CountVonNumenor

To be honest, for most of my experience of two years (as of yet) being part of this community, pretty much 95% of the time I did not have any real problems or encountered toxicity among fans. Things seems to have changed quite a bit for about half a year now though, as I am slowly starting to see more and more hidden, nastier sides of our fandom at large (at least as much as I can reach in the English side of the world; if I were to take the Japanese fandom itself, from which we are quite a separate entity it seems, that one would a whole different rabbit hole to jump in, filled with tons of things we most likely are not familiar with or not prepared for...)

Oh, sorry, I have accidentally posted the same comment twice. This is quite weird, as replies used to upload instantly and not have to click on the "post" button several times without seeing anything happen. Anyway, I will have to think of something else to write here. Until then, just ignore this reply.

In a more recent thread (dated 28th November 2018) posted on r/touhou by u/[deleted], apparently a store in in Akihabara has physical copies of the original PC-98 Touhou games. Price tag? ¥13,000,000. And we can only imagine the prices went up ever since due to inflation all the economic jazz of past few years. That translates, according to current exchange rate, to 95,904.25 USD or 444,093.06 Romanian Leu (RON). If I wanted to buy the PC-98 games legally, I would need the minimum wage for 16 years? At least based in the Romanian minimum wage, which was officially counted in 2020 at 466 Euro/2303 Lei a month. Good luck with that one... Yeah, I think this whole part of the discussion has been utterly ignored in favor of a needless tangent about inappropriate materials and their spread. We are literally talking about the fact that and ABANDONWARE PROGRAMME was deemed as DMCA violating content, and that we have pretty much lost a reliable source for playing the PC-98 games if anyone was interested in doing so. And again, good luck if actually want to be all goody-two-shoes and get everything legally, from acquiring a PC-98 computer to finding the original 5 Touhou games in physical copy and not have to sell your liver (and quite likely other organs too) just to have them.

Honestly, I was hoping we would not come back to this so quickly, but since my presence and mention of specific materials has been called out recently as a negative example towards the forum and community as a whole, I think I might be coming back soon with a declaration. Until that, I have some more issues to solve irl first

