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It's a shame Danmaku Kagura will be closing it's servers. The game seemed to be doing really well, but I guess it still didn't reach those expectations. I'm glad they were able to include so many amazing songs and artwork though. The roadmap for the last of the content is great too. I just really wanted to see a global version and the gameplay was more interesting to me compared to other touhou gachas. I feel like LostWord might be the only one to survive, since Good Smile Company is huge and they probably have enough support to keep the game around for years. I'm not a fan of the current state of LostWord either, since it feels like they're trying to make as much money now over anything else. I've mentioned this before, but I might be done as soon as I have the last of my favourites. Even if I don't like gacha games that much, I agree that the constant hate will bring the community down with negativity. Thank for sharing that tweet and to you guys for letting me know about the team behind Arcadia Record. Even if I did check out that game, I don't want to keep supporting them if they continue to be involved with shady stuff. I haven't heard about this news, so thanks for sharing too! It would be interesting if this was an actual bullet hell for mobile, but that sounds more painful. To be honest, I just don't want to see a future where touhou is only known for gacha. The best thing the community could do is keep sharing how amazing everything else is.

On the 11th of August, Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (AKA Touhou Koumakyou) will be 20 years old! Touhou 6 is very important game in the series, marking the start of the windows era and introducing many characters and songs that have become especially iconic to the fandom. To celebrate this occasion, Touhou Youtube creator Megapig is rallying the community to release a bunch of fanmade content on August 11th. So if you want to join in, get something ready for the anniversary day! In other "news" - although everything I'm about to say here comes from a secondary source, so take it with a grain of salt - there was apparently a tweet made recently that ZUN won't be attending the livestream for Touhou Station game jam this year - but supposedly the reason for this is that he's hard at work on something to release at next Reitaisai. Due to the upcoming anniversary, some people speculate that he could maybe be remaking Touhou 6 - but to be honest, it's probably just Touhou 18.5 or Touhou 19. Still cool!

It's Arcadia that's bad, Cave, as far as I know IS good (like I said, they made some pretty damn good bullet hells!). I do think it's going to be a bullet hell. https://kotaku.com/shootem-up-developer-cave-announces-a-totally-new-shoot-1847279777 Here's a Kotaku link from last year. Also, there are like 5 Touhou shumps on the Play store, and they're pretty damn nice! 2 of them, in fact, were my first exposure to Touhou's gameplay. If you want to check them out, here's a list (you can just search for Touhou to find them.): - The first one that I ever played was one app that had a (9) as an icon, I think it's called Baka STG or something like that. It has 7 bosses, 3 difficulties, but only 1 playable chara. - The second one is by the same dev as the first one, and it has the word 弾幕 (danmaku) with some other kanji as the icon (the background color is black), here, you have 5 bosses, 3 difficulties and 2 playable characters. - This one has Satori for the icon, and it's like a genuine Touhou game, it's not a boss rush like other games here. It has 3 characters (iirc?), and and extra stage even! (It also has Cirno flipping the bird huehuehaushduahsauifh) - Touhou Thousand Night Anamnesis, this one got released 2 years ago, so it's one of the more recent ones. It's a boss rush shmup featuring bosses from EoSD to HSiFS (PoFV is skipped tho, sorry Count...), and it has more than 5 characters, each with their own abilities and bombs! So it's definitely the best one so far. It also has an extra stage and a Phantasm stage. - This one is the most recent one I could find, Touhou Madouroku. It's like a fangame called Spell Card Collection, you choose a spell card and fight the boss. I know I went a bit off topic with this, but you should check these games out if you want a good Touhou experience on your phone!

It is interesting, but also sad. The game had a playerbase (at 5 million downloads in just a year), but people were not incentivized enough to spend their money on stuff in-game. And with these games, if they do not make money, they get the axe. From what I could check, LW gained about 200K dollars last month. Last time I heard this number, it was back in October, when they were greatly dissatisfied and pushed for less f2p elements. I was thinking similarly. However, that means I will have to wait an eternity for Raiko and Chimata to be added to the pool (so both of us are really waiting for someone that was supposed to come long ago). Perhaps once I know I have them, I could take a break and evaluate my overall feeling with the game. New content seems to be balanced around new powercreep units anyway, so I wonder how useful our awaited favorites will be. Also on the issue of hate, Lost Word, just like Memories of Phantasm, is used as punching bag when it comes to fanon frustration and everything wrong with fan creations. Or at least that is what someone told me. Now I am confused again. Was it indeed Arcadia who did the shady stuff, or it was Cave? I need a bit of clarification on that.

