I've played a couple games, Touhou 6. 7, and 8 to be exact, but I don't really want to play every single game to learn the story and characters. Are there any other media like manga, anime, or light novels that can act as a good entry point to learning about Gensokyo and it's characters?
How to get into Touhou story/lore?
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There's a lot of other media, yes.
I've started out with looking at the wiki[1], and there are animes like Memories of Phantasm[2] (you can find it on YouTube[3]) which I found to be alright (though I know some people might disagree with that one)
[1]: https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki
[2]: https://myanimelist.net/anime/55315/Gensou_Mangekyou__The_Memories_of_Phantasm
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLZSCxK3gUOg47YNEzrXMQFN2mO76Cjjl
I've started out with looking at the wiki[1], and there are animes like Memories of Phantasm[2] (you can find it on YouTube[3]) which I found to be alright (though I know some people might disagree with that one)
[1]: https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Wiki
[2]: https://myanimelist.net/anime/55315/Gensou_Mangekyou__The_Memories_of_Phantasm
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLZSCxK3gUOg47YNEzrXMQFN2mO76Cjjl
Pinky Cat
Suzunaan Reader
I think Wild and Horned Hermit is the most suitable Touhou media as an introduction to Gensokyo and its characters while still telling a story of some kind. There a nice variety of arcs showcasing different aspects of Gensokyo observed by the hermit Kasen as its main character.
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If you've already played a few of the games, I recommend reading the game manual.
They aren't long to read, and you'll be sure the information is accurate (unlike watching Memories of Phantasm, which is made by fans and has a lot of made-up stuffs from "fanon". THe chronology is also all over the place in the anime. You go from 7 to 6 (flashback) to 12 (teaser) to 9.5 to 9 to 12.3 to 8 to 10. Few explanation as to who's who, I can only recommend to people already familiar with the games). Starting from Touhou 7, the game manual have more detailed background for important characters (a lot of which is not mentioned in the actual game at all. Mokou's story is way more complex in the manual than in the game).
You can find the translation on the wiki if I am not mistaken. If not, you can find them on the translation site: https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th07#Outside_the_game. It's the characters settings.txt file (sometime, it's in the omake.txt file).
Reading the mangas is fine. I don't have particular recommendation. Characters will pop-in and out, but you should be able to follow.
After that, you could read the wiki, but personally I recommend saving this for last. While the wiki has a lot of information (including from obscure print-works), it's also the most boring way to discover the characters and the world.
They aren't long to read, and you'll be sure the information is accurate (unlike watching Memories of Phantasm, which is made by fans and has a lot of made-up stuffs from "fanon". THe chronology is also all over the place in the anime. You go from 7 to 6 (flashback) to 12 (teaser) to 9.5 to 9 to 12.3 to 8 to 10. Few explanation as to who's who, I can only recommend to people already familiar with the games). Starting from Touhou 7, the game manual have more detailed background for important characters (a lot of which is not mentioned in the actual game at all. Mokou's story is way more complex in the manual than in the game).
You can find the translation on the wiki if I am not mistaken. If not, you can find them on the translation site: https://www.thpatch.net/wiki/Th07#Outside_the_game. It's the characters settings.txt file (sometime, it's in the omake.txt file).
Reading the mangas is fine. I don't have particular recommendation. Characters will pop-in and out, but you should be able to follow.
After that, you could read the wiki, but personally I recommend saving this for last. While the wiki has a lot of information (including from obscure print-works), it's also the most boring way to discover the characters and the world.
