Brief overview on the history of Touhou popularity polls

[CountVonNumenor]

Recently, I have found a surprisingly interesting thread on r/touhou in regards to the history of Touhou popularity polls. Therefore, I would like to share it in here. I might add a few notes here and there, but I will try to keep this mostly the same way the original author wrote it.

Every Touhou Popularity Poll Important Infos and Analysis (2003~2021)

https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%8F%99%EB%B0%A9%20%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4%20%EC%9D%B8%EA%B8%B0%ED%88%AC%ED%91%9C

So in Korean wiki, there is a section of every Touhou Popularity Poll votes and info and analysis written by various people throughout the years but unfortunately, all of it is in Korean. So I decided to translate all of it by myself. It's worth it because most of them are fun to read.

NOTE - There may be some info that is wrong or incorrect.

Before I get started, there are some basic information and sites you have to see first.

1. https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Project_Popularity_Poll
   
2. Official HomePage - https://toho-vote.info/
   
3. Past Touhou Popularity Poll Results - https://toho-vote.info/results
   
4. Official Twitter - https://twitter.com/toho_vote
   
5. This year Touhou Popularity Poll starts in 2022-09-17 00:00 ~ 2022-09-24 20:00 (probably in JST)
   
6. Newest Poll (2021) Fraud Correction - https://maribelhearn.com/thvote/extras#fraud
   
7. Newer characters are becoming harder to get into high ranks (1~20) at first time so nowadays it's very rare to see a sudden star character debut.
   
8. Highest debut ranks 1 - Hata no Kokoro ranked 15 at 10th poll.
   
9. Highest debut ranks 2 - Kishin Sagume ranked 14 at 12th poll.
   
10. Highest debut ranks 3 - Yorigami Shion ranked 15 at 15th poll.
    
11. Honor of Fame 1 - 1~11th because all the characters in here never changed dramatically ever since 11th poll. (Reimu - Marisa - Koishi - Youmu - Sakuya - Flandre - Remilia - Satori - Alice - Mokou - Aya)
    
12. Honor of Fame 2 - In recent polls, Remilia theme and Flandre theme almost always gets in the 1st or 2nd place in the music category, so you can consider the 3rd place as 1st, since that place frequently changes.
    
13. (generally considered as) Highest Rank Gatekeeper - Hong Meiling
    
14. (generally considered as) Middle Rank Gatekeeper - https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Jinyou
    
15. Voting for Touhou official works started in 12th poll and after that, the 1st~6th rank is literally always the same. (TH6 EoSD - TH8 IN - TH7 PCB - TH10 MoF - TH11 SA - TH15 LoLK)
    
16. There is a funny meme called Aki Sand ( 秋サンド ), because Aki sisters from Mountain of Faith are not famous and has low popularity so, it became a basic criteria of who is unpopular, and who is between them. [by "sand", the author most likely referred to the (in)famous "Aki Sandwitch" usually forming in the popularity poll (CVN's note)]
    

5th​

Okazaki Yumemi​

First Aki Sand​

6th



X



Both sisters stuck 49th and 50th



7th



Kaenbyou Rin



47th



8th



Daiyousei



47th



9th



X



Both sisters stuck 51th and 52th



NicoNico Popularity Poll



Eirin, Koakuma, Yamame



Aki Big Mac





10th



Rinnosuke



65th



11th



Okazaki Yumemi



Yumemi Aki Sand 2nd time



12th



Okazaki Yumemi



Yumemi Aki Sand 3rd time



13th



Lunasa Prismriver



77th



14th



Lunasa, Rinnosuke, Toramaru Shou, Teireida Mai



Aki Mega Mac



15th



Shinki, Yumemi



Yumemi Aki Sand 4th time



16th



X



Both sisters stucked 96th and 97th



17th (Fraud correction)



X



Both sisters stucked 93th and 94th


(Literally Yumemi became a strawberry sand)

And so it begins.

