#instead of just anime girls with a few yokai traits

[kirbyddd]

its kind of absurd how far ive made it without becoming a touhou fan

ive always been super inspired by japanese folklore, ive always been super inspired by colorful ornate multilayered costume design with frills to the max, ive always been super inspired by danmaku (the patterns and animations not the gameplay lol), touhou soundtracks have been my goto for inspiration music my entire art life, like 90% of the stories ive written are surreal whimsical mishmashes of wide ranges of paradoxical concepts with heavier undertones, i cut my worldbuilding teeth on reinterpreting scattered shinto mythos as structured spiritual heirarchy the same way tolkien did with european paganism in his early days

but out of everything thats failed to catch me for years, the thing thats finally gonna get me is the game about running an izakaya

i literally cannot resist izakaya and yatai their spirit has occupied a spot in my soul since who knows when i was first exposed to then

[fairy-serigala]

this is for the wonderfully talented @fairytail-multishipper. go give xvi some love, goodness knows they deserve it <3

(this may end up being multiple posts long, who knows, once i get going with headcanons not much can stop me).

so a bit of backstory for this sort of au that has been brewing on and off for a few months now:

this is an idea i had to make lisanna a demon, like natsu. the idea was that as lisanna was supposedly dying, mira's magic acted up in a way she has yet to replicate - it took lisanna's soul and it attached some of mira's magic to it, to keep it from deteriorating further. and later on, mira and levy figure out how to put that magic into a book, like the etherious, so that lisanna's semi-exposed soul can be protected and hidden from the material world.

(it's a very barebones au, but i think lisanna would be an incredible demon). -

so lisanna would go through some changes, as you can imagine, there is now satan soul magic running through them and their soul is partially demonic. so, they have to adapt to this.

this happens via lisanna's own takeovers taking on a more... demonic appearance. instead of relatively realistic animal takeovers, they more resemble yokai creatures.

instead of a cat take over, lisanna would have something akin to a bakeneko which are known for shapeshifting abilities, high intelligence especially when learning languages, immunity to poisons, and are associated with fire (particularly in relation to things like house fires as their tails are said to act like torches).

instead of a snake take over, lisanna would end up resembling a tsuchinoko which are known for deceiving people, as well as they ability to jump really high and far.

lisanna would also have takeovers in which they resembles a tanuki (think tom nook), which have a particular reputation for magic and mischief, such as orchestrating pranks and stuff. they are masters of illusions, also with the ability to shapeshift.

there's also the kitsune which have two separate kinds of interpretation - one in which they are known for intelligence and wisdom, and are reveered, whilst others use this intelligence for more... sinister means. the kitsune are sometimes associated with fire magic, but they're more so known for charms and illusions, possession and even mind control.

there could be many, many more, too. -

and lisanna would carry some of these demonic traits through their daily life, since their soul is half demonic and they're pretty much a cambion now.

firstly, they'd get some fangs. are they small and cute and able to cause pinpricks? or are they some of the largest fangs in the guild, even rivalling out the dragon slayers? you decide~

next, they'd have an innate and heightened sensitivity to other demonic sources and dark magics - they'd probably know that natsu is e.n.d. loooong before anyone else does. and since they knew the longest and was fine with it, by the time his nature was revealed to everyone else, they'd be the most supportive and protective.

and of course, there's gotta be some horns. little spikes? full on ram horns? idk.... it all sounds badass~

they'd also have a preference for dark and the night, maybe they'd have a fondness for wandering into the woods or visiting stereotypically spoopy attractions to see how genuine they are.

(i also like to imagine lisanna eventually getting digitigrade legs eventually because i think they look really cool and the idea of a hooved non-binary person running at you is both scary and fucking cool.)

(also body diversity for the win :D and that including fantastical body types?? even better.) -

maybe since their soul is "incomplete" in a couple ways, it subconsciously feeds of demonic energy so that it can complete itself. and maybe someday, instead of being a cambion, they'll just be a demon.

etherious natsu dragneel and yokai lisanna strauss? gahhh name a better duo.

to anyone who doesn't know them, they'd be so spooky and scary (little do those people know that they're actually the softest dorks in the guild, but the enemies don't need to know that, all they need to know is that they'll eat your soul if you're not careful.)

and if lisanna gets to be the buff badass that they were always meant to be... even better~ (let the girls and femme characters have aaaabbbss pleeease...) -

however, even though many humans find lisanna intimidating and scary to approach, they're still an animal mage at her core.

so kittens coming up to them, in favour of "more normal" humans? that would be an almost weekly occurence.

animals are thought to be able to sense and read energies, anyway, so of course the sweetest and most boopable member of fairy tail would get the love! that just makes sense!

is this the kind of feral you were hoping for??

