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I think we should have a good talk about this topic. I have had a lot of thinking about this topic for a long time. Recent twits by nmlgc and aggressive2hu inspired me to do more research to finally build a full picture. I understood that we should act now until it is too late. The more info I found for this post, the worse the situation became. And it is not just about Touhou, problems are much more serious, but mostly I will talk about Touhou because I really love Touhou and I hope to change situation for better at least for Touhou. The goal of this post is not to bring hate towards anybody in the fandom or ZUN, but to help people understand the roots of the problems to resolve them. CAUTION!! CAUTION!! CAUTION!! If you still want to believe that there are no serious problems in Touhou fandom, and still want to believe in Touhou and doujin magic, well this post may bring you down. You have been warned. CAUTION!! CAUTION!! CAUTION!! Before we start, I hope to see criticism which will explain where I am right and where I am wrong, because this topic is rarely discussed. Thank you. Have you noticed that something is not right? Have you noticed that there are much less new Touhou fangames, doujinshi and doujin music than for example 8 years ago? Have you noticed that a lot of new fan content is nearly unnoticed? Have you noticed that fandom is not united and split? Have you noticed that last Touhou games are rushed and story is less well-written? Doujin events examples: I suppose that everyone noticed at least some of those problems but I am surprised that nearly nobody tried to analyse why these have happened. Well, there are two main causes of the problems: the fandom and the franchise itself. Fandom: But there are other problems that may make people haters of not just fandom, but of Touhou itself. Franchise: But what I can say for sure if this topic is unnoticed and left undiscussed we won't be able to change the situation for better. I thought that Touhou was an islet of safety in current sea of crisis of mass culture, but alas it is already under the water. But wait, let's be clever and take a step further (unlike those haters): what about non-Touhou doujin scene, what is happening there? (Spoiler: the situation is similar there): But everything is not lost! We can change the situation for better if we will stop being scattered and will work together. The worst thing now is just giving up. Thank you for reading this. I would be really glad to receive criticism, corrections and proposals. I know this topic is controversial, but I think that it must be discussed. I just want Touhou fandom to become better. If you have any good ideas how to change the whole situation for better feel free to share them. Also feel free to share this post. There are also some other related thoughts about this topic: Afterwords: If after reading this post you want to hate ZUN or anybody else then I think you didn't understand this post. This post shows that hate didn't change the situation for better and only made it worse. We don't need to hate, We need to act. For the fans who are Still with us.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, Touhou fandom has not fallen yet, and the more people will be aware of those problems the more chances we have to make Touhou fandom blooming again. Sadly, yes. Because this is a pirate site, and after DMCA /r/touhou and Touhou Wiki decided to support Ruw's decision. There is even a group who wrote doujin circles to help them with DMCA. They even created hakureishrine.org (it is just redirect to Steam, and yes they still pay for this domain just for joke). Thank you too, for your reply. You understood it correctly. Just one more detail, there were dramas between main Touhou websites even between main websites. Not only that but also some strange limitations from ZUN and Ruw. You understood it correctly. Somewhat yes. The first solution also include forgetting about dramas at least between creators, so they could work together. Those are just my proposals and they maybe not ideal. I want to bring up this topic for discussion to find the best solution from realistic ones. Thank you for your reply. I also think that persuading ZUN now is nearly impossible. Touhou is mostly made for Japanese fans and ZUN mostly listen only to them, so without their help it would be impossible to do it. I understand it, but I don't have better solutions for now, I am sorry.

someone call the EPIC POSE AGENCY(tm) cause i sure found something ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

ISTG MY HOMESCHOOLING JUST ADDED THE GOOFY SLIP SOUND IM SO DONE

More text has been inserted, the progress is slow because I've been busy with personal things but I hope I can finish this by the end of the year (at least with the main story and items)

Very cool topic! I read through most of the other replies, and I think you all have amazing ideas :) I especially love that idea, ReisenFanatic :D Feels like so many games these days are about violence so that sounds cool. Me personally, I always wanted to make a big open world game (map is like 2 km wide) in which there is no real objective except survival. You get to start at a human village, and try to make friends or enemies or whatever. I am thinking about a HUGE emphasis on npcs that adapt to the environment. For example if you help out certain people, their enemies start to hate you. Or if crop yields are getting low, villagers start blaming each other. You can even spread rumors that people may or may not believe! It's probably nearly impossible to make such a complicated system, but I like to imagine :) Anyways, the character and settings. Since I only play touhou 4, the main character is mountain youkai Orange. She might pass as a human to most, but needs to be a bit careful near people like Reimu. Overall nobody is really hostile at the start, but environmental factors (famines, rain, earthquakes), player interactions, and npc actions slowly shape relationships. It all depends how you react. You could be a helpful person that is friends with everybody. You could be a secret murderer that the police keep struggling to catch. It's your game, your world, your life! Writing this during class so I might be making no sense right now hehe. Thanks again Yumetou for the interesting question :P