It's very sad that these game shut down so quickly, I really do wish they got a proper global release. Yeah, Arcadia Record is made by a scummy company, as far as I've heard, but knowing my Touhou obsessed ass, I'll probably play it (Hell, I hate TLW yet I still play it bcuz, Touhou!!!) Speaking of mobile games, remember that Cave game that got announced like last year? Well, it's supposed to release this year! (In case you don't know who Cave is, it's a Japanese company which makes bullet hells, they're known for DoDonPachi) I do not know if this game will be a gacha game, but still good to know.

Correction: the post itself actually does contains the details of why the game failed

So this was that upcoming fan game people have accused of stealing fan art? Or was it the supposed fourth, Touhou dungeon game? I am still a little confused on that matter. But yeah, now with the fall of a second game (RIP DanKagu), it might be a good moment to evaluate the state of Touhou mobile games. Do you know why DanKagu is getting terminated? Did it not grab enough money, was the game not popular enough, the authors grew bored of it, or was there something else? It was a bit weird that after quite a while in which I heard no news of this game, it all of a sudden cam me back today only to announce its termination. Some expected this for a while, but I preferred not to believe it until I get to actually see it with my own eyes. Nobody knows how much will LostWord survive either, given the way that game has evolved in recent months and tried to rush as much content as they could, plus the...controversial decisions of adding two new, higher tiers of units together with special, hard to obtain currencies for them (and one of them even impossible to spark). Maye we should think again if these game creators really care for us, or all they want is just our money and when they will grab enough they will just abandon ship and move to the next project to milk dry. I mean seriously, what will happen when this game will fall too? Will that be the only moment I realize I wasted more than a year of my life with this little distraction? And for how long will we be able to enjoy it anyway? If we get something new to replace it, can we guarantee that game will not fall as well in a matter of time, leaving you with a void again? Some are happy DanKagu will be terminated, and that LW is the last stain before getting back to a clean community. I know it si a cool thing to hate on gacha (and quite justifiably so, given the predatory tactics of these games), but after a while hating on it becomes just as annoying as the product you hate in itself. I learnt this lesson the hard way with Star Wars as a whole, and nowadays I am mostly apathetic towards anything going on with that name anymore. Edit: I have made a bit of research, and found out what was the whole problem with that game licensed by ZUN and which stole fanart. I do not know its name in English (and will not trust Google Translate with that), but here is some more info about the incident: Also out of all people, I ended up quoting TheOVJM (interesting 1 hour video, but the more I get into who he is, the more I think he is a jerk; also since he is part of the GensoBoiz group, aka shitposters friends to Perldrop, I am not very sure how trustworthy he, or the group as a whole, can be) on the following regarding this event: "A new Touhou *gacha* title with similar licensing as Lost Word got announced just now. Well turns out the studio behind the game has a history of plagiarism... and wouldn't you know it, the promotional art was, of course, stolen. What an absolute joke. Zun and his agents are (justifiably) going after Moriyashrine all the while they make deals with plagiarists. A certified hood classic and bruh moment." Meanwhile, let's just read a lot of negativity and bad takes (in the comments, of course)...

Are you positive about it and have no problems with it or a negative opinion about them?

Yeah Cave is a pretty esteemed developer of bullet hells. I heard about them working on a Touhou mobile bullet hell back when it was first announced but forgot about it so thanks for the reminder. Hopefully the game comes out on time and is a well received experience, although I doubt I'm going to play myself as I'm not someone who plays mobile games.

Until now, I have only grown familiar with 2 OCs when it comes to Touhou, both of those being basically isekai. One of them if the dude from Diamond in the Rough (despite the fact I never watched that series) and the Main Character from Touhou Lost Word (probably mandatory to mention that she is established since you start the game to be a girl, so there is that). I guess they are both fine, and it very much depends on the way they are written. If the story is believable, or at least evolves naturally, I would say the idea is perfectly fine for me.

