Touhou Reading Log

Pinky Cat · Nov 1, 2024

Over this past year I have been building up a collection of Touhou literature, ranging from manga, fanfictions, zines, and research papers. But I noticed that of discussion of Touhou literature is limited online. In an effort to rectify that issue, this thread's purpose is to act as a reading log on Touhou literature by sharing the work's details like story, characters, themes, art style, etc. Of course, any discussion about the work or sharing a Touhou work within the domain of literature is always welcome.

If you have any comments to say on one of these reading log entries, be sure to comment in the Touhou Reading Log Lounge, a companion thread to this thread as to keep this thread clean for reading entries.

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Pinky Cat's Entries

Season 1 (November 2024)

Season 2 (2025)

Pinky Cat · Nov 1, 2024

Disusedtopia

Genre: Illustration Book
Pages: 40
Release Date: October 16th, 2016 (Autumn Reitaisai 3)
By: Kotoinari

Disusedtopia is a full color illustration book that describes the memories of Kogasa Tatara while she lived in the care of family. Her memories recount the time she played with their daughter during rainy days by catching frogs. Those are the usual activities children do after all. Though, those were only a recounting of memories from over ten years ago ever since Kogasa was abandoned to the waste dumps.

The rest of story is about Kogasa’s time at the Waset House which takes care of all sorts of abandoned objects. There, Kogasa plays with her new family – now composed of objects. This part was quite cute to read admittedly.

Of course, nothing last forever, and so objects started to leave the Waset House as their caretaker took the objects to their “mother”. And this continued until Kogasa was the only one left. Alone again, Kogasa went to see the caretaker in secret. But she found the caretaker did not take objects to “mothers”, but rather sent them to the fiery blazes of of an incinerator. Upon being spotted, Kogasa ran out while the caretaker chased her, before tripping on her feet and setting the mansion in blazes.

There was nothing left of the mansion aside from Kogasa. With no where to go, Kogasa was left on the streets again where Kogasa faded away with no left to take care of her.

Admittedly, when I was ordering from Suruya-Ya, I would of preferred grabbing an older doujinshi of Kotoinari since his art style between the later half of 2016 and the end of 2017 was what I considered a transition period. His art style stopped using unique body shapes in flavor of a standard body shape, and colors begin to be much more saturated compared to the drab colors of before. But this was one of the only doujinshi available online, so I went with Disusedtopia.

As for how I think of this doujinshi, I liked how the simple illustrations accompanied the story's text on the other pages. Made the each story beat impactful seeing how Kogasa has rise and fall in her situation. But most of the pages are filled with white space outside of Kotoinari’s art, making the doujinshi as a illustration book lose some flavor.

However, if there is one area Kotoinari kept consistent in this transition period, it is how he tackles topics. In my mind, this story tells the experience of an orphan through Kogasa, and the Waset House is simply an orphanage for objects. Think of objects as children in the sense that they cannot act on their own without “parental care”, thus abandoned objects can be viewed as orphans when their “parents” stop using the objects. In Kotoinari’s story, an orphan has little options to go to aside from going to an orphanage or to sleep on the streets. And both options as shown by Kotoinari, are undesirable for the potential abuses, or the lack of help respectably. It is bit of a twist on the caretaker role Kogasa in the original canon and shows the true horror of Kotoinari; his ability to twist Touhou around non-Japanese topics in a bit of a satirical sense.

Before I finish this entry, searching up the name Waset pulls up result the Egyptian city of Thebes, which was also known as Waset. Though, I can only say there is a relation in the sense that Kotoinari picked a name with Western roots. And I doubt the name is related to the predatory academic publisher WASET which has held fake conferences in the name of artificially boosting one’s credit in the scientific world. Then again, a Touhou doujinshi featuring Okazaki Yumemi finding herself in a fake conference in an attempt to prove her research is real sounds like the sort of topics Kotoinari would target for.

Pinky Cat · Nov 3, 2024

Touhou in Malaysia

Pages: 29
Release Date: May 3rd, 2024 (Reitaisai 21)
By: Malaysian Touhou Brigade
Source: MTB Facebook Post

Touhou in Malaysia is a short historical doujinshi on the Touhou fandom in Malaysia, from Touhou fans forming their first cosplay group, to forming the group called Malaysian Touhou Brigade, which would organize many offline Touhou offline and online activities over the years.

From the beginning, the book talks about the nature of the first organized Touhou group as a community group. While the group was focused on fighting games, due to Hisoutensoku’s influence, the books notes the friend connections the group made by both its gaming activities paired with its offline activities.

Special note is made on AniManGaki for the 2012 expansion from university rooms to a convention center as a sign for the rise of anime in Malaysia, and for how AniManGaki uniquely focused on niche interest groups like Touhou.

