The Definitive Guide to DitR - Part 2d: Analysis

Part 2d: Episodes 15-19/Analysis

This is a recap and commentary of everything that happens in Diamond In The Rough and why. If you're new to the series, but don't want to spend four and a half hours of 45% bad Touhou fic Pastiche, 45% Deconstruction, and 10% mean-spirited Tearjerker, this might be faster.

Note: My writing style gives English translations to Japanese words and such. My apologies if this bothers you.

Warning: The Analyses contain unmarked spoilers.

Episode 15

Recap:

When Brolli returns to his house, Marisa is waiting there to scold Brolli. Reimu yells that it's Marisa's fault for corrupting Brolli, but Marisa says Brolli should've been uncorruptable in the first place, using her copy of Brolli's aura as proof. Adding all this together, Brolli remembers that the reason Yukari even gapped him there in the first place was to gain control of his beasts, who were supposed to corrupt him. Through Brolli's TV, Yukari says he should have followed her orders, but Reimu and Marisa yell that she only brought him to Gensokyo because she knew he wouldn't follow her orders. Yukari responds by saying that some kids have free will: they choose to leave, and perhaps they could even do good even if they chose to listen. Yukari then tells Reimu and Marisa that regardless of whether or not the Gappies have free will, why haven't they done anything to stop her? They've done nothing but help Brolli and all of the other gappies this whole time, and this mess is the fault of everyone who aided Brolli. Most importantly, Reimu and Marisa have done nothing to stop Yukari: all they do is care for the Gappies and help them reach their implosion. Yukari threatens Brolli to get the beasts back and to resolve the incident, or she will not let him leave Gensokyo.

Brolli says they should do something, but Reimu says it's impossible. Marisa tells Reimu she's not like herself anymore: she's letting Gappies walk all over her and she should stand up and fight the incident. Brolli says that this whole incident comes down to whether or not there are any more Gappies in Gensokyo: either he dies to end the Gappy Era, or he escape and lets somebody else do it. Reimu vows to end the Gappy Era without any casualties: she's going to escort Brolli out of Gensokyo, and her and Marisa will stop the incident themselves. Reimu escorts Brolli across the Hakurei Border, much to the shock of Chen and Ran, who are then attacked by Marisa, who has a bone to pick with Yukari.

In the outside world, Brolli is left wandering Japan, stranded far from home. An otaku directs him to a hotel where he can phone home, only to find Yukari waiting for him. She helps pay for a phone card and he calls home. He tells his mom he's in Japan, but he cannot explain the details. His parents are beyond angry that he's left to go to Japan, and he learns his cat has died after he left, he's expelled from school, and he's wanted for truancy.

Back in Gensokyo, the Celestials have assembled their fairies together for the incident with the promise of a vacation in Heaven for whoever kills Colonel Diamondback. Reimu dives in to stop the meeting, destroying the fairies and challenging the Celestials to a 2-on-1 match. Reimu explains Brolli has left and she'll resolve the incident herself. They ask her what if Brolli returns, but Reimu is confident Brolli won't, knowing it will destroy Gensokyo. Reimu easily overpowers the Celestials, overjoyed she's back to resolving incidents in the same carefree manner as she did before.

Back in the outside world, Brolli is crying at a train station over the situation: his cat is dead, he can't go home, nor can he go back to Gensokyo without putting everyone in danger. Yukari tells Brolli that Gensokyo is already in danger: even if Reimu and Marisa stop the incident, they're still at the mercy of Brolli's beasts. Brolli asks why she led him to the beasts if she knew they'd sap his self-awareness, but she says that self-awareness can trump ignorance: he could have controlled those beasts if he tried. Brolli can't bring himself to go back to Gensokyo, knowing what awaits him, but Yukari says the only other choice is to remain in the outside world after disappearing for three months. Brolli asks for a way to save himself and Gensokyo, and Yukari offers a solution: go back, gather the beasts, and do not save anyone, letting them save themselves, or he will die. After that, he's free to do as he pleases: leave or stay in Gensokyo, destroy or keep his beasts, just as long as he doesn't die with the beasts still in his body, or else they will remain stuck for eternity. With no other choice, Brolli returns to Gensokyo, hoping to stop the incident and save himself.

Analysis:

Personal Favorite Moment: Reimu's Comeback
Fan Favorite Moments: Brolli escaping Gensokyo, Marisa's Comeback, Brolli's encounters in Japan, Reimu's Comeback

This is the second time in this whole movie Reimu and Marisa are together. It's also the first time in the whole movie they finally start questioning why they're helping Brolli stay in Gensokyo when it's really causing more harm than good: Brolli's just going to gain more power, Gensokyo's going to go down hill regardless of whether he uses it for good or for bad, and Reimu is really wasting her powers if she doesn't get up and do something instead of protecting the gappies.

Yukari's monologue, out of all of the dialogue in this movie, has to be my favorite: especially the line, "And you two have done nothing to stop me... Oh. That's right... You can't do anything."

Reimu and Marisa's angry-but-impotent reaction to Yukari is partially inspired by the girls' reactions to the extent of Kyuubey's magical girl contract from Puella Magi Madoka Magicka. Up until this point, everyone's been saying that they've been getting Kyuubey vibes from Yukari, and now she's going full-on Kyuubey.

Marisa's talk to Reimu and Reimu's reaction of, "This whole friggin' gappy's situation's just so ugly!," is partially based on a real conversation during our "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation in the administration/general WSW during production (if you'll notice the production timeline, this took up most of the production time). Prophetically, things actually got worse not long after that conversation.

Brolli's decision to leave Gensokyo marks the end of Act 3: he now knows staying in Gensokyo is going to put it in danger. Entering Act 4, he's soon going to have no choice but to stay and fight.