This is a brief return, albeit in a lite form, towards the old reviews I used to make towards different bits of Touhou media created by the Western side of the community. And what better pick for the 1st April but stereotypes associated with Touhou characters and the people who like them? (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). The history of the Western community talking about stereotypical associations within the fandom does not seem to be so old (at least as far as I am aware, but I might be wrong as I have only been around for 2 years). Therefore, we have to start with the first person who has put it in video form, that one being... 1) Beastmaster Zeman On the 27th December 2020, a video titled "What your favorite Touhou character says about you" made its debut in many people's YouTube feed. Made as a satire, the video covers characters from Touhou 6 to 17 (latest game at the time), while mostly skipping annex official content such as manga and music CDs: Despite the fact that most of the time the video is throwing a lot of cheap jabs at fans of specific characters, there are still a few quotes I have noted on the side: "Reimu - you're pretty basic" "Marisa - you are slightly less basic, but still pretty basic" "Cirno - you're fucking Heavy main, aren't you?" "Koakuma - you don't have a girlfriend" "Patchouli - fucking nerd" "Sakuya - you are so basic on levels I cannot even describe" "Flandre - you spent more time in the fanon than in canon" "Alice - you are a square" "Youmu - you like this character despite her being a cuck" "Keine - yeah I don't I don't know what happened, but I ended up fucking my teacher" [zoom on the chest area of the Keine fanart used] "Eirin - the joke here is that you're a Hanzo main" "Aya - you have a strong sense of political opinion" "Yuuka - you want to be stepped on" "Eiki - you complain about other people being lazy, despite being lazy yourself" "Nitori - [deep fried] - I'M CALLING THE POLICE" "Sanae - you wanted to like Reimu, but she doesn't have tits so you upgraded her and she became this" "Suwako - for today's sponsor, PearlDrop" "Parsee - again, who?" "Yuugi - the person that liked Yuugi punched me in the face and shoved me in this locker" "Satori - your search history probably has a lot of Touhou hentai in it and I do not want to look at it" "Orin - you are a decent human being. She has a character design that is pretty decent, and her story is pretty decent as well. Good job." "Unzan - YOU'RE A FUCKING CHAD!" "Byakuren - tits" "Nue - you like Nue because she looks like your very first OC" "Tojiko - you guys insist on making this character fucking thick" "Seija - you know that one kid in your class in kindergarten that would always eat crayons? Yeah that's you" "Raiko - you're that one kid at guitar center that can't play the drums, but decides to ruin everyone else's day by playing the drums" "Kasen - you read the manga you fucking nerd" "Sumireko - [long silence] GET OUT" "Seiran - you thought Reisen is too mainstream" "Sagume - oh yes write more fucking Wattpad fanfics about Doremy and Sagume" "Junko - you have a god complex" "Hecatia - you want to fuck a god complex" "Joon - you're a gold digger" "Nemuno - reject humanity, return to monke" "Aunn - I think of you to be quite the chad, my friend" "Urumi - i should just put a picture of Urumi's tits in the fucking thumbnail and I'll call it clickbait" "Mayumi - fuck, I'm out of ideas... I don't know, you like dildos?" "Keiki - all you do with your life is play Minecraft" 2) The XG3E era At the beginning of 2022 (7th January), another stereotype was born, or at least was greatly brought up in the attention of the public. I will not add too much in this category, as the video speaks for itself. It became a significant point for the Touhou community in the west for at east half a year, for the better or the worse... 3) Suwawako and the Touhou Stereotypes series A third iteration of the idea of "Touhou stereotypes" was born on the 16th August 2022. The then-rising channel of Suwawako entered the world of talking about fanas and what characters they are associated with, and we ended up with a series of 7 videos. Actually, the release of the final video was one of the main reasons for which I delayed this thread. Overall, the series was a major improvement over the video from Zeman. It started strong, but through time it seemed like losing steam the more it went in. However, it is still worth perhaps giving it a brief view, without taking things so seriously. Here is a brief synopsis: Part 1 - covers Touhou 6 and 7, along with the CD and manga-exclusive characters Part 2 - covers Touhou 8 and 9 Part 3 - covers Touhou 10 and 11 Part 4 - covers everything from Touhou 12 to 13.5 Part 5 - covers everything from Touhou 14 to 15.5 Part 6 - covers the characters from Touhou 16 to 18, with a teaser at the end for a final video going into the retro era FINALE - covers the PC-98 era characters The videos: I am not so sure if I should go into extracting stereotypes from this one, but probably the one association that caught my attention in the whole series was that for those who like Akyuu from Part 1 of the series: "Historians. Akyuu fans share a bit between Kosuzu and Yukari fans. They are likely historians that enjoy reading the history of their interests, whether it be stuff they learn in class or history of freaking Fumos for goodness sake. Akyuu fans probably know it all. They likely watch the lost media channels like blameitonjorge, LsupersonicQ and Sakura Stardust. Finding and documenting the obscure is an occupant favorite pastime. They are pretty mature considering that Akyuu in universe is... [shows image of Akyuu's age at her manga debut back in 2006]. Oh, oh no... These people are very rare to find, likely due to them searching for lost media or reading books with their Kosuzu fan friend or something like that. And if you're probably an Akyuu fan you probably have read the Forbidden Scrollery which isn't exactly that well known to newer fans" I am extremely surprised. Finally, a stereotype that actually sounds positive, and one, give or take my personal bias, is actually quite accurate. As someone whose favorite character is Akyuu. I am pleasantly surprised to say that I am actually fitting into the description for most of the part. I really like studying history, I am quite curious for more obscure stuff, and right now I am trying to document in a (currently 50 pages long) research about the armored units, acquisition policies and equipment used by the Romanian armored units through the interwar and Second World War era. Sadly, I still lack a Kosuzu friend, but at least I also do have Kosuzu in my personal top 10 2hus. Well, with all this in mind, I will just leave here my updated Touhou sorter. It is open to any discussion, and I really wonder what do you think about any of the stereotypes mentioned. Or maybe you have some of your own stereotypes, which might be even more interesting.