1st Touhou Popularity Poll (2003-02-13 ~ 2003-04-06)

Character​

1​

Izayoi Sakuya​

95​

 


1



Kirisame Marisa



95



 


3



Hakurei Reimu



61



 


4



Cirno



51



 


5



Patchouli Knowledge



46



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



81



 


2



U.N. Owen was her?



77



 


3



Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17



49



 


4



Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial



47



 


5



Doll Judgment ~ The girl who played with people's shapes



45

• Total Votes = Character : 544, Music : 678
  
• Very first poll after the release of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (TH6) and trial version release of Perfect Cherry Blossom (TH7).
  
• The poll period was quite long because character voting period and music voting period was done in a different dates.
  
• You could vote the characters from Touhou old works from PC-98 era and Seihou project.
  
• You could 1 vote for 3.
  
• You couldn't 'choose' the voting category, you had to write it down. (More correctly, the very first voter had to write the category.) So, the 0 voted category couldn't get in the results.
  

2nd Touhou Popularity Poll (2003-09-14 ~ 2003-09-27)

Character​

1​

Izayoi Sakuya​

564​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



532



 


3



Hakurei Reimu



293



 


4



Prismriver Sisters



260



 


5



Konpaku Youmu



254



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Phantom Ensemble



448



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



383



 


3



U.N. Owen was her?



357



 


4



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



334



 


5



Necrofantasia



311

• Total Votes = Character : 1195, Music : 945
  
• Release of Perfect Cherry Blossom (TH7).
  
• Character voting was point system: You could give 1 point for each 3 or 3 points for one character.
  
• Music was 1 vote for 5.
  
• (I will skip the spell card category)
  
• Prismriver Sisters was made into a group in the category.
  

EXTRA (2004-05-16 ~ 2004-05-29)

Character​

1​

Kirisame Marisa​

7094​

 


2



Izayoi Sakuya



7069



 


3



Hakurei Reimu



4507



 


4



Yakumo Yukari



4395



 


5



Konpaku Youmu



4105

• Total Votes = 52117
  
• Trial version release of Imperishable Night (TH8) and Motion Verification Edition release of Immaterial and Missing Power (TH7.5)
  
• In the period of 2 weeks, you could 1 vote for 3 one day, and the next day, and the next day, until the poll ends. (Battle Royale by fans)
  
• Characters from secondary creation was also possible to vote.
  
• Highest Total Votes EVER = 52117
  

3rd Touhou Popularity Poll (2004-10-17 ~ 2004-10-23)

Character​

1​

Kirisame Marisa​

2284​

 


2



Konpaku Youmu



1802



 


3



Izayoi Sakuya



1746



 


4



Saigyouzi Yuyuko



1502



 


5



Reisen Udongein Inaba



1482



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



448



 


2



Love-coloured Master Spark



383



 


3



Phantom Ensemble



357



 


4



Necrofantasia



334



 


5



U.N. Owen was her?



311

• Total Votes = Character : 4942, Music : 3525
  
• Release of Imperishable Night (TH8) and Curiosities of Lotus Asia (Book)
  
• Character voting system became similar as nowadays: 1st - 2 votes, 2nd and 3rd - 1 vote.
  
• Same as last time, Music was 1 vote for 5.
  
• Marisa won the 1st.
  
• Disappearance of Hakurei Reimu. (6th)
  
• Prismriver Sisters became a separated categories starting this poll.
  
• Udongein got a nickname called '新参ホイホイ' (Newcomer Hoi Hoi) which was a negative meaning because many newcomers who got into Touhou were attracted by Udongein. (oldbie - newbie enmity)
  

["Newcomer Hoi Hoi", based on the description, might be an alternative name for "newcomer bait", which is alternatively used for characters like Reisen (CVN's note)]

4th Touhou Popularity Poll (2005-12-18 ~ 2005-12-24)

Character​

1​

Kirisame Marisa​

1301​

 


2



Hakurei Reimu



1245



 


3



Izayoi Sakuya



1165



 


4



Saigyouzi Yuyuko



919



 


5



Alice Margatroid



895



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



1210



 


2



Wind God Girl



951



 


3



U.N. Owen was her?