Speaking of growth, this fighting Touhou game group would eventually decide to take on the name of Malaysian Touhou Brigade, MTB for short, to include the more activities of Touhou fans partake in. In addition, MTB took advantage of their now large presence at conventions in activities they call as “Touhou Matsuri”, which can range from screening fighting game matches on the big screen to selling Touhou doujinshi.

The latter half of the book focuses on how MTB was able to invite famous doujin members from Japan as guests for AniManGaki, noting that handling traveling logistics and giving their guests the best Malaysia experience was a team effort between AniManGaki and MTB. More interestingly, is mention of Touhou fans across Southeastern Asia, like Indonesia and Singapore, where Touhou fans traveled across countries in Southeastern Asia to meet artists like D. watt.

After a short intermission on MTB’s online experience from 2020, the book ends on reflection with the community experience Touhou fans have created for each other, and noting the growth of offline Touhou events from across the world like TouhouFest 2024.

=== Thoughts ===

Reading the brief historical overview, it would appear what this book intended to show how dedicated a Touhou fan group can be. Selling doujin goods? Screening a NitorInc showdown? Organizing a Yuuhei Satellite concert? Having an online panel with ZUN? That a lot to take in for as someone living in the US, as there been never been a fan group to the extent of MTB’s level. But, I digress on the differences the US has on offline fan activities compared to Asia, and instead say that the Touhou fandom can grow. That what this short historical book tells me, even if that takes many years. I mean the impossible did happen in the US with the existence of TouhouFest, so I be more optimistic for where this fandom will be going in the future.

Before I close off on this entry, I want to shout out kkcwkoh’s YouTube channel for having so many video recordings on MTB’s offline activities in one place. When I look for Touhou offline activities for a country like the US, I have to go across Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, DeviantArt, Maidens of the Kaleidoscope, and more to figure out what offline activities were done in the past. But for Malaysia, it is all organized into one Youtube channel, so check it out if you interested it seeing how high a Touhou fan group from outside of Japan can go to!

Be sure to check out MTB’s Facebook and Twitter as well!

Pinky Cat · Nov 3, 2024

The Never-ending Book
Genre: Comedy Manga
Pages: 37
Release Date: June 15th, 2021
By: Nostrafort
Source: Webtoons (English) | Internet Archive (Spanish)

This doujinshi is about how Patchouli gets her hand on a book that seems to everyone’s secrets in Gensokyo. Hijacks ensure over Patchouli’s sudden “knowledge”.

As the release was digital, the manga is in full color and my goodness does the colors help complement art quality! The emotion and movement of characters are emphasized better in full color. This of course, makes the humor bounce off the pages.

But there is a scene with Sakuya's time stop that shows the potential of a full color doujinshi where the world transitions into grayscale while Sakuya is highlighted in yellow. The colors made characters able to create separate scenes within the same manga.

In addition, I have to say that the doujinshi’s paneling is more in line with a comic, which gives a more consistent flow to pacing. Now compared that with a comedy doujinshi’s paneling where paneling can suddenly turn into 4-koma, or turn into intermission pages. I have to admit, the more professional quality of Nostrafort made me enjoy the humor a bit more when pacing is felt right.

By the way, the credits show sixteen people from Nostrafort are listed, which is far larger of a team compared to a Touhou doujinshi! Has there even been a non-joint Touhou doujinshi that had that many people working on one doujinshi? Anyway, that helps contributes to the professional quality the manga gave off while reading. And with that, I would like recommend this manga for those looking for Touhou comedy, especially as the manga is available online for free.

Having said that about the quality of the manga, Nostrafort is no longer active due to internal drama from some of their members. Bit of a shame, but that how it is sometimes when it comes to art.

Pinky Cat · Nov 4, 2024

Manjuu
Pages: 18
Genre: Comedy Comic
Release Date: August 2nd, 2019
By: Shadowjackery
Source: Tumblr | AO3

That cover is all that is needed to know about the content of this comic. But seriously, the comic gives each member of the Myouren Temple just enough characterization that allows for the humor to bounce between the character interactions.

This especially helps with how Shadowjackery’s art style certainly gives off indie comic book vibes, but humor never needed the best art to work. Plus, the character design helps gives each character their own reaction, some of them amusing to me.

Before wrapping up this entry, I got to mention it is ironic to read this comic after reading The Never-ending Book with its sixteen member team. It shows how good comedy is easier for artists to create compared to other genres, and if I remember correctly, comedy is one of the most popular genre for Touhou doujinshi.