Alright, with way too long of a delay on my side, time to add a review (seriously, I feel like my procrastination on the forum is getting worse by the day, just like my problem with coming back to reply as a whole or write new things...). So, what do we have this time: Yoshida Mirai Project - とこしえの黄泉 -- Pola Already halfway through this song, and I just do not see where is it going. Is it supposed to go somewhere? What original theme is it built on? I can't identify anything, or at least I fail at that. This thing has left me with more questions than answers, and not necessarily in the good way. I hate giving low grades, but I think this will be no more but a 4/10 Shinra-Bansho - 御伽ノ詠 Ah, Shinra-Bansho. One of the rare occasions through the Tournament when I can recognize the song, or at least the music group. It's been a while since I last listened to them, so let's see what they've got prepared... Oh, I know this song! I think I have heard it in the past, during one of the 24/7 streams Shinra-Bansho hosts on their YouTube channel. Just like usual, it is a very pleasant song to listen to. Overall, the vibe is quite relaxing, and I appreciate that. It's a good song, I like it. As a result, I will rate this song a solid 9.5/10 GET IN THE RING - ⑨melodies Oh, GET IN THE RING, it's been a while. I first learnt of them through the collabs with Shinra-Bansho, yet never went further to actually check them out. However, songs like this one really make want to do that. Just as the song started, and I already enjoy it. I like the disc scratch effect at the beginning, and the voice of the singer is so calming. And now, I like the symphonic feeling the orchestra gives. The more I am listening to this, the more I love it. This has been so lovely, so I think it really deserves a 10/10

Looks like I have accidentally started a trend Anyway, just like I did until now with every Ama, my first question would be the following: how did you get into Touhou, and what do you enjoy the most out of it?

Touhou already has a long history (over 25 years of counting the PC-98 games). And in all of these years, especially as it had the advantage of catching the years in which the Internet as we know it came to be, enjoyed great popularity especially in the early 2010s. However, I was recently thinking of something... How do you guys think Touhou would have been received if it appeared 20 years later? (for this scenario, we will be assuming 20 years from the release of EoSD, so let's say in 2022 instead of 2002) I do not know for sure how it would perform if it came out these days, given the number of other franchises that seem to be getting the spotlight. However, if the series would catch even a small, cult audience, there would be chance in time to turn into at least an underground popular series. As a bonus question: do you think there would be significant changes in the way ZUN would have done the programming, art, music and all that if the games appeared later than they actually did? Especially if ZUN might be getting any influence from the art style of other already popular games that would rival his little, newly released project. And what about his policy towards the fandom and fan-made content? Would it still be just as laxed, or there could appear differences? And would the series still remain an underground project of a creator that would prefer his series not to become mainstream/turn into a big franchise? Probably one advantage a 2022 instead of 2002 release of the Windows generation games would get the advantage of better developed technology, internet, social media and game-sharing platforms if there is one positive we could think of. Of course, most of these are impossible to predict, but they can be a fun thought exercise.

