AlexandruUnu

No. I'm not one for joining many servers, so I didn't join any Touhou-related server. The only time I ever saw other Romanian Touhou fans was in the comment section of The Doll Maker of București. As for Romanians on the internet being unhinged, I haven't seen that many unhinged Romanians, a good chunk of them being actually chill people.

Personally, I never had to deal with people calling me a bad fan, mainly because I didn't interact with other fans up until I found this forum. Well, there was this one guy on a Discord server I am in, but his messages and memes were either very political, suggestive, or sometimes straight up offensive, but that isn't what this thread is about. First question first, "Am I a bad fan?". I don't think you are a bad fan at all. You know what the fandom gatekeepers are. A bunch of people that judge people based on how and why they enjoy the series. For them, this is how it goes: "Oh, you didn't clear all the games on lunatic with a score bigger than 1 billion? Shame on you.", "You are telling me that you actually like a character from Touhou 6, 7 or 8? Go fuck yourself." (God forbid you tell them that you like a character from 6), "You play Lost Word? We don't want you here.", and so on. They think that they are holy knights sent by ZUN to cleanse the fandom from "fake" Touhou fans. I sometimes wonder what is the thought process behind their actions. There is no right way to enjoy Touhou. You can enjoy the shmup games, the fighter games, the print works, the CDs, the game's OSTs, and the enormous amount of fanwork. You can also enjoy whatever character, game or song you like, no matter if others think it's "overrated" or something. For the second question, "What makes a Touhou fan?" I'm pretty sure there is a more elaborate answer that I am not smart enough to give out. But by definition, a fan of something is someone that admires said something, so in other words, merely enjoying something part of the Touhou franchise, be it either canon or fanon is enough to qualify as a fan. I don't think I gave that good or complete of an answer to this question. Like you said, Touhou has something for everyone. You like cute girls? There is plenty of them. Fancy something dark in your life, we also have that. Enjoy mythology? Touhou is riddled with it. Are you more of a fan of fighters than shmups? Well, you're in luck. And those are just some examples of what the series has to offer.

Now, I didn't play any Touhou game made after UFO, so I don't have much of his knowledge on the game's mechanics, but I still want to point out some things in the doc. So let me get this straight: this guy didn't like that the newer games are "oriented" towards the casual playerbase, and so he made a 42 pages long essay just to say that he doesn't like that? I'm sorry, but this whole charade could be easily summarised in just one phrase: "I am a very dedicated hardcore Touhou fan, and the last few games were too easy for my likings, therefore, the series is on it's deathbed, all casual Touhou fans are bad and ZUN is a greedy man. Also, the recent mangas and the gacha games suck ass." It's true that ZUN has made some less good decisions from time to time, but this guy thinks that he should make games only for the most hardcore of fans out there, and that casual fans are the main reason why the franchise is """dying""" Also, "secondaries"? Really? Do people still use this and "primaries" to determine what kind of Touhou fan are you? Excuse me for not being the type of person that plays the games 24/7 on lunatic, but that doesn't make me less of a Touhou fan than the so called """primaries""". Simply enjoying the franchise is enough to make you as much of a Touhou fan like everyone else in here, be it either because of the games, the mangas, or the fan creations. And what's the problem with being a casual Touhou fan? I can call myself a casual fan since I barely even play the games (last time I played an official game was in June), the only games I managed to finish on normal was EoSD and PCB, and I mostly get my daily dose of Touhou from fanworks (mostly fanart).

I don't think the fandom can even be called "bad". It has it's unlikeable side, that's true, but it isn't correct to judge a million people fanbase because of the loud minority. My experience with the Touhou fanbase was quite the experience. First, lets talk about the normal side of the fandom. What can I say: They make remixes, cool fanart, and tend to be actually fun people. The best part is that this portion also makes up most of the fandom. Now, let's talk about the less pleasant side of things. For several months I was lurking through the subreddit to see if I can settle down there (I couldn't). I saw plenty of normal people, but I also saw plenty of weirdos. These are pretty much the living embodiment of the "Average redditor" meme. Some examples that I still remember are some guys (not going to name them) that randomly brought things like very inappropiate messages and unrelated politics into normal convos. It was a whole shitshow, man. Speaking of, I sometimes feel like that place is a hivemind for a few reasons: Apparently I need to have the same opinion as everyone else when it comes to the games and characters. I must hate this game, and I must love this character, or else I will get screamed at. Something that creeped me out is that everyone treats ZUN like he is the Messiah sent by God. I get why they would do that. He did create a whole well-known (especially in Japan) franchise alone, and is a likeable guy. But still, they treat every single thing he says like it's holy scripture, and most importantly, they insist that ZUN is a flawless man that can't do anything wrong and that everything he creates is perfection, and if you say otherwise you are the enemy of the people. Worst part is that I don't even know if they are for real or are just messing around. Of course, we have their opinion on certain topics, like gacha games and piracy. Boy, do they have very strong opinions about this kind of subjects. Don't even get me started on r/2hujerk. That one is a gigantic no-no for me. Honestly, I shouldn't even be complaining since it's supposed to be a circlejerk subreddit, so of course it was going to be bad, but I have seen some vile stuff around there. I think I talked enough about the subreddit and it's, uh, "interesting" people. Thankfully I found this tiny little corner of the massive Touhou fandom, where I can talk in peace about subjects (both Touhou related and offtopic) without having to deal with the certain kinds of people on the popular platforms. To think that people despise this place with a burning passion kinda makes you feel like an outcast, huh? Anyways, this was my little rant. Sorry if I got some things wrong. It was around 2 AM when I wrote this and my brain was a bit messy.

