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Yeah, this took me much longer than I was supposed to, so here is the info put together: So, remember when KLab announced they were making a Touhou gacha game that turned out to be an asset flip of a bootleg game that stole assets and plagiarized from other games? Well, it's back and it's releasing today. On March 31st 2022, a new account for a Touhou Mobile game, Touhou Arcadia Record announced that they obtained a license to make a Touhou mobile game, and they were starting pre-registration. With the announcement came a website, and at the very bottom of the website, people found something that made this prospective mobile game less than appealing. Namely that it was being published by KLab, who just one year ago announced the bootleg game, Danmaku Gensou. Speaking of which, whatever happened to that game and the developer, Dobala games? No announcement of cancellation, no news of updates or anything, it's just gone, and one year later they now have this new game that's also far enough in development to release 4 months later. Whatever happened to that old one, due to that incident, this new game, Arcadia Record, was given a lot of scrutiny by fans. And they found some of its activities suspicious. First, they found that the website was engaging in meta tag abuse, adding tags like Danmaku Kagura, Lost Word, and even Dungeon Dive to the meta tags, presumably as an attempt to increase their search engine rankings. They updated this after being called out on it. They also used Unknown X's "What is Touhou" explanation, completely copy & pasting the description on Unknown X's for their own website. They updated this after being called out on it. And most famously, they gave themselves the abbreviation 東方アルレコ (Touhou AruReco), which just happens to be the abbreviation used for Alstroemeria Records (of Bad Apple fame). They also hired Alstroemeria Records to compose a song for their announcement PV. This, along with their meta tag abuse, and the fact that they were backed by KLabs, made people theorize that they were trying to use Alstroemeria Records' name and abbreviation to boost their own popularity, since their website and game to appear on searches for the circle. They updated this after they got called out on it. During Reitaisai , no less. Now they go by 東方アルカ (Touhou Aruka). Either way, this shady image stuck to them. It didn't help that when they showed some of their assets off, people noticed that they look pretty familiar. As if it was just the assets of Danmaku Gensou with a fresh coat of paint. (And Danmaku Gensou itself was also just a bootleg game renamed into a non-bootleg game). Sure enough, when the closed beta was released, it was pretty obviously, just the old bootleg game with a new coat of paint. On the left is a video of the old bootleg Touhou game, on the right is footage from the Touhou Arcadia beta. So what happened here? Honestly I can't really say 100% for certain. My theory is that KLab found themselves in hot water and saddled with a license that they can't use. So they just decided to take the game that Dobala Games already had and gave it to a company that was willing. They were a bit more careful this time around though. For one thing, KLab themselves made 0 announcement of this. No press release, no Gematsu or Famitsu article, nothing. The only thing that tells you that KLab is involved at all is the trademark at the bottom of the site. Pretty weird for a game that was supposed to be releasing soon. What's more, they also commissioned a bunch of circles to make tracks and PVs for them, to make themselves look better. They also didn't announce themselves to the world this time, keeping everything in Japan. Time will tell if their efforts were actually successful. The Youtube Videos on the games haven't exactly been positive. [Small update] More oddities about the game. The Google Appstore link mentions Dobala in it. This is despite the fact that Arcadia Records is by Damo Games, and Dobala games was the developer of the old one. Also, their Wonderful World PV has a peculiar lack of UM characters, despite UM having already been released for over a year by the time it was released. Even accounting for production time, surely they could've added 2 extra images showing the UM masterminds. It really makes me think that KLab did find themselves down a good chunk of their capital, having already commissioned several circles, with nothing to show for it, so they just decided to release Arcadia Records anyways, despite all the plagiarism behind it. I shoukd clarify that what Izm trying to say from this one is that it's just more signs that this was actually made for the Dobala Games one instead of for Arcadia Records. More signs that ArReco is just a reskin of that bootleg game. It's less a "they didn't feature UM thing, how dare they", and more "why didn't they?". It looks very much like this animation was completed a long time ago. Because it's very conspicuous to cut off at 17 when considering what the PV is about. Originally, the person made another thread about the game back in April, which further expands the discussion on the game I'm sure everyone has seen the recent news of KLab and a Dobala games making an "officially licensed" touhou game. I'd like to point out a few pieces of information regarding this company, as well as clarify what officially licensed means here. First, let's start with the company itself. Some of you may be excited of the prospect of playing a Touhou Side-scrolling shmup game on mobile. However, I'd advise getting excited about this one, as the developers behind this game have a checkered history of plagiarism. As seen in the tweet below, back in 2018, they already made a game that ripped off designs from Touhou, Azur Lane, and GBF. In some cases, straight up using the same asset. More details can seen in the following article https://bilibili.com/read/cv1649004/ You can also see an example of the gameplay in the following video, featuring Hakurei Maiden, Star Wizard, Big Fairy, Scarlet Overlord, Hong Meiling (spelled differently), and Frost Fairy. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Tp4y1s77D. And if you think that was egregious enough, if you look at that boss battle and compare it to the screenshot in the Gematsu article, you'll notice a few similarities. As seen in this tweet. https://twitter.com/Doki2_yumoti_ch/status/1386598456756629506 In other words, they've not only plagiarised Touhou in the past, they're currently taking that pirate game, flipping the assets, and selling it as a new officially sanctioned game. The game itself can still be found right here. https://appadvice.com/app/e9-a3-9e-e5-a4-a9-e5-b0-8f-e9-ad-94-e5-a5-b3-e5-85-a8-e6-b0-91-e5-8a-a8-e4-bd-9c-e5-8d-a1-e7-89-8c-e6-89-8b-e6-b8-b8/1492900654 So, you might be thinking, "how could ZUN officially sanction this"? Well, here's the thing. ZUN is very hands off when it comes to Touhou related stuff. A lot of the times, when companies want to make merchandise or products, they don't go to him, they go to his legal team. There have been a few "officially licensed" game here and there, such as Lost Word, and Dungeon Dive, these are all officially licensed in a sense that they've talked to ZUN's legal team, and gotten an okay from them. They have not gotten directly involved with ZUN in any way. When it comes to official games that are actually part of the series, for now, that's only the numbered games, the collaborations with Tasogare Frontier, and some parts of the Seihou series. anything else is just considered a derivative work, regardless if it's made by a company. Now, back to the new game. I hope anyone who was interested in it out give it a second thought and not give the game your attention. I believe what they're doing undermines the effort and love that every other Touhou creator pours into their works. As well as being insulting to fans who were expecting a quality game. I hope that this thread has enlightened you in regards to the situation. To close with, here are a few more threads showing the extent of Dobala Games' asset flipping and plagiarism. https://t.bilibili.com/h5/dynamic/detail/517856430361073125 Reading this, especially the last part, has raised me some questions. Particularly on the legal team part. Could this mean ZUN does not really have any actual power over what is going on, and the legal team is doing everything behind his back? It only remains to be seen what will happen next.