Ah, looks like Gou is going to be last this time around, but anyway:- 19) I wasn't so sure about this one to begin with because, as you all know by now, I'm not a huge fan of vocals. Still, it's nice enough, plus it does put a voice to Renko finally for me (entirely different from what I imagined, naturally). Definitely need to check out 'Cinnamon, Cinnamon!!' again, to reaffirm the talents of the female singer some of you touch on here. (^_^) (Heh, interesting that Tenkko mentioned "rolling Rs" as well since the Japanese language technically doesn't have that sound, at least not in the way we think of the letter R.) 7/10 20) Well, I liked it, CVN, for much the same reason as you (Walfas for the win, eh!), so I wouldn't feel bad about it. Granted it's not as good as the chip tune used in Gensokyo no Nazo, but I'm not going to downvote it for that reason, and certainly not with such a cute thumbnail. The only criticism I can level really is that it did seem to end abruptly, which caught me totally off guard. (^_^;) 7/10 21) I imagine I am going to be the outlier here as, unlike my mate Chris, I don't appreciate heavy metal at all. Hmm, I don't think it helps that the original is my 3rd favourite Touhou track overall either, and is mostly a classical piece; a style of music I do happen to like a lot. Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad track, just that this one fails to make me even think of the PoFV tune and how I felt when I was getting contantly run down by that annoying boat move of Komachi's in Wandering Souls if I'm honest. With that in mind, I'm afraid I'm going to have to rate it pretty poorly. All the same, that's very nice image there. (=^_^=) 5/10

I think I heard about before. A lot of people aren't happy about this because the company making it is apparently really scummy. Not that I play any of these gatchas anyway, just sharing information. A touhou card game gatcha might win me over though

My turn Water Color Melody. - M.E.P.H.I.S.T.O. Wait, this song has the same vocalist as Cinnamon Cinnamon? I really loved that song, yet did not notice the resemblance until you guys mentioned it. Edit: now that I am listening to it again, I can see what you mean. As I like rock songs, this one was just another fine addition to what I want to listen more. I liked this quite a bit, so I will give it an 8.5-9/10 Komeiji Records - Elegant Ice Maiden Rather an unpleasant surprise to see that my final pick for the tournament has not been so well received. But I can see what you mean about it. I am not sure what else could I add about it besides the fact I tend to associate the song with WalfasStationWagon and their Very Walfas Christmas videos, from where I found it. I guess that overall I should bring some better songs to the table next time. No rating this time. Demetori - Higan Retour ~ View of The River Styx I was wondering if this tournament will get any song from Demetori. I am not very familiar with the band, but I have heard they are quite a big name to heavy metal, yet somehow barely stumbled upon them for almost two years. But from what I have listened, they actually sound quite good, not gonna lie. For some reason, I thought they are a music circle from outside Japan, but after a quick check on the wiki it seems like they are Japanese (at least the names of the members are). Anyway. Higan Retour is one of my favorite songs from PoFV, and this arrangement is also a very good one. I do not know how to explain it when it comes to music itself, but it just activate something in my bran that makes me say "hey, this sounds good, I like it". Another good pick in this tournament, so I will give it an 8.5/10

Got tired of trying to write long-winded commentaries 19: Water Color Melody. - M.E.P.H.I.S.T.O. Glad y'all pointed out the singer because I thought the vocals sounded familiar. Really love her voice and those rolling Rs. Just love this style of music in general really it's fun to listen to, and seems like it'd be very fun to perform too. 8/10 (btw Cinnamon, Cinnamon!! was my pick, didn't mention it back then) 20: Komeiji Records - Elegant Ice Maiden Had to go listen to it on the bandcamp page because Youtube compression doesn't like this one. It's... alright? I kinda like that piano sound, it fits in with the theme too. That section in the middle is pretty neat too but, yeah the rest drags for a bit and doesn't really do much else. 5/10 21: Demetori - Higan Retour ~ View of The River Styx I was gonna send in some Demetori before switching to SSH actually, been listening through some of their albums recently. Still one of my favorite circles tbh, I really do love the work they do and this one's no exception. Feel like it just paints a whole scenery, with the long notes and those echoey guitars in the background. 9/10

M.E.P.H.I.S.T.O I haven't heard of this circle before, but they have some nice distortion guitars and a nice vocalist. She reminds of the singer for Cinnamon, Cinnamon!! a lot... oh wait that's because it's the same person lol. There's quite a lot that goes on in this between different instrumental sections, tones, and the way she sings. Although mind you, none of it really sounds like G Free... At the start I was expecting this to be cool, but it turned out cute overall I think. I like the singer but for some reason I'm not wild about the vibe of this song. 6/10. Elegant Ice Maiden OK, that thumbnail is cute overload. I can't tell if this whether this is trance, house, or something else lol. Whatever it is, I do like what I hear, particularly that minor key section was interesting, however as Dana said it's pretty repetitive and feels same-y throughout aside from that minor key section which was the highlight. Because of that, it ended sooner that I expected it to. I did still think it was pretty, ahem... COOL. But it also hasn't got much too it, it's just kinda average. 5/10. Higan Retour ~ View of the River Styx I really love the airy feel set by the plucked guitar in the intro (that is what a guitar sounds like when plucked, right?), it sets the stage well for the incoming build up, which also seems to feature a bit of synth pad. There's some real progression in this, you wouldn't think you can express so much with just electric guitar, you can feel the journey through this song. That airy instrument which I am assuming is a plucked guitar never truly goes away either, it's always back to add more depth to the composition. It happily takes a good 4 minutes before fully popping off - but despite the overall metal intensity, it all comes to a calm resolution at the end. 9/10. This is 8 minutes of pure demetori bliss.

