Kunitsu-Kami (Vocals only)

From the game files, again, and edited.

Unfortunately has soft strings on the vocal track.

Kunitsu-Gami (Vocals only)

Taken from in-game files and edited.

The Instrumental I will have to make using Audacity.

Soh with Yoshiro's animations.

It's cursed, isn't it? I hate it.

Moon of Musashi. Soh Under the Moonlight.

Vixen with a full moon behind the tall grass of the plains of Musasahi, looking at her reflection in the water. (X)

 In this serene and haunting image, a fox turns in a strikingly anthropomorphic pose to gaze at her reflection by the light of the full moon. (X)

A fox. A deer.

 While Soh has a fox on her glove, Cursed Soh has a deer!

Both foxes and deers are considered messengers of the gods.

Datamined Details.

 A collection of small discoveries!

Th shrine emblem is named as a 'tsuba' in one image. As you can see, it does appear to be able to fit on a sword. (Specifically Cursed Soh gets hit with it by Yoshiro)
(It might actually be called tsuba in this file because it's used as the background when we view tsubas!)

but it's also titled as 'Soumon', when it comes to Cursed Soh's files.

Mon, meaning emblem. Soumon can mean a Buddhist temple gate. 

Since 'Sou' is Soh, it means this is Cursed Soh's emblem.

Or rather, it's Soh's emblem. It's the symbol of the Goddess.
(I was right the entire time. Such a simple thing but the steam information made me doubt my own eyes.)

It's also called 'Shinmon'.

Shin can be (新), true/reality (真), heart/mind (心), belief/faith (信), or god/spirit (神). 

On the Steam page, it's called 'Shrine Emblem'.

This emblem is also on Nanamagari. There's a big link between Soh, Yoshiro and Nanamagari.
A link between the heart and source of all the chaos and the one who brings salvation and prosperity.
The Maiden does both. But Nanamagari is specifically a representation of the ritual...the form the Maiden's spirit takes...

(The Dark Cursed Soh shares filenumbers with the Nanamagari who holds the shrine hostage.)

This cute little Yoshiro image. Where is it used? It's showing Yoshiro opens the Torii Gates.

開? But in script.

If Soh tries to approach the Torii gate, a ribcage will appear to block her. 

Why is Yoshiro the one who has such an effect on the cursed Torii gates? (who bear likeness to Nanamagari, who is (possibly) the spirit of the former Maiden)

when they were testing things?

The first Maiden!! Doesn't she have similar buns to the Goddess in the opening?

An image of Yoshiro singing to Soh. Context unknown...

樂多餓鬼.
(The translation might be 'Happy Gaki/Gaki full of joy'?)

This little piece of art is present and it was right after a calligraphy brush, meaning there's an NPC drawing it?

'calamity'

When Nanamgari uses its KO attack, its texture is called 'Yakusai'.  Calamity. There's this overlay of 'Dead Soh' as it unleashes the attack.

This feels very ominious lol. There are hands in the folder too but they're not in calamity KO:

Do you think the spirits of the Maidens want revenge against humans and even Soh herself? I've suggested before that Nanamagari is the spirit of the 7 Maidens, which I've since discarded, yet it's still an intriguing idea.

Here's 'Dead Yoshiro':

katashiro torn

Not sure when we see this...It's on the screen after Yoshiro's death!

As for the sounds, there is an actual man wailing in some boss battles. The Seethe are called the wailing so a man actually wailing is appropriate.
(Will update once I've checked every boss sounds to see what differences there are)

I got excited and thought there was a different voice for every boss but no...I saw it in another boss file.

 Notsugo has a baby crying in his sound effects. 

Long ago, a great famine seized the mountain. The villagers prayed to the goddess, begging her to spare their kin, but their pleas went unanswered as lives continued to be lost to the marsh. Legend states that at nightfall, an infant's cry can be heard from Renge Marsh. If anyone attempts to approach the marsh to offer aid, they too will be dragged down into the depths.

In Yatsuro's battle and Nanamagari's battle, there's a high-pitched Seethe voice coupled with a more monstrous voice. Interesting...

Datamining revealed some intricate details I didn't see very well on PS4. Cursed Soh has geometric patterns from the kaleidoscope on her mask. 

I'll make a separate post for her because her model is truly beautiful!

Kunitsu-Gami Sweets In Real Life! (@KunitsuGaming)

Absolute peak quality content!!

I want to know if the fish treats are good.