864



 


4



Necrofantasia



855



 


5



Phantom Ensemble



838

• Total Votes = Character : 4426, Music : 3801
  
• Release of Immaterial and Missing Power (TH7.5), Phantasmagoria of Flower View (TH9), Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (Book).
  
• Sakuya Pad meme, but not enough to go back to 1st.
  

5th Touhou Popularity Poll (2008-02-10 ~ 2008-02-16)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

3927​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



3867



 


3



Shameimaru Aya



3774



 


4



Izayoi Sakuya



3154



 


5



Remilia Scarlet



3083



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



448



 


2



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



383



 


3



Necrofantasia



357



 


4



Septette for the Dead Princess



334



 


5



Native Faith



311

• Total Votes = Character : 12220, Music : 10787
  
• Touhou main games took a break so the poll took a break as well, so around 2 years in between the old and new poll.
  
• Release of Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (Book), Shoot the Bullet (TH9.5), Mountain of Faith (TH10)
  
• Nico Nico Douga and Pixiv appeared.
  
• Total votes tripled the last time.
  
• The number of votes in the character category increased to 5 while maintaining the recommended vote method. (1st - 2 votes, 2~5th - 1 vote)
  
• Hakurei Reimu won the 1st for the first time.
  
• Shameimaru Aya was super popular in nico nico and Pixiv and won the 3rd.
  
• 'Newcomer Hoi Hoi' meaning was changed into 'new character that's popular in nico nico or Pixiv'.
  
• So 2nd newcomer hoi hoi = Aya
  

6th Touhou Popularity Poll (2009-01-18 ~ 2009-01-24)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

5739​

 


2



Izayoi Sakuya



5433



 


3



Kirisame Marisa



5380



 


4



Kochiya Sanae



5315



 


5



Remilia Scarlet



4945



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



4896



 


2



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



4831



 


3



U.N. Owen was her?



4489



 


4



Necrofantasia



3919



 


5



Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye



3869

• Total Votes = Character : 22087, Music : 18774
  
• Release of Subterranean Animism (TH11), Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (TH10.5).
  
• Total votes doubled the last time.
  
• Kochiya Sanae won the 4th. 3rd newcomer hoi hoi.
  
• Dramatic fall by Shameimaru Aya. (3rd → 11th)
  
• Because of Ultimate Sadistic Creature meme, Kazami Yuka has risen. (20th → 9th)
  

7th Touhou Popularity Poll (2010-02-07 ~ 2010-02-13)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

7731​

 


2



Kochiya Sanae



7221



 


3



Kirisame Marisa



6766



 


4



Izayoi Sakuya



6763



 


5



Remilia Scarlet



6747



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



6607



 


2



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



6071



 


3



Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind



5591



 


4



U.N. Owen was her?



5559



 


5



Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye



5528

• Total Votes = Character : 33449, Music : 28110
  
• Release of Undefined Fantastic Object (TH12).
  
• Kochiya Sanae won the 2nd because of appearance as a player character.
  
• Reimu won the 1st 3 times in a row.
  

8th Touhou Popularity Poll (2011-02-13 ~ 2011-02-19)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

8175​

 


2



Izayoi Sakuya



7246



 


3



Kazami Yuka



7192



 


4



Remilia Scarlet



6920



 


5



Kirisame Marisa



6750



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



6770



 


2



Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind



6344



 


3



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



5830



 


4



U.N. Owen was her?



5777



 


5



Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye



4864

• Total Votes = Character : 35946, Music : 29285
  
• Release of Double Spoiler (TH12.5), Great Fairy Wars (TH12.8), Wild and Horned Hermit (Comic).
  
• Reimu won the 1st 4 times in a row.
  
• Marisa dropped down from 3rd to 5th, Sanae dropped down from 2nd to 6th.
  
• There was hardly any no appearance of Kazami Yuka after TH9 release but reached the 3rd.
  
