Reiga might be a Reimu level badass?

Not sure how to tag her bare handed chopping of rock.

Jarlath said:

Reiga might be a Reimu level badass?

Not sure how to tag her bare handed chopping of rock.

Martial arts should do.

Besides that, in anime, it's normal for a girl who wears long, dark hair in a ponytail to be some beyond-black-belt grandmaster in some sort of martial art that is highly effective against inanimate objects and capable of slapstick against their romantic interest but completely useless against molesters.

Besides that, Shiki is walking around (well, clinging on) outside. Isn't that against the rules?!

NWSiaCB said:

Besides that, Shiki is walking around (well, clinging on) outside. Isn't that against the rules?!

Reiga must be the walking incarnation of Rule Breaker.

NWSiaCB said:

Besides that, Shiki is walking around (well, clinging on) outside. Isn't that against the rules?!

Jarlath said:

Reiga must be the walking incarnation of Rule Breaker.

Non, non. Instead, I would argue that Reiga is a living extension of the office at this point. I mean, if she's in the habit of regularly lazing around in one spot so long she gets tatami marks on her skin...

NWSiaCB said:

Besides that, Shiki is walking around (well, clinging on) outside. Isn't that against the rules?!

I'm not sure what rule would be broken here. Zashiki-warashi may be household spirits, but Wikipedia notes that they can move out (to the detriment of the household), and they can be drawn to a new dwelling by burying a golden ball under the floors. So I can't see any reason why Shiki can't follow Reiga around (though her youkai-specific powers, whatever they may be, probably depend on being inside a building).

Mithiwithi said:

(though her youkai-specific powers, whatever they may be, probably depend on being inside a building).

Her "powers" seem to depend heavily on her access to a smartphone- or, more specifically, Wikipedia- in this case, to be fair.

Garrus said:

Her "powers" seem to depend heavily on her access to a smartphone- or, more specifically, Wikipedia- in this case, to be fair.

She used Shikipedia to look up youkai data.

Mithiwithi said:

I'm not sure what rule would be broken here. Zashiki-warashi may be household spirits, but Wikipedia notes that they can move out (to the detriment of the household), and they can be drawn to a new dwelling by burying a golden ball under the floors. So I can't see any reason why Shiki can't follow Reiga around (though her youkai-specific powers, whatever they may be, probably depend on being inside a building).

Well, that's kind of the most important rule of a zashiki-warashi, isn't it? Zashiki-warashi know they cause ruination if they ever leave the house, so they only ever do so as a willful desire to destroy a family they don't like (anymore). Zashiki-warashi in manga will refuse to be dragged out of the house, claws in the floor if need be to avoid this fate. Because the family faces ruination if the zashiki-warashi ever leaves, there's stories of people purposefully barricading the zashiki-warashi in, although they'd have to be successful in making no escape possible as that basically guarantees the zashiki-warashi will WANT to escape. (Including the joke in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei where the hikikomori Kiri Kimori is confused for a zashiki-warashi by Kafka so Kafka tries to barracade Kimori in, winding up being the only thing that would make Kimori actually want to come out.)

(Also, the next one's out.)

The author's One reader's take:

いや問題ないと思うな気に入った家に住み着いて幸運を呼び込む妖怪だから別の家に住み着かない限り大丈夫でしょうたぶん 小さな子供が外で遊ばないのも不健康ですし

No, I don't think it's a problem. She's a youkai who settles into a house she likes and brings good fortune upon it, so as long as she doesn't settle into another home, it should be all right. Maybe. Besides, it's unhealthy for little kids not to play outdoors.

Moonspeaker said:

The author's take:

No, I don't think it's a problem. She's a youkai who settles into a house she likes and brings good fortune upon it, so as long as she doesn't settle into another home, it should be all right. Maybe. Besides, it's unhealthy for little kids not to play outdoors.

So the gist of it is that, in yuurei's version of them, zashiki-warashi can physically leave a home without breaking their spiritual connection to it, just like humans can leave their house or even go into someone else's and their house is still their house. (There's no reason why youkai should follow the same spiritual rules that humans do, but in this case yuurei says this one does.)

There's still room for people to want to keep a zashiki-warashi from physically leaving, out of fear that it's the prelude to their moving out - in which case Reiga and Shiki just trust each other well enough that such measures aren't necessary for them.

Finally, my own headcanon is that in an "old gods do new jobs" fashion, Shiki actually has partially become somewhat of a cellphone youkai. :)

Moonspeaker said:

The author's take:

Where does Yuurei himself say that?

Anyway, that's just a different version of the myth than I've always seen. In Interviews With Monster Girls (the manga - volume 5), for example, a boy who rented an apartment that happened to have a zashiki-warashi in it. The zashiki-warashi refused to leave, and would play (rambunctiously) inside "because it's unhealthy for kids not to play", and when the boy physically dragged the zashiki-warashi outside to play outdoors, the zashiki-warashi automatically teleported back into the middle of the room because he hadn't "abandoned" the apartment willingly.

I initially thought that was part of the joke behind Shiki - that she's just a hikikomori who uses her cellphone all day because she can't leave the room to the point that they treat her as a Teruyo and a cell phone youkai. If she isn't even going to be a zashiki-warashi, she might as well just be a cell phone youkai to start with...

NWSiaCB said:

Where does Yuurei himself say that?

My error. For some reason, I thought it was the artist himself who made that response, but it's just another reader.

I initially thought that was part of the joke behind Shiki - that she's just a hikikomori who uses her cellphone all day because she can't leave the room to the point that they treat her as a Teruyo and a cell phone youkai. If she isn't even going to be a zashiki-warashi, she might as well just be a cell phone youkai to start with...

He could also be playing a little fast and loose with the lore for Rule of Funny. As long as he's consistent about it within his own work, it should be all right, I'd think.