A cool video for people who don't know about The Hifuu Club

[Jaz:3]

Originally I wanted to share this video on the touhou general sub forum, but I decide to post here because this post isn't really much about discussion but more about letting more people know about this media if they're new to it. Also, I want to post here because I feel like this subforum needs some more posts.

This video goes over what The Hifuu Club is about, the contents inside. And I think it's really cool, especially the stories. I thought it was some written work but it seems like a cd of some sort, I don't know tho, I haven't gotten to it yet so I don't know if it's a music cd including with the stories or whatever it is... 

So yeah, if you like mysteries and touhou, then give this media a go! Who doesn't like some mysteries? (maybe not foe some haha)

 

Oh, and... ignore the thumnail of the vid :)

Spoiler

 

 

Edited January 21 by Jaz:3
dlc

[kymoh]

Interesting video! I never knew the Hifuu Club lore ran so deep. And the Maribel-Yukari connection is now stronger than I ever thought.

Details of the dystopian world make me super curious- virtual scenery on trains, moon tours, lifespan regulations?! It's futuristic enough to make for a cool atmosphere, but still uncomfortably close enough to our present era to give a chill down my spine thinking about it. I (unfortunately) wouldn't be surprised if most of Zun's descriptions came true, especially "scientific culture," and lack of imagination. I'd reckon you can already tell signs of it today- Atheism and Agnosticism are more popular than ever, the idea of scientific proof being the basis of all fact over anything else, and even the creations of AI that do all our thinking for us, no imagination needed. Don't get me wrong, these are huge advancements that have tons of benefits for society. But watching that video, it makes me wonder: Will us humans ever forget about old myths, folktales, youkai, the very stories that inspired touhou? Will we no longer look up to thank the stars -God or not- for the beautiful gift that is life? Will we live in the same souless world as Maribel and Renko? The thought reminds me of a different book I read, one with a similar setting in which people are losing faith in religion and thus forgetting about their humanity, in a way. Definitely strengthens my pessimistic view of The Hifuu Club's world...

Sorry if I went off-track there. But it's such an interesting topic, along with being touhou-related, that the Hifuu Club is practically calling for me to pick it up. I'd love to read it as soon as I'm done with my current book!

 

15 hours ago, Jaz:3 said:

I thought it was some written work but it seems like a cd of some sort, I don't know tho, I haven't gotten to it yet so I don't know if it's a music cd including with the stories or whatever it is... 

yeah, it seems like a cd + written work combined? As for the music I've listened to some of the songs before, they're really good. You should definitely give "Greenwich in the Sky" and "Merry the Magician" a listen!

 

P.S. dat thumbnail XD

[Jaz:3]

11 hours ago, kymoh said:

Agnosticism

wow, I just heard about this term today. lol

 

I was going to go to sleep but, man.... I just felt like posting when I read your reply. You're kinda hooking me into talking more haha. But yeah. I agree, that's why we need to keep it going, or else it will lose it's light. We really gotta be grateful of life dude... there's so much in it. This is also why I believe in God, I feel like there is something more bigger than and unknown to me, so I put all of it in his hands. Plus, there's so much lessons to be learned too! Although I don't go to church that much on the weekend.... ( my friend called me "Juda" for this, I feel guilty a bit :((  ).

 

11 hours ago, kymoh said:

Sorry if I went off-track there. But it's such an interesting topic, along with being touhou-related, that the Hifuu Club is practically calling for me to pick it up. I'd love to read it as soon as I'm done with my current book!

No worries, thank you for the comments! I feel like I'm going to like The Hifuu Club, even though I had no expectation for it 1st.

[Ken Hisuag]

On 1/21/2025 at 9:06 AM, Jaz:3 said:

I thought it was some written work but it seems like a cd of some sort, I don't know tho, I haven't gotten to it yet so I don't know if it's a music cd including with the stories or whatever it is...