• (All time ranking by Kazami Yuka) 13 → 26 → 34 → 21 (TH9) → 20 → 9 → 7 → 3
  
• So Kazami Yuka is the 4th newcomer hoi hoi.
  

9th Touhou Popularity Poll (2012-02-19 ~ 2012-02-25)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

9583​

 


2



Alice Margatroid



9265



 


3



Izayoi Sakuya



8635



 


4



Remilia Scarlet



8205



 


5



Kirisame Marisa



8028



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



7331



 


2



U.N. Owen was her?



6742



 


3



Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind



6328



 


4



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



6261



 


5



The Gensokyo the Gods Loved



5362

• Total Votes = Character : 43737, Music : 32842
  
• Another notable increase in total votes.
  
• Release of Ten Desires (TH13).
  
• Reimu won the 1st 5 times in a row.
  
• 2nd place by Alice. (7th → 2nd) So 5th newcomer hoi hoi.
  
• One of the main reason was because of new MMD model and it got popular.
  
• Mononobe no Futo debut rank is 19th.
  
• Dramatic rise by Ibaraki Kasen. (8th 62 → 9th 26)
  
•  Septette for the Dead Princess won the 1st 3 times in a row.
  
• Converting ranking results into age became a thing this time and Nagae Iku (30th) and Futatsuiwa Mamizo (60th) became a meme.
  
• 2nd highest total votes.
  

5th Nicodosai Touhou Popularity Poll (2013-06-09 ~ 2013-06-16)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

6430​

 


2



Komeiji Koishi



5992



 


3



Kirisame Marisa



5895



 


4



Flandre Scarlet



5311



 


5



Alice Margatroid



5271



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



5428



 


2



U.N. Owen was her?



5269



 


3



Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind



5016



 


4



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



4582



 


5



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



4109

• Official Page - https://nicodosai.com/5th/vote/result
  
• Total Votes = Character : 18403, Music : 14108
  
• There was no new official Touhou game so poll was postponed 1 year, so Touhou Nicodosai held their own Touhou popularity poll.
  
• Kazami Yuka dropped down from 7th to 12th.
  
• Mononobe no Futo dropped down from 19th to 26th.
  
• Dramatic rise by Komeiji Koishi (14th → 2nd).
  

10th Touhou Popularity Poll (2014-02-23 ~ 2014-03-01)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

7314​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



6495



 


3



Komeiji Koishi



6063



 


4



Izayoi Sakuya



5848



 


5



Flandre Scarlet



5488



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



4847



 


2



U.N. Owen was her?



4771



 


3



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



3836



 


4



Emotional Skyscraper ~ Cosmic Mind



3827



 


5



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



3539

• Total Votes = Character : 31040, Music : 23283
  
• Release of Hopeless Masquerade (TH13.5) and Double Dealing Character (TH14)
  
• Reimu won the 1st 7 times in a row.
  
• Koishi dropped down from 2nd to 3rd.
  
• Mononobe no Futo dropped down from 26th to 35th.
  
• Hata no Kokoro debut rank is 15th.
  
• Usami Renko reached 37th.
  
• Most of TH14 characters debut ranks are low.*
  

[CVN's note - it seems like starting with Touhou 14, if not earlier, characters from latest released game no longer make it into Top 10 soon after release; situation continues up to nowadays]

11th Touhou Popularity Poll (2015-05-24 ~ 2015-05-31)

Character​

1​

Komeiji Koishi​

7859​

 


2



Hakurei Reimu



7332



 


3



Kirisame Marisa



7227



 


4



Izayoi Sakuya



6241



 


5



Flandre Scarlet



5972



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



5820



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



5435



 


3



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



4342



 


4



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



3862



 


5



Kobito of the Shining Needle ~ Little Princess



3663

• Total Votes = Character : 32244, Music : 20843
  
• Release of Impossible Spell Card (TH14.3), Urban Legend in Limbo (Th14.5).
  
• Komeiji Koishi won the 1st for the first time.
  