Thank you for your opinion. I am grad to see criticism of my post. I understand that we may not to care about the state of Touhou and just watch what will happen next. I understand that internet and fandoms are just part (a small one) of our real lives. I understand that if something bad happens to franchise we can move to next one. I understand that this site is not that big and not many people visit forums here. But for some reason Touhou became something important for me. And it would be sad for me if this series would die. I am a little guy, and literally noname outside of this forum. I cannot do anything big alone, but I thought that doing a small step for changing the situation for better is better than doing nothing at lot. I hope that this discussion won't just stay in this "little circle" and would go upper (but for now it is just hope). Yes, I understand that I cannot change the situation alone greatly. I made some purposes which aren't too realistic, the others are somewhat more achievable. What is it? I still cannot describe it. Maybe a hope that after this little step there would be more bigger steps. Maybe stupidity. Maybe I am just overthinking everything. Who knows? And again, thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Mmmm, this topic has been something of a long time brewing, hasn't it? 1.) General groundworks, fanbase fragmentation 2.) ZUN himself and franchising 3.) Doesn't he only interact with his JP fans? I'm gonna stop here for now and let this thread build up. I'm interested in seeing how this develops as it has been some time since something like this captured my attention.

That would be near impossible. Most Fandom/Community/Whatever attempts at making a company (although you can hardly call Team Shanghai Alice a "company" as it is just one person, but I didn't have any other term to use here) notice them fail.One example I can think of is #Savetf2, which ended with TF2 team responding with a tweet and then returning to radio silence. Although because we aren't dealing with an AAA company here, we have higher chances of well.... I guess you can say "speaking up"? However the issue is that we probably would need at least a pretty sizeable minority with us and a way of persuading and forcing ZUN to stop working with Ruw, however the second part would be much easier to deal with. Other than that I'm also quite pessmistic towards other solutions, however I don't know why as I can't really explain it. It might just be a gut-feeling though. Also I apologize if I misunderstood something or didn't read something.

You've... scrambled my brain. I don't know what to say. At first I just want to get clarification on your main points, because honestly, your post is huge. Is this interpretation correct? -Problem1: Bigger websites (discord, facebook, etc.) get more popular -> fans leave main touhou websites -> fans are in smaller divided circles (ex: discord servers) -> more divide/drama -Problem2: Touhou getting enfranchised -> lower effort games -> more negativity towards the series -Outcome: Combining outcomes of problems 1 & 2 -> harder for newcomers to get in -> less fans -> entire fanbase begins to degrade (fanworks and events) -Solution: Everybody going back to centralized touhou websites OR creating a huge website list containing all fan circles I'm really not too sure if I understood everything. Please let me know if I misunderstood anything.

i'm impressed with your analysis. Well, I understand the pessimism and all of the unfortunate situations, but I still believe that touhou fandom have not yet fallen. I can't be considered an avid touhou fan (i entered the fandom 1 year and a half ago) but i guess we still have a chance, but, knowing how things happen, it's very unlikely that it'll occur (at least based on the fandom actions themselves, cited by you). Anyway, great point being brought here (i'm sure most people won't even read the first lines) and thanks for making me(us) aware of the whole thing. and also, for some reason it hadn't yet sunk in for me that we are considered the black sheep of the fandom

coming soon... a tale of romance... (teehee... how can i even thank you?) betrayal... (i thought you wanted to commit your entire life to me...) and BUTTONS... (OF COURSE I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH IS WHICH!!!) THE SANAE PARABLE/PROJECT or SANAE SAVES YOU FROM SUCCUMBING TO THE BUCKET available on 4/27!!!!

today is 4/27!!!!!!! tsp 427.mp4

i replaced my tamagochi's battery i'll probably never see the light of day ever again...

missed me? cause i'm BACK! AND I'M CRAZIER THAN EVER!!!! i think you heard of my creator amelia puffles... that's me! well it turns out she's one of the 2 persons running this account! (the second is the narrator ofc :D) and she's got a DEFINITIVE REDESIGN! we won't show the image rn cause it's past bedtime :c can't we just go to bed already? i want the fluffy plushie combo spell! me too! *sigh* fine... today-ay-ay-ay-aaaaaaaaaay~ ...epic.

