>First, it wasn't more than the first couple of Reimu's lines into the
>piece when I told myself Gryphon is WAY WAY stronger than this girl.
>Simply put, she's newly introduced and there's no narrative reason to
>think she had anything like Flandre's advantages.

There are a few clues, but a lot of that background is actually being held for later explication in order to cut down on the amount of ex tempore exposition required. We don't learn more about her beforehand because (with the exception of Shizuka, who at least knows who she is) the characters she's encountering don't know much about her either.

>Second, I know next to nothing about Touhou. I neither know nor care
>what she's like in Touhou canon, because from what we'd read of her so
>far in this piece she's a retired witch with a desk job.

No, she's around the same age as Shizuka, who takes note of that fact in the bit where she's reflecting on Reimu's change of attitude. That's one of the clues I mentioned above. Even in a setting where military personnel are routinely teenagers, she's very young indeed to be a general officer. Even the other witch generals we know about (Minna, Adolphine Galland, Jenny Doolittle) are in their twenties.

>she should by all rights be in a combat wing if she has fighting chops
>left.

The thing is that she's not really a witch, as such, but we'll get to that when the characters have a chance to catch their breath and do some conversatin'. At the moment they're a little busy. :)

>Her attitude would be better utilized there than in an
>investigative role, as well.

Ironically enough, she would agree with you on that point. She's really not the investigative type, but when you're the Inspector-General of the Emperor's Witches, and the Emperor asks you to go and find out what is going on with a number of his witches, you grab your bugout bag and catch the next flight out.

>Third, because of the first two points I fully expected any fight
>scene to be an anticlimax.

Well, hopefully you won't think so here in a little while, but if you do, sorry in advance. It's obvious from the responses to this one that neither version is going to please everyone. Maybe I should make it modular, like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. "If you want to see the duel scene, turn to page 79. If you want to skip directly to the drunken singing, turn to page 102." :)

>Lastly, and this is a separate note from the fight thing, I feel like
>Reimu's companions need a little more screen time for me to understand
>what's going on with them.

Yes they do.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.