Yoshiro appears to love them lol. In the documentary, they said they created all the sweets to her taste.

Yoshiro's Reversed Vocals.

The reversed part is a hauntingly beautiful part in the song but I had no idea it was reversed until I listened to the vocals found in the game files.

Originally I thought it might be the 'spirit' language but then I reversed it.

And no, the spirit language isn't just reversed Japanese...I already tried reversing Soh's words lol

I beat Otherworldly Venture on hard mode. 99 new areas is the max. (2million)

 

New tips:

Tenko's Sacrifice is free heals. You can heal everyone at the end of a stage and between waves if you time it right. Use it right before the final Seethe is killed, kill them, then suspend the save. Re-enter and your tsuba guards are fully charged and everyone is healed!

I ended this run with 98 rations and almost 40k orbs.

Kochin's Ward and Taijo's Favor were my other tsuba guards but I'm doing a new run and opted for an offensive one to replace Taijo's Favor. When you max out defense, villagers and Yoshiro can't be hurt anyway.
(I had no idea maxing out defense made Yoshiro invulnerable too.)

Always pick orbs as a reward because the mazo talisman shrine can give you a freebie.

Use talismans to reduce damage to villagers and increase their health. I only had two for Soh: Greatly increase attack and slightly increase tsuba guard recharge.

Turtles and Cranes.

In Kunitsu-Game, cranes symbolize women and turtles symbolize men.

An artistic way of communicating men and women. Fitting as the game tells much of the story through visuals.

Soh's dancing talisman is titled 'dancing crane', and when purifying, two cranes can be seen.

Dancing Crane

Congratulations Crane in Otherworldly Venture

Only women(cranes) can use the power of the goddess, hence why only women can be shamans.

Specifically, it is the purifying power that only women can use.

I interpret the kaleidoscope to be implying she is the battery

The masks are all powered by the Goddess Soh. Thus, if Yoshiro falls in battle, they all fall, too.

Cranes are also on lanterns. On the same lantern is what I thought was maybe a lotus but it's actually Rindo Kamon:

Sasa Rindo (笹竜胆), meaning "Gentiana and Bamboo", this mon was used as kamon by the Minamoto clan in Heian Jidai.

So, it is the Heian period!
(As I theorized in my Kuon post and Yoshiro's eyebrows post)

Soul Division.

 The Tsuba Guard Kijin's specter shows Soh can divide her soul.

The created spirit uses the same model as the dark Cursed Soh.

(In the files, they are (basically)the same model)

Spot the difference(the little flap one is Soh's spectre. Why? Who knows)

When the Goddess possess Yoshiro, she splits her soul and puts a piece of her inside the Maiden.

For the Ritual, the Goddess possesses a Maiden, enabling the Maiden to use her purifying power. Overtime, it caused her spirit to become cursed because of the Maiden also doubling as a katashiro. The Maiden absorbs defilement, affecting her body and eventually the spirit within. But it's only a piece of the Goddess, this is why we have Soh and Cursed Soh.

It's all because of the Goddess dividing her soul.

Cursed Soh is the Goddess. Soh is the Goddess.
Cursed Soh has the halo. Not Soh.

Yoshiro is also drawn with a halo and she has the ability to affect Cursed Soh's power. Yoshiro, too, is a vessel for the Goddess. Just like Cursed Soh is.

The vessel of the Goddess is drawn with the halo because that's where she actually resides. The Messenger is but a physical manifestation of her.

The Goddess is present in both Yoshiro and the corrupted body of the previous Maiden.

Soh is the Goddess given physical form through Yoshiro serving as an abode.

Cursed Soh is a version of Soh that materializes when the vessel is defiled/extremely impure.

But in Cursed Soh's case, she's merged with her vessel. This is why it says Cursed Soh is the Goddess who's become 'twisted with the impurities of the people' and why she has a halo.

If we consider artwork showing the Maiden physically changes upon becoming an abode, then we can assume in Cursed Soh's case, the opposite occurred: the vessel changed the spirit.

If the Normal Ending broke the cycle, we can speculate it's because:

Soh left her mask with Yoshiro, causing Cursed Soh because the two merged.
After several generations, the impurity is so potent within the 7th Maiden's body that the Goddess becomes cursed.

(I use abode=yorishiro)

Halos: Goddess Yoshiro.

 The Maiden and Cursed Soh(the defiled Goddess) are the only two we ever shown with 'halos'.

In the last image, Soh appears as an extension and knight of Yoshiro, who is an 'abode for the Goddess'. 

