User:MirrorSamurai

ミラーサムライ (鏡侍) The Mirror Samurai
Born	25th October, 2002
Location	UK
Gender	Male
Occupation	Creator of characters, worlds and the strings holding them together (not professional)
Favourite character	Kuroji Shitodo

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So, uh, hi. I'm the Mirror Samurai. I'm a Brit who's into Len'en, I make games, I draw art, I love designing characters, stories and worlds, all that.

My Story With Len'en

Finding Out About the Series

Well, it started when I stumbled across some videos of Len'en 4 on somebody's channel. I was a bit intrigued, but only delved into Brilliant Stage 1 and a bit of Stage 2, and then I sort of forgot about the series.

That is, until a friend - Plazzap - shared a Len'en song (Present World Overhaul) with me. I started looking into the wiki pages, learning more about the characters, and I went and watched Len'en 1 in its entirety. I... regretted my decision, but soon after that I decided to look into Len'en 3, which I loved.

...and yeah, the rest is history.

Opinions on the Games

I... the Len'en games are a mixed bag. I've only played RMI so far (because I like playing games that I have more interest in first), and it's a great game all around. I love the team system, the danmaku design is very memorable (though some odd moments are a bit bumpy), the music is great to listen to (all three Stage 4 boss themes are beyond fantastic), and I like the game's story and characters as well.

I do like Len'en overall, it's got some great music and creative designs to its name, and it's fun to play as well... but it's not without faults. For starters, the writing - it drags on for way too long, and JynX isn't the best at making his protagonists believable (here's a recommendation, stop the trend of "Jinbei forces Tsuba to wake up and do something", have Tsuba go out on his own and be a proper hero). While the music is, again, great, there are certainly some moments that are glaringly noisy (Present World Overhaul being the most infamous example), and the danmaku design isn't quite perfect - RNG spam, overly fast bullets and all.

Also, uh... JynX, can you please explain your lore more, and not have us wait six years for games to give it to us?

The Characters

Simple, have this table.

