What happened to Koishi Komeiji's vote structure in the 21st and 22nd Touhou Project Popularity Polls?

[vanyk]

One thing I find interesting is that Chinese Touhou fans often bring up Touhou Hero of Ice Fairy as a possible factor, especially its Koishi-focused DLC Rose Idol, released in April 2025. Strangely, none of the replies here have mentioned it so far.

To be honest I doubt that this could affect non-Chinese voters much. Yes, this fangame is popular but as I know it is not that popular in Japan (Mystia's Izakaya is somewhat popular in Japan, though). There are also some good Chinese Koishi-related fangames which are not well-known in the West (and maybe in Japan). They could make Koishi more popular in China.

That may itself show how geographically fragmented Touhou media exposure has become: something that feels highly visible in the Chinese community may barely enter the explanatory map of Western fans.

Yeah, that a problem, Japanese, Chinese and Western Touhou communities don't know much about each other. That is why some content (fangames) which are well-known in one region may be obscure in other regions. (And there is also fragmentation by platforms)

That is why I think that it may be important to research why Koishi is popular in each region.

 

[Ken Hisuag]

Actually, maybe @Ken Hisuag could help with music-related content. Both between the time period of the 20th and 22nd polls and this random subject we're having here. Having his expertise on the matter could really be of use as to determine if any Koishi-related music has blew up over on social media or so.

Flattered as I am by the insinuation, my finger is not so firmly fixed upon the pulse of the fandom's musical production line as to be capable of such analysis. I only really started paying attention in 2020, and my reputation stems more from my persistence in seeking things out than habitual familiarity.

What I can say, however, is that Koishi already had stronger than usual attention by the time I joined, to the point that I got rather annoyed at the volume of Hartmann's Youkai Girl performances compared to other tracks. I always presumed it had to do with her central role in 13.5's story. My focus in the fandom was and is almost exclusively music, so I usually only hear about fanon depictions from here.

 

[Bhrjr]

Why does everyone fixate so much on measly change from 21st and 22nd, and not the big picture as to when did Koishi start taking over the polls?

Based on this, Koishi was undoubtedly far less popular than Satori shortly after SA's release in 2008, mere 35th out of 108 charas while Satori was whopping 13th (no doubt Satori being far more "waifu-coded" contributing to the initial popularity, see how Satori has 3% more male fans in 22nd poll while Koishi has 0.6 percent more female fans)

But then Koishi climbed up more than 10 places to 22nd place in 2010, where it's impossible to deny that KKHTA played a huge role as it released in June of 2009.

And ULIL released in 2015, which had the super-striking Koishi's sprites by Moe Harukawa. The way Harukawa draw Koishi with empty eyes and flailing pose must have hugely contributed to her "aura" (I remember when I first got into touhou 3 years ago, I first learned of Koishi through Harukawa's art and thought how really, really cool she was), even if this part fall bit flat since she was top 3 by 2014. I still don't believe HM's inclusion of Koishi made more difference (?) than ULIL's Koishi, personally believing Harukawa's art was far more striking than Alphes.

So, something big must have happened in 2013 to uplift Koishi from 14th place to friggin' 3rd place that no one noticed, although this is probably unlikely and I'm thinking too hard for a specific reason.

 

[kanedafanatic]

Why does everyone fixate so much on measly change from 21st and 22nd, and not the big picture as to when did Koishi start taking over the polls?

Based on this, Koishi was undoubtedly far less popular than Satori shortly after SA's release in 2008, mere 35th out of 108 charas while Satori was whopping 13th (no doubt Satori being far more "waifu-coded" contributing to the initial popularity, see how Satori has 3% more male fans in 22nd poll while Koishi has 0.6 percent more female fans)

But then Koishi climbed up more than 10 places to 22nd place in 2010, where it's impossible to deny that KKHTA played a huge role as it released in June of 2009.

And ULIL released in 2015, which had the super-striking Koishi's sprites by Moe Harukawa. The way Harukawa draw Koishi with empty eyes and flailing pose must have hugely contributed to her "aura" (I remember when I first got into touhou 3 years ago, I first learned of Koishi through Harukawa's art and thought how really, really cool she was), even if this part fall bit flat since she was top 3 by 2014. I still don't believe HM's inclusion of Koishi made more difference (?) than ULIL's Koishi, personally believing Harukawa's art was far more striking than Alphes.

So, something big must have happened in 2013 to uplift Koishi from 14th place to friggin' 3rd place that no one noticed, although this is probably unlikely and I'm thinking too hard for a specific reason.

Because as of now, it isn't relevant. The "new" question is to find why specifically Koishi got this abnormal rise in first-time voters for this current poll. This is why I personally focus on what happened between the 20th and 22nd: what thing in particular lead to this explosion of new-coming fans and/or first-time voters? Or what exactly came to rise for such a abnormal rise like shown in the analysis?

I won't turn a blind eye as to what you said but, I don't think that explains anything but this current situation. It's true that Koishi is an attractive character (design and archetype-wise.) It is true that her themes are widely regarded as being near if not to the top of all Touhou song. It is factual that SA is a popular game, and her appearances in HM and ULiL made her even more so. Moreover, it's a fact that certain fanmdae content exploded because of her presence, like with KKHTA. However, all of this is too old to be of use in the current question. Which is why I personally focus on that window of time between the 20th and 22nd poll.