"Mai waifu" - Kimura-sensei, Azumanga Daioh (2002) This is a very old question, yet which only came to my mind recently. Why do we like "waifus" so much, and find them so interesting? For a very long time, I was not interested in such a thing and was pretty much un-phased. However, in the leading year to finding Touhou, something had changed. I started become increasingly more find of one fictional character or another, without having a clear understanding why. Few months later, I got into Touhou. Not even now do I know if I did so for the cool music, story/worldbuilding, or just because the girls are pretty (greatly emphasized in the fanart). And the whole "waifu" thing went full-throttle recently, as I discovered new series to supplement Touhou and avoid a burnout. I have talked in some measure about that in my recent thread about anime and its artstyle, so I will spare repeating the same points. Which at some point made me start to question if I started getting into series just because I like how a character looks and acts (basically "I came her just for/because of..." argument). Be it Kaoru for Amagami, Yelan for Genshin Impact, Byleth for Fire Emblem, Female Commander (Gentiane in the manga) from Girls' Frontline, Yamashiro and Bismarck for Kancolle or Prinz Eugen for Azur Lane (luckily, I am still in the phase of deciding whether to get into any of the games mentioned, right now just staying aside and enjoying fanart). And just recently, as I discovered Azumanga Daioh (credit goes to @sodaodaoda and @SoundOfRayne), I also stumbled upon the original use in media of the word "waifu". From there, going down a rabbit whole, I ended up discovering what can basically be described as The 4chan Manifest of Waifu-ism. Since it is an old document, things are actually quite interesting to read: With this in mind, we are coming back to the original question: what is a waifu, and why do we like them so much? It's been more than 20 years now, and yet there still are people who are confused and wonder where does their appeal come from (or better said, how and why we end up liking them so much)... And even more so, do you have any character from any series that you are very fond of?

@Nekofire I will try to offer quick, concise answers to your questions: I am not very sure tbh. Military History basically became almost some sort of personality trait somewhere before middle school, when I was just consuming everything I could find in the field and was available in Romania (that was before I started using the Internet). But if I were to find something more interesting, that would probably be Victorian era warfare and evolution of everything in terms of conceptions, technology and the context/causes leading to the wars of that period. Probably I should extend the topic to 1918, since the First World War is just as interesting of a topic Probably any country where I could study in English As far as I have checked, I have only checked what was offered though Youni if you ever heard of it. With the information I have introduced, it only gave me 10 results from the UK, like you can see in this image: I was already told that I should be slowly looking for a job and apply for different things, but I just do not know where to try, what to focus on and what skills do I have in order to make best use of them. Luckily, I started to go to career counseling recently, but it will take a while until we could draw a conclusion on that side. As in sacrificing 1-2 years once I take my bachelor diploma, it probably depends on what I will end up doing. I will probably be already be working by then, so it depends. This is actually a discussion I had earlier today with one of my professors from Political Science. He was greatly complaining about the very bad shape of military studies in Romania (bluntly put, "all idiots got in there, and it's the worst field of history study in our country right now"). There's a lot he mentioned, from god-awful methodology to low standards and even lower chances of actually doing anything with that diploma (but that is a longer discussion, related to Romanian education, values and research/scientific culture). His conclusion was that I would be coming better off if I decide following Security Studies, especially since the master on that recently introduced a greater emphasis on the military and security side due to the ongoing war in Ukraine (right next to us). That is a second option I could think of, and one I really would have opted for if our bachelor program had a department for Security Studies in English (they only have one in Romanian). Despite all that, I thin that if I keep in touch with him on the topic of "what will come next", I think I might have the chance to make myself a useful contact for any possible needs in the future. I am not seeking to be extremely rich from my work. I would like to have enough to ensure my life even with the current issues going, and also a little bit to put aside both for retirement and being able to enjoy life. I think it is very important for me to be able to enjoy what I am doing, so that it would feel less like a chore. I noticed that if I really like what I am doing, I have a much easier time fulfilling that task no matter how hard it is, and am more productive. I always like when I earn new things and gain new experiences out of what I am doing as well. Hope I am not forgetting something...

I actually got that book as a PDF as soon as you wrote the reply. Now I am quite curious to read it...