[tumblunni]

@summon-daze asked for alt costume ideas for Fuu2 and Mee2/Mifu/Kuu2/the katie one that has a different name in every language for some reason

First idea courtesy of dazey herself: form swap with Moximous! What would the protagonist yokai look like in the humanoid shadow aesthetic of the granddad yokai, and what would the gramps look like as marshmallow ghosts?

SPEAKING OF WHICH: smore form. They get a white colourscheme like whisper but maybe the eyes and symbols on their chest are chocolate colour and they wear a graham cracker as a hat. And cute fluffy christmas sweaters! They also get a roasting marshmallow on a stick as an additional weapon of ultimate power

More alt colour ideas! Blue katie and pink nate! And maybe their symbols also swap positions cos i always found it a bit of a missed opportunity that nate has this cool star shaped hole in his chest but katie's is just like a sticker. Heart shaped holes in chests are an awesome monster design trait!! Like ive only ever seen that before on the biggest and baddes Heartless in Kingdom Hearts! Also maybe a colour swap where their colours are less just gendered ones and more of their actual signature colours in their design? Katie does have some pink in her design but her outfit is more white and green honestly. And nate doesnt have any blue on him except his shoes which are a totally different shade of blue anyway! Give this boy his funky red colourscheme!

Possibly add a Hailey variant of the protagonist ghost species? Maybe her design could be slightly alien-y, like having a saturn ring around her tail? Also lol her design has way more pink and blue than both of the others, but her colour in character select menus is gold so I Guess That, Then.

Maybe even have some variants for other friend characters around the town? I think Eddie would probably look quite similar to hailey's ghost form but bear could look a lot different! Imagine a buff marshmallow ghost, omg! And Buck from the third game could have his big hair become plumes of smoke in ghostly form

Obvious idea: Fuu2 and Mee2 cosplaying in the same outfits as their human forms. Or maybe just a variant where you can use them in battle but their model is that of their human forms instead of their yokai ones? Like just stick one of those human illusion leaves on their forehead and there you go, new variant with relatively little modelling effort!

Possibly a variant thats like "what if they became different types of yokai"? Like one of the ghost types thats more of a cariacatured humanoid with no legs and a cool outfit, like dr nocturne or auntie heart or shadowside whisper. Or jibanyan versions! Or totally random yokai, who knows!

Maybe even an original idea of how they'd look as boss forms? I can imagine Nate's 'im so average' thing manifesting in being a very generic kind of tough coolness, like i dunno a generic angel metaphor dragon that turns into one of those bishie angel final boss forms. And maybe katie could be..i dunno, a sphinx? Just because her portrayal in the anime is so all over the place you cant puzzle out whether the writers liked her or not, abd she only exists to be the Problem Of The Day for Nate and such. So my brain went riddles -> sphinx?? Or maybe a manticore or chimera or something? Or a plant monster entirely because the dub translation of ghost katie's inspirit attack calls it 'rooting for you' and 'a cute little root'. Which is as adorable it is grammatically confusing! But generally i feel like i just wanna subvert the cliche of the female bosses in games being just humans in skimpy outfits or whatever, and all monsterous bosses being male. Yokai watch itself doesnt fall into that (barely has any female bosses tho) but i just felt like itd be a bit rude to katie cos shes reduced to love interest cliches in the anime. She needs to be some sort of cool badass boss yokai to remind you this is Protagonist Katie!! Oh maybe instead of a scorpion tail her manticore form could have her yokai watch as a tail? Or if she has to be humanoid then give her a badass suit of armour and a sword. Its hard to think of something for her cos in the anime she barely seems to have any personality except "girl", and in the games her and nate are both the same snarky badass protag. Like game nate doesnt really have the 'im so average' thing even tho his yokai form still has it as an ability.

Its hard to think of any other variant ideas cos theyre just lil marshmallows with so few design traits to work with...