You know how ZUN always adds comments to his musical compositions? The Music Collection "stories" are told through those comments, a series of snippets that coalesce into a fuller (but still short) account. Since the Touhou Wiki documents these aspects of the releases, it's possible to read through them on that site, and as said in the video, they hardly take any time with how short they tend to be. Here is the link to Trojan Green Asteroid's comments as an example (I already had the page open for today's Musical Discoveries post): https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Trojan_Green_Asteroid/Story

On 1/22/2025 at 12:56 AM, kymoh said:

But watching that video, it makes me wonder: Will us humans ever forget about old myths, folktales, youkai, the very stories that inspired touhou? Will we no longer look up to thank the stars -God or not- for the beautiful gift that is life?

Forgive me if I presume too much replying to this, or if my response seems unintentionally pedantic. My understanding of myths and folktales is that they always originate from some real experience; the details will more often then not become corrupted over time, but there is still truth behind them, however obscured (consider the legends of dragons, supposedly mythical creatures resembling unusually large reptiles, and compare them to the relatively modern acknowledgement of dinosaurs, creatures similarly resembling unusually large reptiles). Furthermore, I believe in God; not in a relativistic sense, where God is my God and not necessarily yours, but in an objective sense, as truly God Almighty, Creator of all that is. Given this presupposition, it is impossible for me to conceive of His being completely forgotten. I also believe that creativity and imagination are reflections of God's character, an intrinsic part of every human being by way of the Imago Dei. Thus, regardless of inconclusive observations that might indicate the plausibility of a dystopian future devoid of such things, I understand (believe, if you prefer) them to be impossible to truly eradicate.

I agree with the video essayist that Hifuu Club is entirely a way for ZUN to express his philosophical considerations, and I enjoy the stories for this purpose. Obviously I'm not going to agree with some of his reasoning, since he has a different worldview than I do. This also means I will consider some of his proposals lacking viability; this doesn't mean I don't appreciate them for consideration.

[Idioms21]

After reading up on the Hifuu Club lore I certainly agree with the video saying this is just a way for ZUN to put out his thoughts. Nah I'm just kidding it's more than just that, but with how much the world is pretty much built as what ZUN might imagine a distopian future to be I can't help but think that way about it. It's like a world where humans just "figured it out" and most are now able to live in relative luxury thanks to increase in scientific discoveries that drastically improves quality of life to the point diseases are sort of a think of the past. But no matter how much it is insisted that this is a distopian future I can't help but think it's actually a better future with how life has improved but at the cost of how 'real' things are and the lack of needing to discover anything new.

So much food is artificial like bamboo shoots, eggs, and strawberries (and probably more) but you still gotta ask, is it really that bad? If it tastes the same, looks the same, behaves the same, with the only difference is that it was grown in a lab or something, does it really matter? If such methods would actually be more cost and space efficient while also not having negative side effects, wouldn't that be a net positive if you consider how much animals are kept in pens only for their parts and other produces to be harvested and how much land is being used to produce crops. I've never eaten anything artificial before in my life and heck they're probably more expensive now compare to just buying the real stuff, but in a future where more efficient ways of producing them are found and are way cheaper it would be the optimal choice to go for them. But then again it feels weird eating something that tastes and looks the same as something else despite not really being it, like, imagine eating mantis shrimp where there is so little meat compared to the exoskeletons that are just thrown away (heck you probably paid more for the carapace than the meat itself), but if you can make the meat artificial and even increase the volume wouldn't that be better? But still there is still a lingering feeling I would have knowing all this is just lab grown whateverthefucks.
Speaking of artificial, the whole 53 min shinkansen ride is pretty impressive if it were a real thing, like getting from one side of the country to another in that speed is so beneficial it's makes me wonder what's so bad about it. Well the tunnel of said underground shinkansen is actually one straight line and in order to do that they had to tunnel under Mt.Fuji and they had to go through a load of hooplas to change Mt.Fuji into an extinct volcano. Oh and they also dug through suicide forest but not disclose it to the puclic for obvious reasons... Okay now those are pretty scary stuff, like going underneath a volcano (they classified it as extinct but who know if it is safe or not since it is obviously just so they can get the greenlights for the construction) and who knows how much ghosts you're gonna piss off going underneath aokigahara. But still though that kind of high speed transportation has so much benefits for everyone it almost out weights the potential cons. But the highlight of the trip was the panoramic windows the hides the fact that the real ride is underground and the real world above is nowhere better. But still ignoring the very fake outside view, it still is a benefit to make life better, even if there is no fake view i imagine people would still take it due to how convenient it is despite looking so barren and dead without the fake outside views.