Alright, some things got for the better now, others have gone the same. There are still some issues that put pressure on me, and have come back to bite me: Yesterday, I have attended some presentations in regards to economy, job opportunities and career. In a discussion following the final presentation, when I asked what could I do if I am interested in History despite being a Political Science bachelor student, I was advised about continuing my studies abroad. But here is the problem - if I wanted to study Military History (my field of interest), and for some reason online platforms I checked only give me results from the UK out of the whole world, I have to pay anywhere between 15k and 30k pounds as a foreigner every year. And I do not have those money. It gets even worse in the case of the US, where I really do not afford to spend 50K a year for History courses (for context, in Romania I am studying in a tuition-fre system for my full 3 year bachelor cycle). I know funding and scholarship are a thing, but I just do not know how to access them, and how much would they actually cover out of the costs. Besides, I am still feeling reluctant about the general idea of leaving the country, even if gives me greater opportunities, and I would have to go again through the bachelor cycle (as implied by options like studying at the Brunel University). I have just 1 year of the bachelor cycle left, and I am supposed to slowly decide what I will do with my life afterwards, what job to look for or how/where to continue my education. But I do not even know where to start from. I could have studied and get the same master degree here in Romania, without the need to get again through the bachelor cycle. However, it is not as well seen in Romania, and possibilities are so much more limited in terms of what I could do afterwards. Even if you could get into anything to work, usually that work is very poorly paid. Here, you have less chances to actually do something with your degree than what you could do abroad, where they actually value you for your capabilities and interests. I really do not know what should I do, or how to find a good solution that would be both useful in the long run and satisfy any needs.

Oh shit, now I realized it's been more than 2 weeks and I did not write yet a reply to everything written in here. I'll come back to it...eventually.

Last time I decided to tackle the topic inside of a Touhou community (big mistake on my side), it ended up like this... https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/w25e90/why_is_touhou_so_popular_in_terms_of_mature/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Unless we were actually talking about any kind of Touhou-related thing that can become obnoxious

This is actually quite an interesting topic. I've been thinking quite a bit about it recently, and sometimes, I feel like this brain-rot might be real, just to a different degree from one person to another. Heck, had it not been about myself starting to question it, most likely I wouldn't have thought about bringing up my most recent topic of discussion (even if it is mostly a recycled text from an older thread just put separately and with some sparkling images for greater emphasis)

Alright, time to (finally) answer the first set of replies to this thread: Of course, there is so much more than just anime/ However, I have used the example of anime and manga (and fanart, but that one is already part of the style) just due to the fact it has been the most influential medium for me for the past over two years. It is the thing I was exposed to the most, and therefore has had a much greater impact than things like (western) cartoons, fashion models or TV shows. To put things in n contrast, I actually remember that I recently read a BBC article in regards to onsen baths and the idea of body positivity. There is one paragraph I would like to quote out of it: The article, published for BBC Travel by Lily Crossley-Baxter on 3rd February 2020 can be read here for anyone interested in the full story (it is actually extremely interesting, and found out some new things overall) - https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200202-japans-naked-art-of-body-positivity Yeah, I will admit. I did get corrupted, as the exposure has been at a very high level (or better said, a great amont). Tens of thousands of Touhou images, more recently accompanied by other thousands of images first coming from original works, then other establishes franchises as well. Guilty on that one Yeah, there really has been a rather great shift in recent times about tastes. I can't remember what triggered it, but I guess there we are now. As for keeping contact with other people, I do that when I can, and also see and meet them like almost daily in the classroom. The surprise still remains though, especially when you may not really associate them with adult, but still feel like they look just like the 14-15 year old teens you used to grow with, not some full-fledged adults. Therefore, why I have the feeling they still look like a bunch of children whose only trait that makes them adult is the age number in the ID card. Oh yeah, that one most definitely is a good point to tackle. Even I have a lot of misconceptions about Japan itself and the society it holds, as ti was seen in previous threads when I tried talking about them based on knowledge from media, online discussions and even pop culture/impact of pop culture and memes about Japan and Japanese. Always gathering more. If I see something I like, I add it to the stash. Like I have said, I am not very sure where my beauty patterns have developed from. It felt as if one day I woke up liking something, and pretty much ended up confirming that taste. I think it might actually be the first time I am aware about something like that. However, I am a little concerned. I was wondering... isn't it rather superficial to say that "type" solely relies on a girl having black, shoulder-lenght wavy hair? Like that's not very hard to achieve - just dye your hair back if needed (bonus points if your hair color is naturally dark) and get a haircut. That's why I'm wondering if I'm being superficial. Even with that though, I still feel it waking up what some would call the "monke brain" feeling. And I'm still trying to figure out where I got that taste from. I may have seen tons of drawings in the past couple years with that features, but not so much in real life (maybe I haven't paid so much attention either). And even with these "types", how does it happen you may sometimes get the hots for someone who might be completely the contrary to your supposed tastes? Yeah, I guess you might be right about this one.

