ZUN's recent high school interview

[CountVonNumenor]

On the 25th of February 2023, ZUN was invited to a high school talk show where he was asked several questions about Touhou. While there doesn't seem to be a video archive, a Twitter user called AQNAWNA made a recap of the questions and answers. And from there, the questions have been translated to English by user IceFairy. In the following presentation, I will use the translations of IceFairy, which can be found here: https://twitter.com/richard_effendi/status/1629816649493942273?s=20 

 

[ZUN appears on stage and reveals a presentation slide]
ZUN: I made the slide while I was on the bullet train heading here. (Note, I won't be translating every tweet as some of them have already known information. I'll be translating the interesting ones)

 

Host: Are the music CDs connected to the games in any way?
ZUN: If I say they're definitely connected, it might cause some sort contradiction somewhere. So I just have them as vaguely connected in some way.

 

Host: Recently there's been a lot of current events related content in Touhou, hasn't there?
ZUN: It's because the series is like my diary. Whatever I'm feeling at the moment, I put it in the games. I think the first time I put something that was undeniably current events was in DDC. At the time overseas indie games were becoming mainstream and I wanted to make a game that had my feelings of "Hey, we have doujin games here, too!"

 

Host: The games have been popping up on Steam recently, haven't they?
ZUN: Well... It's cause nobody buys CDs anymore, hahaha. PCs don't event have disk trays anymore. And most shops don't carry them either. I thought it'd be best to go with the flow.

 

Host: As a doujin game creator, what are your thoughts on the world becoming less interpersonally connected?
ZUN: I don't really need interpersonal connections when making games, since I make them alone, hahaha. But I do miss the fun I used to have going to offline events. Chatting with people online makes me feel a bit lonely.

 

Host: There's been more officially recognized gacha games lately. Did you have a change of heart about them?
ZUN: Nope, still not fond of them, hahaha. Don't think I'd ever make one myself... They say it's "free to play", but they're definitely not free to play.

 

Host: What are your future plans for Touhou?
ZUN: Well, I'm getting on in years. I plan to keep making it until I don't want to anymore, but I'm also afraid of when that time comes. So I've been ruminating on how to keep myself motivated in making Touhou.

 

Host: Any plans on making things other than Touhou?
ZUN: Everything I make ends up becoming Touhou anyways, so, nope, hahaha.

 

Host: The moon appears often in Touhou, any special reasons?
ZUN: I just think the moon is neat, hahaha. I like the words "lunar capital" and "lunar exploration". I also like Mars.

 

Host: Any plans on having Mars appear in Touhou?
ZUN: Hmn... Well, humans might be going to Mars in the future. We still don't know what's on it. It might be interesting to have Mars in Gensoukyou... hmn, not too sure about it yet.

 

Host : Tell us about the Yukkuri trademark incident.
ZUN : Well, Dwango took care of it pretty quickly. And the culprit also rescinded the trademark. But, we also needed to avoid a repeat of this incident, so... So a few days ago the patent office put out their opinion on Yukkuri as a genre. It should be alright now. To be honest, I feel like that incident became an advert for yukkuri (hahaha). I got excited when yukkuri started appearing on broadcasts. It was kinda fun. as a result of that, everyone became familiar with yukkuri (continued). In that way, I kinda way to say "thank you" to the instigator (hahahaha).

 

Q: What's up with the clown in Dolls in Pseudo Paradise?
ZUN: Clown? What Clown? Are you talking about the jacket illustration? It doesn't have any special meaning... To be honest it's been so long ago, there's a lot I don't remember.

 

Q: How many Ultimate Foul Lifeforms have come up to you (note : the title you get if you clear Impossible Spell Card without Items).
ZUN: A lot, hahaha. There were middle schoolers among them, too. Pretty amazing.
Q: Are you an Ultimate Foul Lifeform?
ZUN: Nope, I can't become one either, though I set the difficulty it so it's not impossible to become one.

 

Q: How good are you at Shoot 'Em Ups?
ZUN: I used to be pretty good at it. Though, lately I struggle to clear Lunatic... I make the games clearing the stages separately instead of all in one sitting. It's fine to set the difficulty to a level where I can clear it, but if I don't increase the difficulty some people will be able to clear it pretty fast just like that.

 

Q: Any plans on reviving the PC-98 characters?
ZUN: I'm not gonna say "yes" or "no". For questions like that, I'll just accept your desires.

 

Q: How do you decide on the character names?
ZUN: I ruminate about them until the deadline. If I use common names, then I'll and up with characters with the same surnames and given names. I also have to make sure the names fit with the character. If it doesn't feel right, I try again after thinking some more. If it feels right then I decide on it. Sometimes I change it pretty close to the deadline. And when that happens, I can forget to change the old name somewhere. (Narumi/Naruko)

 

Q: What sort of Youkai is Meiling?
ZUN: I believe...  I had it written in PMiSS, "Youkai" simply means "other". If it's just "youkai", then there's no species, just think of it as "something that's not human".

 

Q: Which games should I play?
ZUN: I think you should ask the fans that not me (hahaha). But ok, the latest game.... right now is UM, so why don't you play that? Since the series is my diary, if it's too long ago, I don' remember it that well.

 

Q: What do you think about the popularity poll?
ZUN: It's fun to watch. Though, I don't entirely get Youmu getting first place or Flan getting first place. There should be a lot more bigger weirdoes than them in Touhou.

 

Q: I'm a 20 year old male. How do I become Marisa Kirisame?
ZUN: Well... Why don't you buy a pointy hat and put it on? (hahaha) But you know, Marisa is still a human, so it's pretty easy to become her. Otherwise you'd need to reject your humanity.

 

Q: Do you have designs for characters who are only mentioned in the setting?
ZUN: No, at least for the ones I don't plan on giving an appearance in the future.

 

 

A part of these questions have also been covered by Megapig9001 in his most recent video: 

And an interesting conclusion someone has reached based on the Q&A:

"Alright, this confirms something I've been suspecting for ages now: ZUN has literally no idea what goes on in the Touhou fandom. His insistence on not looking like he's playing favorites (or whatever's going on) has led to a profound ignorance regarding which characters are popular and why. He wasn't trolling by keeping Flan in reserve for two decades; he truly believed this whole time that no one was interested in seeing her again. That said, I'm glad to know he doesn't base his creative decisions off of whatever fans seem to want most. He neither caters nor trolls. For better or worse, he does what he feels is best from an artistic standpoint".

 

[Gri]

Quick Post:

Thanks for sharing this interview.

[nitorii]

insane man who made insane game franchise talks about said insane game franchise with equally as insane fandom

jokes aside, pretty interesting to see that ZUN seems to be reluctant to follow the activity of his own fandom.
thanks for the post mr. count von numenor

[Kqys9xTK9a5a]

Thanks for sharing the recap of ZUN's high school interview. It's always interesting to hear from the creator of Touhou. The insights he shared about the music CDs, current events in the games, and the shift to Steam were intriguing.
It's funny how ZUN mentioned that nobody buys CDs anymore and how PCs don't even have disk trays. The world is changing, and he's adapting to the trends. Going with the flow and embracing digital platforms like Steam makes a lot of sense.
If you're interested in more insightful articles and discussions, you should check out collegeranker.com. They have a wide range of topics and it's a great place to explore different perspectives.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Kqys9xTK9a5a