• Usami Renko has risen from 37th to 22nd.
  
• Kijin Seija has risen from 56th 27th.
  

12nd Touhou Popularity Poll (2016-01-10 ~ 2016-01-17)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

15427​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



10969



 


3



Komeiji Koishi



10913



 


4



Izayoi Sakuya



10195



 


5



Flandre Scarlet



9844



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



12088



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



11644



 


3



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



7640



 


4



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



7430



 


5



Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke



6974

• Total Votes = Character : 42419, Music : 32356
  
• This time you could vote up to 7 characters, 10 songs.
  
• Release of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom (Th15).
  
• 1st ~ 5nd rank become same as the 10th poll.
  
• Kishin Sagume debut rank is 14th.
  
• Clownpiece debut rank is 23rd.
  
• Junko debut rank is 31st.
  
• Hecatia Lapislazuli debut rank is 43rd.
  
• Dramatic fall by Hijiri Byakuren with no apparent reason. (26th → 40th)
  
• 3rd highest total votes.
  

13rd Touhou Popularity Poll (2017-01-15 ~ 2017-01-21)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

10674​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



8990



 


3



Komeiji Koishi



8874



 


4



Konpaku Youmu



8495



 


5



Izayoi Sakuya



8284



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



9513



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



9367



 


3



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



6070



 


4



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



5874



 


5



Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke



5728

• Total Votes = Character : 36727, Music : 27694
  
• Probably the first time ever that nothing is worth mentioning.
  
• Total votes started to decrease for a while.
  

14th Touhou Popularity Poll (2018-01-14 ~ 2018-01-20)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

8574​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



7386



 


3



Komeiji Koishi



7238



 


4



Konpaku Youmu



6936



 


5



Izayoi Sakuya



6529



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



7409



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



7235



 


3



Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart



4962



 


4



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



4866



 


5



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



4710

• Total Votes = Character : 32065, Music : 23648
  
• Release of Hidden Star in Four Seasons (TH16) and Antinomy of Common Flowers (15.5)
  
• Same 1st~5th as the last time.
  
• Yorigami Shion debut rank is 15th.
  
• Dramatic rise by Doremy Sweet (70th → 27th)
  
• Junko Theme 'Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart' rank is 3rd. (Owen and Septette is always in 1st and 2nd so technically Pure Furies can be considered as 1st.)
  

15th Touhou Popularity Poll (2019-01-27 ~ 2019-02-02)

Character​

1​

Hakurei Reimu​

6887​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



5950



 


3



Konpaku Youmu



5801



 


4



Komeiji Koishi



5579



 


5



Remilia Scarlet



5453



 


 


 


 


Music



1



Septette for the Dead Princess



5757



 


2



U.N. Owen was her?



5529



 


3



Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart



4232



 


4



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



3686



 


5



Bloom Nobly, Ink-Black Cherry Blossoms ~ Border of Life



3625

• Total Votes = Character : 23883, Music : 17951
  
• Release of Violet Detector (TH16.5)
  
• Yorigami Joon risen from 54th to 36rd.
  
• Yorigami sister theme 'Tonight Stars an Easygoing Egoist' has risen from 22nd to 13rd.
  
• Koishi was 3rd 3 times in a row but now dropped down to 4th because of Youmu.
  

16th Touhou Popularity Poll (2020-06-07 ~ 2020-06-13)

Character​

1​

Konpaku Youmu​

9841​

 


2



Hakurei Reimu



8913



 


3



Komeiji Koishi



8865



 


4



Kirisame Marisa



8626



 


5



Flandre Scarlet



8497



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



8568



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



8239



 


3



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



6204



 


4



Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World



5655



 


5



Pure Furies ~ Whereabouts of the Heart



5351

• Total Votes = Character : 34573, Music : 25919
  
• Poll name has been turned from 'Touhou Wiki Popularity Poll' to 'Touhou Project Popularity Poll'.
  
• Release of Wily Beast and Weakest Creature (TH17).
  
• Konpaku Youmu has won the 1st for the first time.
  