There has been quite dramatic shift in terms of my tastes for stuff I see in art, especially in the art style of manga/anime. I think in general, it seems like my interest has shifted from more moe-like towards more feminine. More...womanly designs if you catch my meaning. Like actually looking like a young adult (I mean 18-20 and beyond) woman, not just the little 14-16 yo moeblob anime seems to like so much depicting at times. Maybe it's also a weird change that happened with me recently. I started detesting more and more, or at least end up with a sour taste, whenever I see those anime child-like mor-blobs that look like a kindergartener. And for the opposite, I started enjoying more and more mature looking characters, young adults or full-fledged adults (even if I'm trying to keep a safe zone between the age span of 19-20 to 25-30). To put it weirdly, "I'm no longer looking for a cute small/young girl, I'm looking for a lady / a woman" (This, and I think I might have also found a quirk that I seem to have become very attracted by. No matter the art style, this is awesome. I just very fond of young adult women with black, wavy, shoulder-leght haircuts. It is my weak point; also make the hair a bit fluffy, and I feel like in heaven. And now with this, you are also aware of my tastes, at least in terms of art (gonna be interesting to actually rest this in real life at some point...)) (Bonus section below, you can skip to the next bit of text if not interested in an image gallery) BUT... There's a catch to it. Like all good things, it sometimes comes as a double-edged sword. A slightly distressful side effect developed after 2 years of intense exposure to anime-style Touhou fanart (and more recently a lot more other anime-style stuff). A have forgotten how a real young woman looks like (not a joke). I don't know why I feel even at the age of 20 or around they still look like at least a few years younger (not that I am good at guessing ages myself), as if they did not changed a single bit in physical features since I got into school. Or maybe I watched too much anime style art, got too used to that proportions (especially for anything using the "heroic" proportions), so I ended up forgetting what I real woman looks like. I find this thing very weird, and cannot understand why such a big perception change in such a short amount of time. No, women do not have big eyes. No, their hair does not usually stay in strands of hair like in anime art (at least not that often). No, they are not so thin as anime style makes the average girl/young adult woman look like. No, they are not that tall/have long stick-like legs. On the same note, no, young women are that "T H I C C" or have huge boobs like in your average anime (they are not flat either). To me, it feels as if a young irl lady at around the age of 20 pretty much looks the same as few years prior, without too much development. Can anyone help me with some biology explanation (if there is anyone willing to)? I would definitely like to get a better understanding of the topic. I am confused even about myself, a young man in his early 20s. Even I feel about myself that I look tooo young for my age, while I saw other guys around the age 16-17 looking much more mature than myself (which also led to me initially thinking they are like 23-25 years old). Genetics sure are weird. But anyway, the problem of warped perception when it comes to reality, how do you deal with it...? And in what other ways can the world created by the art style distort reality if one is to fall down the pitfall trap?

Welcome back! Hope from now on we will have to chance to see you more again. It was so fun when you were around, and I think we could get back that interaction if you decide to stay.

Holy shit, I completely forgot about this. Now I really do owe Reitisen a proper answer to the question he/she has come up with.

I forgot to mention this back on Friday, but new music video has dropped on the 10th March:

Speaking of which, has anyone seen Tenkko around recently? I think we could introduce as a feature that if you missed a round of the Tournament, you come back later and fill the answers for that round you missed. Like reviewing not 3 songs, but 6. Or review that three you missed at another time...

