Kevos Setzer posted:

I'm basing this off the non-Clarste translated chapter before this one and Clarste's description of the last chapter. To answer your first question, no, that's not what happened.

Kosuzu is fully human and always was. She was being possessed by the Night Parade Scroll, or rather the youkai or demon that was possessing the scroll. It sounds like Reimu has decided to bring Kosuzu in to the "secrets" of the side of Gensokyo that most villagers will never see. Before this point, Reimu and Marisa tried to keep Kosuzu out of danger, but Reimu has realized that the bookseller is too curious to stop herself. The possession incident just reaffirms all of this. As for Kosuzu's current status, I'd say she's a youkai-like human, like Marisa and Reimu herself.

As for Yukari's part in all of this-- you know what, I'm not even going to put this in spoilers. This has become more about my headcanon of Yukari's Gensokyo than about the chapter.

Yukari's goal in Gensokyo is balance. Yukari doesn't want Reimu to start exterminating youkai just because. Gensokyo was sealed away to preserve the existence of youkai. If Reimu, another Hakurei shrine maiden, or even just plain old humans start eliminating youkai completely, Gensokyo might as well become the Outside World.

For Yukari's perfect fantasy to exist, Youkai need a Humanity that can hold them in fear, awe, and wonder. But you actually need humans for that, and if the system was left to its own devices random youkai attacks would wear down what humans exist. That's why humans are meant to exterminate youkai. But if Humanity becomes too successful in exterminating youkai and too comfortable in its existence, they lose their wonder of the unknown and risk entering an inhuman mindset. That's what went wrong with the fortune teller way back when, and it's the fate Reimu feared would befall Kosuzu. It's a balance between being Human and Youkai, not just in Gensokyo but in certain individuals, too. The games and manga make it look like humans are no different than youkai, but we only see the interesting humans willing to go out and face the unknown. We don't see the boring everyday humans that huddle in the safety of their village because they fear what lies outside the walls.

In terms of this incident: Kosuzu might have lost some of the fear she's had before, but I don't think she'll lose the awe and wonder, and I doubt she's suddenly going to become a youkai. Most of Marisa's adventures begin with curiosity stemming from seeing something new, and no one's accusing her of being a youkai (more than usual). Yukari's role in this specific incident: She played on Reimu's habit of drinking with the people she was just fighting with. It caused Reimu to hesitate long enough for Yukari to escape. Yukari's goal in this was to get Reimu to see Kosuzu not as a threat to everything Gensokyo's meant to be, but as a personal enemy subject to Reimu's ways of friendship.*

_{*Ways that are very much like a certain laser-wielding Magical Girl.**
**No, I don't mean Marisa.***
***Where the hell did my life go wrong that I have to specify that?}

Clarste, reading your Tumblr, I don't know where these people are coming from asking "Is this really the end of Forbidden Scrollery? Couldn't it continue?" As a series, FS was leading straight to what we just saw, and the story is obviously done now. And if I'm reading the end of your post right, I almost guarantee the next time we see Kosuzu it's going to be in a game.

Dr Snofeld posted:

Hungry posted:

Find a partner who will combine their figure collection with yours!

FractalSandwich posted:

I can't believe the word "metroidvania" made it into Japanese.