1. Whoop Whoop swoopy although i'm not a fan of vocalist there even though i'd agree her voice fits the songs mood/style well overall it's okayish but it's one of these rare cases i would rather prefer instrumental version 5.5/10 2. overall quite repetitive, but i usually do not mind it, cirno theme isn't my favorite but it's decent Komeiji Records rings a bell but i don't think i listened their stuff more than few times at best 6.5/10 3. classic good old demetori stuff if it would be Roku Juunenme (Fate of Sixty Years one) it'd be solid 9.5/10 and while Higan Retour is still pretty good i just don't like that much outside of maybe chorus' and guitar solo parts (i miss old demetori works though and honestly demetori overall since they seem to be pretty inactive nowadays) 7.8/10

Sooo, here's some recent news on DanKagu... (lmfao) Honestly, I expected this, shame they never brought it over to the west tho (Why don't they do that immediately?)

Thank you. Funny enough, even if I was actually trying to troll I would not have been as convincing - most of the time, I actually manage to achieve things when I am not really trying to do so for whatever reason. But yeah, I am basically coming from a background of no interactions with this kind of medium, for only all of a sudden to be surrounded by it and become pretty much my main source of entertainment for almost the past couple years. I am not really curious to go further down the anime rabbit hole or get into other holes like HoloLive, as I am satisfied and have more than enough content with Touhou alone (maybe even more than I can digest). But there is ut something I am finding quite appealing about the style, something that I have already mentioned in the how to draw thread. As for other genuine things, the original name I have intended for the thirst thread was "Why are Touhou fans so horny?", but decided to change it last moment to soften a bit the title and not get into trouble due to unwanted connotations. But yes, I am still quite confused. When I originally write the thread on a different forum, in January 2021, it came just a few days after witnessing an argument in the Tanks Encyclopedia community in their recruitment page. One person draw an awesome are piece with tanks, and the only "sin" he did was to add anime girls peeking their head out the tank cupola. And from there, quite a bit of a shitshow trying to completely cancel how good the actual drawing was just because it looked like "weeb shit" the did not belong to the community and their standards. It was the moment I felt a bit offended for no good reason, especially when I wanted to defend the artist as their work was very good. I a still with the group even now, despite the fact I avoided that section of discussion ever since. These are the drawings of that person. They were posted in the artists recruitment section, and if they did not have the girls added, I think the whole discussion could have been avoided back then: And this is how the discussion looked like (please excuse my colleagues when it comes to the topic) This whole mess included 3 Romanians (me, an illustrator of the website and one of the administrators) - that is why I keep pointing out how people in my country tend to think (despite the fact among my generation in college I am starting to see more and more people taking interest in anime and manga rather than the American equivalent media) as well as few more guys.

19: Water Color Melody. - M.E.P.H.I.S.T.O. oh Water Color Melody this is a vocalist only circle, you may recognize her from Cinnamon Cinnamon from the 1st round. the arranger and everything else is a guest. i personally liking the vocal, idk i just imagine this is how Renko sound when singing. she has quite a large vocal range, the character she singing are on spot, it's like she's frustated and doesnt care anymore. i do hear G-Free in the instrumental part, especially the guitar. quite heavily modified. 8.5/10 i really like the singer character. 20: Komeiji Records - Elegant Ice Maiden i didnt expect the kicks, i was expecting piano oriented musik and then! i also didnt expect the FM synth. the main melody sounds like carbon copy, i barely notice any modification other than the added instruments in the back tbh i dont know which one is the good one, the super faithful arrangement or the almost unnoticeable re-arrangement like the previous song. eh 5/10? (i just dont like cirno (and the theme)) why is she so popular i never understand even back when i just started touhou 21: Demetori - Higan Retour ~ View of The River Styx oh have we ever had demetori in the tourney? i feel like they're too famous to be here. although we just had shibayan and diao ye zong previously, but idk, this feels too well known. nowadays i only listen to demetori for my absolute favorite tracks only. everything else they made seems have mushed together into 'demetori music', most likely because my super long exposure with them. it's still a banger though, i can even still recognize all the theme they did. it's just.. my mind goes blank, no think mode. 8/10