Pinky Cat · Nov 5, 2024

Touhou Mecha: Hell's Rising
Genre: Kinetic Visual Novel
Release Date: October 7th, 2013
By: Dai-Sukima Dan
Source: Dai-Sukima Dan Blog

Chireiden and Parsia, two territories deep within Gensoukyo's underground, are at war. In order to turn the tide of the war, the hell raven Utsuho Reiuji travels to the Remains of Blazing Hell to attain the power of the sun god Yatagarasu. This power will allow her to use the AM Yatagarasu, a mecha with amazing power. However, the sun god isn't the only thing waiting at the Remains of Blazing Hell…

I have only read up to the end of Chapter One, but that chapter was a great introduction! It firstly does a good job introducing the familiar characters and their relations by briefly going over their role in this Gensokyo x Mecha setting.

These three “magicians” are part of a mercenary group, who are currently going over their new job in Old Hell. From their brief exchange are their roles understood, and thus the reader can make comparisons between the original character, seeing the familiar personality while acknowledging what been added to the character in light of their new setting. Through these brief introductions, the nature of how mecha fits into Gensokyo is defined.

Speaking of mechs, I have to comment that this visual novel employs animation in a couple of scenes with a good dose of sound effects. While the animations are simple movements of sprites, they help add agency by being visuals that play themselves out in addition to the writing.

Lastly, I would like to say that this visual novel went through some polishing. The writing of this chapter was neat, with no notable grammar issues or format issues to pick through. The UI design fits with the mecha setting. And there is good use of scene transitions that continue the flow of action. The amount of polish for a Touhou fan work really helps to standout along Touhou fan works especially for a work published back in the early 2010s: it does not look too outdated.

Before closing this entry, I must warn that there are only two chapters made as this visual novel was unfinished. Though it shouldn’t be an issue when looking at the unique world Touhou Mecha brings to the table, but if one wants a visual novel that is more complete, then try checking out Touhou: Fading Illusion. It is currently in early access, but development has remained timely about their updates, placing them further in releasing a large-scale Touhou visual novel. If that ever releases, then it will be a good day to be a reader of Touhou literature if the quality of Touhou Mecha is any indicator of what a larger Touhou visual novel will look like.

Pinky Cat · Nov 6, 2024

Captain Murasa’s Stories
Genre: Naval History | Artbook
Release Date: August 27th, 2013
Language: Russian
By: U-Joe
Source: Deviant Art

A foreign man goes for a walk to Xavier Park and rests at Sakai Lighthouse. He find a girl in a raddled sailor uniform laying on the ground who, in a drunken stupor, begins to tell the man her sea worthy stories. She leaves with an cat eared affiliate, but not before the man guesses the uniformed girl’s name to be Murasa Minamitsu. In light of this confirmation, Murasa leaves an annoyed comment about Yukari, while the man begins to write down from memory the stories of Murasa as a record to compare with naval history. This intro is the framing this book uses to contain two different subjects in the same book: Naval history and Touhou artwork.

Of the former, Captain Murasa’s Stories is a naval history book that features the ships of Great Britain, Germany, and Japan, all accompanied by photos and artworks. For my personal feelings, the writing intrigued me as much as a good history book knows to tell historical facts as part of a narrative. Reading the reason behind the ships’ creation, seeing their action out on the war operations, and having geopolitics context for their movements made feel a rich connection to essentially the life stories of ships. This is all aided with U-Joe’s rich artstyle, where the sea endlessly waves, the sky setting great color balance, and the ships acting as the focal piece. These artworks serve to highlight the ships for these present times.

Of the latter, Captain Murasa’s Stories is a Touhou artbook that carry heavy Western inspiration in both style and subject. As mentioned before, U-Joe is rich in his artstyle as the environments are wonderfully lush of nature’s eccentrics, while Touhou characters outfitted in far more fashionable style. His subjects can vary where one can see Aya flying over the stormy sea, while another artwork depicts Alice serving tea to a blond child sitting in a well-lit living room. U-Joe also wonderfully mixes Western subjects with Touhou in both environment and clothing, such that artworks still look like a dream more in line of the a past European era not fettered by the fright of recent invasions.

To think that a Touhou fanwork would make me interested in reading the life of British air carrier for the past hour is indicative of how Touhou can connect vastly different subjects together. Perhaps the true subject of Touhou is something less material, liken to a dream or spirit. Perhaps the art of U-Joe was how the book created an unimaginable marriage between the sea and Touhou.

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Before leaving this entry out to dry, I like to mention a quote this book uses under ЁКАИ И ФЕИ (YOUKAI AND FAIRIES):

Мариса: Какая у тебя роль, Фландре?

Фландре: Моя роль - разрушение.

Мариса: Хмм, но никто в этом мире не заслуживает такой

роли.