I really like this Touhou EP I found. Not really much Touhou music with a garage/psychadelic rock sound to em. Can't really find the band anywhere else. Their Heian Alien remix is one of my favorites

i played this on piano just to see how it works, so many people surrounded me like wtf (i was in the school band room waiting for the bell to ring so i can hurry my _ss over to 1st period) time to sing it

today i offer you: Seija

should i even play this (on my clarinet) bc this is the fingerings i read + the right treble OR should i sing this (source: wikipedia (kagome-kagome)

there's not a single word that can describe my love for the royalty-free christmas songs series (tum ticky-ticky tum, ticky-tum too) Where is the nice 10th’ volume? Put, it in, my mouth. Where is uncle uh oh and the choir? Do jack and the clone still bone?

send this to someone when they really really piss you off!! (source : nick resignation incident)

New Gensokyo Survival Guide, after too long! Next post probably gets us out of the Road of Reconsideration and to the parts of Gensokyo people care about. So make sure to vote, or the Hitotsume Kozo will sentence you to stanky breath for a week.

nice wallpapers

these are my wallpapers (on my phone)

WHY ARE THESE WALLPAPERS SO GOOD HELP-

he sad :'(

been a hot minute since I last checked in on inabakumori and I'm happy they're still making amazing songs this one gives off a very emotional vibe for some reason (and also like a "finale" feeling idk how to describe it)

Counter Point: Is the state of the fandom at any time, past current or future, necessarily concerning? What is the actual impact on you or me if this state of affairs continues or gets "worse?" I've been around a while now, and I've seen many fluctuations in the little "circle" we have here. I don't always appreciate them, but they don't bother me overly much; ultimately, my life is not going to be effected by what's happening here. Touhou is the reason I came here, but it isn't really the reason I'm still here now, and it was never going to be. My "About Me" page is forever invisible (why does this exist I don't understand it's been years), but if y'all could see it you'd see a description of what I believe defined my priorities in regard to my interactions: Bible believer Music enthusiast Amateur meme propagator That's me (although I may not live up to the last one anymore), and whatever happens to Touhou and its fandom isn't going to change that. I get the impression you want something out of the fandom that you don't believe you can get in its current state. What is it?

an educational game featuring well-known touhou OCs (apple girl + half human half kappa half unoriginal) and unused and not well known 2hus (rin satsuki, yatsuhashi...) the game is a platformer, shooter, quiz game, rhythm game amalgamation-whatever (just like most edutainement stuff), it's kinda long and it teaches morals (like good manners, empathy, being yourself...) by first having dialogue, then the gamplay, then repeat the last steps differently (because the world is complex!) and finally a quiz and A REALLY CATCHY SONG!!!!!! it's gonna be called "rin moves to mysteryland!" because why not slip in a touhou 4kids patch reference? and eventually, it's gonna be for toddlers who just got to school and (i really love this) *fake cough* PRETEENS!!!!! BECAUSE THEY NEED A LITTLE REVIEW OF THEIR LESSONS (if you know what i mean)!!!!!! and if that actually exists, send me a link. it's for... research purposes. i love edutainement games.

he can see 3d movies without 3d glasses - donkeytf2

the _________________

guys i have a theory human civilisation will die in a few years because of greed and enshitification

Its like you said, we're past the golden age of touhou. We are no longer in a time where touhou was as internet culturally relevant anymore. That unfortunately happens to a lot of series that are really popular on the internet. However I think we are far from dead, I think right now we are in a time where Touhou is giving rise to successors but it isn't being shown to the public more because its successors are more popular and good for them. To me, the touhou community is like the Classic Doom Community, even though its golden age has long past its community is still thriving. There are still people out there creating WAD's for Classic Doom and just like how people are still creating things for touhou. Both of these series still have boost of popularity with My house for Doom and Luna Nights for touhou (That was the game that got me into the franchise in the first place). We are just passing the torch to a new generation and as far as I see it, this new generation is doing well at keeping it lit.

