. The girl boasts about her capabilities, and promptly gets defeated again. She's kind of a smug brat, and that's all there is to her.

In the modern era, Alice is still a magician - but instead, she’s a once-human who ascended to becoming a magician youkai. Additionally, rather than outright casting spells in combat, instead she relies on doll proxies through which she acts through - one could consider her to almost be more of a puppeteer than a magician. The reason for this is twofold: first, she loves treating every fight like a game of strategy, figuring out just the right amount of power to take out her opponent. The second is that she purposely tries to hold back, as she’d take a massive blow to her ego if she ever lost going all out.

This focus on dolls isn’t just reserved to combat. Alice's current goal in life is to make a self-autonomous doll - that is, one that can completely think for itself and act of its own accord. In the mean time, she uses them to cook and clean around the house (and do just about everything, really), as well as put on puppet plays around Gensokyo (presumably how she makes her living). 

Personality wise, Alice is a rather aloof girl, but still shows kindness to most people. Save for Marisa, with whom she's rude, snarky, and casual as all hell. She’s also rude and snarky to other people whilst around the fellow magician. Marisa might just be a bad influence. She’s also neighbors with her, as both live in the Forest of Magic. 

Whilst it isn’t really a thing in the official works, most fanworks tend to portray Alice alongside Marisa and Patchouli as a group of magicians who often work together at the same time. This is such a common thing that it may as well be a part of her character. The bit about tea parties though is pretty much a LostWord exclusive thing. 

If you want to know more about Alice, either read her article in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, or give her a whirl in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody!

As a fun fact, one of Alice's dolls is named Shanghai, to allude to ZUN's company name: Team Shanghai Alice.