Фландре: Твоя роль - человек. Обычный человек.

Мариса: Поэтому я свободна. Эта сцена не в силах меня

ограничить.

Фландре: Я – демон. Демоны тоже свободны, верно?

Мариса: Нет. Разве ты не знаешь сказок?

FelisOvum, «Cendrillon»

перевод – RainСat

The name Cendrillon caught my eye, for that doujinshi is not a typical Touhou doujinshi. While its author, FelisOvum, is certainly inspired to add Western subjects in the same way U-Joe does in his art, the narrative of the doujinshi stands out for trying to tell a theme that extends beyond its roots of a Touhou doujinshi. I recommend checking out the doujinshi, if not but to see the sort of artwork that could be created back in 2008.

Pinky Cat · Nov 7, 2024

Touhou Dreamweaver
Genre: Visual Novel
Release Date: March 23rd, 2024
Language: English
By: Megapig9001
Source: Itch.io

“When Doremy ventures inside a volatile nightmare, she meets Alice, an anxious girl desperate to escape from the hands of the "Demoness". Help Doremy and Alice in this Point-and-Click Visual Novel game!”

As I have some pressing obligations I should be taking care of, I have decided to read a short visual novel for today.

I had a thought about why most Touhou character seem to never change and I find that one possible reason is that these characters do not lose nor gain more responsibilities after their initial character introduction. Remember when Wriggle tried delivery service? She forgot about that service, and that how it goes for most characters as they temporary gain responsibilities to conduct an role. These actions never become a lasting “raison d’etre” integrated into themselves that adds to the character. Of course, there are exceptions. Tenshi is a classic example of character development via additional responsibilities, namely Shion. Let us face the facts, SWR Tenshi was a pain precisely because she was raised in Heaven without going through the proper training, so Tenshi was bored of Heaven’s reward of an unchanging paradise and destroyed the Hakurei Shrine as a result of her boredom. And that could be all, until Tenshi met Shion and all of a sudden Tenshi now has to care for people with proper mannerism, for Shion has her fair share of issues that Tenshi can help be there for her. That was the responsibility added to Tenshi, and why her character received major glowup after AoCF. Now, let extend this topic to the visual novel at hand by talking about Alice instead.

So, I liked the visual novel’s story for how it tackled Alice’s nightmares as a conflict with Alice’s dream to follow her own responsibilities, instead of following the responsibilities the “Demoness” placed on Alice. This is shown as chronological change by observing the dream for objects of child Alice’s room, showing how child Alice gained the dream to create a living doll of her own. In the visual novel, that child Alice becomes Alice as shown in a series of flashbacks where began to break ties with the “Demoness” to become her own being, leaving for Gensokyo where the rest is history for Alice.

Reviewing the visual novel technically, I will start out saying that the visuals and soundtrack fits within the context of navigating a dream memory: vivid colors and quiet tones. On the other hand, I have a mirror criticism that the writing can be a bit brief with the way certain scenes are resolved. It makes scenes ends peacefully without fully drawing out moment. I also wish there was a transition between the dollmaker minigame and its flashbacks as the sudden music change is a bit abrupt in appreciating the flashbacks. Again, minor issues when compared to the clear polish it has as a final college project. It is pretty amazing and mature that Touhou could be mixed at school at such a high level. Perhaps that is the role of adding responsibilities to oneself which some refer to that as "aspiration".

Pinky Cat · Nov 9, 2024

Fairy Fiesta Zines
Genre: Zine
Release Date: September 9th, 2020-2024
Language: English
By: .Zines
Book Source: .Zines Itch.io Page (FREE!)

Fairy Fiesta is a series zines celebrating Cirno that has continuously released every Cirno Day since 2019. Each zine is packed filled with art and stories related to Cirno from all sorts of artists and writers. In addition, each zine has its own unique theme setting zines apart while keeping the focus on the icy fairy, Cirno.

Now, reviewing zine for the log is bit weird because these zines feature so many different artists and writers that these isn’t a consistent aspect to critique on these zines. Truly, these zines are meant more as a celebration showcase rather than being a organized tale, not that celebratory work isn’t meaningful on its own.

What I can say is that these zine feature quite the diverse set of art styles, some I have never seen even in Touhou art online. That alone is worth checking out, since I believe traditional social media’s search algorithms would be unfavorable to the exposure for some of the art. Gives a benefit to creating zine since the works are handpicked all together.

In light of the highly artistic zines, the rest of the entry will simply highlight some parts of the work that I find to be notable in a sorta graphic design/framing sense. As a reminder these zines are available for free on their Itch.io page, so check them out!