Is there anyone else who needs to submit a review for this round, or we can go to the next round?

On the 25th of February 2023, ZUN was invited to a high school talk show where he was asked several questions about Touhou. While there doesn't seem to be a video archive, a Twitter user called AQNAWNA made a recap of the questions and answers. And from there, the questions have been translated to English by user IceFairy. In the following presentation, I will use the translations of IceFairy, which can be found here: https://twitter.com/richard_effendi/status/1629816649493942273?s=20 [ZUN appears on stage and reveals a presentation slide] ZUN: I made the slide while I was on the bullet train heading here. (Note, I won't be translating every tweet as some of them have already known information. I'll be translating the interesting ones) Host: Are the music CDs connected to the games in any way? ZUN: If I say they're definitely connected, it might cause some sort contradiction somewhere. So I just have them as vaguely connected in some way. Host: Recently there's been a lot of current events related content in Touhou, hasn't there? ZUN: It's because the series is like my diary. Whatever I'm feeling at the moment, I put it in the games. I think the first time I put something that was undeniably current events was in DDC. At the time overseas indie games were becoming mainstream and I wanted to make a game that had my feelings of "Hey, we have doujin games here, too!" Host: The games have been popping up on Steam recently, haven't they? ZUN: Well... It's cause nobody buys CDs anymore, hahaha. PCs don't event have disk trays anymore. And most shops don't carry them either. I thought it'd be best to go with the flow. Host: As a doujin game creator, what are your thoughts on the world becoming less interpersonally connected? ZUN: I don't really need interpersonal connections when making games, since I make them alone, hahaha. But I do miss the fun I used to have going to offline events. Chatting with people online makes me feel a bit lonely. Host: There's been more officially recognized gacha games lately. Did you have a change of heart about them? ZUN: Nope, still not fond of them, hahaha. Don't think I'd ever make one myself... They say it's "free to play", but they're definitely not free to play. Host: What are your future plans for Touhou? ZUN: Well, I'm getting on in years. I plan to keep making it until I don't want to anymore, but I'm also afraid of when that time comes. So I've been ruminating on how to keep myself motivated in making Touhou. Host: Any plans on making things other than Touhou? ZUN: Everything I make ends up becoming Touhou anyways, so, nope, hahaha. Host: The moon appears often in Touhou, any special reasons? ZUN: I just think the moon is neat, hahaha. I like the words "lunar capital" and "lunar exploration". I also like Mars. Host: Any plans on having Mars appear in Touhou? ZUN: Hmn... Well, humans might be going to Mars in the future. We still don't know what's on it. It might be interesting to have Mars in Gensoukyou... hmn, not too sure about it yet. Host : Tell us about the Yukkuri trademark incident. ZUN : Well, Dwango took care of it pretty quickly. And the culprit also rescinded the trademark. But, we also needed to avoid a repeat of this incident, so... So a few days ago the patent office put out their opinion on Yukkuri as a genre. It should be alright now. To be honest, I feel like that incident became an advert for yukkuri (hahaha). I got excited when yukkuri started appearing on broadcasts. It was kinda fun. as a result of that, everyone became familiar with yukkuri (continued). In that way, I kinda way to say "thank you" to the instigator (hahahaha). Q: What's up with the clown in Dolls in Pseudo Paradise? ZUN: Clown? What Clown? Are you talking about the jacket illustration? It doesn't have any special meaning... To be honest it's been so long ago, there's a lot I don't remember. Q: How many Ultimate Foul Lifeforms have come up to you (note : the title you get if you clear Impossible Spell Card without Items). ZUN: A lot, hahaha. There were middle schoolers among them, too. Pretty amazing. Q: Are you an Ultimate Foul Lifeform? ZUN: Nope, I can't become one either, though I set the difficulty it so it's not impossible to become one. Q: How good are you at Shoot 'Em Ups? ZUN: I used to be pretty good at it. Though, lately I struggle to clear Lunatic... I make the games clearing the stages separately instead of all in one sitting. It's fine to set the difficulty to a level where I can clear it, but if I don't increase the difficulty some people will be able to clear it pretty fast just like that. Q: Any plans on reviving the PC-98 characters? ZUN: I'm not gonna say "yes" or "no". For questions like that, I'll just accept your desires. Q: How do you decide on the character names? ZUN: I ruminate about them until the deadline. If I use common names, then I'll and up with characters with the same surnames and given names. I also have to make sure the names fit with the character. If it doesn't feel right, I try again after thinking some more. If it feels right then I decide on it. Sometimes I change it pretty close to the deadline. And when that happens, I can forget to change the old name somewhere. (Narumi/Naruko) Q: What sort of Youkai is Meiling? ZUN: I believe... I had it written in PMiSS, "Youkai" simply means "other". If it's just "youkai", then there's no species, just think of it as "something that's not human". Q: Which games should I play? ZUN: I think you should ask the fans that not me (hahaha). But ok, the latest game.... right now is UM, so why don't you play that? Since the series is my diary, if it's too long ago, I don' remember it that well. Q: What do you think about the popularity poll? ZUN: It's fun to watch. Though, I don't entirely get Youmu getting first place or Flan getting first place. There should be a lot more bigger weirdoes than them in Touhou. Q: I'm a 20 year old male. How do I become Marisa Kirisame? ZUN: Well... Why don't you buy a pointy hat and put it on? (hahaha) But you know, Marisa is still a human, so it's pretty easy to become her. Otherwise you'd need to reject your humanity. Q: Do you have designs for characters who are only mentioned in the setting? ZUN: No, at least for the ones I don't plan on giving an appearance in the future. A part of these questions have also been covered by Megapig9001 in his most recent video: And an interesting conclusion someone has reached based on the Q&A: "Alright, this confirms something I've been suspecting for ages now: ZUN has literally no idea what goes on in the Touhou fandom. His insistence on not looking like he's playing favorites (or whatever's going on) has led to a profound ignorance regarding which characters are popular and why. He wasn't trolling by keeping Flan in reserve for two decades; he truly believed this whole time that no one was interested in seeing her again. That said, I'm glad to know he doesn't base his creative decisions off of whatever fans seem to want most. He neither caters nor trolls. For better or worse, he does what he feels is best from an artistic standpoint".