Deleted Scene: The scene where Reimu escorts Brolli to the Hakurei Border was originally going to be the beginning of Reel 2, but due to Brolli's change in character development (he starts to realize what's he's doing wrong earlier in the film as opposed to nearing the climax), it was changed to the middle of Reel 2. Originally, Brolli escapes Makai, runs to Sanae for comfort (and, you guessed it, yet another deleted sex scene), and then to Reimu for help. Reimu and Marisa are reading a newspaper article about Brolli losing one of his beasts in Makai, and Brolli wants to escape Gensokyo not to save it, but because there are too many rules. The entire "Brolli walking through Japan" sequence is uninterrupted: there are no cut-backs to Reimu and Marisa resolving the incident.

The Hakurei Border is a fractal I made in GIMP's Flame Fractal Plugin. A little known fact about me: I love making fractal art. So, when I was making the Hakurei Border, I just had to make a fractal for it.

For as much as people seem to freak out at Reimu speaking Japanese when Brolli enters the outside world, what she says is actually very, very basic: "Uh... Let's see... Do you understand Japanese?"

As I mentioned before, I do speak a little Japanese, so more on that. I've actually been interested in Japan since I was in kindergarten: not for the modern entertainment like so many anime and j-pop fans focus on, but the culture, food, and the history. My parents warned me, "Japanese is a difficult language!," but after studying it, I can safely say no it is not. As a stickler for grammar, Japanese is easy because all of the grammar is right there in the sentences: everything that's implied in English, you say out loud in Japanese. If you want to learn Japanese, here is my warning to you: take it because you're interested in Japanese culture, not because you're interested in anime/j-pop. At the beginning of the class, there were 45 students in a class that had a cap at 40. 35 of them were hardcore weeaboo anime otaku. Ten of us, including myself, wanted to learn the language. Out of that 45, only the ten of us survived.

Marisa attacking Ran and Chen the moment Brolli leaves ought to be the first sign that without Brolli, Gensokyo has returned to normal. In fact, every scene in Gensokyo while Brolli is gone is classic vanilla Touhou: goofy conversations between the main characters and the bosses, the bosses refusing to help the main characters, then danmaku combat.

The attacks Ran and Chen use are their actual spell card attacks from the Extra Stage of Perfect Cherry Blossom, faithfully recreated in create.swf.

Marisa does not say "ze" once in the entire movie, since I forgo the use of any Japanese words in DitR (or really any Touhou fic). However, if you listen to what Marisa says out loud when she says, "At least this beats watchin' gappies, eh?," it sounds like she's ending it in "ze". Not only that, but given ze is an end-sentence modifier, it actually makes grammatical sense in English for once.

When Brolli is walking through Japan, you get a quick snapshot of all the typical city sightings. At the train station, there are school girls in the far background, there are some goth-lolis, two regular salarymen, one drunk after-work salaryman, and a depressed young men (quite possibly a ronin/NEET). In front of the electronics store, you have some middle-schoolers, otaku, and yet more salarymen.

For the rest of the scene in Japan, I went the Megatokyo route and <translated everything in angled brackets>. Look at the electronics story Brolli passes by, and you'll see a regular advertisement in what's supposed to be Japanese, and one in Engrish. If you'll look at the train station, Gensokyo in DitR is near Kyoto. (Though, my personal speculation puts Gensokyo near the Minami Alps: there's a deep valley where there are thick mists, no human settlements, and no access from the outside but by foot.)

Yes, Japanese students trying their English on foreigners is a legit thing from what I've heard. Also yes, there are some in Japan who treat English in the same way us anime nerds overseas treat Japanese.

The American action film otaku is a guy: he just has really long hair. His purpose in the scene is to contrast/compliment Brolli's own escapism and show that by this point in the film, Brolli is utterly fed up with escapist fantasies when the otaku brings them up.

The hotel clerk's comment about going to the American Embassy is based on a line I asked the production audience: if you were stranded in Japan, what would you do? The universal answer was to find the American Embassy. However, put yourself in Brolli's shoes: you've spent the last three months in a fantasy world, and now you're in a country where you don't speak the language. It's not like you'll find signs everywhere reading, "This way to the American Embassy." Plus, the otaku Brolli ran into assumed he was staying at a hotel with English-speaking service since he couldn't speak Japanese himself.

An explanation behind the hotel clerk knowing Yukari (this logic only pertains to DitR): First, Yukari isn't the only way into Gensokyo. Many outsiders merely wander in by mistake. The ones that do escape may get lost, and Yukari, not interested in keeping them, may actually aid in getting them back home. So, she can gap her way to the places where kids can get calling cards. It wasn't just that hotel clerk that knew Yukari: virtually every hotel clerk personally knows Yukari. And every convenient store clerk. Basically, if you sell services that can help outsiders of Gensokyo get back to their homes, you will know "Miss Violet."

The calling card is actually a tile from Highly Responsive To Prayers.

In addition to implying Brolli is a latch-key kid, it's also very, very lightly implied Brolli has pulled many similar stunts in the past. The fact Brolli has gone missing for three months and is in Japan does not surprise them one bit.

The celestials, Dokeshi and Koshaku (nicknamed by Skod12), appeared for a very short second earlier when Brolli beat Momoi at shogi. Dokeshi has the ability to manipulate light, while Koshaku manipulates decorative flowers. Although not shown, Dokeshi and Koshaku are just a mid-boss for another celestial who appeared off-screen. In fact, during Brolli's duration outside of Gensokyo, Reimu made it all the way up to Stage 4, fighting more celestials.

Yukari guilt-tripping Brolli to come back to save Gensokyo from the beasts is also part of the plan: Gensokyo could actually defeat the beasts, and none of the blame would go to the outsiders, starting the gappy cycle over again. Throughout this scene, try to catch all of the False Reassurance Yukari uses on Brolli. (Especially after Brolli asks how he can save Gensokyo and not die.)

Yukari's comment, "Typical human teenagers. Sometimes I wish adults had your sense of adventure," hints at why she mainly preys on children.