• Haniyasushin Keiki debut rank is 36th.
  
• Kitcho Yachie debut rank is 46th.
  
• Komano Aunn dropped down from 60th to 83rd.
  
• Ibaraki Kasen has risen from 49th to 35th.
  
• Ibuki Suika has risen from 43th to 31th.
  
• Toyosatomimi no Miko has risen from 40th to 29th.
  
• 'Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World' debut rank is 4th.
  
• Total votes has been risen.
  

17th Touhou Popularity Poll (2021-09-26 ~ 2021-10-03) [Fraud correction]

Character​

1​

Konpaku Youmu​

12951​

 


2



Kirisame Marisa



11186



 


3



Hakurei Reimu



11404



 


4



Komeiji Koishi



10683



 


5



Flandre Scarlet



10335



 


 


 


 


Music



1



U.N. Owen was her?



11848



 


2



Septette for the Dead Princess



9498



 


3



Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World



7107



 


4



Hartmann's Youkai Girl



6211



 


5



Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke



5921

• Total Votes = Character : 40363, Music : 30104
  
• Release of Unconnected Marketeers (TH18)
  
• Konpaku Youmu has won the 1st 2 times in a row.
  
• Marisa has beaten Reimu after 13 years (since 4th poll).
  
• Dramatic rise by Murasa Minamitu (70th → 51st)
  
• Cirno is 18th. Came into the first 20 after the 6th poll.
  
• Yuyuko is 10th. Came into the first 10 after the 6th poll.
  
• Highest debut rank is Tenkyuu Chimata which is 44th.
  
• 'Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World' has risen to 3rd rank.
  
• Fraud Correction Result - https://maribelhearn.com/thvote/extras#fraud
  
• Video worthy of watching - https://youtu.be/6djt62Bq6js
  

- 18th Touhou Popularity Poll (2022-09-17 ~ 2022-09-24) [Soon]

This section is some of my analysis after writing down all of these.

• Dramatic debut by new characters is very rare to see (ex Sagume) but if that character appears more in official works and became famous, it can make a breakthrough in the highest rank (ex Koishi).
  
• In case of music rank, if a certain music gets good evaluation and become famous, it shows in the poll almost right away since some reached the 3rd~4th rank.
  

Credit for the original thread goes to u/shinobu_iw https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/wzs2c6/every_touhou_popularity_poll_important_infos_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

 

[sodaodaoda]

Oooh, this was such a fun read. I can't wait for the next poll! I should think about who I'm gonna vote.

 

[Isaac]

Thanks for sharing this analysis Count! Looking forward to this year's poll as well! I wonder if Marisa will be able to reach first place with the release of 18.5.

 

[Gou the frog]

This section is some of my analysis after writing down all of these.

• U.N. Owen was her? will and always, stay on top 5 regarding music rank.
  

 

[CountVonNumenor]

[No message]

 

[Auto Memories Doll]

Very cool information. Thanks for providing  a sample of the list on the forum and the link to the results. Imperishable night fans going strong 

On a serious note the 2022 Popularity poll and the 2hu popularity polls as a whole was a lot more in depth than I thought. going into topics such as subscribed publications difficulty levels 1cc'd and more.

On another note I should make my own top ten 2hu characters for next years popularity poll.
 

 

[sodaodaoda]

If I were to put my thoughts on it, I'd say that I'm actually kinda mad at these results..
Something from EoSD is literally the first place, Flan is the #1 character, UN Owen is the #1 song and EoSD itself is #1 in works.

I'm not so mad at the works tab, hell, even I voted for EoSD since it is my favorite game in the series, but holy shit is it overrated.
Like yeah, I get it, it's the game that brought Touhou to the west yadda yadda, but holy fuck give some recognition to the other characters and songs my god
Like yeah, I like UN Owen as much as the next guy but it can be so fuckin' eargrating sometimes, I'm guess I'm just tired of the Scarlet Sisters, and the EoSD cast as a whole (except for Meiling, I love Meiling :3)

 

[Nekoko]

It looks like that Touhou 1st Windows generation games are very loved by the Touhou fans 

To be honest I think that there isn’t any Touhou game which can be more incredible than the 1st Windows generation Touhou games. 

