Are we witnessing a revival of Touhou fan content?

[CountVonNumenor]

Last year, I was feeling very distrustful when we saw the popularizing the stereotypical, generic pre-fabricated content. However, as 2022 went on, a number of new creators started to leave their mark in the community, especially in the west. I did mention some of them in the "Retrospective 2022" thread, but I will bring that up again (this time with links for some of the newer channels):

Spoiler

(in the JP community)

• 2022 has been a year in which music circles have shined - every brig group, from Shinra-Bansho, Akatsuki Records to beatMARIO and so many more have produced music videos that are not ingrained into the culture of our community 
• and probably the greatest star in terms of fan music this time has been Internet Survivor; released just around the 20th anniversary of EoSD, the song and music video could not have landed any better for the fans. Some even consider it to be one of the things that boosted the popularity of Flandre and her game in all charts of the 2022 Touhou popularity poll

 

(outside Japan)

• this year has marked the rise and or/prominence of a number of animated content creators - Mirae Somang, Mush-Broom, lunaPrism (who also made his own Touhou Rewind 2022), Vegemite-Flavored Indomie MMD, Jo2n, GoruposStudios and many more I may not be aware of 
• MTB is still doing animated videos, this year making  a variety of music video recreations based on Touhou characters (Baby Hotline, Killer Queen and Farewell, Narcissus)

I am happy to announce that since my complains, lore channels are starting to make their appearance in the western community, even if it might seem to be a shy, small scale beginning (quoting again from that very same retrospective thread):

Spoiler

New lore channels have made their rise:

• MegaFrog with the Cosmology of Gensokyo, Pantheon of Gensokyo, 2hu Bites and the monthly Hifuu Community Club podcast
• Suwawako (I know, this might be a little debatable), for someone giving the vibe of shitposting and member of the Gensokyo Boiz group, actually came up with some very good videos and interesting topics to talk about, from obscure community events to Touhou fan game reviews; also discussions about community stuff, so there's that (as well as expanding into talking about other series he seems to enjoy)
• GensouChronicle has been probably the greatest star of this year; a new lore channel created this year, he has already started to make a name for himself in one of the niches that the western side of the community is really lacking: lore. His highlight video of the year has been Touhou: Worldbuilding with J. R. R. Tolkien, enjoyed by over 45 thousand people by the moment I am writing this thread. For a new channel, he has been one of the most pleasant surprises the Western Touhou community gave us, especially in a moment when I was starting to feel like everything is lost in terms of quality control of the "average (western) Touhou fan" and the content they produce. I have mentioned him many times recently, but I really believe he has potential to become a relevant name for the community, and perhaps in turn help create a better community one video and positive interaction at a time

 

And one more thing (probably more of a subjective thing on my side):

• I see that the Touhou community has started getting their own art trends, or at least they have become more visible recently; what I am talking about is the wave of fanart depicting Sekibanki in the new/adapted outfit created by Akatsuki Records for the recent music video Rock 'n' Rock 'n' Beat:

Illustration by teasmacker (source: https://twitter.com/teasmacker/status/1642901954383978497/photo/1)

GIF by bmkro (source: https://twitter.com/BmkRo/status/1639995871944409088)

Illustration by hajimakura (source: https://twitter.com/ma_kurane/status/1636368578579685387/photo/1)

There are so many more great images based on that music video. For more than a week after release, there have been tens of images uploaded on a daily basis, and somehow really made me like Sekibanki more than I thought I would. 

 

I could have talked about so many more new things that appeared, but these are some of the ones I came in contact with or had a lot of fun with. But what do you think? Are we slowly going through a renaissance of Touhou content, especially in the western world? Is this just a recent event, or is has slowly been building up for a longer time? Whatever the answer might be, I am enjoying this time of being a fan of the series and its associated fan creations...

 

[SoundOfRayne]

I dunno how confidently I can call this a "renaissance," since 2023 hasn't had nearly the amount of content that 2022 gave us. At least, not yet. 
I can at least say that 2022 was an awesome year to be a Touhou fan. So many new faces in the animation sphere that technically existed before 2022 really had their time to take off. I wanna think that MTB's reanimation of We Are Japanese Goblin in late 2021 played a big part in that. It'd been a while since Touhou had made any big waves outside of its own community, so I'd like to think the overwhelming amount of attention it brought to Touhou from all over the internet helped give these up and coming creators their audience.
I'd say it's too soon to call it a renaissance, but it is still indicative of Touhou's longevity. All the creators we already love are still going strong, and new ones are starting to pop up. Touhou sure isn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

And yes, as a certified Seki-stan, Akatsuki Records did a great job stroking my ego as all these people are coming out of the woodworks to find that I was right the whole time.

[PriestOfPain]

Like what @SoundOfRayne said, it's a bit too early to declare a new renaissance of fan content. However, over the past year I've definitely noticed a boost in quality of Touhou fanworks within the western community. A new contributor that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the YouTube channel Stringstorm. He is primarily known for his Warhammer 40k music but over the past year he has started to create songs and covers for Touhou. His most recent work is a cover for Okuu's theme, Nuclear Fusion and there are many more to come. 

[CountVonNumenor]

16 minutes ago, PriestOfPain said:

A new contributor that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the YouTube channel Stringstorm.

Oh hey, I've been familiar with the music creations of Stringstorm since early 2020, when he was still doing the soundtrack for If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device and was hosting Warhammer 40K: Idol Month(s). I think I did mention him though ever since last year, when his first Touhou-themed song, Scarlet Sky, dropped. He is a very welcome addition to the list of Touhou-related fan creators, and seems like the introduction of Touhou songs in his playlist came as he decided to cut on the Warhammer songs (due to some legal issues with the IP owners of the franchise and the treatment of fan-made content). There is at least one more song from him that should come soon, and a few more Touhou-themed ones have been announced for the future. 

[Pentastar]

I do need to draw Sekibanki in that outfit 

[CountVonNumenor]

On 4/7/2023 at 12:24 AM, CountVonNumenor said:

Oh hey, I've been familiar with the music creations of Stringstorm since early 2020, when he was still doing the soundtrack for If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device and was hosting Warhammer 40K: Idol Month(s). I think I did mention him though ever since last year, when his first Touhou-themed song, Scarlet Sky, dropped. He is a very welcome addition to the list of Touhou-related fan creators, and seems like the introduction of Touhou songs in his playlist came as he decided to cut on the Warhammer songs (due to some legal issues with the IP owners of the franchise and the treatment of fan-made content). There is at least one more song from him that should come soon, and a few more Touhou-themed ones have been announced for the future. 

Well, this did not age well.... Due to a series of allegations and a sentence he needs to serve, Stringstorm will  not be up for quite a while. And probably his reputation will be on tatters as well. The story of what happened... is not very nice. Therefore, I am not sure of that song will be coming at any point. An Utsuho song, as well as one about Shinmyoumaru did come out before the accusations, and there was still a project related to PCB. 

Meanwhile though, there are lots of random one-off animations coming from western creators. Usually short, but still very good and fun. Similarly, I really wonder what Touhou reference will Sr. Pelo's yearly Spooky Month come up with this time around...

[d34thkvm]

On 4/12/2023 at 1:52 AM, Pentastar said:

I do need to draw Sekibanki in that outfit 

honestly while i (shockingly) do quite like sekibanki so any of her is cool i personally like her normal outfit better