A thousand years ago, Yukari Yakumo is the most feared youkai in the lands, carving a bloody swath through all who oppose her. Determined to rid themselves of this threat, the Saigyouji clan use their greatest weapon against her; Yuyuko, a young girl born with the power to invoke death on anyone. After a fierce battle in which Yukari is nearly killed, she wakes up in a strange bed in a strange house, being tended to by Yuyuko. Thus begins a relationship between the women who will eventually become two of the most powerful beings in Gensokyo, a relationship that forever changes the courses of their lives and shapes them into the people they are today.
Maiden's Illusionary Funeral is a Touhou Project doujin created by VISIONNERZ
, serving as a prequel to the 7th game Perfect Cherry Blossom, exploring the backstory of the two most important characters introduced in that game, and the romance that develops between them. It consists of three parts, a Former Part, a Latter Part, and a bonus Phantasm part that serves as a bridge between the Latter part and the epilogue. It can be downloaded from the Touhou wiki, or read online at Dynasty Scans.
See the Touhou Project page for tropes in the series in general, and Characters.Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom for tropes specifically pertaining to the characters appearing in this doujin.
Maiden's Illusionary Funeral contains the following tropes:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Subverted; at first it seems that Hakurouken is this as it bisects Yukari in one slice, but then it turns out she's not even solid.
- Adaptational Badass: They're certainly no slouches in canon, but Yukari and Ran easily perform feats far beyond what they've done in official material. And Yuyuko's power is even stronger, incapacitating Yukari for days and permanently injuring her despite holding back.
- Animalistic Abomination: Ran, in contrast to Yukari, takes the form of a giant fox when she unleashes her power.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: How most nudity is depicted, although strangely sometimes nipples are drawn.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Yukari and Ran, though "evil" is debatable.
- Blade Spam: Yukari's specialty, especially when she starts duplicating the same sword dozens of times.
- Blessed with Suck: Yuyuko, like canon, but explored in much more detail here.
- Bodyguard Crush: Youki towards Yuyuko, though it doesn't go anywhere.
- Bury Your Gays: Downplayed; while Yuyuko does die it isn't permanent.
- Cherry Blossoms: Inevitable with Yuyuko involved.
- Cool Sword: Yukari's Roukanken, and Youki's Hakurouken. Inevitably they're eventually both seen in Youmu's possession.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Youki never stood a chance. But at least he fared better than the poor Saigyouji clan members that get eviscerated every time they try and fight.
- Dance of Romance
- Fate Worse than Death: Yuyuko's initial fate after sealing the Ayakashi. Yukari is having none of that.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: How Yukari and Yuyuko's romance begins.
- Foregone Conclusion: Yuyuko dies and her body is used to seal the Saigyou Ayakashi, and when she returns as a ghost she forgets her life as a human.
- Game Face: Yukari's human appearance is inversely proportional to how much power she uses. A simple fight and she may only have her eyes go black.
- Godzilla Threshold: The Saigyouji consider Yukari enough of a threat to send Yuyuko after her, even though they need her to seal the Ayakashi and there's no guarantee her powers will work on her.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Yukari has no hesitation to slaughter people who pose no threat to her and the Saigyouji clan are perfectly willing to sacrifice an innocent girl, but they have their reasons. Yuyuko is firmly White morality however.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Yukari gets vertically bisected by Youki. It barely slows her down.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Yuyuko willingly accepts being used to seal the Ayakashi (in a deviation from canon where she was already dead).
- Humans Are Bastards: Yukari's initial opinion. After centuries of witnessing humanity's atrocities, Yukari wants to stop the sealing of the Ayakashi so that it can kill all humans in its path.
- Humanoid Abomination: How Yukari is depicted. She doesn't create her gaps; her gaps are an extension of her, her true self hidden under the facade of humanity.
- Interspecies Romance/Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Despite the above Yuyuko still loves her, and the feeling is mutual.
- Kiss of Life: In a variation, Yuyuko gives Yukari medicine by first putting some in her mouth then kissing Yukari to transfer it.
- Love at First Punch: They first meet when Yuyuko is sent to kill Yukari (albeit reluctantly), and she almost succeeds.
- Love Redeems: How Yukari transforms into the playful Trickster of the series.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: How Yukari's gaps are depicted.
- Maybe Ever After: Although Yuyuko's Ghost Amnesia prevents her from remembering their time together before she died and Yukari seems content with their relationship as it is, the ending still leaves it open as to whether they might ever renew their romance.
- Mayfly–December Romance
- Morality Pet: Yuyuko eventually becomes this for Yukari.
- Nightmare Fetishist: A minor example, but Yuyuko calls the evil spirits that follow her around "children" and treat them like beloved pets. Probably because they're the only "people" she's been in contact with for years before Yukari shows up.
- One-Winged Angel: Both Yukari and Ran unleash this when they get really pissed.
- Opposites Attract: Ancient amoral inhuman killer meets young selfless caring human.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: In a slight divergence from canon, Yuyuko's powers cause evil spirits to gather near her in massive numbers, and it's them who invite people to their death.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: Yukari and Yuyuko when the former tries to free the latter from the Ayakashi.
- Power Incontinence: By the time Yukari meets her, Yuyuko's powers have grown so out of control that anyone who comes anywhere near her is killed instantly.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: How Yuyuko seals the Ayakashi before Yukari releases her soul.
- Shipper on Deck: Ran immediately sees how much Yuyuko affects her mistress and subtly tries to encourage their relationship.
- Undying Loyalty: Ran towards Yukari, Youki towards Yuyuko.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Saigyouji clan force a young girl into solitary confinement (because her powers are instantly deadly to anyone who goes near her) then sacrifice her to seal a tree (because if it awakens it will spread its power to kill anyone it touches).
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Set just before the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom.
