Social commentary in Touhou.

[AMT]

ZUN often uses Touhou for social commentary, here's some that I spotted. Would be cool if you people could find more.

AFiEU is a direct parody of the 2016 American presidential election and sensationalist media.

TH18 is clearly based on the current state of the world and the effect on marketplaces alternative currencies and COVID had, and Mike's backstory is also analogous to racism.

TH17.5 is entirely about consumption of fossil fuels.

TH17 literally takes place in a ultra-capitalist social darwinist hellhole via its own admission.

TH14 had a group of youkai seen as the lower rung on the social ladder revolt.

TH11's Komeiji sisters backstories are pretty obviously analogies for racism.

That's just a handful of things. The series touches on current issues pretty often.

[AMT]

Discussed this with someone else and this is what he had to say:

 

• The Komeiji sisters being loathed by other people isn't the result of racism but the result of them being capable of breaking into your mind and forcibly prying out any potentially nasty secrets you may be hiding up there. It's a proverbial type of mindfuck.
• And the 'social ladder revolt' of TH14 only exists on the surface. Half of the cast is brainwashed into aggro mode by the power of the Miracle Mallet, Shimmy successfully painted herself as a gullible idiot for trusting Seija, and Seija herself is a sociopathic contrarian who couldn't give less of a damn about her supposed comrades. If anything, the game could be seen as dry satire about social movements that mostly exist to line the pockets of their dear leaders.

I do agree with this now.

[AMT]

Furthermore.

In Magical Astronomy's story there is this.

And in Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 36 there is this.