Name	Gender	Opinion
Yabusame	Female	She's a good girl. I kind of wish JynX put more care into her as a character, though, and not just use her as Tsuba's clinically insane tag-along. (also do you see how she gets more insane the bigger the team she's in?)
Tsubakura	Male	I think he's fine. Again, I wish for him to be more of a believable protagonist, but he's got some good material so far.
Kurohebi	Male	He's a weird one, he went from "barely a character" in EE to "good stuff" in BPoHC (I especially like how he sees Tsuba as his parent).
Aoji	Male	He's cute, I like his personality, overall he's a great character.
Hooaka	Male	He's just good really, not too much else to say. I do think the "he has two souls and therefore a constantly swaying personality" is a cool idea (I'd like to see JynX expand on it). Also, LIQUID NITROGEN.
Kuroji	Male	Best boy, my favourite character in the series, also by far one of the most underappreciated characters in the series. Everyone sees him as a low-life thief whose motivations don't make sense, but why stop on the outside? In my eyes, he's the most heroic character in the series, going out of his way to ensure his little brothers and a bunch of kids in the Human Village have a future, praising his own rival in a battle that he actually won, and also making a really great bond with Saragimaru (the character development is so strong with them, the snake girl goes from hating him to joking with him, it's amazing). Also I love his design, weapons and playstyle, and he gets some of the best lines in the series.
Clause	Male	It is "rightly" so that "I", the Mirror Samurai, "harbour" a "powerful" feeling of "amusement" whenever I "call" to "attention" the "comedy" provided by "he" who is "known" as Wilhelm von Clausewitz Halcyon HISUIMARU. ...put it simply, Clause is good stuff. I love his role as the comic relief character with his speech mannerisms, and he has fleshed-out personality to go with the jokes as well. ...now I just wish JynX would just explain why he went delusional and why Yabu and the rest hate him (besides being annoying, of course).
Tsurubami	Male	Tsurubami's a good character from what I can gather from him. I'd like to learn more about him as a person and not just "why everyone except Tenkai hates him", but with his eternal holiday, that's not happening anytime soon. Maybe in a prequel? I'd be down for that.
Jinbei	Male	Kind of hard to judge a character who's so detached from everything... I'll skip Jinbei for now.
Jun	Male	I know this is just my interpretation because I headcanon Jun as male, but we need more males with traditionally female traits in fiction, just putting it out there. Definitely a fan of his personality.
Shou	Female	She was the first sign of actual between-character connections in Len'en (EE had the Shitodos, but they were so detached from everything that they might as well have been three Hibarus), and I'm definitely a fan of her link with Jun. That being said there's no forgiving Slug Scramble.
Lumen	Male	Lumen's another character I'd love to see more backstory on, the game mentions the "Three Lights" and how he (allegedly) resolved an incident in the past, but we need more. A prequel with these three would be great, JynX! As for what we have so far, he's good. Definitely a fan of the use in continuity, with his whole arc from EMS Stage 3, to the Extra, and then continuing on to RMI and BPoHC.
Hibaru	Male	He's a weird choice for a Stage 4 boss, I won't lie, isn't this usually the point where characters actually matter? But eh, it was early in JynX's career, he gets let off. Hibaru's alright, he has an interesting backstory with how he owes the sun money, I'd like to see that expanded more.
Sukune	Female	Let'sh get one thing clear, gyah. Sukune ish pure and adorable and I want to keep her happy forever, nyah! Okay, in all seriousness, Sukune is fantastic. She's got so much for me to like, with her dialect she made up just to be creative, how she makes stuff to help people pretty much unconditionally (note Yaorochi), and also her mischievous streak - making the clay Tasouken just so she could have a bottle opener, wanting to take Sese's skull hat and all that.
Yaorochi	Male	Oh, he's a great character. He's got a likeable personality, a nice backstory, and quite the plethora of great interactions with other characters (Sukune, Kuroji and Sese being my best examples).
Saragimaru	Female	Best girl, my second-favourite character. I love her as the series tragic character so much, and the way she does it is incredibly unique - she's split off from her brother but it's in a one-sided way, so she still cares for him and wants to feel loved again. Not to mention her five-star character development with Kuroji, as I mentioned above, as well as her further ties to Tenkai and Sukune.
Sese	Male	I love him so much, one of my favourite examples of how to make a good minor villain. I love the whole idea of "he's insanely powerful but he's lost all of that power and wants it back", and he has a very fun personality as well. Also, his "dialogue" with Yabusame and Tsubakura is priceless. Poor skeleboy, deep down even he wants to be wanted too...
Tsugumi	Female	She's a good character, definitely memorable with her personality and concept. She's also the only Len'en character I headcanon with an American accent, on account of her canon Kansai accent. (also for the love of god she is not a JoJo reference, JynX himself says it's a coincidence)
Iyozane	Female	Definitely a big fan of her. Backstory, design, role in the story, she's good stuff. For some reason she sounds like an old lady in my head, I blame the white hair.
Fumikado	Female	Fumikado's great. There, I said it! I really like how she fits the role of both a villain and a hero so perfectly - in RMI, she's a classic conqueror-type character and works great as the villain, but then in BPoHC, she's a sympathetic heroine without anything really changing (I mean I guess she lost all of her allies, but where were said allies to begin with?). Also, her final boss battle is really, really good stuff.
Shion	Female	She's pretty alright, I do like the whole idea of "newborn baby has loads of wisdom because of all the souls". I wish JynX focused more on that and less on making her an extension of Yabusame's insanity in BPoHC.