It may seem cute that Yukari would help Brolli gap his way to the house of her rivals since they like him, but here's some Fridge Horror: Yukari knows that Brolli can't have a child with Reisen, and she knows what Reisen's despair will do to Eirin and Tewi.

Since this movie includes virtually every Touhou character, the outside world scenes felt like a prime place to put Maribel and Renko. Appropriately, they play passerbys who hear Yukari's gap hum, only to miss it at the last second.

Unlike the other episode credits, which feature dark or dramatic portrayals of Touhou characters, this is one of the few episodes that ends with both vanilla Reimu and vanilla Marisa, symbolizing that Gensokyo was coming back to normal.

Episode 16

Recap:

Jack has finally figured out that Vic has went to Gensokyo and decides to confront him about it. However, Vic is about to kill himself, knowing his actions led to the deaths of hundreds of kids, the death of his friend, an innocent plant youkai framed for an incident. However, Jack's selfish/shallow behavior and want of going to Gensokyo, despite all of the horrors Vic just talked about, shocks Vic back to his senses and he calls off the suicide. Vic decides that unlike the other outsiders, he'll make something of his life, while Jack will give anything to get to Gensokyo.

Marisa has defeated Ran and Chen, and Yukari has appeared just in time to confront Marisa. Marisa is happy that she's finally getting to fight a "normal" incident, citing her battle with Ran and Chen as the best she's had in ages. Marisa complains that the incidents involving the gappies have been too dangerous and too dark, but when Yukari asks if she knew each gappy would end up like this, why did she aid every single one, including Brolli? Yukari reveals to Marisa she's gapping in outsiders to test Gensokyo's complacency: everyone blindly aids outsiders, and if they continue to do so, it could tip the balance in favor of a true villain. Marisa insists Brolli is different, but Yukari wonders under what circumstances would Marisa kill Brolli for Reimu. Worse, Marisa can't fight Yukari: the real incident is about to begin, and Yukari must fight alongside her to save Gensokyo. Marisa screams she just wants to have an normal incident where Gensokyo isn't at stake for once.

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae says she can hide Brolli for the duration of the incident. Hydrus wonders why the rest of the beasts can't just stop the incident for him, but Brolli insists he must follow Yukari's instructions to the letter if they are to survive. After Brolli gaps to the House of Eternity, Sanae finds a peach under the table. It turns out Tenshi has been hiding in the shrine the whole time, awaiting Brolli's return. Sanae says it's too much, but Tenshi says Brolli has broken spell card rules, and Sanae herself has been obsessing over that article on Brolli since it came out.

At the House of Eternity, Kaguya questions Brolli's plan to go to Gensokyo with Lepus, and she says if anything happened to him, Reisen would be devastated and likely not recover. When Lepus says he can take care of Reisen, Kaguya yells at Lepus and mistakenly calls Lepus "Raphael," one of the previous Diamondback incarnations. Brolli gaps in to tell Lepus they're going to Youkai Mountain to stay at the Moriya Shrine for the duration of the incident, but Kaguya says Reisen has news for Brolli. Reisen is too nervous to say it herself, but Tewi tells out that Reisen is pregnant. Brolli is shocked by the news, but Reisen says it was bound to happen since they had unprotected sex every single night for eight weeks. Brolli is worried whether or not half-human-half-youkai can exist, but Eirin assures them that as long as their power levels are roughly the same, they can exist. Brolli tries asking Eirin to make him the Hourai elixir so he can live forever with Reisen, but Eirin refuses. At first, Brolli wants to yell back like he did with everyone else, but for once, he holds back and says Eirin is right: she's only looking out for him.

In the human village, Velupe questions Brolli's story about when he went to Makai: if the only options are to die to save Gensokyo, or live and watch Gensokyo get destroyed, why is he choosing to live? Brolli says he doesn't just have to die: this all comes down to Brolli affecting Gensokyo by his presence, and if he just stays tucked away in his little corner, everything will be fine, just as long as he survives the incident. After Brolli collects Velupe, he asks Yukari to bring him back to the Moriya Shrine. However, Yukari says Gensokyo needs this incident to happen. Then, a mist engulfs Gensokyo, and it's coming from the top of Youkai Mountain at the Moriya Shrine. Yukari tells Brolli that he can still survive: he just has to not save anyone. Brolli realizes he doesn't need to: he can send Nitori and the Kappa up there to save Sanae.

Analysis:

Personal Favorite Moment: Tenshi's Reveal
Fan Favorite Moments: Tenshi's Reveal, The Pregnancy Announcement

Here's the coolest thing about the Vic/Arturo scene: I wrote it with the actual freakin' Vic in real life. We sat down at an aquarium restaurant and wrote it will food was arriving. He basically played his own character, I bounced ideas off as Jack Diehard, and *bam*: we got the scene done that day.

The scene between Yukari and Marisa is an interesting one: Marisa wants a classic duel, and she even opens her dialogue with wit and humor, but Yukari descends back into the gritty "Dark Fic" territory and ends it by manipulating Marisa into not fighting her. It's also the first time we finally get to hear Yukari talk about why she gaps in the outsiders. Of course, she doesn't reveal 100% of her plans: she mentions that the balance could tip in favor of a true villain, even though that's her plan all along. Plus, the Meat Locker is right in the back of the shot.

Some have asked me whether Yukari meant hindsight instead of foresight. She meant foresight: I was trying to write a line for Yukari to taunt Marisa, knowing Brolli would basically end up like all of the other gappies. I think it was Roy/ChibiOChen who suggested this line.

An interesting thing to note: now that Brolli is actually standing up to the beasts, they're spouting out good ideas. However, even if Brolli let the beasts save Gensokyo themselves, then the beasts would eventually snap. There's an alternate idea I had for DitR where Brolli's beasts become the major antagonists, but that would require a serious reworking on the entire plot (remember: DitR is a very fragile story).

I still get goosebumps when I see Tenshi jump out from under the table. I freaking love that moment.