I've had an eventful week, which may have included me getting rushed to hospital. Good thing I'm still alive to finish this. Better stop postponing just in case I die again. Rough Sea I often find it hard to find things to say about EDM, I feel there isn't much to comment on. I had to go and listen to the original again to be able to fully appreciate it, but I liked the opening of this song, and I appreciated the Theme of Eastern Story being weaved into there. The climax was alright but maybe it got a bit much right at the peak. I don't know what much more I can say other than you don't often get remixes of Illusionary Joururi. 5/10? I didn't feel there was anything particularly special to take away from this one. The beautiful world I really liked the mellowness of the opening, the piano reminded me a bit of the soundtrack from Breath of the Wild. It created this atmosphere that brought out the mysteriousness of Merry the Magician. I was expecting it to continue like that, but nope suddenly rock lol. It would appear this song is about Yukaribel. It still commits to being atmospheric, it's just a different kind of atmosphere now. I can really feel there's a journey being expressed through this music. I like how you can tell the music is based on Necrofantasia without it really being shoved up front. Although I think I would honestly have preferred if the whole thing was a continuation of the opening, it's a very cool song that uses the themes in it excellently. 9/10. U.N. Owen was Her? Atmospheric, I love the secluded village vibes given off by the instrumentation. There's also this kind of bubbly percussive noise used starting at 1.33, not the first time I've heard it but I don't know what the instrument that makes it is called, is anyone able to tell me? Because I'd really like to know, it's a sound I quite like. Anyway, this mixed around UN Owen in a lot of creative ways which I really liked. We've all listened U.N. Owen Was Her to death so naturally, it takes something for a remix of it to leave an impression on me, but this might be my new favourite rendition of it. Listening to this transported me into a dreamy, rural location - well, of the mind at least. 10/10.