(She's called a yorishiro in the Japanese text)

A yorishiro (依り代) in Shinto is a physical object or place that attracts and serves as a temporary dwelling for a kami (divine spirit) during religious ceremonies, acting as a "substitute for approach" for worshippers to connect with the deity, often a natural object like a sacred tree or rock, but can also be ritual items or even people (yorimashi). Once inhabited by a kami, it's called a shintai, and these sacred items are often marked with shimenawa ropes to show their holiness. Yorishiro can also be persons, in which case they are called yorimashi (憑坐 

Yoshiro being a yorishiro and not a yorimashi...is it because she is inevitably crystallized?

Is she a yorishiro when she's crystallized and not before then? And her channeling of the goddess is because of her Kagura dance? But she's not always dancing.

In the beginning, Yoshiro summons Soh, like the Goddess would summon her Messenger to do her bidding.
(Or is she activating her abilities to allow Soh to manifest?)

The mask allows Soh to convey the Will, Message and Actions of the Goddess. Through the mask, the physical form she takes is that of the Goddess.
(If we see her as the previous Maiden who inherited the mask)

When Yoshiro calls out to Soh for aid, the effects on her voice sound as if they emit from the mask itself. (The mask acts as the link between the two, allowing telepathic communication?)

In the artwork, the Maiden and Messenger have the same face:

I can feel her contempt for humanity

WHY does she look so ominous? This feels like a whole different girl

The only differences are lack of eyebrows and different make up. But the structure and eyes are the same.

Strangely, Yoshiro's eyes appear 'dead', devoid of life. Soh's are bright.

Possible evidence to support the old 'Soh as Yoshiro's spirit' theory, especially if we consider the relationship to the Goddess each woman has. (but are we passed that theory?)

Yoshiro as the body and Soh as the spirit is a still a cool theory. We've seen in media bodies that can speak without their souls. 

Soh's face is actually very close to Yoshiro's original face:

give her heavy eyelashes and you'll see

Is this confirmation Soh is a previous Maiden? Eh...it's probably not wise to interpret a trailer this way. Let's forget that.

In the Normal Ending, what occurs between the two gives the impression of either:

Soh returning the mask to the Goddess.
The mask being passed onto the new Messenger.

I've suggested the Maiden merges with the Goddess and sends herself as the next Messenger, using the mask to access her full power as she has descended as a lesser version of herself.

But isn't that a little convoluted?

Look at how Yoshiro is presented, and the play specifically calling her the 'beacon of this world', highlighting her great importance... the whole 'Birth of a Goddess' scroll...

I want to know why she can affect Cursed Soh.

Why is Cursed Soh friendly upon meeting Soh but antagonizes Yoshiro if Yoshiro is similar enough to her to be able to affect her power? Why is Yoshiro not seen as Cursed Soh herself? (Or is she, as Soh can purify her when defeating Cursed Soh?)

Cursed Soh is a defiled yorishiro, isn't it? Or her vessel is.

Is Cursed Soh greeting Soh as her Messenger?

Since Cursed Soh is a goddess, Yoshiro is seen as human to her. (plaque)
The Defiled Goddess doesn't like humans. 

          

Why does Cursed Soh, in her final phase, shatter the Goddess symbol? This shattering is what allows her to use Tsuba Guards.

But why can't she do it earlier?
(What are her phases, actually? She does a movement but what else? Is it meant to let the player know she's changing tactics? The animation is called 'level up' in the files)

Does the Goddess sever her relationship to the current Maiden by doing this?

(We also gain the ability to see which Tsuba guard she is using, much like when we wear the Cursed Soh skin. She can use tsuba guards quickly too, the way we can if we equip Uncontrolled Spirit. I really think we should have this ability when we wear the Cursed Soh skin.)

In this final phase is when the soft piano plays, the piano we hear in the base themes. Themes that naturally remind us of Yoshiro. This same gentle melody plays when we look upon Yoshiro's sleeping body here:

...

When I first finished NG+, I thought 'we're fighting the Yoshiro from the previous cycle'.

It's still true.

We're battling a defiled yorishiro that's cursed the Goddess's spirit.

Overthinking might really be doing me no favors.

But this halo thing is quite interesting. If Yoshiro houses Soh's spirit then indeed, she'd have the halo. Soh becomes a weaker version of herself when manifested in this physical realm.

Happy New Year!

It's time to walk the Path and become your predestined self.