A childhood series of mine was this shoot em' up series called Chicken Invaders. This was the first time I ever played something in the shmup genre, so of course it was hard to play when I was little. It's humour and the fact that you are shooting chickens in space was enough to satisfy lil' me. Of course, there is also the Sonic series. My first experience with this game was the demo version of Sonic CD. I couldn't even finish the second level. Later on I played Sonic Generations, Sonic Colours, Sonic 1, 2, 3&K, and finally got my hands on the full version of Sonic CD, which ended up being my favourite of the classic games. Another one is the Kirby series. Who doesn't like this pink puffball? This one started a bit later since I didn't own any Nintendo console at the time (I still don't). It wasn't until 4th grade when I discovered the power of emulation. I started with some Wii games, like Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 (still have to finish those) and among those, there was Kirby's Return to Dreamland. After finishing it, I feel in love with the Kirby series, and wanted more. Later on I played games like Kirby Super Star Ultra, Kirby Mass Attack, and Kirby Triple Deluxe.

The thing that frustrates me most about this whole situation is that the main reason why Meiling gets treated like this both in canon and fanon is because of her being Chinese. I know that China is a really bad place nowadays, but still. She got treated like utter shit all the way since the early 2000's, thanks to how much the Japanese were prejudiced against the Chinese at the time. Also, think about it. During EoSD's development, ZUN could have made Meiling an actual dragon-humanoid (like he did with Yachie), making the "Hong Meiling is actually a dragon" fan theory true (Well, since dragons are considered the highest class of creatures in Gensokyo, that would make Meiling ridiculously OP), but of course, that didn't happen, and now we have to accept the current reality.

That is the question that got in my mind the past month. Originally, I was "anti-fanon". I only saw it as the way for Touhou fans to shred character's personality to bits. Considering that those fanon memes are also way more popular than everything canon has established, it's obvious that they wont leave any time soon. But recently, I started to realise why is fanon more popular than canon (other than the fact that a good portion of people in the fanbase didn't even play the games). The more I read through canon (especially through the mangas), the more I realised that canon is confusing or just straight up boring, even. I know, I know. Storytelling isn't ZUN's aim at all, but sometimes I feel like he wants us to not follow his canon rules. But when we have the flanderised fanon and the convoluted canon, which one should we even pick? Maybe a middle road would be the best option?

Yeah, I think you are right. Honestly, reading through ZUN's description on how he created Meiling (mostly from SCoOW), It's safe to assume that he barely even thought about her. He just went "Well, since a dragon is fitting for stage 3, let me just put in some random chinese girl I made up and slap the kanji for "dragon" on her hat and call it a day". There is also the fact that literally every single other character in that game has some cool sounding title like "Ice Fairy of the Lake" for Cirno, and "The Girl of Knowledge and Shade" for Patchy, then there is Meiling with motherfucking "Chinese Girl". The weirdest part is that in Touhou 7.5 she got the title of "Colourful Rainbow Gatekeeper" which sounds so much cooler... and then it got reverted to "Chinese Girl" in 12.3 for some unknown reason. And thanks to the fandom we know and have extremely mixed opinions about, she gets turned more and more into a Chinese stereotype (ZUN also making her fanon canon does not help at all) This whole thing is a lost cause.