Tenshi's first line to Sanae is a reference to her winning quote, "Ah, thank you so much for the refreshing peaches." It is also a reference to Tenshi's ending, where she mentions Heaven has a limited food supply. 

The newspaper Tenshi mentions is on the table in the background. It's implied the Moriya Shrine have been obsessing over it since Brolli abruptly switched faiths, worrying he would eventually take the shrine.

Raphael is actually the lead character of Brothers in Gensokyo, a video tennis between Colonel Diamondback and Night Of Darkrai. The series was eventually scrapped for The Colonel's Adventures in Gensokyo.

The moment I knew Reisen was going to be pregnant, I just had to have Tewi give the announcement (so it could back to bite her in the end). I knew the line was going to be, "Reisen is preggers! Congratulations on your half-human half-youkai freak baby!" However, on the day of production, I wondered if I could fit in a subtle Clannad reference by having her go, "Congratulations, you bastard!," but the line we got was an interesting hybrid that stands on its own: "Congratulations on your half-human half-youkai freak baby, you bastard!"

Having sex every night for eight weeks means Brolli and Reisen had sex 56 times. Eight weeks is also (more or less) the amount of time when you can start detecting a pregnancy (and if not, chock it up to Reisen being a different species).

Brolli's age is never mentioned anyone in DitR up to this point. Him mentioning is age is meant to really drive in the Fridge Squick: a 16-year old human getting it on nightly with a 40+ year-old rabbit youkai, and now they have a child together.

Eirin's setup for the scene in the epilogue is actually a very, very subtle reference to, of all things, Ctrl+Alt+Del. I knew that in the end, I would take apart why so many Gappies have all this sex with the Touhou cast, and you never seen any offspring. I thought that perhaps if a youkai and a human of different levels of power tried having a baby, it could be possibly for the stronger entity to flush out the weaker entity. Then, in my research on miscarriages, I was led to the TVTropes page of Ctrl+Alt+Del, where one base-breaking moment involved a miscarriage caused by the immune system treating the baby as a foreign object. With that, I had my foundation for why youkai and humans of different strengths couldn't have children.

The conversation between Brolli and Yukari is a direct reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, also moments before shit goes down.

Yukari says, "But honestly, people are tired of these grim dark tales." Although one of the things that polarizes people about DitR is being horrendously dark, one of the points DitR makes is that "Dark is not always better." It's a dark tale that's supposed to ask the audience, "Is this what you really want?" Think about it: every time we see Gensokyo by itself, it's pretty enjoyable, but Brolli and his beasts descend into dark, serious fashion. Here are the examples...

• Brolli's first steps outside of Gensokyo are in a lush, beautiful plain with fairies flying about. When he gets powers, he's surrounded by dead fairies and knocking down trees. By the end, Gensokyo is destroyed, but it will repair in his absence.
  
• Before Brolli, Mokou and Kaguya are having one of their over-the-top duels. When Brolli shows up, Mokou is reduced to Brolli's personal guard. Finally, Mokou and Kaguya are dead until Brolli dies.
  
• Before Brolli, Marisa is the epitome of cool. With Brolli, she's nothing more than tour guide. When Brolli leaves, she's kicking ass.
  
• Thanks to some many outsiders before her, Reimu has been jaded to the point of retirement. Once Brolli leaves, she's back in action.
• Compare the battle against EX Rumia in the Human Village vs. Brolli's plot to gain more power.
• Compare a Spell Card Rule battle to the destruction of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

People consider me a dark writer for making DitR (and working on Voidspawn, an equally-dark deconstruction of the Battle Harem genre), but as much as I like my dark stories, I really like idealistic stories and stories that fit in the middle. Rather interesting that Fight Club and Wall-E both sit atop my favorite movies: Fight Club is a pessimistic movie that says, "We're not beautiful and unique snowflakes, but we're not the all-singing-all-dancing crap of the world, either: we just are," while Wall-E is an optimistic story in a pessimistic setting, saying, "Our situation may be bleak, but love and our will to fight for survival can save us." DitR is really pessimistic, but not so far down the scale that there's no optimism: it says, "No matter what your intentions, blind and selfish behavior is going to destroy you and everyone you care for, even if you stop, even if you realize what you did wrong. Your only hope for redemption is to accept you did wrong and recover."

Episode 17

Recap:

Nitori and the kappa are gearing up for an attack, but they're down to their last tank and little defenses thanks to Nitori giving away all of their weapons to Brolli. Brolli shows up to ask for help, only to find there's going to be a giant attack coming down from the top of Youkai Mountain, and the Tengu Village is about to get swamped with fairies. Brolli decides he'll stop Tenshi by using their scrap to make a gun and body armor. Nitori is fine with this, but he other kappa tell him it'll put the valley in danger. Nitori assures them all Brolli will save them all, and even if he doesn't, she will always help the humans, regardless of who they are. Brolli accepts, but the kappa tell him that should he fail, the Kappa Valley's blood will be on his hands.

Brolli rushes over to Mokou's Grilled Bird Stand, freaking out that he's the only one who can stop Tenshi. When he gets there, Mokou and Kaguya are both dead and not reviving. Komachi, the death god from the seal, is waiting for him, explaining that ever since breaking that seal, Brolli has been on a one-way path to self-destruction, and this incident is a direct result. Komachi adds that it wasn't her plan to cause this giant incident, but Yukari's. Brolli asks about the multiple Diamondbacks and his beasts, and Komachi reveals it's part of Yukari's criteria for gapping in children. First, they must have a ridiculous name. Second, they must have little-to-no self-awareness. Third, they must be shallow and self-centered. During this, Komachi mentions that Brolli will die in the next four hours: Tenshi will stab him through the neck, and he cannot escape it.

