Marisa Kirisame is the secondary protagonist of Touhou; she's appeared in exactly as many games outside of the endings as Reimu has and sometimes has more prominence than she does, like the Grimoire of Marisa book, or as present for the entire Symposium of Post-Mysticism. (1/16)

Modern Marisa Kirisame is the character that ZUN finds easiest to use, and her personality is mostly straightforward, easy to write for, and simpler to understand than Reimu's. You don't often find hilariously out-of-character Marisa because everyone knows what to expect. (2/16)

But Marisa still does have a bit of public perception issue, though not as bad as Reimu. It's based somewhat on the character growth that she underwent since her appearance to now, in addition to some different characterization between her PC-98 (and EoSD) self and onward. (3/16)

You see, back in the PC-98 days, Marisa had a hugely simplified personality, like pretty much every PC-98 character. She liked fighting, she liked magic, she liked her teacher, Mima, she likes her rival Reimu. That's kind of all you get - she hadn't been rounded out yet. (4/16)

Mystic Square and EoSD Marisa have shades of future Marisa, but it's not a ton. By MS she's started to be more of the standard Touhou Rude, and by EoSD she picks up her habitual lying and love of theft. But you know? Those are considered cornerstones of her character. (5/16)

And yeah, sure for a while they were. Nine years even! But you know what Marisa hasn't done in another nine years? Stolen a single thing. If memory serves me right, she does in the possession route of DDC, but that's the noncanon route, the explicitly out-of-character one. (6/16)

And then you have Ms. "I've never told a single lie in my entire life", said to the Judge of the Dead who warned her that she was going to hell for her dishonesty... has been mostly honest, and much less likely to lie in general, since around Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. (7/16)

So, where does this come from? Is it ZUN forgetting character traits? That's pretty unlikely, and it's more just... Marisa doesn't do that anymore. She's changed, because she's aged. She was explicitly a kid back in the day, and she's gotten older and wiser since then. (8/16)

Now, that's not to say that Marisa has lost all her flaws and that she's just a rowdy and friendly goofball now. In fact, she's gotten less rowdy over time and much more reserved. Marisa's always liked her privacy, but it's much more prominent now than it ever was before. (9/16)

Marisa always hated talking about private matters - she's estranged from her family for unknown reasons, she doesn't like admitting to how hard she works to be able to keep up with Reimu, that kind of thing - but it manifests a little differently nowadays than it used to. (10/16)

Marisa is only really open to a tiny handful of people, and keeps everyone else at a friendly arm's length. She's openly worried about Reimu, Alice, and the Three Fairies of Light, but that's it. She probably would for Rinnosuke too, but he's too boring to get in trouble. (11/16)

Whenever Reimu's in trouble, Marisa has started to show a side of her that emerged not too long ago, just a few years - and it's that kind of anxiety you get as an adult, after teen you thought of yourself as invincible. It's lead to her being more insecure than before. (12/16)

She's visibly affected by Incidents now, unlike before. She was wary around the backs of things for some time after Hidden Star in Four Seasons. And she's actually frustrated by teasing she gets in Lotus Eaters, when she'd likely let that slide off in the past. (13/16)

Are these events really emblematic of something more? Well, probably not. I still wouldn't say She's Got Anxiety or anything. But her characterization has matured well beyond "don't worry, I'm just borrowing these books until I die!!" and has taken more realistic flaws. (14/16)

Marisa doesn't have the confidence she used to, although she still acts like it to keep up the image. She's frequently worried (she's slammed open Reimu's door in distress like 4 separate, distinct times, to check on her,) and more vulnerable to teasing than before. (15/16)

...But, thankfully, Marisa's good traits never went away. She's still generally very likable and gets on with about everyone, even if she's not particularly close friends with most. She's still reliable and helpful, and doesn't need much of a push to address an incident. (16/16)