Tenkai	Male	Tenkai's really great from a story-telling standpoint, because right now he's our biggest link to Tsurubami's past. I'm a fan of his personality, especially the mysterious side of him, and his barrier gimmick is very memorable as well.
Souko	Female	I like her a lot, what with the backstory, design and her mythological basis. Also, the first god character in the series.
Mitsumo	Genderless	Creeeeeepy... JynX went pretty out-there with this design and character, but I think it fits in fine. No particularly strong feelings.
Terumi	Female	Rest in peace, Terumi. That's my main statement. Also, since Mitsumo's vessels don't last long, does that mean they'd be possessing a different person if they return in a future game? That'd be nice to see, kind of like Tsugumi's vehicles (but on a much smaller scale).
Kujiru	Male	I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Kujiru. Is having two slug characters really necessary, especially for such an uninteresting concept? (and yes, Kujiru's a land slug and Shou's a sea slug, but it's not super-clear) That being said his rivalry with Kaisen is pretty alright.
Medias	Male	FIIIIIIIISH! ...uh, I mean, Medias is nice. The design is pretty out-there, but I like his character and the worldbuilding brought in by introducing the southern land of penguins. Also, twin swords are always a win for me.
Kaisen	Female	I like her, the whole rivalry with Kujiru and the idea of a frog character being pretty well-executed. I also really like her animal form seen on Garaiya's head (Kujiru's animal form really pales by comparison).
Kunimitsu	Female	Oh, I do quite like Kunimitsu. She's our first look into proper youkai extermination in Mugenri (well, non-religious youkai extermination), and I'm definitely a fan of her involvement with the story - siding with Mitori to destroy the Fujiwaras, and getting given the crown when Mitori ascended to the throne because she didn't want any Fujiwara possessions. Also, I love Kunimitsu's battle, she has such a fresh take on slash attacks.
Garaiya	Female	Love her, favourite character in the Haze route. The personality, the design, and especially how she uniquely integrates Kujiru and Kaisen into everything she does.
Kaoru	Male	He's good, not too much to say besides that. Combining archery and poison is definitely an unexpected combination, but I think JynX made it work.
Para	Female	She took the whole concept of "Fumikado did a body swap, what's the other side of the swap?" and executed it pretty well. I do like how Fumikado's a homunculus with very human-like attacks, while Para's a human with very homunculus-like attacks. That being said, I find it hard to believe that Para's body used to have Fumikado's personality and vice-versa (though maybe Para just blew a fuse after losing her knowledge?).
Sanra	Female	Love her, favourite character in the Brilliant route. The idea of "Len'en character with a gun" was unexpected (but then again so was Devanagara in general), but she handled it really well. Not to mention she definitely has the design and character to go with it.
Chouki	Male	Creeeeeepy... oh, but Chouki's design is great, JynX pulled off the ghost character well, and I really like his role in Fumikado's story as well.
Mitori	Female	As far as royal characters go, Mitori's a pretty fresh take with her "illegitimate child takes over the entire monarchy" deal. The blood concept is... really out-there, but I give it points for uniqueness. Now that I've said all that, her boss fight can die in a fire.
Yago	Male	Probably my favourite BPoHC character, I love his role in creating every weapon in Mugenri, and the design and character are big sellers as well. Of the three (four?) Extra bosses in BPoHC, he definitely feels the most like an Extra boss, with his relevance to the story and all.
Haiji	Female	I just... the concept of a loony fan character is one that's really hard to get right, but somehow JynX managed to pull it off really well. Also, a sneaky excuse to put Touhou into Len'en, I support. As an actual character, I like her, it makes sense why everyone else sees her as a nuisance but I'd be down to see if there's anyone she can sympathise with.
Xeno	Gender Neutral	Uhhh, Xeno... the most I can say for them is how they have another connection to Tsurubami, yet more reason why I'd like to see a prequel Len'en game.
Suzumi	Male	...I... hate... Suzumi... I'm really hoping that JynX finally gives us a proper explanation on him, that's the biggest thing. Why does he have power over memory? Why does he want Tsuba dead? Why is he literally OP in BPoHC (seriously, thanks to him the game ends on the most disgustingly underwhelming note)? Until all of this is explained, he's just... overpowered, overly evil, and just uninteresting.

My Thoughts on Book of the Cafe?

I love Book of the Cafe. Business simulation games like Restaurant Story and Bakery Story were my jam when I was a little kid, and Book of the Cafe really rekindled that love - but it took it a step further with great employee mechanics and familiar characters. Also, the battle system is a lot of fun, plus very well-balanced - and there's a lot of depth to it too, depth that I haven't explored too much because I've not played enough of the Beta version. My only complaint with the game is how the cafe gameplay and battle gameplay feel too distant from each other, but JynX said he's going to address that.

Definitely excited to see what story this game is going to entail, too. With the way "Len'en 4.5" glitched into "Len'en 0" in the trailer, and how JynX said "It's not my fault! History is... my memory is...", I'm certain Suzumi's going to be involved, and if he does, I'm definitely hoping that he'll get some actual character this time around.

What Do I Make?

Well, I make a lot of stuff.

I draw art, which you should be able to tell from the Yabusame doing a fabulous kick (reference to her fighting style in BoTC) on the right.

I also make games. I'm planning to make a Len'en fangame in the future, but right now I'm a bit clogged. Here's an original, unrelated-to-Touhou-or-Len'en bullet hell shooter for you to enjoy in the meantime: https://gamejolt.com/games/apotheosis/542055