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Fairy Fiesta Sweet! Table of Contents

Fairy Fiesta Sweets! was the only one to get a table of contents, perhaps because the works in this zine were organized by the type of sweet used: candies, drinks, keki, and “i-screams”. Fittingly, the table of contents take on the appearance of a diner menu, listing out the creator as their title, their work’s sweets, their price, and some additional warnings like “May contain unwanted surprises”. That packs charm, plus I now feel hungry for some leftover Halloween candy.

The Fairy Frog Flower Festival

Hopping on page 17 of Fairy Fiesta Frog!, unlike other writing works included in the zine, this poetic work uses a completely original design for its background, formatting, fonts, and colors. As for the poetry, it is five sections with similar rhyming schemes that give just enough to figure out the fairy it describes though a froggy description.

Fairy Fiesta RPG! Cover

In my opinion, this is the best cover out of all the zines so far because this cover isn’t simply just Cirno. By allowing additional characters, each of them adds their unique expression to the cover, thus breaking monotony of the strongest fairy, Cirno. Also, this covers does well to reference the covers of old adventure games and I get the feeling of the story going, “Can Cirno’s fairies beat the dark Magicians and save the world?”. Lastly, the designs of their clothing are pretty gorgeous. Everyone has their share of extra fills, but I have to give special attention to Marisa and Patchouli for their new coats. Marisa looks fits for a lord taking the world’s treasure, while Patchouli

Pinky Cat · Nov 10, 2024

Ask Kogasa - A Lonely Umbrella
Genre: Full Color Comic
Pages: 31
Release Date: May 8th, 2017
Language: English
By: Rubin
Book Source: Itch.io Page

I wonder when the first purple umbrellas were created? Well, it doesn’t matter to Kogasa now that she lives in Gensokyo.

Rubin has a nice brush texture and color palette to go along with the scenes such that Kogasa’s emotions feels more proactive with this woven atmosphere. The backgrounds are very empty, but the colors of the Touhou characters serve to stand them out.

Anyway, not much to say other than mention this comic was created as a response to multiple asks on the Tumblr blog Ask Kogasa. There some more lovely art and animations of Kogasa on there, but the real power of Ask Blogs was the ability to converse with a fictional character and get a response from them. For now, it serves as a nice art gallery that reflects a form of internet culture long gone from now.

Pinky Cat · Nov 11, 2024

not good enough.
Pages: 13
Release Date: June 16th, 2020
Language: English
By: jiayi (bunbun)
Book Source: Gumroad

A short MariAli book for today, featuring a little pouting from Marisa about her perceived inadequacy when compared to Alice. Fortunately, Alice reminds Marisa that she too, has her own strengths that Alice does not have.

The story is what I describe as sweet and soft as there isn’t much of a deeper conflict aside from the one conflict Marisa has, which is resolved by Alice. Not much development, but this fault can be explained by how jiayi was pressed for time to release this book by MariAli day.

That aside, I will state my opinion on Touhou ships. I am neutral on them, rather how much I enjoy a Touhou ship depends on how well the writing develops the ship. In my opinion, I prefer a more realistic/humanistic approach to relationships between Touhou characters; a focus on the more tinder moments. More explicit feelings should be risen to and not be handled out so freely as to me that feels like an unrealistic relationship that feels wishful. It should be acknowledged that my opinion would conflict with the reason to write such ship stories, to describe an impossible relationship under social norms, which is why I would like to say I like to mention one example of a “ship” story.

Higan's Camellia is a KomAkyuu story that has excellent buildup of drama as Komachi realizes the consequences of befriending a child of the Miare. The buildup of drama is done as the Akyuu’s days to death come closer and closer, while Komachi tries to pull some strings at the Ministry of Right and Wrong to see if there is a way to save Akyuu before everything is said and done. When Akyuu’s death day arrives, a ceremony that acts both as her funeral and as her transport to the Ministry of Right and Wrong starts, with her executor being none other than Komachi. The tension is at its highest.

While the events described in Higan Camellia do not reflect in the Outside World, the drama makes their relationship truly heartfelt as both Komachi and Akyuu have to consider how their relationship should continue given their unique life circumstances to each other. Higan Camellia is not just a relationship of love but also describes the steps to their relationship. And to tie this back to my opinion on ships, this simply creates writing that is more in-depth, and more humanistic for its given ship.

Of course, the amount of drama in Higan Camellia is not required for me to like a ship story. Echoing Hearts is focused more on the moment-to-moment lifestyle of Kyoko and Kutaka, and that visual novel was one I felt needed the best rating for the writing category in Touhou Pride Game Jam 5. Simply put, I like to see the microcosms that come with such relationships, and as such I like to end this entry by returning to not good enough with a concluding line: seeing the lighter moments can be good relief all on its own.