However, the fourth trait has to do with the beasts and his reincarnations: Yukari brings in children on their last reincarnation to ensure they never get revenge. She picked Brolli because he is the last Diamondback: not only is he dying in four hours, but he's going to Hell so he won't get another chance. Brolli says he wants to be different, but Komachi reminds him that's the story of every Gappy, including Arturo. After Brolli complains that none of the Arturo stories are matching up, Komachi tells him that some people can be wrong or lying.

Komachi explains the reincarnation cycle: At the Ministry, there are multiple levels of judges. The low-level judges judge those will few-to-little sins, who are likely to move on to Heaven. However, the higher judges, the Yama, work with heavier sinners. Diamondback has fallen to his shallow behavior several times in the past, but he has been given chance after chance after chance. Above this is the highest judge, Shiki Eiki, who sees only the worst repeat sinners. It turns out the other gappies have all been guilty to exploiting Gensokyo, but show no remorse over their actions, believing they were all in the right. They all beg for a second chance, only for Shiki to drop every single one into Hell.

Komachi says that Brolli's soul can still be redeemed, just as long as he recognizes he must not try and save Gensokyo. Brolli says he has the powers and the weapons, and if he fails, Gensokyo will all go after him anyway. Komachi says he's fighting for all the reasons, not caring about Gensokyo itself, and that he won't listen until it's too late: Gensokyo will destroy itself over Brolli, and it will all be his fault. On the bright side, Komachi says Brolli can keep his hat if all he cares about is image. She adds Brolli will be going to the Hakurei Shrine next, but Brolli, wanting to fight fate, runs to the House of Eternity, only to realize that Reisen is joining the assault on Youkai Mountain at the Hakurei Shrine, and Eirin can't heal Mokou or Kaguya because the mist is interfering with her medical abilities. Brolli has no choice but to go to the Hakurei Shrine.

Analysis:

Personal Favorite Moment: Gappies getting dropped into Hell.
Fan Favorite Moments: Brolli dropping his swords, Komachi's Monologue, the Gappy Showcase, Gappies getting dropped into Hell.

This is where DitR comes full circle: since Beta DitR included myself as a main character and was later cut, this is the first scene of the original DitR we get to see. It was reshot to go along with the updated plot: originally, nobody knew what was going on at the top of Youkai Mountain, and Brolli wasn't along in his character development. In this, all of the story elements are updated to match the current circumstances. In the original ending of this scene, Nitori thinks, "We're doomed." In this version, she still has confidence in Brolli. The main commonalities of each scene are Brolli unloading all of his weapons, the scrapping of the tank, Nitori revealing that Brolli isn't special compared to the other humans, and that should Brolli fail, the Kappa Valley's blood with be on his hands.

The frogs that appear by Mokou are supposed to foreshadow that Suwako killed them both.

There was originally planned a scene in the original Beta DitR for Brolli to meet Komachi in the Bamboo Forest, but I was never satisfied with it and it didn't quite fit in the story. For some reason, Komachi was in disguise and I had no idea why. The scene got re-added when it made sense again, with addition to some great rewriting by Touhou lore/Komachi expert DeityDiz93.

Behind the climax, the Komachi scene is the second-longest single scene in all of DitR, lasting over eight minutes.

Komachi is one of the first characters to bring up the idea "Does a Gappy really have free will?" Since DitR is a critique of cliched Self-Inserts, it argues that Gappies don't have free will: once you enter Gensokyo via Yukari, you're just going to repeat the same mistakes as everyone else. I loved the review of DitR that said something along the lines of, "Spaztique is basically daring writers to try to write a Gappy story that doesn't follow the stereotypes, and each time, they all make the same mistakes." Because that's exactly what happened: some have tried to make Gappy fics inspired by DitR, saying, "I've watched DitR, and I will be different!" Nope: they weren't different: their fics had the rumia attack, the spell card rules explanation at the Hakurei shrine, going to the SDM for books (now with the added cliche of Remilia drinking the gappy's blood for payment), and so on.

All of the criteria Komachi talks about for gappies (save for the last one) follows the pattern of the typical Mary Sue/Marty Stu Self-Insert character across all fandoms: weird names, illogical actions that reviewers later call out, and plots/goals that are incredibly shallow and self-centered.

Komachi talking about Brolli's temperament is a reference to her story campaign in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, where she identifies the weather temperaments of her opponents. Diamond Dust is a weather effect from Hisotensoku, associated with Cirno as Komachi points out, and in the event somebody gets knocked down during this weather effect, they take even more damage getting back up.

Originally, it was planned Brolli would lose his lives throughout the movie with a finite amount, but since he loses and gains them willy-nilly, yet takes tons of damage up until the incident, I eventually settled on him being down to his last life after being careless up to the final incident without healing, believing his beasts will act as the backups.

After enough messages about the "character errors" things, such as Reimu claiming she's undefeated, Tenshi claiming she's undefeated, and the entire Arturo subplot, Komachi finally spells it out to the audience: sometimes people can be wrong or lying. If storytellers never lied, they could never use Red Herring setups (i.e. a setup that has no payoff other than to distract the audience).

In the Ministry, the girl being judged is the same girl from Brolli's class, implying she died during the events of the story (likely some kind of accident). She is played by Foxi, aka FoxiAndFriends, one of the earliest Walfasers who, sadly, closed her account. She was the second Walfaser to try to make a feature-length Walfas movie, but like the person Arturo's first name was named after, she was scared by copyright laws and quit.

All of the Colonel Diamondbacks seen with the Yama are based on every incarnation of Brolli from his older videos: many of which appeared in the same timeline for no other reason than the classic pitfall "All OCs have to be based on me" that I warn about.

One of the Yama is played by Naru Narusegawa from Love Hina, using the DNA from Five Dangerous Months At The Hinata Inn. Love Hina was my first encounter with a yama, actually: there's a scene early on when Naru catches onto the main character lying about his credentials to find a place to stay, and when she corners him, there's a quick Imagine Spot where she's actually dressed up like a Yama, and actually prescribes the same torture Shiki was going to give to Marisa for lying: cutting off his tongue and dropping him into Hell.