Thank you for your reply. I am grad you liked this post and and I would be grad for your analysis. I have read most of your threads before I created an account here. You really made great analysis there. Thank you for your reply. I agree that uniting all the fans nearly impossible now. So I purposed a little more realistic solutuon (only unite creators). I didn't thought about a language factor, a really good point (but from what I know that is not that big problem in other fandoms. Mostly agree. I hope correctly understood the second part. I don't think the age is not a serious problem I think, because if the series is really good there would be fans even after 50 years. But yes, newer Touhou games are very different from older ones (not everyone likes it, but for me it is okey if they are made well). Also kind of ironic that ZUN wanted to create a shmup for PC98 which had way more bullets than Caves shmups. Agree with everything. Agree with everything. Yes, it is a big problem. That is one of the main reasons why fans leave the fandom. Yes, you are right. He also knows about Chinese community, because he visited China and met Touhou fans there. (Am I the only one who has strange feelings about this video? Agree with all. And that is a problem that they are that used to gachas. I thought that was obvious: mostly thwiki.cc Comiket: https://thwiki.cc/Comic_Market Reitaisai: https://thwiki.cc/Reitaisai Kouroumu: https://thwiki.cc/东方红楼梦 Meikasai: https://thwiki.cc/东方名华祭 Autumn Reitaisai: https://thwiki.cc/博丽神社秋季例大祭 Hakudenkai 2022: https://extra.hakudenkai.games Hakudenkai 2023: https://hakudenkai.games/ Again, thank you for your interesting thoughts.

Not amazing, but wooooooohooooooooooooooo

have you guys ever realized that we are a species born to struggle and suffer in this world and that nothing is actually worth doing, yet it's in our nature to push forwards regardless, simply because we like challenges and the feeling of being in a tight situation is simply what drives most of us towards success the sole reason we are alive is because of tthe hardships we face, and how we deal with them, so don't ever give up, for life is made of struggles

touhou is the only franchise that people can draw the characters slightly differently and people won’t complain and/or agree that’s them

WAAAH I JUST CANT RN

renaming mother computer to MOTHERCHIP you know, the main antagonist of mathilda's world (>w<)

not the wolf pic i'm crying

Moved into my first new place in years. Still don't have internet. Hoping to be back here more often. Eventually...

man

Hi, it's been while jeje. A friend mine is helping me to translate the game, we've started inserting the text of the first chapter and here a look of it

I don’t think it’s a secret I have a fascination with Mima. The fact she was such a key part of the franchise and just fell off the map never fails to stir my fascination. But my boys Juunimeta and Eulogous have expanded that interest into the general 98 era. If I did a fan game, it’d probably be based on that part of the history. There’s a $5 game on Steam I can’t remember the name of. The premise is simple; you play as the Devil who has purchased a rundown apartment block. You attract various monsters to live in your apartments, keep them happy and use them to fight adventurers and heroes come to loot your stuff. I think a concept like that would fit Touhou well. Imagine playing as a vengeful Mima come back into Gensokyo to rescue your apprentice from the evil shrine maiden who has bewitched her with concepts like ‘friendship’ and ‘Youkai are bad, m’kay?’ You would go through a series of stages you could customize for a sidescrolling dungeon, and populate it with various types of ghosts, youkai and demons to defend it. Some could work well together, while other types hate each other. You could customize rooms to optimize your monster choice or throw in traps. Cast spells to give minions an edge. Recruit various characters from the PC-98 and Windows era as a dungeon boss, all as various heroines or generic fantasy characters fight their way into your dungeon. With the end goal of traversing the levels and making a dungeon so deadly, it takes down Reimu herself. All to bathe the land in darkness and rescue your surrogate daughter. Juuni, Eulo and I were chatting the other week over what Yumeko would look like were she reintroduced. The idea gave me a concept for a 98-focused RPG adventure. Yumeko the Sword-Maid wakes up in a world I can only describe as ‘the dimension of irrelevance’. In this strange new world, you have to recruit allies like Elly, Gengetsu and Satsuki, marching your way through a dull hellscape to try to find your way back to Gensokyo. The only way back is the Yin-Yang orb, which Mima tells you can grant wishes. Would probably put a lot of focus on character-interactions, maybe with a morality system which affects the ending. For instance, if you ignore Mima, she decides to become the god of this new world. If you have high affinity and low morality with her, she may choose to train you as her shrine maiden. Or if you have high affinity and high morality, she will use her wish to see Marisa one last time to say good-bye.