View attachment 5465

Pinky Cat · Nov 12, 2024

Puppy Love
Pages: 21
Release Date: September 18th, 2017
Language: English
By: Anniptrnn (@homokommari)
Book Source: Gumroad

This comic is about Aya talking to Hatate about Momiji where Aya makes some not-so-subtle hints on her affection to Momiji.

On the structure of the comic, this comic feels short despite the 21 page count as it uses the same 4korma paneling for the entire comic. In addition, the conflict plays a smaller role as the conflict is more about how Momiji feels reluctant at first to recuperate to the advances made by Aya, rather than trouble with an existing relationship.

Clearly, this comic is not meant to be earth shattering writing, like if there were more references about the Tengu society’s caste system with regards to the different jobs Aya and Momiji inhabit. No, it is simply a celebration of an Aya and Momiji ship. Through, since the development of the relationship quickly ends on their first date within the comic this work does little outside of those who enjoy the Aya and Momiji ship. It is fine as a fan creation, but as a work of writing I would find that Puppy Love is a funny prologue to a relationship between Aya and Momiji. All that left is to wonder then, is if there is any Touhou literature that focuses on developing Tengu society in its writing. It would make for some heavy development in Tengu relationships.

Pinky Cat · Nov 14, 2024

Orin’s Story
Pages: 32
Language: English
By: Anniptrnn (@homokommari)
Book Source: Gumroad

This comic is about Orin’s perspective on when Okuu ate a god to become a nuclear bird. What I love about Orin’s perspective is that its describes what happened to Okuu’s body after eating that sun god as eating a god that supposed to represent a ball of over 15 million Celsius has consequences.

Okuu is lying in bed with a scarred front, a missing right arm, and a newly formed eye that pops out in the middle of her chest. Orin worries over Okuu, they fuss over Satori’s rebuke for Okuu’s actions, and then they sleep together warmly to heal their damages. Afterward, Okuu figures out a right arm prosthetic, Okuu and Satori find new clothes for Okuu, and Orin does the final cuts on Okuu’s new clothes to breath air into that chest eye of hers. It’s lovely seeing essentially seeing friends taking care of their injures together, and seeing Okuu’s appearance by the end of the comic makes me appreciate what Orin and Satori have done for her. It is not often we see Touhou characters get injuries that are drastic like losing limbs and having permanent scars; that just won’t happen in canon for how impactful it would change a character to lose so much by injury to the body. That all I have to say for a lovely story that brings its own dose of originality as a derivative work of Touhou.

By the way, a reader that goes by the username kymoh commented that their favorite work on the reading log so far is the comic Manjuu because of the artist’s exaggerated style. To me, I agree with that statement seeing how that exaggerated style gave the comic a unique design that stands, plus the Myouren Temple’s were expressions humorous to me. Now, to connect this comment back to today’s entry, Orin’s Story, I say both Manjuu and Orin’s Story both messed with the usual proportions of Touhou characters. While Manjuu gave the Myouren Temple atypical expressions for humor, Orin’s Story goes though a body healing process to narrtively express the love Orin and Satori have for Okuu. All of these artistically different designs on Touhou character reminds me of artist もりっしー, who draws Touhou character with differing proportions. Take a look at this artwork featuring the Subterranean Animism characters reading the artist’s doujinshi. Note the giant hairy arms of Yamame in the background. See how small Okuu and Orin are in comparison to Satori. Does Yamame feels more like a monstrous spider crawling underground? Doesn’t the small statue of Okuu and Orin make them more huggable? By messing with size, the artist has given viewers one more characteristics to get the feel of a character, and this is all in addition to the artist’s well-rounded approach to expressions. Also, this artist like to employ some jokes with their character depictions, for example Okina is always seen by their back. No exceptions. Not even when the artist created an artwork featuring Okina in a grand slam against the fairies when she is surrounded on all sides. All in all, もりっしー is a favorite artist of mine for his character designs the same way Manjuu and Orin’s Story messed with character design to create unique comics.

More artists should try to experiment with Touhou character designs in more ways than their clothing. ZUN already changes clothing design with his characters, so how about trying a different way to mess with character design? It can be more than eye candy as seen with Orin’s Story, and having narrative reason for character’s visual appearance is taking the extra step.

Pinky Cat · Nov 15, 2024

Rice Soup
Pages: 29
Release Date: September 1st, 2016
Language: English
By: Shadowjackery
Book Source: AO3

View attachment 5485

This time, Shadowjackery made a full-length comic that was funny to me. Every single page was a setup for a joke, yet this comedy kept the plot progressing at the same time. It made the pacing feel dynamic, and let the jokes come one after another. As a result, I laughed at the entire comic from beginning to end. I especially loved the amount of irony that happened with the methods the SDM used to defeat the monster. Plus, the characters’ differing level of formal language amused me. Thus, I would like to give a personal recommendation for Rice Soup as a good Touhou comedy.

