#okiyuuma

Marine you, marine me Paleozoic within the flesh Continuing to live, continuing to die

PALEOZOIC WITHIN THE BODY • J.A. SEAZER

Ooh that's an interesting prompt, the last ten years of Touhou has been really good for yuri I feel! There are two ships which have entered my highest echelon of Touhou pairings though, so I'm gonna answer for both!

1. Hecatia/Junko

When I started shipping it if I did: As soon as the game came out! LoLK was the first mainline game to be released after I got into Touhou, and I remember being really excited to have two characters who were 'old friends' and co-conspirators. It's one of my favourite ship types in Touhou, and makes them a mirror for Eirin and Kaguya in a really interesting way. My thoughts: Like I said. My favourite kind of couple in Touhou is old women who do evil schemes together. Something that really interests me about HecaJun is how Hecatia's Greek origins draw out the strands in Junko's story which connect her to revenge myths from other cultures - the figures of Medea (connected with Hecate) and Clytemnestra (connected with the furies) in particular. It gives me a lot of food for thought on how Hecatia sees her in relation to other people from her past. Things done in fanworks that annoy me: This isn't really just in relation to shipping, but I'm sick to death of the way people represent Junko's relationship to motherhood, and I get a bit tired of the 'HecaJun co-parent Clownpiece who Junko projects onto as her surrogate child' thing. I wish people would develop her relationship to rage and grief beyond this trope - what about her anger against Hou Yi? In the text where her story comes from, her son is an adult (who kind of sucks), and when her co-conspirator kills Hou Yi they feed him to his own children. Can we have some fanwork about that with Hecatia as part of the plot? (maybe I'll write that) Things I look for in fanworks: Hecatia being protective over Junko but also kind of in awe of her... The potential for this push and pull between Hecatia wanting her to be at peace but also wanting to see how far she can go is something which really interests me! Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Hecatia and Junko are rare for being characters where I don't really have any ships for them other than each other! If Chang'e gets introduced then she and Junko would obviously make a great rival ship, and I've thought about Junko/Mokou (maybe platonically?) because they have so much in common. As for Hecatia, it'd be cool to see her interact more with other characters from hell - Hecatia/Zanmu would be interesting... My prefered future/ending for them: What is Junko doing post LoLK, anyway? I wish she'd appear again - unless I'm missing something, the only information we've ever gotten is that she lives in a Senkai. I see them as basically married, but I don't really want them to have a peaceful and quiet domestic life. I think they should try to blow up the moon. What is their favorite activity together: I like the idea of Hecatia dressing Junko up (I can't imagine Junko has much interest in fashion but I doubt she'd mind going along with it)... I also think they'd enjoy exchanging and discussing literature from their respective cultures (I've legit seen academic papers comparing the annalistic text Junko's story appears in with Herodotus' Histories).

2. Okina/Yuuma

When I started shipping it if I did: I've actually never played SFW, and it took me a long time to get around to watching gameplay/reading the story. I think I only did in like 2023? I remember putting OkiYuuma on like the backburner as a cool potential ship, but it wasn't until maybe this year or the year before that it hit me how cool a pairing it really was. UDoALG got me thinking about Yuuma a lot more, and then TJD got me thinking about Okina, so it was sort of a slow build to being really invested in the two of them.

My thoughts: I like it when women ask other women to devour them :/ I think what draws me to the ship is how much background/symbolic baggage they both have. They're both attached to very deep-rooted and grand ideas about humanity despite neither being human - greed, consumption, the subterrenean or the suppressed, performance. Yuuma's fossil motif is so interesting in relation to Okina's thematics of hidden things and networks of syncretism. Plus, I really like that they just seem to be so invested in learning about one another.

Things done in fanworks that annoy me: I don't know if I've ever seen them paired up outside of a corner of the overseas fandom, but as individual characters I don't like it when Yuuma is infantilised/made out to be kind of a buffoon, and I'm tired of seeing Okina treated as nothing but a joke character. Sure, she's funny, but she's also highly complex and has such a unique place in Touhou's worldbuilding.

Things I look for in fanworks: Blood! Guts! Homoerotic rivalry! Mutual suspicion combined with mutual obsession! Cannibalism

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I like OkiYuka a lot and I think Okina/Marisa is really interesting.. I'm also kind of fond of Okina/Reimu, and I'd love to see Okina and Miko interract in canon. As for Yuuma, I really like Yuuma/Chiyari - they have a fun dynamic in UDoALG. I've also always thought Yuuma/Satori would be interesting. Surely they have to have some contact in terms of managing the blood pools, and Yuuma's whole deal gels in an interesting way with Satori's psychological theming.

My prefered future/ending for them: I want to see them team up and have to work together on some scheme down the line! One thing that interests me about this pairing is that it's a totally new relationship for both of them, rather than a long-standing thing (as a lot of Touhou ships are I feel). I like thinking about them getting to know one another's histories.