CountVonNumenor

Honestly, I know pretty much nothing about Amusement Makers. Did they do anything after Mystic Square and after ZUN left the group? Are thy still around?

So... how many people do still need to answer? This is the last round of I am not wrong, so I think we should find a way to finish it. It's been almost 6 months already...

Oh god, only now I actually noticed how many answers I have collected in this thread... Given how absent I have been from the Shrine recently, I really should come back and answer to all of them. I find the topic brought up interesting, and therefore would like to bring the thread up for the newer public of the forum as well. I am always looking for more replies and discussion based on something I write - seeing discussions develop is probably one of the most satisfying feeling as you get the chance to learn a little bit about the way in which others see the same subject, therefore creating a more nuanced view of said subject. Anyway, I am back, at least to some measure...

A bit of a shorter opening presentation on my side today. Based on the idea of "Touhou Project, but if it came out 20 years later...", I stated thinking more and more about a series of alternate history scenarios: Touhou, but if the series never went past Mystic Square and ZUN just moved to another project What if ZUN never went to establish Team Shanghai Alice and get on his own project series What if Touhou ended with Imperishable Night, as it was initially envisioned What if ZUN actually decided that, instead of an indie series, he decided to profit of the great popularity of Touhou and decided to turn it into a commercial franchise? Which one of these do you find to be more interesting, and what other possible alternate timelines would you think of? I was trying to think of scenarios that perhaps could have been possible to happen, but I would also like to find out what do you think would happen in any of the cases.

Looks like I acquired a taste for Synthwave and retro recently

Welcome to the forum! If you have any question, we are always here to offer advice and help.

Almost one year since I started this thread. I do not feel like things have gotten any better, and following Cirno Day, I went through a serious block that prevented me from doing anything for more than half a year. And I am still struggling to get out of it. No mater how many times I try to convince myself do something, or finally get excited to do something, I end up not doing anything. Could it be that I am just forcing myself to do something that I do not actually want? Or am I feeling too lazy to get out of my comfort zone and try out something new? I just want to do something beautiful, that would give me the happy hormone each time I look at it. And yet, I just can't do it...

Yeah, Cana made a very good point in regards to that one. Interestingly enough, the series from Suwawako seems to be the most balanced out of all. He is not trying to just throw cheap shots at the community members (or insults the characters themselves), and actually goes through pretty much all the content. However, he does miss the point a lot of times, and his associations may be as far as possible from the truth. Therefore, I repeat, why my opening statement about "DISCLAIME: stereotypes are just that, stereotypes; it does mean they universally apply, or that all people who like x or y are in a specific way". To me, Suwawako seems to be a clear response to the lack of content AspreyFM went through for pretty much more than half a year (until the recent revival of his channel, Asprey did not post anything since August, and pretty much every stream since August he was talking about how hard it felt coming back to work - and not because of any issues, but more because he felt lazy). Also let's not talk about channels that we can legally declare dead, such as Surnist (we really miss you ). Therefore, why someone else took from there, and tried their own way... I know about the memes, but I am not very aware/can't make the connection with the meta aspect. Could you please explain it a little bit? I have tried that. To some measure, the "horny Touhou fans" trilogy also included some elements of that, just as much as I made some jokes and comments through reviews like the one for Memories of Phantasms. However, I feel like it did not really, work, or maybe I have not expressed it well enough and only caused more ruckus than was needed. But yeah, someone really should be doing that, as I think it is an interesting topic not as much for the idea of calling out people, as for trying to go through a bit of fandom pshychology and social behavior. Or whatever you consider to be more interesting out of this entire issue...

All my respect for every opinions in here. Each 2hu can have something great about them if they are proper put into the spotlight for once. Be it in official materials or fanart. And in some measure, I would even credit fanart for being the one that made me pick who are the prettiest/most beautiful of the girls/women in this series.

Alright, so just as I watched the promo video. It is 4 minutes long, has no subtitles (thank you, Manpukujinja), first half is just a nostalgia trip through the previous episodes, and HOLY MOTHER OF ALL TITS! ("I swear, the hot springs scene is essential to the plot"). Looking at the comments for the video on YouTube, all I have seen is written in Japanese. But at a quick Google translation (the mobile phone version of YouTube allows for translating comments), it seems like everyone was praising the video. Meanwhile, if word of mouth is true, when the same trailer was uploaded on the official Twitter page of the group, reactions have been a little more mixed, going from the seemingly rushed idea for the plot, to the unnecessary hot springs scene.

