Koakuma

Koakuma (小悪魔, lit. “Little Devil”) is a nickname for an unnamed, fourth stage Touhou Project midboss in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. She does not have an official name, profile, or set personality and has not appeared in the games since then, but she does have cameos in the print works.

Overview

Appearance

She has red hair, a black-white outfit, and wings in Touhou Koumakan. It's often joked that she was always a vague set of pixels, but she does have a slightly more detailed appearance in the official manga where she has two sets of wings (seen on her head and back) and a black suit. However, she is depicted with short hair in Touhou Sangetsusei, but has long hair in Touhou Bougetsushou.

Appearances and Mentions

In the Games

Touhou Koumakyou (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil)

In Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she debuts as an unnamed midboss on the fourth stage. There was nothing written about her since ZUN believed that Daiyousei and Koakuma were generic enemies according to his comments in Volume 6 of Strange Creators of Outer World, but he managed to make stuff up about her being a mischievous, yet weak devil who lives at Koumakan in the months following the game's release.¹⁾

In the Print Works

Touhou Bougetsushou (Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth)

In Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, the Bunbunmaru Newspaper seen in Chapter 23 has an article on the 'illusionary sea' that appeared in the Koumakan Library. This article has an image of Koakuma cooking at a beach stand, suggesting that she has culinary experience.

This picture was likely taken by Aya in Chapter 21 of Silent Sinner in Blue, but the chapter never gives an angle where the stand would be visible.

Touhou Sangetsusei (Strange and Bright Nature Diety)

In Strange and Bright Nature Diety, she has a cameo in Chapter 14 where Marisa explains that she was stuck at Koumakan since the storm made it impossible for her to leave. She is seen holding a silver platter at the table where Marisa and Patchouli were reading.

She has not made another appearance in the Touhou Sangetsusei series, possibly since the fairies have no reason to visit Koumakan.

Touhou Gairai Ihen (Strange Creators of Outer World)

In Volume 6, Koakuma shares a “Gensokyo Human-Youkai Directory”²⁾ page with Daiyousei and Lily White. Her paragraph states that she felt obligated to find the intruder in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and while she shows up in the Koumakan Library, it doesn't mean that Patchouli summoned her.

The author's comments show us that ZUN recalls making up names for unnamed midbosses after Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.³⁾ He goes on to mention that they were generic enemies in development, but people were curious about them, so he started giving midbosses like Lily White personalities and such.

Touhou Chireikiden (Cheating Detective Satori)

Placeholder.

Notes

In the Japanese language, the word “devil” (悪魔, akuma(evil spirit)) carries the same meaning as words like “magician” (魔法使い, mahoutsukai(magic user)) and “vampire” (吸血鬼, kyuketsuki(blood sucker)).⁴⁾
- If you assume “devil” is a category with “magician” and “vampire” as subcategories, you could apply “devil” to Marisa, Alice, Koakuka, Patchouli, Remilia, Flandre, Byakuren, Narumi, etc.
It should be noted that “Koakuma” appears to be her subspecies name, not her actual name.

　 　　,.　-- 、
　 ,ﾍ,´,.、　 , ヽﾍ
　 ＾Y ﾙﾚハ)ﾉﾘ＾
　　/ｲﾘ ﾟ ヮﾟﾉi
　 ,へk_〉｀ｲ_!〉、
　⌒く_ﾉ/｀i´lj⌒
　　 ﾞ'ｰi_'ｫ_ｧ"

touhou

¹⁾ , ³⁾

"そそ" (January 12, 2004). Touhou Shofu.

²⁾

The “Gensokyo Human-Youkai Directory” (幻想郷人妖名鑑, Gensokyo Nin-You Meikan) is somewhat liberally translated to “Who's Who of Humans & Youkai in Gensokyo” on the Touhou Wiki.

⁴⁾

It should be noted that there is a theory about how the English term “vampire”, derived from Serbian term “vampir” (вампир), could be derived from the Turkic term "ubir" which might mean “witch”.

Nameless Rumia's Wiki

Table of Contents