All of the gappies were co-made by the production stream regulars.

Some have questioned the logic of, "Wait, if they don't remember anything between reincarnations, is it really fair to drop them into Hell?" I didn't design the system, but I can offer my thoughts: each time, they're born into easier and easier circumstances with some traces of the lessons of their past lives lingering on their souls. However, when Yukari gaps them over, those circumstances go flying out the window, and that last chance to live a normal, happy life of recovery falls to a brief life of decadence, hedonism, and eventually death. Komachi even mentions the Ministry never takes into account where Yukari will show up next: their efforts to get their reincarnated souls away from Gensokyo run the risk of being intercepted by Yukari, should she need a pawn.

Mustang Grandstar, the last gappy who gets dropped into Hell, smiles a bit before hitting the lava. He's thinking, "Not to worry: my friends at the Myouren Temple will come to rescue m-" Mustang's story: he believes he's the reincarnation of Myouren Hijiri and that Byakuren is his sister. He thought he was going to be the successor to the temple, and basically tried to take it over. Of course, these were all delusions: Byakuren knows he's an entitled hormone-addled teen from the suburbs, and he has no business running the temple. Mustang thought Byakuren was the villain, but after planning a grand final battle for the fate of the temple, the rest of the temple shackled him up and dropped him off in the Forest of Magic at night, where he was eaten by wild youkai.

Deleted Scene: Speaking of Mustang's story, here's something I wish I could've fit into the story, but couldn't find a place. It's implied that every Dead Fic you read about a Gappy is actually a log of their delusions. Since none of the other gappies acknowledge their weaknesses or flaws, we see the world through their distorted eyes: everyone loves them, they win at everything, they don't see their inevitable death coming. Brolli possesses just enough self-awareness for us to witness the shallowness, the impending doom, and the poor choices.

Komachi's line about valuing "character over characterization" is a meta line directed at the writers of these kinds of shallow characters: characterization is who you are, but character is what you do. Sadly, many novice writers get caught up in the costumes, names, and shallow roles, whereas the trained author knows that personality and storytelling function hold more importance.

Although most of the scene was co-written with DeityDiz, the final monologue, starting after, "But what about Gensokyo?," was originally slated since the first screening, where I got to read it out loud when describing the missing scenes. This may have been the genesis for DeityDiz later co-writing the scene, because he was floored by its first presentation.

Some audiences call out the fact Eirin lost her ability to practice medicine "conveniently" so Brolli would have to go to the Shrine, but Eirin's main ability is manipulation of medicine, and the mist, as Komachi just mentioned, disables your main ability.

Episode 18

Recap:

At the Hakurei Shrine, the incident resolvers are gearing up for war. With their powers disabled, many of them have to improvise, with Marisa using Suika's sake to power her reactor. Brolli arrives asking for help, but Marisa says he's needed on the push to the Moriya Shrine. Keine worries about bringing all of Gensokyo's best incident resolvers on a single push, since the Human Village will be undefended, but Reimu asserts that if they fail, the Human Village won't survive an attack of this size. Brolli's arrival angers Reimu, but the rest of the incident resolvers vow to protect him at all costs. Reimu blames Brolli for the incident and scolds him for being so selfish, thinking he is the only one who can solve this incident and only wanting to save his friends. Brolli asserts he does know he's responsible, and he wants to make up for it by helping with the push. Reimu reluctantly agrees to let him join the push.

The Tengu Village is under a massive, massive attack, but the timely intervention of the incident resolvers saves the day. During all this, Reisen has lost her ability to hypnotize her opponents, leaving her vulnerable to a swarm of fairies. Brolli tries to summon his beasts, only to learn that the mist has disabled his key ability: his avatar possession. Brolli is chased by yet another swarm of fairies as Sakuya tries to convince Brolli to just throw his swords. He finally fires off his spell card to destroy the group chasing him, then rushes off to save Reisen as she's shot out of the sky. Brolli catches Reisen, only for all of the medics to be occupied. Miko fends off the stage five boss, Momoi, but Momoi calls for all of the fairies to concentrate their fire on Brolli. The titanic fleet of fairies blast their way through the Tengu Village as Brolli tries getting away with Reisen. Alice, using her grimoire as a make-shift puppet controller, manages to buy Brolli some time to escape. Brolli then notices that despite losing their powers, all of the incident resolvers still have work-arounds and are still fighting the incident normally. Eventually, Alice's dolls delete, leaving Brolli vulnerable. Yukari rushes up to Brolli and unleashes her firepower on the fairies to save Brolli, who ducks away into an abandoned building with Reisen.

Inside, Brolli is shaken by the battle and realizes he can't save Gensokyo by himself. When Reisen revives, she asserts that Brolli shouldn't be afraid, since he is a Colonel after all. She thanks him for saving her life, despite having a few lives left, but Brolli demands she stop treating him like a hero and admits he was using her this whole time. Reisen quietly admits back she knew he was using her. Outside, Reisen delivers the news that Momoi has been defeated. Reisen is relieved, seeing as there's only one stage to go, but Brolli wants out of the incident while there's still time.

Analysis:

Personal Favorite Moment: The Battle of Youkai Mountain
Fan Favorite Moments: PC-98 Reimu and Genji, Keine's Reveal of "Who's Arturo?", Reimu finally slapping Brolli, The Battle of Youkai Mountain, Brolli's breakdown with Reisen.

Like the scene in the Kappa Valley, this one had to be updated to fit in with the updated story. Luckily, the opening bit with Marisa didn't need much updating except hanging the lampshade on Touhou incident jargon. The Celestials refer to themselves as "bosses" in Episode 16, and they're even referred to as bosses in-game. The way I see it, a boss is a high-profile target, and a stage is an air combat sortie.

Marisa test-firing her reactor is actually a common thing in MilSim. I'm an avid airsoft player, and before each mission, a bunch of soldiers will gather out away from the others and fire off into a field to adjust their settings, see if their batteries/springs work, or (at night) fire off tracer rounds because they look cool.