I think DnD character creations do count as OCs. Also nice to learn about this side of yours. I have been quite curious about tabletop games for a while, if I was more focused on stuff like Warhammer 40K or any historical-themed wargame (like Flames of War). But nice to hear about your character(s) as well.

I have been working on my own design since 2020, but only recently I have started to give her more lore/development. Interestingly enough, it started with me being bored one evening and just thinking about designing a cute girl (a bit of a thought experiment at the time, as I was still making lots of military stuff at the time). Therefore, one silly design gradually started developing for a while as a "dream girl". Which in some measure she still is, but I wanted to add more to that and develop her into an actual character. Therefore, all me to introduce "Catherine": Now that the image part is done, time for a proper character info sheet (at least as much as I have right now) How about you, denizens of the Moriya Shrine? Has anyone else developed their own character they would like to talk about?

At the risk of possibly repeating a thread that may have been discussed in the past, I would like to steal borrow the idea of a thread recently seen on r/touhou. Plus, I do not know if I should restrict this to purely official illustrations of the characters, or include fanart as well. Why I said that? Because I think fanart has had an important role in shaping some of my opinions regarding this question (and quite likely some of the entries in my character sorter as well). Anyway, I will the first one to answer. Simplest way to put it is that the one(s) I find the most beautiful might also be the ones from my top 10, since I think beauty was also an aspect taken into consideration besides lore, surrounding creations and what do I associate them with most of the time. Therefore, I would go with: Akyuu, even if any times in more of an adorkable way (same applies for Kosuzu) Eiki, especially if going with some of the fanart depictions that give her a more imposing stature, with y of the Lady Yama Raiko - she's a redhead, has my favorite kind of haircut, and I really like her tuxedo (she's so sharply dressed) Renko - similar arguent in regards to the haircut, but I also think there's something great about her that i can't really put into words Hecatia and Orin - again, redheads (I really like them, probably my second favorite hair color after black) Yuuka - there's just something that makes me associate her to the word "gorgeous" Reimu - a surprise appearance in my top 10, but when it comes to beauty, probably the greatest influence has been her depiction in Forbidden Scrollery - Reimu actually looks great with her hair let loose, without any of the associated accessories

Episode has been announced Again, it has been presented as the series finale. And in a way, I would feel extremely glad if it just ended here. The series has been going for ove a decade now, it was becoming a bloated mess the more it went on. To me, the series felt quite rushed towards the end. Especially when out of 12 minutes of screen time, almost half, if not half of the video is the intro & outro segments, the episode recap and the teaser for "next time". Which leaves you with a bare 6 minutes aft actual show, in which they both need to rush the story and bloat a lot of time on a single boss if they are a Stage 5 character or higher. Also we shall not speak about Mokou's extra story. That was basically an arc within another arc at how long it was (3 episodes). But I will let you take a look at the video itself first, then we can come back and debate it.

For me, it's been quite a long story. And literally one that would be way too long to write again in here. Therefore, why I have put it as a thread in my early days at the Shrine, and will just link below. To cut the story short, it was in the second half of 2020, and involved a chain reaction caused by me discovering Rhythm Heaven first, then from there evolving into Touhou. However, the thread has the full story of what actually happened...

Yes, Youmu did win the Popularity Poll in 2021, just like he did one year prior in 2020. The 2021 poll is also the one associated with an alleged fraud that might have placed Myon on top of the charts, even if following a recounting of the votes she was still on top. Youmu was my first favorite character in the series, and I have talked about that in the past. Which also explains this comment I made back in the day when I found a certain song from Shinra-Bansho that got stuck into my head for a few days and generated an unreasonable amount of melancholy for my younger self. Actually a very good question. It makes you think of the fact nothing stays the same, as much as you might try otherwise. Everything evolves or mutates, and I think it is a natural fear of the human for the unknown and uncertain, a wish to remain in familiar territory. In our case, once the thing you used to like evolves beyond your recognition, it becomes sort of a dilemma whether to adapt with the times, or maintain yourself into that little island of familiarity you felt so comfortable in until then.