But aside from the artificial stuff, it seems that the world of the Hifuu Club is one where rationality and truth are valued above all else and anything that can't be explained through science is considered to be false. And in a world where rationality is placed at such high regards and the means of accessing information is so readily available it pretty much killed creativity and ZUN really emphasizes that part, a world so rational that all the old beliefs tied to religions, myth, and folklores have been ignored (but no necessarily forgotten). ZUN used a term something along the lines of Japan being the "Graveyard of the gods" or something similar to paint the picture here, Japanese traditions and folklores are so vast and integrated into their lives and  getting to the point that it all just get ignored is just sad.
But there is this part about the Torifune station that broke down that carried a bunch of animals that ZUN called a sort of Noah's Ark and in it was a shrine dedicated to a deity of safe travels that was worshipped by people going to space which tells us the old gods and myths were never forgotten, just ignored when they're help was not needed but we still come back to them if the situation requires it.
How I interpret this is not just people forgetting about gods, myths, and folklores because they don't believe in them or their existence have been disproven but rather they were used to explain the unknowns during ancient times, but since humanity has long progressed in technology, we soon find out answers for our questions that doesn't involve the supernatural as was with ZUN's will-o-wisp example. But when it comes to exploring the vast and still somewhat unknown outer space they still pray to a god for safe travels.
And regarding ZUN's vision of a future of rationality with no room for creativity, I actually think we're already here just like what kymoh said.

On 1/22/2025 at 1:56 PM, kymoh said:

Details of the dystopian world make me super curious- virtual scenery on trains, moon tours, lifespan regulations?! It's futuristic enough to make for a cool atmosphere, but still uncomfortably close enough to our present era to give a chill down my spine thinking about it. I (unfortunately) wouldn't be surprised if most of Zun's descriptions came true, especially "scientific culture," and lack of imagination. I'd reckon you can already tell signs of it today- Atheism and Agnosticism are more popular than ever, the idea of scientific proof being the basis of all fact over anything else, and even the creations of AI that do all our thinking for us, no imagination needed. Don't get me wrong, these are huge advancements that have tons of benefits for society. But watching that video, it makes me wonder: Will us humans ever forget about old myths, folktales, youkai, the very stories that inspired touhou? Will we no longer look up to thank the stars -God or not- for the beautiful gift that is life? Will we live in the same souless world as Maribel and Renko? The thought reminds me of a different book I read, one with a similar setting in which people are losing faith in religion and thus forgetting about their humanity, in a way. Definitely strengthens my pessimistic view of The Hifuu Club's world...

But I highly doubt we'll completely forget about them, I believe they'll still remain in our consciousness as a form of a meme (yknow the kind the magnet guy in MGR is on about), like me for example who doesn't really believe in the religion in our place but I still understand when they talk about it or joke about it and whether I like it or not, it is undeniable that whatever values I have right now were formed with the help of said religion as everyone around me taught me the same things. And beyond the people around me, medias have also had imageries and themes of that religion so even if I go away from this place I will still see references to it in the games I play and stories I read, and so in a way these creative works are also a way for us to spread our myths, folklores, and culture, just as Touhou increased interest in all things Japanese culture related. So I don't it will be forgotten as in erased from memory but rather just less believers, but the impact they have had on our cultures are so drastic its virtually impossible to get rid of and will be this ever present ideas the our collective consciousnes.


Anyways I've yapped long enough Merry and Renko should've just kissed and be done with it

[Stan]

On 1/30/2025 at 8:10 AM, Idioms21 said:

like a world where humans just "figured it out" and most are now able to live in relative luxury thanks to increase in scientific discoveries that drastically improves quality of life to the point diseases are sort of a think of the past. But no matter how much it is insisted that this is a distopian future I can't help but think it's actually a better future with how life has improved but at the cost of how 'real' things are and the lack of needing to discover anything new.

So much food is artificial like bamboo shoots, eggs, and strawberries (and probably more) but you still gotta ask, is it really that bad? If it tastes the same, looks the same, behaves the same, with the only difference is that it was grown in a lab or something, does it really matter?

 I read hifuu club and i'd describe it the same as you. It reminds me of brave new world.