 

[nightsedge561]

It looks like that Touhou 1st Windows generation games are very loved by the Touhou fans 

To be honest I think that there isn’t any Touhou game which can be more incredible than the 1st Windows generation Touhou games. 

they have just had so much time to develop and have been around for so long. not to mention a lot of the older character imo have cooler abilities and stories behind them. not that the newer ones are bad, as there are still a lot of new characters i like, but they dont have the same mystery and such that the characters from 6 to 9 had, moreso in the others than 6. 

 

[CountVonNumenor]

they have just had so much time to develop and have been around for so long. not to mention a lot of the older character imo have cooler abilities and stories behind them. not that the newer ones are bad, as there are still a lot of new characters i like, but they dont have the same mystery and such that the characters from 6 to 9 had, moreso in the others than 6. 

This, also the lack of information/not enough information and characters that really should be developed more. I think the easiest way to present the situation if through the tier list made by AspretFM in regards to Touhou characters lore based on Omake texts:

Surprisingly, the newer characters (Touhou 16-18) may go to the "cool universe lore" category, but that is about it. Their omake develops the universe itself, not the characters so much. Also PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS

 

[nightsedge561]

Surprisingly, the newer characters (Touhou 16-18) may go to the "cool universe lore" category, but that is about it. Their omake develops the universe itself, not the characters so much. Also PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS

honestly yea. one of the biggest reasons i didnt like gouyuoku ibun that much was because it didnt try to include any of the new characters (only 3 characters between 15-17) and the ones that it did include didnt really get all that much added to them. one of the most entertaining things i found about the old omake texts were that they always included interesting tidbits about characters, what they usually did in their free time and such. later omake texts dont usually include those, making them much shorter and usually only including things that arent all that interesting. i believe that has probably contributed to the later characters being much less popular. PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS

 

[CountVonNumenor]

i believe that has probably contributed to the later characters being much less popular. PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS

It is interesting to me that besides less and less developed Omake texts in general, the Touhou cast starting with Th16 (maybe even starting with 14) has not really managed to get so popular anymore. If whenever a new game in the era up to SA managed to bring its debut character(s) as #1 or at least top 5 that year, nowadays you are lucky if a recent debut character scores in top 30. Besides PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS and perhaps the characters, story and design not being as memorable anymore, what is going on that they don;t really have as much success as they used to? It is not as if we already have an overly-saturated character roster to be fair, which would making the voting better if you could pick 10 options instead of just 7. 

 

[nightsedge561]

It is interesting to me that besides less and less developed Omake texts in general, the Touhou cast starting with Th16 (maybe even starting with 14) has not really managed to get so popular anymore. If whenever a new game in the era up to SA managed to bring its debut character(s) as #1 or at least top 5 that year, nowadays you are lucky if a recent debut character scores in top 30. Besides PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZATION PLS and perhaps the characters, story and design not being as memorable anymore, what is going on that they don;t really have as much success as they used to? It is not as if we already have an overly-saturated character roster to be fair, which would making the voting better if you could pick 10 options instead of just 7. 

it feels like popularity in characters started to wane at around 16, as characters from 15 and 15.5 were and are still really popular now (shinmy, junko, jo'on). A lot of it is as you said with oversaturation, but the newer characters just dont seem to have a lot going for them either. like sure, okina and aunn are cool, wbawc cast is really neat too, but do you actually remember anything about nemuno? or even sannyo? thats what made me feel a bit frustrated with how he treated 17.5, by only using old characters and only 3 of the ones who appeared in 16 and above (okina, kutaka, yuuma). he really did just treat his older characters a lot better, with how often they appeared and how much they had to them. makes me feel like zun is getting a little burnt out. PLS PLS PLS ZUN MORE CHARACTERIZAATION PLEASE