Pinky Cat · Nov 16, 2024

Distant Union’s Books (The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 1, The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 2, Over My Hot Youkai Body)
Genre: Comedy Book
Release Date: April 2013 – May 2014
Language: English
By: Distant Union (Leo Modesto, Rubin, Jade, Siegmund, DL)
Book Source: Distant Union Web Page

It is finally time I took a look at Distant Union’s books for the reading log, since I was who posted about Distant Union on the Touhou Lost Media thread. More on the circle for later on the entry as for today, I read three books that could only be found on Distant Union’s website: The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 1, The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 2, and Over My Hot Youkai Body. As The Gensokyo Menagerie volumes were collaborative books between multiple artists I will comment on the highlights of the books, while I review Over My Hot Youkai Body on its own merits.

The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 1

I liked shadowy landscape of Sigmud’s first artwork as it puts Gensokyo in the lens of a fantasy novel by showing the important locations of Gensokyo all in one artwork. It gives the vibe that Gensokyo is more interconnected than it actually is in canon, but that view is nice.

Shoot, I think I have a new favorite artist in the form of Rubin. The small Yoshika and Kogasa comic is cute and the colored version of the comic’s background on Distant Union’s website feels amazing to look at. I also liked Luise’s Trip to Gensokyo! by Rubin, for giving Louise (and Sara) a fan comic. It a bit short, but I will have admit that Rubin’s artwork on the last page is as wonderful for its color use similar to the art of Ask Kogasa - A Lonely Umbrella.

The Gensokyo Menagerie Vol. 2

Woah, the art of Rubin’s Hanging By a Thread is quite charming and rustic at the same time. The omake states Rubin that used water color for this story, and that really comes when seeing Wriggle be in awe of Yamame’s snitching.

On the other hand, Jade’s Cursed Games, made me laugh for the progressive hijinks that Sanae finds herself in after she finds a ukulele and Scrabble? Yep, this is defiantly a serious Touhou story.

Over My Hot Youkai Body by Jade

I don’t know what is weirder, that Remilia worries about the nutrition of her food, or that Meiling is reading National Geographic. But anyway, the way Jade draws the characters reminds me of Adventure Time, seeing as there faces are simple lines for a moment, then they are drawn with muscle detail for other moments.

Now that I have said my piece on the books, it is time for a bit of my own discourse about Distant Union. When Distant Union was active from 2013-2014, it was a Western Touhou circle formed between Tumblr artists. Now, the big deal to me is that Distant Union was a Western circle in the United States that created Touhou fan books and that is not a common sight within the Touhou community. To put into scale of how rare this type of release is, I want you to try to think of any Touhou fan books that were released physically in a country that is not in Asia. With the exception of Captain Murasa’s Stories and Distant Union, I am willing to bet a Doremy Fumo you named less than three Western physical Touhou fan book releases. Hopefully, you can understand my excitement for Distant Union.

If you have any more questions on Distant Union, check out the IonicFox’s video for Touhou panel at Anime Boston 2014. That panel had Rubin as a guest speaker to talk about her experience with ask blogs and Distant Union.

For your information, here is a list of Western physical Touhou fan book releases: HOME, Potato Mill, Life, Phantasmal Orients!, Kokoro to Akuma, Valentine, Fairy Ring , Autumn Children, Use Your Illusion, Cyclic Redundancy’s artbooks, Youkai Monochrome, Patchouli, Hellcat, A Journey to the Center of Hell, Miracle Switch, Vi drar i Österled, Flower Viewing Season, Spring Path, i swag on a bag & i got that McDonalds, Forsaken Doll’s Judgement, and Riverside Wonders. This is over a time period of 2010-2024, but that is still a lot Touhou books out there in the west.

Pinky Cat · Nov 17, 2024

A Dutch Person is Staying Over!
Genre: Report Manga
Release Date: July 15, 2012
Language: Japanese
By: warugaki
Book Source: Pixiv | Danbooru (English Translation)

On July 31st, 2012, the Touhou Tuesday podcast interviewed Helepolis from Holland about his trip to Japan. In addition, they discussed about the circumstances that led Helepolis to stay over at warugaki’s home and led to warugaki to create the subsequent report manga out of their international exchange.