Alright, time for this round. And this time, I am actually early with my review... Daio Ye Zhong - The Second Performance: Curse Deity It seems like I am always discovering yet another new music group with each round of this Tournament. And that's quite fun. Anyway, for the song itself. Just as it started, and it's already very catchy. The more I went through the song, the more I felt like a I wanted to sing along. And I feel like I wanna sing along at the very first listening of a song, then it really means something. I got a very good impression about this, and all I can say is that I am pleasantly surprised. Bring me more! I will give it a solid 9/10 C-CLAYS - The moon which was swallowed to a wolf C-CLAYS... where have I heard this name before? Doesn't matter. Due to a very weird thought process, the first thing to come into my mind for listening to this song was Rock On! from Stack, but that is not a bad thing. Also, instrumental-only songs can actually be very good. This one to me sounds like a very decent party remix, I will not lie. So I do not have that much of a negative to add this time. Overall, I think that a 7.5-8/10 would be a perfectly fair score UNDEAD CORPORATION - Kushinada-hime Finally, we are back to one of the songs I submitted for the Tournament. In the time between last year's Tournament and this one, I discovered UNDEAD CORPORATION. And through that, I really felt like uploading one of their songs as part of this event. The original idea was to go with Yogoto no Yami no Okusoko, but then I have discovered this arrangement for the Aki sisters (maybe I will bring the other one at the next Remix Tournament). At least compared to other characters' themes, my experience with listening fan arrangements of Touhou themes is severely lacking when it comes to the Aki sisters, and especially Princess Inada remixes. Therefore, why i considered this one the more interesting choice. I just like rock/metal arrangements (and music of the kind in general), so I really wanted to bring it up. As it is my own submission, I will not rate it for a fair trial

It looks like I have found a fourth breed of "Touhou stereotypes" video, and this one is still fresh (just a bit over a week). So there's more than just Beastmaster Zeman and Suwawako making "Touhou stereotypes" kind of videos... I never really managed to understand where they base the traits of the characters from? As well as for the people who like them. Do they take from canon? Fanon? The author's own wild imagination?

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.

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): 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): 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...

Ever since you have been of this forum, what do you consider to have been some of the most interesting threads you have seen or interacted with?

Everything I have said was more in the idea that trying out some of the pirated content from here actually made curious for buying official stuff, so now I can say that I hold legally a piece of official Touhou media. It is just how much the "trial" for PCB made me like the series, despite never having finished the game itself.

Slight tangent from the Touhou theme of the thread. This reminds me a lot about my childhood. For a long time, I grew up with pirated version of Rome 1, Medieval 2 and other games of the Total War series. At the time, I did not have money to buy them, and digital copies were expensive even with the advent of Steam. However, after many years of playing and enjoying them as such, when I finally got some money, I ended up buying both games. So in the end, I guess the thesis that both you and Isaac came up with is actually true. And in order to bring it back to Touhou, I would say there is one more thing. I for sure was not expecting that after playing (and, to be fair, not finishing) two mainline Touhou games (PCB and PoFV), I would end up buying the entire FS manga series. Hope it balances out...?

I remember watching the original "mommy" video soon after it was first recommended in my feed. I was familiar with the "x be like" and "y slander", or at least with examples that I had fun with. I was not expecting however to see this one format exploding within the Touhou community however, and literally spawn dozens of channels that copied the formula for a "quick buck". But it is what it is. The trend os gone, or at least mostly gone (there still are some weird mutations f it you might be able to find every blue moon, and with some mutations compared to the original). Now that I think of it, Touhou fans be like... Yeah, I really felt that with some of the connections he made. Some of them really did not feel like what you would expect from someone who likes one character or another. Despite personals bias, I tried to check out if I can identify myself with some of the archetypes he created for my top 10 characters according to the sorter. And what I can is that, outside the example for Akyuu, I feel that everything else was a hit or miss (with more misses to be fair). Which only proves my opening statement for the thread: "stereotypes are just that, stereotypes; it does mean they universally apply, or that all people who like x or y are in a specific way" I agree with the volatility of the test. I have done the sorter three times in my two years of being in the community, and each time the top 10 has been quite interesting. Some things remained the same (like Akyuu and Eiki being constantly in top 5), but others fluctuated quite a lot. Just look at my previous two sorters: It sure will be interesting to see what changes might come next year when I will do the sorter again...

Oh boy, you are reminding me of the concept I have seen thrown around, and mentioned at least on the wiki of "newbie bait". The term refers to a set of very specific characters (Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Alice, Youmu, Reisen, Aya and possible a few more), even if I think it might also coincide with the fact these are "basic" characters, as in "the person that likes them is basic". I guess some just want to feel entitled, or just maintain their "greater than thou" feeling. Or just feel special...