Alright, time to get through this round as well... EastNewSound - Cardiac Sound EastNewSound... it sure has been quite a long time since I have last listened to a song of theirs. I was trying to focus on the song as much as I could, but I think I have failed. I am not even so sure what was moe remarkable in here, or if there was anything remarkable to begin with. I guess it was an OK song, lacking anything too "wow" or which makes me want to listen to it again. Overall, it is probably a 6/10 MA.S ATTACK - Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's Kappa Alright, before anything, I have to say that I am not familiar with MA.S ATTACK (kind of a recurring theme with me through the Remix Tournament). Oh wow, 10 minutes long? It has such a slow start, almost like ambient music. It sure does not help being late in the evening, but just like Drunken said before me, this song gives you the feel you are going to fall asleep. Which is not what I am looking for right now. The more the I go, the harder it becomes for me to keep my focus on the song. Trying to jump 15 by 15 seconds, it just does not cease being purely ambient. But in the last quarter, you can finally hear something else, a vague tone of what the original song used to be. But that's about it. Nothing more, nothin else. Probably a track I could put as background noise when playing Half-Life out of anything... I would probably give this a 5/10 Noah - The Capital City of Flowers in the Sky Oh, it's been a long time since I last made contact with the PCB stage 4 stage theme. And it already has as strong start. As of now, already a better start than the previous two songs. I like the guitar, that one is for sure. This one is already quite entertaining, and sounds like a good battle theme for a game. Out of this round, I think is the best song by far. I am not familiar with this Noah as an artist, but I think it got my interest for checking out other arrangements. As for the final grade, I think I will give it a 9.5/10