As for the finer points discussed in that podcast, about Helepolis’ organization of his Japan trip, about warugaki’s work with regard to his incredible imitation of other art styles, the differences in convention organization in Japan versus the US, and that Helepolis decided to go to Reitaisai directly while cosplayed as Amakasu Barley Tenji from Uwabami Breakers. With the way interview went, it framed Helepolis’ trip as an amazing cultural exchange between two Touhou fans with many amusing accidents along the way. With all this information from the podcast, I had to check out warugaki’s report manga, A Dutch Person is Staying Over!, to see how warugaki’s illustrated his experience with Helepolis.

I have two things to say about warugaki’s report manga: it is absolutely true that warugaki can imitate other art styles, and that warugaki is able to dramatize his experiences for the purposes of humor. In addition, I had my fair share of my own laughs knowing the context of the events in the report manga thanks to Helepolis’ interview. Honestly, comparing both Helepolis’ interview and warugaki’s report to each other managed to be humorous by how similar the details were across different mediums. All in all, this report manga is as ridiculous as this Touhou exchange, and I be sure to take a look to warugi’s Reitaisai 9 report manga just to see how Helepolis managed Reitaisai while in his cosplay.

Pinky Cat · Jan 20, 2025

Ichirin Goes to Burger King
Genre: Comedy Visual Novel
Length: ~20 Minutes
Release Date: March 7, 2022
Language: English
By: GV Productions
Book Source: Itch.io

The humor is as expected as much as Ichirin’s orders at were at Miko. But seriously, I laughed at the visual novel with how the Touhou characters were adapted to fit with the Burger King setting and all that entails within fast food restaurants. Add in some references to memes about fast food and that humor is kept fresh for the visual novel’s short length.

Before I close out my order, the visual novel’s soundtrack provided by Uchulups, deserves a good listening, especially for the track on Ichirin’s theme. It has some neo-city vibes that feels calming to listen to.

Pinky Cat · Jan 20, 2025

i swag on a bag & i got that McDonalds

Genre: Comedy
Length: 13 Pages
Release Date: April 29, 2023 (TouhouFest 2023)
Language: English
By: @viceseight (dicevires)
Book Source: Tumblr

Unlike her stints as president of the United States or as fast food employee of Burger King, this Miko is taking the responsible job of parenthood. It seems no matter where Miko goes, she finds a way to spin it to her advantage.

The humor is a bit dated from being strangely focused on the latest trends, though the author has admitted that the book had to be rushed for TouhouFest 2023, with the writing taking a hit as a result. Still, getting a book printed for a Touhou convention in the United States is certainly notable considering how few physical releases occur for Touhou books within the United States. Though, it seems that TouhouFest has impacted Touhou book publishing, with 2024 having a release with Forsaken Doll's Judgment and 2025 having an upcoming release with a novella about Sumireko. It is defiantly clear with the amount of physical book releases at TouhouFest that providing a physical space for Touhou fans has allowed for new ways for Touhou fans to distribute and interact with their works.

Pinky Cat · Apr 6, 2025

Por Ella

Medium: Fan Fiction
Length: 31 Pages
Release Date: January 23, 2011 (BBEX #4)
Language: Spanish
By: Alfynith
Source: BBEX #4 p22-p52

One day, Patchouli realizes that Marisa hasn’t visited the library in some time, and goes on a search for the missing Marisa. Eventually, she finds out where Marisa and where she must go to find her. However, this trip came at a steep price: it can only be done as a one way trip from Gensokyo.

The story is accompanied with many drawings, all drawn with only the pencil. This makes the drawing lack boldness and colors, yet the drawings do great service to illustrate the feelings felt by Patchouli as well the many faces Patchouli met that helped her go on this journey.

Patchouli’s behavior throughout the story stood out to me as obsessive, namely that her life lost a bit of meaning without Marisa. Sure, that didn’t prevent Patchouli from doing proper research as she met up many people relevant to the whereabouts of Marisa. Yet, all that knowledge was used to find Marisa, despite Patchouli knowing the price meant leaving Gensokyo forever. In other words, all other relationships Patchouli has built up to this point. She truly did it all for Marisa, and that where is I firmly disagree with Patchouli.

By that same token, I disagree with Marisa’s pact with Reimu to die together. Even if they are good friends, the cause of death is ultimately Reimu’s loss of responability for the Hakurei Shrine. Where I take issue is that Marisa, has proven herself to strive for improvement as a magician. She desires something more than companionship, thus while Marisa would grieve the death of Reimu, I don’t believe the real Marisa would end herself so easily.

With that said, the story is not as grim as I make it out to be due to how insane Patchouli’s friends are supporting her trip. Seriously, Yukari takes out time to explain the price, Alice decides to join Patchouli’s one way trip, and everyone else gets together to say their goodbyes to Patchouli. In this sense, the story shows the strong bonds Patchouli has formed that even her exit from Gensokyo is a cause for celebration, not mourning. That is truly the gift of having supportive friends.

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