The scene with Reimu was updated multiple times. In Beta DitR, Brolli never found Mokou's body, so he originally learned of her death from Reimu. In the original, what set Reimu off wasn't Brolli claiming the incident revolved around him, but that everyone should drop what they're doing to save his friends. Also in the original, some of Brolli's weapons included ranged weapons, like grenades and guns, which broke continuity. Most comically/memorably, Brolli also had a blender and a ball-in-a-cup in that arsenal.

Another change from the Beta DitR version is Brolli making a big deal about Reimu's outfit: Reimu explains that it's more protective than her lightweight solo flying clothes.

When Reimu yells, "Don't you get it?! Cheering this idiot on is what landed us here in the first place!," she's looking at both the other incident resolvers and the camera/the viewers.

Keine asking, "Who's Arturo?," is the final straw for most viewers in the Arturo subplot and the most unsettling reveal of the whole mess.

If you remember earlier, Reimu says she'd give anything to slap a gappy. Now she finally gets the chance, and it's one of the most celebrated moments in the entire movie: especially in the earlier drafts where Brolli's character wasn't quite as developed.

This is the first appearance of Hiraku Okami. Like Tenma's design, Hiraku is from MiniWitch3's universe of stories. There's nothing I love more than hearing a stream chat member shouting, "Oh my god! It's Hiraku from Mini's Shorts/Wiccan & Swordsgirl!," and there's nothing I hate more than somebody watching one of Mini's videos and saying, "Oh my god! It's Hiraku from Diamond In The Rough!" NO! Hiraku is Mini's character, not mine. Give credit where credit is due.

The opening shot was made by putting Momiji and Hiraku on a bluescreen, then animating the other sequence separately. In the subsequent battle shot, Marisa was also shot on a blue screen while all of the background action was shot separately.

The battle scene in Episode 18 was the very first thing produced on Spaztique (And Friends) Make Stuff Live, possibly predating the Walfas Station Wagon if I remember correctly: just Brolli and I in a skype call with maybe a few others, and most of the peeps came to the stream chat. This was also the stream with the series-etablishing moment of Brolli crying out for a revolver, despite having all of those swords. It was a classic way to kick off the many, many SMSL streams to come.

Another reason the ending had to be reshot was that in Beta DitR, Brolli and Reisen had just met, and the ending made it clear there was no relationship. The new ending re-establishes the shallow relationship between Brolli and Reisen and brings it to darker depths: even after Brolli admits he was using Reisen, she admits back that she already knew. Think about it: she let him sleep with her at least 56 times, she's carrying his child, and pretty much gives away her medicines to him. Again, he's a 16-year-old human, she's a 45+ moon rabbit. Let those nightmarish implications sink in. The one thing that did stay was Momoi being beaten off-screen and Brolli grabbing the dead tengu's sword.

I love huge battle scenes: this goes all the way back to my Garry's Mod days. And you know what's insane? Part of me wishes I could make the battle scene on youkai mountain even bigger. When I imagine a live-action/fully-animated DitR, I think of a battle scene a hundred times bigger than what's seen on screen: think opening battle of Star Wars Episode III size.

This may throw some of you off, but I have a theory of my own regarding the casualties of the Diamondback incident (especially if you take into account Tenshi could be lying to Sanae in the end): all of the Tengu, all of the Kappa, every youkai is merely "playing along" with the war scenario in the same way the zombie fairies are faking being zombies. They're not really dead, but just badly injured and faking their death. Plus, it doesn't entirely rule out the reasoning for getting rid of Brolli: it's still a one-sided battle that's splitting Gensokyo's alliances apart more than usual. (Or, they could just be dead. I normally hate the Shrug Of God trope, so I'd rather just pick a fan-preferred choice.)

Episode 19

Recap:

At a forward base on Youkai Mountain, the incident resolvers congratulate Brolli for saving Reisen, but Brolli wants out of the incident, knowing Tenshi will eventually kill him anyway. The Tengu scouts tell him he can leave at any time, though one of the scouts is still missing, prompting Brolli to check in with Aya. On his way, Marisa offers and escorts, but Brolli says they need her up there. Nue says Brolli should stay behind to assist with the push on the Moriya Shrine, but Brolli, suspecting Tenshi is up there, tells her he thinks it's a trap. Marisa thinks she and Brolli have won the bet against Yukari, since Brolli is leaving the fight and will avoid Tenshi, but Yukari reassures Marisa that this was never about Tenshi: it's about Brolli, and perhaps saving him won't give her the happy ending she thinks she'll get.

Aya, Momiji, and Miko are interrogating Momoi regarding why she sent the attack down from the Moriya Shrine and where Tenshi is located, but Momoi isn't budging. When Brolli checks in with Aya, Aya says all but one of the scouts have returned, but Brolli's presence sends Momoi into a panic attack. Momoi says that Tenshi started this incident to save the balance: if people keep supporting Brolli, the balance will forever tip in his favor. So, to test them, Tenshi used this attack as a distraction: she really sent more attacks to every location in Gensokyo. Aya tells Momoi that the scouts already caught the attack and it failed miserably: the Netherworld defended itself, Hell defended itself, the House of Eternity defended itself, even the broken-down Scarlet Devil Mansion and the Human Village defended itself. Aya asserts that they don't need to choose between protecting Brolli and saving Gensokyo: Gensokyo is strong enough to save itself.

Brolli, on the other hand, is shocked by the news. When Brolli asks which of the scouts didn't make it back, it was the scout from the Kappa Valley, left defenseless because Brolli ransacked their weapons. Reimu calls an emergency meeting: a surviving Kappa reports that the Kappa Valley is on the brink of destruction, and Reimu calls for the incident resolvers to split between the Valley and the Moriya Shrine. Marisa volunteers, fearful over what happened to Nitori and regretful for aiding so many gappies into coming there. Aya wants to volunteer, but her orders are to remain on Youkai Mountain and aid the push on the Moriya Shrine since this poses more of a threat to the Tengu Village. Tenma assures Aya won't get in trouble for the incident as long as Brolli survives, but Marisa yells that every minute Brolli stays alive, the Kappa Valley suffers.