Yeah, it's Dokupe without a doubt, although I can't for the life of me remember how or why I started drinking it. (^_^;)

That's the plan, I've always wanted to see this place active and now i finally get to do it. And he's, gold can of irn run on a hot day is heavenly. And hey, I've been making a name for myself here a little so that's cool, but i mainly just like seeing the place active, I find it funny how i just started being active out of nowhere. Lol

Vietnamese person here, and honestly, if there's anything of a Touhou community here, it's definitely thriving. For once, we do take precedence in our fandom. Fangames made by some members in our community, a hefty amount of cosplayers and in general, fans alike. I do take hope into seeing us thrive more haha, and I guess we are still strong in hands.

Coke for me. I mean.... Dr Pepper's pricey as hell in here, and besides, I'd take precedence of a familiar. Water.... we have Lavie and Aquafina as two dominating water brands here haha. So anything goes in the pendulum's cycle.

Hey again! My favourite would be Dr Pepper, but I also like Irn-Bru a lot! Having a cold can on a hot day is just heavenly. Can't say no to having plenty of water either. Also Scarlet, appreciate you making this site more active recently!

Making characters look ridiculous doubles the joy of any franchise. What is the fun of having a bunch of "Mr. Perfects" walking around? We want goofy, we want ridiculous. It just makes me love the characters more, turns them more human in a certain way. One of the reasons why I think Monty Python is so popular.

Now that we are about to end, my final thoughts. It will be short, as all I want to say is the following: I absolutely loved Cinnamon Cinnamon and Yomotsu-Shikome. I might say they are some of my favorite arrangements I have listened to in quite a while. Both of them have things I love them for. The former got me with the vocals - I was not expecting to find too soon another vocalist I could I say I like a lot besides Stack. But looks like I did. For the latter, I absolutely loved the melancholic tone given by the violin and piano. It has a special feeling, one that I cannot really describe in words. It felt a bit...otherworldly if I could say so. Both songs have been charming in their own way.

/22: Nami Haven - Rough Sea (Blacklolita Remix): I have a hunch that Ken added extra spice in the final round. Right, Round 8! The song maintain the hype and I can hear the "Beep" at the start (I'm not so sure about how it sounded) to deliver a compelling feeling, also the pause near the end of the sound gives you a break; it starts of with a bang and end with satisfaction. I need to get my boogie glasses! Quite Melodic indeed. Another good entry and a splendid order done Ken. 8/10 (Also this shall be an ever lasting memory, Theme of Eastern Story in the final round the longest remix tournament ever; I now only realized this and my scoring preference sky rocketed. This kind of setting can only be pulled off by the one and only the master of playlist.) 23: Diao ye zong - The beautiful world: Someone really enjoys bringing the big guns. At the start it sounds really similar to "Watery Grave" From PvZ especially since they're both at the start. Nostalgia is strong in this one. Very somber tune, and it really does move into a good transition not too long in which it blew my mind. I've got to double check on how smooth the transition is. The guitar solo really brings out the flavor. And the last section to feel the credits. 8.5/10 (For reminding about Watery Grave) (I wonder how DrunkenFlower reacts to this one) 24: Meng Shi - U.N. Owen was Her?: Bias overload!!! This right here is my dream theme, the one and only song maybe even the first one to speak to me in a spiritual level, I know I have said this a lot since the tournament started. But I'm real taken by this arrangement; it's one of the first arranges I've found ever since I joined this community. I would've missed it it by a long shot If I didn't wondered in the vast majority of arranges but I'm glad I did since I've got it all saved up in my drives well, moments before getting hit by a strike and vanishing to the depths of unknown but it seems like it's resurfacing yet again. I've got to say this one theme accompany my journey for years, even at the start of the Pandemic, exams and it even help me made some friends and eventually my brother to be in Touhou. So, this arrangement holds a lot to me. Sort of like a older sister. It also helps that Touhou 6 is also one of my first games along with 4. I mean I've heard of many remixes of this but this one truly makes it Justice. The Brilliant sting instruments creating a medieval like classic formula creating a dreamy atmosphere just like the Pc-98 era Touhou games. And for the finish I can't stress enough how good the bells are! Even at the end they hold so much weigh! And just the damm instrument choice here, I can't comprehend how great this whole arrangement is. And for matching all of my preferences, I bestow thee upon the mightiest honor: 10/10 And with that the tournament is over and Ken I didn't expect you to put 4 remixes here. Frankly, I fell quite honored. Well, now it sure is a finish, a good finish. Perhaps, being the first one to review why your selection is the final song to tie things up really is quite a feeling to have. Nonetheless, happy ones. Ah, this has got to be one of the most memorable days in this forum. With Newer members participating in here, I'm sure the old crew is really happy to have us too. Now, I shall wait for others review patiently.