Fanart is by Syurii22.
Toyosatomimi no Miko is a character in the Touhou Project series introduced in its 13th installment, Ten Desires.
Miko was once Prince Shoutoku, a Japanese leader in the 600s known for promoting Buddhism and streamlining the Japanese government. In the Touhou lore, she was visited by Taoist hermit Seiga Kaku, who had heard about Miko’s longing for immortality. Seiga introduced her to Taoism, but she rejected it as a religion unfit for placating an entire country. She was intrigued by its promise of immortality, however, and privately converted to it, advocating for Buddhism to keep Japan stable. After drinking an “immortality elixir” (mercury sulfide), however, she was forced to let go of her body and become a supernatural hermit like Seiga, notably taking on the form of a woman, making her a canonically trans character ().
After convincing a hermit from a rival clan (Mononobe no Futo) to sleep without decaying, Miko followed in suit, waiting for a time where a Taoist Japan would revive her in search of guidance. However, Buddhist monks were able to keep her mausoleum sealed, and the legends surrounding her were slowly brushed off- which led to her transportation into Gensokyo, where the folklore of old is a reality of everyday life.
When she awoke in Gensokyo, it was right after Buddhist monk Byakuren Hijiri opened her own temple, however, leading to a surge of divine spirits across the realm, setting up the events of Ten Desires.
What look like headphones on her are canonically earmuffs- Shoutoku was allegedly able to discern between ten questions asked at once, an ability carried by Miko (although with her enhanced abilities, she can also analyze each person and determine their inner desires (thus the title of the game))- although it means her hearing is highly sensitive and has to be muffled to prevent pain.
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No advice, but same struggle for me. Its rough.
So question for both you and @Josephine_Spiro@hexbear.net, would you all be interested in maybe doing something group related for voice training? A couple of ideas I have:
Not either of those people, but this (#2) would be wonderful! Ive been trying to practice my voice and im uh not very consistent 😅.
Awesome! We should definitely discuss this more and then maybe set something up if we can get enough people together.
Related, another idea I just had is to stream non-voiced VNs and act out the parts.
I think this sort of stuff is appealing to me because it's fun, but I also have this strong urge to be expressive when I'm using a fem voice and that's hard to do when reciting lines or sounds with no context.
Gayhaven reading party? One person plays while streaming and reading aloud, except then everyone else voices one of the other characters
I'm not familiar with that one, but it sounds cool. I'd totally be down.
I think as long as its not taken seriously it could be fun ^^ or another one, depending on what everyone wants :)
I'd definitely be up for what you suggested. Also, The House in Fata Morgana was one I was planning on playing soon and that doesn't have voice acting. That might be a good one. Coffee Talk Episode 1 and 2 look like good options. I also found this page that has a list of all VNs with women protagonists and includes ratings: https://vndb.org/g134?f=01112gen&l=&m=0&p=1&s=24w Looks like there's endless options to choose from tbh. What would also be really cool is if we could find someone who's transmasc and who wants to play the masculine characters.
EDIT: Higurashi also looks like something that could work. Is also spoopy and October is around the corner.
EDIT #2: I found another potential option. The Monster Prom games have a "Make Your Own Voices" option at the beginning so seems like they're totally made for what we have in mind.
i dont have more brainspace to put to this this evening, im sorry, ill come back to this tomorrow and have a better response
I hope I didn't overwhelm you with all the suggestions! I just got super excited about this idea and started looking stuff up lol. Let's talk more soon, but no rush.
No no, no worries!! Im just having a bit of a time (plus i socialized for ~5½ hours today) and cant put good thought to this rn. Im glad you got excited and im excited too! (And also a bit nervous lol)
Heya! I didnt get back to you quickly, sorry! My brain is uh not the most organized but in short, I think this would be super fun, but I dont have the capacity to organize it, but I do have ideas (of varying quality) about what could be done. But if you or someone else wanted to organize it, i think it would be a blast and would love to join^^
ideas of dubious quality
So, i think if we were to do this we would need to make it happen with some degree of regularity. Maybe once a month? Idk, it depends on what everyone is up for.
If we want to do a vn i think everyone would need to agree on the vn, but youve come with a bunch of gold suggestions (that i havent looked at at all im sorry!)
I would want to do it on a platform that doesnt require an account if possible. Or rather, i dont want to use discord. Fuck discord. Jami perhaps could work, but im uncertain.
We dont need video capabilities if everyone is playing at the same time. But we would need video/streaming capabilities if we want to have one person playing and everyone else reading (aloud) along. Idk what solution would be best for that, but we may be able to use two seperate programs for the voice aspect and streaming aspect if we go that way.
It should be possible for someone to not make it and still A) stay caught up on the story, and B) everyone else can still keep going. Im not sure the best way to do this... Perhaps we have a notetaker who publishes a report every week? Idk.
Theres probably other considerations to be made, but im not sure what they are (this is all off the cuff thoughts for me sorry!)
Thanks for the follow up!! I think I'll bring it up in the next megathread to gauge interest, but these are some fantastic ideas. The only thing I'm unsure of is the voice chat. Voice + streaming is difficult to do without Discord. I've tried using Jami and it works for voice but I could not get streaming to work. Maybe someone besides me has better luck with that. I was thinking it would be easiest for one person to stream and then everyone takes turns reading for their character, but I'm totally open to other suggestions there. Thanks again for the response!!
Of course! My distractability and shitty memory and executive function doesnt mean im uninterested
If jami works for voice only, perhaps we could find another way to do the streaming? Cause I agree that one person streaming and everyone else reading would be easiest/best. To be honest, i cannot get discord to function for me. It refuses to allow any account i make to stay up longer than a few weeks. Ive tried again and again, verified accounts, but apparently using private browsing firefox on linux is a massive red flag to them and they suspend every account i make. If it ends up being on discord ill be sad but will cheer you all on from the sidelines ^^
Alternatively, if the VN uses a page like format, we dont even need a video stream but just a screenshot per page. If there is an easy way to distribute it, we would all then have the ability to read along without it being streamed.
Ill look for your post in the next mega
I appreciate the offer, but doing a voice call is gonna be a little too much for me, so I'm gonna have to decline. Thank you for the offer though, I really appreciate it