Hitotsume Kozo ‘One-Eyed Priest Boy’ Found throughout Gensokyo but most commonly in dark and forbidden places, these little menaces are reviled throughout the land. Judgmental, mischievous and child-like, these monsters are harmless compared to other races in Gensokyo. Their true power comes from the ability to see the sins of any they see, which they then relay to the Yamas and Hecate for judgment. Hitotsume Kozo are said to resemble miniature monks with bald heads and one eye, though they can be either gender. They are devote Buddhists, and can be pleased with the correct mantra. They are often seen in the company of the Mikari-Baba, who like them is said to have one eye. Both are spirits of misfortune, with the Hototsume Kozo directing the Mikari Baba onto a chosen target. When alone or without a Youkai to protect them, they enjoy startling Humans and Youkai alike with wild pranks. Particularly the wicked, people doing evil, or just those who annoy them. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= “O-oh really? Its uhh, nice to meet you.” The magician leaned forward with a smile he hoped didn’t look too forced. The eyes of the youkai, one still in her hand, focused on him. He was glad to be wearing his cape, for the flowing shape made his frame all the larger… A gloved hand eased behind him, waving to the group watching nearby. It took him a couple tries before they noticed, and a couple more before Cirno seemed to understand. Turning, she held a finger up with a ‘Shhh’. Before creeping along the path. Mystia, who was nearest, turned to Wriggle, repeating the gesture, before following after Cirno with a slow creep. When Rumia turned with a smile to Daiyousei, she only found the other fairy glaring down at her. The understanding nod Rumia gave instead earned her a pat on the head. Oscar meanwhile, desperate to keep the conversation with the weirdo holding her *actual eye* in her hand glanced down at the body beside her. It was an old thing, wrapped in rags and more bone than flesh. “So ahh, what are you doing?” “Scavenging.” “What for?” What people don’t want.” The phrase was singularly unhelpful. Though Agappa-chan turned to a bag at her side. One hand diving into the knockoff Chanel handbag before she raised her open palm. Between her fingers was a couple paperclips, a Bic pen, lighter and a few bullets. Though what their size was, he had no idea. Her other hand slipped into the bag a moment later, pulling out a black book, marked with elaborate designs. Her next few words were tinged with almost a note of pride. “Humans don’t want these anymore. I’ll make them useful.” Cirno glanced over at the weird man they picked up. The broad cape thankfully blocking them from view. Wary blue eyes glanced back to observe the others sneaking behind her. Well, Mystia and Wriggle sneaking. Daiyousei and Rumia looked pretty casual. The team’s fearless leader turned to Oscar Diggs, giving him an unseen salute. “Thank you Osu! Your sacrifice won’t be forgott--” “Freezing frogs. 1507 counts.” The two words were delivered as calmly as possible. But from the scream which ripped from Cirno’s throat, one would have guessed she saw the end approaching. Or a mighty frog god looking for revenge. With a surge of adrenaline, the fairy leaped into the arms of Mystia, barely able to hold her up. The group and Oscar crowded around, staring from behind her. Even Agappa glanced over with passive interest. Seated on a tree branch nearby was a girl. Though hunched over, she looked like the diminutive Cirno would tower over her. Even Rumia was probably taller by a couple hairs. Most of her frame was hidden behind a scroll she held in her hands, leaving only one eye glaring at them visible, and a half-shaven head of silky black hair. “Interrupting an agent of the Yamas. Punishment: fifty hiccups at your next meal.” She said. Rapidly scribbling down the entry onto the scroll. The fear of the group hovering over everyone before the blue baka managed a glare back at the figure. “H-hey, one thou...one thou...that number’s too small! I’ve frozen way more frogs than--” “Oh, a wise guy eh? Well it says here freezing frogs. 1507 counts. Your punishment’s 30 leg cramps at 3 AM. Don't make me make it 31 leg cramps.” “Ha! Then I just won’t sleep!” “...I don’t think that’s possible Cirno...” =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= What next? = Daiyousei seems pretty put together for the group. Maybe she should help? = What is up with these eyes I mean--Uhhh...want to see me make a fairy disappear? = ...Well this seems a good opportunity to leave. Thank you Cirno. Your sacrifice won't be forgotten. = Push the annoying girl off the branch. Teach that nerd to read curses at you.

i have acquired a months worth of days won

just finished watching bungo stray dogs and god it is clearly the best anime i've ever watched

War of teh ultinate wed new season dropped yo