Speaking of games that people like, a certain game I really like is Rain World. What is Rain World? It's a 2D survival game taking place in a ruined world. You play as the Slugcat, a species which is located somewhere at the bottom of the food chain. You have to navigate through the perils of several regions. SInce you are at the bottom of the food chain, everything can (and will) kill you. From Lizards, to Noodleflies, to Vultures. This game is known to be hard as nails, sometimes even unfair, but I think this was intended. After all, this game is supposed to represent what true real life animal survival is like, especially for something as weak as the Slugcat. Oh, and there is also the rain, getting closer and closer until drowns everything. Oh, and did I mention the AI? It's probably the best AI in video game history. The creatures in this game act very close to what their real life counterpart would act like. It's like every single individual thing has it's own mind and personality. Oh, and since the entire region you are currently in loads all at once, there is so much happening outside the room you are in. Here is a video that covers this game's AI: We also have the art and the OST. It's just gorgeous. The animation is very fluid, as well. Overall, Rain World is an experience that one should play, but in order to finish it, you especially need patience and persistence. You are gonna die a lot, but you will learn how to deal with the hostile environment of each region. Oh, and if you ended up liking the game, Rain World: Downpour DLC will release in January, which doubles the already existing game content.

The Touhou fanbase goes in 3 different directions: Using memes that lost their comedy value over a decade ago (like Sakuya's "pads") using memes from one year ago (fumo memes) Torturing characters in the games for the sake of it I know that slapstick humor is a thing. I don't understand really it's appeal (I probably don't have any right to talk about other's humor, since I have the comedical preference of a brick), but Touhou fans make it look like it's some sort of international contest to see who can make [insert character here] suffer the most. It's kind of creepy. I didn't really think about it that way. This makes me wonder what would Meiling's campaign be like if the "haha gatekeeper sleeps" meme didn't exist. She may not even have a campaign of her own if it weren't for the jokes. The main reason why I included the Inaba manga in here is because whenever people try to say that Meiling isn't incompetent, someone will always pull out this scene to prove them otherwise (and also CDS, but we'll get on that one later). I know that the manga might not even be canon, but some people out there insist that it's 100% canon. It's frustrating to me. How many times did ZUN manage to contradict himself? I know that it's hard to keep track of everything you wrote over the past 20 years, and that ZUN just isn't that good of a storyteller to begin with. What if he uses the fact that every manga is from a different character's perspective as an excuse to contradict himself. After all, every character has a different bias in their storytelling. Besides all this, reading CDS just doesn't feel right at all for me. It feels like some weird conglomeration of random ideas that ZUN came up on the spot combined into what is meant to be the "darkest" manga in the series to date (even though that may be the case for every manga). I may be biased since my favorite mangas are the slice-of-life ones. For the end note, I wonder what would Hong Meiling's fate be if the community didn't create those memes trashing on her...

Like other people said in this chat, Hong Meiling is a character that is always made fun of, but I think there is something else to this whole situation. Meiling is my favourite character for 3 years now, so sorry if this post sounds biased or even straight up angry. I had all those thoughts building up inside my mind, and this is the only chance I found to let them all out. Let's begin. Meiling always gets mocked for a multitude of reasons, like being weak, sleeping on the job, and being good for nothing, and this is only to name a few. Yes, I know that the whole "sleeping on the job" thing became kinda canon with PMISS, Soku and CDS, but at least the canon trait isn't as bad as the fanon makes it look like. I am thankful that the Meiling abuse meme didn't become canon, because dear God, some people in this community go to gruesome extents with this, ranging from "Meiling gets knifed by Sakuya for doing something wrong" to "Meiling gets all her body parts ripped off for just existing". Thinking about all of this, I have realised something: all those negative fanon traits were made up just because she is Chinese. The Japanese and the Chinese aren't too friendly towards eachother, to say the least, and since during the early 2000's the Fandom was almost entirely made out from the Japanese, they were very quick to treat her like some moronic Chinese stereotype. People gave the Chinese Girl the whole "useless" label because they see all Chinese products as "low quality". And to top it all of, after a poll that was made to decide if she should be called "Hong Meiling" or "Kurenai Misuzu" (her Japanese name), some random guy came in out of nowhere and said "Hey, why don't we just call her China?", and everyone agreed. And so, during the late 2000's and early 2010's, there isn't a single Touhou fan who didn't call her "China". Nowadays, most people call her by her real name, and seem to respect her more than during the so-called "golden era" of the fandom, but people still recognise her only for her sleeping habits. Just try to find a Meiling-related post on the subreddit (or most other communities) that doesn't reference that either in the post itself or in the comments. While yes, the fandom is behind most of Meiling disrespect, but there is one more individual I do have to talk about. That person is none other than Mr. Touhou himself, ZUN. Think about it. In most entries of the series after EoSD, ZUN treated Hong Meiling like a joke: In the interview in BAiJR between Aya and Meiling, the first reference to her sleeping on the job was made. Other than that, we found out that she is the gardener of the mansion, which is nice. One year later, PMiSS made the sleeping gag canon. We did get some neat characterisation about her. Hisoutensoku is when things start to get messy. Here, Meiling's campaign where she defeated the evil Taisui Xinjung and his assasins was revealed to be all just some dumb dream. At least we got more characterisation for her, so that's also nice. But there is more: The Inaba manga had a scene where Meiling was shown as incompetent when she had to check the invitations of some mere bunnies and the Eitnei crew (might have percieved the manga in a wrong way, tho). They already passed the gate before she even managed to finish with the invitations. It's still unknown if the manga is canon or not. In WaHH, Remilia and Sakuya started to violently tease her (to be fair, it was because Remilia and Sakuya drank something that made them behave like Oni, but still) And finally, to end this, we have the shitshow that is CDS. Why is it so bad, you may ask? Well, for one she openly admitted in the first chapter that she sleeps on the job almost every day, then she had an arguement with Sakuya when the maid got suspected for "poisoning" Patchoulli, then it was revealed that Patchy was actually possesed by an evil vengeful spirit that wanted to create havoc in Gensokyo, said spirit later possesing Meiling, as well as putting her into a coma, and for the grand finale, she gets almost strangled to death by Flandre herself because of that vengeful spirit that was inside Meiling at the time. I heard that other characters got this kind of treatment as well, like Reisen and Kanako. I think it's pretty clear that ZUN doesn't respect her at all, at least to me. So all of this makes me wonder: why does ZUN treat Hong Meiling like this? Did he intend from the very beginning for her to be a joke character? Does he have a grudge against Meiling? Who knows. One thing I do know is that her future is looking grim, and I actually dread the next time she appears in a another entry in the series, because she will most likely be treated like a joke yet again. I mean, writing an essay for 2 hours straight isn't going to change the situation at all, so what can I do to actually change this? Well, nothing. I think it might be too late for anything to be done, unfortunately. Hong Meiling had so much potential, yet all of that got thrown out of the window thanks to some memes that ZUN made canon for some unknown reason. Well, that was a weird way to spend my evening, but at least I finally managed to say what I had on my mind.