Just as the situation among the incident resolvers can't get any more tense, Brolli volunteers to rescue the Kappa Valley. However, a Mexican Standoff begins between Brolli's supporters and Brolli's enemies. They eventually reason they could just end this incident by killing Brolli, even Aya under the threat of discharge. Reisen tries to stop them, but she targeted by the incident resolvers as well. Reisen is forced to give in and aim at Brolli, reminding Brolli that if she dies, their baby will go with her. Just as their about to fire, Reimu catches Yukari smiling on at the standoff and immediately yells for everyone to stop. Reimu reminds everyone that this whole thing is a setup to kill Brolli and make an example out of him. She says that if they do kill him, it'll end the incident, but at the expense of the peaceful way of life Gensokyo was built upon: non-lethal duels and forgiveness for their enemies. Reimu wants to solve this incident like every other without anyone dying.

However, Brolli is still worried everyone is becoming complacent with outsiders, as is Marisa. Reimu says that they'll need to worry about that later and he should just hide, but Brolli wants to join the push since this is his fault. Miko, Alice, and Reisen tell him they will do whatever it takes to protect him, but then Yukari says she will join to protect Brolli as well, saying Gensokyo was never in danger and she knew nobody was going to kill him. She adds that in order for her to succeed, she needs Brolli to stay alive. Reimu takes this as reverse psychology and still believes Yukari wants Brolli dead, but after everyone launches to their respective locations, Brolli realizes the implications of Yukari's goal: she wants him alive so he can effectively take over Gensokyo. The final battle will not be about everyone vs. Brolli, but Brolli's allies against Brolli's enemies, and Brolli will get to control the balance depending on whether he survives or not. Momiji tells him he's just being paranoid and that she will protect him, but Brolli says that's still part of Yukari's plan. Momiji apologizes for how she treated Brolli and walks off.

Brolli is left alone, staring down at the puddle of blood the wounded kappa left behind. When he gets back up, he notices his pants are covered in blood. He collapses to the ground, cries, and after what seems like forever, falls into a screaming fit.


Analysis:

Personal Favorite Moment: The "Gensokyo Is STRONG!!!" Sequence
Fan Favorite Moments: Youmu hugging Myon, The "Gensokyo is STRONG!!!" Sequence, the Destruction of the Kappa Valley, the Mexican Standoff, Brolli's Scream.

Another re-shot episode. In the original, it was just Brolli and Reimu, and Brolli's reasoning for leaving was to save his sword collection, not because he was doomed. What's neat was I got the chance to give Hatate a minor speaking role, which I never planned: she only showed up briefly in the epilogue to mock Aya. I also got to add more tengu side-characters to blend in with Hatate, which was fun to make.

Hatate's comment about being able to quit at any time is a mimic of the games: it is possible to quit at any time, and this is what it probably looks like in real life. She also describes this as a "Phantasm-level Incident," implying the difficulty levels are the threat-levels of the incidents.

In the original Beta DitR, there was a background shot of Youmu napping with her myon, and since everyone loved it the first time around, I had to include it in the reshoot.

When Brolli tells Nue he thinks there's a trap set up for him at the Moriya Shrine, get a load of Nue's reaction.

In Beta DitR, Miko wasn't part of the scene between Momiji, Momoi, and Aya. Plus, Momoi only described the places Tenshi sent the attacks without showing them. At the time I made the scene, I wished I had the animating prowess to make such an awesome sequence as showing every single location in Gensokyo fighting back. Then, when I went full-circle to Episode 19, I had learned so much that I was able to pull off my dream sequence: all of the characters battling the biggest incident in Gensokyo's history and winning.

At the same time, I also wanted to show the Kappa Valley getting destroyed in short snippets, but I thought it was too difficult at the time. Once again, I got to add that sequence, too.

In the second quick cut to the Kappa Valley, you can see the tengu scout on the ground behind the kappa.

The Mexican Standoff in the original was much, much shorter. Each reshoot made it longer and longer. In Beta DitR, everyone just up-and-up decides to kill Brolli, and Reimu yells for them to stop. Then, in the first reshoot, everyone systematically betrays Brolli, ending with Reisen, then Reimu yells for them to stop. In the final reshoot, it's everyone against everyone, then everyone but Reisen against Brolli, then finally everyone against Brolli, and it's seeing Yukari that snaps Reimu out of it and yell at them to stop.

Reimu's line, "And right now, a sick, perverted enemy is watching us, waiting for us to turn on Brolli, just to prove a point," can refer to Yukari or the audience: as this film goes on, it gets more and more mean-spirited in its fourth-wall-breaks.

In Beta DitR, after everyone flew off, Brolli actually picked up the drop of the kappa's blood, rather than get it on himself accidentally like in the final draft. Also added was Brolli coming to the realization of why Yukari wants him alive, and revealing it to Momiji: somebody Brolli has not gotten a positive scene with. Also added was the camera shaking effect, which I learned making the adaptation of What's Under The Rocks for the 2013 Halloween Sketch video.

The scream pretty much always gets audience members to jump. It's the only instance of voice used in DitR, and it's employed unexpectedly. Interestingly, both the music and the scream come from Five Dangerous Months at the Hinata Inn: the song is "Distant Memories of Happier Times," and the scream is Keitaro after being found out by Naru about lying about being a Tokyo U sophomore (which he used to stay at the inn, and what prompted the Yama impersonation mentioned earlier).

Thus ends Act 4, where Brolli has no choice but to stay in Gensokyo and accept his fate. Acts 4 and 5 get shorter and shorter because the pace is accelerating.

Continued in Part 2e...