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Shou Toramaru

Name:

寅丸 星 (とらまる しょう)

Shou Toramaru

Alternate spellings:

Syou Toramaru

Species:

Tiger youkai

Abilities:

Power to attract treasures.

Age:

At least 1000 years

Occupation:

Disciple of Bishamonten

Location:

Temple of Myouren

Description:

Has orange-yellow hair with black stripes in it and golden yellow eyes. Wears a lotus-shaped ornament on her head. Has a giant cloth circle attached to her back and carries a giant spear in her left hand and the jeweled pagoda of Bishamonten in her right. Wears a burgundy/orange/white dress with a tiger pattern around the abdomen. She wears white, frilly pants under her dress and black shoes on her feet.

Relationships:

Appearances:

Titles:

See Character Titles

A disciple of the god Bishamonten. Along with Captain Murasa and the other youkai aboard the Palanquin Ship, she was seeking to revive Byakuren Hijiri after Byakuren had been sealed away in Makai by humans.

Fun Facts

  • "Toramaru" can be literally translated as "tiger circle". However, the word "maru" is also used to end the names of ships in Japan, which is fitting, considering one of the main aspects of Undefined Fantastic Object is the "treasure ship".
  • "Shou" means "star", which is also fitting considering the extraterrestrial implications given by the game's title.
  • Shou's BGM description lists her name as 虎丸星 instead of 寅丸星. 虎 "tora" can refer to tigers, felines of the "panthera tigris" species, or colloquially, a "drunk person". 寅 "tora" can be used to refer the tiger as a sign in the Chinese Zodiac, which carries with it the additional meanings of a period of time from 3AM to 5AM, the direction East by Northeast, or January.
  • Her appearance seems to be based upon that of Bishamonten, the Japanese equivalent of Vaisravana, who is often depicted holding a spear and a small pagoda. This is derived from the fact that Chougosonshi Temple (朝護孫子寺), which keeps the e-maki of Myouren's tales (Shigisan Engi Emaki), enshrines Bishamonten. Originally, the tiger was only somewhat related to Bishamonten, but became even more relevant when the Buddhist groups in Asuka period, Shoutoku taishi and Soga shi, subdued the anti-Buddhist group Mononobe shi because Bishamonten appeared in front to support them at the hour of the tiger on the day of the tiger in the year of the tiger (寅の年、寅の日、寅の刻) of the Chinese zodiac. Now, many tigers can be seen at Chougosonshi Temple. Their website also shows how they raise them.
  • She may have been inspired by one of Vaisravana's frequent companions in artistic depictions and sutras, an unidentified man wearing a tiger skin. She may also have been inspired by his usual mount, a Snowlion, but as Snowlions are more similar to dogs than to tigers, this seems unlikely.
  • Some fans have compared her and Nazrin's relationship to Ran Yakumo and Chen's, as all four of them are animal youkai, and Nazrin comes back much more powerful as Shou's midboss, much like how Chen comes back more powerful as Ran's midboss.
  • Due to the fact she has lost her Pagoda, fanwork portray her as a very distracted and/or forgetful person, losing frequently things she has or forgetting where they are.
  • Some fans have speculated Shou involves a reference to Fatty from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, whose stand "Harvest" (which bears patterns similar to Shou's tiger stripes) gathered things at his request. The most notable case of this was lottery tickets, one of which was a winner—i.e., a treasure.
  • The Japanese word oshou literally means "Buddhist priest", following the game's theme of religion.

Undefined Fantastic Object - Omake.txt

Shou Toramaru UFO

 ○5面ボス  毘沙門天の弟子
  寅丸 星(とらまる しょう)
  Toramaru Syou

  種族:妖怪
  能力:財宝が集まる程度の能力

  縁起が良い妖怪。
  古くから、白蓮は毘沙門天を信仰していた。だから、お寺に毘沙門天を
  召喚しようと思った。
  しかし毘沙門天も忙しく、殆ど寺にいる事はなかった。

  白蓮は寺の近くに昔からいた妖怪達が、怯えている事に気付く。
  どうやら、毘沙門天を畏れているようだ。
  やっぱり退治されてしまうのかと思っているのだろう。

  毘沙門天は忙しくて寺に来られないし、妖怪達は怯えて近づかない。
  そこで、白蓮は妙案を思いつく。
  山で最も人格のある「まともな」妖怪を毘沙門天に紹介し、代わりに
  信仰を集めて貰おうと。

  そこで選ばれたのが星だった。
  彼女は虎の姿をした妖怪で、寺のある山では最も信頼された妖怪だった。
  忙しい毘沙門天は、半ば黙認の形で彼女を弟子にした。

  しかし、完全に信頼した訳ではなかった。
  だから毘沙門天の手下である鼠、ナズーリンを監視役として付けた。

  そんな毘沙門天の心配を余所に、彼女は何も問題を起こさなかった。
  とても優秀だったのだ。

  しかし、彼女は優秀すぎた。
  白蓮が封印された時も特に取り乱したりはせず、毘沙門天としての
  業務をこなしていた。
  人間には自分が妖怪である事は内緒だったのだ。
  後悔の念もあれど、正体を明かす事は自殺行為に等しかった。

  白蓮がいなくなってから数百年経って、お寺は荒れに荒れた。
  そんな彼女の元に、地底に封印された白蓮の仲間達が戻ってきた
  のである。

  もう、後悔したくない。逃げやしない。
  ムラサ達に封印を解く方法を教えた。自分は妖怪である。
  白蓮を復活させる為に力を尽そうと。

  「封印を解く為には、白蓮の弟様、命蓮の力が必要です。
   それが残っているのは、空を飛ぶ倉、飛宝だけ……。
   ムラサ、船を出して探しましょう!」

○Stage 5 Boss  Disciple of Bishamonten
Shou Toramaru

Species: youkai
Ability: the power to gather treasure

A youkai representing good fortune.
Byakuren had long been a devotee of Bishamonten. So, she thought she'd summon Bishamonten to her temple.
But Bishamonten was very busy, and so was practically never there.

Byakuren realized that the youkai around the temple had always been afraid.
They must be afraid of Bishamonten.
They must think that they're going to be exterminated.

Bishamonten was too busy to hang around the temple much, and the youkai were too scared to come around.
So, Byakuren came up with a cunning plan.
She introduced the most honest and straightforward youkai on the mountain to Bishamonten and had the youkai gather faith in exchange.

That chosen youkai was Shou.
A youkai in the form of a tiger, she was also the youkai that other youkai on the mountain trusted the most.
The busy Bishamonten quietly took her on as a disciple.

However, she hadn't yet earned Bishamonten's full confidence.
So, the mouse that acted as Bishamonten's helper, Nazrin, was selected to keep watch.

But, in spite of Bishamonten's worries, she didn't cause any problems at all.
She was an excellent assistant.

Still, she was perhaps too excellent.
When Byakuren was sealed away, she was completely focused on carrying out her duties as Bishamonten.
She kept the fact that she was a youkai a secret from humans.
She had her regrets about this, but it would have been self-destructive to reveal her true identity.

A few hundred years after Byakuren disappeared, the temple was in great disarray.
And so, Byakuren's friends who'd been sealed deep beneath the earth returned.

She didn't want to have any more regrets. She wouldn't run away.
She told Murasa and the others how to lift the seal. She was, after all, a youkai.
She wanted to put all her power into bringing Byakuren back.

"In order to break the seal, we'll need the power of Myouren, Byakuren's brother.
And the only things left are a flying treasury and the floating treasures...
Murasa, let's take the ship and go look for it!"

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