For some game series I really enjoy: The Soulsborne series has already been mentioned in here and I am gonna mention it again. Nothing beats going through the areas of a ruined kingdom while being always alert for whatever freaky creature wants to attack you. Until now I have finished Dark Souls 1 and 3 and I still have to finish DS2. I wish I could also play Bloodborne, but I can't since I don't own a PS4/PS5. Psychonauts is another personal favourite 3D platformer series of mine. You play as Razputin Aquato, a 10 year old psychic boy that enters the minds of people, which range from mentally healthy to suffering from mental disorders. It's very creative in terms of mental worlds, character design and more. And it's also one of those games that I really want to read through all the possible dialogue because of how fun it is. This game series also got me into liking psychology. There is also De Blob. This is an obscure 3D platformer series, released during the Wii days (also ported to modern day consoles and PC in 2017). The premise of the games is that Chroma City (De Blob 1) and Prisma City (De Blob 2) got invaded by an intergalactic empire named "INKT", ruled by Comrade Black, which took away all the colour and life of the cities, turning them into black and white hellscapes, while also enslaving their entire populations (with the exception of some rebels), and pretty much installing a very oppresive dictatorship, and it's up to Blob and a certain group of rebels to bring back freedom. It's very satisfying to turn a soulless area filled to the brim with ink and despair into a lively place bustling with colour. Oh, and the funky soundtrack is just amazing. The best part is that it constantly changes in the backround, depending on how much you paint and on what colour you are painting with. Hmm, typing this out, I just realised how much I love 3D platformers.

During my lurking days in the Touhou subreddits, I noticed that people in the community have a really strong grudge against piracy. I can see why they would have this point of view. I mean, piracy isn't considered morally correct, especially if we are talking about games made by an indie team (even if there is only one guy in said team) But without piracy, there would be no way for Touhou to get played in the west during the late 2000's and early 2010's and for people to discover this franchise (correct me if I'm wrong). Even if most Touhou games are now on Steam, you still have to pirate games like EoSD (and PC-98 games, but that's a whole other story). Eitherway, it's way more convenient to get that game here pre-patched than to get it from some guy on Ebay or some other shady website. I hope I can buy the games once I have a stable income. People always tend to see MS as "that evil website filled with evil people who dare to pirate Touhou games". At first, during 2019-2021, I only recognised this website as nothing more than a piracy site (well, I was one of those so-called "evil pirates" back then, so I didn't actually antagonise this website). But something changed in 2022. That was the period of time when I tried to actually interact with fellow Touhou fans, And so I started lurking in communities. The ones I spent the most lurking in were the Touhou subreddits which... yeah, I don't like them at all. Then I stumbled upon Moriya Shrine's forums on accident, and I think I have finally found a place where I can talk to people in peace (this being my very first post in here). It's weird that a website notorious for piracy is way more civilised and friendly than the communities who trash talk about it.